“This airship seems destined to crash,” Blazer growled, turning the wheel to follow the shoreline away from the lagoon.
Rysha caught the words as she ran into the wheelhouse. “I don’t think there’s any way to put out the fire, ma’am. I looked. The men were talking about going up in their fliers with buckets of water, but—”
“Buckets?” Blazer scowled over her shoulder at her. “They might as well try to piss the fire out.”
“Er, yes, ma’am. I don’t have to do any calculations to know it’s spread too far. It would take a fire suppressant more powerful than water to help in such limited amounts.”
“Tell them to get their fliers ready. I’m going to get us as far from the lagoon as I can and try to crash on a remote-looking beach. Hopefully, nobody there figured out that we have fliers, and they’ll think we simply went into the woods on foot.”
“Where will we go?” Rysha felt everything had fallen apart in the last hour, but she couldn’t imagine returning to Iskandia with neither chapaharii blades nor news of a destroyed dragon portal.
“Into the woods, but not on foot,” Blazer said firmly. “We’ll lie low and try to get into that fortress tonight. I’m praying that nobody has a clue what brought us to the islands and that this won’t cause them to beef up security on the other side. Also hoping nobody sees the fliers and realizes we’re Iskandian military.”
Blazer looked toward the shoreline. The lagoon had fallen behind them, the coastline hiding it from view now, but here and there, ramshackle shacks perched above the beach. Other shorelines on other islands’ beaches also held dwellings. None of the islands were that big, and even this central one, the largest of all, was only about four miles across at its widest point.
Rysha worried they wouldn’t have a shot at taking fliers in without being noticed, but she couldn’t think of any other plan.
“Why don’t you crash it into the water instead of onto a beach?” she suggested. “Then maybe the pirates will think we drowned instead of heading inland.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Blazer jerked her thumb toward the door. “Fliers.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll tell them.” Rysha backed out but paused with her hand on the jamb. “Wait, what about Duck and the Cofah—Dreyak? Without Duck, who’s going to fly the fourth flier?”
“A very good question, Lieutenant. Tell them to figure that out while they’re preparing for the rest.”
“Er, yes, ma’am.”
“Rysha—Lieutenant Ravenwood,” came Trip’s call from one of the fliers.
All of the tarps had been removed, along with the ropes tying them down, and he sat in the cockpit of his craft. Beside him, Leftie was climbing into another one.
It didn’t look like Rysha would have to tell the men anything. Kaika stood near the fliers, frowning at the coastline—and how close the airship was flying over the water now. Spray from the waves crashing to shore flew up, misting their faces. The sea breeze blew away the scent of the smoke, but Rysha could still see it billowing from behind the envelope.
Trip waved to his back seat. “We need to get the fliers off before we crash. I’ve got the bits of pulverized gizmos cleared out of your seat.”
Rysha smiled as she ran toward the fliers, the image of him fighting those contraptions fresh in her mind. He had seemed inhuman as he’d deflected the bullets being fired at him from all sides, his movements impossibly fast. And then he’d thrown an arm up as she and the others had been running up to the ship, and he—or Jaxi—had melted them all.
When he’d locked eyes with her, a strange little thrill had gone through her. She wasn’t sure if it was attraction or something else, something more. He’d seemed like some ancient sorcerer of old standing there, the glowing blade in his hand.
“Major Blazer!” Trip yelled. “Leave the wheel and hurry out here. We’ve got your craft started up.”
She lifted an arm in acknowledgment but didn’t leave the wheelhouse yet. She spun the wheel hard, and the airship frame creaked and groaned as it turned inland, toward a rocky spit.
That wasn’t quite what Rysha had been thinking of for their crash, but maybe it was a good idea. It might batter the airship enough to make it believable that there hadn’t been survivors.
“Captain Kaika,” Trip called. “Ever pilot a flier during your military career?”
“I’ve flown in fliers numerous times,” Kaika said, a dubious expression on her face. Despite that expression, she walked to Duck’s flier and pulled herself into the cockpit. “I guess it’s either me or Lieutenant Ravenwood, eh?”
