Prisoner
of the Seraglio
A
Cordelia Delacourt Adventure
Chapter
9 Fall of the
Eagle
Cordelia looked glumly at Liz as the key turned in the lock. “Well, I’m not sure if this is a turn for the better or a turn for the worse.”
“What do you mean, miss?” Liz asked. “It don’t appear that his ‘ighness is too ‘appy with us.”
“I mean that we may not be forced to spend an evening with von Jagermeister or any member of his crew. However, it might also mean that he may decide to punish us in some way. Remember, he thinks we are spies.”
“And spies is usually shot,” Liz added.
“Yes,” Cordelia said. “That had occurred to me. I think it would be a good idea if we found some way to escape.”
“Begging your pardon, miss, but ‘ow we goin’ to do that? The door is locked and even if we could get out we’re pretty far from the ground.”
“I don’t know,” Cordelia admitted. She went to the window and peered out. “Hmm, this window opens.” She pushed the catch and opened the porthole. The rush of air outside attested to the speed the Adler was making.
“Goodness,” she exclaimed. “We must be going at least forty miles an hour. I should have asked von Jagermeister just how fast this thing could go.”
“Forty miles an hour?” Liz echoed. “Blimey it’s a wonder the machine ‘ain’t torn to pieces.”
“I guess you’re right, Liz,” said Cordelia resignedly. “It looks like we’re stuck her until von Jagermeister decides what to do with us.” She lay down on the bed. “Might as well get some rest until we are sent for.”
The summons came just after sunset. The door was unlocked and Bueller and four members of the crew stood outside.
“You will please accompany me, ladies,” Bueller said, standing aside so that they could leave the room.
To Cordelia’s surprise she was not taken to the Kapitan’s cabin, but instead to the main deck. She felt a sudden leaden weight in her stomach when she realized that the entire crew of the Adler was lined up on the deck.
She and Liz were led between the crew members who were lined up in two rows. Seated at a table was von Jagermeister, with a crew member flanking him on either side.
“What is this, Herr Kapitan?” Cordelia asked. Some sort of tribunal?”
“You are very perceptive, Miss Delacourt. It is indeed a tribunal and from now on you will not speak until you are asked.”
Cordelia opened her mouth and then promptly shut it. But Liz apparently did not think his admonition applied to her. “Ere. What’s this? We done nuffink wrong.”
Von Jagermeister frowned. “If Miss Brown speaks again tie her to a chair and gag her.”
Two chairs were brought forward and placed directly across from von Jagermeister. Cordelia and Liz were escorted to the chairs and then sat down.
Von Jagermeister picked up a sheet of paper from the table and began to read
in German. However, he paused
after every sentence and allowed Bueller to
translate.
“
It took a few seconds for Cordelia to realize she was expected to answer. “I’m not… This is ridiculous, Herr Kapitan. How can you accuse two innocent young women of being spies?”
“Please confine your remarks to the questions asked,” von Jagermeister said. “How do you plead?”
“I refuse to answer,” Cordelia said. “This is not a proper tribunal. You are all madmen on a mad mission to conquer the world.”
“Record the plea of the accused as not guilty,” von Jagermeister instructed.
“If this is a trial then where is my solicitor?” Cordelia demanded.
“Lieutenant Zimmer will represent you,” von Jagermeister replied. A thin bearded man stepped forward and bowed.
“A member of your crew,” Cordelia exclaimed. “How very convenient. Just what sort of representation can I expect from him?”
“Nevertheless he is your council,” von Jagermeister replied. “And now if you are finished interrupting, the tribunal will proceed.”
Cordelia realized that it would do not good to continue to protest so she remained silent while the trial proceeded. Von Jagermeister spoke first. Not only was he the head of the tribunal, but he was also its star witness. He described the scene where he had caught Cordelia and Liz in what he referred to as the munitions room.
