Gusts of air battered at her wings as they switched from following the air currents to flying against them. The beach Duck angled toward was more rock than sand, with algae-coated boulders rising amid clumps of green vegetation that curled around them. Cas was glad they were flying the two-seaters with their thrusters. Finding a landing strip down there would have been impossible.
A wide river emptied into the ocean, and Duck turned to follow it, cruising low over the water. Cas took the rear, letting Pimples and Blazer go ahead, and she scanned the sky in both directions before descending below the tops of the mangrove trees lining the banks. At the far edge of the horizon, an airship had come into view, the dark shape hovering in an azure sky deepening with the promise of twilight.
When she checked behind her, she twitched in surprise. Phelistoth had been behind her, but he was nowhere to be seen now. Had he already dipped into the trees? Or had he not been paying attention to Quataldo’s instructions? If that airship spotted a dragon, it was just as likely to send along a report that might keep the emperor from landing here.
Shaking her head, Cas dipped lower, skimming along the water. She had to trust that the dragon had the sense to stay out of sight—after all, he had been the one to warn them about the approaching craft. Besides, she had her own team to worry about. The buzz of their propellers seemed twice as loud with the noise echoing off the wall of mangroves. She hoped the roar of the ocean would muffle the sound farther out and that the airship was still too distant to hear anything.
Huge birds squawked and flew up from the thickets of exposed roots as the fliers cruised up the river. Though alarmed by the noise, some of those birds were as large as Cas was. Were all the animals down here giant? If so, she had little trouble imagining dragons evolving in this climate.
With the trees and foliage so dense, Duck had to fly a couple of miles inland before finding a spot to park the fliers. Even then, the inlet wasn’t ideal, consisting of mud and shallow water choked with reeds rather than hard earth. Cas ended up flying farther upriver while waiting for the others to find landing spots. There wasn’t much room for maneuvering in the muddy cove. After a minute, she did a loop, skimming past outstretched branches and flying upside down so she could turn around without rising above the treetops.
“You are Zirkander’s protégé,” Tolemek said.
“I didn’t think you got airsick or minded being upside down.”
“I almost dropped one of my knockout grenades.”
“Isn’t your gear buckled down?” Cas glanced over her shoulder as she righted them and cruised back toward the inlet.
“Yes, but I was getting one ready in case fierce predators are waiting for us. You didn’t sound that enthused at the idea of shooting up the jungle.”
“I think we’re still forty miles from the town. It’s probably safe to fire a weapon this far out.”
“With the airship flying past?”
“Ah, that’s true. We don’t want them to hear us.” Cas turned into the inlet, hoping the land-based wildlife would find the buzz of their propellers as alarming as the birds had and stay away. “Does your noxious smoke work on carnivorous plants?”
“Not likely. I have some of the dragon-blood-eating acid along. That ought to kill just about anything.”
Pimples, Duck, and Blazer had landed, though Blazer’s craft had sunk in past the tires. She thumped on the dashboard, trying to urge more power from the thrusters, so she could lift and find a more stable spot. Cas flew over her, eyeing the murky water dubiously. Vine-draped branches stretching everywhere did not leave much headroom for maneuvering.
“Looks more like a swamp than a jungle,” Tolemek observed.
Cas tipped her wings to avoid a tall stump jutting from the middle of the muddy water and chose the best-looking place she could find, a dense thicket of reeds. Their presence should mean that ground lay only a few inches down. She hoped.
“This landing spot is dragon piss,” Blazer announced. “Who picked it?”
“Duck,” Pimples said. “Are you going to beat him up?”
“If I don’t get hopelessly mired in mud, I might.”
“Just don’t grab my ears again,” Duck said. “That’s not fighting fair.”
“If a man comes with handles, it’s fair to use them.”
The thrusters incinerated the reeds as Cas cut the propeller and settled down, leaning out to watch her descent. She would vote for moving their craft to harder ground as soon as the airship had flown past. Weren’t swamps full of quicksand? Maybe they should have kept going up the river, in the hope of finding something better. Fortunately, her wheels settled on something solid six inches under the surface.
