Chapter 36
A Ride in the Sky
The party watched in dread as the Chaos Death spilled into the valley below. Theo turned to Snow. “What shall we do?”
Snow looked over at Connie. “Do you think we can fly the aircraft with all of us on board?”
“Not with the node power we have. We need more power if we are to carry two more.”
“We don’t have time to elevate the enchantment,” Snow said. She ran her hand through her silvery blond hair. “Can we fly together?”
Connie did a quick mental calculation. “Yes, we can fly with one more, but it will be scary. With two additional passengers, we may make it over the chasm, but in the end we will crash on the other side.”
“Very well, then. Someone must stay behind.”
“You can’t mean that, Snow,” Connie said.
Jalban spoke up. “You have to take me. You’ll need my healing herbs once we reach the other side.
“Nonsense,” Maltokken said. “You dropped your healing herbs on the mountain pass. You are worthless without them.” Maltokken stepped in front of Snow. “You must not leave me behind on the mountain. You will need a strong, able warrior to defeat the beasts we will most surely meet on the other side of the chasm.”
“Silence! Perhaps we should leave both of you behind. Where were you when we rebuilt the aircraft?”
Both Maltokken and Jalban stared back in silence. Connie laughed to herself over what Snow had just said; she couldn’t have said it better.
“We should discuss this with Rahl,” Theo said.
“Rahl is no condition to discuss this.”
“Then why is he walking toward us?”
The party turned to look. Indeed, Rahl was walking toward them, the rage he had felt earlier appearing to have dissipated. Connie now saw despondent acceptance in his face. Her heart bled felt for him. Jalban and Maltokken rushed up to Rahl. “Rahl! Don’t leave us behind! Tell Snow not to leave us behind!” Rahl did not address their concern. He stopped at the party to gaze at the horror unfolding below them in the valley.
“The Chaos will be here soon,” he stated tonelessly. “Is the aircraft ready?” he asked Connie.
Connie explained the situation with the plane and how they didn’t have enough node power in the enchantment to safely carry all party members over the chasm. When Connie finished, Rahl did not immediately answer. He gazed pensively across the valley.
Snow spoke up. “These two should draw lots on who goes and who remains behind,” she said, referring to Jalban and Maltokken.
“No, Rahl!” Maltokken pleaded with the swordbearer, obviously terrified at the possibility he might be left behind. “Don’t leave me here to die!”
“I would prefer you slayed me rather than allow Chaos to take my body,” Jalban said stoically.
Connie smiled again. Just a few weeks ago, these very same men were reluctant to even trust that her craft would fly. Now they eagerly staked their lives on it. The irony was sweet.
“We shall not leave anyone behind, not unless we absolutely have to,” Rahl pronounced. He looked to Connie. “How much node power do we need to fly the craft?”
“I don’t know for sure,” she replied.
“Find out,” he ordered. Now he looked to Snow. “Do we have any node power at all?”
“Only a few,” she answered. “Spares.”
“Add them to the enchantment.”
“You’re not going to leave us behind?” Maltokken asked with a hopeful smile.
On hearing that, Rahl spun around quickly and punched Maltokken in the mouth. The cowardly warrior was on the ground before he knew what hit him. Dazed, he looked up a Rahl. He wiped his bloodied mouth with the back of his hand.
“What was that for?” Maltokken asked.
“That was for not risking your life to save my brother as he would have done for you.”
“How do you know I did not?”
Rahl did not respond. He leered at the supine warrior. Maltokken looked away. Both men knew the truth. “I should slay you for your cowardice, Maltokken, but I shall not. I will need your strength in the days to come. In this, I will give you the chance to redeem yourself at some later time.”
“Thank you, Rahl,” the warrior said contritely. “I shall not let you down. I promise you.”
Rahl stared down at Maltokken a moment longer, then he looked up to see the party standing around them, watching the proceedings. “What are all of you looking at?” she shouted hotly. “Chaos comes quickly. Have you not anything better to do?”
Not wishing to incur Rahl’s wrath, the party scattered in different directions.
Connie returned to the cottage to do her calculations. A close estimate was that they would need no less than 230 node power to fly the plane. She knew that with the additional enchantment using the remainder of the nodes, they would be short. When she gave the news to Rahl, he stared impassively at her, nonplussed.
Moments later, Snow entered the cottage. She walked before Rahl and dropped a pile of empty node containers at his feet. “That was the last of our nodes. I don’t even have any spares.”
“What is the enchantment?” Rahl asked.
“A little over 220.”
Rahl looked to Connie. “What do you think?”
“We may be all right if there is a healthy headwind and we hit some thermals over the chasm.”
He knitted his brow. “What is a headwind? What is a thermal? I do not understand this terminology.”
“I can explain them later. Let me just say that we will have a better chance if it is windy above the ridge. From what I’ve seen, it’s usually windiest up there late in the afternoon. Perhaps we can wait until that time.”
“We do not have time. Chaos will be here in only a few hours, if not sooner.”
“Okay,” Connie said. “Then I strongly suggest we do as Snow suggests and leave someone behind. Better we lose one of us than the whole party.”
“Is there anything we can do? Is there any other enchantment we can make?”
She shook her head. “No matter what spell or enchantment we make, it will immediately cease as soon as we pass over chasm cliffs.”
“Can we lighten the craft?”
“We already have plans on lightening the plane with spells just before takeoff,” Connie replied. “We will also cast a Hardwood on the craft to keep it from breaking apart on the initial acceleration. Remember too, Rahl. All these magical effects will vanish while we are over the chasm, and we will glide purely by the grace of physics.”
