Good Company
Page 44
Raek reached out, grasping Ard’s coat at the neck to keep the two of them from separating in the air. Ard had a lot of questions for his big friend. Namely, How the blazing sparks are we going to get down? But Ard couldn’t breathe, let alone speak.
They were at the apex of their flight, any moment to begin the death-sentence descent, when Raek reached up with his free hand and ripped something off his ammunition sash. It was a Grit bolt, but the clay arrowhead was a different color from the Barrier bolts Ard had used earlier.
Raek gripped the shaft in one hand. Reaching back, he smashed the clay tip against Ard’s left shoulder. The Grit detonated, throwing a fresh Drift cloud around them.
Ard felt the weightlessness return, along with a throb on his shoulder from where Raek had detonated the bolt. Guess he had that coming.
In this smaller, new Drift cloud, high over the road, the two men were no longer falling. They were shooting straight through the air, their velocity and trajectory maintained in the weightless environment.
In a flash, they had passed out the other side of the cloud. But before gravity could begin pulling them down, Raek detonated a second Drift bolt, this time shattering the clay tip on Ard’s other shoulder.
They were flying. Sparks! Actually flying! High over the heads of their enemies, leaving both Regulators and goons behind. A few lead balls were fired in their direction, but there was little chance of getting hit, moving at the rate they were, spinning dizzying circles through the air.
One after another, Raek detonated the Drift bolts, the discolored clouds slightly overlapping as the two men shot horizontally through the air.
The concept of propelling an object over long distances through a series of detonated Drift clouds was not unheard-of. It was the basis for moving heavy materials used in the construction of tall buildings. But for a person to fly like this, unsheltered, the only calculations done impromptu and under gunfire. This was madness and genius, mixed and detonated on the spot.
The two flying men cleared the cliff shoreline, and Ard saw the harbor and docks just below. They exited the latest Drift cloud, the eighth, as Ard was made painfully aware from the welts on his back, and finally began to descend. Gravity ruled over them once more, and Ard judged that they’d slam down right against the first wooden dock.
“Two more!” Raek shouted. He crushed another Drift bolt on Ard’s back, maintaining the angle of their fall and buying them a little more distance. As soon as they exited, Raek detonated the last bolt. They soared downward, past the docks and moored ships. Ard saw the Double Take below, docked in the farthest spot, a tactical location to speed their getaway.
They exited the final cloud and Ard watched the rapidly approaching water. He had hoped for a more elegant ending to their haphazard flight. Instead, he’d be hitting the bay at tremendous speeds, shackles locked around both wrists, holding a terribly heavy safe box.
Well, I’m certainly not bored, thought Ardor Benn. He took a deep breath.
It begins here. Although, for me, I suppose this is something of an ending.
With a different prize every month,
from advance copies of books by
your favourite authors to exclusive
merchandise packs,
we think you’ll find something you love.
facebook.com/OrbitBooksUK
@OrbitBooks
www.orbitbooks.net