When they were no longer moving, Lina began turning dials and pulling levers to power down the ship. The Sun Sphere’s light faded to a single flame. It looked as it had that first time Ozben had seen it in the museum.
Next to him, Lina sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest, holding herself, and Ozben realized she was trembling.
“Hey, easy now,” he said. He shrugged out of his harness and leaned over to pull her into a hug. “You did it. You were amazing. Hey, you hear me? We made it.”
Lina nodded, but she didn’t speak, just leaned her head against Ozben’s shoulder. He could feel her heart pounding. After a minute, she lifted her head and gave him a tremulous smile. “I’m not a very good pilot,” she said.
He snorted. “Best I’ve ever seen.” He nodded out the window. “Come on. We’re not out of this yet. The refugees are outside, and I want you to meet my sister.”
Lina followed Ozben down the gangplank with the chamelins in tow. The wind bit through her heavy coat. She also wore a thick scarf, mittens, and heavy boots. Ozben was similarly attired. They’d armed themselves as best they could against the freezing temperatures in the pass.
The ship’s light had diminished to a dull glow, but there was still enough of it to see the dozens of shapes moving in the darkness in front of the ship. Lanterns flickered here and there, fighting to stay lit against the wind and damp snow swirling in the air.
As they approached the crowd of refugees, a woman separated from a group and came forward. Long, straight black hair poked out from beneath her hooded cloak, and a thick wool scarf covered most of her face, but even through the snow, Lina recognized the blue-and-yellow military uniform, the Merrow Kingdom’s colors.
The woman held up her lantern and uttered a wordless cry of disbelief. She broke into a run, battling through the snowdrifts until she reached them.
“Ozben Cornelius Merrow,” she said in a tone somewhere between exasperation and relief. “What in the wide world are you doing out here, and what…” She trailed off and just stared at the Merlin, her mouth hanging open and her lantern dangling from her hand. “What is that?”
Ozben couldn’t control the smile that spread across his face. He struggled against the wind up to his sister and threw his arms around her, hugging her tightly and jostling the lantern. “Missed you,” he said, and then he murmured something in a low voice that Lina couldn’t hear, but beneath her hood, his sister’s eyes softened, and she whispered something back to him.
They broke apart, and Ozben turned to Lina. “Elinore, this is my friend Lina Winterbock. She flew the ship here.”
“Well, not exactly,” Lina said. “That is…” She faltered as Elinore eyed her curiously. She realized she couldn’t just blurt out that the ship was alive. Smiling weakly, Lina held out her hand. “I’ve heard so much about you,” she said.
As the girls shook hands, Ozben looked over the crowd of refugees. “Listen, Elinore, I promise I’ll explain everything later, but right now we’re in big trouble.”
“More trouble than this blasted storm?” Elinore said, shivering as she wrapped her cloak more tightly around herself.
“Believe it or not, we’ve got something that tops a blizzard,” Lina said. “Your brother will fill you in.” She turned to Ozben. “I’m going to check on the ship and see if we’ll be able to take off. The storm’s not getting any better. We need to get the refugees on board as quickly as possible.”
“We’ll take care of that,” Malror said, walking up to them. The other chamelins were already moving through the crowd of refugees, gathering everyone and checking them over for injuries. For the most part, they seemed all right, but here and there, Lina saw makeshift stretchers, their occupants swaddled in thick blankets. A couple of these were children. The others stuck close together to share warmth, and many of them stared at the airship in wonder, pointing and murmuring. All told, there were a couple dozen of them, and five Merrow soldiers that had accompanied Elinore into the pass. The Merlin was designed to carry passengers and crew, but not very many. Even if they used every cabin and storage area, the ship was going to be full for the journey home. Lina just hoped they had the power to take off with so many people aboard.
She tromped through the heavy snowdrifts and climbed back up the gangplank. Hurrying to the bridge, she sat down in the pilot’s seat and, pulling her mittens off, let her hand hover over the Sun Sphere. Its light had begun to brighten again since they’d landed, but she didn’t know if it was regenerating power fast enough.
