Sky Pirates

by Liesel Schwarz

  The words were Elle’s undoing. Marsh was really gone. The creature before her was a pale remnant of the man he had once been. To touch him would instantly drain her of everything she was, but somehow none of that mattered anymore.

  “I must fix this,” she whispered. “No matter what the price.”

  She reached out and placed her hand on Marsh’s cheek.

  His skin was ice cold and dry like withered paper. Marsh recoiled in shock at her touch. Elle felt a deep vibration build inside her as aether rose up, ready to spill over.

  “I did this to you. And now I am fixing it,” she whispered. “Patrice was right. I should be the one to go. You should live. Perhaps the next Oracle will be better than I ever was …”

  Elle closed her eyes and let go of the energy she held. It felt as if she was inside a waterfall of golden light. It gushed and spilled around her before she had a handle on it, forcing it to reform and pour into Marsh where he lay.

  Use your control, Elle. Be strong and fight. Control it and it will not destroy you.

  Vivienne’s voice sounded in her head, clear as a chime.

  “It’s too much, I can’t …” Elle said as she held on to Marsh.

  You can.

  I don’t want to die, she thought in the breathless moments of panic that followed.

  Then live … The voice faded away.

  Elle straightened her back as she fought to take control of the waves of aether that streamed through her.

  Below her fingers, she felt Marsh’s cheek fill out and grow warmer. Slowly his emaciated frame became more substantial.

  Elle held on, fighting with every drop of willpower she had, until Marsh sat up. With extreme effort he wrenched his face away and broke the connection.

  The sever felt like someone had closed a sluice gate in the middle of a deluge. Elle gasped as she felt herself become the bottleneck in the flow of aether.

  I’m going to explode, she thought in a panic. There is too much. I am going to go the same way the apsara did, except messier.

  Control it. Do it now! Vivienne said.

  Elle closed her eyes and focused all her concentration on the aether, pretending it was just a small globule of power rather than enough to fill an ocean. Slowly she extended her will, molding it until the flow became more like a river than a tidal wave. Then, slowly but surely, she focused all her strength on pushing the power back from where it came. The gap was no different from the gap in the barrier, and she had closed dozens of those. There was no reason why this should be different. Except it was about a thousand times bigger.

  She started to shake from the effort. Large beads of sweat rolled down her back. Every joint and tendon in her body creaked and popped. Her bones ached as if they had been set on fire, but she fought on. And then, with one last supreme effort, she closed the gap.

  The golden light went out and Elle fell to the ground, exhausted.

  “Magnifique!” Patrice said. “That was the most impressive thing I think I’ve ever seen. And you may believe me when I tell you that I have seen and done many impressive things in my life.”

  He grabbed Elle by the collar of her shirt and pressed his pistol against her temple. “But the fun and games are over. You are coming with me now. I have had just about enough of your obstinacy. It’s time to go.”

  Elle tried to struggle but she was exhausted. Her legs were like jelly when Patrice lifted her up from where she was crouching next to Marsh’s unconscious body. He lay there, eyes closed and perfectly still as if he was sleeping.

  “No. Stop,” she said as she reached out to Marsh.

  Patrice just laughed and started to drag her along.

  He had taken only a few steps when a giant black hound with two heads leaped out of the shadows, the storm rider’s blade still wedged deep in the muscle. It let out an unearthly growl before it attacked, launching itself at Elle and Patrice.

  One of its massive jaws closed around Patrice’s arm, the one with which he was holding Elle. The other set of jaws clamped down into the soft skin around Patrice’s throat.

  Elle fell to one side as Patrice went down under the shaggy mass of the hound.

  “Elle!” Dashwood shouted. He leaped forward to grab her, but as he moved, Patrice pulled the trigger.

  A shot rang out, reverberating in the empty hallways of the temple.

  “Logan!” Elle gasped as she watched Dashwood recoil with the shot. His legs buckled under him and he fell to the ground. His hand went to his chest, where a patch of blood had started to bloom through the cotton of his shirt. He gave her an agonized look. Then his eyes closed.

