Runescape: Return to Canifis Page 44

  “Then let’s be about it,” Karnac ordered briskly, cutting him off.

  “But remember—no fires, no naked flames on the plateau,” the balloon master added. “The hydrogen is flammable. If it lights, the whole thing will burn.”

  “With us tied in the nets, too,” Doric whispered. Pia saw Kara exchange a look with Theodore and Castimir. Their doubt was clearly evident.

  “It’s the only way,” Harold said. “The swamp to the west is impossible to navigate. To the north lies Canifis, and in the south a great number of ravenous lie in wait.”

  “How is it supposed to work,” Theodore mumbled. His lips barely moved. Pia thought his face looked frozen.

  He’s not the only one who thinks this is a stupid idea.

  “Simple really... It’s all very simple,” Albertus said tiredly from the litter. “The gnome’s burner heats the air inside the balloon. This causes it to rise. The hydrogen gas is lighter than air. The combination of both will give the balloon enough buoyancy to float away on the winds.”

  “And just how do we land?” Gideon asked incredulously.

  “I would imagine that once we are across the river, the gnome will release the warm air gradually, and the balloon will sink.” Albertus looked as if he was adding figures in his mind. “How far... how far is the river from here?”

  “I don’t think it can be more than thirty miles,” Despaard said.

  “Then as long as the winds favour us, we won’t have to be aloft for long... not at all. Only a few hours perhaps,” Albertus whispered hopefully. “Indeed, it could work.”

  “It will work,” the spirit woman said. “Some of us will live to see Misthalin.”

  “We will travel south first,” Master Peregrim informed them. “Then we should catch a westerly wind that will carry us across the river and away from this dreadful place. But you are right, my old friend—only a few hours at most.”

  “And you’ve done this before?” Kara asked hesitatingly.

  Master Peregrim bit his lip.

  “Yes,” he said. “Once. And that was by accident.”

  “By the gods,” Doric swore. “He’ll have us in Kandarin.”

  “Well, at least that’s over the river,” Castimir murmured.

  But Pia could tell their unease was shared by many.

  Pia shared in many of the tasks throughout the remainder of the day and through the night itself. It seemed to her that Karnac was deliberately keeping everyone busy, as if keeping them occupied would somehow allay their fears of the suicidal flight to come.

  At one point, she found her way into the honeycombed interior of Hope Rock, sent to gather two crude quivers filled with equally crude arrows. As she made her way back to the plateau, she heard voices coming from the darkness from a passageway on her left, hidden around a corner. The first speaker she recognised immediately, for it was Vanstrom.

  “We have no other way,” he said. “You know that.”

  “I would sooner go back and face Drakan and this prince than attempt this flight. It is madness made real Vanstrom. You know it is.”

  Pia stopped. She didn’t recognise the other voice.

  “Yet the gnome has done it before,” Vanstrom persisted. “He came from the west. He can carry us out. All of us.” She heard him spit in the darkness. “But if you want to take your chances with the undying one, then go and do so—and go now, before you dishearten the others.”

  “It is too late for that, Vanstrom,” the man said bitterly. “Tonight, I am going to confront Karnac once and for all. I should have done it when we first left Meiyerditch two years ago. He’s led us from one disaster to another!”

  “Don’t be a fool, Hereward. If you do this, then none of us will escape.”

  “Don’t touch me, Vanstrom.” Something hard and metallic scraped on leather.

  A knife. He has pulled a knife on Vanstrom.

  “You’re not one of us, Vanstrom. You never have been. Coming and going from Meiyerditch. Escaping from Canifis. That’s too many lucky breaks.”

  Pia heard a scuffle, then Hereward cursed and Vanstrom gasped, but it was as if both sounds were curiously muted.

  No! Vanstrom was fair and kind to me.

  She shot around the corner into the narrow passageway. The quivers fell at her feet, the sound making a clattering echo in the hard stone walls of the place. She heard Hereward gasp and she saw him turn, the glint of a knife catching the torchlight above.

  “Wh—” he began.

