Page 51

51

CHARLIE

W e awoke tangled together, the scent of Essa’s hair and skin filling me with peace, her taste still on my tongue. Behind us Othura slumbered, her rumbling snores filling the den. A chill hung in the air, but with my body pressed to Essa’s, I felt perfectly warm and more content than I ever remembered feeling. I could have stayed forever in that moment. I could have died and been a happy angel.

But a boom shook the ground, startling me fully awake. Then another came, —far off but closer than the last—and Essa stirred, rose to one elbow.

“Good morning,” I said, reaching to brush her hair from her face, but she raised a hand, shushing me.

“I smell smoke.”

She was on her feet in a second, pulling on her flight armor, and I followed suit, dressing as quickly as possible. A few jagged stones protruded from the glassy, slick wall of the cave entrance and we climbed up them and peered over the edge. I heard the buzz of airplane engines—Sackman Bison, if I wasn’t mistaken. They were similar to the Comets I flew but heavier duty. Bombers. Smoke rose in the distance. And nearer, three figures were moving toward us. Essa grabbed my arm and pulled me down before we were spotted.

When we peered out again, more cautiously, I saw the figures I had at first taken for people were not in fact human.

One was a sort of wingless dragon which had a wagon hitched to it. The other two were humanoid, with the arms and legs of a man and wearing the armor of a warrior. But their heads were not human. One appeared to have the head of an eagle, the other of a bear. But they didn’t have fur or feathers—and the dragon didn’t have scales, either. Their skin was gray and cakey. And their eyes—their eyes were black but glowed red around the edges, like burning coals. Something about those eyes and the twitchy way they moved sent a shiver through me.

Golenae, Essa whispered in my mind.

What’s that?

Abominations . Dead bones with flesh of clay, animated with demonic souls from beyond the void.

The void… Who created them? The Gray Brothers?

Essa shook her head. They would never. It’s forbidden.

But just then, two Lacunae in their black armor clambered out of a dragon den, each bearing a large basket. As we watched, they began loading dragon eggs from the basket into wagon.

They’re harvesting dragon eggs? I asked. What would Lacunae want with dragon eggs?

She shook her head, at a loss. I don’t know. But I intend to find out.

But before we could clamber out of the cave, the sound of the plane engines grew louder. Other sounds, too. Shouts, the snap of gunfire, and a rumbling of the earth that could only mean one thing.

“Tanks,” I said. “The URA army is coming.”

The golenae heard it too, because they turned in the direction of the sound just as a squadron of seven Bison bombers broke the horizon. At the same moment, a line of tanks and soldiers burst from the scrub approximately a hundred yards away. The Lacunae drew their swords and raised their shields as bullets pinged off them. I saw each golena take what must have been dozens of shots without so much as flinching—but in the next instant, the bombers were over us. The first bomb fell near the golenae. The concussion bowled them off their feet then sent a subsequent wave of flame washing over them, its heat so potent that even fifty yards away I felt as if it would singe my hair off.

“Fire bombs!” I shouted. “Down!”

I grabbed Essa’s arm but she tried to yank herself free. “The dragon eggs!”

“No. There’s no time.” I pulled her arm harder and we slid together down the slick glass side of the den—just as a sea of fire flowed over us. At the bottom Othura was there, awake now, throwing her wing open to shield us. We huddled together, all three of us, eyes closed and bodies balled up. The heat flashed over us so intensely that for an instant, it felt like we were in an oven. Essa screamed and I clutched onto her, as if there were anything I could do to protect her.

I realized I was shouting, “Stop, stop!” as if my comrades could hear me. As if there were anything at all I could do.

Then in the next instant, the heat was ebbing. I was trembling. Dripping with sweat. Essa and I looked at one another, and I knew the wild panic in her eyes must be mirrored in mine.

We have to get out of here, I said, but she was already clambering onto Othura’s back. I jumped on behind her.

I saw with alarm that Othura’s wing was still smoking. Dragon hide was generally fire-proof, but I still felt alarm as Othura galloped to the cave entrance and leapt, flapping us upward.

The first thing I saw as we emerged from the hole were the charred remnants of the golenae, the Lacunae, and their wagon. The dragon eggs inside it were scorched black. Soldiers jogged across the smoldering waste toward us. Then I spied the tank, its barrel trained on us, gaping like the mouth of a monster. It boomed and I felt my whole body flinch.

We’re dead.

But we were not dead. We were falling.

Something like a black spider web spread over my vision and Othura dropped heavily back to earth, her wings tangled. We landed with a teeth-clapping bang, Essa and I both falling from Othura’s back. I reached to brush something off my head and realized it was netting. The tank had hit us with a dragon net round, not an explosive one—thank God.

