You’re imagining things, she thought.
Then Hunter Predd broke away from Po Kelles and flew back to where she waited, swinging about to come alongside before dropping down and below the aft railing. Taking hold of the line he had left dangling from before, the Wing Rider swung down off the bird and pulled himself up, hand over hand, until he was back on board. A hand signal to Obsidian sent the Roc wheeling away to take up a position beside them, flying to keep pace.
Rue Meridian waited as the Elf hurried over to the pilot box and climbed inside. Even in the faint new light, she could tell that he was upset.
“Listen to me, Little Red.” His weathered face was calm, but strained. “Your brother and the others are flying this way, but they are being chased. A fleet of enemy airships appeared off the coast yesterday at dawn. The Jerle Shannara barely got away from them. She’s been flying this way ever since, trying to shake them off. But fast as she is, she can’t seem to lose them. They tracked her all through the mountains, all the way inland, even after she’d changed course to go another way entirely, and now they’re almost here.”
Enemy airships? All the way out here, so far from the Four Lands? She took a moment to let the information sink in. “Who are they?”
He made a dismissive gesture with one hand. “I don’t know. No one does. They fly no flag, and their crews act like dead men. They walk around, but they don’t seem to see anything. Po Kelles got a close look late yesterday when the Rovers set down to rest, thinking they’d lost them. Not an hour passed, and there they were again. The ones he could see were men, but they didn’t act like men. They acted like machines. They didn’t look as if they were alive. They were all stiff and empty-eyed, not seeing anything. One thing is certain. They know where they’re going, and they don’t seem to need a map to find us.”
She glanced around at the brightening day and the ruins below, her hopes for continuing the search fading. “How far away are they?”
“Not half an hour. We have to fly out of here. If they catch you in Black Moclips by yourself, you won’t stand a chance.”
She stared at him without speaking for a moment, anger and frustration blooming inside. She understood the need for flight, but she had never been good at being forced to do anything. Her instincts were to stand and fight, not to run. She hated abandoning yet again those she was searching for, leaving them to an uncertain fate at the hands of not only the Mwellrets and the Ilse Witch, but now this new threat, as well. How long would they last on their own? How long would it be before she could come back and give them any help?
“How many of them are there?” she asked.
The Wing Rider shook his head. “More than twenty. Too many, Little Red, for us to face.”
He was right, of course. About everything. They should break off the search and flee before the intruders caught sight of them. But she could not help feeling that Bek and the others were down there, some of them at least, waiting for help. She could not shake off the suspicion that all that was needed was just a little more time. Even a few minutes might be enough.
“Tell Po Kelles to take up watch for us,” she ordered. “We can look just a little longer before giving up.”
He stared at her. She knew she had no right to give him orders, and he was debating whether or not to point that out. She knew, as well, that he understood what she was feeling.
“The weather is turning, too, Little Red,” he said softly, pointing.
Sure enough. Dark clouds were rolling in from the east, borne by coastal winds, and they looked menacing even from a distance. She was surprised she hadn’t noticed them. The air had grown colder, too. A front was moving through, and it was bringing a storm with it.