Soulblade (29 page)

“Where’s Phelistoth?” Cas asked, walking up the bank with Tylie so they would be out of earshot from Zia.

“I didn’t agree with what he was doing, so I told him to leave me.”

“What he’s doing?”

“We can explain it on the way,” Quataldo said quietly, stepping out of the shadows. “We need to get the fliers in the air, so we can pick up Tolemek and Kaika in the bay to the south of here. With luck, we’ll be picking up the emperor too. Can you communicate with Blazer and get her and Duck up here too? We’ll need all of the seats.” He gave Tylie a troubled look. If she wasn’t able to ride back with Phelistoth, they were actually a seat short.

“Even with all of them, there’s not room for Zia,” Pimples said, still standing in the water next to the raft where she had to remain, thanks to Phelistoth’s magic.

“Our next stop will be Iskandia,” Quataldo said. “I’m sure she would prefer to stay with her people. Ahn, go rub a crystal.”

“Yes, sir.” Cas started toward the fliers, leaving the others to figure out what to do with their guest. Her heart pounded as she imagined Tolemek and Kaika trying to infiltrate the Cofah fleet by themselves. She also hadn’t forgotten that Phelistoth had bent some trees to make room for her and Pimples to land, trees that wouldn’t likely bend again without him here.

She found the fliers under their camo netting, undisturbed. She wriggled up into the cockpit before bothering to peel back the netting and thumbed the communication crystal.

“Captain Blazer?”

An impressive yawn answered her.

“I’ll take that for a yes. Are you and Duck ready to fly, ma’am?”

“Always ready to fly. Do they have the emperor already? Where’s the pickup? The city?”

“I’m not sure what the status is on the emperor, but our team is making their incursion now.” Did two people count as an incursion? “Kaika and Tolemek, at least. Quataldo is with us approximately two miles west of the city. Pimples and I have to do some work to free our fliers. You should fly within a couple of miles of the city, staying out of sight of the bay and the imperial airships, then circle until one of us contacts you. We’ll want to go in together, in and out as quickly as possible.”

“No argument from me. We’ll be up there faster than Duck can skin a ’gator.”

“Does anyone have an axe in their tool kit?” Cas pushed the camo netting away from her cockpit, frowning at a tree that was too close for her to take off without mangling her wing.

“I have a nail file,” Pimples said.

“So you can work on your cuticles while you fly?” Cas cursed and jumped down. She had a small survival axe for chopping branches for firewood, but it would take days to hack down the trees around them with it.

“I lost my screwdriver, and the supply sergeant wouldn’t give me a new one. The file does in a pinch.”

“I don’t think it will work to saw down a tree.”

“You need the trees moved?” Tylie asked, touching the thick trunk Cas had been glowering at earlier.

“Just that one, and probably those two by Pimples’ flier. We’ll risk crashing through a few branches to get out of here.”

“I think I can do it now. I watched Phel and then asked him about how he talks to the nature.” Tylie lowered her chin to her chest and leaned her forehead against the trunk.

“Talks to the nature?” Cas mouthed.

Pimples came up beside her, his own netting already rolled and folded. “You sure you don’t want my file?”

A distant roar floated through the marsh. A frog that had been croaking in the reeds halted abruptly.

“What was that?” Cas asked.

“The dragons were posturing at each other as we left,” Quataldo said.

“
Dragons?
More than one?”

“I’ll explain that en route too. Did you reach Blazer?”

“Yes, sir,” Cas said. “She and Duck are coming.”

“Tylie insists on going along to help her brother,” Pimples said.

Cas shoved her camo netting into its compartment with more muscle than the job required. Tolemek would be devastated if they left his sister to be eaten by alligators, but was taking her into battle any better? What if something happened to her? Tolemek had been hurt enough in his life, and he had so few people in the world who cared about him and whom he cared about. He needed Tylie, perhaps even more than he realized. Cas shuddered at the idea of being responsible for losing her.

