I stopped to finish eating. I needed the fuel badly, still. I took another piece.
She went on, “so I am being targeted by Winter fairies? And they have Troll allies?”
Mark gave her a startled look. Raven must not have told him about that fight.
I swallowed. The pizza was very good, but I was eating too fast to appreciate much. Tex materialized and handed me a bottle of soda.
“Dan’s on his way,” he informed us laconically. “I am going to go tighten the rubberbands.”
When he’d gone outside, I looked at the others. “Tighten the rubberbands?”
It gave me the chance to finish - was this my fourth, or fifth piece? - while Mark answered. “When Tex came here he was used to flying larger planes. The running joke is that he loves the little bush planes, but he never misses an opportunity to down-talk them. Says the J-5 he will be flying today runs on two rubber bands... ever play with a toy airplane?”
I nodded, my mouth full. I got the joke, now. Bella reminded me gently, “what about the Winter court?”
“I am not convinced it’s the Winter court alone. I know they have allies, and some of them may be Summer Court, I’m sorry to tell you.” What I wasn’t going to tell her was that I trusted no-one. Not even her sweet, innocent little face. It might look to them like I was only talking, and stuffing my face. I was also watching their every reaction to what I was saying. Mark was looking slightly concerned, with protective glances at his cousin from time to time. She might think of herself as competent and independent, but she had a pack of family who looked after her.
Bella was solemnly focused on me. I went on, “among other allies, the worst will be the goblins. They are known as the defilers for a good reason. Do not,” I emphasized grimly, holding her eyes with mine, “let them take you captive. The women and children are worse than the warriors, and that is no exaggeration.”
She nodded, looking a little pale. I picked up the last piece.
“Do you always eat like that?” She followed the arc as I lifted it to my mouth and took a big bite.
I shook my head and swallowed. “No, but I burned a lot of energy back there. Remember that. Magic use comes with a cost, always. Try to do too much, and it will kill you.”
She sighed, “I have so much to learn, and so little time.”
I nodded. Not much more I could say, to that. The door swung open and I was on my feet and between her and the newcomer before Mark could even look around. I relaxed, recognizing the man stamping snow off his boots. While I was up, I grabbed the other box, the one with half a pizza left in it.
Dan brought a thick envelope and a backpack to Bella. She stood up and hugged her cousin, and he glared at me over her shoulder while he rubbed her back. I nodded at him, acknowledging his anger and frustration. The burly, bearded man rather intimidated me, and he didn’t have a bit of magic.
Bella kept her face turned away from me when she let go of him, but I could tell from her hand movements that she was wiping her tears away. Dan came to me.
“Anything else we can do?” He asked me in a deep, quiet voice. I shook my head. The food had me alert again, and now I had to think through how we were going to get safely away from here, without any collateral damage. We needed to leave, soon. My power signature was damped, I knew, but she had no such training, nor did Mark. I mentally debated taking him with us. No - they would leave him alone, he was male and posed no danger to them.
“No. We need to leave, before trouble finds us.”
Bella swung the backpack over her shoulder. “I’m ready as I’ll ever be.”
She looked down at the box in front of me, then looked me in the eyes, raising an eyebrow. “It’s amazing you aren’t round, the way you eat.”
She had a right to snark at me, I had eaten a pizza and a half, it looked like.
“Remember to have food on hand when you learn to do that. Then you will understand.” And I was looking forward to training her, and getting a chance to prove it to her as she tossed back the calories afterward.
“I’m going to be able to toss a snowmobile?” She grinned.
To my surprise, I grinned back, demurring, “I didn’t exactly toss it.”
Chapter 5 - Encounter with a Roc
Tex meandered in, something I was learning was his speed. “You two ready?”
We turned and answered “yes” in unison. He grinned, and gestured toward the rear. “Ladies first.”
“No.” They both looked at me in surprise, that must have come out pretty firmly. “I go first, always, Bella. Part of my job.”