  And then she was on him, her fingers like claws, her teeth biting and ripping on his arm. She felt him stagger under her weight as he punched her with his free hand and then she heard a noise like two stones smashing together.

  Hereward’s body went limp beneath her, sinking to the ground as if he were a puppet without strings. Above him, Pia saw Vanstrom, outlined under the light. In his right hand he held a rock, a black stain upon it, his eyes wild.

  “Pia. Get up. Move,” he said. “Get out. Get out. Now.”

  She stood quickly, stumbling once. Her hand pressed against something soft and wet in the darkness beneath her and a nauseating smell rose up, making her gag.

  “Get up and get out,” he repeated. “Go to our place. I will finish up here.”

  “I was trying to help! He attack—”

  “I know, but I can take care of myself. Now, go. Tell no one of this, and clean your hand before you leave here.”

  “My hand?” She lifted it to the light and saw that it was stained in blood—and something else. Something else that looked like scrambled egg.

  “I cracked his skull open, Pia. Now, go.”

  Something in his voice and the look in his eyes made her grow cold. She took the quivers up in her arms and without knowing why, she ran—first to the subterranean well where she washed herself, and then up to the surface, to deposit her burden before Kara and Theodore, who were busy distributing the weapons they would take with them.

  No one noticed her as she climbed the scaffolding back to the groove in the rock, they were all so busy below as the balloon gradually took shape. No longer was it a flat canvas with a loose net hanging at its base, but rather it looked like an upturned garlic bulb. Down each side of the balloon there hung a primitive rope ladder that led up to the top. The nets for the passengers were stitched to the balloon’s canvas near its bottom, a few yards hanging below it into empty space.

  She watched it for a moment, and then when she was alone her thoughts turned to Hereward. She drew her knees up to her chin and thought of what she had done.

  I am a murderess now, she thought frantically. I deserve to be hanged.

  She didn’t know how long she sat like that, but when she looked up again the now familiar and still wondrous sight of the pink horizon was there.

  “It will be dawn soon. Time for us to fly.”

  Vanstrom. He stood over her.

  “What did you do with—”

  “It doesn’t matter. It is too late for anything to interfere now. Soon, we will leave this place, and all that we did here—all the ugly little things that we had to do to survive. They will be like nightmares. And nightmares cannot hurt us, can they, Pia?”

  Vanstrom sat behind her, his strong arms around her shoulders, holding her.

  Restraining her.

  Frightening me.

  “Can they, Pia?”

  “No... no...”

  Vanstrom pushed forward suddenly. And Pia panicked.

  He means to kill me, too.

  She twisted in his grasp. Her foot slid outward, toward the edge, her leg bent. The edge of the rock was right behind her, disappearing into a hundred-yard drop that ended in the shallows of the lagoon.

  No chance.

  Pia lost her balance.

  “Please... no please...”

  Vanstrom’s hand shot out. He seized her wrist and pulled her back.

  “By the gods, girl, what do you think you are doing? Sit quiet and be still.”

  She loo
ked into his eyes and felt his arms press about her, as if he was afraid she might try to pull away.

  “I... I don’t know... I... I’m sorry.”

  The words stumbled out of her mouth in a near whisper.

  “You’re crying. You’re scared,” he said. “Scared of me and of what we’ve done. But we did the right thing, Pia. You did the right thing. Hereward tried to kill me, and if he had succeeded he would have ended the hopes of everyone here.” He went silent for a long moment, and then spoke again. “Tell me, what do you think of Albertus Black?”

  She shook her head in confusion.

  “Albertus? What’s that got to do with anything?”

  “Did you know that he went to offer his life in exchange for yours, Pia, and for Jack’s? That that was what finally ended the embassy’s protection? He was injured when he did so, according to Gleeman. When you return to the plateau, Pia, take a long look at that dying old man. He offered his life in exchange for yours. He may well end up giving it, for I cannot see him living for much longer.

