Kethril (41 page)

“Can you release him to death?” Tathan asked
in concern. He felt that his friend would want the peace.

“No. When they made this armor, they
attached him to it. It was done in such a way that he can’t be
released unless the armor is destroyed on such a minute level that
I can’t even comprehend it,” Liselle explained. “The power it would
take could obliterate him as a being too.”

“Is there no way he can escape it?” Tathan
was alarmed. It sounded like an eternal prison.

“No. I have to fix him, Tathan, but I don’t
know how long it’s going to take. The armor is so different than a
body.”

“Alright. Can I carry him?” Tathan asked
her. “I’d like to leave now.”

“Yes, he can’t feel anything,” Liselle said.
“Be careful though, there are still some jagged edges that I
haven’t finished.”

Tathan paused, wondering how he was going to
carry the knight when he could barely carry himself.

Vevin stepped forward. “I’ll carry him.” He
slung the suit of armor over his shoulder. “He doesn’t weigh much
and the armor stays together.”

“Let’s board the ship and decide what to
do.” The horses Tathan and the ladies had ridden out of the cave
were already back on the main deck, causing Tathan to wonder how
the ship convinced animals to get on. Aermoirre’s children were
floating safely next to the foremast.

Once on board, they went to the aft deck
near the wheel and rested around the railing. Liselle and Vevin sat
together while Anilyia cuddled up in Tathan’s arms nearby. Emmaoen
sat a short distance away on Tathan’s other side. Now that the big
dragons were gone, she didn’t need to hold onto him, although she
stayed close just in case.

Sir Danth lay near the wheel with arms
crossed over his chest in a pose more like death than rest. Tathan
stared at the armor, trying to fight off the heaviness on his
eyelids.

***

Tathan was cold and his face felt wet. He
opened his eyes a crack. The first thing he saw was little tiny
flakes of snow falling from the grey sky. Beyond that, he saw a
sail flapping on the aft mast above. Only the lowest of the three
was open to catch the wind.

Every muscle protested in aching pain as he
stretched. Opening his eyes more, Tathan could see that he was
lying on the deck of the ship. Anilyia was curled up next to him
with her back against his chest. Someone had covered them both with
a blanket. Liselle and Vevin were asleep and a blanket covered them
too. Someone had even covered Sir Danth. Tathan gingerly rolled to
look behind him. A low groan escaped his lips much to his
chagrin.

“You
are
awake. I thought I saw you
move.” Emmaoen was huddled against a thick post of the railing, her
blanket wrapped up to her nose. She pulled it down to uncover her
lips. “You fell asleep fast, so we covered you up. Everyone else
decided to sleep too.”

“Where are we?” Tathan asked with a raspy
voice. He tried to shift a little, but the deck was just too
uncomfortable.

“We’re in the sky over Kethril. I asked
Aermoirre to take me home.” She gave him a firm look with a hint of
challenge in her eyes. “I’ll tell my uncle that you succeeded and
that the villages and sheep are safe.”

“That’s an excellent decision. You’ll pardon
me if I don’t want to stick around though,” Tathan told her with an
impudent smile.

Emmaoen winked. “My uncle’s pardon will only
be valid if you
don’t
stick around.” Both of them were
keeping their voices soft so as not to disturb the others. “I told
Aermoirre where my estate is. I think we can get there easier than
trying to make it to the castle. I have no idea how long it will
take though.” She glared at the sky. “I’m not ready for snow
yet.”

“I think I remember a healer in Rethram talk
about winter coming early and being harsh. How long has it been
falling?” Tathan wiped more moisture off his face. The flakes were
getting larger.

“It was cloudy as soon as we came down out
of the mountains. That was two days ago. The snow just started. It
may be rain lower to the ground, but we’re pretty high up right
now.”

“Two days? I slept that long?”

She nodded. “The princess woke up a few
times. There’s a cabin underneath this deck, but it’s magically
locked and we have no way to get in. We found hatches on the main
deck, but they’re sealed. Aermoirre ignored us when we asked her to
open them.”

Anilyia groaned and wiped her face with a
hand before sitting up. Tathan also sat up and leaned against the
railing. Anilyia put her head against his chest and wrapped arms
around his waist. “Snow? It’s only autumn. I hate snow. Daddy has a
hunting lodge in the mountains and it snows there. It’s too cold
and wet.”