I was walking as I talked to her, and went into the back hall with a glance around, then motioned her to follow me. Tex trailed behind, a very amused look on his face. I was guessing the Alaskan princess was used to ruling this part of the world with velvet gloves. None of the men in her life let her pretend to be a delicate flower, but they all treated her like a jewel. I approved. The more I got to know this family, the more I hoped they weren’t part of this nasty business. But I couldn’t trust just yet.
Once we were onboard, I relaxed. Tex had the engine going and the plane preflighted. I was going to trust that part. I have no idea how to fly a plane of any size.
Bella buckled up, then looked over her shoulder at me. “Need help?”
I shook my head. I might not be able to fly one, but I had flown in one many times. She handed me a pair of headphones and I put them on, just as the engine whine rose to a higher level.
“On our way,” Tex announced and we began to roll across the tarmac, bouncing gently.
“So, where is Haines?” I asked. I hadn’t wanted to talk about it before we were in the air. You never knew when ears were perked in your direction. But the clatter of the plane ought to keep them from prying too much.
Bella answered. Tex seemed to be ignoring us. “Southeast Alaska. I have a great-aunt there. I’m not sure why Raven is sending us to Aunt Min, but I am sure we will find out soon.”
“How soon is soon?”
“Well, if we drove, it would take about eight hours. Up here, we can go the path the, er, Raven flies. We’ll be there in about four hours.”
“At least we don’t have to walk.” I find that my short stature sometimes has advantages, as I curled up in the seat. “I’m going to take a nap. If you can, Bella, you might want to sleep. Tex, please don’t.”
The tall man chuckled in response to that sally. I closed my eyes and let my mind drift, sleeping might not be an option, but I could probably achieve a drowse. My mind was going a mile a minute, like it always did, and sleep was difficult on a good day, which this was not.
I was awakened by a jolt. “Huh, wha?” I asked, sitting up. I had fallen asleep, remarkably.
“I don’t know what it was.” Bella answered me, even though she couldn’t have understood the words. I looked out the window. It was clear and bright, we had flown into the dawn.
“Not turbulence.” Tex was looking down at the instrument panel. “Should be smooth sailing. Bella, can you see if we still have a tail?”
Now I was really awake. “What?”
Tex laughed. “It’s a joke, greenhorn.”
I bared my teeth at his back in an angry grin. He couldn’t see me, I knew, he was looking out the window. Bella was looking out her side.
“What, did we run into something, up here?” I asked, looking out the window myself. The same direction as Bella, which meant neither of us were looking in the direction of the attack. One minute we were more or less straight and level, the next I was looking straight down at the frozen Alaskan landscape below us. Bella shrieked, and I let out a strangled grunt as I hit the end of the tether that was my seat harness.
Tex was silent, but once I had myself righted, I could see the look on his face as he wrestled the little plane back under control. Scared half out of his mind. I closed my eyes and opened the Sight. It was big, and close.
“Put us in a dive!” I shouted without opening my eyes. Tex
didn’t hesitate. Good man.
“Bank left.” Bella gasped as he did that maneuver, and I guessed she had finally seen what was attacking us. I was more concerned with anticipating the big bird’s moves, and keeping us out of its reach. Without opening my eyes to look I couldn’t identify it, but I knew it had to be a bird, we were too high, and it was too big, for it to be anything else.
It overshot us badly. “Take us back up. Tex, get as much altitude as you can.”
I was still studying it with my eyes closed. I had seen this before in a lifeglow. Tendrils of black penetrated the light from the outside edges, clouding it completely in places. This was a creature with a parasite. Hag-ridden, they used to call it. Nothing I could do about it, that was irrelevant... But it might slow the natural reflexes of the creature.
“Dive!” I yelled as it looped back around and above us. I opened my eyes and grabbed the back of Bella’s seat. My gorge rose and I swallowed, hard, trying not to let the pizza come back out. In retrospect, stuffing myself was a bad idea. Tex added his own little fillip to the maneuver, twisting us around to the right tightly, almost throwing us into a spin before he straightened back out.
