The Reluctant Warrior (7 page)

Jed couldn’t believe their good fortune, there in the middle of the forest clearing was a grounded helicopter with five of Montrose’s men milling around it laughing and joking. He, Rex, and Jonathon had been on a sortie to learn their way around the various forest pathways when they came across it.

Jonathon peered through a thorn bush as the spectacle unfolded. “What are they up to?”

“Stopped for a toilet break by the looks of it,” Jed observed, as he unshouldered his rifle. “Get your rifles ready, and then on my signal fire.”

Jonathon looked at him in alarm. “What if there are more of them in the trees?”

“That’s a risk I think we need to take. We have to ground that chopper, it’ll mean one less to attack us from the air.”

Jed steadied his rifle against a branch and waited while the other two got themselves ready. “Okay…fire,” he commanded.

Three Sky-Gods tumbled immediately to the ground. “Get the one climbing into the chopper,” Rex barked, “I’ll get the other one.” He bolted from his cover like a greyhound in pursuit of a rabbit as Jed and Jonathon simultaneously squeezed their triggers. The chopper pilot doubled over before sliding from his seat and making acquaintance with the ground.

The two friends turned their attention to the spot where Rex had disappeared into the forest and waited anxiously. Two shots rang out, followed by a third twenty seconds later.

“Three shots do not sound good,” Jonathon said nervously. “He should never have gone after him.”

Jed peered through the undergrowth towards the clearing, praying that Rex would be okay, and then breathed a sigh of relief as he broke the cover of the trees. He did a quick double take. Rex was staggering. “He’s been hit.” Leaving his hiding place he crossed the clearing in record time. “Where’ve you been hit?”

“Shoulder…”

A crimson patch was rapidly spreading in size down Rex’s shirt, and so Jed carefully unbuttoned it to reveal a hole neatly punched through the shoulder. “It’s come out the back so it’s a clean wound.”

“Doesn’t feel like it,” Rex rasped.

“It hasn’t severed anything vital so we should be able to stop the bleeding.” Jed flicked a hand towards the helicopter. “Jonathon, see if there’s a first aid kit in there will you.”

Jonathon returned minutes later with a wad of gauze and a roll of bandage. Between the two of them they managed a fair job of patching their wounded buddy up. “It’s going to be a long walk back for him when he’s in that much pain,” Jed said, straightening up to inspect their handiwork.

“Won’t have to,” Jonathon said, matter of factly. “We’ll fly him back in the chopper.”

Jed tore his eyes away from Rex’s shoulder and rested them on Jonathon. “Do you mean to tell me you know how to fly that bird?”

“Had my chopper license for a few years now,” Jonathon said modestly. “This one’s a bit ancient, but it shouldn’t present me with too many problems.”

“How are you going to put it down in the village, the forest canopy is too dense?”

Jonathon thought it over as they carried Rex towards the chopper. “I reckon I can put it down on that flat rock near the top of the village. It’ll be tight, but I think I can do it.”

As the helicopter skimmed across the tree tops Jed considered the panic it would cause in the village. One of Montrose’s Death-Birds hovering above the Noragin would send them into a frenzy of fear. He had no wish to give them the idea that Montrose had found them and had arrived to wreak havoc, but until he had landed and put their minds at rest he had no choice. There was an idea forming in his head as well, that he couldn’t give his full attention to until he had Rex safely landed and in good hands. But it was an idea that just might tip the balance of power in their favor.

Jonathon was as good as his word, the chopper coming to a text book landing on the hard rock surface. Jed was moving Rex towards the door before the blades had even begun to slow down.

Jonathon jumped out quickly and stood at the edge of the rock. “It’s all right,” he shouted down towards the village, “it’s just Jonathon and Jed. We need some help, Rex has been wounded.”

Several men emerged from their homes and hurriedly made their way up to the rock. In minutes they had Rex lying on a bed in Erik’s cabin so Amora could tend his injury.

