High Flyer (Verdant String)

by Michelle Diener

  The river was narrower up here, more a stream, and the way was a lot rockier.

  The lander bounced as Hana kept the speed up and Iver grunted as he bashed into the side of the door.

  “Your ribs?” Hana asked, slowing down a little.

  He nodded. “Don't slow down.”

  She gave a laugh. “This beats walking, I can tell you that. If only I could have borrowed this yesterday.”

  He had forgotten, totally forgotten, that she had spent the day before walking from the camp to leave a message for Craven, as a way to shake things up and hopefully create a chance for them to escape.

  “Your plan worked.” He knew she had done the only thing that she could, and had done it without much hope it would create the situation she hoped for, but she had gone ahead nonetheless.

  “It seems to have.” The road was too rough for her to look over at him, her concentration was on the ground ahead, but her lips twitched up in a smile. “Let's hope our luck holds.”

  “How long did it take you?”

  She lifted a shoulder, her knuckles white as they gripped the steering wheel. “About two hours to get there. I waited until it was dark to move down to where they'd ambushed the lander, lit the flare and then got away as fast as possible. It took me longer to get back because I hurt my foot running away after I lit the flare.”

  He leaned across and put a hand on her thigh. Squeezed.

  She lifted a hand off the wheel for a moment to pat the top of his. “You would have done the same. You put your life on the line to stop Bret using you as a hostage to bring me in. I got away lightly compared to you.”

  “There is no scorekeeping, remember?”

  She spared a moment to glance at him, then went back to watching the path. “Let's just say we watch each other's backs.”

  “I'm happy with that.”

  The hint of a smile played across her lips. “Me, too. I--”

  The way she bit off the sentence, the sudden tension in her body, had him looking ahead.

  “Shit.”

  There was a line of six people standing across the valley floor, rocks piled behind them as a barrier.

  The way was blocked.

  “Craven's people.” Hana thumped the steering wheel with a fist. “There are a lot more of them than we thought.”

  “This must be their insurance, their way to make sure Bret couldn't escape.”

  Hana skidded to a halt, then began turning the lander.

  The smugglers started running toward them, but she worked with absolute calm, swinging the wheel, reversing, and then spinning them around to face back the way they'd come.

  “We're trapped.” She blew a piece of hair away that had fallen over her eye.

  He said nothing, his gaze ahead. “Bret's people are behind us, not Craven and Jake's. We're between two sets of enemies who won't work together. And we have a significant lead on Grimms and Baxter.”

  “That's true.” She was looking out her window, to the right, as there was no place to turn left, the valley slope was too steep.

  Suddenly, she swung the wheel, taking the lander off the path toward the stream, and he saw the place she was aiming for. The stream narrowed to a point where it would have been easy to jump from one side to the other, and she took the lander over it.

  The whole vehicle shuddered as the wheels dipped into the water and then hit the rocks on the other side.

  There was a scraping sound that put his teeth on edge, and then they were flying up the slope.

  “This clear run isn't going to last.” Hana jerked her head toward the row of rocks ahead of them that had once reminded Iver of sentinels. Now they were a blockade, barring the way up the mountain side.

  She turned before she reached them, heading up the valley, in the direction of Touka City, but there was no gap wide enough to fit the lander through, and no way of going over them. Eventually, she braked.

  “We're going to deliver ourselves right back to them.”

  They were almost back in line with Craven's people on the path below.

  She put the lander in reverse and moved back, much more slowly this time, and the wheels popped and shuddered over the loose rocks.

  Iver put a hand on her shoulder when they reached a point that was above a particularly sheer drop into the stream below.

  She stopped. Looked from him to the drop.

  She sighed. “It seems a waste, but yes. They won't be able to salvage the lander if it goes down there.”

  “Before we send it down, let's make sure there's nothing useful in the back.” Iver jumped out and Hana joined him as he opened the back doors, but Bret had made sure the lander was completely unpacked. There was nothing left inside.

  They still had their bags that they'd originally taken from it, though, so they weren't completely without supplies. Iver went to the front to grab them and Hana climbed into the lander and carefully swung the wheel so that its nose was pointing down.

  She stopped when the back bumped against a rock and she couldn't reverse any more. She slid out the driver's side, leaned through the open door to release the brake, and jumped back.

  The lander roared as it picked up speed down the incline, then went into free fall the rest of the way into the stream.

  The impact sent a tremor through the ground and a few rocks and pebbles skittered underfoot and tumbled after it.

  Iver moved forward and saw it had come to rest front first in the water.

  He looked left, saw Craven's people reacting with shock as they took in what he and Hana had done.

  “It's a pity.” Hana sighed and he slid a hand along her shoulder and gently threaded his fingers in her hair.

  Satisfaction flared inside him at the sight of the only way out for his enemies lying like vanquished prey below them. They would not be using the lander to get the engine out of the Spikes.

  “No one's going anywhere now.” He didn't hide his approval.

