Page 17 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

Hadn’t Yarrow mentioned something about keeping Ossie stocked with moonshine? And with Yarrow gone…well, he assumed the drink had probably begun to run out.

Kase renewed the grip on his weapon. He didn’t know what Ossie was like normally—whether sober or drunk.

Kase had figured he’d been overloaded on drink last time they’d met, but now, he didn’t know what to think.

Ossie was clearly going through withdrawal.

With the Cerl attack, he probably couldn’t get anything from Nar anyway, even if he’d dared trek down.

Kase stepped back, retracting his hand and setting it on Stowe’s forearm. He smiled again at Ossie.

“Sorry about that.” Kase hoped his voice was placating enough. “I appreciate all you did to help us, really.”

“Except you done killed Yarrow,” Ossie continued, voice raising to a full shout. He pulled something from his pocket. The blade was about as long as Kase’s palm, and the numerous rust spots running along the edge spoke of its age and lack of care.

Well, shocks.

Even if Kase managed to avoid a killing blow, just a scratch would probably give him some violently aggressive disease. Couldn’t think of one at that moment, but whatever it was, it would be painful.

The electropistol in Kase’s hand sparked as he pointed the barrel at Ossie’s chest. “He was a Cerl soldier. He deserved to die.”

Maybe not in the way he had, but his betrayal still stung.

The man yelled something unintelligible, and Kase’s finger hesitated on the trigger. Except Ossie swung the dagger straight at Stowe. Stowe spun, ducking underneath Ossie’s wild stab. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw soldiers begin to move their way.

Kase squeezed the trigger.

A bolt of electricity rocketed from the barrel, sending a bolt of pain through Kase’s bruised shoulder.

Kase missed the flailing man’s chest, but the shot nailed Ossie in the side.

The man crumpled with a gurgling scream, and Kase glanced toward the airfields.

The soldiers were running now, their own weapons out.

He yanked Stowe up by the jacket. “Come on!”

Through the trees, they sprinted from the soldiers and the still-screaming Ossie. Kase didn’t have time to feel anything but pure panic, but his thoughts were shockingly clear. If they circled around to the right, then maybe they could use the hangar ruins as cover. Then they could steal a hover.

Shocks, he’d needed a distraction, and Ossie had delivered.

He just hoped Ossie recovered once Kase was well away from there, even if the old man had wanted to gut him.

Kase knew a thing or two about withdrawals; he couldn’t fully blame him.

The man was already going through it. Hopefully, he’d get to the other end alive.

Stowe’s breathing grew softer. Kase glanced over his shoulder to see the older man falling behind. Kase slowed and grabbed him by the jacket once more. “If we don’t make it onto a hover, they’ll kill—”

The branch in the tree to their left exploded with blue fire.

Kase cursed, and Stowe heaved himself forward.

They sprinted toward the Cerl hovers on the airfields.

Breaking through the last of the trees, Kase fired his electropistol at random.

Shouts and other blasts followed, but none hit their intended target.

Kase raced up the ladder of the nearest blue-tinged hover.

He sliced his hand on something, but he barely felt the sting.

Throwing himself over the side and into the cockpit, he slammed the butt of his pistol against the Cerl pilot’s head.

The man slumped in his chair. Kase pushed him out the other side before turning back and wrenching Stowe up the last rung.

He ignored the nausea rising in his chest as the Cerl’s body smacked the edge of the wing before hitting the ground below.

“Strap in, and fire at anything that moves!” Kase didn’t look to see if Stowe obeyed as he buckled himself into the safety harness.

He assumed the second chair beside him was for a weapons’ specialist, but he couldn’t focus on anything other than the flashing buttons in front of him.

He reached up and slammed the windshield down.

His own blood dripped onto the steering control.

He could bandage his hand later. It wouldn’t kill him.

He read the Cerleze marking the different buttons and knobs. Never had he ever been more thankful for his expensive schooling. The previous pilot had prepped the craft well enough, seeing as the machine hummed with power.

