Calling the Change (Sky Raiders Book 2)

by Michelle Diener

They had stopped, too, dancing their panicky zanir in place.

  She looked back at the sky craft and the first dart of hope pierced her chest, a painful, stabbing joy that made her want to cry out.

  Garek?

  The guards made no effort to come closer, struggling to keep their zanir from running, but not urging them forward, either.

  “I must admit, this is a surprise.” It was Xinta, the guard who had tricked Gaffri and Fek, and then killed them.

  The guard with her was edging back, but she forced her zanir forward a few paces.

  They weren't looking for her.

  The thought held Taya still for a moment. The look of shock and interest on Xinta's face had been real.

  So who were they looking for, especially in conjunction with a sky craft?

  Her breath caught in her throat, and her eyes widened.

  Luci.

  Everyone from Cassinya, headed back home on a long, lonely road, slowed down by leviks and delayed on their journey by the liege himself.

  The depth of the betrayal made her knees weak. If they hadn't chosen to use the short cut, the path that had been lost through the years and only seen from above, they might already be in the sky craft, on their way back to Shadow.

  “We might not have been expecting you, but you're definitely of interest to them, too. There's nowhere for you to go, so I would suggest giving in gracefully.” Xinta's zanir danced in place, wanting to retreat in the face of the noisy sky craft, but too well-trained to disobey its rider.

  Taya took a deep breath.

  Knowing what Xinta had done to Fek and Gaffri, the sky craft was the better bet. And there was a chance Garek was inside.

  Taya moved toward it, not hurrying, but putting distance between herself and the two guards.

  The longer the sky craft sat there, though, the faster her heart sank.

  Garek would at the very least have opened the door for her by now, if not jumped down and helped her any way he could against the guards.

  Her steps slowed.

  She swung her gaze back to Xinta, but she and her fellow guard were still hanging back, no closer to her than they had been before.

  It seemed even though Habred had done a deal with the sky raiders, his people were still afraid of them.

  She made her choice, and started walking toward the craft again, but she kept glancing at the wall of green, looking for a small gap to squeeze through.

  The door of the sky craft opened, and she stumbled to a stop.

  The tall figure in the doorway was in a dark blue suit and wore a helmet. There was something clutched in his hand.

  She looked back at the guards, but instead of running, they were now, at last, moving forward. Forcing her ahead of them, like a levik to its slaughter pen.

  Taya looked down at her boots, her vision narrowed for a moment on their shape and color, the way the dust of the road coated them, the way they molded her legs.

  She was trapped.

  She could sit down, refuse to move, but the device she'd seen in the sky raider's hand was a familiar one. The little boxes that shot white lightning.

  She did not want to be shot again, even with the smaller, portable version of the weapon.

  She let her shoulders droop, and began walking again, head down, toward the sky craft.

  When she reached the ladder, she grasped it and pulled herself up a few steps, and looked back at the two guards.

  “Aren't you even a little ashamed?”

  They'd moved back when it was clear she would allow herself to be taken without a fight, and neither of them answered.

  They turned and began galloping away, back toward Luf.

  She watched them go with a sense of satisfaction. Only one front to fight on, now.

  She reached the top of the stairs, and the sky raider, who'd climbed back into the craft when she'd started up the ladder, leaned out and handed her a helmet.

  She looked at her reflection in the glass of his visor and then at the same reflection in the helmet she was holding. Of course they'd have the air mixed to suit themselves inside the sky craft, not her.

  She put the helmet on and suppressed a moment of panic when the sky raider leaned out again to twist a clamp at the back of it to create a seal, then pulled her pack off her shoulders and threw it down onto the ground below.

  She turned, a protest on her lips, and saw the sky raider had his white lightning device pointed at her, the inference being she should shut up and get inside the craft.

  She complied, unsurprised to find there were two of them, one sitting in the pilot's chair.

  The door closed behind her, and both sky raiders took their helmets off.

  She'd seen a sky raider before, but never without a helmet unless they were dead. There was the same detached, frightening interest in their eyes when they looked her over as she'd encountered before.

  The shock of being studied so intently meant it took her a moment to register the noise, a kind of high pitched shriek, which had started up the moment she stepped into the cabin.

  The sound forced the sky raiders' attention away from her as they registered it, too.

  The engines had never been switched off, and the craft had lifted off the moment the door had closed behind her.

  Over the noise, the two sky raiders were barking at each other in their own language, and they seemed panicked.

  She used their distraction, pulling on the shadow ore knife in her boot so it slid up her leg into her waiting hand.

  Then she lunged forward, running the flat blade of the knife along the console on the arm rest of the pilot's chair.

  The craft dropped, skipping along the road like a stone on a rough sea.

  The engine failure threw her against one of the walls of the craft, the helmet cushioning the blow. She held on tight to the knife, dragging it against everything in reach, above her head, on the ground, against the wall.

  The piercing shriek did not let up, and as she was flung across the floor again, she saw the look of horror on the pilot's face as he realized what was in her hand.

