Zach Brenner's Arc

Chapter 42 of 86

The peak rose white and sheer under the airship. Zach gripped the rail and looked for a place to set down. There was none. Ice sheeted every ledge. The wind hammered the fins. Talon fought the wheel and shook his head. "I can't land her here," he said. "One touch on that ice and we crack open. We all die on the rocks." Lyra pressed her hand to the hull. "Malachar's beacon is close. He's almost at the mouth." Her purple eyes snapped up. "If we circle looking for a landing, he beats us inside." Zach watched the cave mouth pass below, a black gash in the snow. They would not get a second chance. "Then we don't land," he said. "We drop." He turned to Talon. "Hold her steady over the mouth. Low as you dare." Raven grabbed his arm. Her cat ears flattened. "That's a killing fall." "Not if Ayla catches us." Zach looked at the white mage. "Can you soften a landing?" Ayla's crystal flared. "I can slow you. Not stop you. Jump on my word or you break your legs." Talon brought the ship down until the gondola nearly scraped the slope. The hull groaned. "This is as low as she goes," he shouted. "She's sliding on the wind. Now or never." Zach climbed the rail. Raven climbed beside him. Garrok swung his axe onto his back. Lyra and Ayla crowded close. Below them the snow rushed past. "Now!" Ayla cried. They jumped. The wind tore at Zach's tank top. The ground came fast. Then Ayla's magic caught them all, thick as water, and their fall turned slow. Zach hit the snow and rolled. His shoulder struck stone. Pain shot up his arm. But his legs held. Around him the others struck and tumbled and rose. Above, the airship lurched. Free of their weight, it climbed hard into the wind. Talon leaned from the gondola. "I'll hold her aloft and wait!" he called. "Go!" Then the wind swept the ship out over the drop, and he was gone into the grey sky. Zach found his feet. Six of them stood on the ledge, no ship behind them now. Only the dark mouth ahead. He counted them fast. Raven. Lyra. Ayla. Garrok. Himself. Talon aloft. Raven pointed at the snow before the cave. Fresh boot prints led inside. "He just went in," she said. Zach drew his sword. White light woke along the steel and threw shadows on the ice. His shoulder ached, but his hand was steady. They had beaten the cliff. They had beaten the crash. And they stood at the door first, by feet, not miles. "On foot from here," Zach said. "We take him inside before he reaches the fire." He stepped into the dark. The others followed, and the cold mountain swallowed them whole.