Evershore(Skyward #3.1)(38)

“Done,” FM said.

Instead of turning and making the ships tail me, I flew directly at them. I pictured those birds over the ocean again, finding the rhythm of the waves, the way the nowhere pushed against my mind and my mind against it.

The ships scattered as I approached, all firing on me wildly. They didn’t want me to get too close.

I had an idea. “All ships, keep your distance.”

“Jerkface?” Arturo said. “What are you doing?”

“Something Spensa would try,” I said. If this worked, I would wish she were here to see it. If it didn’t, she was going to hear about it anyway. “Hold on, Juno,” I said. And I reached out in my mind for that flock of birds, raising them from the waves of the ocean so they skimmed along outside my ship, following me, flying with me.

I chased after the fleeing ships, dodging fire. I hit overburn on my boosters and cut a path up through the battle, ships scattering in front of me. I sent my mindblades out in clustered flocks, catching this ship and that one, cleaving off wings and tail fins and noses while my flight shot down the others as they ran. A few of the braver pilots tried to charge in after me, and pieces of their ships rained down over the ocean, torn to ribbons.

“Damn, Jerkface,” Arturo said.

“It seems you were correct,” Juno said. “You didn’t need a meditation.”

“Boom,” Boomslug said from his spot below my seat.

I gripped the edge of my panel to keep my hands from shaking. I shouldn’t be able to do this. It felt…unnatural.

“Supernatural” might be a better word. Why was it so much easier to watch Spensa do things like this than it was to do them myself?

“The enemy is headed toward the city,” FM said. “Sentry and I are on them.”

Sure enough, the enemy ships were fleeing in the direction of Dreamspring. I’d scared them, but instead of retreating to their carrier ship they were going to hit us where it hurt.

I didn’t think the kitsen’s dwellings were going to stand up well to destructor fire, and Cobb and Gran-Gran had no more cover than a scudding tent.

“Skyward Flight, shoot down those fighters,” I said. “Don’t let them fire on the city.”

Gunning them down over Dreamspring would cause damage, but not as much as if we let the ships attack. I hadn’t seen any carrying lifebusters—they had come looking for us, not to destroy the kitsen city.

But that didn’t mean they couldn’t do a hell of a lot of damage if we let them run wild.

“Amphi,” I said, “where is Cuna?”

“They ran for the city to find shelter,” Nedd said. “I gave them a radio to stay in touch.”

“I am here,” Cuna said over the radio. “I took shelter in the senate building.”

The medtechs should be with Cobb and Gran-Gran, but they were all exposed. “I need you to go to the medical tent and help the medtechs move Cobb and Gran-Gran.”

“We can’t move them,” Alanik said. “Remember?”

We couldn’t leave them in a tent during an aerial raid. “They appeared in the library,” I said. “And our medical transport was in the other direction. Maybe moving them in the toward the library will be okay.”

“I’ll give the medical personnel your instructions,” Cuna said.

“Let me know how it goes,” I told them.

The flight chased after the ships as they cruised toward the city, while I watched our six, making sure it wasn’t a ploy to let another group of fighters from the carrier fall into flanking position. No more ships came from that direction. Yet.

“We’ve got incoming,” Arturo said, and sure enough from the other direction, over the cliff above Dreamspring, more ships were joining the fight. Kitsen fighters, two dozen of them, all engaging the remaining ships as they reached the city.

“Welcome, kinsmen!” Goro shouted over the radio. “Now we’ll show these humans how it’s done!”

The enemy ships turned their destructors on the new arrivals, sparing the city a bit, and my flight flanked the enemy, shattering shields and bringing down ships. One of the ships careened toward the city, and Alanik caught it with her light hook, dragging it toward the beach and dropping it on the sand where it wouldn’t destroy the buildings. Nedd did the same with a ship Kimmalyn shot down right over the middle of the city, dragging the fuselage up and dropping it on the cliffs. Some debris was pelting the city, but hopefully damage would be minimal.

“Jerkface,” Alanik said. “The enemy is going to fall back.”

She’d barely finished saying it when the enemy ships turned almost as one and accelerated out over the ocean again, angling up to the carrier ship waiting in the clouds.

“Do we follow them?” Nedd asked.

“Wait,” I said. I didn’t know what their game was, and I didn’t want to leave the city vulnerable to another attack.

The fighters slid into the clouds near the carrier ship, which was half hidden now as the cloud cover moved overhead. They were still up there, beyond the clouds—I could see them on my proximity monitor. The only reason for them to pull back like that was if they thought they had more of an advantage at that fallback position, or—

“Angel,” I said. “You heard a transmission?”