  He heard a shout from the right and turned, saw Grimms and Baxter were on small buzzers, similar to the colorful dru-dru people used in Touka City but a more robust version, built for use out in the wilderness.

  They had slid to a stop--like Craven's people, they were staring at the lander--and then their gazes went up to where Iver and Hana were standing.

  “I don't think they're very happy with us.”

  Hana gave a strangled laugh. “No. I don't think things would go as well for us if we were caught again.”

  Then she went still, her head twisting to the left in a snap. “Someone's coming in a lander.”

  He turned to look, shading his eyes with a hand against the afternoon sun.

  There was a glint of sunlight on glass from far down the valley, and then a lander lumbered into view. It came to a stop on the other side of the rocks that Craven's people had put in place and someone jumped out the driver's side.

  Six others jumped out the back, all dressed in the security forces uniform Iver was wearing himself, taken from the stolen stores at the back of the lander.

  “That looks like . . .” He squinted to get a better look.

  “It's Simon.” Hana's voice was soft. “Looks like Bret's got himself some backup.”

  A sudden flurry of shots were fired below, as Craven's people realized what was happening, and Simon's people attacked.

  Everyone ducked down, taking cover behind rocks, while one of Craven's people lay sprawled on the ground with a SAL dart in their chest.

  “Which way do we go?” Hana's teeth gnawed on her bottom lip. “Neither side is friendly.”

  “We go deeper into the Spikes.” There was no guarantee they wouldn't be killed if they were caught again. They were stuck between the two factions and hadn't made friends on either side.

  For now, he and Hana had done as much as they could to slow things down. It was time to think of themselves, and get to safety.

  Grimms and Baxter revved their buzzers and started moving across the valley floor in their direction. />
  Their time to consider their options had just run out.

  Chapter 27

  The high-pitched whine of the two buzzers had long since faded, and now all Hana could hear was the cry of birds above and the wind through the trees lining the narrow pass.

  That and her and Iver's breathing.

  The air was thin up here, and even with her upgrade, she struggled to draw a full breath.

  At least there was no sign anyone was following them.

  Hana gave herself the luxury of a grin at the thought of Grimms and Baxter finding the way too rough for their buzzers. They wouldn't have wanted to risk leaving them and following on foot, not with Craven's people down below them.

  Besides, with the arrival of Simon and his reinforcements they would be needed more urgently elsewhere.

  Iver was right, this route was their best option. And both the groups they had escaped had more pressing things to do than chase down two prisoners. Even if one of them was the head-of-planet.

  “Do you think they've given up on us completely?” She asked the question as she expended a little more effort and reached the top of the pass, pausing to lean back against the cliff behind her and pull out the water bottle from her pack.

  “We can hope.” Iver was only a few steps behind her and she watched him with appreciation as he walked toward her.

  Despite the cool air, sweat dotted his shirt. He'd rolled up the sleeves and she could see the corded muscle of his arms. He looked competent and calm.

  Like someone she'd want at her side in any situation.

  A wave of lust mixed with admiration washed through her and she lifted her face to his as he stopped in front of her.

  He bent down, touching his lips to hers, and then what she thought would be a simple kiss became hot and needy.

  When he lifted his head and then moved to lean against the rock beside her, she was breathing hard.

  “I'm sorry for all the time I wasted, before.”

  He looked sidelong at her.

  “We could have had this a long time ago. We would have both been happier for it.”

  He shook his head. “Don't second guess yourself. You never played games with me. I'm fine with how things worked out.” His lips quirked. “Very fine.”

  They stood side by side for a long moment, not speaking, and as the wind died down a little, Hana heard a faint sound of water falling.

  She pushed away from the rock, working her way around it and then through a crack she had to go sideways to fit through. At the back, right against the mountain face, she found a small trickle of water running down sheer gray stone. Where it touched the rock, the gray sparkled with a silver glitter, and she drained the last of her bottle before she held it against the thin stream until it was full.

  When she worked her way back, she found Iver trying to follow her and she shook her head. “Too narrow.” She took his bottle to fill.

  It was the first water they'd passed since they'd left the valley and the river that ran through it, and she had started to worry about it.

  Their route had taken them straight up the pass and deep into the Spikes, so the part of the valley where the camp lay was no longer visible. As she walked back to Iver, who was standing at the edge of the path looking down, she could only see the open sweep of the valley as it widened in the direction of Permeo.

  Iver's sky lane.

  “Look.” Iver pointed and she gasped in awe.

  The shadow fold had begun.

  The speed of it shocked her--the way the darkness traveled across the ground, eating it up. As the sun dipped below the mountains, the world below her turned to night.

  “We may still be in the light now, but we won't be for long.” Iver shielded his eyes against the oblique rays of the sun and stared at the gloomy world below them.

  “We should set up camp here. There's water, at least, and if we move a little further along the path, there may be shelter against the wind.”

  He was about to answer her when they both heard the scream of engines.

  Iver pulled her away from the edge, and they both crouched beside one of the boulders on the path.