“She is the best healer in the village,” Erik said proudly, as he and Jed stood by watching her work her trade. “She will have him well quickly.”

Jed took Erik to one side. “We’ve brought a Death-Bird,” he said gravely. “I want to use it to attack the Sky-Gods fortress.”

Erik’s eyes lit up. “You are a mighty warrior,” he said with undisguised admiration. “We have fought the Sky-Gods for many years but never captured one of their Death-Birds. You have done it in less than a week.”

“I need you and four of the warriors we trained to use the thunder sticks to come with us when we attack the fortress. But we must hurry; we must leave now before Montrose discovers we have his Death-Bird.” Jed noticed a momentary flicker of fear in his friend’s eyes and realized the prospect of being in the bowels of a Death-Bird while flying high in the sky would be a terrifying thought for any primitive man. But being the true warrior that he was Erik hid his reservations well.

“I will get the warriors ready,” he said, and then slipped quickly out the cabin door.

Jonathon had been listening in to the conversation. “Is the plan to disable Montrose’s choppers?”

Jed nodded. “If we can ground him we’ll have swung the war in our favor.”

“It’ll take more than bullets to destroy all those choppers.”

“I’ve got an idea.”

“I thought you might.”

“I think they’ve modified those choppers to fly on methanol. If we siphon some out and put it into clay jars…”

“We’ll have ourselves some bombs,” Jonathon said excitedly.

“Problem is, we have to get down low enough once inside the fortress to toss the bombs inside the open doors of the choppers.”

“Ah,” Jonathon’s enthusiasm rapidly faded, “that’s a big ask.”

Jed placed his hands on Jonathon’s shoulders. “If we don’t pull this off we and all the Noragin are dead. We need you to do this for us.”

“I’ll give it my best shot, but you must realize we probably won’t be coming back from this. Flying that low in a heavily armed compound is the closest you’ll ever get to committing suicide.”

“It’s our only hope.” Jed looked across to see how Amora was coming along with Rex and caught her looking at him with eyes full of concern.

“I’ll go and get the chopper ready,” Jonathon said, and then slipped discreetly out the door.

“Will he be all right?” Jed asked nodding in Rex’s direction as Amora crossed the room to be near him.

“He has passed out from the pain but he will heal.” She looked into his eyes. “Come back to me.”

“I will try.”

“Have you spoken to Erik yet?”

“No.” He searched for the right ords to say. “I will speak to him when I get back. I need to get this mission out of the way first.”

Her eyes remained on his for what seemed to him to be an eternity, and then placing a gentle kiss on his lips she turned back to tend to Rex. His reaction to the kiss surprised him; it had sent little ripples of delight cascading throughout him. What he was feeling at this moment disturbed him, and that was something he could do without at a time like this. It was like he had known her all his life, almost as if they had been destined for each other from before they were born. As he walked amongst the cabins towards the chopper he felt as if a part of her was going with him, and he had never felt that with any woman, not even Cassie.

He did his best to shake her from his thoughts once they were in the air. There were more important things at stake than his relationship with Amora right now, and as he looked around at his Noragin friends and saw the fear in their eyes as they struggled to come to terms with the fact they were thousands of feet in the air he realized he wasn’t the only one fighting to keep it together.

Jed drilled them on what their tasks would be as they skimmed across the prairie towards Montrose’s fortress.

He would man the mounted machine gun which took pride of place in the open doorway while two would fire from either side of him, Erik would fire from the seat beside Jonathon, and the other two from the opposite door. The Sky-Gods wouldn’t know what had hit them with this kind of fire power raining down on them he assured them. The beauty of the attack was that Montrose wouldn’t suspect he was about to be hit. The sound of the incoming chopper would only mean the return of his own men from their morning mission.

When the fortress came into sight Jed couldn’t help but be impressed. Twenty-five foot high walls of stone enclosed an area of around ten acres, it was quite a feat of engineering, and Jed realized that the only way the place would ever be taken was from the air. An all out assault would have cost thousands of Noragin and Skraeling lives for no gain.

