How they'd ply these Sunbright didn't know, or care. "We're doomed, and that's plain," he said dramatically. "I was born on the tundra, an earth-dweller. I don't belong in the sky."

"Hush, and do what I say, or you'll visit the earth sooner than you'd like," Knucklebones scolded. "I intend to land us whole and hale. And stop whining. You'll jinx our luck."

"If we had luck, we wouldn't-I'm not whining!"

From the entrance to the cellar, a maid heard a signal from above and called, "They're ready!"

Knucklebones grunted, "Drop your feet, country mouse. You're a country bat today."

Stiff as a zombie, Sunbright planted his boots, caught the edges of the flitter, and marched forward. Servants had shot the bolts and unlocked the outside door, and it did indeed gape upon nothing but blue sky and blue hills in the vast distance. The barbarian closed his eyes as the thief called, "Run, run, run, run-here we go!"

A hop, a stomach-lurching drop, a sickening tilt toward the ground, and a prolonged scream from Sunbright…

Swearing a steady streak, Knucklebones twisted and yanked and shoved the twin steering bars until suddenly, as if by magic, the wings scooped wind and the flitter buoyed on air currents like a boat. Quick experimentation and fast hands leveled them.

Knucklebones hooted with laughter as she hauled a bar to her belly, made the nose of the glider climb, then level again. The framework vibrated like a balky horse at a run, the wings and wires hissed, gusts of air slapped their faces and mussed their hair, but she hollered, "I've got it! I can fly! We're saved! Open your eyes, damn it!"

Unsquinching his eyes, stomach, and bowels, Sunbright peeked, and gasped. His boots dangled over a mile of sky. Spread in all directions were summer-yellow fields giving way to dull green forest and blue hills. Far to the north he saw the Narrow Sea like a squiggle of quicksilver. "Lord of War!" he screamed. "Beyond that's tundra!"

"True! But we need to spot the other flitter! Look around!"

Head hunched between his shoulders, Sunbright craned until he saw the city. It was a blur of white buildings atop a blurry mountain to his watering eyes, but his keen tundra vision picked out "I see them! White wings marked with an F!"

"Tell me something useful!" Knucklebones yelled back. "What are they doing?"

"They're…" he said, straining to sort out the picture. Between the jiggling and dipping of their craft and the other, they might have been two drunken dragonflies. "They're coming after us, I think!"

"They're supposed to be good! Arm your bow, and I'll loop!"

"You'll what?" he screamed. "Aagh!"

Cranking twin bars in two directions, Knucklebones hooked the craft in midair as if yanking reins. The wings shuddered and Sunbright hurled prayers, but when the thief snapped the bars back, they were level and pointed at the floating enclave. Bearing directly for them like a war chariot was a white-painted flitter marked with Lady Fayina's emblem. Knucklebones bit her lip and aimed the craft like a spear.

"When we're close enough, shoot! Then arm again, but wait till we're close!"

Sunbright broke threads to pluck a T-headed arrow, and nocked it. He had trouble drawing the tall bow in the cramped cockpit, and had to lay the wood sideways. Knucklebones pulled her head back as the string kissed her nose. The man grunted for holding the draw. "You're steering right at them!"

"Aye!" the thief yelled above the hissing wind. "We won't kill them from afar!"

"But aiming right at them?"

"Let them veer aside!" she yelled. "Shoot!"

The craft were so close together now Sunbright saw freckles on the female flyer's nose. Both flyers were dressed in green, both redheads, and the barbarian realized they were brother and sister. The woman's mouth worked as she shouted, and her brother leveled a crossbow with a big, barbed bolt. Before the other could shoot, Sunbright loosed. He had the satisfaction of seeing the arrow slash through the cockpit, but it only spanked off the metal frame, and did no damage.

"Shoot the wings, damn it!" called Knucklebones. "Watch out!"

The redhead shot. The barbed bolt sizzled over Sunbright's head, punched a hole in the overhead wing, and stayed fast. The barbarian reached to yank it free, but the bolt jumped as if alive, almost slashed his fingers, then tore free and tumbled away. The two craft had overshot, and nothing showed ahead but city.

An amazed Sunbright heard Knucklebones yell, "They tied a thin line on the bolt! He ripped it free to reel it in! Look!"

Sure enough, down and left sailed the flitter. The redheaded woman had indeed dodged from Knucklebones's dare. Below it trailed a black bolt on a silvery line that the man was reeling in. "They can shoot at us all day like that!" he exclaimed.

"Arm your bow!"

Fumbling, Sunbright nocked as the thief threw them into another gut-churning turn and spin. As they steadied, the enemy flitter was ahead and side-on. He called, "Why don't we spiral all the way to the ground, like a maple leaf?"

"We ride the hot air a bird. Hawks soar for hours, don't they?"

"Oh, yes," Sunbright grunted as he strained to draw. His initial terror was dissipating in the thrill of the game. When they were close enough, he shot. The T-arrow slapped through the end of one wing, splitting a gash as long as his arm. He saw the craft begin to flip until the woman wrenched it aright, and the barbarian growled with satisfaction, "We can knock them down!"

"Arm!" Knucklebones answered. "And hang on!"

Throwing the levers over, Knucklebones made Sunbright urp as she dived at the enemy. Her goal was to spear their flitter's fishtail with her "mosquito stinger," but the white vessel lurched and bucked and squirted away.

Cursing, Knucklebones cast about, banked to rise, and the shaman called, "Where are we bound?"

"Back toward the city! They want a good show, and we're too far away!"

"What do we care?"

"They won't pay!" Knucklebones said, irritated.

A quick anger flashed in Sunbright's mind, made him grit his teeth and mutter about bloodthirsty bastards ruling the empire. Yet he'd swallowed the bait and tried to kill two strangers as if life and death were a game. Everything the empire touched it corrupted, including himself. Emotions churning, he spoke aloud, "It's too confusing!"

"It's simple. Kill them or get killed! Aim! They're crawling up our backsides!"

White flickered at the corner of Sunbright's vision. The flitter, surprisingly large in this vast sky, soared at an angle to intercept them. He glanced at his lover, saw the muscles writhe in her thin arms riddled with scars, and realized it took all her strength to control the craft. Knucklebones spat through her teeth, "Shoot!"

Sunbright didn't like the angle and rushed the shot. The arrow flew wide by six feet. Then the enemy flitter rose, so they rose to keep above it. A black bolt flashed, sheared into their wing, was ripped loose to leave a long, flapping scar.

Knucklebones grunted as she yanked the steering bars. For a second, Sunbright thought they'd crash wing to wing, then their flitter bucked above the enemy's. They shot off in two divergent directions. Knucklebones hooked to steer after. The floating city filled their horizon, but they didn't have time to study it.

"Once we get over them-Once we're over-"

"Look out!" yelped Sunbright. "They've got a-something!"

The redheads below raised a hollow brass tube. Flame flickered in the dark end, then a flash scorched a hole in the overhead wing. The gossamer flared briefly before snuffing out. Sunbright yelped, "A fire rod! That's magic! Cheating!"

"What'd you expect? Help me pitch-ugh!"

Doing it herself, Knucklebones snatched a hand at the chain nestled between them on the seat. Threads broke, then it rattled through the bottom of the cockpit. Nocking another arrow, Sunbright felt the thin chain brush his leg, and saw the hook dangle below. The enemy flitter appeared in the foot hole. He couldn't shoot through it, so he craned out of the cockpit to aim. Part of his mind screamed that he was crazy to hang outside, but a cooler part hunted a target.