A message? Ridge thought of the rockets. Could the airship be equipped with launchers too? Just because it hadn’t used them on their first pass didn’t mean it didn’t have them.
It’s a literal message. Interesting how a sword could make its telepathic words as dry as someone could with a voice. Might want to climb a tree.
Ridge didn’t feel like climbing anything, except maybe into a bed, but he didn’t want to miss whatever lovely message the Cofah had for him. He found an aspen tree with most of its trunk bare and only the snow-covered branches at the top obstructing the sky, creating a latticework he could see through. He unfastened his belt, encircled the trunk with it, and looped the ends around his hands and gripped them. With his boots braced against the trunk, he slid the belt up a couple of feet at a time, his legs following. As he advanced toward the treetop, his movements shook the thin branches overhead, and clumps of snow pelted his shoulders and head.
You could have just told me what the message said, Ridge thought, though he didn’t know if the sword would be listening.
Yes, I could have floated you fifty feet into the air, too, but would you have an answer when your people asked how you got up there to read it?
They’re not here yet. He wasn’t sure where they had landed, but there were limited spots among the trees.
Yes, they are.
“Whatcha doing, sir?” Duck called up.
But by now, Ridge had climbed high enough to see the sky to the west. The airship was a mere speck on the horizon, and the message it had left in smoke was already being blown apart by the wind. He could still read it, though, and it made him drop his head to his chin, a great weariness filling him.
Your spies are dead. Leave or you’re next.
Chapter 10
Sardelle and Tolemek slogged across the snow, cloaks pulled tightly around their bodies and hoods tugged low over their heads. Night hugged the mountains, and after traveling all day, they both needed sleep. After Jaxi’s warning, Sardelle had wanted to fly back to Ridge’s camp with all speed possible, but they’d had little choice but to return the way they had come: first on train, then on horseback, and finally on stolen snowshoes when the drifts grew too deep for the horses. Jaxi was directing them to the new camp, where the pilots were doing repairs as quickly as possible so they could move before the Cofah returned. Sardelle worried she and Tolemek—who had scarcely said three words since leaving the asylum—would arrive only to find out the others had moved on.
They’re still there. I’m helping Mr. Cranky fix his flier.
Mr. Cranky? That couldn’t be Ridge.
He’s not cranky with his troops, but he’s cranky with me. I’m not sure he appreciates my comments in his head, even though I did save him from falling into a canyon yesterday.
Is it the fact that you’re commenting that he doesn’t appreciate or the fact that your comments are sarcastic and frequently exasperating? Sardelle was starting to regret initiating telepathic communication with Ridge. She hadn’t realized Jaxi would take it as an invitation to chat with him at every opportunity.
Please, I’m only infrequently exasperating. You can’t believe the restraint I exercise. I could comment on everything you people do. As to the rest, if you didn’t want me to chat with him, you shouldn’t have left me in his flying contraption.
“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Tolemek stopped on the snow-socked hillside, gazing up at the mountains fencing them. They had been on a trail at one point, but Jaxi had assured Sardelle this was a shortcut.
“We’re close to their camp,” she said.
“That didn’t quite answer my question, did it?”
“Jaxi is certain we’re going the right way.”
Tolemek grunted and continued up the slope. Sardelle caught the scent of woodsmoke on the breeze. She hoped that meant they were close, but wondered if Ridge would allow fires when enemy airships might be about.
They’re using the flames to melt pine pitch to use in their repairs. It’s extremely primitive. Ridge did not find it helpful when I informed him thusly. Perhaps the pirate scientist can help them come up with a superior glue.
Sardelle was beginning to see why Ridge might be cranky with Jaxi. She and Tolemek crested a ridge, and she expected a campfire to come into view, but she saw nothing but trees, a canyon in the distance, and a strange crater. Ah, wait. There was a hint of magic in the air.
I’m camouflaging them from anyone who might happen by.
Does Ridge know?