Tathan pulled the blanket up so she was
better covered. He suddenly wished they were alone so he could warm
her up in other ways. Instead, he thought about carnivorous
fairies.

“I need a bath,” Anilyia mumbled petulantly.
She sniffed. “You need a bath even more than I do.”

“I’ll get right on that,” Tathan responded
dryly. “Maybe I can strip my clothes, dance in the snow and get
clean that way.”

“Mmm, please do,” Anilyia replied with a
mischievous smile. “I love watching you dance naked.”

“Eww!” Emmaoen put her finger in her mouth
and made gagging noises.

Anilyia stood up and stretched. Tathan
watched appreciatively. He had to think about carnivorous fairies
again before he could get up and join her. Luckily, the cold air
helped.

A groan of pain escaped his lips as he
stood. His muscles began to cramp and he had to sit back down right
away to begin working on them. He gasped in pain while working on
one calf. Anilyia worked on the other. Emmaoen made no move to
help.

Liselle joined in the groaning. She rolled
over from Vevin and looked at them working on Tathan’s legs. There
were dark circles under her eyes. With effort, she stood and wiped
moisture from the snow off her face. Vevin remained deep asleep.
The snow wasn’t touching him. “Food?” she asked.

“We have some rations, but not much,”
Emmaoen told her.

Liselle’s eyes narrowed. “Food,” she
commanded to no one in particular. Tathan knew his cousin tended to
use much more power than it was healthy to do. When she became this
hungry Liselle wouldn’t be able to use clear judgment. He didn’t
think she would hurt them, but it was best not to find out.

“Get what’s left of the rations,” he told
Emmaoen. It was the duchess’s turn to narrow her eyes. “Please,
before
she
noms
us
for lack of food?”

She looked at Liselle and common sense took
over. “Come to the main deck. I have a solution.” She gestured for
them to follow her. Liselle stalked the duchess like a starving cat
stalks its prey.

The horses were still on the main deck. It
looked as though the duchess had fed them and given them water,
though he didn’t know where she had gotten the water. He also
worried about how much food they had for the trip to Mayncal. He
didn’t know how long it would take. The young ships were still near
the front mast. Tathan got the impression that they were sleeping.
He realized that he had never seen the tubes that shot fireballs
and wondered if perhaps they were hidden under the deck
somehow.

Emmaoen pulled a wand out of her robe. She
wiggled it around and said a word of power, making a long wooden
table with twelve chairs on the sides and two at the ends appear on
the port side of deck with a loud pop. It startled the horses and
the baby boats.

The best part was all the food on the table.
It was filled with the finest dishes, including a full pig with an
apple in its mouth. Steam rose off the hot dishes and the smell of
delectable deserts wafted under their noses, drawing them all to
the chairs.

“A meal fit for a king. I made this wand
myself,” Emmaoen said proudly. She sat down with the rest of them
and helped herself to a plate of food. Liselle didn’t bother with
the plate.

Tathan was hungry too. He didn’t have the
appetite of someone who had used massive amounts of power, but that
didn’t stop him from filling his plate. Plus he had to lay claim to
some before Liselle ate it all. He put a turkey drumstick on his
plate only to see it disappear. Liselle looked at him with
challenge in her eyes as she ripped meat off the bone. Tathan went
around to the other side of the table where she couldn’t get
him.

“Hey! Weren’t you going to tell me there was
food?” Vevin jumped from the upper deck to the table in one leap.
Nobody answered because their mouths were full and they had been
properly raised not to speak with food in their mouths. Vevin soon
had food in his mouth too.

An hour later, they sat around an empty
table. “How long will it last?” Anilyia asked as she stretched and
leaned against Tathan’s chest. They had moved their chairs next to
each other. “I mean if we hadn’t eaten all the food.

“It lasts for about two to three hours.
We’re fine for a little while.” Emmaoen stretched sleepily. “What’s
that?” she asked, sitting up and pointing. They all became alert
and turned to look over the railing. It was a treetop floating by.
They moved to look over the rail and saw large estates passing
below. Aermoirre was sailing over a street, moving lower and
lower.

