“Sun is coming up,” their navigator said.
Caoimhe studied the gauges rather than the maps long since tossed aside during the night. “Get us in formation with the others. I want the sun behind us.”
With the allied forces having pushed in from the east, it meant they had the upper hand in the early morning during sunrise, while sunset aided the Daijal army. Flying with the sun behind them meant the enemy didn’t have good line of sight for attacks. That didn’t mean it would stop them from fighting.
“Falling into staggered formation,” Honovi said as he kept half his attention on the gauges and the other half on the controls.
Most of the airships deployed in the skies over Amari were E’ridian. The Ashion army had lost many of theirs through attrition since last year, and the Legion’s expertise lent itself more to land-based war machines than those that flew. Even with Eimarille’s attack on Compass Air Force Base and the Ferric Repair Yard back in E’ridia, their air force was still something to be reckoned with.
The radio crackled to life, and Caoimhe snatched it up. Honovi kept his attention on steering them into position with the sun behind them. Other E’ridian airships joined them high above the reach of anti-airship artillery as aeroplanes flew around them, tangling with Daijalan aeroplanes in dog fights over the prairie.
The aerial battlefield had moved away from the trenches, spreading out around the plains surrounding Amari. Regrouping would help focus their efforts on a bombing run of the city walls, something Honovi knew the Daijalans were preparing to defend against, as they had before. But E’ridia had sent more airships to support the retaking of Amari, and Daijal had lost plenty in the past two weeks of heavy battle. Their war machines on the ground could be mass-produced, but airships took time to build. With Daijal trying to defend two fronts, Ashion and its allies had a better chance to break through now than they had before.
“All gunners, be ready for a line fight. Bombardiers, pick your targets,” Caoimhe said sometime later on a local announcement through the radio, her voice echoing through the airship.
Honovi maneuvered the levers and toggles to pilot theCelestial Spriteforward. A glance to either side out the flight deck windows showed other airships flying with him in formation. Enough distance between them meant squadrons of aeroplanes could pass through and meet the enemy aeroplanes head-on.
E’ridian airships still had the higher altitude, and they used that to their advantage when many began to descend in sharp dives, picking out their targets of enemy airships. Artillery from theCelestial Sprite’s fore gunners ripped through the air in bright lines of passage, arcing toward the balloon of the airship in their sights. Honovi took in Caoimhe’s yelled orders and kept them in the current dive as aeroplanes buzzed past them, picking out their own targets. They came in at an angle, Honovi reading gauges and controls as he kept them dancing in the air with the other airship, just barely out of reach of their runners due to the angle of their guns and altitude.
TheCelestial Sprite’s gunners had no problem targeting the enemy airship. The streaks of their bullets led the way in the dive as he piloted the airship closer. The distance between the two airships was negligible when bullets were involved, and his airship’s gunners didn’t waste time with targeting the balloon. Their attacks went straight for the engine, ripping across the hull on the way to that vulnerable spot.
An aeroplane flew between them, above the line of fire, and took out an enemy aeroplane off their port side. The explosion filled the sky with smoke, making it difficult to see any oncoming threat. Honovi piloted them lower, flattening out the dive as he banked hard to starboard. His feet skidded against the decking even as he braced himself against the swing of the airship against the wires that connected it to the balloon. Honovi dug his heels in and wrenched himself back into position.
“Pull up! Pull up!” Caoimhe yelled.
Honovi obeyed without argument, yanking at the levers and switching toggles to get theCelestial Spriteto ascend as quickly as possible. They weren’t quite fast enough as the airship they’d been targeting exploded, the force of the blast rocking their hull harder than expected. He flew them through black smoke with steady hands, squinting into the distance at their next target—another airship and, if they were lucky, the outer city wall eventually.
They still had bombs to drop, and Honovi had every intention of breaking down the gate to provide his husband and the others with reinforcements inside the capital.
Nine
NATHANIEL
They came out in sunlight, in an alleyway behind a building whose windows were all closed and dark. Nathaniel squinted against how bright it was, glad to be out of the catacomb tunnel and its tight space. The number of revenants Caris and Soren had burned through had been concerning, and he tried not to think about the dust and ash coating his trousers, telling himself none of it was spores.
Their small group had survived the revenants below, and Soren made sure the grate that doubled as a hatch was secured and locked. Revenants couldn’t really climb, but no one wanted to take the chance of leaving an access point open to that threat.
“Does anyone know where we are?” Caris asked.
“Between the second and third inner city walls. Southeastern quadrant, so we won’t have to cross the Serpentine River,” Blaine said, looking at the map.
“We’ll just have to cross every Daijalan soldier on duty between here and the civic center. At least the uniforms will help,” Maurus said.
“We just need to make sure no one on our side of the fight shoots at us,” Soren said mildly.
Nathaniel watched as Blaine unclipped a televox from his belt, flicking it open with his thumb. “I’ll ring Honovi and get an assessment of the walls if he answers.”
They could all hear the distant sound of explosions, which meant the fighting from last night hadn’t stopped. What advance their side of the battle had made was impossible to know from their current position.
Waiting for thejarlto answer the call was a tense few moments. Blaine’s shoulders never lost the tightness to them, even when it was obvious someone had answered the call. “Good to hear your voice. My group is in. What of the skies?”
The call was brief, lasting only seconds, which made sense if Honovi was captaining an airship in the midst of battle. Blaine’s expression of grim determination didn’t change, but at least Nathaniel didn’t see any grief in his eyes.
“Any news?” Caris asked worriedly.
Blaine nodded. “He couldn’t say much, but he did say most of the anti-aircraft guns have been destroyed.”
“They probably took portions of the outer wall with them. We’ll have to expect revenants in the streets in the outer neighborhoods,” Soren said.