Cordelia was inclined to refuse her chance to answer the accusations, but fear got the better of her pride. “Your accusations are ridiculous. How can two young girls be spies? We are helpless victims of circumstances, kidnapped and taken from our homes and sold into a foreign land.”
After that she was questioned by von Jagermeister, who merely repeated all of his previous accusations. Then it was her solicitor’s turn. To give him credit, Zimmer went through all the motions of defending them, but it was obvious from the start that since he was trying to convince a tribunal that included the main witness against them that he had very little chance of changing anyone’s mind.
Eventually the farcical trial ended. To no one’s surprise the decision was unanimous, von Jagermeister pronouncing the final decision. “The accused have been found guilty as charged. The sentence is death.”
“Oh no,” Cordelia cried. She was very close to weeping. “You can’t be serious. This is a travesty of justice. You can’t execute us.”
Von Jagermeister stood up. “Silence, Miss Delacourt. I have not finished speaking.”
Cordelia closed her mouth while von Jagermeister paused for effect. His mouth twitched cruelly. “In my capacity as prince of Aremberg I commute the sentence. “Miss Delacourt and Miss Brown will be taken to the afterdeck and there in full view of the crew they will each be given five strokes of the cane. I will personally administer the punishment.”
“What!” Cordelia did not know whether to be relieved or outraged. “You are no better than the Marquis de Sade. Not only are you completely mad, but you are cruel as well.”
“Bloody, ‘ell,” Liz exclaimed. “You ain’t goin’ to cane me without a fight.” As she spoke she kicked the shin of the crew member standing next to her and made a dash for von Jagermeister.
Two other crew members caught her before she reached him but, Liz did not go quietly. Biting, scratching, and kicking, it took four men to hold her down. They finally subdued her by lashing her wrists behind her and placing a man on either side of her as she was led to the stern.
Cordelia, too terrified to do otherwise, allowed herself to be escorted to the place of punishment. She was not at all surprised to see that a wooden frame had already been erected. Suddenly something snapped and she threw herself at von Jagermeister. After her docile demeanor her sudden attack caught the men escorting her unprepared.
“You conniving sadist,” Cordelia screamed. “The trial was nothing but a sham. You already had the punishment prepared.”
Her fingers nails almost reached his face, but von Jagermeister was more than a match for her. He caught both her wrists and held her while she struggled to break free. A second later two crew members seized her and dragged her back.
Sobbing with fear and frustration, she and a somewhat foul-mouthed Liz were hauled to the wooden frame that had been erected in their honour.
The men held her their while she shook in fear. Von Jagermeister moved in front of her, a cruel leer on his bearded features. “Strip them,” he ordered.
“No!” Cordelia screamed. Liz merely intensified her swearing, but neither action prevented eager hands from quickly removing their clothing.
Cordelia sobbed in absolute terror and mortification as her clothes were stripped from her. She could feel a hundred pairs of hungry eyes on her naked body, and then she was dragged to the wooden frame.
“No, Nooo!” she sobbed as her wrists were bound to each corner of the triangular wooden frame. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the same thing being done to Liz and then it was done. She stood naked and helpless, her arms stretched tightly above her and her feet barely touching the deck. Liz continued to spew invective at von Jagermeister, an act that eventually got on his nerves.
“Gag her,” he ordered, Liz’s voice was suddenly muffled.
Cordelia waited, her chest heaving, goose bumps appearing on her naked flesh. Von Jagermeister moved to where she could see him. He was holding a thin bamboo cane. “Please, no,” Cordelia begged. His only response was a repetition of that cruel smile.
Bueller moved up beside her and held up a leather strap. “Put this between your teeth, Miss Delacourt, it will keep you from biting your tongue.”
Shaking with fear, Cordelia bit down on the leather strap. Her eyes rolled as von Jagermeister moved behind her.
She heard the blow before it landed. The cane whistled as it swept through the air. She was ready to scream even before the pain registered, and the pain was exquisite.