A moment of desperate silence passed between the three.
“We do have one other option,” Snow said slowly with a pained expression. “We have a large number of crystal and metal nodes. We can add those to the enchantment.”
Connie gasped. “Are you suggesting a Meld enchantment?”
Snow nodded solemnly. “Yes, but just a booster to the Air, just enough to get the craft off the ground.”
“How long will it take?” Rahl asked.
“A few hours, maybe.”
“Can you accomplish it in under an hour?”
“Perhaps. But, as Connie knows, the spell is flawed. There is a chance it will not work. There is a greater chance the enchantment will avalanche. And we already know what happens when there is nodal avalanche, don’t we, Connie?” Snow cocked her eyebrow at her. She looked away, feeling instantly ashamed at her mentioning it.
“Do you think you two can do it?”
Snow gave Rahl a haughty-but-sincere smile. “I would not have suggested it if I did not think we could.”
Rahl nodded slowly as he thought this over. “Let us do it then.”
Connie fumed as she and Snow walked together to the plane carrying a container of Light, Crystal, and Fire nodes.
“Snow, I can’t believe you told Rahl we could do that! Didn’t you tell me this was a dangerous spell?”
“Yes. Connie, I did. That’s why you will cast it and not me.”
Connie stopped in her tracks when Snow said this. Snow took a few more steps, then she spun around to face Connie. “Why should I be the one to do the enchantment when it was your suggestion?”
“I do not know the Meld spell. You do. Come along now. Let us not waste any more precious time.”
“But I’ve only read the spell.”
“That is more than I have done with it,” Snow chirped.
“I’ll have to cast the spell from the book.”
“That would take too long. You heard Rahl—very little time remains. Come, now.”
Snow took a few more steps toward the plane. Connie remained where she was. The sorceress stopped when she realized Connie was not going to follow her.
“What is your problem, Connie?”
“I don’t want to cast the spell.”
“Who said you had a choice? You are my apprentice. As your mentor, I say you must do this. You must comply with my wishes.”
“Please don’t make me, Snow,” Connie pleaded.
Snow walked back over to Connie. “I do not understand you.”
“I don’t want to be responsible for another avalanche. If this craft gets blown to bits like the first one, we’re doomed for certain.”
Snow scowled at her unwilling apprentice. “Oh, so you don’t want to be responsible. Is that your problem? Do you recall that speech you gave Rahl and me a few weeks ago? Do you not live by the words on your tongue?”
“I just don’t want it to happen again. And we can fly now if we leave someone behind.”
Snow walked up to Connie until the two women were face-to-face only inches apart. Connie looked into the steely eyes of the sorceress.
“Connie, do you think I would ask you to do this if I did not believe in you?”
“But the Meld spell is unstable,” she said, her voice quavering. “No matter what I do it, it may—”
Snow put her finger on Connie’s lips to silence her. “Listen to me. I know all about the Meld spell. Yes, I realize it may fail no matter what you do. But I have faith that you will do the best you can with it. And that is all I am asking.” Snow took the wooden box of node containers and pressed it to Connie’s breast. Connie absently grasped the box and held it there. Snow continued. “If the enchantment fails, then so be it. A sad adventure this will have been. But Rahl is counting on us. So is the party. Now go perform the enchantment and do your best.”
Snow walked away from Connie, leaving her with the box. Connie cursed to herself. But no matter what she wanted, this had to be done. She sat on the stool next to the glowing metal plate at the tail of the aircraft. She lifted the box to the plate. She decided to start with the Light nodes, as they were usually the easiest to handle. Carefully, she willed the globular glowing balls of light into the metal of the tail, which held the Air enchantment. All at once, the glowing metal of the tail swelled unexpectedly in brightness. She gasped in mortal fear, fighting the urge to run for cover. She rallied her courage and caressed the hot metal, nearly singeing her fingers in the process, knowing at any moment it could explode, killing her and destroying the plane. Gradually, she mentally massaged the plate into accepting the additional power from the normally-incompatible node. The glow from the enchantment faded to its former brilliance. This is why I never joined demolitions, she thought. She vowed she would never again have anything to do with bombs.
After taking a quick breather, she swallowed hard and then began the Meld spell. After the power of the Light nodes had been added to the enchantment, she progressed to binding the power of the Fire nodes. Again, the plate glowed angrily, this time brighter than before. With enchantment threatening to go out of control, she stopped the Meld spell and began soothing the enchantment again. At first, the glow continued increasing. Resolved to her fate, she closed her eyes and stayed with it. Ever so slowly, the enchantment came back under control. Her heart now fluttered in her chest so quickly she thought she would go into cardiac arrest.
Now enough perspiration had poured down her face to where it obscured her vision. With the tension too great to concentrate any longer, she got up from the stool and paced around the plane for a bit. Snow was right about the instability of the spell from a theoretical point of view. But it was different to try casting it. Her heart still pounding, she walked over to the edge of the courtyard, where the switchbacks descended into the valley. The valley appeared as a vast pool of tar. Slowly, the level of the tar was increasing until it would soon consume the village. She looked back at the plane. Indeed, the plane was their only hope. She walked back to the craft with a new resolve to make the enchantment work at all costs.
She took a seat next to the tail again and began the Meld spell again. Just as before, the metal plate glowed incrementally brighter with the progress of the spell. This time, rather than stopping, she slowed the pace of the enchantment and more clearly annunciated the syllables of the enchantment. The brilliance of the enchantment leveled off. A few minutes later, they completed the spell. Slowly, the glow resumed its former brightness. Immediately, she cast a Sense Enchantment spell to check the level of the enchantment. The increase in the power of the enchantment was slight but unmistakable. She had done it—she had successfully added the divergent powers of Light and Crystal into a completely incompatible Air enchantment. It was an unhappy union, but a union nonetheless. She raised the node cell again and willed another Fire node into the plate.
