Yes, but a flying sorceress would be amazing. Makes me think about how it must have been back in the dragon-rider days.
Figure out how to take human form, and you can marry one of Ridge’s pilots and try to make that happen. I hear Pimples is available.
The moist, noisy snort Sardelle heard in her mind was impressively realistic for a sword.
Wind beat at Sardelle’s cheeks as they rolled out of the hangar and picked up speed. Ridge pulled up on the flight stick, and the flier soared into the air, the sea breeze buffeting them. He compensated easily and streaked inland to gain altitude and wait for the rest of his team to join him before attacking.
The fortress had floated closer in the time they had been in the hangar. The dirigibles, three of them now, lurked farther back, but the Cofah fliers were taking off. Ten already buzzed through the air around the fortress. In addition to machine guns, each craft had two of those awful rockets mounted under the nose.
“Why didn’t they fly themselves across the sea?” someone wondered over the communication crystal. “Why did they need a ride on that thing?”
“Maybe the flying fortress has lavatories inside,” the one female pilot here besides Cas said, sounding wishful. Lieutenant Solk, that was her name.
“Actually,” came Tolemek’s voice, distant and barely audible as he leaned toward the crystal from the back seat, “my research has shown that the dragon blood, despite being so powerful, actually is burned as fuel when the Cofah use it in their rockets, unmanned fliers, and fliers. An infinitesimal amount goes a long way, yes, but they would have realized by now that a vial does eventually run out. It’s probably more efficient for them to carry all of the aircraft that way than to have them fly across the ocean individually.”
“Thank you for the science lesson, Tee,” Ridge said. “Everyone ready to take it to them? Crash, you’ll take point on the first run. I’ll lead the incursion team plus Solk and Pimples, and we’ll see if we can wreak some havoc on that fortress while finding a spot to drop off our passengers without anyone noticing. Anyone who can make smoke to cover their landing, do so. I’ll try to find something to shoot that can blow up and make that smoke seem realistic.”
A dozen yes-sirs came back to him over the crystal, and one of the fliers streaked into the lead, its nose pointed toward the fortress. As the others fell into a V-formation behind it, the guns boomed from the artillery towers below. The fortress must have flown into their range. Yes, a massive black shell arced across the sky and slammed into one of the front walls of the flying castle. Sardelle expected it to do damage, but it simply bounced off.
Several of the pilots cursed.
“Is Cofah metal really hard, or is that… magicked?” another asked.
“Cut the chatter,” Ridge said. “We’re going in. Do as much damage as you can on this first run, before they have all their fliers in the sky. And don’t get hit.”
Someone snorted, but he got another round of yes-sirs.
The sorceress has reinforced the walls, Jaxi said. That’s probably why they were waiting for her to arrive.
Are we going to be able to get to the platform and jump on? Sardelle imagined a big invisible bubble protecting the fortress, and the Iskandian fliers bouncing off as they tried to approach.
I don’t sense anything like that. They wouldn’t be able to fire through a barrier, if it were up, and it looks like they’re planning to do that.
Yes, as if the fliers filling the sky like angry wasps driven from a nest weren’t enough, giant rotating shell guns squatted on each of the fortress’s towers. Even as Sardelle watched, the first one launched toward the north side of the city. Toward the castle?
She grimaced, picturing the damage that had already happened to the ancient structure. As the shell streaked toward its target, she located the gunpowder-like substance packed inside of it and lit a spark. The projectile exploded several hundred feet above the castle.
That might not have been the best idea, Jaxi said. The sorceress is going to have an eye on us now, and we’re trying to sneak in.
If we felt her and knew where she was, I’m sure she already felt us. Sardelle bristled at the idea of letting the city take damage if she could stop it.
She might have been aware of us, but not worried about us. Now we’ll represent a problem she has to deal with, and we’re up here in this flimsy little flier at the moment.
Several arguments floated into her mind, but the fortress was firing more artillery weapons, and the Iskandian fliers had reached gun range of the Cofah fliers. Ridge was already swooping to stay out of the sights of the oncoming enemies. There were so many of them that Sardelle couldn’t help but feel the inevitability of being struck. She and Jaxi could shield their flier, but what of the others in the group?
