“We’re more than a mosquito,” said Brendis. “If we crashed the airship into the center of their town, that would loose the fire elemental. That would get their attention.”
“And how do you suppose we’d walk away from that?” Kandler asked.
“It is a good thought, Sir Brendis,” said Deothen, “but we’re not here to get their attention. We want to get in and find out if the girl is there. If she is, we rescue her and leave. If not, we leave and look elsewhere. The changeling was traveling northeast with undead Karrn warriors. It’s safe to assume she’s headed to Karrnath.”
“So how do we get in there?” asked Sallah. “We’re not all warforged. They’ll spot us at once.”
“True,” said Xalt. “But there are many breathers in Construct.”
Sallah’s face lit up. “Excellent! Are they merchants, diplomats? I’m sure we can pose as them and sneak in. It’s just a matter of doing it right.”
Xalt shook his head. “They do get such people from time to time, but they are rare enough that they always draw a crowd.”
“You said there are many ‘breathers’ in town,” Kandler said. “Why are they there?”
Xalt paused a moment before speaking. “Slaves.”
Everyone stared at Xalt.
“You saw Superior’s attitude toward your kind,” said Xalt.
“He is not alone in such beliefs. Among my people, I am somewhat of a… rarity.”
Kandler tapped his forehead. He didn’t like the idea that sprang into his head, but there was nothing else there. “All right. We can pose as slaves and you”-he pointed at Xalt-“you can be our master.”
“You would trust him that far?” Brendis asked.
“You saved my life when you had no reason to do so,” Xalt replied. “I am in your debt. I will pose as your master, if that is what you wish.”
Deothen fell a half step back. “Never,” he said. “The Knights of the Silver Flame are no slaves. There is no honor in such a deception.”
“The honorable route would be suicidal,” said Kandler, frustrated. He had known that Deothen would find some way to object. “You can’t just announce yourself and walk in. They’ll tear you apart.”
“Actually,” said Xalt, “they would probably take you before the town’s ruler for judgment. Then they would either enslave you or tear you apart.”
“Who’s the town ruler?” Deothen asked, a tad too imperiously for Kandler’s taste. “Perhaps he is a creature who can be reasoned with. We have no issue with him. We only want the changeling and the girl, neither of whom are his concern.”
“He’s a lieutenant of the Lord of Blades,” Xalt said. “Each of them is named after a particular kind of sword or knife. They are his tools, after all, his weapons in his war on breathers.”
“What’s this one call himself?” asked Kandler. The artificer’s hesitancy had piqued his curiosity.
“He calls himself after the hand-and-a-half sword, the kind that you can fight with in one hand or switch to a two-handed grip for a more powerful blow. He uses the colloquial term for it-Bastard.”
Deothen’s face fell, and Kandler couldn’t help but smirk to himself.
“The Knights of the Silver Flame are not slaves,” Deothen said firmly.
“We’d just be posing as slaves,” said Sallah. To Kandler, she sounded like the voice of reason, but it seemed that Deothen didn’t share the justicar’s opinion.
The senior knight spun about as if he’d been stabbed. “I can’t believe I’m hearing such words from your mouth, my daughter!”
“Please hear me out,” the lady knight said. “While it is beneath a Knight of the Silver Flame to engage in such deception, there is something else to consider here-the life of the child and the fate of our mission. We can adhere to a strict code of honor here and all end up dead and the girl in enemy hands. Or we can… bend the code. These are extraordinary circumstances, after all.”
“Listen to Sallah,” Kandler urged. “Would you rather ride in with your head held high and have it handed to you or swallow your pride and get the job done?”
Deothen stood before the justicar and steamed, unable to bring himself to speak. Kandler looked the man dead in the eyes and shook his head.
“Never mind,” the justicar said. “Burch and I are going in anyhow. With or without you. If you want to charge in after us, just don’t give us away.”
“Wait!” said Sallah. She turned to her commander. “Sir Deothen, I beg your leave to accompany the others into the warforged city. They may have need of a knight’s talents.”
Deothen grimaced as he considered the request. As Kandler saw it, this was a way for the knight to be able to do the right thing while still keeping his own precious pride. He just hoped the knight would agree.
“Very well,” Deothen said finally. “Brendis and I will stay here in the airship, ready to come to your aid at your signal.”
Kandler nodded. “What kind of signal would work for you?”
Deothen gave Kandler a hard look and said, “If I see the light of the Silver Flame dancing along Sallah’s sword, we will immediately fly to your aid.”
Kandler saw what the knight was doing. If the only signal Deothen would pay attention to was Sallah’s sword, then the justicar would be compelled to help keep Sallah alive.
“Fine,” he said. He turned to Sallah. Her face was flushed, but whether from the impending action or just standing in the whipping wind, he couldn’t discern. “You in?”
The lady knight offered a small bow. “To the end. My sword is yours.”
The justicar turned to Burch and Xalt. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 46
The trail to Construct was not an easy one, but Kandler ignored its challenges. He was too eager to get to the moving city to worry about such things. He’d had Deothen set them down in a hollow out of sight of the warforged capital, and from there they had hiked along in the city’s wide wake.
“Did I have to leave my armor behind?” Sallah said as she hurried after the others, dressed in a large, formless shawl that covered her from chin to waist. Burch walked right in front of her, with Kandler next to him. Xalt led the way toward the mobile city, which grew closer to them with every step.
“We’re posing as Xalt’s slaves,” Kandler said. “Didn’t you hear Deothen explain how a knight would never be a slave?”
Sallah sighed and rested her hand on the pommel of her sacred sword, which she had disguised by wrapping it in a dull cloth she had found in the airship’s hold. “As a Knight of the Silver Flame, I am trained for battle, not subterfuge. This makes me”-she searched for the right word-“uncomfortable.”
Kandler looked up at the rolling sections of Construct as they neared it. The low, gray buildings on the dozens of platforms sprawled away from them like a string of massive barges scudding across the gray-green land. He was thankful that the walkers under the city moved so slowly, but it irritated him that the place was moving away from them at any speed. It made the journey seem much longer than it should.
“If you’re afraid of going into that place…” he said.
“I didn’t say I was afraid.”
“You should be. I am.”
“Me, too,” said Burch.
“How about you, Xalt?” said Kandler.
“Had I skin, it would be white as a sheet.” The warforged gazed along the length of Construct’s platforms. “Even without a gang of breathers tagging behind, I never liked this place.”
“Why?” said Kandler. “It looks like a warforged paradise.”
Xalt shook its head. “This is a place dedicated to conquest and war. As the lady just said, such things make me uncomfortable.”
Burch stared at the moving city as they it grew closer. “Must be heavy,” he said. “Moves slow.”
“When Bastard wishes, the city can move much faster.”
