Suddenly Cole got it. The raiders hadn’t turned into clumsy fools. They were deliberately blocking the hallways to give him a chance.
Turning, he sprinted down the hall until he reached the stairs to the caves. Bounding down recklessly, he followed the only underground route he knew well—the way to the landing bay. He could hear people running ahead of him—probably Jace and Twitch.
Why had the raiders decided to help them? Would they keep the halls plugged for long? He had no answers, but he knew that if Mira didn’t get in the air quickly, she probably wouldn’t get the chance. It was well into the afternoon. The salvaging parties had all returned. Would the landing bay be sealed? If so, could they open it?
While making his way toward the hangar, Cole heard footfalls behind him. Glancing back, he saw Mira. He slowed to let her catch up.
“Why are you behind me?” he asked.
“I had to swing by my room,” she said breathlessly, reaching him and then passing him. “We need an operator’s stone to fly a lifeboat.” He saw that she had grabbed her Jumping Sword as well.
Cole ran hard. Keeping up with Mira was a challenge. Her full sprint was a little faster than his.
They burst through the entrance to the landing bay to find all the cliffside exits closed. The hangar was sealed up tight, the three big skycraft looming in the lamplight.
Jace was yelling at an older guy named Martin.
“Adam will have your head if you don’t open it now!” Jace cried. “It’s a Situation Spoiled. He said it twice.”
“And if you’re lying?” Martin replied.
“Then we’ll be the ones in hot water!” Jace shouted.
“He’s not lying,” Twitch said.
“I have a stone,” Mira called, drawing her Jumping Sword and leaping aboard the Vulture.
Keeping hold of one end, Jace threw his golden rope toward the Vulture. Uncoiling, it stretched out longer than Cole had seen it reach before, and the far end snaked around the mast. The rope then abruptly shortened, lifting Jace off his feet and pulling him aboard. After he landed on the deck, the rope unraveled from the mast.
Cole didn’t hear footsteps until just before Captain Pickett burst into the landing bay, sword in hand. Whirling, Cole pulled the arrow back and aimed low, at the legionnaire’s legs. Less than ten feet separated Cole from the officer. As Cole released, Pickett dodged sideways, and the arrow streaked past him.
Pickett lunged forward and Cole skipped away, yanking the bowstring back until another arrow appeared. Pickett charged straight, Cole released the arrow, and it pierced the officer’s thigh. Cole scurried aside as Pickett went to the ground with an anguished growl. Nobody came racing into the room behind him. For now, the legionnaire was alone.
Drawing his Jumping Sword, Cole pointed it at the deck of the Vulture and shouted, “Away!” As usual, the leap made his insides flutter. He held tightly to the sword as it hauled him up, over the railing, and onto the deck where he landed in a stumble. Twitch ran aboard the Vulture using the gangplank.
Mira and Jace were climbing into a lifeboat called the Fair-Weather Friend. Turning a wheel set against the wall, Martin began opening one of the smaller cliffside exits, not much bigger than a typical garage door. Late-afternoon daylight streamed into the hangar, outshining the lamps.
Cole hurried to the lifeboat. Jace sat in the rear by the tiller. A smooth, dark stone hung from a chain around his neck. He gave Cole a flat stare. “You coming?”
Twitch reached the lifeboat and jumped in as Cole hopped inside.
“You sure, Twitch?” Jace asked.
“I’m with you,” he responded.
“Hurry!” Pickett cried out. “They’re aboard the Vulture!”
Jace grabbed the tiller and tugged one of the levers. The lifeboat lurched forward, rocking Cole back. He clung desperately to the gunwale as the boat tilted enough to almost dump him over the side. After rearing up too steeply, the Fair-Weather Friend leveled out and dipped its nose toward the cliffside opening.
Legionnaires streamed into the room, swords drawn, some bearing bows. From his position on the floor, Pickett gestured manically at the fleeing lifeboat.
“Stop them!” Pickett cried. “Close the hatch!”
Several of the other legionnaires forcefully repeated the command as they raced toward the widening exit. Cole slouched down as arrows hissed into the air, some striking the stern of the lifeboat near Jace.
“You out of arrows?” Jace asked Cole, the skycraft wobbling as he tried to crouch and steer at the same time.
Cole wasn’t anxious to raise his head, but some shots at the legionnaires would force them to take cover and slow their attack. He sat up, pulled back his bowstring, and sent an arrow toward the soldiers, then repeated the action again and again, a new arrow appearing every time. Keeping low, Cole took little aim, focusing instead on speed and on not getting shot. An arrow whistled past, almost close enough to scratch him, and he ducked down again. More arrows thumped against the hull.
“Hold your fire!” Pickett called, his voice strained. “You might hit the girl. Block their escape!”
To Cole’s horror, he saw Martin slumped against the wall, pierced by three arrows. Mouth open, head lolling, the raider looked up at them blankly, one of his hands twitching. The lifeboat had almost reached the exit! The hatch hadn’t been raised very much, and many legionnaires were charging their way. It would be close.
“Heads down,” Jace ordered as the lifeboat rasped through the gap, the keel scraping the landing bay door.
After ducking, Cole looked back to see legionnaires appear in the cliffside opening. As the Fair-Weather Friend climbed away from the landing bay at full speed, Cole released arrow after arrow back at the opening, forcing the soldiers to stand aside. They got off a few arrows, but none hit the lifeboat.
“We’re leveling off?” Cole asked.
“If we climb too fast, the cavalry will use us for target practice,” Jace replied. “We’ll go higher once we’re farther from the Brink.”
“Of course today has to be clear,” Twitch grumbled.
Cole looked around. The sun was dropping toward the dark mass of the Western Cloudwall. The only normal clouds were high and wispy. The castles were few and distant. “Not many places to hide.”
“How long before they come after us?” Mira asked.
“They’ll demand skycraft,” Jace said. “Adam is in no position to deny them. He’ll stall a little, but not for long. Situation Spoiled doesn’t call for direct resistance.”