Upon This World of Stone (The Paladin Trilogy Book 2) by James A. Hillebrecht Page A

figured out how these blasted things work to be fair with you,” she admitted, cautiously fiddling with the tiller. “Trexler used to fly all over the Plains of Alencia on a farsail like this, but the best I’ve ever been able to do is get them to float and weave a little.”
    “Then what good is this thing to us?” Shannon asked dubiously.
    “Well, first, a craft such as this will have its own way out of the fortress,” replied Adella, picking up the lines that led to the small mast which was lying in the middle of the air-boat. “And second, we’re on top of a mountain. I may not be able to get it to fly properly, but I’ll bet diamonds to dung-beetles I can get it to soar down off these cliffs.”
    Shannon exchanged an alarmed glance with Jhan, but Adella ignored them.
    “Pick up the mast,” she directed them as she pointed to the braces where it was clearly intended to stand. “Seat it home on my command, and then get into the bottom of the boat as quick as you can and hold on. Now on the count of three. One to be ready. Two to be steady. Three, and it’s in!”
    They slammed the mast into position, and then Shannon and Jhan half-fell, half-jumped into the bottom as they grabbed the gunnels, while Adella braced herself in the tiller seat.
    Nothing happened.
    Shannon and Jhan glanced at each other and then together looked askance back at Adella in the stern.
    “Didn’t think we’d need the sail inside,” Adella said a little self-consciously as she played with the control ropes that led to the small mast. “Jhan, give the canvas a little shake, will you?”
    Cautiously, Jhan reached up with one hand and tugged at the canvas sail, though with little effect. Shannon reached up from her side as well, and between them, they loosened the canvas. Adella tugged hard on the rope, and the small triangular sail rose into position. For a moment longer, nothing happened, and Jhan was clearly about to make some cutting remark when the sail seemed to fill with some unfelt breeze. The farsail responded by rising slowly off the floor.
    “Hold hard!” cried Adella, curling the end of the rope around her hand for a firmer grip as the sail began to fill with a stronger wind. The vessel responded by rising towards the distant ceiling with alarming speed, its prow pointing upward only slightly. But just as Shannon began to cringe down from the impending impact, the glass sphere flashed power once again, and the ceiling of the room seemed to dissipate, almost as if were made of nothing but mist.
    A moment later, they found themselves flying above the mountains, looking down on Llan Praetor from a sun that was close to the horizon.
    “Yes!” cried Adella in triumph. “It’s just as I always suspected! The mountain and the base are real enough, but at least some of Llan Praetor itself was made from the clouds!”
    “Is it early morn or close to dusk?” asked Shannon peering over the gunnels towards the distant sun. Jhan, however, was keeping his face inboard after a single glance at the mountain tops below them, the winds as wild and as piercing as ever.
    “We’re facing north, and the sun’s to our left,” said Adella, getting her bearings. “That means the night will soon be upon us. Let’s see what this thing will do while the light lasts.”
    She gentle moved the tiller, and the vessel banked sharply to the left, eliciting a frightened moan from Jhan. Adella eased back, and the craft righted itself, though it seemed to have picked up speed. She released a little of the control rope she held in her left hand, dropping the sail just a little, and instantly, the bow of the vessel pointed downwards.
    “That’s the way we wish to go!” Adella said brightly, and played out another tiny length of the control rope.
    The result, however, was completely out of line with the small action. The farsail heeled over in a wild nose dive, accelerating at a perilous rate, and when Adella instinctively pulled back on the rope,