Rysha, already climbing up behind Trip, hadn’t considered that they might want her to do it. She was aware that the pilots all had notebooks and sometimes performed mathematics for navigation, and that part she was certain she could do, but the rest? Taking off from the deck of a ship? Landing in a jungle? Considering yesterday had been her first time in a flier, that would have been asking a lot.
“We’ll be happy to walk you through it, Captain,” Leftie said, throwing her a flirtatious wink.
“Actually, I was going to have Jaxi walk her through it,” Trip said. “Apparently, she’s read Denhoft’s Theories on Aerodynamic and Aerostatic Flight. And she claims she’s flown with General Zirkander many times and is thus qualified to help.”
“Flying lessons from a sword,” Kaika said. “Wonderful.”
“She also says she can levitate you and keep you from crashing,” Trip said, “as long as you stay close to me and within her range.”
“Maybe she can just do all the flying, and I can take a nap in the back.”
“What are you all still doing here?” Blazer yelled as she ran toward them. She jerked a thumb at the rocky spit looming ahead of them. “Get off the ship.”
“Aw, we’ve still got plenty of time, ma’am,” Leftie said. “Thirty seconds, easy.”
“Someone slap him in the back of the head,” Blazer growled, pulling herself into the cockpit of her flier.
Trip waved for Leftie to take off first. He probably wanted to go right behind Kaika.
“Can’t you just lend her the soulblade?” Rysha asked as his propeller spun up, and the thrusters under the wings flared to life.
“I’m not sure what the rules are on that,” Trip said over his shoulder, waving for Kaika to go next. “Jaxi didn’t suggest it. She may be particular about who touches her.”
“She sounds kind of uppity.”
After a pause, Trip said, “She’s just informed me that you have been added to the list of people not allowed to touch her.”
“Definitely uppity.”
Trip grinned back at her.
The airship bumped something—hitting the waves?—and jostled them in their seats. Kaika frowned down at the control board, her face frozen in concentration. Rysha worried that she wouldn’t be able to get it into the air, but she did something, and the flier rose, its thrusters scorching the deck.
Blazer was right. This craft was destined for the airship graveyard. How sad that they had spent so much effort repairing it.
It bumped on the waves again. This time, the hull settled atop them.
The deck rose and fell and tilted with the waves. Kaika maneuvered her flier between the deck and the bottom of the envelope—the side that hadn’t burned yet. When she had to lift the craft to clear the railing, she ducked low, even though the wings would have struck the envelope before her head did. She hadn’t retracted the wheels, and they bumped the railing, jostling her.
Rysha held her breath, afraid Kaika wouldn’t clear it, that she would be bumped back. Blazer flew over the railing beside her, banking immediately to avoid that rocky spit. The ship was on the verge of being thrown against it.
“There’s not enough room,” Kaika growled, but as soon as the words came out, she rose higher. The wings did almost hit the envelope, but she inched out through the gap.
The airship crunched against rocks under the water. Rysha gasped, gripping the sides as the jolt almost threw her out of her seat. She’d thought they had a few more seconds before ramming into the spit, but she hadn’t considered underwater obstacles.
Thunderous snaps sounded as wood broke. The deck shuddered under them, and an ominous groan came from below.
Trip calmly took them into the air and zipped through the gap Kaika had struggled with, as if there were miles of clearance instead of inches.
He banked sharply to avoid the spit, and more snaps and wrenching squeals of metal pummeled Rysha’s eardrums. She glanced back as a large wave carried the airship into the rocks. Smoke continued to billow from the envelope, the entire top half eaten by flames now, the blackened framework skeletal.
“A convincing wreck,” Trip said over the communication crystal, accelerating to catch up to and fly beside Kaika. Leftie and Blazer had already turned inland, cruising over the lush greenery that carpeted the core of the island. “They won’t know if we drowned or not.”
