Chương 42: 41: The Imperial Bloodline (17)

Teren somehow pushed himself to his feet and nearly fell as the floor shifted beneath him yet again. He looked toward Cassian. He had managed to get himself free of the harness, but blood still ran down his left sleeve and dripped from his fingers. The arm hung close against his side while he steadied himself with his right hand. As much as Teren disliked Cassian's attitude, he was easily the strongest mage among the passengers.

If they survived the crash, Teren would rather have him able to fight than barely able to stand. A crewman forced the rear door open from the passage outside. More smoke followed him into the room.

"We're losing altitude," he shouted.

"Secure anyone who needs help, then get back into your seats and fasten your straps. No one moves around after that." Cassian looked toward the passage behind him.

"Where are the other guards?"

"There were more explosions in the other sections, milord. Several guards and crew members are dead or injured. Some of the students were caught in it too." Cassian stared at him.

"More explosions? What caused them?"

"We don't know yet. The first problem was in the lower rune frame, but there were blasts in other sections after that." Teren felt uneasy hearing that. One explosion might have been some kind of failure. Several of them in different parts of the airship were much harder to explain away. Cassian's expression hardened.

"How many people are alive?"

"I don't know yet. The crew are pulling out whoever they can."

"Then we'll help them. Most of us here can still move."

"No, milord. It's too dangerous to have passengers moving through the ship right now. The pilot still has control, but we can't maintain altitude anymore. He's trying to bring us down in a controlled crash. You're safer staying strapped in until we're on the ground." The crewman looked around the damaged room.

"Everyone, secure yourselves after you've helped the injured here. We don't know how much time we have." He pointed to one of Duke Ordaan's guards.

"Make sure Lord Cassian and Lady Elaryn are strapped in properly." He turned and hurried back into the passage without waiting to see whether they obeyed. The guard the crewman had pointed to started toward Cassian.

"Stay there," Cassian said.

"Get yourself strapped in. It's too dangerous to be moving around unless you have to." The guard hesitated, then returned to his seat. The other Academy student who had arrived with Cassian moved toward him.

"Here, let me—" Cassian knocked his hand away with his right hand.

"I can do it myself." The young man paused, then backed off. Elaryn was still kneeling beside her maid, too occupied to worry about her own straps yet. By then, the glow around Cassian's healer had disappeared. The maid had stopped moving, and blood no longer seemed to be coming from the wound as quickly as before. Elaryn pressed two fingers against the side of her neck. After a few seconds, she withdrew her hand. She closed the maid's eyes, then stayed there for another moment before forcing herself to stand.

One of the other Academy girls was struggling in her seat nearby. Blood covered one side of her face, and she held an injured arm tightly against her body. Elaryn crossed the tilted floor and crouched beside her.

"Don't move that arm." The woman nodded quickly, breathing hard. Teren looked toward the nearest empty seat. The crewman had told them to strap themselves in, and every part of him wanted to do exactly that. But then he saw one of the wounded guards trying to reach another bench. The man had survived the explosion, but both of his arms were injured. One hung at his side while blood ran down the other, leaving him unable to pull himself upright properly.

Teren could have left him for someone else to help, but he couldn't make himself do it. They were all trapped on the same falling airship. Teren grabbed one of the metal supports along the wall and started toward him. The tilted floor made even a few steps difficult, and he kept one hand on the supports whenever he could. Near the center of the room, he had to move around the section of floor torn open by the explosion. The hole was large enough to see through. Far below, the forest rushed past beneath them.

Teren could make out individual treetops now, dark in the fading evening light. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. They were getting closer to the ground with every passing second. He turned his eyes away. He reached the wounded guard and caught him before he could slide farther down the floor.

"Let me help." Teren hooked an arm around the man and helped pull him onto the nearest bench. The guard bit back a groan as his injured arms shifted.

"The straps," he said.

"Pull them tight. If I pass out, I need to stay in the seat." Teren dragged the harness across his chest and locked it into place. The guard hissed when the straps tightened against his injuries but nodded for him to continue. The airship shuddered again. A long tearing sound came from somewhere beneath them. The ship dropped suddenly. Someone screamed as Teren slammed against the side of the bench. His shoulder went numb from the impact before the airship caught itself again.

He barely managed to avoid sliding down the gaping hole in the floor by catching the back of a chair. Crewmen were shouting somewhere outside the room.

"Lower stabilizer's gone!"

"Port frame is failing!"

"Keep the nose up!"

