[Lost Mark 01] - Marked for Death

by Matt Forbeck - (ebook by Undead)

  “Too fast!” Burch called back.

  Kandler looked out at the ground and saw it speeding toward the ship. “Take us back a little,” he said to Esprë. The ship’s nose yanked upward.

  “Whoa!” Esprë said. Her voice was steadier than Kandler would have guessed. After a moment, he realized she was enjoying this.

  “Easy,” Burch called back.

  Kandler leaned over and pointed out a place that he thought they might be able to land, right along the crest of the first hill.

  “This is fun!” Esprë said as she aimed for it.

  Kandler smiled at her. The wind blowing in her long blonde hair reminded him of her mother again—her mother, the sorcerer. It seemed Esprë had inherited some of Esprina’s talents. He leaned over and gave her a small kiss on her on the cheek.

  “You’re doing great,” he said. “Take it easy. I’m right here with you.”

  Sober again, Esprë looked up at Kandler and nodded.

  Kandler looked down and saw the ends of a leather belt hanging from around the wheel. He grabbed them and fastened them around both he and his daughter, then attached them to the wheel’s post. He called for Burch and Sallah to join them.

  The shifter came bounding up with a big grin for Esprë. “Nice work, pup,” he said. He and Sallah found a set of leather straps mounted in the bridge railing and wound their wrists into them.

  The hillcrest came rushing up at the ship. Kandler looked down at Esprë and saw her concentrating with all her might as she jutted out her chin and chewed on her lower lip. “Slow down just a bit,” he said quietly. “Just take it in right there.” He arced his hand as if it were the ship angling along the hill’s crest.

  “We have all the time in the world,” Kandler said. It was a bad lie, and he knew that Esprë wasn’t fooled, but he hoped it calmed her nerves all the same.

  The ship hit the hilltop hard. Had Kandler and Esprë not been wearing the wheel’s belt, they would have been thrown from the bridge. As it was, Kandler struggled to hold them both in place, his injuries screaming in protest.

  “Hard to port!” Kandler said. “Left!”

  Esprë almost jumped from between his arms, but the ship swung hard to port and ran the burning part of her hull against the hillside. She scraped along, the boards of her shell groaning in protest.

  “Bring it up now,” Kandler said. The ship came off the hill and righted itself.

  “Report!” the justicar said to the shifter.

  Burch let go of the straps and peered over the side of the ship. “That did it!” he said. “The fire’s out!”

  Kandler sighed with relief and he felt Esprë sink back into his arms. He hugged her tight, then said, “Bring her up just a bit.” The ship nosed higher into the sky.

  Kandler undid the belt around himself and Esprë, then reattached it around the girl. Sallah removed her hands from the straps she’d used and came over to Esprë with a wide, proud smile.

  “Where to now?” said Burch, who was scanning the countryside below. “I don’t see the changeling anywhere.”

  “Sir Deothen!” said Sallah, as if ashamed the thought had just struck her. “We have to go back for them and the others.”

  Esprë nodded and brought the ship around to point south again. Under Kandler’s direction, she headed for the south end of Majeeda’s valley but gave the mists surrounding her tower a healthy berth, keeping them always to the starboard.

  Kandler marveled at the airship’s speed as she flew toward the other side of the valley, the heat blasting from the back end of the fiery ring pushing them along. Unhampered by the drag of the ocean’s waves, it moved faster than any seagoing ship. It seemed like the finest horse would be hard pressed to keep up with her, even on a flat stretch of land. The way she sailed straight and smooth above the valley floor was unmatchable.

  As the ship came up on the spot where Kandler and the others had left the knights behind, he frowned. “I don’t see them,” he said.

  Sallah climbed down from the bridge and ran out to the tip of the ship’s stem. She leaned over the bow and peered out at the long southern slope and into the valley. She stood up and pointed down.

  “That’s where we were,” she said. “They’re gone!”

  Chapter

  35

  Kandler looked to Burch. “What’s your best guess?”

