“It is too late for that, Vanstrom,” the man said bitterly. “Tonight, I am going to confront Karnac once and for all. I should have done it when we first left Meiyerditch two years ago. He’s led us from one disaster to another!”
“Don’t be a fool, Hereward. If you do this, then
“Don’t touch me, Vanstrom.” Something hard and metallic scraped on leather.
“You’re not one of us, Vanstrom. You never have been. Coming and going from Meiyerditch. Escaping from Canifis. That’s too many lucky breaks.”
Pia heard a scuffle, then Hereward cursed and Vanstrom gasped, but it was as if both sounds were curiously muted.
She shot around the corner into the narrow passageway. The quivers fell at her feet, the sound making a clattering echo in the hard stone walls of the place. She heard Hereward gasp and she saw him turn, the glint of a knife catching the torchlight above.
“Wh-” he began.
And then she was on him, her fingers like claws, her teeth biting and ripping on his arm. She felt him stagger under her weight as he punched her with his free hand and then she heard a noise like two stones smashing together.
Hereward’s body went limp beneath her, sinking to the ground as if he were a puppet without strings. Above him, Pia saw Vanstrom, outlined under the light. In his right hand he held a rock, a black stain upon it, his eyes wild.
“Pia. Get up. Move,” he said. “Get out. Get out.
She stood quickly, stumbling once. Her hand pressed against something soft and wet in the darkness beneath her and a nauseating smell rose up, making her gag.
“Get up and get out,” he repeated. “Go to our place. I will finish up here.”
“I was trying to help! He attack-”
“I know, but I can take care of myself. Now, go. Tell no one of this, and clean your hand before you leave here.”
“My hand?” She lifted it to the light and saw that it was stained in blood-and something else. Something else that looked like scrambled egg.
“I cracked his skull open, Pia. Now, go.”
Something in his voice and the look in his eyes made her grow cold. She took the quivers up in her arms and without knowing why, she ran-first to the subterranean well where she washed herself, and then up to the surface, to deposit her burden before Kara and Theodore, who were busy distributing the weapons they would take with them.
No one noticed her as she climbed the scaffolding back to the groove in the rock, they were all so busy below as the balloon gradually took shape. No longer was it a flat canvas with a loose net hanging at its base, but rather it looked like an upturned garlic bulb. Down each side of the balloon there hung a primitive rope ladder that led up to the top. The nets for the passengers were stitched to the balloon’s canvas near its bottom, a few yards hanging below it into empty space.
She watched it for a moment, and then when she was alone her thoughts turned to Hereward. She drew her knees up to her chin and thought of what she had done.
She didn’t know how long she sat like that, but when she looked up again the now familiar and still wondrous sight of the pink horizon was there.
“It will be dawn soon. Time for us to fly.”
“What did you do with-”
“It doesn’t matter. It is too late for anything to interfere now. Soon, we will leave this place, and all that we did here-all the ugly little things that we had to do to survive. They will be like nightmares. And nightmares cannot hurt us, can they, Pia?”
Vanstrom sat behind her, his strong arms around her shoulders, holding her.
Restraining her.
“Can they, Pia?”
“No… no…”
Vanstrom pushed forward suddenly. And Pia panicked.
She twisted in his grasp. Her foot slid outward, toward the edge, her leg bent. The edge of the rock was right behind her, disappearing into a hundred-yard drop that ended in the shallows of the lagoon.
Pia lost her balance.
“Please… no please…”
Vanstrom’s hand shot out. He seized her wrist and pulled her back.
“By the gods, girl, what do you think you are doing? Sit quiet and be still.”
She looked into his eyes and felt his arms press about her, as if he was afraid she might try to pull away.
“I… I don’t know… I… I’m sorry.”
The words stumbled out of her mouth in a near whisper.
“You’re crying. You’re scared,” he said. “Scared of me and of what we’ve done. But we did the right thing, Pia.
She shook her head in confusion.
“Albertus? What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Did you know that he went to offer his life in exchange for yours, Pia, and for Jack’s? That that was what finally ended the embassy’s protection? He was injured when he did so, according to Gleeman. When you return to the plateau, Pia, take a long look at that dying old man. He offered his life in exchange for yours. He may well end up giving it, for I cannot see him living for much longer.
“Should he die, then it will be your duty to live a good life, Pia. So when you go back down there, look him in the eye and know what he offered to do for you and your brother. Don’t make his sacrifice worthless by throwing away the chance he has given you.
“Do you understand?”
Pia nodded, though she was not certain.
“Come, Pia,” he said. “Let us wait here together for a few minutes more, and watch the dawn. It won’t be long now.”
Suddenly a great roar went up from behind them. Pia looked down onto the plateau and saw the balloon jerk upward. Down below, the gnome’s burner was expelling an orange flame. The balloon tugged upon the two ropes at each end, lifting the device gently from the ground, and it was buffeted by the wind.
“It’s ready!” Master Peregrim shouted out. “Now we need a few volunteers to man the top. People who are good with bows.”
Pia saw several volunteers step forward. Castimir was pushed forward by Arisha, and both Kara and Theodore were chosen. Lord Despaard and Harold also.
“Where are they going to go?” she asked.
“On top of the balloon we have added a wooden platform. The plan is to have several archers up there in case anyone should try to prevent our escape. Do you see those ropes at the balloon’s sides, the ones that go from the ground to the top?”
Pia looked and gave a nod.