While Connie did this, Snow and the others bid their time stuffing the Threshibian bag with all items that were not completely necessary to carry separately, including their armor and most of their weapons. Even Tristana had to give up her coveted battle axe. All this they did to keep the weight down to a minimum.
Node by node, Connie stayed with the Meld spell. The more she cast the unstable spell, the better she got at it, but consequently, due to the increasing strength of the enchantment, she spent more of her time soothing the enchantment that constantly threatened to avalanche. Connie discovered that the power of the melded nodes performed somewhat less than half their native strength. This meant she had to double the number of times she cast the Meld spell.
Now, with every unneeded scrap of metal, cloth, and wood packed away, the party sat a safe distance from the plane, waiting for a heavily perspiring Connie, keeping quiet to not disturb her in the midst of the enchantment. By now, the sun was high on the horizon, illuminating the white snow with intense brightness. Connie continued working the enchantment as best she could. At 220, the node strength was still shy of the minimum she needed to fly the plane with all on board.
After a while, Connie saw Snow walk up to her through her peripheral vision. Connie sensed Snow earnestly wanted to speak with her, but Snow was patient. She stood next to Connie, waiting for Connie to address her once a stopping point in the enchantment had been reached. The Meld spell didn’t work again for the third time. Connie soothed the slight avalanche from enchantment. She wearily gazed up at the sorceress who waited for her to speak.
“How is your progress?”
“We’re still short. I’m having trouble with the binding,” Connie said as she dabbed away some of the perspiration from her forehead with her sleeve.
“Did you try slowing it down?”
“It doesn’t work. The Meld spell does not give me enough control. You are right. The spell is a piece of crap.”
At that moment, the brightness of the sunlight decreased around them as though a cloud were passing overhead. Connie looked up to see the darkness, but there were no clouds in the sky. The sun just seemed to have lost some of its brilliance. Then came the pungent, rotting fish smell of Chaos. The smell was slight for the moment, but unmistakable.
“I believe we are out of time,” Snow said, looking around with a look of unease.
“But we need at least ten power more to fly the plane with everyone inside.”
“I understand, but there is no time for further enchantments. We must take our chances.” Snow waved the party over to the plane.
The sight of the party standing there with their white-fur jule-skin flying caps amused Connie. As a whole, they looked strange and vulnerable without their weapons, armor, and spell components. Just a bunch of ordinary folks wearing goofy-looking hats, she thought.
“Connie is finished,” Snow said in the ever-increasing gloom.
The party gathered around Snow and Connie. “Shall we sit in the plane?” Rahl asked.
“No!” Connie answered quickly for Snow. “We are still short the node power we need.”
“How much are we short?” Rahl asked.
“Ten.”
“What are our chances of flying this machine without it?”
Connie spun around and stood to face the swordbearer fully to prove and emphasize her point. “Even at 250, flying this thing will be dicey.”
“Then I say you do it,” he said decisively without hesitation.
Snow became unhinged on hearing that. “Rahl! Look what is happening around us. Chaos is not coming. Chaos is here!”
Rahl turned to Snow. “Then we shall prepare.”
The swordbearer and the celestial sorceress stared at each other for a moment, each waiting for the other to back down. Connie and the others shifted as though uncomfortable. It looked like a showdown of wills was about to take place. Snow then capitulated.
“Very well, Connie,” she said. “Finish the enchantment.” She turned to the closest party member who stood next to her, who happened to be Tristana. “Come, Tristana. Let’s go for a ride in the sky.”
At that, most of the party members dutifully followed Snow and climbed into the plane. Only Rahl remained with Connie at the tail. The heavy, obnoxious stench of Chaos wafted around them.
“I trust that you will be able to do this,” Rahl said to Connie.
“Leave it to me, Rahl,” Connie said. “I will see us through this.”
Connie felt Rahl scrutinize her for a moment, and then he nodded once and walked up the fuselage to his seat next to Snow.
Alone at the back of the plane, Connie quickly ruminated over her fate. With the darkness of Chaos Death growing around them, she had to act fast. She estimated that there was time for one more attempt at enchantment. And it had better count. She examined the contents of the node cell. These were nodes that belonged to Fandia. In the cell, she found a Crystal ten-power node. She reasoned that if she melded this node to the enchantment, they would have the minimum number she needed to fly the craft.
Connie contacted the node in the cell and willed it into the plate. She thought she heard a shuffling sound behind her. She turned around to see what it was. All she saw was a black billowing fog heading across the courtyard toward her and the plane. She wrested her eyes from the black fog. She willed the powerful crystal node into the metal plate. Just as she did so, she heard another shuffling noise followed by what sounded strangely like the hiss of an angry cat. A sense of danger pervaded her senses. She fought off this feeling and concentrated on the spell. Immediately, for the ten-power node she tried to add, the enchantment went into the avalanche mode. She regained control and then stoically began the Meld spell. While she did this, the first wafts of a pungent, black fog surrounded her. It momentarily obscured her vision of the glowing plate. Now she heard groans, snarling, and other strange sounds around her. This time, nearly overcome by fear, her focus faltered, and the spell caused another avalanche. Shaken by the dangerous environment around her, she nearly lost control of the dangerous condition. The hyper-enchanted plate did not seem to want to take the additional power.
