The Kept

The Introduction

Nerys trusted that Enzo would attempt a rescue but, with the smoke growing thicker, she had her doubts that he would reach her in time. She also couldn't overlook the fact that it would be nearly impossible for him to catch and board a moving airship from the ground, traveling on foot.

She continued her own bids for escape; trying to pry open the door and picking at the lock with various objects. When desperation kicked in, she attempted ramming the door with the heaviest furniture she move on her own, but without others to her, she couldn't put enough force behind it to produce any effect.

Cannons suddenly roared and there was a sharp jerk that nearly sent Nerys sprawling. She sidestepped around Vayk's corpse to look out the porthole and saw that Ardin's ship had fired grappling spears and latched on to another ship. Hers!

On the other deck, several figures rushed about trying to dislodge the spears that were deeply imbedded in the wood. Attempts to cut the metal cables holding the ships together seemed to be of no avail and a metalic clacking corresponded with tugging motions that brought the two ships closer.

Nerys opened the tiny porthole, shouted, and stuck one arm out. She waved madly, then removed it so she could look out and see if anyone had noticed. The ships were close enough together now that she could make out a familiar shape facing away from her as the other bodies rushed about the deck. There was no telling if it were Gereon or Dadien from behind, their builds and postures were so similar. She shouted both names until he turned to her, then waved her arm out of the porthole once more.

"Nerys?" Dadien called.

Nerys poked her face back into the opening in answer.

"Get out of there! It's a firetrap!" Dadien said.

"I'm locked in!" she shouted back.

Dadien looked about frantically until he found something that smoothed the panic from his features.

"Find cover," he said.

Flames crept along the ceiling, dropping ashes and orange cinders like snowflakes as she hurried to crouch behind a heavy desk on the far side of the room. Several more blasts roared and the world around her exploded into fiery splinters. She weaved her way through the wreckage of the room to the gaping hole left by the cannons. Her ship had drifted away a bit, and was drifting farthe as each line was finally cut loose from the burning trap.

"Hurry!"

Gereon was now standing beside his brother, both of them desperately reaching out toward her. The blast had ripped through the floor as well, leaving a large hole where Vayk's body had been and preventing her from getting close enough to jump through the opening in the hull. She moved along an intact part of the wall, inching as close to the opening as possible, and checked her position. She could span the distance between ships, but she would have to be higher to have any hope of reaching the deck.

Severed rigging lines had tumbled down through the hole, and Nerys hoped the rope was whole enough to support her weight. Without time look for other options, she launched herself at the nearest line and began climbing up toward the deck. The heat from the fire made the rope writhe and buckle as she climbed. She planned to swing to the other ship when she was high enough, but as she reached the top of the hole formed for her rescue, the rope began to split and fray. She grabbed a protrusion from the hull just as the rope snapped and slithered into the darkness below her. She continued her upward scale, the sharp splinters of damaged wood digging into her hands as she climbed until she reached a narrow ledge that gave her a decent enough foothold to stand upon.

"You have to jump," Dadien shouted. "Now!"

The ship was rising away from her and would soon be out of reach. No, it wasn't rising; she was sinking. With a desperate shout, Nerys pushed off from her perch flung herself toward his hands. Their fingertips brushed as she came just short of his grasp, and his cry followed her as she fell.