Evershore(Skyward #3.1)(36)

“Feel the birds fly away from you, the flock sailing toward your enemies, their beaks sharp and ready.”

Scud, was he going to keep reading this until I tried it? On my proximity sensors I could see more ships reaching the beach, engaging the rest of my flight. We couldn’t call for backup immediately. Either Alanik or I would have to go to Detritus retrieve them, so we needed to exhaust our other options first.

“All right,” I said. “Fine. I’ll deploy the birds.”

I shot upward toward a low-flying cloud. Alanik said these things would be fine to fly into, and we’d been watching them pass over all day without incident, so I didn’t think there was anything nefarious hiding within. Using the cloud for cover, I executed an Ahlstrom loop and then watched on my proximity monitor for the ships to enter after me. They kept chasing me, but I used the cover to shake them off, coming out the bottom and banking hard toward the beach.

Arturo and Alanik caught up, showering my tails with fire.

“Amphi, Angel, back off,” I said. “I’m going to try something.”

I didn’t want to close my eyes, not in the air. But I let my mind disconnect, flying by instinct. It was dangerous to do with three tails and with my backup dropping away like I’d asked them to. I might not have more than a moment, but I reached into the ocean of the nowhere and caught those fragments, forming them into birds that flew forward like missiles, their wings tucked against their bodies, their beaks sharp and ready.

One of the enemy fighters got a hit on my shield, and then another. I launched into a twin-scissor to avoid the fire, still trying to split my mind, to focus on the fragments.

“You are the birds, and the birds are you,” Juno read. “You and the birds are one. You are one with the nowhere, and with yourself.”

I zipped away, my tails still following me. “Everybody stay back,” I said, and I slowed, nearly letting the enemy catch me.

My shield took one more hit and disappeared. I reached out for my flock of projectile birds.

And like tiny ships, I flew them into the enemies behind me.

The pilots didn’t dodge. They never saw it coming. The mindblades tore through their wings and hulls, ignoring their shields, taking them apart. In my mind the fragments scattered and dissipated. The chunks of ship fell over the ocean, pieces of metal cleanly cut apart from each other.

Over the radio, Arturo swore.

“What was that?” Nedd said.

“Mindblades,” FM said. “By the stars, Jerkface, that was incredible!”

My own ship was fine. I was almost surprised.

“I can’t believe that worked,” I said to Juno.

Juno made a self-satisfied little noise. “The lore of the ancients contains much wisdom.”

Apparently it did.

“Fine,” Alanik said over the radio. “You were right. You don’t need to fly out front to prove yourself.”

“Listen to her, Jerkface,” Nedd said. “Fall back and leave some for the rest of us.”

“Gladly,” I said. I took cover by the cliffs while I reignited my shield. Kimmalyn hovered above me, watching my back. While I waited I extended my sensors, taking stock of the enemy ships as the others engaged them. There were many of them, but not overwhelmingly many, and they seemed to be firing only on us, not the kitsen.

At least so far. I expected that meant they had come looking to eliminate us, not necessarily to destroy the kitsen for harboring us. That could turn very quickly, but I imagined that convincing the kitsen to help us if we were the only ones under attack was going to be—

Two ships bore down on us, and Kimmalyn tipped her nose in their direction—

The ships soared over our heads, and a new voice shouted over the radio. “Invaders!” it said, the words translated out of the sharp kitsen language by my pin. “Do you think to mar our beautiful home with your vulgar presence? We will cut you down where you stand, and you will regret the day you set foot on the Den of Everlasting Light Which Laps Gently upon the Shores of Time!”

Was that— “Goro?”

“Human,” Goro said. “I offer you a temporary reprieve from my challenge.”

At least that tirade wasn’t aimed at us then.

“I don’t have one of those pin things,” Catnip said. “Anyone want to translate for the fox-dude?”

“He’s offering to let Jerkface out of fighting him,” FM said. “Not that he agreed to fight him in the first place.”

I hoped this wasn’t another trap. Goro could offer to help us, only to turn around and use the fact that we’d fired at the Superiority as evidence of our savagery. “We are defending ourselves,” I said over the radio.

“Of course!” Goro went on. “You have proven yourself a coward in one-on-one combat, but many who are cowardly with the sword show their courage when they step into a ship!”

Stars. “I’m not a coward because I refuse to kick around someone one-tenth of my—”

“If you were to face my champion in combat you would bleed like the Red Rivers That Lead to the Empty Sea!”

“You shouldn’t let him bait you,” Juno said. “I think at this point he’s doing it for sport.”

I was glad one of us was enjoying it. “Goro,” I said, “we’re defending ourselves, and your people as well. The Superiority were willing to turn on the UrDail for harboring us, and they’ll do the same to you.”