Kase had to get it in the air. Three seconds ago.

He swayed in the seat with each bullet ricocheting off the side of the ship. Another clanged on the underbelly.

“One of ‘em has a cannon!” Stowe shouted over the commotion.

Kase glanced up to see a Cerl with the weapon slung on his shoulder, blue smoke leaking out the end, the barrel squared up with Kase’s face.

“Hope you’re strapped, Stowe!” he yelled over his shoulder.

“What?”

He smashed the ‘Lift’ button, blood splattering the console. Forget trying to figure anything out. They were dead if they sat there any longer. He’d have to learn in the air.

The engine roared, and Kase fell forward with the power suddenly surging through the craft. He caught himself on the steering control and fumbling around with his right foot, whooping when he found some sort of pedal. He pressed it to the floor.

The hover shot forward like a bolt, and Kase’s lungs protested.

He clenched his jaw and as many muscles as he could.

He yanked the steering control up, and the craft followed.

The skin on his face strained against his skull, chafing against the bone like it was about to slide off.

Kase tensed further as blackness crowded at the edge of his vision.

He didn’t know how Hallie’s father would fare with the gravitational pull.

Kase felt as if he’d taken on five times his weight as he swung the craft around, but he forced himself to focus and pressed the button on the steering control for what he assumed were the front guns.

Fiery blue bullets sprayed the ground and people below, including the soldier holding the deadly cannon. He fell, but not before his own weapon went off. What was left of Kase’s stomach flew into his throat as he slammed the accelerator and executed a standing barrel roll, avoiding the blast.

Other hovers made it into the air as Kase blinked away the blurriness from the blood rushing to his head. He’d wasted too much time. He pressed the pedal again and shot forward, rocketing toward the sky before leveling out.

Only one of the Cerls was able to follow. Kase didn’t have enough brain space or time to be impressed.

“Stowe! Fire on them now!”

No answer.

Blast it. The man must have lost consciousness. Lose your tail, and then you can panic.

He raced toward the road to Kyvena. He didn’t think he could outrun them. They knew what all the controls did; he was guessing at everything. But maybe he could out-maneuver them.

Kase’s body pressed into the seat as the speed ramped up. Blue fire shot past him. One rocked the ship. Kase nearly bit through his tongue.

He yanked the steering control toward his chest and didn’t let go.

In the blink of an eye, he back-flipped his hover over, the other ship was beneath him, above his head.

It’d worked with Ike the last time he was in Nar, but this time he didn’t have Hallie to impress with his loops—only her father to save.

He leveled out, clenching everything to stop himself from blacking out. He pressed the weapon trigger once more and sprayed the hover directly in front of him.

The ship exploded.

Kase yanked the steering control up and to the right, but the fiery cloud still engulfed him. The echoes of screams blared in his ears. The flames were no longer surrounding him in the hover cockpit. For a split second, he held his dying sister in his arms, and—

No. That day is over. It isn’t happening now. Ana is dead. She made her own choice, and I choose not to die today.

With the heat sensors blaring in his ears, the hover smashed through the last of the inferno. In the next half second, the wide-open road cleared before him.

“Ha ha!” Kase whooped and looked back toward the destruction.

Nothing but the flames sat on the rapidly shrinking horizon. No other hovers were coming.

He glanced over at Stowe to find him frozen, but alive. Awake, too. “You all right?”

The man’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly, but he finally nodded. Kase pushed a button on the dash to allow more oxygen to the cockpit. “Sorry about that.”

Stowe shook his head. “It’s okay. Just need to—”

He turned green.

Kase looked for something to help, but Stowe scavenged through his pack and drank one of his vials. After a few moments, his face returned to its normal color. “Hate these blasted death traps, but thanks.”

Kase’s heart surged. He’d done it. Without thinking about the ridiculousness of the gesture, Kase patted the hover dash. “Excellent work, my boy. Now let’s really fly.”