by Nhys Glover
Smoothing down Spot’s fur on his shoulder, I sent out calming thoughts to him. It was usually him who calmed me. How odd to have the tables turned. But I felt his anxiety ease, and I smiled in response. I loved this great, furry beastling as much as I did my men. My life had been blessed since he came into it and whisked me into the skies.
The ship came closer and my heart began beating faster. Each breath was shallow and panting. Sweat broke out on my brow and turned icy as the wind buffeted my body. It had been over two suns since I’d last gone into battle and known this kind of fear. Every sense was on high alert. Every breath was precious because it might be my last.
When the ship was close enough, we soared high, readying ourselves for the dive for the decks. The only real threat would be from their water mages and maybe a few archers. Over the last week we’d practiced manoeuvring around imagined jets of water those mages would shoot at us. The airlings remembered how it was done, but our three new recruits had to learn to stay seated when the airlings changed direction suddenly. It was a challenge for men who had never ridden an airling before the last moon.
So much had changed so quickly!
Zem, at the front of the formation, looked back over either shoulder to give the nod. In my head I heard the word. ‘Now!’ that went with that nod. He was all business—all warrior—in that moment, and for all my heart still hurt, I was in awe of him. Why couldn’t he see what I did? What we all did? Aye, his warrior was magic, but he was the one who wielded it. Magic was only a tool. How it was used, misused or neglected was what mattered. And Zem used his magnificently.
The airlings dove as one toward the ship. The closer we came, the more we saw. The sailors and priests dashed around on the deck like ants in a disturbed nest. They hadn’t been expecting us, that was apparent. But several priests had stationed themselves on the deck, clearly readying themselves to shoot water at us and our fire.
With a wild cry, I moved Spot out of formation at the designated moment and shot lightning down at the mast. A loud crack and the largest sail began to lurch like a felled tree trunk toward the deck. Cries and screams went up at the sight. But I was already flying away.
Hastily, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure my men had escaped. Only Landor was behind me. Prior was off to my right, still raining fire down on the rowboats on deck, Laric had banked because of a jet of water and was trying to regain his balance. Zem was beside Sky, who was lobbing the huge rock at the deck as if it weighed nothing. Zem shot fire at a water mage on deck who attempted to drive them off.
Despite Zem’s defence, Sky took the full force of a jet of water the moment after he dropped the rock. I watched in horror as he was flung backward end over end until he could right himself again.
Had the powerful force damaged his wing? Aye, it had. As he righted himself with difficulty, it became clear one of his great wings seemed off...
My attention was dragged from the daemon by a loud groan. The ship was listing to the side, ready to topple over from the weight of water rushing into the hull. Our task was done. I could see no rowboats on deck left unharmed. The ship was going down and taking the Devourers with it. Though the whole battle had taken only a matter of moments, it was done.
I turned for shore, watching the faltering Sky with concern. None of us could help him. It wasn’t like we could put a shoulder under his arm and help him hobble back to the beach. All we could do was watch in alarm has he lost more and more height.
I sent out a plea to the others to join me so I could mind-speak to Sky. He would know what was happening. What we could do for him.
A moment later, I felt my men join me, and I reached out to Sky’s mind. It was in chaos. Pain and panic warred with determination to reach the beach.
‘Your wing is damaged,’ I said into his mind.
I saw his head jerk up as he recognised the voice in his head. ‘Yes. I will not make... it to the... beach.’
‘You can swim?’ I asked.
‘Yes. But I am not sure... I can make it that far. I am already... exhausted.’
I tried to infuse amusement into my mind. ‘I thought carrying that rock was nothing for you.’
Unused to teasing he grimaced in pain. ‘Male bravado. I... wanted Shardra to be... impressed.’
His inner voice was faltering as his wings did, and he dipped ever lower toward the choppy sea.
How far from the the beach were we? I narrowed my eyes to see our destination. Almost halfway. But still leagues away. I doubted I could swim to shore from here.
‘I can use my wings to float. Mayhap after I have rested I will be able to swim back,’ he told me between pained gasps.
In my mind I saw what he was thinking of doing. Turning onto his back and using his wings to form a boat hull of sorts. But with a wounded wing would that be possible?
‘Rope. We can pull him to shore with rope,’ Prior’s voice was loud and clear in my mind. From Sky’s reaction, I could tell he’d heard it as clearly as he’d heard my voice.
So I was not the only one who could transmit. Good to know.
I saw in my mind Sky floating on his wings, a rope wound under his arms, with one end going up to Prior and the other to Laric. The idea seemed to be that the two airlings would pull the wounded halfling to shore using the rope.
Were Prior and Laric up to such a task? Their skills were still too new. But it was a good idea. And it might just work. As long as Sky’s wings could form the shape required to keep him afloat.
Glancing back, I saw the ship had listed completely to its side and was floating like a dead fish on the choppy water. Men were splashing in that water, clinging to pieces of flotsam, or just screaming out their fear as they were dragged under. My stomach roiled. We had done that. We had killed sailors whose only crime was agreeing to carry the Devourer priests after us. That little seer would have gone down with the ship, too. She wouldn’t have had the strength to try to swim, even if she knew how.
