This was too much of an opportunity to miss – Chris loved airships more than he loved cars, and dreamed of flying one of the technological marvels. They were the ultimate in transportation, able to go anywhere at any time, restricted only by the whims of the pilot and crew. Fuelled by renewable energy, it was even possible for an airship to never land and there were rumours of great ships that had been sailing the high skies for centuries.

But Godhand were the last group he’d expected to use such a vessel, given their alleged dislike for modern technology. Chris had imagined them travelling around in run-down vans, or using archaic helicopters and aeroplanes. He certainly hadn’t imagined them owning their own custom-designed airship with flowing decals and state-of-the-art engines! It was a sight worth the effort of scaling the wall, using the same rope those idiots had used for their break in.

From his uncomfortable vantage point, Chris could see the airship settle down at the front of the mansion and watched as a hatch opened on its underside. For a moment he wondered what could possibly be hiding in the bowels of a ship with such elegant, sweeping curves – surely an ageing church leader hobbling on a cane? – but once again Godhand surprised him.

He could hear the marching before he saw the troops. Clad in red-and-white metallic armour and carrying swords at their sides, they looked like the knights he’d only ever heard stories of as a child: Crusaders who spread across the wastelands like a plague, destroying anything they couldn’t convert. Those fictional warriors were said to be like giants, with faces of demonic metal and voices that echoed like ghosts. From atop the wall, Chris couldn’t tell if those descriptions were less fictional than he’d believed, but for the sake of his fellow students, he hoped they were exaggerations.

Then, after the knights had formed an orderly corridor down the ramp, a figure descended from the airship that caused Chris to gasp in quiet fear. Taller than the knights and dressed in garish robes and a large hat, the figure took purposeful strides towards the manor, a large staff clanking alongside him. For a moment he paused and Chris was sure he looked directly at him, but it had to be paranoia: Chris was hiding behind that hologram thing, right? He could see it still working! The figure disappeared into the manor – Chris breathed again – and was followed by the knights. There was a brief pause at the entrance, but soon they were gone. Chris contemplated warning the others, but as he reached for his ear piece, he realised it was somewhere in the dirt.

“Ah well, live and let die,” he sighed.

***

Phoenie, ignoring the stitch burning at her side, barged through the doors and, in a moment of unexpected desperation, jumped down the first flight of stairs. Momentum carried her into the table at the bottom but she didn’t stop to nurse the pain spreading across her thigh and stumbled her way down the next flight of stairs. She was in the main lobby now, with crimson robes flooding out of every door around her except one: tall, wooden doors through whose cracks Phoenie could see the dull grey light of the evening sky. As Godhand rushed down the stairs and across the lobby to greet her, she made one last push for those foreboding doors, knowing freedom was within her grasp. Freedom and reinforcements. She would…

CRASH.

The doors exploded open and the light was obscured by a new wave of figures. Phoenie lost her balance and tumbled to her knees, landing at the foot of a giant.

He looked down at her with tiny eyes, hidden in a wizened face scrunched up in disgust. “Certainly not the welcome a Patriarch expects,” he said, before he spat in her face.

~ A terrifying arrival! Is this the end of the rescue mission? ~
~ Next: Execution!! ~

Chapter 19
Previous / Continue
(page 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8)