A shriek of agony burst from her lips as the cane struck her buttocks. The leather strap was lost as it fell from her lips and her entire body shook. For an instant a black haze briefly flashed before her eyes. But she did not faint. She wasn’t allowed that relief. Patiently, Bueller offered the strap again, but Cordelia was shaking too hard to accept it. The cane descended again, striking her in almost the same place. Although this time she was better prepared for it, the pain was still agonizing, and her scream was just as loud.
He struck her a third time eliciting still one more shriek of anguish and then he switched to Liz. The lower class girl screamed just as much, but the gag muffled her cries. Cordelia continued to weep, her body jumping at the sound of each blow as her companion was punished.
Three blows and three muffled screams. Then von Jagermeister came back to her and Cordelia remembered that he had said five strokes of the cane.
She wet herself at the fourth blow. If she had thought the first three were painful, they were as nothing compared to the touch of the bamboo against her now swollen flesh. Her voice broke on the fifth stroke, her vocal cords strained beyond endurance. Then she had the satisfaction of hearing two more blows delivered against Liz’s quivering buttocks.
Neither of them could walk as they were cut down from the frame. Sobbing loudly both girls were carried to the ship’s infirmary, where their lacerations were treated by the Adler’s doctor.
“Zeez vill heal,” the doctor said. “Zee instrument of punishment was not heavy. You vill haff a lot of pain for a few days and zen you vill be alright.”
Too exhausted and broken to reply, Cordelia lay face down on the examination table while she was tended to. When the doctor had finished with her she was carried back to her room by three crew members and placed face down on the bunk. A short time later Liz was brought in. The girl’s soft sobbing a clear indication of the pain she was in.
In too much pain to sleep, Cordelia lay on the
bunk. But inside her a new emotion
stirred. Before, she had simply
disliked von Jagermeister for his treatment of
her. Now she hated him with intensity
that eclipsed any emotion she had ever
had. Vengeance burned within
her and it was with that thought in her heart that sleep finally overwhelmed
her ability to resist.
If there could be said to be a bright side to being caned in public, it was that for the next week von Jagermeister left her and Liz alone. They were confined to their cabin, not that either one of them was able to go anywhere in any case. Gradually the painful weals and bruises that decorated their backside healed to the point where they were able to leave the room on their own, although not without escort. Von Jagermeister did not trust them enough to let them wander the ship on their own.
Cordelia was certain von Jagermeister would call on her again as soon as he thought she was well enough to serve him in bed. The thought filled her with dread. She now hated him with a passion she would not have believed possible. It was a new emotion for Cordelia. She could not recall hating anyone before, not even Janessic, although in his case, the emotion had been pretty close to the surface. More to the point, the thought of being forced to his bed once again was one she did not want to contemplate. She wasn’t like Liz who seemed to be able to shrug off sexual assault as something that simply seemed to happen every now and then.
She walked to the porthole and looked out. It would be so easy to open it and drop to the ground, thus ending her ordeal. It was the honourable thing to do after what had happened to her. But she knew she couldn’t do it. She simply lacked the courage to take her own life. Besides, there was a much more practical reason. She was simply too big to fit through the narrow opening.
She turned away from the porthole to find Liz looking at her. “I think I could fit,” the girl said. “I’m smaller than you.”
The remark caught Cordelia off guard. “What?” she asked, stupidly.
“The porthole, miss. You were thinking about trying to escape through it weren’t you?”
“Ah, yes,” Cordelia stammered. She felt guilty about her thoughts of suicide. Liz was clearly thinking of a way to escape, not killing herself.
“Yes,” she said again, “but I don’t know what good it would do. We can’t fly.”
“I was thinking maybe we could find a way to the main deck or something,” Liz said. “After what that bludger did to us, I’m not for remaining here.”
Cordelia returned to the porthole and pushed it open. She peered out. The main deck was two levels above them. She very much doubted that there was any way to climb up to it. Her eyes drifted astern. About thirty feet from the porthole were several of the guy wires anchoring the huge boom that secured the propellers.
