Page 29 of Fly to Fury
“Thanks.” Pretty Face nodded before he spun and hurried away, as if to make sure everyone had been too busy working to notice him.
As Fieran turned back toward the hangar, Pip hurried outside, dressed in a clean set of overalls over a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled to her elbows. “Ready to go?”
“Yep.” Fieran resisted the urge to hurry to her and instead forced himself to remain where he was. Simply a friend waiting for another friend to join them.
The three of them strode the length of the hangar toward the airship docks, where they found the platform for a tram that would take them deeper into the Whitehurst Mountains. After they climbed on board with many troll and elf warriors, the tram rattled its way into the rolling landscape of the foothills.
Airships floated yards above the earth with ropes holding them down and rope ladders stretching to the ground, sheltered from sight by large trees and looming mountains. More airships drifted overhead, guarding Fort Defense and the Escarlish heartland from bombing.
The tram stopped at a platform near what appeared to be a large encampment for elven warriors, their shelters tucked among dense stands of trees. At the next stop, the troll warriors disembarked, heading for what appeared to be a warren of passageways disappearing into the stone of the mountains.
After that, the tram continued even deeper into the mountains to the very end of the line of what constituted Fort Defense. Here, the tram ended at a platform at what seemed to be a smaller rail station compared to the one found on the flatlands next to the river. These tracks likelyconnected to the main Escarland rail system somewhere below the mountains and allowed munitions and magical power cells to be shipped directly to these bunkers in the mountains rather than go through the rest of Fort Defense.
As the tram slid to a stop, Fieran stood and made his way to the opening that formed the door. He hopped to the platform and waited while Merrik and Pip disembarked after him.
They stood in a deep valley formed by the mountains around them, the forested sides rising steeply. These mountains weren’t like the jagged, gray peaks found in Kostaria but instead remained forested all the way to the rounded tops.
Yet like in Kostaria, huge openings had been cut into the stone with the openings framed by large stone blocks to prevent the dirt of the hillsides from sliding. Six MPs—two trolls, two elves, and two humans—guarded each of the cave mouths.
And for good reason. One of these surrounding mountains held the huge munitions bunker that served the smaller bunkers scattered around the Fort Defense complex. The other mountain held a bunker for the reserves of magical power cells. Of the two bunkers, the one with the magical power cells was the more destructive, if it should be set off.
Fieran headed for the mountain on the right. As he approached, the human MPs stepped forward while the troll and elf MPs ranged behind them, providing an impenetrable wall between him and the opening. “Halt. State your business.”
Fieran pulled his papers out of his pocket. “Capt. Fieran Laesornysh, here with First Lieutenant Loiatir and Mechanic Detmuk-Inawenys. I believe General Laesornysh added us to the list.”
Both of the human guards quailed while the elven guards almost instinctively straightened at the sound of Dacha’s name.
Almost tentatively, one of the human MPs checked a clipboard hanging from a nail inside the opening while the other looked at Merrik’s and Pip’s papers. The one checking the clipboard gave a nod. “Yep, they’re here. You may enter.”
All the MPs moved out of the way, and Fieran led the way into the dark interior. The air grew pleasantly cool the deeper they strode into the mountain, a few glowing stone troll lights brightening the space so that they could see.
At the far end, the tunnel opened into a huge cavern. Racks upon racks held smaller magical power cells while the larger magical power cells used in the airships, warships, and the whole base’s power system rested on pallets along the wall. A sense of crackling energy filled the room, making the hair rise along Fieran’s arms. All the magic in this room belonged to his dacha, a testimony to how Dacha had been keeping the whole of Fort Defense running all by himself, with magic to spare.
The other side of the cavern held various empty power cells, waiting to be filled. A smaller tunnel branched from the main passageway, leading to a room that held the machine that filled the magical power cells.
At the sight of it, Pip all but ran down the passageway and instantly set to work inspecting the machine with all the preoccupation of someone drooling over their favorite chocolate.
Fieran strolled down the tunnel at a slower pace, Merrik at his side. As they entered the room, Fieran located the safety goggles hanging on stone pegs jutting from the wall, grabbed a pair, and slid them on.
Merrik grabbed two more pairs of goggles. “We might as well start right away.”
Fieran glanced at Pip where she still inspected all the buttons and switches that controlled the machine before he sighed and headed for his spot behind the protective barrier. Unlike in the AMPC building in Aldon, this barrier was a two-foot thick wall of stone with only small windows of tempered glass set into it so that he could still see the machine operator, and the machine operator could see him. Yet the windows were so small that Fieran felt truly cut off and more alone than he ever did while filling magical power cells at Aldon.
Merrik joined Pip behind the panel of buttons and switches and handed her the second set of goggles. “You will need these.”
“Thanks.” Pip tugged them on, fussing a moment with the strap and her hair before she seemed satisfied.
Merrik stepped even closer to her as he began talking her through the various buttons, switches, and gauges on the panel. An empty magical power cell already waited in the machine on the other side of the second protective barrier between Fieran and the machine in case of explosions.
Something rose inside Fieran, and for a moment he found himself clenching his fists, his stomach twisting.
Was this…envy? He squashed the feeling, taking deep breaths and exhaling slowly. He had no right to the feeling, nor was there any reason to feel it. It wasn’t either Pip’s or Merrik’s fault that Fieran wished he was the one there with Pip where he could use the excuse of showing her the machine to put his arm around her.
But he couldn’t. He was the one with the magic of the ancient kings. His place was here on this side of the protective barrier.
“Fieran?” Merrik was staring at him, his eyebrow-raised expression clear even through the thick barrier wall.
Right. Fieran shook himself, hoping Merrik hadn’t been calling his name for too long before he’d noticed. Reaching for his magic, Fieran let a little of it twine around his fingers.