“Assuming nobody saw our fliers.” Rysha eyed one of the wood shacks above the beach as they passed over it. She had no idea if the dwellings here represented permanent domiciles or if it was trendy for pirates to build vacation homes here, but they shouldn’t assume that nobody had seen them. And the island wasn’t so large that it would take long for news to travel across it.
“Jaxi is trying to camouflage us while she monitors the island for signs of magic use and helps Kaika with her flier,” Trip said.
“Sounds like a lot for one sword to do,” Rysha said. “Even a magical one.”
“Yes, she’s letting me know that.” Trip paused before adding, “Also that I’m supposed to oil her blade later.”
“Is that like rubbing down a lathered horse after a long ride?”
Another pause.
“I’m told no and that Jaxi doesn’t appreciate being compared to a beast of burden.”
“So uppity,” Rysha muttered.
• • • • •
Parrots and other birds squawked uproariously as the fliers sailed low over the jungle canopy.
Blazer led the way inland while Trip flew beside Kaika, staying close so Jaxi could advise her. She was doing well now, but landing would be a challenge, especially given how dense the foliage down there was. All the clearing and building had been done on the coasts. So far, he’d spotted a dirt road that meandered across the island, but no fields, backyards, or pig pens they could use.
“That road might be our likeliest landing spot,” Trip told his colleagues.
“And the most likely to see traffic,” Blazer said. “Ideally, I’d like to get us closer to the fortress. With the thrusters, we don’t need runways, not like on the old models. We can put down in tight spots.”
Kaika dashed sweat from her brow but didn’t voice an objection. Trip doubted anyone who handled demolitions for a living would be easily fazed.
Actually, it would be a good idea not to get much closer to the fortress, Jaxi told him. I’m doing my best to camouflage us and dampen my aura, but as I mentioned earlier, I sense the soulblade that lives here, and it’s possible he’s sensed me too. The sorceress may be on the lookout for us, and if we get too close, she’ll know the fortress is our target.
Trip relayed the message.
“All right,” Blazer said. “Let’s—oh, that looks like a good spot.” She pointed ahead and to the left.
“The pond, ma’am?” Leftie asked dubiously. “Fliers don’t float.”
“It’s a break in the canopy where we can go down, and then we can find spots between the trees where we can land if we’re careful.”
Leftie and Trip exchanged looks.
“You know fliers can’t back up, right, ma’am?” Leftie said.
“I’ve been flying since you were in diapers, kid. If you can’t pick a spot you can circle out of when we need to take off, then I guess you’ll just have to get out and spin your flier around.”
Trip assumed that was a joke since even the lightest one-seaters weighed a thousand pounds empty. He caught Leftie giving him another dubious look, then shifting that look toward Kaika. Trip was sure he and Leftie could handle the landing, but a brand-new pilot?
No, Kaika wasn’t even that. A new pilot would have taken classes before being thrust into a cockpit. How much help could Jaxi truly provide? Would she knock over trees if Kaika got stuck? Lift the craft with her mind and turn it around? She had felled trees back at the fjords, but they hadn’t needed to worry about anyone hearing the noise or seeing them tumbling down.
“I’ve got some explosives that could spin a flier around,” Kaika grumbled. “And let me take this moment to say how much I appreciate you choosing a landing with a high degree of difficulty for my first time.”
“If you see a better spot, I’m listening,” Blazer said.
“How about at the docks for the fortress?”
“Where we would have to fight our way in against a sorceress, a pirate with a magical sword, and however many troops work in the place?”
“It’s something I’d be much more familiar with,” Kaika said.
“Just rely on Sardelle’s sword,” Blazer said, and dipped her flier toward the pond.
Sardelle’s sword. Trip experienced a bout of wistfulness, wondering what it would be like to be bonded to a soulblade of his own. Even though Jaxi was irreverent and had a disturbing tendency to read his thoughts, he’d already seen how valuable she was. Invaluable. He was surprised Sardelle had been willing to send her along to help them.
He was also surprised Jaxi wasn’t agreeing with his thoughts about her invaluableness. Maybe she was busy with Kaika’s flier.
“Is that an airship on the horizon?” Rysha said, pointing out to sea.