  “No!” Elle said.

  The hound let go of Patrice’s arm and looked at her with one set of yellow eyes. She could see that it was deciding whether it could manage to grab her too. Patrice made a terrible groaning, gurgling sound.

  It was strange how that sound, the sound of an enemy dying, was what galvanized Elle into action. It was time to end this thing, once and for all. She stood up, her back as straight as an apsara’s, and reached into the barrier. She was still weak and shaky, but she managed to grip it firmly.

  The barrier was a strange and sickly-looking mass of purple and gold swirls, as the various aether energies competed in the space. She stuck her hands into the mass and focused all of the energy she could muster into it.

  The result was like air filling a vacuum. There was a loud whistling, sucking sound as the barrier corrected itself.

  Meanwhile, Elle heard a horrible growl behind her. The hound had dragged Patrice over to where she was standing. The stupid beast was preparing to attack her while still holding on to Patrice.

  She watched the hound leap up; one set of jaws dragging Patrice behind him, the other splayed open, and aimed straight at her throat.

  She reached into the barrier and ripped open a hole, then she ducked down low just as the hound reached her. His jaws made a loud clacking sound as the hideous teeth snapped together in the air where her head had been. The momentum of the jump propelled him past her and into the hole she had just made, dragging Patrice with him.

  The hound looked back at her, its eyes glimmering with naked hatred. Dark blood dripped from his wounds and over his jaws where he held Patrice.

  Elle did not hesitate. She grabbed hold of the barrier and sealed it shut, trapping them both on the other side.

  Everything went very quiet as she sank to her knees and everything went black.

  CHAPTER 31

  “Miss Elle. Miss Elle!”

  Someone was shaking her by the shoulder.

  “No, leave me,” she mumbled.

  “Miss Elle. You must wake up. Wake up now!”

  Elle opened her eyes a fraction, and slowly Hari’s face came into focus. He was looking most distressed.

  “You must wake up. Please!”

  Elle sat up in a rush. “Hari. What happened? Where have you been?”

  “I hid around the corner when the apsara exploded,” Hari said with a guilty look.

  “How long have I been out?” she said.

  “Few seconds. Please. Come and help!” Hari said.

  “Logan!” Elle crawled over to his still body.

  “Hari, we need light. Bring that lantern over there.” Jack, it seemed, had forgotten to take it with him when he had stepped through the barrier back into the Shadow realm. The wily old thing must have taken his leave in the midst of the fight.

  She lifted Dashwood’s head into her lap. In the darkness, he looked deathly pale and his skin was clammy. Elle put two fingers against the skin in the place where his neck and jawbone connected.

  “Please be alive,” she whispered. Her eyes widened in surprise; beneath her fingertips was a faint and rapid pulse.

  “Hari! He’s still alive. Quickly we need to get some help.”

  Another pair of hands appeared on Dashwood’s chest. Masculine hands with long fingers that she knew so well.

  Elle looked up and straight into the eyes of Hug
h Marsh.

  He smiled at her. “It’s nice to see you again,” he said.

  “It’s nice to see you too.” In that moment, despite everything, it was all she needed to say.

  Marsh gave her a small smile and a nod, and then looked down at Dashwood. “We must keep pressure on the wound. See if that monk will part with a strip of his robes.”

  “Of course,” Hari said as he started ripping at his hem.

  Marsh bundled the cloth up into a makeshift pressure bandage and held it over the wound. He took Elle’s good hand and placed it over the bandage. “Press down as hard as you can. I will see if I can stop the bleeding. I am weak, but I will try to use what healing skills I can, if you let me channel through you. Sir, do you think you might run for some help?” Marsh said to Hari.

  “Yes, I will fetch the doctor.” Hari nodded and started running, his feet pattering on the stones of the temple floor.

  “Are you ready?”

  Elle bit her lip and nodded.

  Marsh closed his eyes and they both focused on Dashwood.

