Abigail smiled with satisfaction as she flew over Zuhl’s naval yard and saw two giant ships and the docks surrounding them completely destroyed by fire, smoke still marring the horizon.
She’d spent nearly a week in a cramped snow cave with Anatoly and Magda. By the time the Sky Knights arrived, she was delirious from the pain of her injury, and Anatoly had slipped into a fever and was nearly gone. Several hours after the Knights gave each of them a healing draught, they were both strong enough to fly.
Alexander had organized a rescue mission disguised as an all-out attack. The combined forces of two flights, nearly two hundred Sky Knights had made the journey. With Zuhl’s dragons gone, wyverns ruled the air.
The main thrust of the attack had been the docks in Zuhl’s Crescent Bay. Over a hundred Sky Knights, armed with self-igniting firepots set the entire port ablaze. Even though the ships were all protected with shields, the fire was able to spread along the dock to two of the giant vessels, completely destroying both of them.
While the attack was taking place, a wing of Sky Knights found Abigail, Anatoly, and Magda, bringing with them the healing draughts and a witch who knew a few healing spells. Within a few hours, Abigail was in the air, bundled tightly in several fur coats and blankets.
The channel crossing was cold and painful, her leg still aching, though not nearly as badly as it had the previous week. Abigail smiled again when she saw the bombed-out remains of the Irondale port. Five vessels, all nearly complete, destroyed in their berths, each the target of one of Mage Gamaliel’s explosive weapons. The third prong to the attack. One wing had delivered five explosive weapons, one to a ship. While they were protected by shields as well, the strategy was to allow the weapons to sink into the water beside the ships before detonating them … and it had worked.
Each berth was nothing but a crater blasted into the shoreline, debris littering the water in every direction.
***
Alexander watched the ship gracefully slip into the cave and drop anchor. A few moments later, a gangplank bridged the gap between the stone shelf where he stood and the deck of the ship. Captain Kalderson came ashore.
Bragador, Anja, Jack, and, of course, Chloe were all there to greet the captain. Alexander’s leg still hurt and he couldn’t run for more than a few dozen steps, but he’d given up his cane and was anxious to be on his way, even if that meant a painful goodbye.
“Hello, Captain,” Alexander said.
“Lord Reishi, it’s so good to see you alive,” Kalderson said, nervously. “I’d have never of left you if I’d known you weren’t dead, I swear it.”
“I know, don’t give it another thought.”
Kalderson drew himself up and nodded. “Right then, I can be ready to sail with the morning tide.”
“Very good, please make the preparations,” Alexander said. “We’ll be leaving tomorrow.”
“Please don’t go,” Anja said, starting to cry.
“Anja, we’ve been through this. You know I have to … I have responsibilities.”
“But I love you,” she said, breaking down in tears.
“Child, this is for the best,” Bragador said softly.
“No, it’s not,” Anja shouted. For a moment it looked like she wanted to run away but wasn’t sure which direction to go, then she hugged Alexander fiercely.
“I love you and I will miss you every moment of every day,” she said through her sobs. “This is too hard. I can’t do it anymore. Goodbye, Alexander.”
He swallowed the lump in his throat as she turned away and ran for the cave entrance, jumping off into the surf and transforming into her true form midflight, roaring in anguish as she took to wing.
“I love you, too,” Alexander whispered, wiping a tear from his cheek.
***
The journey was long, almost two weeks, traversing nearly half the Isle of Karth. Isabel had insisted that the entire force accompany her back to the Regency fortress, ostensibly to provide her with adequate security, but actually to prevent them from pursuing Trajan and Ayela. The jungles of northern Karth gave way to a vast savanna stretching across the isle, home to many range animals and a variety of large hunting cats.
South of the savanna, the jungle resumed, blanketing the island for leagues in every direction. The south was less rugged territory, with several cities cut out of the jungle, though they all had stout walls surrounding them to ward against predators.