Connie thought for a moment that maybe she ought to try to fly the plane with the reduced power. That would be quite dangerous. She concluded that the risk was worth taking. It had to be done.
Sweat poured down her face as she began the Meld spell again. Now she performed it very slowly, saying each syllable of the enchantment with the utmost precision she could muster while caressing the metal plate with the tender touch of a lover. While cast the spell, she visualized her fingers stroking Rahl’s chest after making love to him. She had enchanted him, and now he enchanted her. Now this magical metal was his chest, and this warm metal was his flesh. Her fingers brushed against his chest, ran down his muscular breast, down his breastbone, then over his navel. Then with the final words of the enchantment, the Meld spell took hold, and the plate absorbed the power of the quarta-node. The enchantment was complete.
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Connie quickly got to her feet. The plane was nearly surrounded by the dirty fog. She felt her way up the sleek fuselage, ducking under the broad wing as she went. Jalban and Maltokken sat in the rear seats. Theo and Tristana sat in front of them. She tried not to look into their faces as she went. Next, she passed Snow and Rahl. Last at the front of the plane was the pilot’s seat—her seat.
“Did it work?” Snow asked as Connie climbed in.
“Like a charm,” Connie replied lightly, understating the struggle she’d experienced moments before.
Connie settled into her seat. She straddled Rahl’s compass-sundial cradled squarely between her thighs. She placed her feet on the rudder pedals and tested their action. Next, she tested the brace that held the control stick steady. Now she grasped the ropes she would use to guide the sled up the snowy ridge until the plane reached the top, where the sled would fall way as they went airborne.
Connie looked up. For all the black, smoke-like fog, she could not see more than ten paces beyond the nose of the plane. The air was filled with strange, tormented sounds of evil. For all the shrieks, groans, and viper-like hisses, it sounded like hell was breaking loose around them. Connie saw oddly shaped, shadowy figures moving about in the fog.
“Are the Temper spells cast, Snow?” Connie asked Snow as she quickly checked the action of the control stick.
“Yes!” Snow replied.
“Lightness spells?”
“Yes, all spells are cast. And here’s one for you.”
The sorceress tapped once on her shoulder. At once, Connie felt a lightness in her viscera.
“Thank you.”
“Let us go already!” Maltokken shouted from the rear seat in the fuselage, fear in his voice.
The moment was at hand. Two control rods ran the length of the plane from the cockpit. One rod would bring an enchanted crystal into contact with the plate. This would activate the Push enchantment held within the plate. The second rod would halt the action of the Push enchantment. This meant her throttle had two modes: on and off.
“Hold on, everyone!” Connie braced herself as she reached down to the control lever that would activate the enchantment. She shoved it back. To her surprise, the rod would not move. It was stuck.
She pressed harder. The rod still would not leave its stuck position. In desperation, she kicked it back toward the tail of the plane with her foot. There came a cracking noise from someplace behind her. Now the rod felt loose. It was broken. “Dammit!” she cursed.
“What is wrong?” Snow asked.
“The control rod—I think it’s broken,” Connie shouted as she slid the rod uselessly forward and back.
“What do we do now?” Rahl asked.
“Does anyone see the rod?” Connie called back while moving the broken end.
“I see it here,” Jalban replied. “On the floor. You’re right. It’s broken off.”
“Can you push the broken end toward the tail?” she asked in apprehension as she looked to the back of the plane.
She watched Jalban duck into the fuselage to fiddle with the rod. “I cannot,” he said. “It is too far back.”
“Let me look at it, you fool!” Maltokken said to Jalban. Now both of them ducked down.
The sounds around the plane were growing closer and more menacing. For all the darkness of the fog, it might as well have been midnight. Connie could only speculate as to what horrors the fog concealed.
“I need a dagger!” Maltokken yelled.
“Who has a dagger?” Snow asked.
Theo handed back his dagger to Maltokken. “Don’t lose it. It’s enchanted.”
Connie could no longer look. She held the control ropes in either hand and waited. Moments later, she heard chipping noises coming from behind her.
“What are you doing?” Jalban yelled.
“Hold your tongue, Jalban!” Maltokken shouted back.
“You do not know what you are doing.”
Snow swore at both of them. “By the gods. Both of you are idiots!”
Suddenly, the fuselage shifted to the side. It felt like something large had grabbed hold of the tail of the craft. Connie looked back. The tail was obscured by a blackness that even the yellow glow of the plate could not penetrate.
“There. That should do it,” Maltokken said. “Are you ready?” he asked Connie.
The fuselage shifted again. The control rod for the rudder moved by itself. Some physical presence in the chaos was moving it.
“Yes, I’m ready!” Connie replied, terrified.
She fixed her eyes straight ahead and waited. A second passed. Nothing happened. Then there came a brief, white flash like a flashbulb from the tail of the plane. The flash cut through the darkness like a knife. This was followed immediately by bloodcurdling shrieks. Now an ear-splitting, loud roaring sound issued from the rear of the plane as the craft heaved itself forward with all the might of a rocket engine. The force of acceleration shoved Connie and the party members hard into the backrest of their seats.
The plane shuddered mightily as it slid up the steep, snowy slope with a loud scraping sound. Connie held taut the ropes that allowed her to steer the sled. The blackness dissolved to a murky gray, then fell away entirely to reveal a bright chlorine green sky above and the wide swath up the snowy ridge the party had cleared. Now the plane slid up the slope, gaining speed tremendously as it went. The faster they went up the sled, the more difficult the plane was to control. It took all her mettle and strength to keep it from careening off the cleared path and into the trees on either side of them.