“We have company,” Tolemek said quietly.
Cas lifted her head, her hand going to her rifle. It was secured in the side of the cockpit with fasteners, but she had them unclipped before she spotted what Tolemek was talking about. About fifty meters away, at least a dozen men stood among the trees, looking toward the fliers and holding rifles in their arms. Given the wildness of this place, Cas had expected loincloth-wearing aborigines with spears. These men, an eclectic mix of skin and hair colors making the group’s nationality impossible to pinpoint, wore factory-made cotton shirts, rubber trousers, and boots. Most importantly, they carried lever-action rifles that appeared as deadly as the most recent models of Iskandian firearms.
“Hope you didn’t lose your grenade when you were upside down,” Cas murmured.
She slid her Mark 500 free, keeping the weapon below the level of her seat. She doubted any of the other pilots had more than pistols close at hand, so it would be good to see what these people wanted before starting a firefight. The lightweight flier hulls were not bulletproof, so ducking and shooting wouldn’t necessarily keep them safe. Cas did not like the way the men were darting from tree to tree, fanning out to surround her group.
She glanced toward Duck’s flier to see what Colonel Quataldo wanted to do, but his seat was empty. Cas blinked. She hadn’t seen him leave. Everyone else was still in their fliers, and Blazer looked more irritated at the mud sucking at her wheels than the men approaching. It was possible she hadn’t noticed the men approaching.
“Any of you boys speak a civilized tongue?” Captain Kaika asked loudly, her Iskandian accent disappearing and the words coming out in the flat tones of a Cofah subject. She draped her elbow over the edge of her flier, appearing unworried about the weapons the men held.
She probably had a bomb in her hidden hand. In front of her, Pimples was staring intently through his windshield, his hands likely on his machine gun triggers. Not much of a threat. Since the fliers’ machine guns had stationary mounts, they were next to useless on the ground unless someone was dumb enough to wander into their line of sight.
A couple of the men spoke to each other. Their words drifted across the marshy land, which lay quiet now that the propellers had stopped, the twilight stillness broken only by distant howls and the occasional scurrying of something through the undergrowth. Cas could hear the words, but she did not understand them.
Kaika leaned forward and murmured something to Pimples.
“The captain says they’re croc hunters,” Pimples’ voice came softly over the crystal, “but they’re saying they could get a lot of money for our fliers, or at least the power crystals. They want to shoot all of us, but they don’t want to damage the fliers.”
“Thoughtful,” Duck said.
“We shooting them first?” Cas asked quietly, indignation filling her at the thought of thieves pawing over her flier.
She had already picked out the leader. An older man, he wasn’t one of the two talking, but the others kept glancing at him as they discussed their plans. Cas looked back at Tolemek and tilted her head in the man’s direction. He nodded once, holding up two grenades that she recognized, one that contained his knockout gas and another that would spew out a harmless smoke. Unfortunately, it would take a powerful throw to reach the hunters with the
grenades. Also, out in the open air, the gases wouldn’t be as effective as in a confined space.
“Captain Kaika says we’re the invaders here and not at war with Dakrovia,” Pimples said, “so don’t shoot to kill.”
“Can’t I be at war with the thugs who want to steal my flier?” Blazer growled.
“No.”
Cas understood Kaika’s reticence, but agreed with Blazer’s sentiment. She was inclined to deal with thieves decisively, no matter what nationality they were, and thought they could end the situation quickly by taking down the leader. Fighting to wound against people fighting to kill rarely went well. Still, she wasn’t in charge, and she would obey orders.
“Do you have healing salves along, Tolemek?” she murmured, noting that the hunters had stopped talking. Several had eased further behind trees, finding protected positions from which they could fire. Her finger twitched; it was tempting to shoot before they stationed themselves, to try to get the element of surprise, but Kaika hadn’t given the order. Hells, Quataldo should be giving orders. Where had he gone?
“Yes,” Tolemek said.