It’s the reason he’s risking the fire. I’m being very helpful. I told him I could have camouflaged his camp before if he had only asked. That netting they were using was troublesome when they had to leave. A far inferior product to what a sorceress can craft with her mind.
Ridge doesn’t know what your abilities are, Sardelle reminded Jaxi. And he’s being careful with our secret.
There are only the two pilots that don’t know about you. Perhaps it would be useful to bring them into the fold, so we can use our power openly to help them.
Perhaps so. I’ll discuss it with him. Sardelle thought Ridge trusted all of his pilots, but she didn’t know Duck or Apex well yet, and was reluctant to simply walk up and inform them she was a sorceress.
Tolemek stopped. “I… sense something out there.” He gave her a curious look.
“It’s the camp. That’s good that you detected Jaxi’s handiwork.”
Not that good. It makes me doubt my touch. Am I growing old?
Ancient. But you shouldn’t be surprised. You said yourself he has a lot of innate talent. It’s a shame we didn’t find the sister. I’m curious about her.
Aren’t you going to keep looking for her?
Yes, but it sounds like we need to help Ridge and his team first.
Jaxi had summarized the aerial battle, as well as the message the airship had left in the sky. The fact that the Cofah had all of this dragon blood and were using it to build weapons that would inevitably be used on the Iskandians… It was disturbing. This wasn’t just about helping Ridge. Her whole continent was in danger.
Between one step and the next, the view changed. What had appeared to be nothing more than trees turned into a cleared area with two fliers in it. Two others hunkered behind a copse of aspens farther back. They appeared fine, but the closer two fliers had black tarry spots over their bronze bodies and patches on the wings. Dozens of dents and scratches marred the hull, and the number of broken branches and pine needles carpeting the surface suggested the propeller had recently doubled as a wood chipper.
In the shadows, Lieutenant Ahn leaned against a stump with a rifle cradled in her arms. Sardelle hadn’t noticed her at first, but had a feeling Ahn had noticed her hundreds of meters away. The two other lieutenants were standing by a large fire, one adding branches and one stirring the contents of a makeshift pot—was that a tin Cofah helmet? Ridge was straddling the most damaged flier, and he waved a pitch-covered stick at her when she looked at him.
“Tolemek,” he called. “Do you have any interesting goos that could help with repairs?”
“Possibly,” Tolemek said. “I’ll take a look in a moment.” He drifted over to Ahn first, giving her a hug and sharing a few quiet words with her.
Apex was on his way to gather another load of firewood. He glared at them, but didn’t say a word.
Sardelle knew she shouldn’t distract Ridge with secret conversations, but, remembering the way he had teased her about helping Tolemek first when they’d both been knocked down, she touched his mind with a question. Should I be jealous that you’re more excited to see him than you are to see me?
No, because that’s not the case. It’s just that I can’t leap from my flier and smother you with kisses while everyone is watching. Also, I might get pitch in your hair if I tried. His humor sounded tired and forced. He was weary, but there was more bothering him. The loss of the two captains must weigh heavily on him. Maybe he felt responsible in some way.
 
; “You didn’t find what you sought?” Apex asked, walking back into camp with a couple of big branches. He addressed Sardelle instead of Tolemek.
“What we sought had been moved,” Sardelle said.
Ridge finished working on the flier, at least for the moment, and climbed down. “Apex, that’s enough wood. Everyone, let’s have a quick meeting around the fire.”
Sardelle wouldn’t have minded sitting down after the long trek through the mountains, but the camp lacked seating unless one wanted to climb up into one of the cockpits. Tolemek and the pilots gathered around the flames. Sardelle resisted the urge to lean against Ridge’s arm, instead standing a couple of feet behind him.
“If the Cofah can be believed, Captains Nowon and Kaika are dead,” Ridge said.
“If they can be believed?” Ahn asked. “You think they were lying, sir?”
“They were precise with their message—two spies—so I think they found our men, but… it’s possible they’re holding them for questioning and that they’re not dead yet.”
Ahn nodded grimly.