Gritting my teeth, I pushed my guilt away. We had a world to save. And that required Sky. He had to be my only priority, my only focus in this moment because, without him, we didn’t have a chance.
We Five flew back toward the island as fast as we could. But Zem diverted at the last minute to land Storm on the deck of our ship. From his mind I could see he was going for a rope. Of course, a sailing ship had lots of rope, where we had little of it on shore with us.
‘I have to be the one to do this,’ he thought to us. ‘The airlings will find dragging that kind of weight frightening. I have the best chance of keeping mine from panicking.’
It had been my thought too, so I quickly spoke up. ‘It needs to be you and me. We have the best chance of success.’
I could feel the other’s resistance, but no one disagreed. In moments, Zem had found a coiled rope and was bounding back onto Storm’s back.
‘How?’ I asked him as we turned back to where Sky had gone down.
My heart sank as I realised the daemon was no longer in the sky. Had he managed to stay afloat?
In my mind an image appeared of Zem throwing the rope across to me, while he kept hold of one end. I would fly at a distance from him to keep the rope tight then move in as close to him as the airlings could safely go, allowing the rope droop in the middle as low as possible, making sure it remained in front of the airlings’ shoulders and away from their wings.
Learning to fly in formation had taught us a lot about how these great flying creatures could manoeuvre when in close quarters with each other. Zem and I knew how much wingspan they needed, and the height required for one flap of those great wings.
I nodded my agreement to Zem’s plan, and we turned back toward our downed companion. The Being who would become the saviour of the world.
If we could save him.
As we flew, Zem tied the end of the rope to one of the horns on Storm’s shoulders. From his tense features, I knew he was not sure this was going to work. I also knew, from suns of friendship, he was tr
ying to work out a way to do this alone. But even he could see that pulling a creature as big and unwieldy as Sky would be impossible for just one airling. It would take two. And even then it might not be enough.
No, we had to do this together. And I had to make the catch on the first throw because, if it fell away, it might tangle in the airlings’ wings and bring one or both of us down.
It would need to be a perfectly timed throw using all Zem’s warrior strength. An ordinary man couldn’t throw across such a distance with that kind of accuracy. It might have been Prior’s idea, but he could never have pulled it off, even if he’d been riding airlings for suns.
We’d already covered half the distance back to where Sky had gone down. We needed to have it ready by the time we reached him.
Gritting his teeth, Zem frowned across at me. ‘Ready?’
I nodded.
The coiled rope flew from his muscled arm and snaked out between me. I saw the end sailing just above my head. I reached up and snatched it from the air, pulling it against my chest. The rough, spikiness of it felt wonderful against my skin, the heavy weight of it pure delight. All because I’d done my part and caught it when I needed to. All because we’d done the impossible!
I felt relief from the others pressing in on me, and I looked around.
They’d all come with us?
Aye. There they were. Instead of going back to the beach because their part was done, they’d decided to come along for support. Moral support.
I grinned back at them and held up the rope in triumph. This felt a bigger victory than sinking the Devourer’s ship. That feat had been achieved too easily to be valued as a win. Especially as so many innocents had likely gone down with that ship.
The next part would be tricky. We had to move closer and get the drooping slack of the rope wedged under the front shoulders of our airlings. If it shifted any further back it would interfere with the flapping of their wings.
I tied my end to one of the horns, leaned over Spot’s shoulder, and moved in closer to the other airling, making sure the slack drooped in front of the shoulder. Zem did the same thing on his side.
Finally, when the thirty or forty strides of slack rope swung safely almost to the sea beneath us, I scrambled back into my place and breathed a sigh of relief. Another task achieved.
But it would all be wasted if Sky had not succeeded in staying afloat.
It was hard to spot him in the heaving and tossing waves. The wind had come up some time between us leaving the beach and now. I couldn’t help wondering if The Jayger himself was influencing the sea, out of frustration and fury. Whatever the cause, the waves were certainly growing higher and wilder with every passing moment.
Could Sky stay afloat in all that turbulence?
I heard Zem’s relieved cry in my head the moment before I spotted the halfling. Sky was bobbing up and down on his back; his beautiful silvery wings a perfectly formed boat around him. But water was splashing over the edges, and he had to fight to stay afloat as the waves buffeted him from all quarters.
So much for this being a way to regain his strength!
Sending out a warning cry to him, I suddenly realised why my men had come back with us. We didn’t know how far apart we could be before our mind-speak stopped working. Why hadn’t I thought of that? It seemed I was always forgetting this wasn’t just about me—or even me and Zem—anymore. It required all of us to achieve our seemingly impossible tasks.
Sky looked up and I felt his relief. ‘Just in time. I’ll grab it as you fly over.’
Zem and I positioned ourselves so we could approach from his feet. We needed to be low enough and slow enough for him to be able to catch the slack fast. Once he had it, we had to pray he had enough strength left to pull it down and under his arms. It would need to be equally distributed between Zem and I, or either one or both of us might become unbalanced and careen off into the sea.
While the others looked on, Zem and I came in close enough to allow the slack to hover a stride or less over the water. We flew in, the airling’s wing tips almost touching the tops of the frothy waves.