“Zia thinks she’ll be fine by herself. She said she’d pole the raft back to the city where she’ll be safe.” Pimples grimaced, his displeasure at leaving her alone obvious, but they didn’t have many other options. The princess hadn’t been afraid to shoot and had kept her head against those alligators, but that didn’t mean she had been effective against them. None of them had, aside from Phelistoth. “I’m hoping we can finish quickly and that I can come back for her,” he said.

“She’s not coming to Iskandia with us,” Cas said. “There’s no room in the fliers, and that could start a war.”

Pimples’ chin came up. “Like kidnapping the emperor won’t?”

“He’s a crotchety old ass who has successors coveting his throne. How many people will risk themselves to save him? She, on the other hand, is young, pretty, and nice.”

“Yes,” Pimples said with a dreamy sigh. “She is.”

“The entire empire might rally to retrieve her.”

A soft moan came from behind them. It wasn’t a human or animal noise; it sounded more like wood sighing. The tree Tylie stood next to now leaned away from the flier, as it had when Cas first landed.

Tylie held up her hand, as if she were commanding it to stay, then jogged toward the second tree blocking them in.

“Huh,” Cas said. “Maybe she can do more than we think.”

Quataldo strode over to join them. “We ready to go?”

“As soon as those two trees over there sigh,” Pimples said.

“Get the fliers ready. I’ll come with you, Lieutenant Ahn.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Pimples, you’ll take Tylie. At some point, she’ll have to transfer back to Phelistoth, so we have room for the emperor.” Quataldo frowned, and Cas wondered at the logistics of mid-air transfers. It might be better to leave Tylie with Zia, but then, she was the only one who could communicate with Tolemek and Kaika, since they had lost the other communication crystal. “Let’s hope they can reconcile long enough for a flight home.”

“Yes, sir,” Pimples said. He started for his cockpit, but then sprinted back toward the water.

He splashed into it and leaned onto the raft to whisper a couple of words to Zia. He touched a hand to her arm, then leaned back to go. She reached out and caught him, whispered something back, then took his face in her hands and kissed him.

At first, Cas could only gawk. Then she looked at Quataldo, afraid he would be irritated at the delay—even though Tylie had one more tree to move. The colonel merely looked stunned.

He turned his confused gaze to Cas, as if she could explain. “That’s the Cofah princess, isn’t it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And that’s Lieutenant Pimples, isn’t it?” He truly sounded like he wasn’t sure.

“Yes, sir. Apparently, she finds his stories more endearing than his squadron mates do.”

“I guess so.”

Pimples finished his kiss and sprinted out of the water with his knees and head high. He seemed to float up into his cockpit, barely using his hands to make the jump. Cas scrambled up into her own. The third tree had been moved. She flipped the switch, and the power crystal flared to life.

“We’re coming for you, Tolemek,” she murmured.

Another roar sounded in the distance. She hoped they would be in time.

Chapter 12

A
s dawn brightened the mountains behind them, Sardelle caught the scent of a campfire. Or maybe a hearth? She, Therrik, and Bhrava Saruth had not run into any other people since leaving the mining outpost, and she had started to long for company. She especially longed for a bath. After being pummeled with those rocks, she was the dirtiest member of their little group, outdoing even Therrik, who was often on his knees, squinting and poking at dirt. She had to take his word for it that they were still on the trail, since they had not encountered any more buttons.

Wouldn’t you be concerned if we had? Two is already alarming. Either he’s being very rough on his clothing, or she’s tearing his jacket off every night, also roughly.

Sardelle stumbled.
Jaxi!

What? It hadn’t crossed your mind?

Why
would
it? I’ve been more worried that she’s dragging him along on a leash and torturing him every night.

I suppose torture could account for missing buttons.

Sardelle rubbed her face, exasperated with Jaxi for putting new ideas in her head. But surely Ridge having sex with the enemy sorceress was the last thing she needed to worry about. She was more concerned that Eversong wanted to use him for some nefarious purpose and was forcing him to trail along with her until they reached the capital. Maybe she was sifting through his brain for military secrets. Or maybe she thought Angulus or someone else would pay a ransom for Ridge. Sardelle certainly would if it meant getting him back, though she preferred her current plan of thrusting Therrik and his hateful sword at her.

