“Okay, I’ll hit them with some fire, but they’ll probably just retreat back inside,” Tiberius said. “At least I can hold them off while we get down to the rooftop.”
Rafe turned to the six men he had selected to fight with him.
“Keep your spacing,” he reminded them. “We’ll be in tight quarters, and you don’t want to get in each other’s way.”
“If you hear me shout a command,” Tiberius told them, “obey it instantly. I can level our odds, but I can’t keep you from getting hurt if I have to use magic inside the palace.”
Tiberius saw the looks of fear in the soldiers’ eyes. They didn’t fear a difficult fight, but the fear of magic was ingrained in them. He smiled and nodded reassuringly. It was the best he could do until they saw that he wasn’t crazy and that his power wasn’t out of control.
The war ship swooped down toward the rooftop, and Tiberius leaned out over the ship’s railing. He could see the looks on the soldiers’ faces. They were ready for a fight, and Tiberius supposed that they knew exactly how many men could be on board the war ship. They were obviously confident that they had the upper hand.
“Accendo,” Tiberius said.
The magical portal opened up, and Tiberius let the fire come flowing out. He directed it toward the rooftop. The soldiers fell back, but they weren’t fast enough. Half their number were caught in the wave of fire, their clothes and shields bursting into flame. A wave of black smoke shot up, and Tiberius recalled the fire.
The screams of the burning soldiers made Tiberius’ blood run cold. Then the smell of burning flesh wafted into the war ship. Two men vomited, but Rafe was already climbing down the rope ladder, followed by two of his men. They dropped to the palace roof, weapons drawn, but the enemy had fled back into the open doorway that led down into the building.
Tiberius waited while the others four soldiers followed Rafe. He looked at Lexi and smiled. She leaned forward and brushed his cheek with a fast kiss just before he climbed down the rope ladder. The war ship wasn’t secured to the roof, so the vessel drifted as Tiberius climbed. He jumped down the last several rungs afraid he might be swept off the roof if he didn’t hurry. He landed hard, falling onto his side but quickly getting up and waving to Lexi, who was watching as she leaned out over the railing.
The war ship was moving around and rising up, to sail alongside the sky ship from Hamill Keep. Tiberius heard the clash of swords and hurried over to where Rafe and the others were fighting the king’s soldiers at the door to the rooftop.
“Down!” Tiberius shouted. “Scuti Incantatio.”
The magical shield sprang into existence. Tiberius could feel it, even though it was completely invisible. He pushed it forward with his mind, willing it to pass over the warriors with Rafe and then smash into the unsuspecting soldiers.
“Attack!” Tiberius shouted.
The king’s soldiers had been bowled back, most knocked off their feet. Rafe charged forward, letting his sword flash down again and again as he dispatched the enemy soldiers.
Tiberius looked up at the war ship that was sailing dangerously close to the huge cargo ship from Hamill Keep. He wanted one last glance at Lexi before he rushed into the palace with Rafe. He had to shade the sun from his eyes, but what he saw took his breath away.
Lexi was nothing more than a shadowy silhouette, but he saw her clearly. Her lithe body stretched as she jumped from the war ship’s rail onto one of the masts that stood out from the side of the sky ship from Hamill Keep. She was more like the little wind glider she loved so much than he realized. Tiberius’ heart seem to catch in his throat, and he was afraid that Lexi would fall, but instead she hurried across the narrow beam of wood with perfect balance. When she jumped over the rail and into the sky ship, Tiberius breathed a sigh of relief. Then the sound of swords on shields made him push every other thought away as he rushed into the palace after Rafe.
Chapter 27
Lexi
“We can’t get too close,” the soldier said.
He was in charge of the men maneuvering the war ship, and while they were able to fly the sleek vessel, there was no way for the inexperienced soldiers to get close to the Hamill Keep sky ship without getting tangled in the larger ship’s rigging or smashing into the sails that protruded from the sides of the ship like fins on a fish.
“Get me as close as you can,” Lexi said.
“What are you planning to do?” Olyva asked.
