By the Wings of Dragons - Part III

By the Wings of Dragons - Part IV

As the ship pushed forward, Fiddlewiz approached Bayle cautiously. "I can make us go very fast," said Fiddlewiz, "but it risks blowing the engines."

"I don't even know what that means," muttered Bayle, harshly.

"We aren't going to take her much further either way," said Twiddy. His voice was full of defeat. "We can push her to go hard, but it might ruin her. I don't think we have a choice."

Bayle looked out to where the dragon had gone beneath the water sadly and said, "We'll out pace them too, won't we?"

"It might be better," said Twiddy, sadly. Kaltuk had been sitting down but he jumped to his feet, nostrils flared and an indignant expression on his face.

"We aren't leaving him," said Kaltuk. "It might be I can save him..."

"Maybe," said Bayle, "and maybe that means letting the dragon catch up with the rest of us." Kaltuk glared at him furiously, their eyes locked, but then the dwarf broke the gaze and turned away. Eylee thought she saw a shudder to the dwarf's back.

"Fine," muttered the dwarf.

"Do it," said Bayle, nodding.

Twiddy and Fiddlewiz worked quickly, throwing a number of multicolored vials into the furnace. Eylee stood at the side of the ship, keeping a vigil for Nurgg. Just as the gnome and halfling finished, and Twiddy said, "It's coming, hold on," she noticed the dragon break through the water in the distance. As it reached the sky, it noticed how far they had gone and roared, soaring at them.

"Go, go, go!" said Bayle.

"It needs to ignite," said Twiddy. "It will though!"

Not soon enough. The dragon overtook them. Eylee felt a surge of excitement as she noticed Nurgg was still attached to the dragon, but then it vanished as she noticed he was completely still. As the dragon grew closer, it was apparent he had been impaled by one of the horns and stuck there. Behind her, she heard Kaltuk choke.

"You see what it will mean if you keep fighting with me," said the dragon.

Bayle had gone to the head of the airship and held out his claymore, swinging at the dragon's nose as it approached. The dragon was struck and reeled back. It returned, swinging its horns at Bayle, but he struck back. "Just give me the staff," said the dragon. "Give it to me, and you can go."

"No," shouted Bayle, bringing his claymore in an arc across the dragon's face. It dodged out of the way and the two continued their parley. Eylee glanced to the side just as Kaltuk ran past her, heading straight for the edge of the boat and launching himself at the dragon. The creature didn't notice in time, its attention focused on Bayle, but then blinked as the dwarf landed on him.

"Will you stop that!" growled the dragon.

"Kaltuk!" said Bayle. "The engines! What are you doing?"

But Kaltuk scrambled straight for Nurgg. Eylee watched in amazement as the dwarf wrenched the ogre from the horn and onto his shoulders. Seeing what he was doing, Bayle struck the dragon again, returning its attention to him. As the dragon tried to strike back, sweeping close to the deck, Kaltuk threw himself onto the ship, dragging Nurgg with him.

Just then, Twiddy shouted, "They're going!"

Everyone hit the deck, including Bayle, who dove off the railing and onto the ship, as there was a thundering explosion. Half of the ship went up into multicolored flames as it thrust wildly away from the dragon. It seemed there was a high scream of pain as the same flames hit the dragon. It was hard to tell though, as they went so fast that soon the dragon was out of sight. Everyone reeled about wildly. Eylee had been gripping a line, but on one jerk, lost her grip and tumbled toward the open hatch to below deck. She tried to grab for the side of the hatch but couldn't get a grip, falling down wildly into the cargo hold. Perhaps if she hadn't already experienced one head injury that day, or had not fought her own share of dozens of opponents, she might have kept her consciousness. But none of those things were true, and she once again went into blackness. Eylee was aware of a burning in her lungs and a sensation of extreme heat. She dragged her eyes open despite lids heavy with swelling. Though the boxes she had landed against when the jerking motions of the ship sent everything tumbling toward its front were smashed on impact and her limbs had seemed tangled in loosed plants and bent metal banding, she didn't feel as though anything in her had broken terribly. The impact had left her swollen and cut, her skin a rash of gashes that hadn't had time to crust over and still bled freely, but she was in one piece, it seemed.

The pain of breathing was due to the smoke that filled the remains of the hold, let loose from the flames that licked against the wood greedily no more than a dozen feet from where she lay. Her heart began beating furiously and panic threatened to set in. She scanned her surroundings, looking for the ladder to above deck. When she finally found it, though, not only was it across a wall of flame, but it was also broken half way up. Her lips began to tremble as thoughts of escape were beaten down by the reality of what surrounded her.

"At least I was the only one down here," she thought. It then occurred to her that there was no reason to assume being on deck meant any better of a fate. Perhaps they wouldn't burn, but they could have been thrown from heights too high for any of them to survive, or crushed on impact. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she forced to shake them off. She was still alive, and there might be something yet she could do. She began chanting to herself a song of courage and the fear that edged into her mind began to ebb. Glancing around, it occurred to her that there were many areas where the wood had been crushed and even slits where light from outside peeked through; perhaps she could break her way out.