“Yes, it is,” Leftie said grimly.
“One that’ll have a good view of us flying around over the island as it sails in?”
“Definitely.”
“Another reason to land now,” Blazer said. “Hurry up and get below the level of the trees.”
Trip waited for Kaika to head down before obeying the order.
Actually, Jaxi said, I’ve been concentrating on that sorceress. She’s out on a balcony of the fortress and seems to be looking for something. It’s possible that something is me. I’m tamping down my aura, and still trying to hide the fliers from her, but if I have to use my magic to maneuver Kaika’s craft around, I believe she’ll sense that.
What are you saying? Kaika is on her own to land? Trip grimaced, not wanting to deliver that news, but he would have to do it soon if it was true. They were already over the pond and descending to look for landing spots.
Kaika cursed vehemently and in more languages than Iskandian.
I just informed her, Jaxi said.
So I gathered.
I won’t abandon her, but if my help isn’t absolutely necessary, and if your team still wishes a stealth incursion, I need to try not to interfere.
“What’s going on?” Blazer asked as she flew along the edge of the pond, her propeller stirring reeds.
She found an inlet she liked and turned into it. There was just enough room for her to maneuver her flier around so that its nose pointed back out toward the pond for a quick takeoff.
“Jaxi is worried the sorceress will sense her if she uses magic,” Trip said, sailing along the shoreline on the opposite side and scouting for a spot for Kaika. “So, unless it’s absolutely necessary, she won’t help Kaika.”
“Define absolutely necessary,” Kaika said.
“Here’s a spot where you should be able to fit,” Trip told her, ignoring the command.
“Aw, Trip, I was eyeing that inlet,” Leftie said, swooping past above him.
“It’s gentlemanly to give a nice landing spot to a lady,” Trip said.
“Nice?” Kaika squawked, flying huge circles around the pond, her wings wobbling whenever she banked. “There’s an alligator head sticking up out of the water.”
“Proof of the spot’s appeal,” Trip said. “The local fauna is drawn to it.”
“You pilots are such comedians. I’ll be looking for you and Leftie to perform at the officers’ club.”
Leftie found a tight spot near Blazer, who was already out of her cockpit, her rifle in her arms as she alternated watching Kaika and the sky.
Trip wanted to land too. Even though the wounds he’d received were minor, with the bullets grazing him instead of embedding themselves, that didn’t mean they didn’t hurt. The gouge on his side seemed the deeper of the two, and he grimaced whenever he moved too much, because his shirt kept sticking to it, and it starting bleeding anew if he accidentally tugged it free.
“You can do this, Kaika,” Blazer said. “I know you’ve got a steady hand. I’ve seen you light fuses.”
“Not the same thing at all.” Kaika blew out a long breath and turned herself toward the inlet.
The alligator, perhaps disliking the roar of her propeller, disappeared beneath the surface.
“Rotate yourself back to face the pond now so it’ll be easier to leave in a hurry if needed,” Blazer advised.
“I’ve got something you can rotate, Major.”
“Now, now, Captain, you’re getting me excited, and this isn’t the time.”
Kaika growled and swung her flier in a circle, trying to do as commanded. But she underestimated how much clearance her wings needed.
“Watch out for the branches,” Trip yelled.
Too late. They tore into the cloth wings on the right side of her flier. Kaika jerked away from them, but overcompensated. Her flier dipped too low, and she crunched against a dead tree thrusting up from the mud.
Spitting even more curses, she finally brought the craft to land under the shade of a tree on the bank. A crunch sounded as she couldn’t brake quickly enough, and the wing struck that tree.
She groaned and lolled her head back. “Why couldn’t you have just let me face off against the pirate king’s legions?”
Trip sighed and searched for his own landing spot. He had a feeling that flier would need repairs before it could take off again and suspected he would once again be commanded to wield tools.
Good news, Jaxi said. I don’t believe the sorceress has noticed us.
Wonderful.
Oddly, her attention seems focused out to sea.
Why? Trip asked.
I’m not sure yet. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.
Wonderful, he repeated.