  The shifter leaned over the nearest railing and gazed down at the terrain below. Although it was rock and hard-packed dirt near the chasm and mist-shrouded tower, beyond the sickly-looking grass sprouted again, and the soil was a bit softer.

  “Trail’s clear,” the shifter said. “From here, I can see where horses trampled grass. They were moving fast.”

  Kandler whispered something to Esprë, and the girl brought the ship back around until it was headed back toward the mound of mist.

  “What happened?” Kandler asked.

  Burch stared down over the railing and tried to decipher the signs scattered on the ground below.

  “The changeling bolted that way,” the shifter said, pointing to the northeast. “Then the knights followed.” He stared off to the left and right. “They were posted all around tower, but they chased her together.” He jabbed his finger to the northeast again. “Into the hills.”

  “That’s the way the changeling was headed before,” Kandler said.

  “You’re going after them, aren’t you?” Sallah demanded as she rushed back from the bow. “We can’t just leave them out there.”

  Kandler smiled. “What kind of rogues do you take us for?”

  Sallah narrowed her eyes at the justicar. “The kind that might turn around as soon as they got what they came for.” She glanced at Esprë, still standing at the wheel. The girl blushed.

  “That’s a good point,” Kandler said as he looked down at Esprë. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” He reached out and put an arm around his daughter.

  “You can’t be serious,” the lady knight said. “Without them you never would have gotten this far. You never would have rescued her.”

  “Maybe,” Burch said. The others turned to look at him. “But I’m interested in something else.”

  Sallah sneered at the shifter. “Getting home safe to the town that threw you in prison?”

  Burch smiled at the knight, showing all his sharp teeth. “No,” he said. “I want that changeling’s head on my wall.”

  “No!” Esprë blurted, taking her hands from the wheel. The ship bobbled in the air for a moment as if it had hit a rock. Esprë grabbed the wheel again, and the ship straightened out. “You don’t have to do that,” she said to Burch once she was back in control. “Not for me.”

  Kandler wrinkled his brow at his Esprë. “This lady kidnapped you. She used you as a hostage. She could have killed you.”

  “But she didn’t,” said Esprë. “She wouldn’t have. She saved me from those vampires.”

  Kandler put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “She saved you for herself, I think.”

  “I know,” said Esprë softly, “but you don’t have to kill her, do you? Not for me.”

  Kandler sighed then kissed the girl atop her golden locks.

  “But you have to go after her!” Sallah said. “You can’t let her get away.”

  “I thought you wanted to save your friends,” Burch said.

  Sallah snarled in frustration at the shifter. “They were going after her. You find her, and you find them.”

  Kandler smiled. He hadn’t thought the knight could be that bloodthirsty, and he was happy his instincts had proved right. “Good. Then we’re headed in the right direction. Right, Burch?”

  The shifter nodded. “Straight over that ridge, then follow the hollow.”

  “Don’t worry, ladies,” Kandler said. “We’ll find your knights,” he said to Sallah, then he turned to Esprë, “and we’ll leave your friend alone, assuming the knights don’t get to her first.”

  Esprë let go of the ship’s wheel with one hand and hugged
Kandler tight.

  * * *

  The ship scudded through the sky. Sallah watched the mists swirling overhead for a while then gazed out at the landscape below, marveling at the grace with which they moved. Under Burch’s guidance, Esprë kept the ship low, only a few score feet above the crests of the hills. Each time the shifter signaled her, she reined the ship back from its top speed to give him time to spot the changes in the trail.

  Sallah walked back to the bridge and put a hand on Kandler’s arm. He winced. “How are you?” she asked.

  “I’ve been better.”

  The lady knight looked at him. “Is it your shoulder? You wrenched it when you fell, didn’t you?”

  Kandler started to say something then shut his mouth and just nodded.

  “I can help,” Sallah said tentatively.

  “You or the Silver Flame? Healing magic doesn’t work well in the Mournland,” Kandler said, rubbing his shoulder. “It won’t even heal on its own until we get out of here.”