Hoping to get her mind off thoughts of what Ridge might be enduring, she stretched ahead with her senses, trying to tell if they approached a nomadic camp or a village.

A village
, Jaxi said.
And I’m sorry I made the joke about the buttons. You’re right. I don’t think women who try to burn his flier down with fireballs appeal to him.

Certainly not.

Bhrava Saruth?
Sardelle called out with her mind. She could sense him a couple of miles in the distance.
Are you still hunting?
You may want to stay away a little longer. We’re going into a village.

A village? With potential worshippers?

Uhm. We’re just planning to pass through. I don’t think there will be time to get them used to the idea of a friendly dragon.

A
divine
dragon.

That too.

Bhrava Saruth did not comment again, and she hoped she hadn’t bothered him by brushing off his hopes and dreams, such as they were. Once she had Ridge back safe, she would go with him to remote villages and try to explain him if he wished.

That should prove interesting
, Jaxi said.
High priestess.

I said I’d try to explain him, not recruit for him.

I don’t think there’s an explanation for him that makes sense.

The trail they were on turned into a dirt road. Therrik stepped out onto it, looked in both directions, and sighed. The village lay to the left, no more than thirty houses and barns. The road traversed a clearing in the opposite direction before heading back up into tree-laden foothills. Hoofmarks, horse droppings, and wagon wheel ruts adorned the area around Therrik’s feet, and Sardelle guessed his problem. Tracking would be harder on such a trafficked surface.

“It’s all right,” she said, stopping at the edge of the road. “We can check in the town. If anybody’s seen them—” She stopped, not wanting to admit that she and Jaxi could sift through people’s thoughts if necessary. “Ridge is memorable. Unless she has him chained in the back of a wagon, people will have seen him.”

“No, he’s been walking along with her. I can’t see any sign that he’s been forcibly coerced.” Therrik scratched his head. “This is the woman who was helping bomb the capital, right?”

“We believe so.”

Her mind boggled at the idea that some
other
sorceress might have pulled Ridge from the river and be wandering the wilderness with him. Who else could set magical traps to crush people following them?

Therrik grunted and headed for the village. Sardelle hesitated, then followed him more closely than she had been, concerned it would look odd if they strolled into town at the same time, but with ten meters separating them. She had been staying back, not trusting Kasandral not to misbehave, but they hadn’t had trouble since the canyon. There
had
been two more traps, but they hadn’t posed a problem. Bhrava Saruth had insisted Sardelle remain well back while he went forward and triggered them.

Kasandral may not be the only problem here,
Jaxi said.

What?
The village appeared innocuous enough. Despite the early hour, men already worked out in fields, readying the land for whatever crops could thrive in the short mountain springs and summers. Behind the houses, women and children tended gardens and fed livestock.

There’s a man working in that smithy who has dragon blood.
Jaxi offered a mental shrug.
It may mean nothing, but he may be able to sense that I’m not an ordinary sword, and if Bhrava Saruth comes close...

I’ll ask him to keep hunting deer and wait until the next village to seek friends.

Followers.

“Mama,” a boy cried from the garden behind a house. “Another soldier.”

Sardelle sucked in a breath.
Another?

She quickened her pace, forgetting her wariness of Therrik. She passed him and led the way into the village, almost crashing into a chubby freckled woman who stepped out of the house the boy had been working behind. She wore an apron dusted by floury handprints.

“Hello,” Sardelle blurted, almost clasping her hands in her eagerness to ask about Ridge.

The woman smiled, but Sardelle restrained herself nonetheless. When she had been a girl, growing up in a village not dissimilar to this, strangers had always been regarded with wariness, thanks to bandits that had occasionally worked the roads.

“Can I help you?” She looked past Sardelle to Therrik.

He was nearly as dirty as she, but his uniform made it clear he wasn’t the average stranger—or a bandit.

“Colonel Vann Therrik, ma’am,” he said, his voice less gruff and surly than usual. Or at least than it usually was when he spoke to Sardelle.