"Transfer reserve crystal mana to the rear line!" Teren had done what he could for the guard. He grabbed the wall support again and made his way to the closest empty seat. He dropped into it and fastened the straps across his chest. Around the room, everyone who could still move had done the same. Elaryn had managed to secure the injured woman's arm against her body with a strip of cloth and was helping her tighten the seat straps.

Cassian had returned to his own seat and was pulling his harness into place one-handed, keeping his injured left arm close against his side. Once Elaryn was done, she sat beside the injured woman she had helped, while Cassian's female companion had strapped herself into another nearby seat. Teren turned toward the window. The forest filled most of the view now. Treetops rushed beneath the airship, close enough for him to see gaps and uneven rises in the canopy as the last sunlight caught their upper branches.

The vessel tilted again, then managed to level slightly. Teren had barely taken a breath of relief when the airship's nose dipped again. This time, it kept going. The harness pulled Teren forward as the floor tilted beneath him. Around the room, people braced themselves against their seats while the hull groaned under the strain. One of the guards raised his voice.

"Heads down! Brace yourselves!" Teren bent forward as far as the straps allowed and brought his arms up around his head. Seconds later, the airship hit the treetops. Branches hammered against the hull. The first impact threw the vessel sideways, wrenching Teren against his straps. Another came from below almost immediately, hard enough to drive the air from his lungs. The cracked window shattered. Cold air rushed through the opening, carrying leaves and splinters into the room. Someone shouted Cassian's name.

A much heavier impact struck the side of the airship. Teren's head slammed against the wall. Pain flashed behind his eyes, and one side of his harness tore loose from the seat. He grabbed for the bench as his body was thrown sideways, but his hand slipped and his shoulder struck the tilted floor. The airship kept moving downwards. Branches scraped across the hull while trunks struck hard enough to shake the entire observation room. Each impact knocked the vessel in a different direction.

For a few seconds they dropped again, then something beneath the hull caught against the trees and threw them sideways. Teren tried to cover his head with one arm while holding on with the other. Then the forward part of the airship struck the ground, creating a loud groan in the metal frame. The observation room twisted sharply to one side. Seats tore loose somewhere behind him, followed by another crash of wood and metal. The central table broke free.

Teren saw it sliding toward him and threw an arm over his head. It struck the bench beside him instead, but one edge smashed across his forearm and pinned it against the floor. Pain shot from his wrist to his shoulder. Teren yelled and tried to pull free, but the table shifted again as the airship continued sliding through dirt and broken branches. He stopped struggling and pressed himself against the floor until the movement finally slowed. The hull gave one last heavy jolt and stopped.

For a few seconds, Teren could hear nothing but the ringing in his ears and his own breathing. Smoke and dust hung through the damaged room. His arm was still trapped beneath the table, and blood ran down the side of his face. Somewhere nearby, Elaryn coughed. Farther ahead, Cassian swore under his breath. Teren opened his eyes properly and looked around. I'm still alive... For now, anyway. For the first few breaths after the crash, he concentrated on breathing without choking.

Smoke and dust filled the tilted observation room. The air smelled of burned wood and hot metal, and a damaged rune band beneath one of the broken wall panels threw pale sparks every few seconds. His right forearm was pinned beneath the edge of the central table. He tried pulling once more and stopped when pain shot all the way to his shoulder.

"Someone help me!" A guard emerged through the smoke from between two damaged seats. Blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow, but he was still on his feet.

"Hold still." The guard wedged a broken length of wood beneath the table and leaned his weight against it. The edge lifted barely enough.

"Now!" Teren dragged his arm free and rolled away before the table dropped again. His forearm throbbed badly, and closing his hand sent another stab of pain through it, but his fingers still moved. He pushed himself upright with his left hand. The guard walked away to help others. Around Teren, the observation room had been torn apart. The airship rested at an angle, nose down and partly on its side. Bags, broken boards, metal fragments, and pieces of the seats had all slid toward the lower end of the room.

Elaryn was coughing near the wall as she freed herself from what remained of her harness. Her maid lay where she had been before the crash, unmoving. He could barely make out Cassian farther forward amidst the smoke, cutting through a twisted strap with a small knife in his right hand. His left arm was still soaked with blood and hanging limply against his side. His two companions had survived as well.

The young woman was moving carefully after releasing her straps, while the broad-shouldered young man had a cut along his jaw but seemed otherwise able to use both arms. One of the wounded guards groaned from a nearby bench. The straps Teren had secured around him before the crash had held. The guard who had freed Teren made his way to the door and pulled at the handle. It barely moved. He planted one boot against the wall and tried again before slamming a fist on it.

"Dammit! It's jammed."