Page 19 of Fly to Fury
He would never regret who his family was, and he wouldn’t change it even if he could.
“The Half-Breed Squadron will prove itself soon enough.” Merrik turned around to face the chart. “Weshould discuss our plan and get aeroplanes in the air before we are yelled at for being late again.”
Right. Trust Merrik to keep him grounded.
Fieran sprawled in a low chair,his legs stretched out in front of him. His thigh-high flight boots sat beside him while his leather, fleece-lined coat lay over the back of the chair.
How many more layers could he take off while still counting as flight-ready? Sweat trickled between his shoulder blades and down his face even though all he was doing was just sitting there.
The metal sided and roofed hangar baked like a giant tin box in the scorching Escarlish summer sun. Set on the flat bluffs beside the Hydalla River, the hangar didn’t even have the shadows or elevation of the mountains to provide some relief. Nor were any of the few trees the elves had grown by their accommodations tall enough to shade the massive hangar.
After the cool weather and chilly sea breezes of Dar Goranth, Escarland’s far hotter summer weather felt like even more of a whiplash.
The occasional whiff of a breeze drifted off the Hydalla River below the bluffs or down from the mountains. But most of the air movement in the hangar came from the large industrial fans of the style used in factories in Aldon to clear the air.
Tiny moved between each of the fans, creating ice blocks with his magic. The fans blew the air cooled by the ice into the building, providing breaths of relief from the heat. He’d packed ice around the remainders of the sandwiches fromlunch, trying to keep the meat from going off in the heat. But any relief from the heat was momentary.
Pip strode around the nearest aeroplane. She’d piled her dark brown hair high at the back of her head, though strands frizzed out from the messy bun. Instead of the long-sleeved coveralls, she’d opted for sleeveless overalls over a loose shirt with sleeves rolled up past her elbows. A wrench was tucked into one of the deep pockets while grease smears decorated the front of the green canvas on her legs.
She sank to the floor next to his chair where the fan’s breeze reached her face. “I’d forgotten how abominably hot Escarland is in the summer.”
“It’s only going to get worse.” Fieran tipped his head against the back of his chair, tugging at his collar to get more air movement to his neck. “It’s still early in the summer.”
“This is nothing.” Lije spoke from where he was stretched out on the concrete floor, using his flight hat and coat for a pillow. “Where I come from in southern Escarland by the border with Groyria, the humidity makes it feel like you’re breathing underwater.”
“That sounds awful.” Pip shuddered, waving at her face with both hands, as if trying to draw the mildly cooler air from the fan toward her. “The heat and humidity here are already getting to my hair as it is.”
Fieran couldn’t work up the energy to lift his head. A pang shot through him at memories of sitting on the back patio at Treehaven beneath the shade of the trees and sipping a glass of Aunt Patience’s fresh lemonade. Or lounging on the porch in Estyra with the slightly cooler temperatures found farther north and the dense foliage of Tarenhiel’s ancient forests shading the elven city.
Padding across the cement floor in his socks, Merrik approached, gripping the bundle of his warm flight clothingunder an arm. “We should get ready. We’re due to go up in a few minutes.”
“Finally.” Fieran couldn’t wait to get into the cooler temperatures found high in the sky.
Not to mention the chance to actuallydosomething, even if it was circling the sky over Fort Defense. He hadn’t anticipated how boring it would be to be on standby here in the hangar. They weren’t supposed to leave the hangar, much less wander down to Little Aldon.
If it wasn’t so hot, he would have gotten out his swords again and practiced with Merrik or even Lt. Rothilion, if the two of them could keep the bout civil. Or he would have joined Pip in fiddling with something magical or mechanical on the aeroplanes.
Instead, it was too hot to do anything but sit in front of the fans and sweat.
He might resort to picking up a book on future on-duty days. Wouldn’t his sister Ellie just love to give him a whole list of recommendations in her next letter or during his next telephone call home?
If Lt. Rothilion and the other elves carried through with their plans to grow trees to improve their accommodations, perhaps Fieran would bend the rules to allow them to sit in chairs just outside of the hangar in the shade. All it would take would be to get his hands on a keg of lemonade, and Tiny could add ice to chill it. Right about now, sitting beneath the trees and reading a book while sipping lemonade sounded like a great way to pass the waiting.
Fieran braced his hands on the armrests of his chair and levered himself to his feet. Grimacing, he pulled on his boots, then his coat. He left his silk scarf looped loose around his neck rather than wrapping it tightly.
He’d appreciate the layers once he went up. He knew that. But it was still tempting to leave off the warm clothing.
He nodded to Pip and Lije as he stepped around them. They passed other groups of flyboys and elven pilots clustered before the fans and ice blocks as they headed to the hangar door. The ground crew was already hard at work, rolling his and Merrik’s aeroplanes onto the airfield.
For a moment, stepping out of the stifling metal hangar was a relief. Then the full force of the sun scorched down on Fieran’s exposed skin. The layers of leather and fleece warmed, adding more sweat to that already running down Fieran’s body.
All that sweat would just turn cold and clammy once he got in the air. One of the first maxims of staying warm in the cold was to not sweat.
Fieran climbed up the side of his aeroplane and settled into the cockpit, the narrow space closing comfortably around him. The leather seat had been molded to his rear end after the hours he’d spent in this cockpit while the control column had been worn smooth to fit his hands.
After tugging on his flight cap and his goggles, he flipped the switch to turn on the power to flow from the magical power cell to the engine.
The engine began to spin up. The propeller rotated, slowly at first, then faster and faster along with the rotary engine. The wooden frame of the aeroplane shuddered with the force of the engine.