  There was a gentle stirring of aether as Warlock and Oracle worked together. Slowly Elle felt tissue mending as she felt the aether slip into him. Dashwood’s heartbeat slowed to normal and he suddenly felt warmer.

  He coughed and opened his eyes.

  “Elle?”

  “Lie still. You’ve been shot,” she said.

  “Hugh Marsh. Pleased to meet you,” Marsh said when Dashwood looked at him.

  “How do you do,” Dashwood said.

  “Lie still. We can shake hands later,” Marsh said.

  After a few minutes, Marsh let go of the connection and sat back, panting. “That’s the best I can do for now. He’s lost a massive amount of blood and we are going to need a doctor to stitch up the wound. He’s definitely not out of the woods, but at least his chances are better.”

  Elle felt the fizzle of aether fade but kept her hand on the pressure bandage, too afraid to let go.

  “You do know that vanquishing Patrice makes you the Grand Master of the Council of Warlocks, don’t you?” Marsh said.

  Elle looked up in surprise. “You can’t be serious,” she said.

  “I think you might make a rather splendid Grand Mistress,” Marsh said.

  They heard hasty footsteps approaching.

  Hari rushed into the light, his eyes wide with fright. “The wild men! They are swarming the temples, looking for us. I could not escape. What are we going to do?”

  Dashwood struggled up onto one elbow. “Damn those storm riders. Here,” he said. He handed Hari a flare. “Light it and shoot it up into the sky. I told Heller to come and find us. With a little luck we might still make it out of here alive,” he said. He had grown pale and sweaty with the exertion of speaking.

  Hari took the flare and ran out into the courtyard. He lit it and a bright yellow light shot into the sky.

  A few seconds later, they were met by the blare of a large airship’s horn. It sounded across the temple complex, sending bats reeling.

  Blinding beams of spark light flooded into the courtyard. It was Heller. The Oracle’s Revenge had found them.

  “It’s Heller! I love that big bastard,” Dashwood said, as they watched the ship lower a passenger cage to the ground.

  In reply to the commotion, the four Aeternae dreadnoughts flicked on their own lights. On the rooftops and buildings, scores of Aeternae rose up, ululating and waving their arms in a cry for battle.

  “Would you mind helping me up?” he said as he struggled into a sitting position.

  Marsh slipped Dashwood’s arm over his shoulder and Elle took the other. Together they helped him to stand, just as the first Aeternae dropped into the courtyard.

  “Hurry!” Hari shouted, clambering into the basket. He leaned on it in order to lower the edge so they could help Dashwood in. They fell into the rescue basket in a tumble of limbs just as the face of an Aeternae appeared at the edge of the basket.

  Elle kicked it in the face, her boot crushing the saw-like protrusions on its forehead.

  “Nice shot!” Dashwood mumbled.

  The cables clanked and the basket started to lift off the ground.

  Elle looked at Marsh and Dashwood. The two men in her life.

  “Um, now what?” she said.

  “I’m sure we can sort all this out later,” Marsh said calmly. “For now I am just happy to be alive.”

  “I think I would agree with that one,” Dashwood said as the first volley of spears came flying by. The storm riders were definitely still in pursuit. One spear pierced the basket, its deadly tip stopping inches away from Hari’s head.

  Elle looked at Dashwood and Marsh. “Well, gentlemen, then I say right now: Let’s run!”

  EPILOGUE

  Fat snowflakes sifted down from the heavy clouds that shrouded the Carpathian Mountains, coating everything in a delicate blanket of white.

  The Oracle’s Revenge rested in the air above the rooftops and parapets of the winter palace of the Ţepeş family. The ship bobbed and creaked as she strained against her frozen tether ropes. All was quiet in the gloom.

  Inside the great hall everything was not so quiet and peaceful.

  The Baroness Loisa Belododia turned from the giant fire roaring in the ancient stone fireplace and smiled.

  Before her, the crew of the Oracle’s Revenge was assembled around a huge table that dominated the room.