“Kaika says for Tolemek to get ready to lay down some smoke when we get the signal,” Pimples said quietly.
“What signal would that be?” Tolemek asked.
Before Cas could relay the question, gunfire broke out in the trees at the hunters’ backs.
“I’m guessing that’s it,” Cas said, vaulting over the side of the flier.
She had already picked the spot she wanted to shoot from. As soon as she landed in the water, mud sucking at her boots, she jumped through some reeds and squatted between a stump and the wheel of her flier, keeping the craft at her back. She trusted Tolemek to find his own position once he threw his grenades. More shots were ringing out, echoing from the mangroves. In the beginning, the noise had come from one area, but now all of the thieves were shooting. Return fire came from her own team.
Cas had intended to shoot the man she had pegged as the leader, but he already lay on the ground, his legs flopping uselessly. The two hunters who had been talking about stealing the fliers had been knocked down, too, and neither moved. Briefly, Cas felt miffed that she had been slower to react than someone else, but she spotted a thief leaning out from behind a tree and targeting Blazer’s cockpit. She could have taken him in the forehead but aimed for his exposed shoulder instead. The man shot at the same time as Cas. His bullet glanced off the frame of Blazer’s windshield. She must have seen him aiming at her, because she ducked first. Cas’s bullet struck true, slamming into his shoulder. The hunter spun away, dropping his rifle.
Smoke rose from four locations around the cove, obscuring the figures of other men who were alternating between firing and ducking behind the trees for cover. Tolemek’s work. If his knockout grenades were also out there, spewing gas, she might not need to keep firing.
A bullet clanged off the frame of her flier, and she growled, feeling protective toward her craft. She spotted the thief as he ducked back behind a tree. She held her fire, not wanting to alert him to his danger. After a few seconds, he leaned out from the other side of the tree, aiming at the pilots again. Cas, as still as a stone except for the slight flexing of her finger, fired. Once again, the bullet slammed into her foe’s shoulder.
A few more shots fired from the fliers—most of the pilots had stayed in the cockpits, but Kaika was also down in the mud a few meters from Cas, her rifle in hand. When the would-be thieves stopped returning fire, Cas’s teammates stopped shooting. Silence fell upon the river, the earlier animal cries now still.
“All clear,” came Quataldo’s voice, not from anywhere near the fliers but from out in the smoke that hung about the trees. “I’m disarming them and trying not to pass out.” He strode into view, his kerchief tied over his mouth and nose, three rifles and two swords in his hands.
Cas realized he must have been the one who had taken out the first three men. She was surprised she hadn’t seen him moving about out there. Her eyes were usually sharp.
Kaika jogged out to join him, waving at the haze.
Cas rose from behind her stump and looked up—Tolemek was still in his flier seat. “How many knockout grenades did you throw?”
“Only two. Four smoke grenades.” His head dropped down as he rummaged in his pack. “I’ll find my healing salve.”
The smell of burning tobacco drifted across the water. Captain Blazer had left her flier, and she strode toward Cas, a cigar clenched between her teeth and mud spattering the blonde hair she had tied back. She must have left her cap and goggles in the flier.
“We’re going to have a problem,” she told Cas.
A painful groan came from the trees.
“Witnesses?”
Blazer nodded. “Not starting a war is good, but not announcing our presence would have been even better. I assume someone’s staying here with the fliers to guard them while this kidnapping happens, but what are we going to do with these men? If we let them go, they might come back with reinforcements. Worse, they could tell everyone within a hundred miles that Iskandian soldiers are here. Wedding’s not for three days, right? And we don’t know when the emperor is scheduled to arrive?”
“You know as much as I do, Captain.” Cas had briefed the other pilots when she had chosen them, giving them all the information the king had shared in the meeting.
“Do I? That’s troubling.”
Tolemek swung down, his long hair swaying about his shoulders.
“I don’t suppose you have any formulas that can make a person forget the last few hours,” Cas said.
“That would be convenient, but I’m not sure it’s possible to make something like that.”
“Pimples and Duck,” Kaika called from the trees. “Come help us drag these men to a dry spot to tie them up.”