The mighty Push enchantment accelerated the plane with seemingly ever-increasing power to the top of the ridge. The wind roared over the windshield and past her ears. The plane breached the tree line. The incline of the slope steeped to where they were now facing nothing but the green sky. Connie hyperventilated as she clutched the ropes tightly. The top of the ridge was coming up fast. Suddenly, she was filled with doubt. What if her calculations were wrong? What if this plane could not fly after all? What if they had not gained enough speed? Suppose some law of physics in this world was different in such a way that this plane could not fly. She realized the spells cast on the plane would cease their effects moments after they passed over the ridge. If she were wrong in her assumptions, they would begin their long descent to the bottom of the chasm, where certain death awaited them. “Please let this craft fly,” Connie whispered to the universe in a desperate plea.
The top of the ridge was just a mere second away. Connie let go of the ropes that guided the sled. Immediately she grasped the control stick tightly with both hands, correcting it to a neutral position. With a final bump, the rumbling and scraping sound of the ramp vanished. The sled tumbled into the chasm while the aircraft soared up away from the ridge at an angle nearly perpendicular to the sloped ground.
The Push enchantment abruptly ceased. They were not in the air above the chasm. The plane began to stall. Connie pushed the stick forward to level out the plane. For all the force of the Push spell she had felt moments before, the sensation was as though they were falling. But in reality, the standard laws of physics had embraced the plane, and they glided effortlessly on the wind beneath the wings. The Transparency spell she’d cast on the wooden windshield faded away until now an opaque metal plate obscured her view. This did not matter to Connie, as she did not need to see over the nose of the plane to fly the craft.
They were now flying far above the chasm. Using the rudders and flaps, she turned the plane into the crosswind to gain more lift. Balancing the weight of the plane against a strong headwind, she flew the plane directly over the center of chasm. During this time, Connie fought off the vague weariness caused by the absence of Alyndia’s spell. In the last few months, the acute sleepiness she felt when approaching the chasm had almost entirely subsided. Now it was nothing more than a nuisance.
Connie looked back at her companions behind her, who had thus far been very quiet. She thought they would be terrified from the experience. She was quite wrong. Rahl was looking over the edge of the fuselage with an expression of wonderment. Snow was doing the same. Connie casually noticed that, bereft of some magical enchantment she had on herself, Snow now appeared somewhat older, with slight wrinkles that weren’t there before. The change was subtle but distinct, mostly around the eyes. She looked tired, perhaps world-weary. Nevertheless, her face still bore a girlish expression of wonderment that betrayed the existence of the youthfulness that still resided in her spirit. Behind Snow and Rahl, Theo rested comfortably in his seat. Tristana slept soundly by his side, her head resting on his shoulder. He stared, unmoving into the distance like a loving father who dared not disturb his sleeping daughter. Both Jalban looked over the side of the fuselage, taking in the view of the chasm and the surrounding mountains. Maltokken looked slightly afraid and maintained a strictly forward gaze. She nodded to him. He nodded back.
Connie rotated the outer ring on the compass set between her thighs. Their bearing was northeast at thirty-eight degrees. Despite the generous crosswind, she did not want to travel in this direction too far. She turned the plane to the north side of the chasm. The left wing gently dipped down toward the black chasm below. The plane began to lose altitude. Finally, the plane crossed over the snow-covered north wall of the chasm. Now that the anti-magic chasm was behind them, the Push enchantment on the tail of the plane resumed its effect. The plane surged forward reassuringly. The metal windshield once again became as clear as glass. Connie pulled back on the stick. The plane gained altitude accordingly. More mountains passed underneath. The grogginess Connie felt moments earlier had vanished. She looked back on her companions. Tristana had awakened. Just before she turned around, Connie caught a younger-looking Snow staring at her, smiling. Her eyes were wet. Connie wondered if the sorceress’s eyes were wet for admiration for her pilot or if it was the effect of the cold wind in her eyes. Connie assumed the latter.
Connie turned the plane until the heading was north two degrees. She locked the control stick and studied the map Rahl had given her. If the map were remotely accurate, they would be reaching a vast lake shaped like a jule. The horn of the jule would point toward a mountain range. Beyond this range was the lost valley of Syzthedia, where supposedly an ancient city and the first artifact awaited them.
The mountains below the craft segued into a plain covered in patches of snow. Connie decreased their altitude to account for the lower topography. Gradually, the plain transformed into a lightly wooded area and then a forest. She studied Rahl’s hand-drawn map while doing her best to hold it down in the wind that buffeted her in the cockpit. The howling wind was biting cold, and despite the thick furs she wore, it bit into her frame. Her face and ears felt the coldest. She re-tied the straps at her chin that held down the furry white, jule-skin flying cap she had made for herself a few days earlier. She decided that creating the cap was a good idea.
Directly to the northwest was a string of mountains that appeared much higher than the first range they had crossed. Connie assumed their valley was somewhere within the range. With the map still in her lap, she peered over both sides of the craft in search of any sign of the lake. To her dismay, the land below was mostly a patchwork of small lakes. She noted that the plane was drifting toward the mountains. She turned it to the west and increased the altitude to gain a better view. The Push spell was still doing its job, although occasionally the plane would shudder when they passed over some random sink-well. She continued looking over the side of the plane to get a better idea of where they were.
With a clearer view of the mountains, she was better able to gauge their height. It occurred to her that they would have to increase their altitude to cross over the mountains. She wondered if the Push enchantment had enough thrust to lift the plane over. Also, there was the fact that the air would be thinner. She wondered how high they could fly before they would require some sort of respiration equipment to avoid blacking out.
