She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. “But will they send me back? What if they think I’m too valuable here?”
“If my family was so keen to meddle to get you here, then they had better meddle to send you back to Fort Defense.” Fieran’s huff stirred her hair.
Very true. After all, she likely wouldn’t have even been here if not for their very appreciated meddling.
She might not return to Fort Defense right away, but hopefully she’d rejoin Fieran sooner rather than later.
Fieran swallowed,his stomach far too knotted, as he faced the airfield outside of Aldon.
Last year, this had merely been a farmer’s field. But in the past few months, it had been requisitioned by the army, due to its location and overall flat terrain, and turned into a makeshift aerodrome. Large tents and half-finished structures filled one side of the field while aeroplanes lined up at the end.
Most of the aeroplanes were huge biplanes, their wings stretching for nearly a hundred feet compared with the nearly thirty-foot wingspan of the type of aeroplane Fieran flew—apparently they were calling those fighter aeroplanes now to distinguish from these new bomber aeroplanes.
The bombers had three seats, including one for an onboard mechanic, three engines with two of the engines out on the lower wings, and three machine guns, two forward and one pointing backward. Cleats for six bombs were attached inside a hollow in the belly of the bomber aeroplane, to be dropped by a lever controlled by the person in the second seat. That person had a rudimentary bomb sight to attempt to land the bombs on the target.
Piloting those aeroplanes must be something else. They looked like they would fly like unwieldy turtles.
Several of the bomber aeroplanes were already rumbling down the airfield before lifting into the air. More were spinning up, waiting for their turn to take off.
Fieran’s new aeroplane waited behind the bomber aeroplanes. It had a cowling painted in black and white stripes while the rest of it was a nearly flat gray-blue like the rest of theAlliance aeroplanes, the red, green, and gray circles painted on the wings. Without the nose art, it seemed rather plain.
On the undersides of the wings, new cleats held spots for four bombs, much smaller than the ones the bomber aeroplanes could carry. The bombs on his new aeroplane would likely be rigged as incendiaries to take out airships, but they could also be anti-personnel bombs to be dropped on ground troops.
Besides the bomb cleats, this aeroplane also had two machine guns built into the nose rather than the single machine gun on his previous aeroplane, making this aeroplane faster, more maneuverable, and more lethal.
Fieran swallowed again as he faced his new Defender. He loved flying. He did.
And yet when he looked at that aeroplane, something inside him shook with the memories of the whirling, spinning, falling, crashing…
No, he couldn’t think of it. He’d survived. He would not fear flying.
“I do not want you to go.” Tryndar’s teary voice brought Fieran back to himself.
He turned around, back to where Pip, Mama, Louise, Ellie, and Tryndar waited next to the roadster that they’d somehow all packed into. It was a sign of how haphazard this airfield was that his family had been allowed onto it so easily.
Tryndar leaned against Mama’s legs, his green eyes big and liquid.
Fieran crouched to put himself eye level with his brother. “I know. But I have to go. I’ll write and call as much as possible, and I will love any pictures you send me.”
Tryndar nodded before he flung himself forward, wrapping his arms around Fieran’s neck.
Fieran hugged him tightly, a lump knotting in his throat to match the one twisting his stomach. As much as he wanted toreturn to his squadron, this goodbye with his family was almost harder than the one when he’d left for the army.
Probably because he actually knew the dangers now. He’d spent several hours over the past few days writingIf I Dieletters for each of his family members—and one for Pip—and he’d entrusted those letters to Mama to distribute if the worst should happen.
She’d taken them with that far too solemn look on her face before she’d stowed them in Dacha’s desk, right by a pile of letters in Dacha’s hand. The top one had Mama’s name across it, and if Fieran were to guess, those were Dacha’sIf I Dieletters.
Somehow, Fieran had never realized that Dacha, too, would have a stack of letters like that. A will. Preparations for what would happen if he were killed in this war.
It had simply never occurred to Fieran that his dacha was anything but invincible any more than it had registered that he wasn’t.
After setting Tryndar down, Fieran hugged Mama, Louise, and Ellie, trying not to let himself think that this could be the last time he hugged them. The last time he saw them. If he crashed again…
He wouldn’t. He would fight to get back to them with all the strength of his magic.
Once he reached Pip, he held out his hand. “Walk me to my aeroplane?”
Pip took his hand, giving him a small smile.