“If there’s a possibility that they’re alive, I don’t want to leave them in there.” Ridge looked at Sardelle for a moment. Did he think she could answer as to this possibility? Her senses couldn’t extend more than a few miles. Even Jaxi probably wouldn’t be able to see all the way to the city or outpost where they were being held. “There’s also the original mission,” Ridge went on. “If we leave now, having lost the cargo we were supposed to deliver and take home again…” He didn’t mention the colonel he had left on a road by the sea, but that had to be in his mind as well. “If we leave now, then this entire mission was for nothing.”
“But we’ve learned some good intelligence, sir,” Duck said. “All about this dragon blood and what it can do.”
Ridge grunted, clearly not impressed by this tiny snippet of information.
“If we continue with the mission, we may end up facing a dragon,” Sardelle said. “All of this blood must be coming from somewhere.”
“Maybe Tolemek has some nice dragon-slaying potion in his kit,” Ridge said.
Tolemek snorted. “Lizard-slaying, maybe.”
“What I want to know,” Apex said slowly, his eyes toward Tolemek, “is why he wasn’t surprised by the revelation of Nowon and Kaika’s death—or capture. Whatever it turns out to be.”
Because Jaxi had told Sardelle about it the day before and she had told Tolemek. But she couldn’t explain that in a logical, believable way to the pilots who didn’t know about her or Jaxi.
Tolemek raised his eyebrows. “After three days of traveling, I am too weary to react to much of anything.”
Ahn, standing arm against arm with Tolemek, narrowed her eyes at Apex.
Jaxi told us, Sardelle told Ridge. She wouldn’t have shown a visible reaction, either, but Apex hadn’t been watching her, only Tolemek.
I gathered. Ridge spread a placating hand. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is what we do next.”
“Wait, sir.” Apex raised his own hand, palm spread. “It does matter. We haven’t talked about it, but don’t you find it suspicious that those Cofah airships were waiting for us when we first flew onto the continent? And then that watchtower knew to search the skies for us.”
Duck snapped his fingers. “That’s right. They’ve been all over us like ants on fried chitlins since we got here. How did they know we were coming?”
“It has occurred to me that someone may have leaked information about our mission,” Ridge said, “but I don’t see how it could be Tolemek, since he didn’t know anything about it until the afternoon before we left. The news couldn’t have traveled here any faster than we carried it, so it would have had to have been sent ahead of time by someone else who had knowledge of the king’s plans.”
“Unless the news traveled by sorcerous means,” Apex said.
Several people shifted uneasily and frowned at him. The statement made Sardelle uneasy, too, and she waited to see if Apex would look at her. Had he figured out what she was? He was supposed to be an academic. Was he observant? Someone who had deduced that she wasn’t the archaeologist Ridge had described her to be?
Apex did give her a long look, but when he pointed, his finger extended toward Tolemek. “I’ve been reading up on some of the alchemical formulas he’s made, and while he doesn’t publish the ingredients or his methods—” he scowled as he said this, as if it were some crime, and maybe it was some academic faux pas these days, “—I am extremely skeptical that some of his potions could be viable without some sort of otherworldly influence.”
Ahn’s fingers curled, as if she was thinking of plowing a fist into Apex’s nose, but she didn’t say anything. Maybe because she knew Apex was right. Sardelle had suspected Tolemek had some dragon blood at their first meeting, and Jaxi had confirmed that suspicion early on. Oddly, Tolemek himself had never suspected until Jaxi had informed him.
“I thought your specialty was archaeology, Apex,” Ridge said quietly, “not alchemy.”
“It doesn’t take an expert to sniff out fishy science.”
“Wait,” Duck said, “are you saying Deathmaker is a witch?”
“Witches are women, aren’t they?” Tolemek murmured to Ahn. He sounded more amused by the accusation than worried about it. He probably thought he could handle Apex, no matter what came up.
“You’re asking me?” Ahn muttered. “I don’t know the details.”
Sardelle could have explained the correct terminology, but she didn’t want to call attention to herself, not when this was the topic.