  “Should he die, then it will be your duty to live a good life, Pia. So when you go back down there, look him in the eye and know what he offered to do for you and your brother. Don’t make his sacrifice worthless by throwing away the chance he has given you.

  “Do you understand?”

  Pia nodded, though she was not certain.

  “Come, Pia,” he said. “Let us wait here together for a few minutes more, and watch the dawn. It won’t be long now.”

  Suddenly a great roar went up from behind them. Pia looked down onto the plateau and saw the balloon jerk upward. Down below, the gnome’s burner was expelling an orange flame. The balloon tugged upon the two ropes at each end, lifting the device gently from the ground, and it was buffeted by the wind.

  “It’s ready!” Master Peregrim shouted out. “Now we need a few volunteers to man the top. People who are good with bows.”

  Pia saw several volunteers step forward. Castimir was pushed forward by Arisha, and both Kara and Theodore were chosen. Lord Despaard and Harold also.

  “Where are they going to go?” she asked.

  “On top of the balloon we have added a wooden platform. The plan is to have several archers up there in case anyone should try to prevent our escape. Do you see those ropes at the balloon’s sides, the ones that go from the ground to the top?”

  Pia looked and gave a nod.

  “Watch then, as each of your friends is raised to the top.”

  Kara was the first to go. Pia watched as she strapped a harness over her shoulder. The rope was then pulled through it. At a signal, several people heaved on the end of a second line. Kara was wrenched into the air, using her hands and feet to push against the balloon’s surface as she was lifted. Soon she rounded the bulbous top and emerged standing in the centre. She gave a shout and very quickly Theodore was lifted up after her.

  “We should go down,” Pia whispered.

  “Wait,” Vanstrom murmured. “Something’s wrong.”

  The inhabitants of Hope Rock had split into two groups. Argumentative voices could be heard, and very soon fingers were pointing and waving.

  “What’s going on?” Pia asked.

  “They don’t want to go,” Vanstrom observed. “Some of them think it’s suicide.”

  Pia saw Arisha step forward, to stand between the two groups, but even her presence wasn’t enough to halt the discord. Someone called out for Hereward, another for Karnac, and in the morning light Pia saw the sun-kissed glimmer of drawn daggers.

  “They will kill each other—and all of us—unless this madness is stopp—”

  Vanstrom froze.

  “What’s wrong?” she said. “What’s happening?”

  “Did you hear that? From the north I think.”

  Vanstrom ran across the top of the circle toward the lift. It had been raised and the windlass locked, as it was whenever it wasn’t in use. The pregnant woman who stood watch there had been drawn to the argument.

  “By the gods, it’s them,” Vanstrom murmured, his face pale. “They have found us at last.”

  “What?” Pia asked, her fear growing. “What is it? I don’t see anything?”

  “Listen girl, listen. On the wind. Do you hear?”

  Pia fell silent and angled her head to the north. The wind rushed by, causing a faint roaring, but then, over that, there was a growing howl.

  It can’t be. Not here.

  She listened again, and once more heard the cries.

  Vanstrom was already moving. Pia ran after him, down the wooden scaffold and into the midst of the angry mob.

  “It is too late for us now!” he roared. “Listen! Listen to the wind, all of you. Can you not hear them? Can you? They are upon us now. Listen!”

  Some spat derisively at him, but the majority listened.

  And sheltered from the wind by the rock wall, as Pia’s heart smashed in her chest and her ears thrummed to its beat, she heard the sound again.

  It was howling. The howling of wolves. The werewolves of Canifis had found them.

  “We have no time!” Karnac shouted. “We must leave now. Now.”

  The howls had settled the issue. No one argued. Instead, in a barely organised rush they heaved the last volunteers to the top platform and then clambered into the nets that were fastened around the base of the balloon. The old and infirm were tied in, and Pia found herself in between Albertus Black and the spirit woman, her brother at the woman’s side. Pia was thankful that no one did a head count, and once, when Karnac mentioned Hereward, Vanstrom intervened neatly, telling him that Hereward had volunteered to come last. When Vanstrom strapped himself in not far from her, she saw his knowing gaze.