  A Dynastra shot overhead, flying low through the pass, between the mountains, and then disappeared.

  “Jake's friends with a second Dynastra, coming to the rescue?” Hana had a feeling it was. The only other option was the Faldine military. She didn't know what measures they'd be taking right now to find Iver.

  “Bret has taken the engine back now, so if that is Jake's people, they can't just load it up.” Despite his words, Iver sounded grim.

  Whatever reprieve they'd had had come to an end. They had to get to Touka City and mobilize the VSC forces, or they would lose something they never even knew they had.

  They woke early, filling their bottles and setting out before dawn even broke.

  Hana shook off the stiffness of a night on hard ground cheerfully. There had been compensations for sharing a small tent on a mountain path with Iver.

  He was walking in front of her, and she grinned at his back.

  Her upgrade had somehow gotten into the spirit of the occasion as they'd made love.

  She hadn't had a relationship with anyone since her crash, and she knew she had never come that hard or that long before. Not even when they had made love outside the camp the day Iver got captured.

  “Maybe I'm just that good,” Iver told her with a smirk.

  Maybe.

  She grinned again.

  The sound of a Dynastra overhead cut off her feeling of amusement, though, and stopped her in her tracks.

  She dropped to the ground and rolled under the closest bush, and Iver crouched up against a rock.

  The Dynastra circled, moving overhead in a tight pattern.

  It passed them, working its way deeper into the mountains, and eventually they both got to their feet, watching it circle.

  “It's looking for us.” She was dismayed. She'd hoped they were no longer considered worth the effort.

  “I can only think of two reasons why, and both might be in play.” Iver looked in the direction the Dynastra had gone. “One, the VSC Special Forces has locked down any exits from the planet, so they need me back to use as a hostage, and two, Bret and his people still have control of the camp.”

  “Which means Jake and Craven want to stop us getting to Touka, to give themselves time to take it back from Bret.” Hana brushed dust off her pants. “What do they think flying over us is going to do, though? It's not as if they can land. They'd need . . .”

  She trailed off as she made out four tiny figures jumping from the runner.

  “Combat flyers.” Iver's voice held the weight she felt in her chest.

  Runner diving had been a hobby. A pastime on some Verdant String planets.

  The fun of using the wind and a cloth-covered frame to fly through the air by jumping from a runner, mountain or other high point.

  On Arkhor they called it free flying. On Kalastoni, wind riding. On her own planet of Themis it was known as air sailing.

  That hobby had become the way the VSC had dropped troops into rebel-held areas. It was the only way they could do so because of the magfields.

  The tiny propelled frames that Special Forces usually used had the propensity to simply misfire midair on Faldine. They had lost at least six soldiers before they switched to a more innovative way.

  Dropping soldiers down had become easy enough. It was getting them back out that caused the problems.

  She watched as the tiny figures rode the wind, turning like birds of prey on the mountain thermals.

  “They're going to land up ahead. They're boxing us in.” Iver watched them, legs braced apart.

  “So we can either go forward, see if we can slip by them, or go back.” And going back wasn't an option, as far as she was concerned.

  Iver shook his head as she said that. “No going back.”

  “Agreed.” There was no benefit in it. At least if they forged ahead, they h
ad a chance of getting to Touka City. Going back meant walking straight back into the arms of their captors.

  “I can't get taken. I won't be used as a tool for them to get off planet with that shielding device.” Iver sounded implacable.

  “Then we have to make sure you don't get taken.”

  Chapter 28

  The trees were thick as they came down the pass into the steep, narrow valley below.

  Touka City was theoretically just one row of mountains beyond, but Iver couldn't be sure without a comm unit, and he doubted even if he had one that it would work.

  Hana had lost a little of the otherworldly glide she had when her upgrade was working well, so he guessed they were moving through a high strength magfield.

  “We'll be bumping into those combat flyers soon.” She paused a little way back from the treeline, and Iver nodded in agreement as he stopped beside her.

  “I was thinking the same.” The sun was on the far side of the range, and they had about an hour before the shadow fold.

  Most of the trees were tall, the trunks thick and with long, wide branches, with a few more slender varieties sprinkled through. They had plenty of cover here and the deep shade meant they had been able to walk down the pass without worrying about being spotted.

  Hana was looking between the trees to the sunlit open meadow beyond. She pushed a tangle of dark hair that had fallen around her face behind her ears, and arched her back, and Iver moved behind her and started massaging her shoulders.

  She turned her head, her gaze suddenly hot, and she twisted and pulled him close, kissing him hard on the mouth before pulling back.

  “No time, too dangerous,” she said with regret as she turned away and angled closer to the treeline.

  He took a moment to collect himself, and followed. The path down had been narrow and difficult, forcing them a certain way. Hopefully, the thickness of the trees hid the fact that there was only one place they could really come out of into the valley, but he wasn't going to put his trust in hope.

  He crouched beside her, holding onto a trunk for balance.