Sky reached up and made a grab for the rope. But it was just out of his reach. Frag it!
We banked and came back for another go. We couldn’t fly any closer to each other and it was dangerous to drop much nearer to the waves. The airlings wings could skim the tops of them, but anymore and they would be dragged down into the waiting, hungry sea. I bewailed the fact there hadn’t been more rope. Initially, I’d been sure there was more than enough.
With the others urging us on, we readied ourselves for another run at it. If we couldn’t drop low enough for Sky to grab the rope, how would we have enough to loop under his arms?
There was nothing for it but to try. Curse these waves! It would have been so much easier if the sea had remained as flat and peaceful as it had been before the Devourer’s ship was sunk.
We flew in and let the rope slide over Sky’s upturned body. I felt the tug and drag as the halfling grabbed firmly onto the rope.
For a moment Spot panicked at the sudden drag. I sent him calming thoughts with pictures of what we were trying to do. He steadied beneath me. Zem must have been doing something similar with Storm because his faithful female was taking it all in her stride.
Zem and I were perfectly and equally placed. Glancing down, I saw Sky looping the rope under his arms. It pulled us lower for one frightening moment, before loosening again just enough that we could lift up, just skimming the tops of the waves with the downward sweep of the airlings’ wings.
It had seemed much easier in my mind than it was in reality. I could feel Spot straining under the weight of the burden as we dragged Sky through the waves. He should have just scooted across the surface, but the waves kept getting in the way, forcing him to plough through them. Each one that hit him jerked on the rope and momentarily unbalancing the airlings.
But with agonising slowness, we flew for the beach. The closer it came, the more breath I seemed able to get into my lungs. I could see the ship approaching, tossing on the waves, as it sat at anchor a distance from the beach. Maybe we could let the daemon off there?
I felt Sky’s need to be with Shardra as if it were my own, and I knew we had to make it to the beach. Separating the wounded halfling from his mate would be unnecessary torture for them both.
I looked across at Zem. His thoughts mirrored mine. The sensible thing to do was to let him off at the ship to wait out the storm; the right thing to do was to struggle on the extra half a league to the beach so we could assure ourselves of Sky’s wellbeing. And for Shardra.
We struggled on, Spot slowing and his wings becoming sluggish. Each rise and fall was becoming agony. But we were so close.
Finally the beach was upon us.
‘We’re going to drop the rope,’ I told Sky, picturing for him his next actions: us letting go so he could ride a wave into the shallows, bringing the rope with him.
When I knew he was close enough, we let go.
The sudden loss of weight shot Zem and I skyward. For an impossibly long moment, the airlings fought to right themselves and so did we. Then, levelling out, we looked toward the beach where Sky was riding a wave in on his feather boat.
I could feel Spot’s exhaustion. It was no greater than mine. Zem looked as if he’d aged years. As we came in for a landing on the beach, I didn’t have the energy to even smile. The airlings might have carried the weight, but I felt as if I’d done as much as they had.
Sliding off Spot’s back, I spent long moments rubbing against his side in relief and gratitude. My praise of him was accepted as his due, and I smiled a little at that. I was his human, and he’d done me a favour out of the goodness of his heart. That I was grateful was only to be expected. I was a good human in that way. It was one of the reasons he loved me.
Zem staggered over to me, and I fell into his arms. It was like old times. Like when the battle with the Godling’s army was over and we threw down our sw
ords and hugged each other with joy. We’d kissed that day and nearly made love on the dead bodies scattered around us. It had been that overwhelming.
But this time we weren’t caught up in bloodlust. This time we were just exhausted and grateful to be alive. And so we hugged and didn’t even kiss.
Was it only exhaustion that kept me from placing my lips on his cheek? I didn’t know. I wasn’t up to ferreting out my reasons for my actions. It was enough to note there was no kiss. For whatever reason.
When the others joined us, jubilant with triumph and joy, I felt my depleted store of energy surge up. I was surrounded by my men. We had scuttled a ship and brought the Key to the underworld safely to shore. We had won!
This time we’d won, but I was not fool enough to think that meant we’d always win.
Chapter Eleven
Shardra rushed to Sky’s side and wrapped her desperate arms around him. Tears poured down her cheeks as she checked him over for injuries.
From what I could see, except for exhaustion, half drowning and a twisted wing, he was doing well enough. The soft words of consolation he gave his lover confirmed as much.
But Zem strode up to Sky and asked him to test out his wing.
Sky stood and extended his wings, grimacing as he did so. Shardra exclaimed and shot Zem a look that could have killed.
We all studied the wing that wouldn’t fully extend.
“It’s a break in one of the smaller bones here,” Zem said with interest, gently touching a spot half way along the expanse, where a splintered white bone protruded through the skin. “If it’s anything like a human bone it can be realigned and...”
“I can do it,” Landor interrupted gently, coming to study the wing that was starting to droop from the effort required to hold it up.
Zem wasn’t the only one who’d forgotten Landor’s healing abilities. Zem smiled at him in relief and frowned a little at Landor’s stiff response. Gods, this was not good. How long before my men forgave Zem?
