As the ship neared the ground, Kandler shoved the others ahead of him toward the fiery ring’s lower arch. “Hit it hard, and hold on tight!”
Superior looked back from the edge of camp where he’d fled and realized what was happening. “No!” he shouted. He launched himself toward the ship. The other warforged held back, unwilling to risk their lives to take on a flying ship in hand-to-hand combat.
The ship smashed into the ground with a loud crunch. The ring of fire flared out and scorched the nearby earth. A couple of warforged who had crept too close were engulfed in the flames, burned to metal-clad crisps before they had a chance to scream.
The rest of the warforged scattered before the landing-except for Superior. He charged at the escaping prisoners and slashed at them with it blade.
Kandler turned to face the warforged leader. He needed to buy the others some time or Superior would cut them all down as they fled. He parried the first blow, but Superior lowered his shoulder and plowed him back into the dirt. The justicar’s head landed less than a foot from the ring of fire.
“Get off!” Kandler roared at the creature trying to crush him. As the pair struggled, the others clambered onto the fiery ring’s lower restraining arch. Sallah boosted the battered knights and the wounded Xalt up ahead of her, then turned her attention to Kandler’s plight.
The justicar struggled to escape, but Superior laid into him with all its weight, pinning him down. It was all he could do to draw a ragged breath.
Kandler had a hand on the warforged’s sword arm, trying to keep the creature from impaling him on its blade. But he was no match for Superior’s strength, and the warforged pressed the tip of its sword inexorably toward the justicar’s throat.
Kandler knew he had to do something fast. He looked up and saw the ring of fire roaring only a few scant feet from his head. His hair smoldering from the heat, Kandler rolled away from the fiery ring as hard as he could. Determined to prevent his victim from getting away, Superior pressed back in the other direction with his full bulk.
Instead of continuing to struggle against the warforged atop him, Kandler switched directions and allowed Superior’s momentum to carry the warforged over him and into the fire. Immediately, Superior realized his mistake and clawed at Kandler to try to prevent himself from rolling over into the ring, but it was too late.
Superior screamed as the flames swallowed its head and shoulders. He tried to pull free from the fire, but Kandler held him there, the skin on his hands and arms blistering.
“See you in Dolurrh,” Kandler said as he shoved Superior off him. He scrambled away from the fiery ring and toward the restraining arch.
Sallah saw the justicar coming. She pounced upon the arch herself and reached back to give Kandler a hand up.
“Go, go, go!” Kandler shouted as soon as his feet left the ground. The airship leaped into the air. As she went, the carved wood of the mystic arch creaked, complaining about the abuse of the landing and the load of its passengers, but it held.
As the ship gained altitude, the warforged in the camp peeked out of their hiding places. Some of them brought out bows.
“Archers!” Sail ah shouted out above the noise of the raging fire.
Kandler smiled despite himself and shouted, “Hold on!”
Chapter 41
The airship lurched skyward and leaned to port. Arrows whizzed past. The few that found any mark either lodged themselves in the restraining arch or incinerated on contact with the ring of fire. As the ship raced away, Kandler waved the warforged camp a heartfelt goodbye.
Just when Kandler began to relax, the maimed warforged who had risked his life to save the intruders slipped out toward the edge of the restraining arch. He hung from a corner of the arch for a split second, his feet swinging free in the sky. Kandler’s free hand darted out to him, catching him before he fell. Seeing the justicar’s predicament, Sallah grabbed the back of his belt with her free hand.
“Let go!” Xalt said. “I will survive the fall.”
“And then they’ll kill you,” said Kandler.
With Sallah holding onto his belt, the justicar reached out with both hands and pulled the warforged in. It wasn’t until later that he realized how easily he’d trusted the knight with his life.
An arrow bounced off Xalt’s carapace as he scrambled atop the arch. Xalt clung to the justicar with both arms as the ship veered back and forth in an effort to protect those on the arch from the arrows.
The airship soon sailed over the crest of the nearest hill and out of sight of the camp. She stopped bobbing and weaving, and Kandler extricated himself from the warforged’s viselike embrace.
The justicar looked out at the blasted hills of the Mourn-land below as a stiff breeze ruffled the green-gray grass that lined them like a day-old beard. The sky grew darker by the moment, and it would soon be pitch black again.
As the airship’s fiery ring propelled them forward, Kandler looked at the others in its hot, flickering light. Sallah tended to Brendis’ wounds while a battered Deothen looked on, waiting for the younger knights to be healed before he would call attention to his own injuries. Xalt held his severed finger in his good hand, examining both it and the damaged hand as he looked for a way to match them together.
Kandler stood and balanced on the restraining arch as the airship lowered itself into a hollow several miles away from the warforged camp. He leaped to the ground and helped the others to the turf and then up the rope ladder to the ship’s deck. He climbed up last. When he reached the top of the ladder, Esprл met him with a hug neither of them ever wanted to break.
“Glad to see you,” he said. She looked up at him then backed away long enough for him to climb over the railing.
Kandler looked up at the bridge, and Burch waved down at him. The justicar strode up to his old friend, Esprл under his arm, and clapped him on the back. “Did you do all that fancy flying?” he asked.
The shifter smiled. “You have Esprл to blame. That was some sharp stunt, pup.”
Kandler gave Esprл a proud hug. “You did great,” he said. “You saved us all.”
Esprл didn’t say a word. She just beamed up at Kandler, soaking up his adoration. The justicar looked up at the ring of fire blazing overhead. From there, against the darkening clouds, it reminded him of the Rings of Siberys that soared across Eberron’s night sky.
“So where now?” Kandler said. “Back to Mardakine?”
The shifter shook his head. “Others might think different.” He jerked his head toward the knights on the main deck, where they huddled around Xalt.
Kandler left Esprл at the wheel. “I’ll be right back.”
As the justicar strode over to the knights, he saw Deothen shaking his head. “I’m afraid there’s nothing more we can do,” the senior knight told Xalt. “At least not until we get to Flamekeep.”
The artificer held up his wounded arm, the finger back in place. For a moment, Kandler thought that the knights had been able to reattach the digit, but then Xalt pulled the finger from his hand and stuffed it into a pouch on the inside of his white tabard.
“You say the clerics there can repair such damage?” the warforged said in a hopeful tone.
“The favors of the Silver Flame are available to all those willing to open their hearts and minds to its sacred light,” said Deothen.
“Careful,” Kandler said as he approached. “Give them a chance, and these knights will induct you into their order.”
“Would that be so bad?” Xalt asked, his wide obsidian eyes focused on the justicar like those of an innocent puppy. “I wouldn’t think so.”
“I don’t speak ill of my traveling companions,” Kandler said with a smile.
The warforged just looked at him, confused.