  It took her a moment to understand the air burning her throat was because her helmet wasn't working anymore, and as she reached back to twist the clamp and pull it off, she recalled the hiss of sound when she'd brushed her knife against it when she was flung across the craft.

  She finally got the helmet off, but the air was no better inside the cabin.

  As she struggled up onto her elbows, head bowed, to cough, the sky craft spun around and she caught a glimpse of the sky raider not in the pilot's seat kneeling over a depression in the floor.

  The sky craft door opened as he reached in and turned a dial and she gasped and tried to take a deep breath as air from outside began to flow in.

  The craft tilted downward at her end, sliding down a hill with a screech of metal on rock, and the sky raider who'd opened the door was screaming something at the pilot.

  Another crazy turn flipped her over, and the next time she looked up, the pilot was staring at her again, helmet poised above his head, the cruel interest in his eyes gone now, replaced by wild terror.

  He slammed the helmet down and jumped out after his co-pilot, and Taya slid her knife back into her boot and started crawling across the floor to the door herself.

  With a shudder, the craft came to a halt.

  She was thrown flat on her back, but when nothing more happened, she managed to get to the door on her hands and knees and stick her head out.

  The sky craft lay half on its side, one end in a shallow stream, the rest leaning at an angle against the steep bank.

  She scrambled out the door, which was facing straight up at the sky and leaned over the side to find the ground wasn't too far away.

  A movement caught her eye, and she looked up the hill.

  The two sky raiders were struggling to their feet in a sloping field whose ground had been torn up by the sky craft's passage.

  One of them started fumbling at his belt, a
nd she saw he was going for the white lightning device clipped to it.

  Taya called her Change, the shadow ore knife sliding into her hand with a sweet inevitability.

  She threw it, aimed it in mid-flight, and the tip struck the sky raider's helmet with a satisfying crack.

  She called it back, needing the feel of the smooth metal on her skin before she threw it again.

  The second sky raider was staring at his friend.

  It was possible he didn't understand what had just happened.

  Taya threw the knife again.

  The sky raider saw it coming and staggered back, stepping out of the way.

  She changed the knife's course.

  It didn't hit with the same velocity, but it did hit.

  This time, the crack of metal on glass was softer, and she was able to hear the fizz as the helmet's systems died.

  She called the knife back, crouched on the edge of the sky craft, and watched them run out of air.

  She was breathing hard by the time they died, in sympathy with them, even though she did nothing to help them.

  Both of them took off their helmets toward the end. The one with the little white lightning shooter tried to shoot at her when he realized there was going to be no help, but the shot went wild and he hit the ground instead.

  After they fell down, she stayed where she was, lightly balanced on the lip of the sky craft, until she was sure there was no way they were getting back up.

  She jumped down, shook out the ache in her legs, and went to collect the little black device.

  Garek had taken four of them on Shadow and given two to Kas. She didn't want Habred to get hold of one.

  She had to look for it, because he'd dropped it, and then spun away from it toward the end, but eventually she found it trodden into the dark, churned earth of the field.

  She put it into her coat pocket and then headed up the deep groove the sky craft had carved out of the field, to go get her pack.

  The scream of another sky craft stopped her in her tracks.

  She looked up and found it hovering overhead.

  If the sky raiders had gotten in a call for help, this could be it.

  The shadow ore knife slid back into her hand and she grasped the black device with the other.

  The craft settled down in front of her, throwing up so much dust she had to turn away, in an exact repeat of what happened earlier.

  Only this time, as the craft settled onto the ground, the door opened immediately, and the person who flung himself out of it was exactly the person she wanted to see.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  Garek didn't know how long they stood in each others arms in the field.

  He didn't really care, other than to worry a little about the sky raiders who might come looking for their people and their craft.

  His face was buried against Taya's neck, his lips pressed against her skin, his arms tight around her.

  She was thin. Even thinner than she'd been when they'd gotten back from Shadow. She seemed more delicate, more breakable than before.

  He inhaled a breath, drawing her scent into his lungs.

  She pressed a kiss against his collarbone and then leaned back a little to cup his face between her hands.

  He saw the scrape on the side of her head, and brushed back her hair for a better look.

  “Who?”

  “Rock fall, created by Fek and Gaffri fighting each other.” She was threading her fingers in his hair, and he tipped his head to give her better access.

  “They're dead.” He heard the regret in his voice, and didn't know whether to tell her it was because he wouldn't have the opportunity to kill them himself, or not.

  She nodded. Pulled his head down closer for a kiss, and then he was lost for long moments, exploring her mouth.

  He didn't know how long Falk stood waiting behind him, but the scientist eventually cleared his throat.

  Taya went still and tried to pull away.

  “It's just Falk,” he said against the smooth skin of her cheek.

  “Who's Falk?”

  “No one.” He drew her closer again, but she ducked her head to look around him and with a sigh, he stepped to the side so she could see, sliding his arm around her shoulders.

  “Sorry to interrupt, but how did that happen?” Falk pointed to the sky craft, tilted at a drunken angle, and the two bodies lying in the field.