“I’ll jump from our ship to their’s,” Lexi explained.
“But what about our supplies?” Olyva said. “How will you get them back on board?”
“You’ll have to throw me a rope. I’ll tie it to the sky ship, and once I have our supplies, you can haul them back in.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Yes,” Lexi said, trying to sound more confident than she felt.
She had climbed the sides of tall buildings and even made similar leaps, but never from so high as she was now or onto sky ships that might move or shift under her weight. She preferred being more grounded. Her skill at attaining valuable things had kept her alive and provided a living, but now she needed to recover something that was more valuable than her life or even every life in Avondale. She had to get the Balestone back into Tiberius’ safekeeping before their enemy discovered it was within their grasp.
The soldiers maneuvered the war ship as close to the sky ship as possible. Lexi eased herself over the war ship’s railing and stood on one of the thin spars that held the sails. Unlike the thick masts of the sky ship, the smaller spars on the war ship weren’t made to hold a man’s weight. Lexi could only hope it would hold her without breaking. She needed to run out to the end of the wooden pole, then leap toward the sky ship, which was almost ten feet away and slightly below the war ship.
“Be careful,” Olyva urged her.
Lexi glanced back over her shoulder and saw the concern in Olyva’s eyes. They hadn’t known each other before the banishment. And at first Olyva had been a weeping mess that Lexi couldn’t help but deplore. But Olyva had grown strong, and not just because of the changes to her physical body. Those changes would have broken a weaker person, but in Olyva they opened her eyes to what she could become. She had embraced their new life, which wasn’t limited to nine cities spread across a vast realm. Olyva had found what Lexi had always known in her heart to be true—that she wasn’t trapped by her birth or society or even limited to the kingdom she knew. Their world had suddenly become a vast place where anything was possible if they were just bold enough to take it.
Lexi dashed forward, leaving her fears behind her. Balancing on the quivering spar was more difficult that she had anticipated, but she managed it, and at the end of the long wooden pole, she jumped, letting the flex of the wooden spar propel her up and out away from the war ship.
For a moment she truly felt as if she were flying and wondered if she was experiencing what Dancer felt whenever she flung the little creature high into the air. Then gravity took hold, and she felt her momentum shift. The sky ship’s mast and rigging were suddenly flying toward her. She did her best to keep her balance, landing feet first and rolling forward on what amounted to a wooden pole that was only slightly as large around as her thigh. If the mast had been wider, she might have rolled over her shoulder and come back up on her feet in one fluid motion. Instead, she felt her body swaying to the side as she rolled forward and instinctively she threw her legs out in hopes of grabbing something solid. One hand found a thick, hairy rope, and her left leg hooked itself over the mast. Her motion came to a jarring halt, and she was halfway hanging off the mast. Below her, the sail was gathered in a neat fold and tied with small, thin ropes. Beyond that, there was nothing but empty space for hundreds of feet, and then the city spread out below her.
Lexi’s heart was pounding in her chest, but she pulled herself up and made her quivering arms and legs carry her to the side of the ship. She had to climb one of the thick rope nets that stretched from the mast
up onto the deck of the ship. She swung herself from the underside of the net onto the top, then scrambled up and over the sky ship’s railing. Once her feet were safely on the sturdy wooden deck, she did her best to slow her heartbeat. It felt like a wild animal that was trapped in her chest, but she was alive and well.
She waved to Olyva, who threw a coiled rope toward her. The rope snaked out, and Lexi had to run up the deck to grab it. Once she had the rope, she tied it to the railing, leaving enough rope at the end so that she could secure their belongings for the soldiers to hoist back up on board the war ship.
The deck of the sky ship, even the command deck, was deserted. The sky ship was secured and there was no need to man it. Lexi guessed the sailors were in Avondale, probably in the taverns and brothels of the lower levels, but she also guessed that there would surely be some crew left aboard. There had to be enough men to maneuver the ship back into place over the palace and lower the stairway so that the others could board again.
