Page 68 of Fly to Fury
Was that a sigh? Yet a twitch of a smile briefly broke through the grim set to Dacha’s mouth. “You are your macha’s son.”
The words punched into Fieran’s chest in a way his dacha likely hadn’t meant. That was Fieran’s problem, wasn’t it? Too much his mother’s son. Too talkative. Too human. Not enough of an elf to wear his hair long, take pain like a warrior, or truly wield the full might of the magic of the ancient kings.
Fieran adored his mama, and he’d never regret being her son any more than he’d regret being his dacha’s son. But it was his human half that could never measure up.
“That is not a bad thing, sason.” Dacha squeezed Fieran’s shoulder. Perhaps he had read something of Fieran’s turmoil in his eyes. “If you need to talk, then talk.”
And Fieran did. He couldn’t have said what he talked about or what he said. Time had narrowed to the haziness, the pain that sometimes flared, sometimes faded, and his dacha’s steady grip and even steadier voice holding him there.
Until finally, Dacha’s tone lowered, gentled. “The healers are done, sason. It is all right to sleep.”
Fieran let his eyes slide shut as he fell into a restful darkness at last.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Pip went through the motions of cataloguing the battle damage on the squadron’s aeroplanes. The ones that had returned to the hangar, anyway.
While she’d held a shield over the hangar and headquarters, only a few enemy aeroplanes had made it that far and attempted to strafe the people below. The three Alliance squadrons had fought with bitter tenacity, holding the enemy at the Wall. The Alliance airships, too, had achieved what could be termed a victory, as they had taken down more Mongavarian airships than they had lost.
But the losses…Pip stared at the clipboard before her, unable to concentrate past the well of emptiness filling her. That emptiness mirrored the empty spaces around the hangar, most conspicuously the places where Fieran’s and Merrik’s aeroplanes normally rested.
“Pip.” Mak halted next to her. Were her shoulders as slumped and her eyes as bruised with dark circles as his were? He looked like he’d been up for days on end, when it was only a little past noon. “Colonel Dentley is gathering everyone in Bay 10.”
All she could manage was a nod. She fell into step with him, detouring to the wall long enough to set her clipboard on her workbench.
Just before the door to Bay 5, her flyboys were waiting, clustered to one side in a huddle. Pretty Face had a bandage around one of his arms while Lije had a scratch on his cheek. Stickyfingers leaned on crutches, one leg bandaged and held up off the ground. Tiny had his broad arms crossed tightly over his chest, as if to hold himself together. None of them spoke, just shuffled closer to her.
As they trudged through Bay 5, Aylia silently joined them. It felt almost like a funeral as they made their way through bay after bay, past damaged and shot up aeroplane after aeroplane, until they finally reached Bay 10.
Ranks of pilots filled the otherwise nearly empty space, further highlighting just how few aeroplanes had returned from Capt. Kentworth’s squadron.
Pip swallowed back a lump at the sight. She’d never liked Capt. Kentworth. His pilots and even his mechanics had kept themselves apart, and some of them had sneered at the Half-Breed Squadron.
Yet when their kingdom needed them, they fought with bravery and went down with honor, giving the ultimate sacrifice to win the day.
Pip and the others found a spot in the back with the rest of the Half-Breed Squadron.
Colonel Dentley stood at the front of the large hangar bay with Capt. Fleetwood and Lt. Rothilion. It seemed no one had sorted out just who was in command of the late Capt. Kentworth’s squadron just yet.
Pip further hunched over the arms she’d wrapped over her stomach. With both Fieran and Merrik down, Lt.Rothilion was once again in temporary command of the Half-Breed Squadron.
After the last few people filtered inside, Colonel Dentley cleared his throat. “Today, we lost friends. Brothers. Respected commanding officers. We mourn, but in our mourning let’s not dishonor their sacrifice by thinking it was in vain. They gave their lives fulfilling their duty. Thanks to the battle hard-fought and hard-won in the skies today, the Alliance armies completed the planned mission of driving the Mongavarian Army from the field, resulting in a large loss of men and material for the enemy. We have shown the enemy that we will not bow beneath their ambitions for conquest and empire. Carry on and do your duty. Dismissed.”
A victory, but at what cost? Worse, the Mongavarians had unleashed both that strange magic that somewhat protected their aeroplanes and those bombs filled with an unknown gas. The war had changed, and none of them knew what the consequences would be.
As Colonel Dentley spun on his heel and left, Capt. Fleetwood and Lt. Rothilion strode in separate directions, heading for their gathered squadrons.
Lt. Rothilion halted before the huddle that was the Half-Breed Squadron. The elf lieutenant swept a glance over them, something in his stance more burdened than Pip had ever seen. For a long moment, he didn’t speak. Just stared out at the pilots, who stared back with the same mute, shared grief.
Then Lt. Rothilion clasped his hands behind his back, straightened his shoulders, and some of the put-together veneer returned. “I have received word that both Capt. Fieran Laesornysh and Lt. Merrik Loiatir are still alive and currently resting.”
Pip released a breath, her knees nearly buckling. Mak placed his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him as she struggled not to burst into tears again right there in front of the whole squadron.
Lt. Rothilion listed the status of the others who had been taken to the hospital before he paused to sweep another glance over them. “I know we all would like to rush to the hospital to see our comrades. But the healers have asked that we refrain from visiting tonight while they are still healing all those injured in the battle today.”
Now she was blinking rapidly, her stomach sinking further. She couldn’t even go see Fieran to reassure herself that he was all right. Merrik, too. She didn’t even try to pay attention to the last of Lt. Rothilion’s instructions.
