Page 78 of Of Blood and Fire
Fine.It wasn’t like I could stop her anyway, given the determination in her mind.
I stepped back as the smiths carefully maneuvered one bin into the center of the courtyard and the other two out of the way. Behind us, the gates opened, and the rest of our kin arrived. Unsurprisingly, Kele was with them, though one half of her face remained heavily bandaged. It was also wrapped in what looked to be sliced-up strips of oilskin coat, no doubt to help protect the bandages from the weather.
“Didn’t the medics order you to stand down from this mission, Captain MacCaa?” Garran said, casually returning their salutes.
“Aye, Commander,” Kele replied. Her speech was slurred, suggesting the muscles and tendons in her cheek hadn’t all successfully healed. “But that’s my drakkon you’re sending on what could be a suicide mission, and she’s not going without me. I’d rather die on her back than in a hospital bed.”
“I’d rather no one dies, given the scarcity of drakkon and kin,” he replied, then glanced at me. “Your call, Commander.”
“She flies.”
Neither Kele nor Yara would forgive me if I made any other decision. Besides, I would have done the exact same thing had Kaia and I been in their position.
“I’m beginning to suspect a severe lack of self-preservation is another necessary trait for becoming kin,” Garran commented dryly.
“You could be right.” I glanced up again. Fingers of fog were now reaching the height of the cliff, and the bulk of it was in the process of condensing. It wouldn’t be long now....
The sound of steps had me looking around; Candra and a couple of her kitchen helpers approached, carrying eight food sacks between them.
Candra stopped beside me, her gaze searching the skies. “The drakkons not here yet then?”
“No, but if you and your people want to step to the edges of the courtyard, you’ll see them in a couple of minutes.”
“Oh, excellent. What do you want me to do with these?”
She raised the two larger sacks she carried. I’d dropped into the kitchen on the way out, asking her to put together flight rations for everyone. The larger food sacks were for Halka and Miri. They’d been in the aerie all night and wouldn’t have had much more to eat than whatever rations they’d been carrying during their flyovers.
“Leave those two and one of the smaller ones with me, then hand out the others to my team.”
She and her people did so, then retreated to the edges of the courtyard, their excitement palpable, something that made me think it was going to be easier to make Esan’s general population believe drakkons were a benefit rather than a menace than I thought.
I glanced at the smoke again, then across to the palace roof. A heartbeat later, Damon appeared at the parapet. “Call them in.”
I immediately reached out to Kaia, asking her to send Kiko and Lura first, then picked up the three sacks and moved back. “Everyone who is here to watch the drakkons, brace yourselves or be sent flying.”
The two younger drakkons swept over the peaks and arrowed down, the scales gleaming with bloody fire in the midday sunshine. They banked as one, then landed on either side of the first bin, their wings still fanning, sending large gusts scurrying around the courtyard. This time, everyone had heeded the warning, and no one was sent tumbling.
“Hannity, you want to grab the right chain and drag it across to Kiko?”
I tossed the meal sacks up to Halka and Miri, then grabbed the other chain—which was damnably heavy, thanks to its thickness and length—and hauled it under Lura. She lifted her claw without being asked and carefully gripped the chain. With that secure, I ducked under her wing and tossed the rope that was attached to the release chain to Miri.
Once she’d secured the chain and burned away the excess rope, I shouted up, “When you’re both clear of the courtyard, tell your drakkons to switch to a two-claw grip. It’ll be less taxing.”
They both gave me the affirmative signal, then, once Hannity and I were both clear, rose slowly, taking up the chain’s slack. There was an audible grunt from Kiko as the weight of the bin hit, then she and Lura rose, the bin swaying a little too enthusiastically between them before they got the hang of working in tandem.
Send Yara and Aarvi in next, Kaia. We’ll fly with Taitia.
Cansu and Rua?
They can be our guards and lookouts. When we hit Ezu, they can come in behind us and light the whole place up.
Like this plan.
Of course you do, I said, amused.
We repeated the process with the next two drakkons, then it was Kaia and Taitia’s turn. I picked up my food sack and handed the last one to Garran. “Can you drag the other chain to Taitia? Jassy will ask her to raise a foot once you’re close.”
“Sure,” he said, and immediately moved in her direction.
