Chapter 138 – 5 Days By Badger

  A bright viridian blast hit the side of the airship’s turbine. Creeper vines sprouted and were instantly sucked through the turbine fan. Flames and black smoke flared out of both sides, and the entire dreadnaught lurched to its side as they lost most of the lift in their right rear quarter. Honestly, it was a miracle the turbine was still functioning at all, but that’s goblin tech. More goblins began to press over the ramp, now fleeing the fires aboard Gemini-II.

  “All pilots, take out that elf!” I said into the radio. “Chuck, Eileen, on me!”

  “Got it, boss,” said Eileen.

  “On my way,” said Chuck.

  Overhead, one of the heavy fighters stooped and started to drop down into the fray, while Eileen pulled her interceptor around. All over the sky, interceptor pilots were shifting their priorities—some at the cost of their own well-being. One collided with a silvermane, sending both tumbling to the forest below. Another was caught between two of the beasts as it made a bee-line for the elf. But enough got in close enough to menace the elf on the alpha that the massive creature reared back away from Gemini, snapping at the fighters strafing it. It roared in rage.

  I set my own course to intercept and was surprised to see a spattering of red against the front of my canopy.

  “We’ve got bugs!” said Eileen.

  “I think the alpha is fighting the bewitching,” I said. “Give it all the more reason. With me!”

  I pointed my nose right at the night haunt, now stalled in the air above the smoking Gemini-II. It flapped furiously and snapped at the air, and I could see a red cloud spiraling around the pair, forcing its way down the night haunt’s gullet. Looks like our elf either did a rush job on this one, or bit off more than he could chew when it came to a creature as tough as the nest leader. It jerked and twisted mid-air.

  “Let ‘em have it!” I cried.

  My nose gunner started pounding away, and Chuck and Eileen off my wings piled on the firepower as well. Several rockettes struck the night haunt, and I saw tufts of fur and small clouds of blood in the air. We passed close enough that I actually got a look of the elf, clinging to the thick silvery mane with one hand as his other worked a wooden staff. A cloud of red bugs surrounded both of them, and the aircraft rattled as we splattered hundreds of them across our fuselage and wings.

  “Around for another pass,” I said. I opened up the throttle and banked, keen to finish the job. Gemini-II flashed by underneath, then the cliff wall as we turned tight. I got the nose pointed again. “Gunner!” I called out.

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  The nose spat more rockettes, riding tiny plumes of exhaust. This time, one of them struck high on the haunt, and the elf was knocked clear of the predator as we flew past. I twisted to look over my shoulder as we climbed up and out. A little parachute canopy opened near the night haunt.

  “He’s off!” called Eileen.

  “Don’t let ‘im get to the ground or we’ll never find ‘im again,” warned Chuck.

  “Uh…” I said, “I don’t think we’re going to have to worry about that.”

  The canopy was caught in the vortexes of Gemini’s front left engine. The little elf kicked his feet in the air, but the currents were pulling his chute quickly toward the business end of the fan ducts. Ahead, more goblins were still pushing their way across the ramp into the night haunt nest or simply bailing out with—or without—personal gliders.

  “Around again! If that elf gets sucked into the turbine, Gemini-II is going to crash for sure.”

  I hauled us around in a high-G turn, hoping I wouldn’t black out as all the blood drained from my oversized goblin head. Still too slow. The elf drifted closer and closer to the opening, canopy caught in the downdraft. I couldn’t hear him, but I could imagine he was shouting.

  “Boss, we won’t make it!” said Eileen.

  But we weren’t the closest ones. The night haunt alpha shook off the last of its enchantment and roared into the air, drowning out even the sound of the jet engines. It twisted, caught sight of the elf canopy, and I swear I saw its eyes narrow. It tucked its wings, stooped down, and snapped the elf right out of the air just a few meters above the engine.

  “Oof,” I said, looking away. Bad way to go—but better than the little nuisance deserved. After forcing all those bugs down the night haunt’s throat, turnabout was certainly fair play.

  I leveled out as the night haunt alpha caught sight of us again. It held in the air for a moment, then roared again and wheeled around in the air, heading away from us. The night haunts who remained abandoned their chases and stooped to follow the alpha northwest over the top of the ridge. The remaining fighters and interceptors who had just been frantically flying for their lives, now found themselves relieved. I keyed my radio.

  “Stay on ‘em, lads! I want a full squad to make sure they’ve got a good reason to not come back this way ever again,”

  “Wot about the rest of us, boss?” asked Eileen.

  “Stay on me,” I said. I looked toward the northwest. Five days by ground for a badger. “We’re going on a little recon flight.”

  I patted my console. “You with us? Erm, Tamaho?”

  “We are, King Apollo.”

  I put us into a bank, leveling out at a northwesterly heading. Off my left wing, I spotted Eileen’s aircraft keeping pace. The other surviving interceptors fell in on my other side, though several trailed an alarming amount of smoke. Still, they held altitude as we flew over the foothills and between snow-capped peaks that jutted up from the tree line. We flew along sheer cliffs and through a deep canyon cut by a raging river, then over the waterfall which emptied into a massive, crystalline lake hundreds of feet below.

  I dipped the nose down. We skimmed the water’s surface, passing over massive shadows moving just below and a herd of animals the size of thundercleaves grazing near the shore. Water gave way to forest, which gave way to rolling hills overgrown with brush and criss-crossed by streams, and then I spotted it: The shining line of the ocean running thin and narrow at the horizon. I urged the aircraft on. This was the first sign of the sea I’d had since coming to Rava. And the shining, glistening band in the distance was split by a black mark thrusting up like a dagger.

  “Boss, is that the human city?” asked Eileen.

  “I believe it is,” I replied. “Follow me.”