She forced herself to concentrate on what she could do and blew up another shell arcing toward the city. The sounds of firing guns and explosives filled her ears, drowning out the roar of the ocean. Just as she detonated a third shell, she felt a presence sweep over her.
Yup, she noticed us, Jaxi said. And her sword too. Wreltad.
Wreltad? You recognized it? Him?
No, he introduced himself.
That was polite.
He said he eagerly looked forward to engaging in battle with me and cleaving my blade from my hilt. Jaxi sounded like she was ready to cleave something of her own.
Perhaps not so polite, after all.
He also used the word forsooth. If I can’t melt him down, I’m at least going to mock him.
Forsooth? Sardelle thought of Jaxi’s argument that this sorceress and her sword had come from the past.
“Incursion team,” Ridge said, “they’re not patrolling the air beneath the fortress. We’ll do a run under it, doing any damage we can to the bottom, then come up on the other side and drop off the team. Follow my lead. Crash, keep the rest of their fliers busy.”
“Doing my best, sir.” Crash already sounded tense.
I’m trying to burn bullets before they strike our people’s fliers, Jaxi said, but there are hundreds of them streaking through the sky. It feels like millions.
I’m sure they appreciate your help. Though Sardelle did not want to abandon the city, she shifted her own focus to shielding Ridge and the others whenever she could. She left cutting down bullets to Jaxi, who had much faster reflexes. She also tried to ignite some of the vials of dragon blood powering the Cofah craft. As with the fliers they had encountered earlier in the day, the vials were metal and resistant to her attacks. Had the new sorceress been the one to imbue the containers with protective power? If so, she had been busy over there.
As Ridge weaved and dove on his way to his target, Sardelle focused on the engine of a craft following them. She poured heat into the workings, hoping to melt something important. To her surprise, at a certain temperature, the oil lubricating the pistons turned to vapor, and her heated air caused the vapor to explode.
That’s delightful, Jaxi said as smoked poured out of the flier dogging them. It veered off Ridge’s tail and headed for the fortress platform. An explosion came from within the engine, and the craft didn’t make it. It spiraled downward, heading for the rocks of the harbor far below.
Look out! Jaxi barked at the same time as several other pilots cried the same warning over the crystal.
Ridge swerved so hard that Sardelle was thrown against the side of the flier. If not for her harness, she would have been thrown out of the flier.
A massive ball of crackling white energy streaked toward them from one of the towers. It filled the air with the intensity of the sun, scorching the air around it as it drew closer.
Aware of Jaxi throwing her power up in a shield in front of it, Sardelle struggled to regain her equilibrium and add her energy to the shield. Their combined forces only slowed down the ball, stealing some but not all of its power. Fortunately, Ridge had reacted quickly enough and steered them out of the energy ball’s path. Even so, its heat seared the
ir cheeks and crinkled the paint on the flier’s wing as it soared past.
Seven gods, she’s strong, Sardelle thought.
At least we know exactly where she is now, Jaxi responded.
That’s a good thing?
Well, she’s up on a tower instead of down on the platform that we want to land on.
I haven’t checked closely, but she probably has legs.
“You all right, Colonel?” Cas asked. She and Duck were keeping their fliers close to Ridge’s with the other two pilots he had selected flanking them.
“Yeah, just got some nose hairs singed.” Ridge led the team under the platform. That had been his plan all along, but Sardelle sensed that he hoped the sorceress wouldn’t be able to target him if she couldn’t see him. She wouldn’t count on that. “It’s a little alarming when the other side has a sorceress,” Ridge added.
His alarm didn’t keep him from flying close to the banks of thrusters lining the bottom of the platform. All manner of pipes and conduits snaked around under there. He fired indiscriminately. Sardelle would have even less of a guess as to what might be critical to the operation of the massive craft.
