The Far Wild

35 - That's Not Good

* * *

Theo

On the other side of the stakewall, I saw Suni heave one last time, and the plank that had barred the gate fell away. Elpida and Oz pushed through immediately, swords in hand.

“With me,” I said to the rest. The sergeant was injured and lagging from his still-bleeding wounds, so it fell to me to lead. We entered with weapons drawn, even if some of us only had knives now.

Suni let out a sigh of relief as we joined her inside the outpost. A sigh that was quickly stifled as she seemed to remember we weren’t in the clear yet.

“Well done!” Oz said, clapping her on the back. “I can’t believe how close you were to the terror birds. What an incredible opportunity. Tell me, could you see—”

Elpida slapped him on the back of the head as she passed.

“Oh, er, right. To the Welkin.” He jogged forward, staying low to lessen the sound of his footfalls.

“Stay low, stay quiet,” I said, then joined Oz in leading the group through the outpost.

We eased around the terror bird Senesio had skewered. It was still alive, if only just. Its eyes watched us as we passed, while its beak worked open and closed as if gasping for air. Demetrias gave it a wide berth. Suni just looked at it, sadness filling her eyes for a moment.

“Keep moving,” I told them both.

There’d been no sign of Senesio since he’d disappeared around the hull of the Welkin, leading the terror bird flock with him. Immediately afterward there’d been some crashes and squawks, but that’d been all. That was good news, right? Meant Senesio was keeping them distracted. Or had been caught and devoured...

Focus, Theo. You’re still in the thick of it.

“Up, up, up!” I hissed as I reached the edge of the Welkin. Elpida and Oz had worked the gangplank into place and now, one by one, we crept upward and on to the deck of the skyship.

As my boots thunked on the wood planks, I could imagine flying again. Could imagine the engines spinning to life, lifting us free. We’d rise up from the ground, out of the reach of terror birds and komodos and every other monstrosity of the Far Wild. Then, back to civilization.

“Keep going,” I urged, leading everyone across the deck, past several ballistae, then down into a hatch to a lower deck. In the deep shadows there, I began to whisper orders.

“Maritza, Demetrias, get this thing fired up. Gabar, find Kyriakos a safe place down here.”

“I’m not useless,” the injured sergeant said, pushing Gabar off and standing under his own power, if a bit wobbly. “I can help.”

I had to hold back a smile at that. Even injured, Kyriakos had more fight in him than most men had on their best day.

“Fair enough. Keep a lookout, sir.”

“I’m on it, corporal.”

I turned to the rest of them. “Prepare a rope. When we’re in the air, we need to pick up Senesio. Any idea where he is, Suni?”

“I lost sight of him. He went around the hull of the ship, then, I don’t kn—”

“We have a problem,” Maritza’s voice came from another deck down.

“A big problem,” Demetrias added.

Elpida was in motion in the blink of an eye, slipping over to the stairs down to the engine room.

“The starter’s broken,” Demetrias said from below, then cursed. “Not just broken, disabled.”

Disabled? My stomach sank at the thought. “Disabled” implied that whatever had happened had been intentional. As if whoever had attacked the outpost hadn’t overlooked the Welkin after all.

“Blasted damn meddling,” Elpida growled. “Can you fix it?”

A long pause. I held my breath, feeling every beat of my heart as the moments slipped away before Demetrias responded.

“No,” he finally said. “Not without the proper tools.” He paused. “I had some on the Stormcrow... ”

“Heads up,” Sergeant Kyriakos said from where he’d been keeping watch at the stairs leading to the top deck. “I hate to pile on the bad news, but we have another problem.”

I took the stairs two at a time until I was beside the sergeant, peeking out across the deck. Off to the far side of the outpost, I could see Senesio, clinging to a beam while the flock of terror birds jumped and snapped at his heels.

“That’s not good,” I said, frowning at the sight. “How are we supposed to get him down from that?”

“No, not there,” the sergeant said, turning my head. “There!”

And then I saw it. A shadow moving across the Evergrass, slipping steadily toward us. Swallowing hard, I raised my eyes from the shadow to the thing that was casting it.

The Needlethroat. It was back, and headed our way.