The City Darkens (Raud Grima Book 1)
Page 45
Alflétta’s plane rolled down the grassy airstrip, gaining speed until it took off. I watched it go, carrying another enemy far from danger, leaving a friend dead in its wake. Where would Vaenn go? What would become of her?
What would become of us?
“I think,” Alflétta said in a gentle voice, as if answering the question, “that we might try the Svala now.”
Kolorma blinked at him, still weeping as she knelt by Liten’s body.
“I’m very sorry, my dear,” Alflétta said to her. “But we must respect that Liten gave his life trying to win us passage away from this place. We cannot give up now.”
Turning to look at the red plane, Kolorma frowned and wiped the tears from her eyes. “There’s still too many of us,” she said, her voice thick with grief.
“Perhaps,” Alflétta said. “But I think we’re better off trying to take it up, than waiting to be discovered here.”
“The military pilots are going to chase the jarldis,” Madr observed. I looked where he gazed, and sure enough, two of the four military planes were racing down the airstrip, one after the other, and as the first took flight it banked to follow Vaenn’s plane.
“We’d better hurry before they get the last two in the air,” Kolorma said.
I gave her a nod, grabbed Bersi’s hand, and ran for the red plane.
~~~
My heart in my throat, I gripped the edge of the plane’s seat and watched out of the window. As we flew over the Torc, I saw that it was broken, in ruins, no doubt from aerial bombings.
Bersi sat cramped between Dihauti and me, while Madr sat across from me beside Alflétta. This plane was much smaller than the one we’d taken from Liten’s estate. Even without Bersi, I would have found the seat too narrow to share comfortably with everyone else. For the first ten minutes of our flight, nothing troubled us, and I had just begun to hope that we would escape without an air battle when I heard Kolorma exclaim something from the cockpit. I turned my attention to the small, oblong window between me and Madr. Nothing but clear sky. Alflétta looked out the opposite one and cried, “They’ve spotted us! They’re headed this way.”
As Dihauti leaned to that window, Bersi whimpered and I wrapped an arm around him.
The drone of our own aircraft drowned out any sound of another, but the sudden banking of our plane was unmistakable, and we clearly heard the rat-tat-tat of the enemy’s guns.
“They’ve passed us!” Alflétta said. I turned to my window again and saw two planes race by, away from us. “They’ll be back.”
“We aren’t hit,” Bersi whispered.
I gave him a squeeze.
“Here they come,” Madr said, looking out of the same window I did.
The two planes, which I suspected were the last two that had taken off, bore down on us, and flashes of gunfire erupted from the front of them long before they were near. With a sickening dive we lost sight of them. Our plane rolled to the side, pulling against the air as if forcing its way through a bog. After a few heart-stopping moments of this, the aeroplane righted itself and flew straight again.
“That’s it,” Alflétta said towards the cockpit. “Good flying.”
“Mama, they’re coming back!” Bersi cried, pulled out of my embrace to press his nose to the window on his side.
“They shall have us this time!” Madr groaned. Alflétta grabbed his hand.
Bersi turned a pale face to me, his eyes wide.
I leaned over his shoulder to see the approach of our enemies. The two planes had looped around and were indeed swooping towards us yet again. Then, another plane joined them. My heart sank.
“There’s a third one,” I said, just as it opened fire on the other two. Relief made me dizzy. “It’s one of ours!”
Alflétta and Madr huddled close, trying to see as Dihauti and I did the same. The window was far too small for four adult faces. I had to lean back, but Dihauti began to narrate what he saw.
“The third’s latched on to one of them. The enemy plane he’s after is cutting away—he’s hit! The enemy’s hit!”
“Oh no!” Madr exclaimed. I frowned in confusion, but then our own aeroplane swooped down and to the left. The other enemy plane was upon us. I heard the staccato pops as it neared.
Alflétta said, “It’s following us! It’s after us!”
Bersi buried his face in my side.
The drone all around us heightened as Kolorma maneuvered our plane, and then Dihauti gasped. “It’s coming this way!”
He sounded glad, and I knew he didn’t mean the enemy.
Bullets rained on us again. This time, I heard thuds as two hit.
Madr swung away from the opposite window, and for an instant I feared a bullet had hurt him. But I saw no blood, and anyway he was leaning forward, almost in my lap, gasping and moaning. Alflétta turned from the window as well to comfort him, I was able to see out again.
The friendly aeroplane was diving down towards us from a higher altitude. Kolorma must have taken us low, although with all the chaos I had hardly noticed. Flames shot from the friendly’s guns, but I could not see if they hit their mark.
The friendly flew behind us and out of sight, but I surmised that we were saved, because no new spray of bullets rained on us from behind. The enemy was either routed or destroyed.
~~~
We landed on the airfield near Alflétta’s estate, changing to a much larger plane with a full tank of fuel. The flight over had been a desperate, panicky experience that I hoped never to have again. But at last we had lost all pursuers, and the rebels and remaining military fought in far-away Helésey, leaving us to our escape. The large plane loaded with supplies from Alflétta’s stores, we boarded, the six of us, and Kolorma and Alflétta took turns manning the controls, as we soared all the way to Kemet.
About the Author
Sophia Martin lives in Mount Shasta with her husband, son, dog, and two cats. When she’s not carving out an hour here and there to write, she’s usually playing with her little boy, reading a novel, hiking, cooking, or wasting time on Pinterest. She is also currently finishing her masters in American history, which helps when you write stories based in part on history.
You can find all of Sophia Martin’s novels by visiting her page.
Follow Sophia on Twitter and Facebook.
Table of Contents
Part 1: Myadar’s Snare
Part 2: Myadar’s Betrayal
Part 3: Myadar’s Flight
Part 4: Myadar’s Summons
Part 5: Myadar’s Mask
Part 6: Myadar’s Revolution
About the Author