We took to the north tower and checked with the skycage operator to see if anyone matching Kael or Talbot’s description had left any time last night or early morning. He hadn’t. Joss led me at a fast pace as we followed a less worn path and cut through the city using back alleys to the skitesmith.
Skyfell’s skitesmith was very much like Haven’s blacksmith. Since there weren’t any horses or tack on Skyfell, his main line of work was repairing the city’s skycages and skites.
Bartus looked to be in his eighties, with wiry limbs, long scraggly white hair on his head and bottle-lens spectacles covered his eyes, giving him a bug-like appearance.
“Why, Joss. Bless my soul. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” Bartus chuckled while standing to give Joss a warm hug. He was so thin that I thought for sure he would break if a strong wind blew in.
“I’m sad to say this isn’t a pleasure visit, Bartus. We are looking for a friend who went missing late last night.” Joss was about to say more when I cleared my throat and held up two fingers. “Well actually, one young man and an older went missing and I’m wondering if they made it off of Skyfell without using the skycages.”
Bartus stared at Joss as if he were reading his lips and then shook his head in silent understanding. “Well, now, I didn’t hear anything but one of the skites I was to repair for the Quints family went missing sometime last night. The tarp’s stitching needed repair so I feel sorry for the poor fool who took it for a joy ride. Most people are smart and know not to mess with them if they are hanging outside my shop, because those are the ones waiting to be fixed.”
Visions of Kael falling through the misty veils the first time flew through my head and I felt myself go weak. I grasped Joss’s arm to steady me. The first time Kael had been saved by Joss since he controlled the wind to catch him.
“Joss, I think I’m going to be sick,” I whispered and ran outside of Bartus’ skitesmith shop.
A few moments later Joss followed me and came to give me a reassuring hug. “It will be okay. We know that someone left Skyfell with a broken skite. Now we can send out search parties along Skydown and the riverbeds.”
“Joss, if the skite malfunctioned, what are the odds of someone surviving the fall?”
“Not good. Only a Denai could possibly survive the fall, which is why we offer the skycages.”
I covered my mouth and concentrated on deep breathing so I wouldn’t dwell on the possibility that Kael could very well be dead.
We ran as fast as we could back to Joss’ home and told Nero what we had learned. Gloria had recovered and was sitting up in bed, her eyes wet with tears. Berry and Avina were keeping her company, telling her stories of living in the Citadel. I saw that Berry’s hands were filled with what looked to be the makings of a lovely dress for Joss’s mother. They were doing their best to keep her spirits uplifted and to keep at bay the probable guilt that was assailing her.
Nero told us to take the dorabills and search the riverbeds and the ravine along the skite launching points. Joss nodded and ran to the veranda and pulled out his flute. He played a short tune and I saw a red speck fly through the mists and grow in circumference until Nero’s Cecili landed in front of us. The same Cecili that Joss had said “Is a biter.”
“Get on,” Joss commanded.
Too nervous to disobey, I scrambled behind him and held on tight as the dorabill alit into the air with the mad pumping of her powerful wings. It was a short flight as I saw that Joss was aiming for the southern Skycage tower. We landed in a cloud of dust and Joss hopped off to run in and notify the operator of a need for a search party. A bell began to ring out from the tower and within moments people began to gather together to help with the search.
It was a different operator who came out of the tower and he pulled a map out of his pocket and circled the different areas underneath Skyfell that we were to search. From the operator’s cool demeanor, I guessed that this wasn’t the first time someone had gone missing or fallen and a search and rescue mission had been ordered. In our case, we had little hope of it being a success; it was more of a recovery mission.