A dozen Cofah fliers cruised under the platform in pursuit. They were a ways behind, so Sardelle let her senses stretch up through the layers of metal and machinery, trying to get a sense of what awaited them and also where the dragon blood was located. A large amount of it powered the flying fortress, so she found it quickly. The power it emitted sang to her, as it would to anyone sensitive enough to feel its energy. It sloshed in a hollow metal sphere that was about two-thirds of the way full. If Tolemek’s hypothesis was correct, that the Cofah were burning the blood as fuel, perhaps that indicated that they had already spent a third of their reserve in flying across the ocean to reach Iskandia. That could mean that they would have to turn around and fly back once they used up another third. Even if Tolemek was only partially successful in destroying that sphere, it might be enough to halt the attack. But even if they could avoid the Cofah soldiers, getting to the sphere would be a challenge. She sensed the maze of metal and conduits, bulkheads and pipes, and had no idea how to reach the blood. Logic suggested there must be an access panel somewhere, but she would have to get closer to have a hope of finding it.
“Good shot, Ahn,” Ridge said, at the same time as someone warned, “I hope you know what you’re doing with that rocket, sir.”
Sardelle brought her awareness back to the battle. They were snaking back and forth near the back edge of the Cofah platform, shooting at the squadron that had followed them. What had been a dozen Cofah fliers was down to eight. At the mention of a rocket, Sardelle twisted to look behind her. Her eyes grew wide as she took in the ominous black cylinder arrowing right for her.
Ridge dove down, as if to plunge thousands of feet into the ocean. The rocket followed. Ridge’s flier twisted in the air as he pulled up immediately, heading straight for one of those thrusters. By now, Sardelle had a notion of what he meant to do, but that didn’t keep her from clinging to her seat with her heart hammering in her chest as they whipped about at breakneck speed. He held course for the thruster for so long that she started to believe he might actually plunge straight up into it. She almost said something into his mind, a warning that they couldn’t reach the platform above that way, but she did not want to risk distracting him.
At the last second—and maybe a hair after it—he pulled the flier to the side. Afraid their momentum would carry them into the unyielding metal, Sardelle formed a cushion of air to deflect them. They came so close to the framework supporting the thrusters that she could have reached up and touched it—the heat from the combustion washed over them, baking them as would the most intense desert sun—but Ridge had calculated the turn correctly. They didn’t touch anything. The rocket, however, flew up into the thruster. Unable to turn, it banged against the inner wall and bounced into the stream of heat.
The explosion that followed would have impressed Kaika. Orange flames burst out of the thruster housing like magma from a volcano. Sardelle had just enough time to shift her cushion of air to protect their flier from the shockwave that roiled out. Ridge would have missed most of it, anyway—he hadn’t hesitated one iota after escaping the rocket—but she was pleased that no damage came to their craft. The thruster, however, after spitting that cloud of fire, fell cold and dark.
“Too bad there are two hundred more of them,” Ridge muttered.
Sardelle was surprised nobody congratulated him on the fancy flying, but utter silence had fallen over the crystals. Only the whirring of the propellers and the bangs from machine guns continued, relentless in Sardelle’s ears.
“The fireball—whatever the hells it was—got Masser,” Crash announced.
Ridge slammed his fist against his control panel, fury blazing in his mind. But he quickly regained control, cordoning off his feelings to deal with later. All he said aloud was, “Keep doing what you’re doing, Wolf Squadron. We’re whittling them down. Ahn, Duck, we’re going in for the drop off. Sardelle, Tolemek, Kaika, get those ropes ready. We’re not going to be able to come to a full stop and let you off easy.”
“Kaika says she’d be disappointed if it was easy,” Duck said.
“Tolemek is ready,” Cas said, her voice flat. Duck’s was too. All of their humor had vanished at Crash’s announcement.
Sardelle wished she could have done something to stop that loss, but she was barely aware of the other flier team. They had shifted from assaulting the fortress to diving in and out around the dirigibles, probably hoping the sorceress wouldn’t risk flinging energy weapons toward the Cofah balloons.
“Sardelle?” Ridge twisted to look back at her.
She nodded firmly. I’m ready.