Jed could see Jonathon’s face from his position and it was all concentration. If he botched this then they were dead for sure. The chopper climbed another sixty feet, and Jed guessed it was so Jonathon could get a better look at the compound on his approach. He would have to locate the grounded choppers immediately if he was to have any chance of lining them up properly. How he was going to do that, cut back on the throttle without stalling her, and keep the chopper only inches above the ground at the same time Jed had no idea.

As the helicopter topped the wall Jed got his first glimpse inside the compound, bustling as it was with the activity of men going about their business. He knew this was quite possibly going to be the last few minutes he had left to live.

“I’ve got a line on the choppers,” Jonathon shouted above the noise of the rotors. “I’m going to swing this bird around and bring her down alongside.”

“Hold your fire until I give the signal,” Jed ordered the warriors. “We’ll need to deal to the Death-Birds first.”

Jonathon brought the helicopter around, and dropping alongside the first chopper with unbelievable precision gave Jed the opportunity he needed to light a rag wick and toss it along with its methanol filled jar through the window. The effect was as he had hoped, a huge ball of flame erupted inside the chopper leaving him in no doubt that it would soon explode. He immediately lit another jar and found his second target with the same pleasing result. His hands were shaking uncontrollably by the time Jonathon had maneuvered him alongside the third chopper, and he could hear Montrose’s men shouting. It would only be a matter of seconds before the shooting started. He tossed the jar. Bulls-eye, the craft would soon be an inferno.

“I’ve gotta get us out of here,” Jonathon yelled, as the first of the bullets began to slap into the side of the chopper.

It was all Jed could do to stop himself from tumbling out the door as the helicopter jerked violently sideways. Grabbing a hold of the machine gun he sprayed the fourth chopper with lead. “Open fire,” he screamed, as Jonathon struggled to gain height.

“I think we’ve been damaged,” Jonathon’s voice had more than a little panic in it, and Jed suspected it meant the chopper was in serious difficulties.

“Try to clear the wall,” Jonathon.

“What do you think I’m trying to do?” he snapped back.

Jed employed himself fulltime at the machine gun, its deadly load playing havoc with Sky-Gods and Yakros alike. As the smack of bullets on the helicopters fuselage grew in intensity Jed felt a hot burning pain tear across his calf muscle, but he dare not stop.

“How many choppers did you get?” Jonathon yelled over his shoulder as he cleared the wall with only inches to spare.

“Four.”

“That leaves two.” He feverishly checked the gauges. “They’ll come after us for sure. You can count on that.”

“They’ll catch us too, so I hope you’ve got a plan,” Jed said unhelpfully. He looked around the bullet ridden chopper. Two of the Noragin lay dead on the floor of the chopper while two were missing, obviously killed and then fallen out the door. He hoped for their sake they were dead before they hit the ground.

For the first time he allowed himself the luxury of inspecting his wound. Gently rolling up the blood-stained trouser he examined the extent of the damage. A deep gash had carved its way through his calf taking an unhealthy amount of flesh with it. It hurt like nothing he had ever felt before but there was very little he could do about it. Maybe Amora could work her healing magic on it when he got back to the village. Popping the lid on the first aid tin he took out a bandage and wound it tightly around the wound to slow the loss of blood.

Erik had left his seat beside Jonathon and was signaling to him from the rear of the chopper. “Death-Bird, Jed,” he said, nervously. “There’s a Death-Bird coming and it’s coming fast.”

“We got company, Jonathon,” Jed shouted.

“How many…?”

“Just one,” Jed noticed they were losing altitude and doubted they would still be in the air when the Death-Bird caught up with them. He made his way up to the cockpit, “Is there anything we can do?”

“We can’t outrun them,” Jonathon said, his eyes ranging across the instrument panel. “The way I see it we’ve only got a couple of minutes before I’ll be forced to put her down.”