Page 97 of Magick and Lead
Ollie turned to her. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re outmatched,” he said quietly. “Fight, and we all die. But give up Rohree now, and whatever she took, and we can negotiate her release later.”
“Give up Rohree?” Pocha sounded aghast. “If Essa were here?—”
“Essa isnothere,” Ollie reminded her. “And as her Torouman?—”
Rohree could already see where this was heading, and she already knew Ollie was a traitor. There was no time to explain that to Pocha now, but if they were quick, there might be time to save the letters.
“Pocha,” she called, unslinging the satchel from her shoulder and tossing it to her. “Take it. Go!”
Pocha looked at the satchel, confused.
“It contains their letters. Their plans,” Rohree shouted. “Make sure Essa gets it. Go!”
Pocha hesitated for one more instant, then obeyed, her dragon flapping its wings, taking flight and winging back towards the village.
Ollie snarled with irritation and reached to take hold of Rohree’s arm. Instinctively, she lashed out with her knife. It slashed across Ollie’s forearm and he pulled back with a hiss. Clua stepped between them, brandishing her mace.
“Touch her again,” she growled, “and I’ll beat your head into mush. I know exactly what you did to her.”
The Torouman’s eyes narrowed.
“What’s she talking about?” Lure asked.
Before anyone could answer, the witch’s voice came again.
I tire of waiting.Take them!she said.
Rohree looked up to see the black stag galloping toward them, the witch on its back. The world seemed to shiver like arippling pond in her wake. And with her, an army of lacunae knights and golenae came, sweeping in like a storm.
44
CHARLIE
My plane screamed through the sky, coming in for approach at McNally Air Base, and all of hell was coming behind me. My own squadron remained on my tail, but they’d given up trying to shoot me down—for now. They realized they had bigger problems with the vast swarm of golenae that loomed in our wake, picking off stragglers.
The tarmac below grew larger and larger as I thundered toward it, but I couldn’t cut speed too much, not if I wanted to get my warning message out before it was too late.
I felt weightlessness against my straps as I dropped altitude fast. At last, I did throttle back and level off, but my tires still hit the pavement with a terrible shriek. I cut the engine and hit the brakes, gritting my teeth as the plane fishtailed left, then right, then began to tip. As it came to a rest sideways on the runway, it did tip over, the bottom of the right lower wing grinding against the blacktop. The instant it stopped, I was already unbuckling, leaping from my seat, and using the wing like a slide. My feet hit the pavement, and I sprinted for the administrative building.
Ground crew members came out to glower at my landing. They fussed over the planes like mothers over their babies and always got pissy when we’d abuse them. But then, theylooked to the sky and saw what I’d been running from, and their expressions of disapproval changed to ones of horror and wonder. I hazarded a glance back, too. The other planes and golenae were still pretty far back—I’d done a good job getting ahead of them. For now, most were nothing more than black dots against silvery clouds, glinting in the moonlight. But they were becoming more prominent in the dark sky with every passing second, and as more ground crewmen emerged from the hangars and pointed upwards, their murmurs of dismay grew.
I burst into the admin building and sprinted down the hall and into Peckham’s office.
At this hour of the morning, I thought I might find it empty. But he stood over his desk, his brows knitted into a scowl.
“Charlie. What’s this?—?”
“They’re… coming,” I panted. “Golenae, sir… Monsters.”
When he didn’t react, I slammed my fist on the desk.
“Send a telegram to Ironberg. Get all civilians into the dragon shelters. Mobilize the army units. Trust me, sir. I’ve seen this before. This is just what they did to Issastar.”
“They?” Peckham growled. “Who’sthey?”
“The Gray Brothers!” I shouted, out of patience. “Don’t you see? They’re playing both sides somehow. They must be in league with the sylph and—dammit, it doesn’t matter! They’ll be here any minute. Sound the alarm!”
Peckham folded his burly arms. “Someone has been playing both sides, Charlie. But it isn’t the Gray Brothers.”