Bella gasped and pointed. I looked, and identified our enemy.
“Tex, do you have a gun? That’s a Roc. He’s bigger than this damn plane, and right now he’s toying with us. When he wants us down, we will go down.”
Bella twisted around and pointed. “There’s a box under your seat, Tex’s pistol is in it, and it’s loaded for bear.”
The Roc, looking like an overgrown Golden Eagle, glided alongside us. I could see him watching us. Birds aren’t equipped to smile, and still I could see his smirk. I fumbled under the seat for the box with one hand and unlatched my harness with another.
“Why isn’t it attacking?” Bella’s voice was shaking. I didn’t blame her. We were flying over lovely, snowcapped mountains right now, and there was a limit to how high we could go. Which meant the ground was coming up to meet us, and there was not a lot of room for error, much less a dogfight with a big bird.
“He’s toying with us. Roc’s tend to be sadistic SOB’s. How far out are we, Tex?”
“About thirty minutes.” The man’s knuckles were white on the yoke. I sympathized, and admired his fortitude in flying straight despite the bird keeping pace with us.
“So we don’t have long, and neither does he.” I looked back out at the bird. “How do I open the window?”
“You don’t open that one. Only the door windows open, and not very far.” Bella’s voice was more in control already.
“Ah. I’m coming up there, then.” I didn’t give them time to object before I abandoned my position, ripping the headphones off.
I scrambled over the seat, trying not to kick Tex, who grunted and leaned out of my way. This left me in Bella’s lap, as she squeaked a little in surprise. She flipped one latch and I got the other, and then realized this was going to be a challenge. The little plane was not designed for offensive purposes, the window opened at the bottom and swung out a few inches, then stopped. I could get the gun through it, but any visions I’d had of hanging out like a helicopter gunner were dashed.
“Tex, want me to shoot forward, or aft?” I could get the pistol out, but couldn’t bend my arm and hold it steady to shoot the bird, who was looking even more amused. The looks he was giving me were pissing me off.
“Aft,” he replied after a long second of thought. “Less chance of prop damage. Let’s do this quick, you’re throwing my trim off.”
“You have an idea?” I asked him.
“Yup. Brace yourself.”
I glanced at Bella. I was straddling her lap so I could aim out the window, my knees on either side of hers. She nodded, and grabbed me around the waist, holding on for dear life and essentially burying her face in my midsection. Damn, life was unfair. I didn’t have time for a reaction before Tex put us into a steep climb.
I held on tight to the gun, hoping this didn’t break my wrists. The bird peeled away and looped below us. I lost sight of it, then watched it rising rapidly up at us. I held my fire. The big revolver only gave me six shots. “What’s the plan?” I yelled to Tex, hoping he would hear me. The headphones were on my seat in the back, and the noise and cold with the window open were becoming overwhelming. I needed to get a shot, fast.
“Put it into a spin, and hope the wings don’t fall off.” He grunted and twisted the yoke, throwing us up and around. Only Bella’s arms kept me in place as the plane went over. The bird missed us, and I fired twice into the massive breast as he brushed our wing. The third shot went through the wingtip of the plane.
“Oops.” I muttered, eyeing the neat hole in the aluminum. The bird was spiralling towards the ground, a few feathers drifting in his wake.
Tex couldn’t hear me, he was focussed on pulling us out of the danger of slamming into a mountainside. I pulled the gun back in. My hands were so numb I was afraid I would drop it.
“Bella, close the window.” I managed, my teeth chattering.
She didn’t hear me. I shuddered and dropped the gun in between us as she looked up. “Sorry...” My hands just weren’t working properly. She grabbed the window latch and pulled it closed. Tex cranked the heat up. I was shaking now. I hadn’t thought about not having my coat on, I had taken it off to use as a pillow. Bella hugged me close, now that I wasn’t kneeling, we were face to face, and I could see the concern in her eyes. I was sitting fully on her lap at this point, and her body heat was delicious.