She shook her head. It was just too dangerous. Without a word she pulled porthole closed.
Liz watched her intently as she turned away. “What did you see, miss?” she asked.
Cordelia shook her head. “There’s no way out, Liz. It’s just too dangerous.”
Liz placed her hand on Cordelia’s. “Pardon me, miss, but if you’re going to be keeping things to yourself, then how can I judge for meself?”
“That’s myself,” Cordelia corrected automatically. “Sorry,” she said immediately. “I shouldn’t worry about your English at a time like this.”
One of the things the week away from von Jagermeister had allowed Cordelia to do was to keep her promise to Liz about improving her English. There wasn’t really much else to do in the small room except sleep and they had spent almost every waking minute working on Liz’s pronunciation. It had become almost second nature to Cordelia to correct the girl when she strayed. But as she had noted, Liz’s English was secondary to the issue at hand, and that was Cordelia’s wild idea about how one of them might escape.
“Tell me, miss,” Liz prompted. “Am I your servant or your companion?”
“You are more than a companion, Liz. You are my friend, and a better one I could not have chosen.”
“Then,” Liz continued, “you shouldn’t be keeping things back from a friend should you?”
“You’re right, Liz, “Cordelia admitted. “It’s just that my idea was too dangerous to be given serious consideration.”
“I think you should let me judge that, miss. Please tell me.”
Cordelia told her and Liz opened the porthole and peered out. “I’m going as soon as its dark,” she said.
“Liz, you can’t. It would be almost suicidal in daylight, much less at night.”
“Miss Cordelia,” Liz said, looking her in the eye. “I’m not going to stay here and allow that bludger to cane my backside raw whenever he chooses. I’d rather take my chances.”
There was no talking the girl out of it. Cordelia was sorry that she had ever had the idea, much less giving in and telling Liz about her mad scheme. Short of betraying her friend by calling one of the crew there was no stopping her and so Cordelia helped instead.
They had to wait until after they ate the evening meal before making the attempt. But as soon as they had finished the food that one of the crew members brought to them they began their preparations. It took a couple of hours to get everything ready and then Liz went to the porthole and pushed it open.
At night the Adler traveled more slowly than in the daytime. That was mainly due to the fact that most of the crew was off duty, but there may have been a few safety concerns as well. Whatever the reason, the rush of air past the open porthole was not as great as it had been earlier. Cordelia remembered that von Jagermeister had also told her that he usually hunted the wind, changing the elevation of the Adler in order to find a stream of air that was moving in the direction he wanted the Adler to go. This tended to further reduce the speed of the Adler relative to the air it was moving through.
Whatever the reason it made possible Liz’s daring escape. Pushing the porthole open as wide as it would go, she squeezed through it and then let go. Immediately the flow of air caught her, but she didn’t go far. Cordelia was holding tight to the length of bed sheet that was securely tied about Liz’s narrow waist. Slowly she played out the sheet until Liz was dangling at the end of a twenty foot long length of sheet, but she wasn’t dangling straight down. As Cordelia had surmised, the speed of the moving airship swept Liz parallel to the hull of the ship and straight back into the maze of guy wires that stabilized the huge beam that held the propellers.
It was as Cordelia had stated, incredibly dangerous. If the air flowing past the ship had been stronger or if there was a weakness in the improvised rope holding Liz it would have been disastrous for the nineteen-year-old girl. But on this occasion, luck was with them. Liz was blown almost straight back and was able to grab the guy wires and hold on. Now began the really dangerous part of the escape.
Liz hooked her legs about the guy wires and carefully undid the sheet. Now she was on her own. Somehow she had to use the spider web maze of guy wires to make her way to the main deck without losing her grip or being spotted by the crew. It was a job for a trained acrobat, but Liz was a strong young woman. What she lacked in expertise she made up for in courage and determination. As Cordelia watched she worked her way upward hand over hand until she reached to top deck. Then after some hesitation she slipped over the side and disappeared.