“We’ll keep an eye on everything,” Ridge said. Nothing about an eye on Tolemek. He must truly believe his pirate scientist wasn’t to blame. His reasoning had been logical, but maybe he had someone else in mind. “In the meantime, I want your opinions on the mission. I feel I have to carry on with it, but if two of our elite troops were captured, there’s a possibility we might fall to the same fate. I’ll ask for volunteers. Anyone who’s not comfortable going can wait out here. Or fly back with the information we have. Duck’s right; what we’ve learned does need to make it back to the general.”
“I’ll go,” Duck said. “I thought you were picking us for this possibility all along.”
“I was,” Ridge said.
“Then what’re you asking for volunteers for? We’re with you, sir.” He waved at Ahn and Apex.
Ahn nodded once. Apex was still glaring at Tolemek.
“Is he going?” Apex asked.
“He and Sardelle have unique talents that will be extremely useful if we’re sneaking into a highly guarded facility, especially if that facility is on the alert because of the failure of our first team. They know we’re out here. They’ll be ready for us.”
Sardelle was glad he hadn’t asked for the details of the incursion into the asylum. They might have gotten in and out, but she couldn’t imagine anyone calling that smooth. An image of that guard coming to and running down the hallway with the mop bucket chained to his wrist came to mind.
“Unique talents, sir? Like what?” Apex asked.
Ridge looked into Sardelle’s eyes, a question there, though he didn’t form any thoughts in his mind.
Guessing what the question was, she did it for him. You want to tell them?
Do you object?
I think it’s going to come out anyway, if we’re sneaking in together. I’ll be hobbled if I have to worry about not letting them know.
“Magic,” Ridge said.
Apex’s expression was somewhere between vindication and betrayal. “You knew, sir?” He flung his hand toward Tolemek.
“That Tolemek’s potions are witchy?” Ridge asked. “No, I just figured that was science and engineering. I was actually referring to Sardelle. I didn’t bring her along because she’s a good history student.”
All of the stares leveled in Sardelle’s direction made her uneasy, but she kept her chin up and tried to look wise, helpful, and not particularly witchy, sin
ce they all considered that something vile.
“I thought she was here because she’d be better at keeping your bump stick warm at night than Colonel Therrik.” Duck rubbed his head. “Are you saying she’s… a witch?”
“A sorceress actually,” Sardelle said. “Witches tend to be poorly trained, often self-taught, and sometimes completely bogus insofar as having an actual aptitude for magic. I was formally trained.” She decided not to volunteer the how and where, since that would take some time to explain.
“You knew, sir?” Duck whispered. “And you’re still…” He groped in the air, and Sardelle waited to see if the term “bump stick” would come up again. She hadn’t heard that one before. Amazing how much the slang for such things changed in three hundred years. “Or is that all an act? Are you two pretending to be a couple, and you’re really—” His fingers flexed in the air again. The poor kid was having trouble finding a piece that would fit into his puzzle. “Does the king know? Are you spies?”
“If Colonel Zirkander is a spy, then I’m a spotted tiger shark,” Apex said.
“Your confidence in my ability to suss out information on the sly is disappointing, Apex,” Ridge said.
“It’s not the sussing I’m questioning, sir; it’s the not talking and joking about what had been sussed.” Apex wrinkled his brow. “That didn’t make sense. I’m as befuddled as Duck usually is, right now.” He looked at Tolemek and Ahn. “But I see I’m the only one. Once again Deathmaker seems to already have this information. And, Raptor, you don’t look surprised, either.”
“I was extremely surprised on a night a few weeks ago,” Ahn said.
Apex shook his head and stumbled away from the fire, mumbling something about firewood.
“I’ll help,” Duck said and jogged after him.
Sardelle touched the back of Ridge’s hand. Is it wise to let the two of them go off together?
“They’ll figure out what they think and if they want to go with us. Each of them may be useful, but I wasn’t lying earlier. Someone should get this information back to Iskandia. On the chance…”
“We fail utterly?” Tolemek asked.