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"Two hundred and twenty-three years, to be precise," Wesley said. "Whispers suggest Dex has an artefact Slade wants. Something about a stone dragon the witches had in their possession until recently."
"People have gone to war over less," Kerina said.
I nodded my agreement. Much less. An insult, real or imagined, had sparked many conflicts. A powerful artefact, that was something else completely. I hated to think what might happen if Slade got his hands on it.
"With any luck, it won't come to all out war," I said.
"That's not where we're going, is it?" Wesley asked.
Before I could confirm, deny or remind the bard I wouldn't tell him anything, Kerina spoke.
"The lift is almost to the ground. We should hurry if we're going to get a spot on board."
"Yes." I rose without hesitation and reclaimed my bags from the floor.
Wesley hastily pushed his lyaer back into his bag and followed, almost on my heels.
"Would Hades judge me too harshly if he accidentally fell out of the lift?" I grumbled low enough for only Kerina to hear.
"I would imagine so, yes." She gave me a smile without sympathy and hurried through the crowds who all headed in the same direction.
Someone stepped on my foot. With the closely pressed crowd, I couldn't tell if it was Wesley or a stranger. I glanced toward the bard, but the man's eyes were straight ahead.
I put the incident out of my mind and marvelled at how Kerina somehow stood at the front of the line for the lift. Only three women stood in front of her. Who had she elbowed or bribed to get there so quickly?
"Excuse me." I had to push through a group of burly men and several small children to reach Kerina. Mutters followed me, but I ignored them. With any luck, there would be room enough for us all on the lift.
"A silver coin before you board," a woman called out as the massive platform gently made landfall and discharged a couple of dozen people. "A silver coin. Please stay in line. A silver coin. Please don't shove." The woman had obviously said the words a thousand times a day until she got bored of them.
"Anyone seen to push in will go to the back of the line and may miss this lift. A silver coin…"
Kerina handed the woman a coin for herself and me, Wesley eagerly reached around me to press his own coin into the woman's hand. I turned my face to avoid getting Wesley's nose in my eye and stepped aboard the lift.
We all shuffled to the far side to allow other travellers to board. I found myself pressed against a high, iron railing, similar to those on a ship. Hopefully it was just as sturdy, or more so. With all of the jostling, a lot of pressure would come to bear against them.
The woman shut a small gate from the outside and slid a bolt into place. A handful of people groaned and muttered about not being allowed onto the lift, but there was barely enough room as it was.
I sucked in a breath and held it as the lift gave a jolt and began to rise.
"A touch unnerving, is it not?" Wesley asked. The bard looked to be enjoying himself thoroughly, or perhaps he was enjoying the expression of discomfort on my face.
I schooled myself to my usual mask of calm and said, "Your elbow is in my ribs."
"Oh!" Wesley tucked his arms in closer to himself. "I'm terribly sorry. It is close quarters here."
"Yes," I replied simply. I leaned back against the railing. They didn't move, even a hair. Of course, the town couldn't risk having anyone fall, or the lift would have to be shut down. They might as well abandon the place now, it would die just as surely.
"Are you all right?" Kerina whispered in my other ear.
"I'm okay. I'm just resting for the journey ahead." Not sooner had I said those words than the first drops of rain hit my face.
What the fuck? I could have sworn the sky was clear a moment ago. Before I could open my eyes a crack, the rain began to fall in torrents. It poured down my face and drenched my clothes in a matter of moments.
Thunder rolled and lighting cracked.
The wind started to howl. It grabbed the lift with invisible hands and rocked it from side to side.
The surface under my feet became slick. The wind buffeted the lift again and I slid from the railing into the people who had stood in front of me.
