The boy moved next to him and helped him loop his arm across his shoulders. The boy adjusted himself, put an arm around the Druid’s waist, and started walking him one step at a time. Slowly, they crossed the warehouse floor toward the door at the far end, an endless, torturous process that quickly sapped what little strength Bombax could muster. They made it to the door and back outside. The day was gray and cloudy, and the air was filled with the smells of fish and kelp. Out in the bay that opened off the Runne, fishermen were working their nets and stringing lines. The boy stopped long enough to take a cautious look around the docks before starting up again.

They continued this way back along the dockside, following the wall of the warehouse to where another warehouse began. Beyond that, several more warehouses were visible, dark and looming and dilapidated. Solid ground looked to be a long, long way off.

“Don’t worry, we don’t have to go far now.” He could hear the boy huffing as he spoke. “But we can’t stop. Not out in the open like this. Should have asked you who did this so I would know who to look for. That’s it. Keep moving. Down over here. See those steps?”

They reached a set of rickety wooden stairs the led down to the water and a small platform to which a skiff was tied. Together they maneuvered down the steps to the platform and climbed into the boat, where an exhausted Bombax sat down heavily, shoulders hunched, head hanging between his legs as he gasped for air.

Deek Trink knelt next to him, the tiny boat wobbling with the shifting of his weight. “You get down on the floor between the seats and I’ll cover you with a canvas. Can’t risk you being seen until we’re away from here. I’ll row us out from this dock and back to shore where I can hide you until I get your airship close by. I don’t think you’re going to get to it on your own. Or even with me to help carry you. Can you tell me how to find it? Tell me where it’s moored? I can fly it, if it’s not too big.”

Bombax nodded. He was so dizzy and sapped of strength that it was all he could do to focus on the boy’s words. He had never felt like this. It made him wonder what sort of drug the Mwellret had fed him.

“Good enough. Save it for later, though. We need to get out of here first. Lie down, now. Let me cover you up.”

Bombax did as he was told. He lay still as the boy covered him and then felt him shift his weight onto one of the two wooden seats and heard him set the oars in their locks.