“If we can’t walk out of here, we’ll have to fly,” Bombax announced.

Aphenglow had returned from the cold room and the company of defenders had gathered once more in her sleeping chamber. It seemed odd to her that her private space had become their war room, but by unspoken mutual consent that was what it was.

“How do we do that without an airship?” she asked. “Ours are all in the hands of the Federation.”

“We steal one back,” Cymrian answered. “Bombax and I have been talking it over. We think we can manage it. Especially now that it’s dark, we won’t be so easy to spot. If we can get out onto the landing platform we can take control of at least one airship before they have a chance to stop us.”

“The Federation still guards the platform and our ships, but they aren’t putting much into the effort,” Bombax continued, leaning forward, his expression eager. “They’ve got maybe a dozen guards up there, and they’ve blocked off the ramp leading out of the Keep. They think that’s enough to keep us off the landing platform, but they’re wrong. There’s a metal catwalk attached to the underside of the ramp, and if Cymrian and I can sneak across it we can come up on them from behind.”

“You and Cymrian,” she repeated.

The Elf nodded. “Bombax and I are best suited for the job. Everyone else will be needed to help the injured Trolls onto the ship once we’ve seized it. We’ll have to move quickly. Once they see us—”

“I know,” she interrupted. “But it’s not the Federation we have to worry about.”

“The thing in the pit,” the other guessed.

“It won’t take long for it to reach the Keep proper once it starts to come out.”

“When will that happen?” Bombax asked.

Aphen shook her head. “I don’t know. It might be happening already. Woostra? What do the Histories tell us?”

The keeper of the records shrugged. “Not much. It takes a summoning to release the ancient magic, and you’ve already provided that.”

“Surely it won’t do anything until we’re safely out of here,” she said. “It made a point of warning us to go. Won’t it wait until we do?”

Woostra fixed her with a baleful eye. “Would you like to risk finding out? Delay long enough, and you might.”

They moved quickly after that, gathering everyone together at the north end of the Keep just inside the doors that opened onto the ramp leading to the airships. They pulled the last of the able Druid Guards off the walls and brought the injured ones up from the sickroom. Since the Druid airships were kept well supplied, they took nothing with them but their weapons, personal possessions, and the clothes on their backs.