The next hour, or whatever interval of time it was, passed with excruciating slowness. Cordelia had no means of telling time other than the beating of her heart, and that seemed to be thumping much too fast. And then there was a scratching sound at the door. It was at that moment that it suddenly occurred to her that Liz had no key. How was the girl to release her if she couldn’t open the door?
The scratching noises continued for a couple of minutes. Almost certain that it must be Liz, Cordelia wanted to call out her name, but she was afraid of alerting one of the crew members and so she remained silent. Just as she thought she was about to go mad, there was a click and the door swung open.
“How did you do that?” Cordelia asked, staring in amazement at Liz.
“I’ve picked tougher locks than that,” the girl replied. “I didn’t make all of my living on my back.”
Cordelia ignored Liz’s reference to her past method of earning a living. She took the girl’s hand. “Come on, if we’re going to complete our escape we have to proceed with the next part of the plan.”
“Oh,” said Liz. “You never mentioned the next part of the plan. What is it?”
“We find out where von Jagermeister stores his fireworks,” Cordelia replied.
They headed down the corridor, speaking only in whispers so as not to alert any of the sleeping crew. Fortunately the ship was almost completely deserted. Cordelia knew that at night most of the crew was asleep. There were only a few crew members on duty and most of these were in the engine room or on the main deck. Guards were never posted; after all who could sneak into a vessel that was one thousand feet in the air?
They reached the lowest deck unobserved. Cordelia remembered the direction the men rolling the barrel had come from and backtracked, hoping to find where it had been kept. They had to try a couple of rooms before finding the right one. Inside were racks loaded with dozens of barrels. It took Cordelia only a few seconds to remove the bung on one of them and show that she had guessed right.
“Right,” Liz said. “We found it. Now what? We can’t blow up the whole ship.”
“You’re right,” Cordelia said. “We just disable it. That should force von Jagermeister to bring it close enough to the ground that we can escape. Now help me with one of these barrels.”
Together the two girls rolled the barrel away from the powder room. Cordelia wasn’t sure what would be the best place to set it off, but she guessed that somewhere beneath the machine room would be a good place.
They used a twenty foot length of fuse to give them more than enough time to be as far away from the exploding barrel as possible. Then they headed up toward the upper deck looking for a place to hide as they did so.
The companionway directly below the upper deck seemed like a good spot. They huddled there in breathless anticipation waiting for the explosion.
It came with a dull thud, sending a vibration through the metal of the companionway. Cordelia waited breathlessly and then there came another much louder explosion. This time the entire ship lurched violently.
Liz grabbed Cordelia hand. “Is this what you expected?” she gasped.
It wasn’t. There should have been only one explosion, not two. Something else in the ship had exploded. And there was something else as well. Smoke was filling the corridor. Cordelia coughed and covered her mouth. Her eyes were watering furiously.
“We can’t stay here,” she wheezed. “We’ll suffocate.”
There was only one place to go and that was up the companionway to the main deck. Already the smoke was so thick that Cordelia could barely see a foot in front of her. Above her she could hear the sounds of men’s voices shouting orders, but she had little choice, it was either head for the main deck or choke in the acrid smoke.
Holding Liz’s hand she headed up the companionway. No one came down the other way to stop her, which was not surprising considering the thick smoke that soared up the stairway.
Emerging on the deck, Cordelia stared in horror and surprise at the spectacle that awaited her. Huge flames leaped up the side of the ship, curling across the deck and soaring toward the envelope of the balloon that loomed overhead. The fire was clearly out of control. The Adler was not equipped with any firefighting equipment that could handle a blaze of that magnitude.
Men were running wildly back and forth. Somewhere in the confusion Cordelia could hear von Jagermeister’s voice raised in alarm. No one paid the slightest bit of attention to the two girls.
“Cor blimey,” Liz exclaimed. “”What we going to do?”