The quiet morning snow looked odd against
the fall colors of the trees. A light breeze tossed the snowflakes
about and a thin white blanket covered the ground and rooftops.
There were a few people moving along the street, but not many.
Tathan saw a couple of children on one of the estates throwing snow
at each other. They stopped and stared at the flying ship in
awe.

“That’s my home just ahead.” Emmaoen pointed
at a large building surrounded by spacious yards. “I can’t believe
she found it just by my directions.”

“That’s your home?” Tathan asked, looking at
the large estate. “Wow.”

“It’s too big for me.” She shrugged. “But
I’m glad to be here.”

Aermoirre gradually came to a stop in front
of the main gate of the estate and slid her gangplank out. Two
guards came forward with weapons drawn. “Who goes there?” one
yelled.

“It’s just me, Jeffrey,” Emmaoen shouted as
she walked back up the steps to the upper deck. The guards stopped
and stared in surprise. The duchess grabbed her bags and turned to
the companions as they followed her up. “I wish you luck in your
journey and thank you for everything you’ve done. There’s no
telling how things would have gone had you not been here to
help.”

“I’m glad we were there too,” Liselle said.
She went to give Emmaoen a hug, but was rejected by a raised hand
and turned head.

“I’m leaving now. Goodbye.” Emmaoen ducked
past them to go back down the stairs. Liselle looked hurt by the
action. Anilyia glared at the duchess’s back and set her jaw.
Tathan didn’t care about the duchess one way or another, but didn’t
like seeing his cousin hurt.

Emmaoen made to go down the gangplank, but
was interrupted by the horses going first. Tathan leaned over the
upper deck railing. “Hey! Some of those are our horses.”

Aermoirre’s bell rang and Liselle listened.
“She says she’s not taking the horses any further. They scuff the
deck and she only promised to take
us
to Mayncal.” Liselle
listened to more ringing. “Aermoirre said if we want to stay with
the horses, we’re more than welcome to get off with them.”

Tathan was good at realizing when an
argument wasn’t worth having and this was one of those times.
“Alright. The horses can leave.” It was a wise decision considering
the horses were already down.

The second Emmaoen’s feet were off the
gangplank, it began sliding in and the ship rose back into the air.
They looked over the railing. The duchess was waving at them, so
they waved back, watching the ground get further and further
away.

Liselle walked over to the bell. “That was
rather abrupt, Aermoirre. Why are you rushing?” She listened to the
pure chimes and watched the glow before turning to the rest of
them. “Aermoirre doesn’t like going in human cities and wants to
get away as fast as possible. She said that it will take about a
week to get to Mayncal and she’s going to let us off near a small
village where we can get more horses. After that, her debt will be
paid and she doesn’t want to see us again.”

“Did we do something to upset her?” Tathan
asked.

“She didn’t say so, but I think she’s afraid
of us after everything that happened.” Liselle looked at the bell
when it chimed softly. “That’s part of it, she says, but she’s also
afraid the big dragons will come back for us.”

“I don’t think they will,” Tathan replied,
shaking his head. “In any case, I’m not worried about how fast we
get there, but we’re going to need some food. “Ask if she knows of
a place we can stop to get basic supplies. The ship leaned and he
could feel it turning. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

The bell rang and glowed again. Liselle
interpreted. “She says there’s a small port not too far away where
we can get what we need. We’ll get there in the middle of the
night, but we need to make it quick.”

“Alright. We can do that,” Tathan
agreed.

“I need to lie down again, Cousin,” Liselle
said. Tathan studied her and saw that she was shaking. Vevin led
her back to their blanket and, with a few gestures, he created a
rounded, purple barrier to keep the snow off of them. It shimmered
softly as the snow hit it. In a moment, both were asleep. Tathan
and Anilyia set their sleeping bags out in a corner of the main
deck by one of the stairs and joined them in slumber.

***

A few hours after sunset, Tathan could feel
the ship lowering. Anilyia was asleep in his arms, so he gently
slid away, making certain she was comfortable before dressing and
going to the bow. His body still ached, but it was no longer a
mind-numbing pain. He was careful not to disturb the young ships
that appeared to be sleeping again. Two lanterns shone with a
magical glow on the main deck and one on the aft deck to go with
the gentle illumination of the bell. The mild creaking of wood and
flap of sails was soothing. Tathan could see ocean below and the
lights of a port village a short distance ahead through the light
snow.