05 Dragon Blood: The Blade's Memory (39 page)

“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 machine 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.

You’re welcome.

Sardelle raced after Kaika, who took the lead. Did Kaika have any idea where to go? She had to be even less familiar with the layout than Sardelle was. Once they reached a modicum of cover, Sardelle would use her senses to try to guide them to the blood without being seen.

Good luck. The sorceress knows where we are.

She’s not coming, is she?

No, she seems to have the goal of burning every Iskandian flier out of the sky.

Sardelle clenched her teeth, wishing she dared fight her way to the sorceress and attack her. But Ridge was right. If they could pull this off, gravity might do what she could not achieve with magic alone.

She did just call an officer up to the top of her tower,
Jaxi added.
She may be about to inform him of our presence.

Wonderful.

Kaika found a low door leading into the space inside of the wall. She opened it and ducked inside, rifle leading. Before Sardelle could warn her that two soldiers were walking down the corridor inside, two shots fired. The men went down silently and swiftly, the bullets taking each of them in the heart. Sardelle hadn’t realized Kaika was as deadly with firearms as she was with explosives, but couldn’t be surprised. She just hoped it would be enough to keep their team alive.

Yup
, Jaxi said.
She told the men about you. Expect a lot more company.

As Sardelle ducked inside, she couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder and through the smoke, hoping for a glimpse of Ridge, unable to shake the feeling that she might never see him again. But only enemy fliers filled the sky.

Chapter 16

Ridge fought back tears as he dove away from the tower. He wouldn’t be able to wipe his eyes without removing his goggles, and that would take seconds when he dared not be inattentive up here. Sardelle would be fine. He had to believe that. He had to focus on staying alive, because if his mind wandered for even a second, he risked death, especially since attacking the tower had riled up the Cofah even further. So long as they hadn’t seen the drop-off.

Ridge led Ahn, Duck, Solk, and Pimples back under the platform, staying close to it, weaving between the thrusters. It was the only place where the gunners in the fortress could not target them, nor did the dirigibles shoot at them. He wasn’t sure yet whether the sorceress could curve her energy balls around the edge, but she hadn’t yet. So far, they only had to deal with the other fliers down here, and those rockets. Evading those things was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. Ridge shouldn’t want more of them fired at him, but he couldn’t help but imagine himself taking out some more of those thrusters. How many would it take before the massive fortress started to sag? The Cofah engineers would have built in redundancy, but still, there had to be a limit to how many thrusters they could afford to lose.

He leaned toward the communication crystal, “Report, Crash.”

“We’re harrying this here weather balloon, sir, pretending it’s a mission-critical target. Mostly just trying to stay away from that she-witch. Even if you dodge those big lightning balls, they melt the fabric off your wings on their way by.”

“I noticed. Good, yes. Stay away from her.” Ridge had the sense that the fortress was moving, whereas before, it had been hanging stationary over the water. He glanced toward the ground and grimaced. Yes, it was definitely heading inland. To bomb the capital? Or worse?

“Figure I should invite you to do the same, sir,” Crash said. “I’m sure the Cofah would miss these airships terribly if they fell out of the sky. This one here’s about ready to drop. Come and work on the other two with us.”

Ridge flew between two Cofah pilots trying to pin him against the bottom of the platform. One pulled out a sniper rifle. Ridge tilted his wings and banked, aiming his craft right at the cockpit. Even though he couldn’t hear the man’s curses, the alarmed—and furious—look on his face sufficed. Ridge would not have risked his own flier by crashing into another in midair, but the other pilot didn’t seem to know that. He dropped his rifle, and grabbed his flight stick with flustered hands, shoving it down. Ridge skimmed over his head as the Cofah flier dipped, nearly giving the pilot a haircut. The maneuver did not do any damage to the man’s craft, but Ridge had the satisfaction of seeing that rifle tumble over the side and plummet toward the ocean.

“Flying and shooting isn’t easy.” Ridge nodded in Ahn’s direction.

“We’ve got more company coming, sir,” Ahn said, pointing toward six more fliers cruising under the shadow of the platform. That made almost twenty soaring around down here, taking shots at Ridge’s small team. The Cofah hadn’t figured out that there were too many of them—they kept getting in each other’s way. Ridge wouldn’t complain. Since they were outnumbered and outgunned, greater experience was the only advantage he and his team had.

“Should we join the others, sir?” Duck asked. “Until it’s time to do the pickup?”

Ridge hated the idea of leaving the platform in case Sardelle needed help. He also hated the idea of simply waiting and trying to avoid being hit. A man could die doing nothing useful at all. When Fate chose to sink his gravestone into the earth, he wanted it to be because he had been fighting to accomplish something. What
could
he accomplish here? Unfortunately, the fliers under the platform had stopped shooting rockets, at least at his team. Someone must have reported the thruster incident.

An appealing idea popped into his mind. It might not have been
sane
, but it was appealing.

“Anyone want to stay here with me and try to blow up the tower the sorceress is standing on?” Ridge asked.