  “Come. Friends. Eat, drink and be merry. You are most welcome here.” Loisa extended a graceful black-clad arm in a gesture of welcome which, despite her best efforts, still made her pale features appear slightly creepy. “But please remember not to walk in the halls unaccompanied after dark. Some of my cousins are not … as civilized as we are … and they may fall foul to temptation if they find you alone in the dark.” She turned her dark eyes to her companion, who was standing on the other side of the fireplace. “Jasper, darling, please see that our guests have enough mulled wine. We don’t want them catching a chill. It will be cold tonight.”

  Jasper smiled at Loisa. The process of conversion into a Nightwalker had brought out angles in his cheekbones that made him look rather suave and distinguished. “Of course, my dear Baroness.” He clapped his hands, which brought servants with great salvers of mulled wine who replenished the rapidly emptying plates and cups.

  Elle sat at the head of the table and smiled with a deep sense of fondness at the people assembled before her. Heller and Atticus were busy challenging one another to see who could drink the vodka-laced mulled wine faster and, by the looks of things, Atticus was winning. Fat Paul was making short shrift of a roast chicken.

  Old Jack had fallen asleep in his chair, his hands folded over his belly and tucked under his long beard. He had joined them on board the Oracle’s Revenge, and given all he had done for Marsh over the last year, Elle felt that it would have been wrong not to allow him to become part of this company.

  There were new crew members as well, recruited while Heller and Atticus were in Bangkok. Elle did not know them well, but the new guys were eating while glancing around nervously at the shadows just beyond the warmth of the lamplight. Most of them had never seen a Nightwalker before tonight.

  But it was the two remaining men at the other end of the table who drew her attention the most. Marsh sat on the right side. Apart from the fact that his clothes were a little tattier than they had been, he looked exactly like he had on the day before all this happened. Exactly the same, except for his eyes, which had the haunted look of one who has suffered deeply. He sat quietly, drinking and brooding into his cup.

  Dashwood was on the left. Despite Loisa’s healing, he still looked a little pale from his injury, but he was smiling and joking with Heller.

  Every so often, when he thought no one was looking, Marsh would glance over at Elle and then at Dashwood.

  There was so much that was unspoken between the three of them, Elle thought.

  “So you set out to save one, and now you
have saved both.” Loisa spoke in a low voice next to her, making her start. Even though they were the best of friends, Elle could never quite get used to the speed and silence at which Loisa moved.

  “That I did,” Elle admitted.

  “What are you going to do now?” Loisa said.

  Elle gave a deep sigh. “I honestly don’t know.”

  “Personally, I think having both of them as husband would be a solution I could live with rather happily. Perhaps you should find a country which allows it and live out your life in bliss.” Loisa gave her a slow, knowing smile.

  “Oh, Loisa.” Elle rolled her eyes. “Trust you to find the most shocking solution to the problem. If only it were that simple.”

  “Have you spoken with them?”

  Elle shook her head. “We spent most of the way here fighting off the Storm Riders. To be honest, finding you here at home saved our lives. I don’t think Dashwood would have made it much further had it not been for you.”

  “I see,” Loisa said. “But what exactly happened?”

  Elle took a swig of her mulled wine. It was potent stuff, made to warm the bones and fortify the body against the biting cold. “Well, there was no sign of Patrice or of that hell hound after the tear in the barrier was sealed. Jack did have a look later, but he could see nothing. Mostly, we have been concentrating our efforts on escaping from Indochina in one piece. There has been little time for reflection.”

  “And what of the barrier?” Loisa said. “My men have noticed an increase in Shadow creatures in the forest this winter. Most of them were entirely unprepared for the cold. We have done what we can to help them, but many have died out there.”

  Elle closed her eyes. The knowledge that she was responsible for the realm of Shadow and all its creatures weighed heavily upon her. “The truth is that no one is sure what Patrice did to the barrier. As best we can tell, he infused it with some of his own power, so when he disappeared, he left us with no means of controlling it.”

  “So it is still in place?”

  “Oh yes, but none of us can access it now. All we know is that he has left it open on the Shadow side.”