  “What I’m offering isn’t magic,” Sallah said. “The chosen knights of the Silver Flame have their own kind of power. As you saw with Brendis, it seems to work here.”

  “This must be my lucky day.”

  Sallah stepped back. She wasn’t used to having anyone talk to her like this. Her fellow knights always treated her with respect, especially since Jaela Daran, the Keeper of the Flame, a girl not much older than Esprë, had called out her name in the course of the prophecy concerning the Mark of Death. Since then, they had been almost deferential. She liked the fact that someone would treat her more like an equal, but she bristled at Kandler’s obvious distrust of all things holy.

  “Would you like my help or not?” Sallah asked, letting the exasperation show in her voice.

  Kandler flexed his shoulder and winced again. He pushed it toward her and nodded.

  With Kandler’s permission, Sallah slipped her hands up the sleeve of his shirt until she reached his shoulder. She offered up a short prayer to the Silver Flame that ended with, “May the light of your kindness shine on this heathen. Amen.”

  Kandler drew in a breath to protest, but he stopped when Sallah’s hands warmed up and a soft glow arose under his shirt. The warmth moved from Sallah’s hands into his shoulder. As it washed away, she knew it took the hurt with it.

  “How’s that?” asked Sallah.

  Kandler flexed his shoulder again. “My thanks,” he said.

  As the ship rounded a bend in the hollow, Burch held up his hand and called out, “Hold it!”

  Esprë hauled the ship back until it stood hovering in the air. “What is it?” she asked.

  Sallah followed Kandler as he ran forward to peer around Burch at the ground. Below, she could see the signs of a fight. A few pieces of armor lay scattered about the place, and the grass was all torn up.

  “What happened here?” Sallah asked Burch, not at all sure she wanted to hear the answer.

  “A big fight,” the shifter answered.

  “I think we can see that much,” Kandler said. “What’s all that armor doing down there?”

  “That’s not armor,” the shifter said as he looked closer. “Those are pieces of warforged. They must have come from three soldiers, at least.”

  “Canyou tell anything else?” Sallah asked.

  Burch shook his head. “Hard to say from up here.” He motioned for Esprë to bring the ship lower.

  “Keep going,” Burch said. At the last moment, he held up his hand to stop. “Good!”

  The ship bumped against the ground. “Close enough?” Esprë asked, blushing.

  “By the Silver Flame,” Sallah said, “be careful!”

  “It’s just a bump,” the justicar said. “It’s not easy to control this beast.”

  Sallah turned and pointed to the ring of fire surrounding the ship. She understood that Kandler wished to protect his daughter, but this was too important to tiptoe around.

  “You see that?” she said to Kandler.

  “It’s hard to miss.”

  “That’s an elemental creature of fire,” she said. “The dragon-marked shipwrights who created this craft bound it into this ring with powerful magic. Just look at the carvings along the retaining arch.” Sallah paused to calm herself down and to let her words sink in. “Break that arch, and you let loose the elemental. It might not be too happy about being bound up all that time. It might decide to take it out on the child behind the wheel.”

  “Or the mouthy lady in the armor,” Burch said. “Point taken.” He signaled Esprë to bring the ship up a bit. The ship lurched upward into the sky and hovered a few feet over the ground.

  Sallah scowled at the shifter, but before she could respond, Kandler tapped her on the shoulder and pointed down the length the ship’s rail. “There’s a rope ladder there,” he said. “Let’s take a look.”

  The two scrambled down the ladder and onto the hill. Kandler scanned the crest while Sallah strode down into the hollow.

  “The warforged must have started out here,” Kandler said loud enough for Sallah to hear over the crackling of the fiery ring. “I’d guess they ambushed the knights when they rode into that hollow.”

  Sallah bent over and ran her hand along some of the stunted, gray grass. Then she stood and held it up. Crimson stained her fingers.

  “They’re not here anymore,” Kandler said. “Who do you think won?”

