“Just go,” Kandler said. “Hurry! And you’d better hope she’s in one piece when I finally hunt you down.”
“Happy hunting.” Te’oma smiled and flapped off into the deepening night.
When Te’oma caught with the airship, she saw Esprл hanging limp in the leather strap that held her to the wheel. Te’oma landed, folded the wings, and rushed to the girl. From the look of her, Esprл had smashed her head into the ship’s wheel when the ship put an end to Bastard. Blood trickled from her forehead and down her face.
The changeling undid the strap from around Esprл’s waist and laid the girl out gingerly on the bridge. She looked dead.
Te’oma knelt down and put her ear to the girl’s chest. The heartbeat brought a smile to Te’oma’s lips. As she leaned back, Esprл’s eyes fluttered open, and the girl looked up at the changeling.
“It’s all right,” Te’oma said. She held the injured girl close and stroked her long, blonde hair. “It’s going to be all right.”
The airship kept sailing toward far-off Karrnath, beyond the Mournland’s misty walls, and the changeling did nothing to impede her course.