“Won’t Tolemek’s gas make us pass out?” Duck asked.
“You’ve smelled worse in the barracks. Now get out here.”
Duck and Pimples shrugged at each other, then shouldered their rifles and marched through the mud to join in the task. Cas started to walk that way, too, but caught movement in the trees upriver.
Expecting more hunters, she leaned around her flier and raised her rifle. Tylie and Phelistoth walked out of the woods, the dragon in his silver-haired human form. One of the injured thieves groaned, and Tylie looked around, her eyes troubled. As usual, Phelistoth wore a haughty, indifferent expression. The king had wanted him along, but Cas wondered how much help the dragon would truly give them.
“What happened?” Tylie asked, stopping to stare at one of the downed men as he gripped his knee and rolled about. Quataldo had already taken his weapons, so he wasn’t likely to be trouble, but Tylie’s face crumpled with sympathy. “Do people need a healer? I can do a little. And Phel...” She turned toward the dragon, her eyes imploring.
Judging by the way they gazed silently at each other, they were having a telepathic conversation. With all the time Cas had spent around Sardelle, she should have been used to that, but she still found it disturbing. Tolemek went to meet his sister, and Cas headed the other way. She lacked the brawn to haul a grown man through the mud, but she could lend Kaika a hand.
A man cried out in pain as Pimples and Duck lifted him.
“They might have appreciated us more if we’d killed them,” Blazer said, hauling a short fellow by herself in a shoulder carry. She wasn’t as tall as Captain Kaika, but she had a sturdy build and boxed for a hobby, sometimes in the ring, sometimes with anyone who irked her on the runway. She plopped her man down unceremoniously with five others on a hard piece of raised earth.
One of the prisoners eyed the rifles stacked ten meters away, and Cas detoured to guard the weapons instead of trying to tote anyone. She glared at the men, her rifle gripped in her hands. Quataldo deposited a man, then stopped to pull rope out of a pack before going back for more.
Tolemek and Tylie walked over, speaking quietly.
“We’ll heal anyone who’s not
making trouble,” Tolemek said.
“None of them will be making trouble in a minute.” Quataldo wrestled a man’s wrists behind his back and started tying. Many others were barely conscious, whether from their injuries or the knockout gas Cas did not know.
Tylie knelt next to one who wasn’t moving while Tolemek unscrewed the cap from his salve and waved for one of the men Cas had shot to take off his shirt. Phelistoth came to stand behind Tylie, his arms folded as he glared down at the thieves.
“You missed the fun,” Kaika said to Phelistoth when she came back, dragging the last of their prisoners with her. Her tone was casual, but Cas got the feeling she was wondering where he had gone. Did she, too, believe having Phelistoth with them might not be the boon the king thought?
“Fun?” Phelistoth said, his tone flat.
“You’re right. It wasn’t much fun. I didn’t get to light any explosives. If I had, there would have been arms and legs all over this swamp.” Kaika grinned down at a man staring up at her. He must have understood their language, because his face paled and he ducked her gaze, staring down at his bleeding thigh.
“Where were you?” Colonel Quataldo asked the dragon, less subtle than Kaika. “The airship didn’t see you, did it?”
The dragon’s eyes narrowed. “We went hunting. I require food after flying across an ocean. I assure you, nobody saw me except for my dinner.”
Cas was glad Phelistoth’s cold amber eyes were not pointed in her direction.
Quataldo returned the gaze without flinching. “We would appreciate it if you would let us know when you’re leaving the group.”
“I am not here to fight your battles, human.”
“Why are you here?”
“I asked him to come.” Tolemek looked up, some of his greenish salve dangling from his fingers. He shook his head slightly at Quataldo. A warning? “Actually I asked Tylie to ask him. At the king’s request.”
“If the king didn’t want him here to help us with our battles, then what?”
“He did warn us about the airship,” Cas said. She had no problem letting Phelistoth come and go as he wished and relying only upon the team. She preferred that, actually.
Soulblade Page 7