Page 22 of Magick and Lead
Great.
A thunder of gunfire caught my attention and I looked up to see a plane diving toward me, its cannons blazing—hitting golenae, but hitting me, too.
Pff-pff-pff.Shots punctured the upper right wing, then the plane dove past me, climbed again, and banked away.Blaize.The son of a bitch.
I’d pay him back for that. But not today. Not with a damaged plane, and not when dragons were in danger.
Speaking of dragons, I looked left and saw several of them in the midst of my squadron. As I watched, a big green beast took several cannon shots and roared, wobbling in the sky, then falling.
Don’t hurt them!Parthar’s voice wailed in my mind.
I gritted my teeth. His feelings felt like a sob inside me.
I’m an ace, buddy. It’s what I do,I shot back.
But the truth was, I couldn’t watch any more dragons die. Not when I knew they protected Essa. Not when Parthar was inside my mind and my heart.
And so, I banked again and pushed the throttle, climbing, and set a course back toward Admar. One by one, my squadron broke off their attack and followed.
Back at the base, I was hanging my flight gear back up in my locker when I heard Carter Blaize shouting.
“Hey! Inman!”
I turned to find him storming toward me, our fellow pilots scurrying out of his path.
“What the hell was that up there?”
He lashed out and slammed my locker shut with a bang.
“First you lead a flight of dragons toward us, then you bug out in the middle of battle? What the hell is wrong with you?” He went on before I could answer. “I’ll tell you what’s wrong. Your time with the magick people made you soft. Yeah, I saw a copy of the report. Everyone thinks you’re a hero for worming your way into the enemy court. But here’s what I think. I thinkthey corrupted you. I think you love dragons and that whore of a princess better than your own?—”
I’d heard enough. He was pointing a finger at my face. I grabbed his hand and twisted, steering him into the lockers. He bounced off them, broke free of my grip, and came up swinging. I ducked a punch and countered, cracking him in the cheek with a blow that sent him sprawling to the floor—to a chorus ofooohsfrom our fellow pilots. Then I was on him, raining blows on his face.
I grabbed his neck, choking him, and leaned down, snarling into his ear.
“Call her a whore again.”
His eyes were wide with fear, one hand scrabbling at his belt, feeling for his sidearm. Then, he was wailing like a baby. I was so caught up in my rage that I didn’t know what was happening until I smelled it. Burning flesh.
Quickly, I released Blaize and sat up. He sat up, too, scooting away from me fast and touching his neck gingerly with his fingers.
“What the hell…?” he muttered, looking at me with a new dread in his eyes.
I could already see the red splotches forming on his neck. The pilots around us glanced at one another, confused. My hand slipped into the top of my shirt, touching the dragon stone there. It was hot to the touch.
Magick.
Shit. I’d burned him with dragon magick… in front of everyone.
As I got to my feet, Blaize shrank back in fear, one hand on the pistol at his belt. I could see the others backing up warily, too. Even the guys from my squadron looked at me as if I’d just murdered someone.
The wheels in my mind turned as I searched for something clever to say. A joke, an explanation—anything. But nothing came to me. And so, I turned and stalked out of the room, my footfalls clapping into a heavy silence as I went.
11
ROHREE
The box lid creaked open.