  I am glad he is close to me. He gives me strength.

  “Prepare to cut the mooring lines,” Master Peregrim shouted as he leaned down to his burner. A blast of orange flame roared into the central cavernous body of the balloon, lifting it suddenly. Someone near shouted in surprise and another in alarm.

  This is suicide, she thought desperately, trying to avoid panic. This is absolute suicide. Pia’s stomach heaved as the balloon bounded up and down on its tethers. She wound the netting around her arm all the tighter. The ground was too far below to risk jumping now.

  “The stern is free,” a voice cried.

  Immediately the balloon angled upward, the bow still tethered.

  “Werewolf!”

  Pia looked to the north as the balloon twisted on its last tether. She could just see a cowled figure, standing where the windlass was.

  Somehow it must have climbed up!

  The werewolf howled and charged forward. She heard Master Peregrim scream for help as the attacker neared, and she saw how obscenely vulnerable the gnome was, still hovering just a few feet from the ground on his burner.

  Help him! Someone do something!

  A blue missile smashed into the creature’s shoulder from above. The werewolf sprawled backward, whimpering as it grabbed its shattered limb and ran back several steps.

  “You got him, Castimir!” she heard Kara shout.

  But the werewolf turned again, and Pia knew it would not make such an easy target this time.

  “Cut the bow line! Cut the line!” Master Peregrim bellowed.

  Vanstrom Klause ducked through the netting. Pia saw him clamber to the bow and draw his knife.

  Be careful. For the love of the gods, be careful.

  The werewolf zigzagged now, weaving its way closer to the burner, jumping aside to avoid a second of Castimir’s blue missiles. When it exploded upon the ground, Pia saw it was composed of water which splashed harmlessly at their enemy’s feet.

  But now Pia knew the werewolf was hidden from Castimir’s view by the shape of the balloon. There would be no more magic to save Master Peregrim now.

  She heard the burner roar again from below and the balloon leapt upward. Vanstrom gave a shout from the bow and fell into empty space.

  Pia went cold.

&
nbsp; “No!” she screamed.

  Vanstrom’s hands shot out, seizing the rope, breaking his fall. He wrapped his legs around the line, his face a grimace.

  “Help him, someone help him! Please help him!” Pia screamed as she felt her eyes water.

  Vanstrom looked back at her and nodded, just once.

  And then he slid to the ground.

  Through her blurred eyes Pia watched as the werewolf turned to attack him. She saw Vanstrom shout, though she did not hear the words, for her heart drowned out all other sounds.

  He drew his dagger across the line and cut it in one strike.

  Then the balloon rocked and shot upward, and Hope Rock was just a blur below.

  34

  Everywhere people screamed.

  Kara gritted her teeth as her stomach leapt, the balloon rocking from side to side now it was free from its tethers. She gripped the platform’s rail with both hands, relief flooding through her when she felt the taut line she had tied about her waist and which secured her and the others on the platform to the balloon. Castimir, standing next to Arisha on the platform, with his back pressed against the surface of the balloon to Kara’s right, swore loudly, his eyes closed.

  “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done!” the wizard shouted. “Didn’t Gar’rth promise us we could go unharmed? We don’t even need be up here!”

  “He did,” Theodore shouted in reply, testing the tautness of his own safety line.

  “But I don’t trust him,” Despaard shouted back. “There are other masters in this land who might still wish to thwart us. And the balloon is vulnerable to attack. That is why we need the best of our number up here.”

  The cold wind raced by, chilling Kara’s face and bringing tears to her eyes. Her blonde hair trailed out behind her as she craned her head in an attempt to see the sun.

  “We’re heading south,” she yelled.

  As if in answer, the burner roared again. Kara felt the heat through the top of the balloon, but she couldn’t tell if it lifted or fell, so confused were her senses.

  We only need to be aloft for a few hours on a westerly wind. We can do this.

  We can.

  Just don’t think of the flammable gas in the envelopes at the top of the balloon. Peregrim knows what he’s doing.