“Is it gone?” I could feel the warmth of her breath and hear the concern in her voice, even without headphones. I nodded, trying to control the chattering of my teeth.
“I don’t see it.” Tex was looking out his window, below us. “Not in the air, or down there, either.”
“I don’ think I killed it.” I managed through stiff lips.
“Well, as long as we scared it off.” He looked over at us. “You two gonna canoodle, or let me get back in trim?”
“I could go for canoodling.” I said before I could stop myself. Bella laughed out loud. She let go of me and carefully picked the gun up from between us. I blurted out, “Dear lord, that was a joke, you don’t need to shoot me.”
Now Tex started laughing along with Bella. I climbed over the seat much more carefully, finding it far more awkward to manage than it had been going the other way. Adrenaline rushes made a lot of things possible that you wouldn’t even consider under other circumstances. I found that although I was warming up, I had the shakes. This was going to be a long trip.
We would be in Haines shortly, and I didn’t know where we would be going from there. Until I had her safely Underhill, we were subject to attack from any side. This midair encounter had shaken me, although I didn’t plan to let her know that. Something was changing. The accidents that had been happening had been subtle, up until now. This was not subtle at all. I didn’t know what I was going to tell Tex to keep him quiet once the plane ride was over.
All my training, my life’s work, had been to keep humans at large from knowing about Folke, and the magical world that had once been strong on Earth, but was now fading away into the shadows. Would it come back, like the Winter Court believed, if magic were allowed to reign again?
I doubted that. My thoughts were that it would lead to war, and death and destruction on both sides. Far better to stay in the shadows and play it conservative. But it was unlikely I would be consulted, by either side. I could just do my job. The more I found out about Bella and her family, the better I liked that job.
When we landed, I was warm again, and had my eyes tightly closed and Sight stretched to its fullest extent. Meeting the Roc had shaken me. I suspected the Tok Airport had been under surveillance, and they could not have known we were headed to Haines rather than one of the cities, but I wasn’t taking chances. I had also made a decision.
Chapter 6 - Ferry Boring
“Are we flying out of here, or what?” I asked Bella as we
stopped in front of another tiny airport terminal. She shook her head as she climbed out.
“I don’t know. Aunt Min is supposed to meet us here.”
I led the way toward the building, letting Tex precede me into the warmth. His complexion was a little greenish, still, and I was guessing the gravity of our midair encounter was finally sinking in for him. A man with shoulder length grey hair and a face most charitably described as craggy met us just inside the door.
“Tex.” They clasped hands. “Min’s waiting for ya.”
He nodded at us, but didn’t seek an invitation.
“Thanks, Drake.” Tex waved us further into the building, and we passed through the mechanic’s shop, it looked like, before another doorway took us into the waiting room.
Min was the only person in the room, standing and looking out the window. Her dark brown braid surprised me, I had been thinking old lady when Bella said great-aunt. She turned to meet us, a broad smile on her face, and outstretched arms for Bella. I could see the small signs of age now, the shot silver in the hair at the temples, the laugh lines framing her eyes. Bella simply leaned into the older woman with a little hiccup that might have had tears behind it. I was struck by their beauty, and realized I was seeing what my girl would look like in forty years.
When had she become my girl? Dammit. I was being dangerously sentimental. She was my charge, sure, but not mine.
I walked around them and checked the rest of the room and the outside as seen from the windows. Then I closed my eyes and looked again. Min and Tex had no magic. Bella glowed a pretty periwinkle blue. A pair of normals in the hangar area. We were all clear, for the moment. I opened my eyes again. Bella and Min were looking at me with matching serenity.
“Aunt Min, this is Lom.” Bella introduced me formally. I held out my hand and Min took it gently in her warm one.
“Pleased to meet you, I think.” Min’s voice was a husky soprano.
“It could have been under better circumstances,” I admitted. She let go of my hand and I ran a hand through my hair, which was already on end. She smiled. I must look pretty funny, at that.
Pixie Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 1) Page 6
