Chapter 31
Desperate to Rest
The sound of air being cut apart at a high rate of speed woke Dastou. He flexed a hand and his fingers grazed something soft, slippery. It was also completely soaked, but his whole body felt that way. He was bouncing up and down, his body shaking. The Saint opened his eyes to look around, which took a great deal of effort, much more than moving his hand. It was still dark, still raining, and the chiming music in his mind was mostly gone. The headache that took the place of the alarmingly foreign noise was no better.
After a short experiment, he found that he could move his head without aggravating the headache. He tilted his head left and found Crawford, lying next to him shoulder-to-shoulder, unconscious or asleep. Or dead, he found himself admitting. To his right, practically sitting on his other arm, was Trenna. She was waving frantically, her hands as high as she could get them.
The origin of the sound air being battered was a helicopter coming at them from the direction she was facing. The machine was big, he could tell – a transport helicopter. It was swooping down toward the Saint, who now realized he was on an inflatable life raft bobbing on the ocean.
More importantly, he was wondering what Trenna was doing. There were not many helicopters in the world, and before today they belonged to Ornadais Academy and the DSF or to Cypher-controlled fire-fighting stations. He’d have to assume Blackbrick would have some too, seeing as how they had warships. For all he knew, Trenna was desperate for rescue after admirably, miraculously dragging him and Crawford to a life raft and was flagging down their enemy without realizing it.
Dastou lifted his head off the inflatable to get a better look at the helicopter, but pain spread from the base of his neck to his jaw and reached his temple. Dizziness overtook him, piercing his eyes like daggers. He fell back down, and Trenna sensed his movement because she stopped waving madly and looked at him. She brought herself down close to him, said something, her mouth making big movements as if she was yelling to get above the helicopter’s spinning blades. Dastou’s mind was ruled by nausea, and he didn’t hear anything at all as his eyes shut again. He felt Trenna shake him, try to keep him awake, but she did not succeed.
Blurred Weaponry (Saints of the Void, Book 1) Page 46
