Free Sung in Blood by Glen Cook Page A

disappeared. After he spoke the last, the picture itself faded. The plaque crumbled into dust which dribbled between his fingers.
    Rider went back and told the City Guards they could collect another eight customers in the breezeway. Then he set out after the receding disturbance marking the location of his men.
    He loped to the waterfront, where he immediately identified both the vessel they had unmasked and the outbound fishing smack carrying them. The ship reeked of old sorceries forgotten by all but their victims.
    Rider raced back to his chariot, pounded through the streets to the airship yards, where, in accordance with standing instructions, his airships were ready for immediate flight. He selected the fast vessel he had used before.
    Liftoff was hectic, as he had to cover the places of crewmen not present, but once he was aloft he had no trouble. He reached through the web, touched Chaz and Preacher, told them he wanted everyone atop their tower of the Citadel. He tried to reach Soup and Spud, but a grey null intervened. They might be unconscious. Or worse.
    Chaz and Su-Cha were in the parapet when Rider halted the airship above the Citadel. Both carried packs. Rider hastened to the gondola door, dropped a rope ladder. As Chaz and Su-Cha scrambled up, Greystone and Preacher appeared.
    "What's up?" Chaz demanded as he clambered aboard.
    "The game is afoot. They snatched Spud and Soup. What are the packs?"
    "Some odds and ends we threw together. Just in case."
    "The laboratory secure?"
    Su-Cha chuckled. "And then some."
     
     
    XV
    Chaz repeated the news for Preacher and Greystone. Rider ordered the ship demon to proceed toward the Golden Crescent at speed, for the fishing boat was near the limit of the web. He had to get the vessel in sight first or lose it among a hundred others.
    "I think I've been outmaneuvered," he said.
    "How's that?" Chaz asked.
    "The boat is leaving the web. To follow we'll have to keep it in sight. Which means they'll be able to see us, too."
    "How about an invisibility spell?"
    "Wouldn't hide something this big."
    "What about an angel?" Su-Cha asked. Already he had shed his shirt and sprouted wings.
    Rider understood immediately. "An albatross or eagle would be less flashy."
    "Dig out some of those mirrors and flares," Su-Cha told Chaz. Already his head was avian.
    "A shape to go with his brain," Chaz said, ransacking the packs. He produced signal mirrors and four small flares, which he placed in a pouch the imp grew among his ventral feathers. Su-Cha retained rudimentary hands beneath his wings.
    Rider spread a maritime chart. "The ship is here, now, and headed so. If there are others around, watch the one that is in a hurry. They're making all the speed they can."
    Su-Cha squawked and plunged through a hatch Preacher opened. In a moment he was headed out over the strait on long white wings.
    Greystone looked over Rider's shoulder. "They headed for the HurmIslands?"
    "Maybe. They could shift course once they're sure they're clear of the web."
    "How soon?"
    "I've lost them already."
    "Signal from Su-Cha," Chaz said. "He has them."
    Rider peered out the window. Far away, a mirror flashed.
    "Keeping their heading," Chaz read.
    "Tell him not to get too close," Rider replied. "What do you know about the HurmIslands, Greystone?"
    "Not much to know. Uninhabited and considered uninhabitable. Except for the biggest, RadhornIsland, they're little more than marshy places off the mouth of the ClaytyneRiver." The Claytyne emptied into the Bridge of the World from its southern, Saverne side. "Long ago, before the seas were ours alone, there were naval fortifications on Radhorn. Earlier still, pirates nested there, lying in wait for ships headed west."
    Rider nodded. "And these days it's suspected of being a hideout for smugglers. The ruins of the fortifications would provide a good hiding place for a pirate airship."
    "But Odehnal said Polybos House," Preacher protested.
    "Let's forget that for the moment.