  Burch looked down at Sallah from the ship and said, “War-forged. No doubt.”

  The knight shook her head. “If that’s so, where are the bodies?”

  “What’s that over there?” Burch said, pointing down to a fold in the hollow. “Something shiny.”

  Sallah hissed and launched herself up the hillside, uttering a silent prayer to the Silver Flame as she went. Kandler dashed along the crest of the hill and beat the lady knight to the spot. He knelt down reverently before the things Burch had seen from the ship. As Sallah reached him, he turned to let her see what they were.

  “Their swords,” Sallah said, horrified as she looked down at the sacred blades of her fellow knights. “No knight would ever willingly give up his sword to a foe. They must be dead.”

  Chapter

  36

  “There aren’t any bodies,” Kandler said as he looked up at Sallah. She seemed so hurt, he needed to hold out some hope for her to cling to. “They could still be alive.”

  Sallah shook her head as tears welled up in her emerald eyes. “They are sworn to keep their holy swords by their sides at all times. They would have fought with them till their last breaths.”

  Kandler stood and put his arms around the lady knight. She lowered her head but managed to fight back the tears. She did not pull away.

  “Trail goes that way,” Burch called down from above. “Lots of people.” The shifter scanned the grass along the top of the ridge. “Some dragged.”

  Sallah pushed away from Kandler and craned her neck to talk to Burch. “You think they were captured?”

  “Warforged don’t eat.”

  “By the Flame!” Sallah said, shocked at the shifter’s words. “What made you suggest that?”

  “You only carry bodies for food—unless the bodies aren’t dead.”

  The knight nodded. “I suppose so.” She looked along the ridge in the direction Burch had pointed. “Then there’s still time. We must go after them.”

  “Come on,” Kandler said as he reached for the rope ladder and handed it to Sallah. “Even I can see the trail. Warforged leave large footprints.”

  Sallah hauled herself up the rope ladder and then reached back behind her for the swords of her fellow knights. Kandler handed them up to her one at a time, hilt toward her, then followed her up the ladder.

  “Let’s go,” Sallah said to Esprë. The girl smiled as she brought the ship a bit higher into the air. Kandler joined his daughter on the bridge while Sallah found Burch peering over the bow, where they both hunted for signs of the trail.

  Esprë nudged the airship for
ward at Burch’s signal. As the ship moved along, Kandler looked up at the ring of fire.

  “What do you think our chances are of sneaking up on anyone in this thing?” Esprë asked.

  “It depends how fast you’re going,” Kandler said.

  Esprë coaxed a bit more speed from the airship and let the wind blow through her hair. She looked up at Kandler and smiled. He smiled back.

  The sky had grown a darker shade of gray. Esprë rubbed her eyes, and Kandler remembered that he hadn’t slept since the night before—and not much then. The cool air whipping past him made him more alert, but he longed for his bed back in Mardakine.

  Remembering his home, he remembered his last few days there, and the weeks before that. Anxiety had been gnawing at him for some time as his suspicions about his daughter grew. Kandler reached around and pulled the collar of Esprë’s shirt away from her back.

  There it was, just above her shoulder blades. A dragon-mark. When he’d first seen it, he’d thought it was black, but this close he could see it was mottled with many colors, mostly vivid blues and greens. Around the sharply defined edges, her skin was marbled with red, almost as if the mark had sprung painfully from the flesh beneath.

  “I…” Esprë said quietly. Her smile vanished. “I didn’t think you knew about that.”

  Kandler let the collar go. He’d seen enough. “I didn’t think you did either.”

  “It itched when it first came in.” One of Esprë’s hands snaked back past her neck to scratch at the dragonmark, as if even thinking about it irritated the skin again. “Then it burned. Now, I don’t notice it much.”

  Kandler stood there mute. He didn’t want to have this conversation. He just wanted his daughter back, for them to have their old life back.

  “Are you going to arrest me?” Esprë asked in a small voice.

  Kandler was so surprised he coughed. “What? No! Why would I do that?”