If you see that sorceress…
I’ll try to deal with her. She had no idea how, but with this unknown sorceress up here, Sardelle was afraid Ridge’s squadron wouldn’t survive the wait while she and the others fought their way to the blood.
I was going to say run the other way, Ridge thought. He had turned around to pilot them out from under the platform, but she knew he wore a wry expression.
That won’t save Iskandia.
Just take out that blood. Gravity will take care of the sorceress, along with everyone else on that platform.
Good point, Sardelle thought, pleased—and relieved—that there might be a way to avoid a confrontation she knew she could not win.
You make sure you get back to the pick-up point when you’re done. I’m hoping Tolemek’s spray takes a few minutes to eat through the metal, so there will be time for you to escape. Sardelle. He glanced back at her again. You better come back to me.
She leaned forward and gripped his shoulder. You better be here when I come back.
I’ll be here, one way or another.
“Double-check your watches,” Ridge said to everyone. “Unless I hear differently, we’ll pick you up in twenty minutes.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Kaika has smoke grenades ready to throw,” Duck announced.
“Good,” Ridge said, his voice all business, though Sardelle knew his mind was as battered by fear and emotion as hers was. “We’re pretending to aim for that tower,” he said as he led the team along the back wall of the fortress. “Watch out for the gunner at the top.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sardelle glimpsed Tolemek as Cas flew close to Ridge’s wing. He had something in his hand, as well, ready to throw. Nobody had given her instructions on how to use any of the grenades that had been stuffed into the bag at her feet, so she simply readied her mind to fan the smoke, to try to make the cloud bigger, so they could hide in it.
Better get your rope ready unless you’re going to jump, Jaxi advised.
Sardelle tossed the end over the side as Ridge flew around the tower, then dipped toward its inner wall. Cofah soldiers with rifles raced out of a hangar-like building and ran toward them. She hadn’t realized Ridge had anything other than his machi
ne guns, but he must have pilfered from Tolemek’s stash. He threw the first grenade. The soldiers halted when it clanged to the metal floor. One paused to shoot at Ridge, but the others scurried back. He ducked and tilted his wings, swooping around the tower again.
Wait until the next pass, Ridge thought.
Understood.
If you need me before the twenty minutes, or you need me at all, for anything, you know how to get in touch.
Sardelle blinked back tears, touched by his concern and afraid because of it too. I do, she thought, glad she did not have to use her voice, because she wouldn’t have trusted it to work right. Thank you.
Tolemek and Kaika also threw grenades at the base of the tower. Ridge rose to the top, the nose of his flier peeking above the crenellations. He had come up behind the big artillery gun, and before the craft’s momentum took him over the tower, he pounded rounds into the soldiers reloading the weapon. Neither had time to do more than scream as they were cut down. Even though it was all over in two seconds, those screams—and the horrified expressions on the men’s faces—burned into Sardelle’s mind. Another time, she would lament the ludicrousness of this everlasting war the Cofah forced on those it conquered—or tried again and again to conquer—but there was no time for contemplation now. Her hands shook as she gripped the rope, prepared to jump over the side.
Plumes of thick black smoke roiled from the base of the tower and also the top of it. Ridge swooped in, taking the place that Ahn’s craft had just vacated. Sensing that Tolemek and Kaika already crouched at the base of the ruined tower, Sardelle wasted no time. She grabbed the bag of explosives and slung herself over the edge.
The rope burned her hands as she slid down it, but she had to hurry. Ridge’s flier could not hover there, and its nose was already tilted upward, firing at the gunmen on the next tower over. Sardelle hit the ground hard and almost lost her footing. The awareness that she carried a bag of volatile—and combustible—weapons gave her the tenacity to keep from tumbling onto them.
Kaika gripped her arm and pointed. Between the booms of the fortress’s artillery weapons and the constant bangs of the fliers’ guns, Sardelle couldn’t have heard her allies if they had been yelling in her ear. She couldn’t see Tolemek but sensed him ahead of her, waving for them to follow. Even standing right next to Sardelle, Kaika was almost invisible in the dense smoke. Jaxi must be helping to thicken it, because it hung around them like a heavy fog, despite the constant blowing of the sea breeze.