“Are you all right?” Lina asked softly. “I’m so sorry. I know the trip was hard on you.”
In response to her words, she felt a brush of affection from the Merlin and then a wave of determination.
“You’re right. We can’t give up now,” Lina said. “We’ve already come so far. Ozben found his sister. She’s lovely. Well, what I could see of her under the cloak was lovely.” Lina let her hand rest absently on the steering controls. “Don’t tell anyone, but I envy her. I would have liked to have a little brother like Ozben. I’m sure she missed him a lot when he was gone.” Her voice dropped to a whisper, and her chest ached.
The affection humming from the ship grew stronger, enveloping Lina like a warm blanket. She smiled and sat back in her seat, watching the Sun Sphere brighten. Her smile turned wistful. “I’ll bet you have people waiting for you at home too.”
The Merlin’s affection wavered, sliding into uncertainty. Lina realized that she was getting better at recognizing the changes in the ship’s emotions. “Don’t worry,” she said, trying her best to be soothing. “They’re all waiting for you. I know it. Your family—dozens, hundreds of airships, or whatever your uncles and cousins might look like—they’re all searching the sky, waiting for you to come home.”
I’ll make sure you get there, Lina thought as hope ignited within the Merlin. Somehow, she would get them all home safely.
A few minutes later, Lina heard voices coming up the gangplank. She stood and ran to help the chamelins guide the refugees through the ship. It was a tight fit, just as she’d feared. Ozben and his sister came last, and Elinore’s face, when she pushed back her cloak hood, was ashen. Obviously, Ozben had told her about King Easmon’s plot.
“Are we ready to take off?” Ozben asked as the gangplank rose and sealed behind them.
“I wish we could stay here another half hour or so,” Lina said. “The ship’s still resting.”
“Resting?” Elinore asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s a funny way of putting it.” She paused a moment, then added, “As you said, the storm’s not letting up. We don’t have time to waste.”
Lina exchanged a nervous glance with Ozben. Elinore didn’t know what they were dealing with here, but they hadn’t discussed whether to tell her the truth or not. Would she believe them if they told her about the ship?
Ozben seemed to understand what Lina was thinking. He turned to Elinore and put a hand on her arm. “You don’t understand,” he said quietly, so the others wouldn’t hear. “This isn’t an ordinary ship.”
“I assumed as much,” Elinore said, crossing her arms. “Is there something else I should know, Ozben?”
But before Ozben could reply, Elinore’s eyes widened, and she put a hand against her chest as if she was in pain.
“Elinore?” Ozben said worriedly, clutching her arm. “What’s wrong?”
Lina suspected she knew, but she waited for Elinore to say it.
“I—I’m all right,” Elinore said, rubbing her chest absently. “For a second I thought I felt something, except…except it wasn’t coming from me. But…that’s crazy.”
“Not on this ship,” Lina said.
Elinore looked from Ozben to Lina, confused. “What do you mean?”
“The Merlin—that’s its name—is more than just a ship,” Ozben said. “It’s alive.”
Elinore frowned at her brother. “Surely you don’t expect me to believe—”
&n
bsp; Her words cut off as she gasped and clutched her chest again. She staggered, and Ozben and Lina had to steady her, one at each arm.
“Take a breath,” Ozben said. “The strangeness will pass in a minute. It’s a little overwhelming at first.”
Elinore leaned on them for support. “Ozben, this is…I mean…where did you…how did you…”
“Wow, you know you’re onto something impressive when my sister’s at a loss for words.” Ozben grinned, but his smile vanished quickly. “You can’t tell the others, Elinore.”
“If the ship doesn’t take off, it won’t be for lack of trying,” Lina said. “But it’s dangerous. The ship’s power source—its heart—is drained.”
“I—I understand,” Elinore said unsteadily. “This is all just a little bit much to take.”
“I know the feeling,” Ozben said. “But we’ll do our best to get back in the air.”