Connie flew the plane along the string of mountains for about fifteen minutes. There was no sign of any lake shaped like a jule. She was just about to turn the plane around when she felt someone tap her roughly on the shoulder. It was Rahl. He pointed to a distant point in the northwest. Connie gazed across the panorama. In the distance, she barely made out a large, broad sheet of water. She turned the plane in that direction. Soon they were flying over a large lake several leagues across. This lake was much larger than the myriad of others in the forested area below. She followed the coastline until, unmistakably, she realized that the lake on the map was a serviceable facsimile of the one drawn on the old map. On the north side of the lake, she made out the “horn” of the jule. She gave Rahl a thumbs-up sign.
Now Connie had to make a decision. Should we land the plane now, or should we chance trying to fly over the mountains in search of the Syzthedian valley? She searched below for a suitable landing site. For all the trees, there was none. Now she wondered if she could ditch the plane in the water. That would at least be safe. Unfortunately, a few members of the party could not swim. And who knew what monsters inhabited the lake? Moreover, the plane would be lost, and they’d be on foot from then on.
She put the plane into a holding pattern around the lake while she ruminated over the decision. She had almost decided to ditch the plane near a sandy stretch of shore when she spotted what looked like a break in the first line of mountains. They could try this passage. As long as the Push enchantment held out, they could explore the range. After the second pass around the lake, she guided the plane toward the mountain pass. As they approached it, she realized that it extended deep into the range and was certainly wide enough to fly through. She turned around to check Snow’s and Rahl’s reactions. Snow watched her stoically, looking rather haggard and frostbitten from the icy windstorm. She did not look like she was in a mood to make any decisions. Rahl seemed to understand Connie’s intent. He gave her a nod.
Now Connie guided the craft into the mountain pass. The passage was very wide, with steep walls made of gray, granite-like stone and a river of round boulders below. The passage appeared to have cradled a glacier that had long ago receded.
They soared silently into the broad pass with ease. Soon, however, the passage became increasingly narrow and tortuous. To play it safe, she raised their altitude to what she estimated was a few hundred stories. As the floor of the passage rose higher, she raised the plane to a still higher altitude. From the wind chill factor, she estimated they were at least as high as they were when they left the Dragon Tooth range. Ahead she saw the end of the passage. She pulled up and raised the plane a few hundred stories more. At this point, the handling of the plane became markedly sluggish.
Ahead was a mountainous ridge. Without a way to turn around, she raised their altitude another hundred stories further. The snowy cap of the ridge passed below them. Beyond this was a long, narrow valley. She looked for any sign in this valley for the ruins of a lost city. For all the snow and ice, there was nothing to be found. She checked her compass. By taking the pass, they had drifted off course. She corrected their course by moving back to the trajectory drawn from the horn of Jule Lake.
They crossed over another ridge at the western-most part of the valley. Just as they did, Connie felt an abrupt yet subtle change in the handling of the plane. The plane lost some altitude. It felt to her like a giant phantom hand was gently tugging on its tail—the Push enchantment was weakening. Indeed, she was pleased with how long the enchantment powered the plane. All they really wanted to do was sail over the chasm. They had gone much further than she had expected they would.
She looked over the side of the fuselage. Here was another valley. This one was much shallower than the first and still held a frozen lake yet untouched by the thaw of spring. She decided this would be a good place to land. She looked back at Rahl for a concurrence. To her surprise, he pointed to the horizon. She turned around. Above them, atop a majestic peak just beyond the northern side of the valley, was a structure that appeared to Connie as an Oriental, gold Eiffel Tower. The strange, shiny structure glistened in the noon sun. It stood by itself on the mountaintop like a radio tower or beacon. Connie gazed up at the tower while she circled the valley. Rahl shouted something to her. For the wind noise and jule cap she wore, she could not make out his words. She returned to him a blatant look of befuddlement to show him she could not understand. He then made a half-circular motion with his gloved hand that indicated he wanted to go around that mountain.
Connie did as he asked. She raised their altitude another hundred stories. The plane now seemed to have a problem gaining altitude. She circled the valley while gently pulling back on the stick. Soon, they had almost gotten the plane up an altitude level with the lower shoulder of the mountain, but this seemed to be the limit. Connie looked back at Rahl again. Again, he made the sweeping motion with his hand. Connie understood this to mean she wanted her to bring them over the mountain. With uneasy reluctance, she returned her attention to the plane. She circled the valley one more time in an effort to gain altitude. The plane did not seem able to bring them any higher. At that moment, she felt another tug from the back of the plane. The plane dropped in altitude slightly. The Push enchantment was fading. She gazed at the shoulder of the mountain. It was now or never. Either they chanced flying over it now or land on the frozen lake below.
Grimly, she turned the plane toward the mountain. As they approached, she attempted to estimate how much clearance they had. If she estimated too low, they would crash into the ice-capped shoulder of the mountain. She did her best to gauge their altitude. Gently, she pulled back on the stick and adjusted the controls of the plane to increase their altitude. The hulk of the mountain loomed closer. A streak of fear ran through Connie. It would be close. She pulled back on the stick to coax a little more altitude out of the craft.
Suddenly, she felt a rough tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Rahl staring at her with a cross expression. Evidently, he didn’t think their altitude was high enough to breach the top mountain. “I’m doing the best I can!” she shouted back to him. He continued glaring at her, unable to hear her words in the wind that howled around them.
