Page 53 of Storm to Victory
“I do not think they believe you.” Dacha raised his hand, his magic crackling around him. It coated the inside of the bridge, and more machine gun bullets incinerated against it.
An explosion shook the whole airship, bucking the deck beneath Fieran’s feet so violently that he was flung forward, the metal wheel digging into his ribs.
Pip gave another shriek as she clung to the engine controls. Still gripping the metal stand, she tilted her head upward. “I think that was a boiler. The readings from boiler two are off, and it’s showing elevated temperatures in the engine room.”
“The coal bunkers will catch fire.” Dacha slammed one of the levers, venting more air from the balloons. The deck tilted even more steeply beneath their feet, and Fieran had to brace himself more firmly against the wheel.
The three airships still pounded away at them, showing not a shred of mercy.
Uncle Edmund dashed out of the radio room, gripping various gauges and edges of control stations to keep himself from sliding on the slick, steeply tilted floor. He halted next to Pip at the engine controls. “Do you have enough engine power to give us some headway? Fieran will need some steering control to crash this safely.”
Crash. Fieran hadn’t let himself think the word. But hearing it sent his heart hammering in his ears, his gut twisting. His fingers would have trembled, if he hadn’t been gripping the wheel so tightly.
There was a whooshing sound, something between an explosion and a roaring wind. The airship hung for a moment before its descent turned into a dive.
Pip screamed as her feet fell out from under her.
“Pip!” Fieran tried to push away from the wheel, but he couldn’t move quickly with the force pressing him forward. Beside him, Dacha crouched with one foot on the deck and one on the front panel, which was rapidly becoming the floor.
Uncle Edmund grabbed Pip’s arm, his other hand clutching one of the levers on the engine control panel. With a grunt, he pulled her upward so that both of them were dangling semi-securely from the engine controls.
Wind blasted through the openings where the windows had once been, the ground rushing toward them far too fast.
Everything whirled and tilted. Wind roaring. Explosions shaking the airship’s frame. Nothing but ground outside the windows.
“Fieran!” Pip’s voice ripped his gaze upward.
He met her eyes, his hand reaching for her even though he couldn’t stretch far enough. “Your magic! We need a shield!”
Her magic flickered into a globe around them, shimmering and looking all too flimsy compared to the ground rising to meet them.
Dacha released his magic and pulled himself along the front console.
And then everything was imploding and crumpling and the last thing Fieran knew before the world went black was his dacha’s arms wrapping around him.
Chapter
Sixteen
Everything hurt. Her mouth was gummy. Her brain banged against her skull.
She cracked her eyes open. The world was fire and smoke and twisted metal.
Figures picked their way through the debris. “There are two more over here!”
Then a person was standing over her, kneeling, pressing a chemical-smelling rag to her face. And she was fading back into the darkness once more.
Pip groaned and shifted.She seemed to be lying on something hard and metal, her arms twisted at an awkward angle as something unyielding dug into her wrists. Her head pounded like a ball-peen hammer was rapping at her skull.
“That’s it. Take it easy. Crashing isn’t fun.” A voice was talking in a soothing tone.
She groaned again and blinked her gritty eyes, squinting as she struggled to focus.
She was in the cargo bed of a military truck. The floor and sides were metal while canvas was stretched on metal ribbing above her head. Her hands were shackled to a rail at the front of the cargo space.
Prince Edmund sat with his back to the front of the cargo bed, his arms twisted to the side since they, too, were shackled to the rail. His clothes, both the Mongavarian uniform and the Escarlish clothing beneath, were ripped, blackened, and begrimed. But he didn’t appear to have any cuts or gashes. He regarded her with a searching look. “Are you all right?”
“I think so.” When she pulled herself into a sitting position, her head pounded, her muscles ached, but nothing screamed with intense pain. “Just a horrible headache.”