“And then I can get to my soldiers—order them to stand down,” Elinore said. A look of determination came over her face. “Can I do anything to help you two up here?” she asked, nodding to the bridge.
Lina shook her head. “The best thing you can do is look after the refugees and hold on tight,” she said. “It’s going to be a bumpy takeoff.”
Elinore nodded, reached over to ruffle Ozben’s hair—he swatted her hands away, but he was grinning—and headed for the stairs at the back of the ship.
Lina followed Ozben to the bridge and strapped herself into the pilot’s seat. She shot a nervous glance at the Sun Sphere. Still not at full power. “This is going to be difficult,” she said.
“Well, so far everything else has been, so why not this too?” Ozben said, adjusting his harness.
Lina took a steadying breath and reached out to the ship with her thoughts. We’re ready when you are.
In response, a low rumble shuddered through the ship as its systems powered up, and Lina put her hands on the steering controls to hold the ship steady. The vibrations ran up her arms and made her whole body tremble. She imagined the ship readying itself, drawing in energy as if it were preparing to spread its wings and fly like the chamelins. But the Merlin was so much heavier than a chamelin, and there were a lot more people on board now.
With a loud groan that echoed in Lina’s ears, the ship lifted off the ground, hovering about five feet in the air. The needles on the gauges flipped to the right as far as they could go, and the whole ship seemed to be straining. Wind gusted down, dropping them a couple of feet, like a hand pressing them back toward the earth.
Lina gripped the controls until her hands ached. She didn’t know if she was helping any, but she knew the Merlin was in pain. She could feel it—not the pain itself but fear emanated from the ship.
“You can do it,” Ozben urged. Lina looked over at him, but he wasn’t addressing her. His attention was fixed on the flickering light of the Sun Sphere. “We’re all with you,” he said. “We believe in you.”
Lina closed her eyes and thought back to the night in her workshop when a cave-in had almost buried her, and the time when she’d chased the fiery carnelian cat toward a library full of paper. She thought of her and Ozben crawling on the rock ledge on the side of a mountain. All those times she’d been fighting for something. She’d been afraid but had pressed on as best she could.
Think of home, she thought to the Merlin, putting all the love and hope she could into the emotion. That’s what they fought for—Ozben, the refugees, the ship—they were all fighting to get home.
We have to end it. End this war, so we can all go home again.
The ship surged upward, pushing back against the wind to rise ten feet, and then ten more. Up and up they climbed, and the rock walls of the pass flew by on either side of them. Lina held on to the controls as her heart beat wildly with hope.
“That’s it,” Ozben murmured. “Higher. Higher. You’re doing it!” he cried. “You’re almost there!”
And then, with a burst of speed, they cleared the pass and were airborne again, with the mountains scrolling by beneath them. Ozben and Lina let out a loud whoop, which echoed throughout the ship.
Lina steered the ship around and let it settle into a course back toward Ortana. Then her hands slid off the controls, and she sank back in her seat and closed her eyes for a moment.
Thank you. She sent the thought to the ship with a burst of love that was too great to be contained.
They were going home.
Once they were clear of the pass, the swirling snow finally began to abate. Lina held the ship steady while the chamelins opened the top hatch. She watched through the window as most of them flew out into the night, back toward the stronghold to let the archivists know to prepare to receive the refugees, some of whom were wounded or suffering from frostbite. Two other chamelins stood just outside the bridge, waiting to fly Elinore to the front lines so she could rescind Commander Cartwell’s orders to attack.
“Do you think you’ll make it in time?” Ozben asked anxiously. He stood at the door to the bridge, watching as his sister fastened her cloak and pulled on her gloves.
“I’ll make it,” Elinore said. “I have to.”
From her seat on the bridge, Lina heard the weariness in Elinore’s voice. She’d been fighting for a long time, Lina realized, and was more than ready for the war to end.
One of the chamelins came down the stairs from the upper deck, still in human form. “We’re ready to leave when you are, Your Highness,” he said.