The cabin she had stayed in with Tiberius was on the far end of the deck at the bow of the ship. Lexi ran across the wooden deck, doing her best to make as little noise as possible. She had to jump over coils of rope and other debris scattered around the ship. It was obvious the captain was no longer on board. He had been a stern man who insisted that nothing be left out of place. The crew still on board the sky ship obviously didn’t share his iron discipline.
Lexi slipped quietly inside the cabin, expecting to find their belongings right where they had been left when she, Tiberius, and Rafe had left the sky ship to sneak into Avondale. But the cabin was empty. Their packs were gone. She thought that perhaps she stepped into the wrong cabin, so she tried another, but it was empty, too. A quick search revealed that none of their belongings were in the smaller cabins.
Lexi then went to the larger cabin that was reserved for the earl of Hamill Keep and his family. The space was much larger and, while not exactly luxurious, it had much nicer furnishings. She found their packs scattered on the floor. Their clothes, spare blankets, and rations had been tossed out of the bags carelessly.
Lexi quickly began repacking everything. She knew where Tiberius had kept the stone. He had tucked it into a saddle bag and kept it wrapped in an old cheesecloth, but it was gone. Someone had rifled through their things and taken the Balestone. She wished she had some way to tell Tiberius what had happened, but all she could do was gather their belongings and get back to the war ship.
It took a while to get everything stowed away again, and then she hefted all of their bags at once. Lexi was strong, but the weight of all their packs was a strain. She moved much more slowly back across the deck. Then, when she reached the rope that was connected to the war ship, she carefully tied the straps of each bag onto the rope. Lexi could see Olyva waving to her from the war ship, which was hovering higher than the larger sky ship. The bulbous sail above the sky ship forced the smaller ship to keep its distance, and the rope trailed out diagonally from the sky ship.
Lexi waved back to Olyva and tossed their packs over the rail, but Olyva kept waving, and Lexi realized she wasn’t just being polite—she was warning Lexi of danger. She dove to the side, rolling into a crouch just as three of the sky ship’s crew dashed forward with a large net. They had to change direction, and even though Lexi broke into a run across the deck, they managed to toss the heavy rope netting over her.
Lexi fell hard but immediately began scrambling to escape the net. Two of the men pinned the net to the wooden deck, and the other stood over her.
“Not so fast, missy,” the man said. “We don’t take thievery lightly on this ship.”
“I’m not stealing,” Lexi said. “Those packs belong to me and my friends.”
“Oh, you’re the little nip that was sweet on the wizard. I recognize you now,” the sailor said. “But you can’t just sneak on board the earl’s ship and make off with whatever you like.”
“Let me go,” Lexi said. “I didn’t steal anything.”
“Everything on this ship belongs to the earl—or at least to the countess, at any rate. That includes whatever you left behind.”
“Someone already stole from us,” Lexi said. “I only came to get back what I could.”
“Too bad you didn’t get away yourself,” the man said. “Now you’re on the earl’s ship, and that means you belong to the earl, too. When the countess sends for us, we’ll have a nice surprise for her.”
“You can’t keep me here,” Lexi said.
“Sure we can,” the man said. “And we can have a little fun while we’re doing it, too.”
Just then there was a thump on the deck behind the man speaking. He turned, and Lexi saw him take a hesitant step back. Lexi looked beyond the man and saw Olyva. She was on the sky ship now, a rope tied around her waist and a spear in her hand.
“Let her go,” Olyva said.
“That’s the earl’s whelp,” said one of the men.
“She’s some kind of freak,” said the other. “I ain’t going near her.”
Olyva hefted the spear and aimed it at the man who had threatened Lexi.
“Let her go,” she warned them.
Lexi didn’t waste any time. She drew her Wangorian dagger and began sawing at the net.
“Hey! She’s got a knife!” said one of the men loudly.
The first man turned around just as Lexi cut through one section of the net. She was small enough that she could just slip through the new opening.
“Stop her!” shouted the lead sailor.