They were within seconds of reaching the mountain. Yes, it was going to be close. It looked like they were going to strike the mountain. In the last second, she pulled back hard on the control stick. The plane nosed upward slightly. Its bottom struck the mountaintop with a loud smashing sound of wood on ice. The plane jolted mightily, nearly bouncing its occupants out of their seats. Pieces of wood from beneath the plane flew away in all directions. The plane itself tumbled over the top of the mountain and began a steep descent over the other side. Connie struggled to regain control of the plane. More due to luck than skill, she managed to right the craft.
To Connie’s relief, the plane still flew, although now there seemed to be something wrong with its handling. One of the ailerons no longer had any effect on the pitch of the plane. Probably it was broken off.
Now they gazed down into another valley that stretched below them. This one was huge. To her surprise, stretched out on the floor of a vast valley was a large city surrounded by farming lands. Unlike the rest of the barren valleys they had flown over, from above, this one appeared fertile and inhabited. The city was beautiful and well laid out, as she recalled, much like the ruins of the ancient Aztecs. The plane flew silently over the top of the mountain. She felt fluttering movement from the tail. They lost more altitude.
Rahl leaned up from his set and grasped her by the shoulder. He shouted into her ear. “Put us down!”
“Where?” Connie yelled back. “In the city?”
“No. Not the city,” he replied. He settled back into his seat.
From this, she gathered that Rahl wanted her to land in one of the fields surrounding the city. She tried to look over the plane to see the damage to the bottom. She could see nothing. This was a deception. She knew the skis beneath the plane were broken off or damaged from striking the mountain. They were in for a rough landing.
She found them a broad breadth of grassy land that would be suitable for a landing. She circled the valley one more time and then aligned the plane for an approach. At the moment, they were flying over a forested area with the field up ahead. She lowered the plane until they sailed merely three stories over the tops of the trees. She did not want to overshoot the field.
She took a deep breath and grasped the rod that would turn off the Push enchantment. After she turned off the enchantment, the plane would glide into the field, where they could land safely. She clutched the control stick tightly with one hand as she pushed back the rod with the other to turn off the enchantment. The rod slid back easily. The plane shuddered once. Then, in the absence of the Push, the plane gave the feeling it was moving backward. Without the Push enchantment to move it forward, the plane began descending quickly. Connie pulled hard on the control stick. The plane did not respond readily. They were still several hundred paces from the field. They were falling into the trees.
The plane struck the tops of the trees a few times, bouncing upward each time. It skittered across their tops, carried along by momentum like a thrown rock skipping over water. Leaves and branches rained over the party. The plane struck the treetops again and then sank into the forest. Immediately, the long wings smashed into some substantial trees and were immediately shorn from the fuselage with a loud crack of wood. The fuselage fell to the forest floor and scraped along the soil there. Next, the tail of the plane broke from the fuselage with a splintering sound. The fuselage continued sliding forward through the forest. They were headed straight on for the massive trunk of a particularly large tree. Connie dove into the fuselage. Luck took hold, and the fuselage narrowly veered away from the large tree. The fuselage continued sliding a hundred paces further. It ground to a halt just where the forest met the field, coming to rest at a steep angle to the right.
Connie remained still for a moment, inside the fuselage, afraid to move. She took a quick inventory of her injuries. Though she was scraped and bruised from the landing, no bones were broken. Slowly, she peered out of the cockpit. Most of the fuselage had remained intact. The other members of the party did as Connie. They cautiously peered out of their seats as if unable to believe they had survived the rough landing. Everyone looked a little uncertain.
Feeling bold, Connie hopped out of the fuselage. Once on the ground, vertigo struck. She nearly tumbled to her feet before she regained her balance. She stared across the field. Warm afternoon sun beat down on them. There was no breeze, and all was silent except for a po-tweeeeet of a songbird somewhere in the trees.
They climbed and tumbled out of the seats of the wrecked plain. Rahl stumbled over to Connie as soon as he gained his bearings.
“Why did you do that?” he asked at her with a mystified expression.
“Why did I do what?”
“You landed here. Why? I asked you to land on the icy lake.”
“Is that what you meant?”
Snow removed her flight hat. She fluffed out her silver hair by running her hand through it. “You could have gotten us killed,” she stated unperturbed from the experience.
“What else is new? I’m always accused of almost getting you all killed,” Connie said.
Rahl let out a little laugh at Connie’s petulance but said nothing further. Connie suddenly felt bad for her smart remark. Rahl had a way of disarming her.
“I’m sorry, Rahl. I misunderstood,” she said contritely in an infinitely softer voice. Connie watched Jalban heal some major scrapes and bruises on Maltokken. Aside from a few minor injuries, all seven party members were alive and accounted for.
“You two shouldn’t complain. Everyone survived.”
“Ha! Although now the inhabitants of the valley probably know we’re here,” Snow said to Connie in a mordant tone. “All we need to do now is wait for their welcoming committee.”
“Leave me be, Snow. I did the best I could.”
“I am only stating the facts. Is there a problem with me stating the facts?”
“Ladies! Calm down!” Rahl shouted as he stepped between them. Both the sorceress and the apprentice went silent. “Please. Let us have peace,” he implored. “We are lost in a strange land. This is not a time for us to quarrel among each other.”
With uneasy composure, the two women quickly gauged each other and then turned their backs to each other without moving away. Rahl looked to each of them with their arms crossed and their backs turned to him.
“As you see, Rahl. I have a very temperamental apprentice.” Snow said a few seconds later, seemingly unable to resist having the last word.
With that, Rahl whacked Snow hard on her hind side with his hand.
“Peace,” he said to her.
“You want a piece of me?” Snow asked him, making a pun.