Cordelia looked upward. There seemed only one thing she and Liz could do. It was clear that the Adler was doomed. Even as she watched the flames began to spread across the deck. She remembered that there were still dozens of unexploded barrels of gunpowder on board the ship and that it was only a matter of time until the flames reached them. And then there was the huge quantity of poison gas she and Liz had discovered. What would happen if one of the spheres was broken?
“We’ll have to try to get to the balloon,” she said. “The ship is doomed.”
Apparently others thought so as well. Above the roar of the fire and the confused shouts of the men Cordelia could hear the words “der ballon,” shouted over and over again. Taking Liz’s hand once again she ran for the stairway that ran from the deck to the lower reaches of the balloon.
It was a frightening climb. They were not the only persons using the metal stairway and it swayed precariously as she and Liz climbed it. Fortunately the glare of the fire made it easy to see where they were going. Gasping for breath they finally made it to the ballon.
The lower reaches of the balloon were quite different from the hull of the ship. They found themselves standing on a metal gantry that ran as far forward and back as Cordelia could see. Great circular metal ribs formed part of the framework of the cigar-shaped envelope. Stretching the length of the envelope were several huge bags – balloons within a ballon. It was these that gave the airship its buoyancy. Cordelia was reminded that each of the huge gas bags was filled with hydrogen gas and wondered what would happen if the flames consuming the ship reached them.
More and more men were arriving on the gantry. Some of them quite badly burned. Cordelia edged away from them, heading toward the bow. “Come on Liz,” she muttered, let’s get as far away as we can.”
She kept walking until they reached the point where the material came together in the cone-shape of the bow. It seemed as good a place as any and was out of the way of the increasing crowd of refugees.
“What’s going to ‘appen?” Liz asked anxiously, momentarily forgetting her English pronunciation lessons.
“I don’t know.” Cordelia answered. “If the fire reaches the balloon…”
She didn’t need to spell out what would happen if the huge gas bags ignited. Her plan had gone horribly wrong. She had hoped to disable the Adler, not completely destroy it.
Near the staircase someone was shouting orders. Cordelia wondered what could be done and then understood as she saw a number of the crew move to the metal stanchions and guy wires that tethered the ship to the balloon. She knew instinctively what they were going to do and knew that it was the only choice.
“Hold on tight,” she said to Liz. “I think things are going to get rough.”
“Why?” Liz asked. “Wot’s goin’ to ‘appen?”
“The crew is going to cut the balloon loose from the ship. When it is released I think the balloon will jump skyward.”
“Oh,” Liz replied. She wrapped her arms about Cordelia while Cordelia hung on to one of the stanchions. They remained that way until the Adler’s crew had completed their task.
With a sharp clang the last of the pins was hammered loose. In spite of her prediction Cordelia was quite unprepared for what happened next.
She felt as if her stomach had been left behind. The balloon gave a huge lurch and jerked skyward. The sensation of being pressed into the deck lasted for more than a minute before the balloon stopped rising. Then for a few seconds there was only an eerie silence.
It was finally broken by the sounds of men shouting. Above them once more rose the voice of von Jagermeister and the shouting stopped. Then there were a number of commands that Cordelia could not quite make out. Whatever they were, it wasn’t long before a several crew members came their way. With no place to hide, Cordelia and Liz merely waited until they arrived.
“Ah, Miss Delacourt and her companion,” von Jagermeister smiled. “I thought I saw you scampering about the deck. How fortunate that you managed to escape. However, you should understand that our situation is far from secure.”
Von Jagermeister stopped speaking to the two girls for a few seconds while he issued orders to his men in German. The crew members disappeared but he remained.
“How is it that you managed to escape from your cabin?” von Jagermeister continued. “The door was locked was it not?”
Cordelia blanched. Did von Jagermeister suspect that she had something to do with the destruction of the Adler? She was about to stutter a replay when Liz spoke for her.
“We was locked in, thanks to you, but the explosion jarred it open and we ran for the deck. Got there just in time.”