“Excellent.” Elinore turned to Ozben and pulled him close for a quick hug. She said something in his ear that Lina didn’t hear, but she saw Ozben nod in response. They broke apart, and Elinore met her eyes. “I know you’ll look out for him,” she said, smiling. “Thank you for everything.”
Lina nodded. “Be safe.”
If only Elinore could have stayed with them longer, Lina thought. She knew how much Ozben had missed his sister, and Lina would have liked the chance to get to know her better.
Elinore turned and quickly followed the chamelin down the passage and up the stairs to the upper deck. A few minutes later, Lina caught a glimpse of two chamelins flying away from the ship, one holding Elinore tightly. It wouldn’t be a comfortable journey, Lina thought, but she believed the chamelins would get Elinore to the front lines in time. The mission to Hawthorn Pass had been a success, and Lina couldn’t have been more grateful.
Yet now that they’d rescued the refugees, Lina had time to worry about what lay ahead. The chamelins would of course tell the archivists who—and what—it was that had saved them. Zara would surely try to explain things, but Lina still had no idea what kind of reception to expect when they landed.
And she didn’t have long to wait. As Lina gazed out the front window, the strongholds appeared in the distance. Lina took hold of the controls once more and began to descend.
Ozben stepped onto the bridge and sat down beside her. “I’m going to try to have the ship land on the bridge outside Ortana,” she told him “We’ll get the refugees out, then take off again as quickly as we can.”
“Wait, you mean we’re going with the ship?” Ozben said, surprise in his voice. “But its next stop is the other side of the Hiterian Mountains—to the uncharted lands.”
“Don’t worry,” Lina said, her lips quirking in a smile. “I’m not planning on stowing away. But I want to make sure the Merlin gets on its way safely.” She’d been thinking for a while about the best place to go. “We’ll fly it to the other side of Gazer’s Gorge and send it off from there.”
What she didn’t say to Ozben was that she also wanted a chance to say goodbye. Lina bit her lip as tears welled up in her eyes. She blinked them back and concentrated on the ship’s descent. The wide stone bridge that spanned Gazer’s Gorge grew larger in the window as they approached. So focused was she on keeping the ship steady, Lina didn’t immediately notice the dozens of figures standing on the bridge, pointing at the sky. As they got closer, she saw more of them pouring out of Ortana’s fron
t gates. Her stomach flipped over, and Lina shot Ozben an anxious glance. “Looks like we’re going to have a reception,” she said.
“Hopefully it’s a warm one,” Ozben said.
The ship hovered over the bridge for a moment before settling onto its landing wheels. Lina checked the Sun Sphere and was relieved to see its light holding steady.
They had done it. Lina took a moment to savor the relief and joy that washed over her. She leaned over and hugged Ozben.
“Great job,” he murmured in her ear.
“You too,” Lina said.
They stood, and Lina grasped Ozben’s hand as they left the controls behind and headed for the gangplank. The ship, sensing their desire to leave, slowly opened. A freezing wind swept in, stealing Lina’s breath. As the gangplank lowered, loud voices echoed from just outside the ship.
“It’s opening. Get ready!”
“Clear a path! Out of the way!”
Lina and Ozben descended the stairs, and the crowd surged toward them through the snow. There were dozens of archivists, apprentices, and even refugees. She looked around for Zara but didn’t see her.
“What if someone recognizes me?” Ozben murmured apprehensively. He’d pulled his hat down low over his brows and wrapped his scarf tightly around his face so that only his eyes and nose were exposed.
“Let’s hope they’re too distracted by the ship,” Lina whispered back. She didn’t think anyone would be expecting a prince of the Merrow Kingdom to step off the ship.
Luckily, the chamelins were there also, some in human form and some not. They kept the crowd a safe distance away from the gangplank as the first of the refugees emerged from the ship.
“I said clear a path!” Malror bellowed, dividing the crowd. As he did, a team of archivists from the medical wing pushed through with stretchers and blankets.
That’s when Lina caught a glimpse of Zara. She and Tolwin led the other council members through the crowd. Lina tried to push down the nerves fluttering madly in her stomach.
The Secrets of Solace Page 25