  Taya didn't answer right away. Then she drew in a deep breath. “I happened.”

  Falk jerked his gaze to Garek, disbelief in his eyes, and Garek gave him a shrug. He was more interested in the two guards they'd seen riding away. “What were those two Luf guards doing, heading back to Luf? Did you see them?”

  She nodded, leaning against him in a way that made his heart full. “I took a shortcut through the forest, and came out a little way from here.” She waved her hand in the direction of the road. “I hadn't been on the main road for long when Xinta and her friend came galloping along, and I was caught between them and the sky raiders.”

  “They were working together?” This is what Gern had told him, that Habred had some deal with the sky raiders, but he'd been reluctant to consider it.

  She nodded. “They weren't looking for me, though. I was just a bonus. Xinta blocked my way and waited until I was climbing up into the sky craft before she left.”

  “Who were they looking for?” He could feel her trembling against him, and looked down. It was a shock to see the expression on her face was of rage, not fear.

  “They were looking for Luci. For everyone from Cassinya.”

  Garek was so shocked, he couldn't speak.

  “Never mind that.” Falk was shaking his head. “How did you bring them down?” He started walking toward the sky raiders.

  Garek sensed Taya hesitate as she watched him pick his way over the furrows. “I used my knife.”

  Falk looked over at her, startled. “How big is your knife?”

  She put her hand to her side, and suddenly the knife was there. She lifted it up to show Falk.

  “That's it?”

  “It's not a normal knife.”

  “Shadow ore?” Falk looked over at Garek, as if he could confirm it, rather than Taya herself. “It's made of shadow ore?”

  “They made the mistake of allowing me on board,” Taya told him with a shrug. “I don't think I could have done much from the outside.”

  “Did you know this would happen?” Falk was standing over a sky raider's body, his gaze riveted by what he saw.

  “I had a good idea.” She lowered her hand, and slid the knife back into her boot. “It was either climb into the sky craft and hope the shadow ore affected it, or be knocked out. So I chose to do things under my own terms.”

  “How could they have knocked you out?” Falk asked, but he had turned away, and was walking toward the sky craft.

  Taya flicked a glance up at Garek, and tapped her pocket.

  He ran his hand down her side and felt the hard square lump of a device he knew well. He'd given two of the four he'd stolen to Kas, but he still had two at the bottom of his pack.

  They had threatened her with it.

  He forced himself to give her a tiny shake of his head, to let her know not to say anything to Falk about it, but it was hard to remain calm, to act normally.

  He remembered how it felt to be shot with one.

  He looked up, and for the first time in a while, hoped he did see a sky craft coming to help the downed sky raiders.

  Falk was standing in front of the sky craft now, looking for a way up, and then he disappeared around the back of it.

  “Who is he?” Taya asked as they walked toward the sky craft after him.

  “He's a scientist. He used to work for the Gara town master. He was studying the sky craft I brought down. I used him to get it back when I found out you'd been taken.”

  “Ah.” She said nothing more, and he was content not to speak as well. There would be time for that. For them to fill each other in
on what had happened. Right now, he just liked the feel of her against his side, the way she fitted under his arm and matched her steps to his as they navigated the thick clods of earth ripped up by the sky craft as it had slid across the field.

  Her touch, the feel of her, was as vital as the connection he felt when he called his Change. When he became one with the air.

  Falk reappeared, scrabbling for purchase on the roof, and then disappeared from sight.

  The ladder to the door stuck out horizontal to the ground, and Garek put his hands on Taya's hips, kissed her neck again, just because he could, and threw her up, calling his Change so she landed lightly on the ladder.

  He waited for her to walk along it to the door, then launched himself up.

  “Hey.” Falk's head popped out of the door as the craft groaned a little under the weight of his landing. “What are you . . .? Oh.”

  He disappeared back in, and Taya swung in after him. She was sitting on the floor, legs braced to keep her in place because of the steep angle, when Garek joined her.

  She pointed to a small open panel. “Emergency door opener,” she said.

  He knelt beside it, trying to picture where it would be on his sky craft for future reference. Which reminded him, they couldn't leave his craft in the field unprotected for long.

  “We need to go, Falk.”

  “I know, I know. But this thing is dead. Totally dead.” Falk was fiddling with the console and shaking his head. “I was hoping we could revive it. Another one would be good but . . . what did you do?”

  Taya pulled out her knife, slid a little closer to the pilot's chair, and ran the flat blade of the knife along the arm.

  “That's it?” Falk held out his hand for the knife, and after a moment's hesitation, Taya handed it to him.

  “Where were the sky raiders when you did that?” Garek asked her.

  “One was piloting, the other was standing next to me. But they were distracted by the screeching.”

  “The craft was flying when you did it?” He should have understood that. How else had it dug a groove in the road, spun across a field and ended up in a stream?

  “They took off the moment the door closed.” She was watching him with steady eyes, and then she smiled, and his breath caught. “They weren't actually looking for me, I was a surprise catch, so I don't think they understood much about me. If they had, they'd have been more concerned at first when that warning alarm sounded.”