Both of them laughed. All in an instant, from the look in their eyes, Connie realized they had been lovers at one time. Though she had long suspected the connection, she felt a sudden ache beneath her breastbone on the conscious acknowledgement of this fact. At the same time, she had the jealous wish Rahl had slapped her bottom instead of Snow’s. She turned away from them, disgusted, unable to bear the sight any longer.
The party canvassed their surroundings. The valley seemed much larger from the floor than it did from above. It was warm here, too. Definitely, spring had touched this valley. Beyond them stretched a vast, grassy field. To Connie, the grass resembled some kind of barley. The high mountain walls of the valley were covered in trees. The gold tower on the southern mountaintop appeared as a shiny smudge against the cloudless green sky.
Connie examined the wreckage of the plane while Jalban and Maltokken extricated Rahl’s magical compass from the cockpit. The plane was a total loss. Connie thought it was fortunate they had used temper enchantments on its major stress-bearing structures; otherwise, it may have broken apart completely once it struck the trees. The plane had performed admirably in the sky and protected them during the crash landing. She regretted its demise.
The party re-equipped themselves with their possessions stowed within the Threshibian bag. They shed their furs and replaced them with armor and spell components. After that, they took a little while to eat. While Connie chewed on the last of the dried jule they carried, she let the warm sun sink into her skin. The climate of the valley was unusually warm despite its northern latitude and high elevation. The frozen area around the valley was evidence of this. She wondered if the temperate climate was from a fluke in the topography or if it was due to some magical effect.
From above, the most of the valley appeared inhabited. Connie wondered about the demeanor of the inhabitants. Were they peaceful, or were they warlike? The main city seemed very well laid out in concentric squares and thoroughfares. This meant very little. The Mayans and Aztecs built highly organized, structured cities, yet they were a crude, bloodthirsty people with a propensity for human sacrifice. She chuckled to herself. Could we have stumbled upon Shangri-La? Or was this the Lost Civilization of Aztecs? Rahl said it would be best to retrieve the artifacts from the valley with as little interaction from the valley’s inhabitants as possible. Connie hoped the natives were friendly in case they encountered them.
Snow removed her staff from the Threshibian bag and extended it before her. Slowly, while the party watched, she rotated the end of the staff nearly full-circle to divine the location of the artifact. She homed in at a point to the northwest. “Isn’t the shortest distance between two points a straight line?” she asked rhetorically.
“How far away are the artifacts?” Rahl asked.
“Several leagues,” she replied with her eyes shut in concentration. “And it lies within stone. Perhaps it is inside a large, substantial structure, or a cave.”
A few groans issued from the party on hearing this.
“Let us go now while there is still sunlight,” Rahl ordered.
The party packed up their belongings and walked across the field along the edge of the forest. This led them in a generally northwestern direction. To the east, across the field, they spotted a cottage by a road. After a short debate, they decided to visit the cottage to investigate the inhabitants who lived there. Rahl said it was remarkable that anyone still lived in the valley. Hundreds of years had passed since anyone south of the Calphous Wall had contacted those who lived here. The means of travel and trade had been long ago blocked on the continent of Cerinavia by the advance of Chaos.
With all weapons sheathed to show no harm was intended toward its inhabitants, the party approached a cottage surrounded by a small farm. Swine-like livestock, long-necked sheep, plump, green chickens, and large, black-beaked, zebra-striped geese resided in fenced sections behind the cottage. A rude but functional-looking barn stood by itself a hundred paces further back. The cottage itself was a modest, three-room structure made of adobe-like clay and wood. The steep roof was made of rectangular, convex scales of striking turquoise ceramic tile. For the combination of a turquoise roof, wooden wall slats carved with dainty tulip-like shapes, and a ragged-looking sombrero hanging on hook outside the door, to Connie, the cottage resembled an accident of Dutch and Mexican culture. A circular, walled well stood just outside the front of the cottage by the road. Near that was a trough for watering hanyaks. Connie spotted a sign posted on the well. The sign was engraved with the letters and a few numerals of the Cerinyan alphabet. Though the words were unfamiliar, for the numbers, Connie suspected the water was for sale to passersby on the road.
The party fanned out across the farm to search for any sign of the cottage’s owners. Rahl, Snow, and Connie went up to the front door of the cottage. They found the door ajar. Rahl pushed it open and looked inside. All was silent and still in the afternoon sun. Connie stared at the ray of light that showed through the door on to the floor of the cottage. Rahl stepped inside to have a look around. Connie and Snow waited outside. He left the cottage a few minutes later. He shook his as his did. The cottage was empty. By now the party had met up at the front door by the road. The barn, the cottage, and all the grounds had been checked. There was no one in sight.
“It seems odd that someone would leave all animals unattended,” Theo said.
“And the front door was unlocked,” Snow added. “Seems as though someone left in a hurry.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Let us go toward our destination,” Rahl said. “There is not much to do here.”
At that moment, Theo spoke up. “Do you hear something?”
“What is it?” Jalban asked. “I hear nothing.”
“I sense a rumble in the ground beneath our feet,” he said.
At that, Rahl brought his ear to the ground. A few seconds later, he looked up. “Hanyaks,” he stated. “I hear the hooves of hanyaks. They approach.”
“We are in immense danger,” Theo said, his voice grave with fear.
The party stared at each other then scanned the tranquil countryside. The unspoken question: “What hanyaks?”
A few seconds later, the air was filled with thundering rumbling of heavy hooves against the ground. A Syzthedia welcoming committee comprised of a cavalry unit of armored soldiers roared over the hill from the west. They numbered sixty to seventy men. Forty stayed back while thirty of their fastest charged straight for the party with their weapons poised for attack.