But two more tanks were rolling toward us, their treads vibrating the earth, and perhaps a hundred soldiers rushed forward alongside them, rifles levelled and bayonets glinting in the morning light.

Essa had her sword drawn and tore the netting aside with one slash. With a shake of Othura’s head, we were free. The dragon snarled and crouched and Essa took a fighting stance. A hundred rifles pointed at her head.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I shouted stepping in front of her. “Stand down. Who’s the ranking officer here?”

The door atop one of the tanks clanked open and a mustached man emerged. He was perhaps forty, barrel-chested and red-cheeked, with salt-and-pepper hair. I recognized him from many briefings—and not a few nights spent carousing in Ironberg’s show district. Colonel Billy Bloom.

“Charlie? Charlie Inman?” He gave a rumbling laugh. “Well I’ll be damned. Stand down, boys. He’s one of us.”

The soldiers eyed at Othura uneasily, but they followed orders, lowering their guns.

“Kit, what’s he talking about?” Essa whispered to me, her sword still at the ready.

Another head emerged from the next tank over. “What the hell’s going on?” a short-haired female officer asked. I’d seen her around the base once or twice but didn’t know her name.

“This here’s Charlie Inman. One of our best aces. Why I’ve even heard a rumor or two that he’s the famed Silver Wraith,” he gave a big, theatrical wink. “But information like that is highly classified, eh Charlie? Way above my pay grade.”

“So what’s he doing with a sorceress in the middle of enemy territory?” the female officer demanded.

“Spy mission,” Bloom sniffed. “Brass told me to keep an eye out for him, and here we are. Ha! This guy. I tell ya, if a cat’s got nine lives, old Charlie’s got ten.”

I looked Essa to find her eyes burning into me. All color had drained from her face.

“Essa…” I whispered.

“So what do we do with him?” the lady officer was asking.

“Escort him back to base. Those are the orders,” Bloom said.

“And the dragon and rider?”

“I’ve got no orders on her. I’m guessing they’re his contacts on the others side,” he turned to me—though my attention was still on Essa. “Say, Charlie. What’s the deal with the dame and her dragon? Friend or foe, eh?”

When Essa spoke in my mind.

Is it true?

Essa…

Is it true?

The breath seemed to have drained from my lungs. Yes, I am an ace. Yes, my name is really Charlie. I crash landed in Maethalia and… I tried to tell you… Your people would have killed me if they knew.

Bloom had dipped down into the tank. He emerged now, holding a sheaf of yellow papers—it looked like a carbon copy of briefing notes.

“Ah, here we go,” he said, reading. “This is the girl you backed to become lead dragon rider, eh? The one-armed princess.”

“I’ve heard nothing about this,” the female officer said.

“He backed the weak one so the strong one would die.” Bloom said. “Genius plan.”

Essa hadn’t taken her eyes off me. She lowered her sword now, the pain and vulnerability on her face terrible to see.

“Essa,” I said quickly. “That’s not... Listen to me.” I touched her face, my hand trembling.

I could have wept. But she did not. As I watched, the hurt in her eyes changed, like water becoming ice.

“Essa…”

“He was found on the battlefield with an enemy combatant.” The woman officer snapped. “Unless you can show me a written order to the contrary, we take them both in as prisoners.”

Bloom banged a fist on the top of the tank and shook the papers. “How do you think we found the hatching fields today? Why do you think dragon kills are up fifteen-percent? Because the aces now know where to shoot ’em. It’s all this man’s reports. He’s a goddamned hero. I’m not taking him home in handcuffs!”

Is it true? Essa demanded once more, a horrible finality in her voice as it rang in my mind.

My thoughts reeled with all the lies I could tell, all the excuses I could make. But I cared about Essa too much to lie to her anymore.

It is true, Essa. But the truest thing of all is that I love you.

I touched her cheek with my hand, leaned close to her, tears rising to my eyes. She tilted her head back and put her arm around me, pulling my lips toward hers.

The next thing I knew, I was on my ass.

For a second all I could see was blackness and swirling stars, but when I managed to squint up with one eye, I saw Essa leaping onto Othura’s back. The dragon released a blast of wind that sent the soldiers around us scattering like chaff, then she was winging upward, her tail snapping like a whip as she sped off into the sky.

A few gunshots cracked skyward. The tank cannons turned to track the departing dragon, but they were all too slow.

I brought a hand to my face and it came away slick with blood. My left eye was already swollen almost completely shut, my head throbbing.

Essa, my princess, my love, had headbutted the hell out of me. And now, she was gone.