They were his last words. Olyva’s spear was true, and Olyva put all her strength into the throw. Lexi had no idea where the young, noble-born woman had learned to throw a spear, but it hit the lead sailor in the chest and smashed all the way through his body, so that the bloody steel stuck out his back. He fell to his knees, moaning, and then toppled onto his side and died.
One of the other men ran, but the third grabbed Lexi, thinking to use her as a hostage. Lexi slashed his arm with her dagger, and when the man stumbled back, she whipped the razor-sharp blade across his throat. Lexi didn’t stay to watch the man die. Instead, she hurried back to Olyva, hearing the desperate gurgle of the man behind her as he tried to hold his life’s blood in his ruined neck.
“Take hold of me,” Olyva said. “The soldiers will pull us up.”
“We can’t go up,” Lexi said. “Someone took the Balestone. We need to tell Tiberius and Rafe.”
“Okay, the war ship can carry us back to the palace,” Olyva said.
Lexi stuck the bloody dagger into her belt and wrapped her arms around Olyva. The taller girl did the same around Lexi, then they were pulled up. Lexi closed her eyes as they spun and swayed. Her stomach lurched with each heave that pulled them closer to the war ship. Soon they bumped into the side of the ship, and then Lexi felt strong hands pulling her and Olyva on board.
She took a deep breath and tried to slow her breathing down. Olyva was smiling, obviously just as relieved as Lexi was not to be hanging out of the ship high above the ground.
“We have to get to the palace,” Lexi said. “As quickly as possible.”
“You heard her!” bellowed the soldier in charge. “Bring us around, fast as you can.”
“Where did you learn to throw a spear like that?” Lexi asked Olyva.
“I don’t know,” Olyva said. “Watching Rafe, I guess.”
“It was incredible.”
“I know,” Olyva said. “It felt so empowering.”
“Get another one,” Lexi said. “We may need it.”
Chapter 28
Tiberius
The interior of the palace was filled with soldiers. Rafe and his small band of warriors were fighting their way down the ornate stairwell, but Tiberius was conflicted. They needed to fight their way through the crowd and reach Brutas, wherever he was hiding, but Tiberius didn’t want to see Avondale soldiers struck down.
“To me!” he shouted.
Rafe and the others fell back, surroundin
g Tiberius. The soldiers in the palace were led by the survivors of the king’s army that had been caught out on the rooftop.
“Accendo!” Tiberius shouted.
Normally, the portal of fire opened, and Tiberius merely controlled how much of the raging flames poured out, but this time he molded the fire, controlling where it went and how big the tongues of fire leaped.
Flames sprang up in a ring around Tiberius’ small band of fighters. The soldiers in the palace all fell back. The leader of the king’s troops plucked up his spear and hurled it at Tiberius, but with a wave of his hand, a plume of flame billowed up, knocking the spear off course and sending it flying to the side of the wide hallway at the top of the stairs.
“Stay with me,” Tiberius told the men around him, ignoring the look of terror on most of their faces. “Stay close, and we’ll be fine.”
“It’s okay,” Rafe assured the soldiers. “We’ll be fine. Trust him.”
They slowly made their way down the curving, marble staircase. The soldiers below them fell back. Many were shouting and cursing. There was no denying the use of magic anymore—too many of the soldiers had seen it. They could feel the heat from the ring of fire, and when Tiberius started waving his arm, a tongue of fire elongated and began to flow out from his hand.
To Ti, the movement was familiar, his mind naturally directing the fire just as he had seen his whip slashing through the air. He let the flame stretch out, the fire crackling with each pop of the magical flame. Anyone who tried to challenge the small group was struck by the flaming whip, their bodies knocked backward by the blow, their clothes and armor blackened and singed, although none were seriously hurt.
“What’s the plan?” Rafe asked.
“Let’s move to the feasting hall,” Tiberius said. “I think I can convince most of the troops to stand down.”
“Okay,” Rafe said. “You heard him—let’s move.”
The hallways were crowded, but the flames kept the combatants at bay. No one dared come too close, and anyone that tried to stop the small group was burned, their feeble efforts to fight easily deflected.
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