Groping through her surroundings, she managed to find a pile of tools that had spilled from a barrel. The first she reached for was all metal and burned red hot when she gripped it. Crying out, she recoiled and tore a piece off of her tunic, wrapping her hand in it. She reached out for a mallet, this time made of wood and stone, and managed to hold onto it. She crawled over to a spot where the ship was splitting and swung as hard as she could; happily, she was awarded with a cracking noise. The flames were getting closer, though, and the smoke thicker. She swung wildly, knowing well enough that it would never break in time.

Then, her heart soared as she heard voices on the other side.

"Eylee!" A muffled male voice came through that she believed belonged to Bayle. "Are you here?"

She felt a surge of hope rush through her and she pounded her fists against the wood. "Yes!" she shouted, but her lungs were so full of smoke that it didn't come out nearly as loud as she'd hoped.

"She's there," continued the voice. "Hurry, try to break through!"

Eylee leaned back to get out of the way, but all of the sudden, Roadyle materialized beside her. He shook his head and said, with his signature half smile, "I teleport all of us for miles, and they don't assume I can teleport into here?" She felt her mouth caught in an O of surprise as she tried to respond but he reached out and put an arm around her. She had never touched him before, and was surprise to find that his skin was cold, colder than anyone she could ever imaging touching. Before she could think on it too much longer, though, he had gestured and the pair of them were outside of the ship and on a dusty patch of ground. "They're gone. Nurgg was dead when Kaltuk had him, but Kruzz died in the crash."

Eylee knelt on the ground beside Kruzz's body and lifted up one of his hands so that it lay atop the other. His face was surprisingly peaceful, which was not an expression he was seen wearing often in life. It was as if every fear he'd had in life had been working to twist and turn at him every moment, but in death, it all melted away and finally left him be. "You're not afraid anymore," whispered Eylee, "at least there's that."

Kaltuk stood behind her with his hand on her shoulder and said, "He'd been wounded already. He didn't tell me. The poor wretch might've died even if we hadn't crashed, but once it happened, he was done." Kaltuk let out a long sigh and said, "I am sorry I didn't get to him in time, if only for your sake. When we crashed, it was all panic and to and fro. We didn't find him until too much time had gone by."

Tears ran down Eylee's face. She couldn't stop them, and she didn't try. "He was wounded helping me, Kaltuk," she murmured. "I didn't realize... I should have." The dwarf inhaled deeply as if he might say something, but then he just let it out. Nearby, they had laid out Nurgg's body as well, which they had managed to pull from the wreckage. The ship had broken in half and the flames remained contained to one end. The other, in which Nurgg's body had been placed, had remained well enough intact. Though none had made it through the fall unharmed, no one else had sustained any serious injuries, and Kaltuk managed to heal any wounds that might actually have slowed anyone down while preserving some strength in case their fighting was not done.

Kaltuk plodded away toward Nurgg. Eylee watched him go through strings of tangled hair, feeling nothing but a great emptiness in her chest. The dwarf stopped before the ogre and shook his head saying, "I wasn't there for you friend. I'm sorry."

The Feir'dal looked around her forlornly. The rest of their group was digging at the half of the ship that hadn't burned, salvaging whatever supplies and personal possessions they could. Even Asharae worked diligently and without complaint. Though Twiddy had at first wandered around as if in a daze, he returned and worked beside Fiddlewiz. His expression, though, was still that of a halfling with a broken heart. Eylee knew from where they had landed that this was the Elddar Forest, but even in the time since she had been gone, it had become unrecognizable. Leaves had long since blown away, bark curled off of the trunks like layers of dead skin, leaving them pale and vulnerable, eventually drying up and bleaching in the sunlight. The ground was dry, brittle, and cracking. In parts the loam had broken down to all but dust. Wind howled through the skeletons of the wood, kicking up clouds of dust, but other than the whooshing and whistling of the air streams, everything was silent. That was maybe the worst of any of it, the overbearing silence of a land that had once been so full of life. Eylee looked down at Kruzz's body again and brushed aside dirt that had settled on his jerkin.

She swallowed heavily and looked at Kaltuk, saying, "Maybe you could still help him."

Kaltuk glanced back at her with a raised eyebrow and said, "Oh, and how's that?"

"Resurrection... it's not uncommon," she continued.

Kaltuk's chin dropped to his chest and he crossed his large, barrel arms across his front. "That requires the help of a god, lass," he said. "Brell never took my power away, but I doubt he'd find it to do this much, and I've hardly given enough devotions to any other god to expect so much as a blink from any request I make."

Eylee looked down at Kruzz, and then at Nurgg. "It's worth trying," she said. "Don't you think so? We've seen a lot of things happen with your powers since we've been on this journey. Maybe Brell has been trying to make up for things."

Kaltuk stared at her, one eye squinting and his hand closing around the chain of his censer. "You realize you're asking me to do what I turned away all of Kaladim for asking me to do?"

Eylee breathed in deeply and returned the stare. "But not for the same reasons," she said. "I'm not asking you to follow blindly. I'm just asking you to try and cooperate."

Kaltuk made a scoffing noise and turned away. After a moment or two, he looked back and said, "Maybe... it is time." He frowned briefly. "Could you leave me to it, Eylee?"

She nodded and drifted away, leaving him by the bodies. As she went, she couldn't help but glance back. He had knelt beside Nurgg's body and, though his shoulders slouched heavily as if under a great burden, his head was bowed in prayer. She wrapped her arms around herself tightly and hoped it would be enough.