“Ah yes,” von Jagermeister said, as if just recalling that it he who had ordered them locked up. “That is so. Well, you are here now, but the situation is quite perilous. We are now drifting helplessly at the mercy of the wind. We have no means of gaining altitude and we are without food or water. In addition, there are minute leaks in the gas bladders that will eventually cause us to land whether we want to or not.”
Cordelia listen curiously. Van Jagermeister seemed to have completely forgotten the fact that he had brutalized and imprisoned them. He spoke as if they were old friends who had just met on the street. However, he did not stay long. After his explanation and prediction of doom he excused himself and left the two young women to themselves.
“Well, that’s one ‘ell of a thing ain’t it?” Liz commented. “I wonder what’s going to become of us.”
As it turned out nothing happened to them right away. They huddled together for warmth and waited for the night to end. By morning they were shivering from the cold. The air in the balloon was very cold and they had nothing to wrap around themselves to keep warm. After the sun came up, however, the situation changed radically.
The sun beat down on the uninsulated envelope of the balloon. Gradually the heat rose until the girls were panting like dogs. It was at that point that von Jagermeister returned.
“I am afraid we have to do something about this heat, Miss
Delacourt. The crew is dying
of thirst and it is only
Cordelia’s throat was so dry that she could not speak, but she nodded her head, showing that she understood. Von Jagermeister then turned and left. A short time later Cordelia heard a hissing sound as the crew opened the valves and began to bleed the hydrogen out of the inner balloons.
Shortly after that her ears popped and she felt a strange sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. The balloon was losing altitude.
The balloon struck without warning. There was a grinding crash and the shriek of buckling metal. Then there was a lurch that pressed her stomach against her bowels as the balloon bounced skyward once more. This was repeated twice more and then the balloon began to come apart. Metal screamed as it twisted and tore and suddenly the entire bow section of the balloon ripped loose.
Cordelia screamed as her tiny section of the balloon was torn free. It immediately shot skyward leaving Cordelia and Liz clinging perilously to the gantry that was now little more that a mess of twisted metal attached to a rising gas bag. Cordelia watched as the main section of the ballon crashed to the ground and then the fragment of the balloon that held her and Liz was whirled high into the air.
It was a terrifying experience. They were soon so high above the ground that the heat was of no concern. The balloon was caught in a powerful upper wind that hurled them through the air twisting and turning them around like a top as it blew them steadily south. Somehow, however, they managed to hold on as they were tumbled through the upper atmosphere.
As von Jagermeister had mentioned, however, the balloons leaked. Gradually Cordelia noticed a change. The balloon was slowly sinking lower. It afforded her and Liz a better look at the ground and she noticed that the landscape had changed dramatically. No longer were they over desert. Instead the balloon took them over green hills that were covered with areas of grassland and forest. Slowly they sank ever lower and eventually the inevitable occurred.
They slammed into a stand of trees with enough force to break their grip on the balloon. Screaming, Cordelia and Liz found themselves crashing through the branches of a large tree. Cordelia hit the ground with enough force to knock the breath from her lungs. She lay there gasping for breath and then Liz was at her side.
“Are you alright, miss?” the girl asked as she levered Cordelia into a sitting position.
Cordelia nodded her head. After awhile she was able to croak out a few words and stagger uncertainly to her feet. Miraculously, both she and Liz had survived the crash with only a few scrapes and bruises. A few feet away was the crumpled wreckage of the nose section of the balloon. Looking at the twisted metal and torn fabric Cordelia could hardly believe that she was still in one piece.
“Well,” said Liz, “now what are we going to do?”
Cordelia shook her head. By the
grace of god they had somehow survived an epic
adventure. But the adventure
was not yet over. They were no
longer prisoners, but they were stranded in the middle of the
There was a rustling in the undergrowth around them. Cordelia’s eyes went wide as several incredibly tall dark-skinned savages stepped from the forest.
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