Honovi was already working the levers and toggles that would send theCelestial Spriteinto the sky at a rate of speed he hoped would ensure any enemy fire would miss them. E’ridian airship engines were far more advanced than other countries’ when it came to speed and maneuverability. He only hoped that still held true in the face of Eimarille’s foray into war.
TheCelestial Spritelaunched fast, Honovi’s stomach swooping in a familiar way, ears popping at the rapid ascent. The walls of the hangar and roof disappeared, replaced by smoky blue sky and the Warden’s Island coming into full view through the windows surrounding the flight deck.
A crew member ducked inside, nearly banging her shoulder against the door frame, spyglass in hand. “Got two airships flying our way, and looks like there are at least two dozen Urovan submersibles lining the shore. They already sank the steamboat and destroyed the pier across the lake. There’s smoke rising from that location. Lots of soldiers on the ground.”
“Urovan submersibles?” Honovi repeated, half his attention on the horizon and the rest on the gauges lining the control panel.
“Yes, manned by soldiers who aren’t in uniform. I couldn’t see anything that would identify them as Daijalan when I looked through the spyglass.”
“We can’t say they’re Daijalan without proof,” Caoimhe said, scowling.
“We all know there’s only one country who would order this atrocity. Blaine is still in the fort, and half the wardens in there arechildren,” Honovi said.
The ping of bullets hitting the steel-lined hull and air balloon could barely be heard over the thrum of the engines, but it proved they’d been spotted. Honovi scowled, steering the airship higher on a vertical launch that had him bracing his feet against the decking out of habit.
An explosion echoed through the air, sounding close below, and his mouth twisted as shouts from the deck filtered in. “That was the hangar.”
“Hold ascent trajectory.” Caoimhe clicked the radio back on. “Drop a payload if you have a target in sight.”
Honovi was used to flying airships meant for trade, not for war, but the logistics of flight were the same. He kept his hands steady on the controls even as two more explosions sounded below—their airship’s bombs creating havoc on the ground.
But the ground wasn’t the only thing they had to worry about.
“Let’s knock those airships out of the sky,” Honovi said.
His navigator, standing on the other side of Caoimhe, offered a tight nod of agreement. “They’re flying in from the west, and we’re currently higher in altitude than they are.”
“Aim for the engines,” Caoimhe said.
Altitude and speed were the kingmakers in an aerial fight, and Honovi had claimed both by dint of superior flight mechanics. He banked the airship west, guided by his navigator into a dive that made the body of the airship pull against the cabling attached to the balloon. The ballasts groaned with the sudden change demanded of them, but the gauges were far from the red of warning, and he kept his vector steady.
Caoimhe clicked the radio on again. “Take the shot when you have it.”
The horizon tilted, mountains coming into view once more, blue sky disappearing. The dive brought them swooping down over the Celestine Lake, the pair of airships well within sight and Zip gun range. Honovi’s job as captain was to fly, and his grip was steady as he guided the airship down.
The edge of the control panel dug into his thighs as he braced his feet against the decking, half listening to his navigator rattle off numbers as the needle on the gauges moved. He could see the way the other two airships started to rise, hoping to get above theCelestial Sprite, but no matter their make, they weren’t running E’ridian engines.
Honovi didn’t particularly enjoy the idea of a two-against-one aerial dogfight. They didn’t have time for that, not with the Warden’s Island still under attack. Honovi had to stay above them, get his airship’s heavy artillery in range, and take them out, engine first.
One at a time.
The military crew he flew with was used to the speeds of a military airship. They’d be hooked into the safety lines and manning their positions, so Honovi didn’t worry too much about the steep angle of the dive. Mere seconds later and the sound of the heavy-caliber Zip gun spitting out a rapid volley could be heard over the engine.
The Zip gun was in the fore section of the airship, belowdecks, and so Honovi couldn’t see it from his position in the flight deck. But he saw the aftermath of its attack, the way the balloon on the other airshiprippedacross the entire length of the unprotected top as the gunner shot a line of bullets down into the enemy’s flight deck and hull and finally its engine.
The balloon didn’t deflate—it’d take at least a day, really, for the gas to disperse—but the damage done to the other airship’s engine meant it would never fly again. Black smoke poured from the stern of that airship, tongues of red-orange fire erupting from the damage. The explosion, when it came, tore through the decking and hull and burned through the balloon. The cabling snapped over the stern, the weight of the airship breaking the rest. Fiery debris fell toward the water, the balloon a fluttering, burning tail.
Honovi pulled out of the dive, airship groaning as the engines changed pitch. He caught a glimpse of a handful of that other airship’s crew pitching themselves into open air. If they had jump vests, with chutes to slow their fall to earth, they might survive the downing of their airship. Except they were over the Celestine Lake, and even if they survived the fall, they might not survive the poison that lurked in the waters below.
Honovi hoped they didn’t.
“Keep your eyes on the target,” Caoimhe barked into the radio. “We’re going to make another pass. Priority is taking out the sky support.”
Honovi tuned out the shouting coming from all around him, eyes flicking across the control panel before focusing on the horizon again, a continuous pattern that fed him information. He yanked at a lever, wanting more altitude, listening as the engines changed pitch and wanting desperately to have Blaine with him.
Caoimhe kept her attention focused forward as Honovi fought to climb faster than the last remaining airship. “You’re a good aeronaut captain.”
“Just making sure we all get out of this alive,” Honovi grunted.
