The Crucible of the Dragon God

'By a narrow margin, Kali Hooper. But I do not understand — you are thinking of hiding the ship beyond Andon?'

Kali smiled. 'Something like that, Mister Pirate.'

Aldrededor frowned, not understanding but willing to comply nonetheless.

'Very well, Kali Hooper. But how do my wife, Mister Slowhand and yourself plan to leave the ship exactly?'

'I don't. It's you lot I need to walk the plank.'

The ex-pirate 's eyebrows rose. 'This ship needs a pilot, Kali Hooper.'

'No, Aldrededor, not any more. The ship's locked on course, right? So even if you detach yourself from the threads, it'll get me where I need to go yes?'

'Yes, but — '

'Then it's settled,' Kali looked at the ground. 'Get yourself ready, there isn't much time.'

'Whoa, whoa, whoa,' Slowhand protested. 'There isn't much time for what? How exactly are we going to abandon ship, Hooper?'

'Once, whenna our sheep was swept into the sky by the Great Gusts of Groom,' Dolorosa interjected, 'Aldrededor and I escape using the sheep's flag anda feathers from its mascot. We called itta the parrot- chute!'

'You have to be kidding, right?' Slowhand sighed. 'Well, unfortunately, we're all out of parrots, too.'

'You havva the better idea, preety boy?'

'Pretty boy?'

'Yessa, preety boy!'

'Hey!'

'I have the better idea,' Kali interrupted. 'We use the Roaring.'

'The Roaring?'

Kali nodded, picturing the giant, coolwater geyser that erupted north of Miramas and Gargas, the strange wall of water she had seen at sea having given her the idea. No one really knew what the source of the Roaring was, though some said it was an outlet for water surging underground from the other side of the World's Ridge Mountains. What she did know was that it thundered into the air for an hour each day at about this time, and the phenomenon was right in their flightpath. What was more, when the geyser crashed back to ground, its overflow became the Rainbow River which, flowing south-easterly, eventually fed Badlands Brook near which sat the Flagons. If Slowhand and the others gave themselves to the geyser and the current of the river they should not only be home in no time but — assuming they stayed in the moving water — relatively safe from any k'nid infestation between here and their destination.

'Let me get this straight,' Slowhand said. 'You want us to jump into the Roaring?'

'Only if it's spouting.'

'What ees the matter, preety boy — afraid of a leetle water?' Dolorosa taunted. She joined Aldrededor at the ship's rails, her husband having already detached himself from the controls, trusting Kali implicitly.

'I'm not going anywhere,' Slowhand said to Kali. 'I'm staying with you.'

'Slowhand, you can't. One person on board, this ship get where I need it to go. Two, it crashes and burns.'

'Then you jump, too!' the archer retorted. And then, more softly: 'Dammit, Hooper, I've already lost one person I love today.'

Kali stared at him, momentarily speechless. The fact was, she didn't exactly relish what she planned to do as it was as potentially dangerous as Slowhand feared, but if her plan was to work she had to stay with the ship. 'There's no choice.'

'What are you going to do, Hooper, hit me again? Well, try it. You just try — '

Kali's fist landed hard. The archer staggered back and then collapsed to the deck.

Kali took a deep breath, then leaned over the rail and looked down and ahead. The Roaring was already looming, spray from it spattering her face.

'Time to go.'

Both Aldrededor and Dolorosa climbed onto the rail, ready to jump, the latter hesitating slightly.

'Bossa lady? Arra you sure you know whatta you are doing?'

Kali smiled. 'I thought I told you, I make this up as I go along.' She looked at the prone archer. 'Look after him, okay?'

'Pretty boy, he willa notta be pleased.'

'I hope you survive to find out, Kali Hooper.' Aldrededor said.

'Both of you,' Kali said, 'thank you. For everything.'

The ex-pirates nodded, he with a twirl of his moustache and a twinkle of his eye, she with a smile that cracked parts of her face Kali hadn't ever seen move. And then the two of them waited until the wide geyser was beneath them and leapt.

Kali watched the two Sarcreans plunge into the seething plateau and then quickly heaved Slowhand's unconscious form onto the rail. The archer was groaning, beginning to stir, when she grabbed his legs and tipped him forward. Slowhand's semi conscious form tumbled from the ship, his clothes snagging awkwardly on some protrusion from the hull and, before Kali's disbelieving eyes, they were ripped from him, leaving him completely naked, bar his bow and quiver, to fall after the pirates.

Pits of bloody Kerberos! Just how in the hells did he do it?

Shaking her head, Kali moved to the rear of the deck and watched as Aldrededor and Dolorosa caught the spluttering archer, and then the three of them began to recede from her view as the giant geyser reached its zenith and began to drop from whence it had come.

Kali moved to the bow of the ship and stared down to study the landscape as it continued to roll beneath her. The ship was following the course of the Rainbow River. There was the Rainbow Delta and one of its various offshoots, Badlands Brook, there Ponderfoot's Copse, there Bottomless Pit, and there — suddenly — the Flagons itself. The sight of home — surrounded, though thankfully still untouched, by the k'nid — tugged at her, and the desire to be down there, downing her eighth glass of thwack was almost so overwhelming that she was tempted, for a second, to leap overboard herself. The desire became all the more tempting when unexpectedly — no doubt drawn by the sound of the ship, the kind of off key sound that only he would recognise — Merrit Moon emerged from the doors of the tavern and stared upwards. It was odd but Kali had become somehow so used to the concept of the Kerberos ship over these last hours that she had forgotten how staggering it might be to another's eyes. She watched the old man's face gurn through a number of indefinable expressions before he mouthed the words: 'My Gods.'

He actually did stagger back when she waved to him from the deck, and for a moment she thought he might spontaneously turn into Thrutt.

Interested in Old Race artefacts, old man? Well, I got you a doozy.

She wished she could explain what was happening, have the reassuring presence of the old man with her somehow, but that task would have to be left to Aldrededor, Dolorosa and Slowhand.

The ship moved on and, after a while, Kali wondered whether she were close enough yet to put the next stage of her plan into action, studying the ground once more to sight landmarks to indicate her proximity to Andon. The effective range at which her plan might work was a complete unknown, however, and she would really lose nothing by trying to instigate it now. Decided, she steadied herself on the bow of the ship and focused all her mental energy and concentration into the formation of a single word. A name.

Sonpear.

It was a gamble, of course — a gamble that the telepathic link that the League sorcerer had established with her while she was in Domdruggle's Expanse remained effective.

Sonpear, she attempted again, trying to amplify her thoughts. Can you hear me?

No reply.

Sonpear.

SONPEAR!