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62 - The Far Bigger Problem

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Senesio

The good news was that the komodo was loose in the camp. The better news was that Commander Ozdemir and the guards had completely forgotten us in the chaos. He’d rushed off shouting about manning the ballistae. So, all in all, my morning was improving.

There’d been once dicey moment when the komodo had been standing on the trampled section of stakewall, surrounded on all sides by tasty, human-sized morsels. It could have chosen to go after anyone, but it hadn’t. The big, ornery brute was on Suni like a flea on a stray. Though, this flea was probably going to do a bit more than leave a few itchy bite marks.

The komodo had followed her into the tent city and the destruction it was wreaking there left me smiling. Tents had been crushed and trampled, uprooted and thrown to the wind. Several floated down now, their loose canvas flapping like the wings of an injured bird.

You know, when it wasn’t immediately trying to eat you, it was a lot easier to appreciate the unrivaled destructive potential of the komodo. If only we could tame it, then train it to follow commands. Hah. Now there was a stupid idea. Imagine that, militarized giant lizards? What idiot would try that?

Enough marveling, though. I had an escape to manage.

I scooped up the knife Suni had thrown my way, and positioned it blade-up. Holding it in place with my knees, I used the blade to saw through my bindings.

One last stroke and they gave way. I pulled my wrists apart, looked up at the chaos around, and chuckled.

This was going to be one hell of a tale.

“Theo,” I said, hurrying over to undo her bindings. “What say we go rescue some prisoners and steal a skyship?”

She still looked in shock from everything that had happened. Or maybe she was still coming to terms with the fact that she’d agreed to sign a testimonial. Not that it mattered now. It seemed a safe bet Commander Ozdemir’s clerks weren’t going to be preparing any documents today.

A shame, then. We’d be gone before they had the chance.

“Theo,” I said again, snapping a hand in her face after I cut through her bonds. “Wake up. We’ve work to do. Glory to claim.”

She shook her head and snapped out of whatever had been distracting her.

“Free the others,” I said, and pushed the knife into her hand.

“This is all your fault!” A shout from behind. I turned to find a soldier charging us, sword in hand. He was fresh-faced and young, looked like this was his first deployment. Poor kid.

“You brought the beast here!” he shouted, then led with a downward diagonal slash. It was aimed to slice me from shoulder to hip but I danced around it with one sure step, then leaned inside his guard. My uppercut clicked his jaw shut on his tongue and snapped his head back. He was out before he hit the ground.

“Mind if I borrow this?” I asked, then scooped his sword from the dirt. It was a good enough blade, though more a machete than a weapon of war. A poor replacement for the masterwork blade that’d been taken from me, but it’d do the job well enough.

Another soldier shouted and charged. Most of the Bospurians were worrying about the far bigger problem of the komodo rampaging through the camp, but apparently a few were determined to be heroes and recapture us. Admirable, I supposed. But foolish.

He came in with a stab at my stomach and I steered the thrust aside, then caught him by the forearm and pulled him down, while simultaneously sweeping his feet. The wind went from him in a whoosh as he went down hard. His sword bounced free of his grip and out of reach.

For a moment, he stared up at me, somewhere between shock and fear. The latter of the two took over quickly though, as he saw my blade rising, tip pointed down toward his throat.

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“Don’t,” he managed, voice pleading.

I stabbed the sword down with the proficiency of someone who’d done it a thousand times before. A trained warrior who’d put more than his fair share of men in the ground.

But not this one.

The young soldier swallowed hard, eyes locked on the blade embedded in the dirt beside his face. I’d struck close enough to trim his beard.

“Go on, then,” I said, and kicked the man up. If he’d been shocked when I’d swept his feet earlier, he was positively stunned now. “Get.” I planted a boot on his rear and sent him stumbling away, then scooped his sword and tossed it to Theo.

The others were untied and on their feet, so we made off through the camp. I’d already spent enough time here to be familiar with its layout, or at least the layout on the northern third, where we were now. The tent city was on the central island with the Drossomer, and beyond that, the other two were landed amidst more construction projects on the southernmost island. All in all, the place would make a fine colony once it was finished. Assuming, of course, that the komodo didn’t crush it all to mud and splinters first.

Presently it had its head buried in a building, tail stuck out and thrashing high in the air. Looked like Suni had taken cover and the beast was trying to dig her out. A normal person would have been worried about her, but I was long past that. She had this under control. Had her job to do. And we had ours. There’d be time to worry later.

The bridge to the central island where the prisoner pen was had been crushed, smashed down into the water and mud. What was left of it was floating downstream on a lazy current.

We crossed anyway, swimming through the deep middle of the channel, then wading our way up to the far shore.

Most of the Bospurians were on the central island and the southernmost. Swarming around the skyships to man the ballistae or prepare them to take to the skies. Meant there were fewer people guarding the prisoner pen. Just two men, and they already looked terrified half to death when they spotted us.

To their credit, they raised their swords and stepped forward, making a show of doing their jobs, at least. The komodo wasn’t far off now, though. Had collapsed the building it’d been in earlier and was lashing around inside a rising cloud of dust. All things considered, we were closer to it than I’d have liked and, with Bospurians already swarming their skyships, we had much less time than I cared for. Wasn’t going to waste any more screwing around with these green soldiers and their misplaced courage.

I chucked my sword overhand and embedded it in the chest of the first soldier. Not deep, mind you, but I’d prioritized accuracy over penetration. It’s not like throwing a sword was ever recommended but, considering the general chaos of the camp around us, it created the desired effect.

“Ancestors have mercy,” Demetrias said, his voice shaking.

The remaining soldier stared at his unfortunate partner and the machete now cleaved into his breast, then ran away.

Smart choice.

On to the prisoner pen, then. I retrieved my sword, then vaulted the fence to find them all grouped up, huddled in the furthest corner as far from the komodo as possible. They turned toward us as we jogged up, crying out and holding up their wrists.

“Cut us free!”

“We gotta get out of here!”

“What the hell is that thing?”

“A small mercy Suni didn’t lead the beast this way,” I said to Theo, then nodded toward the group of frightened prisoners. “Would’ve been easy pickings.”

They were all bound at the wrists, but also together, so that they were each a link in a long chain. Both ends of the chain were secured to great big posts at either end of the pen.

In the distance, the komodo roared, and I turned to find the brute climbing aboard the Drossomer. Aboard it! It was on deck—though it barely fit—just as if it were planning on making a getaway of its own.

“Well, uh, that’s one potential escape route down,” Maritza said, also staring.

“We need to move quickly,” Theo said, shaking us all from our amazement.

Right. No time to cut all the prisoners free, then.

“Cut the back free,” I shouted to Theo, then took care of the front myself. It took several hacking cuts, but the thick rope finally broke and came free from the post. Theo finished with her end a moment later and then the prisoners were free. Or, at least, free to move in one unwieldy gaggle of rope and tripping feet.

It was going to have to do.

“Prepare to fire!” someone shouted, and I glanced up to see soldiers organizing on the deck of the Dreadbore on the next island over. They were loading ballistae with javelin-charges, while archers assembled below deck, stringing bows in the windows of the additional firing positions.

So the Drossomer had a komodo camped out on it and the Dreadbore was already manned. Would no doubt take to the air any moment now. That left just one skyship.

The Needlethroat.

I turned my eyes to it.

With its lighter armaments, it seemed to have been overlooked by the panicking Bospurians. One side was still surrounded by scaffolding—no doubt for repairs from the damage we’d inflicted on it at Clearwater Outpost—but the engines seemed well enough attached.

It was going to have to do.

“This way!” I shouted, then sprinted toward our last escape option.