"Iris has informed me that the Broken Herald's wounds are too pressing for us to make it safely to Scythica," Rashad said.

Everyone was assembled on the bridge. Rumble nursed a knot on his head where a toolbox had clipped him during one of the explosions, but otherwise the crew was unharmed. That, at least, was good news.

The wounds Rashad mentioned were obvious enough. The floor still tilted strangely to one side; Hermes glanced towards the pilot's panel, noted a control rod that was lashed to the right with a bit of cord. That little string seemed the only thing that kept the ship from inverting entirely.

Smoke hung heavy in the air and Hermes found it difficult to breathe. When he asked why the air didn't clear, Autolycus explained that the air within the bubble could only be refreshed when they entered a Node. The bubble itself flickered dangerously: sometimes, Hermes thought he could feel a breath of oxygen escape into the black of the Void.

They didn't have much time.

"Worse still," Autolycus said, "the draylock that escaped will no doubt report our whereabouts to Arcadias."

"If Rashad had been a better shot, we wouldn't have that problem," Narsil said testily.

"Please, Narsil -- you couldn't have done any better," Iris said, rolling her eyes.

Narsil growled low in his throat, but crossed his arms and didn't reply. I wish I could shut him down like that, Hermes thought. He sidled up beside Rumble.

"You okay?" he whispered, glancing at the bloody spot above the goblin's eyebrow.

"S'what I get for putting toolboxes over my head," Rumble replied, grinning sheepishly.

Hermes grinned back, but the smile faded from his face when he noticed Rashad looking at him. He dropped his eyes, jaw tensed.

"Our course of action," Rashad said, "is this: we will make for Reisfall. It is not what I would consider a friendly Node, but it is the closest one with the materials we need to repair the Herald."

"Reisfall's got plenty of zeuocite," Rumble said, nodding. "I oughta be able to patch up the generator with some of that."

"I'll take one of the skiffs and go after that draylock," Autolycus said. "With luck, I can catch it before it reports to its superiors. If not, maybe I can slow down the attack group they send and buy you some time."

Rashad nodded. "With any luck, we will not be on Reisfall long. Make for Scythica, and meet us there."

Hermes blinked. Wait. Voidspace is...well, a void, right? How can you track anything through that? He looked at Autolycus, hoping for an explanation, but the man just grinned, flashing a single sharp canine that Hermes had never noticed before. Who is this guy?

Iris was frowning. "We don't have enough energy to perform a standard jump into Reisfall."

"So, uh, what does that mean?" Hermes said.

"Well..."

"We have little choice," Rashad said. "We will have to attempt a Kingsley jump."

"That's risky," Iris said. She chewed her bottom lip, but Hermes had the feeling she had been thinking the same thing.

"It's insane," Narsil muttered, shaking his head.

"What's a Kingsley jump?" Hermes asked.

"These ships have two skiffs on them," Iris explained. "The generators on those skiffs aren't powerful enough to jump into or out of a Node on their own, but they can, theoretically, be jacked into the main system to provide a boost." She emphasized the word theoretically.

"The maneuver is named after Edmund Kingsley, one of the best Voidship pilots of his time," Autolycus said.

"Hmph. Kingsley got lucky," Narsil said.

"Even if it does work, it'll drain the reserves of the skiff," Iris said, ignoring Narsil. "Since Autolycus will have the other one, we won't have an escape craft if we get in trouble."

"That is a risk we must take," Rashad replied.

"What happens if it doesn't work?" Hermes asked, but he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

Narsil looked at him, smirking. "The resonance bubble will implode, crushing us into little atomic bits."

Hermes sighed and weighed the options:

Don't jump into Reisfall, definitely die.

Jump into Reisfall, probably die.

Deliver the Edict, probably die.

Don't deliver the Edict, definitely die.

"Is there anything you people do that doesn't end in gruesome death?"

"Death follows but a step behind every Courier, my young friend," Rashad said.

I'm not your young friend any more, old man, Hermes thought. He glanced away, eyes catching on the mirror against the back wall. He couldn't see the Oathkeeper from this angle, but the thought of its cold touch brought a tightening to his throat. He tugged uneasily at the kerchief.

Without noticing it, he reached into his pocket, felt the crisp paper of the Edict under his fingers. Not every Courier, he thought. Just ones like me.