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67 - Going To Regret This
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Senesio
Suni gave me the nod and that was that. I raised the Needlethroat into the sky. Or, I would have, if I’d any idea what I was doing.
Theo and, most importantly, Maritza, were nowhere to be found, which left me manning the helm. But I was Senesio Suleiman Nicolaou, damnit. I could figure this out.
The helm was a mess of levers and knobs, all dominated by one wide, tall wheel.
“This one looks about right,” I said, reaching for a smooth piece of wood with three levers jutting from it. I lifted the center lever as far as it would go. The ship’s forward engine screamed to life, then jerked the bow of the ship upward. The two rear engines didn’t help it, though, and the entire deck tilted backward.
Suni fell on her stomach, then slid against the ship’s rear rail. Below decks, there was a great clamor as the rescued prisoners were no doubt thrown around. I grabbed the wheel and held on tight as my feet slid into the air, the ship tilting even more.
“Apologies, apologies!” I shouted, then slapped at the middle lever, moving it back down. The ship settled back to the ground with more than a few rough bumps.
“On the upside, we know they fixed the damaged engine,” I said.
Suni shot me a look as she struggled to regain her footing.
“Wait,” she said all at once. “Where’s Maritza?”
“Missing,” I said, then turned back to the levers. How did these things work?
“We can’t leave!” Suni shouted, storming toward me. “Not without the others.”
“And where the hell are they?” I shouted back. “We don’t have time to wait.” I thought back to what I’d seen Maritza do when she was flying the Stormcrow. All three levers at once, maybe?
“We can’t abandon them after all this!” Suni shouted, grabbing my shoulder. “Don’t you do this.”
I swallowed the bad taste in my mouth, then gritted my teeth and hit all three levers at once.
The engines whirred in sync and just like that, the Needlethroat lifted into the air.
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Ancestors above, but it felt good. Cool, fresh air rushed past me as the ship rose. The stakewalls of the camp slipped away and the vast wilderness of the Far Wild drew into view. We were free! And with our own skyship, no less. The whole ordeal was all but done.
“Senesio, you absolute coward!” Suni hit me from the side, drove me stumbling from the ship’s wheel. “You’re leaving them to die!”
“What am I supposed to do, Suni?” I snapped back at her, then reined my emotions in. “We can’t wait around all day and hope they show up. I mean, look at that insanity!” I gestured over the rail to the chaos below us.
From above, the view of the camp was even worse than at ground level. Smoke billowed from the deck of the Drossomer, though crewman were working away still, apparently preparing it for flight.
The section of palisade the komodo had crushed was flattened, but still attached to the rest. The result was the entire palisade had been compromised, leaning toward the gap that had been smashed through it. The whole thing looked unsteady, ready to come down in the next stiff breeze.
Amidst the wreckage of the camp, soldiers ran to and fro. The braver of them, armed with bows and javelins, attacked the komodo. They didn’t get far, as the beast spun in a circle and slashed its tail through their ranks. Men were tossed aside like playthings, slamming into buildings or bowling over their own comrades. Those who survived loosed more arrows, up until the komodo plunged into them with tooth and claw. More than a few tried to run, only to be snapped up in its massive jaws.
Ancestors above, but it was eating well today.
The soldiers’ screams carried up to the sky and reinforced my point. I turned back to Suni with a grim look.
“We don’t know if they’re even alive! Of course, I don’t want to leave them, but what can we do? We escaped that hell once already, how about not diving right back in?”
“I don’t know,” Suni said, and there was anguish clear in her eyes. “I don’t know what we’re supposed to do, but we can’t leave them behind.”
“Look! Down there!” Demetrias was at the port rail, leaning over and pointing down. “Theo, Maritza!”
And sure enough, there they were. On top of one of the watchtowers. Maritza was waving up at us while Theo held the stairs, dueling with a soldier. A few levels down, more were after them, taking the stairs two at a time.
“We have to help them!” Demetrias shouted.
Suni turned to me, a calm confidence in her eyes.
“We’re going to get them, Senesio.”
“You did see the part where the komodo ripped a skyship out of the air, right? And you want us to get close enough for it to happen to us?”
“Yes,” Suni said. “Because they’re our friends. Because they’re worth it. They’ve been through this whole damned ordeal with us. Can you really abandon them?”
I can abandon them to keep us alive, I wanted to say.. I can abandon them because we’re already safe, already escaped! But... I didn’t, because it wasn’t true.
“Don’t make me take that wheel from you. I’ll do it,” Suni said, a sword in her hand now. Where had she gotten that?
I looked at the apprentice naturalist, then past her to Theo and Maritza. I looked to the northern horizon. Lekarsos was just beyond it. And past that, Cyphos and the emperor.
I didn’t want much, just wealth beyond measure, fame beyond reason, and maybe a small kingdom somewhere warm. And it was all waiting for me there. The gratitude of an emperor and a story that would be told for generations to come. All of it was so close. So near I could taste it.
But... blast it. Suni was right. Theo and Maritza were... well, not friends—I’d never had friends—but they were something close to it. Fellow survivors.
I swung the ship around toward the watchtower.
“I’m going to regret this.”