The Crow King's Wife(173)

“Oh please don’t let them be that smart.” Shade mumbled as he turned his ship sideways to slide between two Spell Hawks that had been trying to maneuver to block his path. How long have I held them back? Shade wondered silently then pushed the thought aside as he dropped low to avoid the lashing tail of a large blue scaled dragon. It felt like an eternity, but he doubted it had been more than a few minutes since he had first engaged.

“Eight down so far not counting the two dragons.” Grim observed somberly and Shade grinned in response.

“Only about three hundred more to go if you count the Morcath forces. We got this.” Shade replied with a laugh and poured more speed into his ship to shake the Spell Hawk that seemed to believe it had a chance of catching him.

“Without a doubt.” Grim agreed dryly then fell silent as he returned to his role as gunner.

Shade smiled to himself before turning his full attention back to his own task. His mind went carefully blank as he allowed his instincts to guide the ship through the maze of enemies. He didn’t hesitate in any of his choices and simply trusted in the fact that his ship was superior and no one had his speed.

If it weren’t for the Barllen protecting his ship he would have never dared push her to her full potential. Every pilot learned of the dangers of mages when they were being trained, which explained the caution the other pilots were showing in pursuit of him. They were expecting him to use a force spell on them, and Shade was silently hoping one of the High Lords in the city below would do just that.

So far there had been no sign of help from below however and he suspected they were still too far out of range for Jala’s spells. If he was right than she had that much longer to prepare.

Bright metal flashed to the side of him and Shade flicked his wrist to avoid the enemy ship and felt panic grip him as the massive form of a dragon appeared just in front of his ship as it turned. The creature must have been trailing him invisibly and had almost been upon him when he turned the Barllen in its direction. Swallowing heavily Shade sent his ship into a dive and felt his heart stop as The Shade lurched hard to one side.

Cursing rang in his ears and he dimly realized it was Grim yelling but all he could focus on was the sound of tearing metal. That is my right wing. Shade observed mentally with far more calmness than he knew he should be feeling. The ship lurched again and the sound of gunfire rang through his ship as Grim unloaded everything he had on the dragon.

Shade fought against the creature trying to throw enough power into his ship to break away from its attack, but even as he was trying to save them from the dragon he was scanning the ground below them for where they would crash. He could hear the wind roaring through the back of the ship and he knew his right wing was gone. They were going down. The only decision he had left to make was wear they would hit, and none of his options looked good.

The strangled cry of tearing metal echoed through Shade as he finally managed to break free of the dragon at the expense of his hull. He didn’t have to glance back to see the raking claw marks that tore through the roof of his ship. He was so linked with The Shade he could feel them as if they were marks gouged into his own flesh. Gazing downward Shade scanned the rapidly approaching coast line then pulled hard on the controls forcing his ship to the side without any warning. To his amazement the ship responded perfectly despite the heavy damage and Shade had a moment’s satisfaction as he imagined his ship as hungry for revenge as he was and then the force of the impact forced the thought away as they collided with the blue dragon that had ended their fight.

“If I’m going, you are going.” Shade hissed as he poured most of his remaining power into his ship and rammed the dragon once more. There was a satisfying snap as the bracket on the left side of his ship gave with the impact followed by the agonized roar of the dragon as the Barllen Shade had just rammed into its side began to do its bitter work. He had often wondered how much of a Dragon’s flight was dependent on magic, and judging by how the creature was faltering now, it was a good portion.

“Good luck, Jala.” Shade whispered as he turned his full attention to the stretch of rock strewn shoreline that was growing larger by the second. He did his best to guide the Spell Hawk toward the narrow stretch of sand, but he had sacrificed most of the control of his ship in his final attack against the dragon. He felt Grim’s hand seize his wrist and smiled sadly as he met the Priest’s eyes briefly before dumping the remainder of his power into his last attempt to save his friends.

The ship screamed in protest and twisted in the air a breath before it slammed into the sand. Blood filled Shade’s mouth as his teeth slammed together with the impact. The ship skidded sideways throwing sand into a blinding wave that nearly obscured the black rocks looming ahead of them. In the last moments of flight Shade had realized there was no avoiding the rocks and so he had poured every ounce of his power into turning the ship. It would be his side that suffered the brunt of impact and if Fortune was still smiling Charm was on the same side of the ship as Grim and they would both have a chance at living.