Ash Princess (The Deviant Future #6) - Eve Langlais Page 0,80
hard actually. Part of what Cam’s been teaching me is how to pilot this thing. He went through the controls, explaining to me how it works.”
“But you didn’t actually go up in the air?” Kayda stated. “Because then I’d have known he was teaching you and I would have tied his body to a bed.”
“Kinky,” Lila slyly muttered.
“Don’t be mad at him,” Milo hastened to say. “He didn’t want to leave without showing someone how to fly it first.”
“Did he tell you how to re-energize it, too?” Kayda felt a need to sarcastically add.
“Actually, he did. Since it has no electronics, due to disturbances the ship flies through, it uses fuel, of which we found a tank full inside the base.”
“We could make it to the Marshlands?” Hope almost poked its head in her tone.
“Not quite. The tank isn’t large enough to go that far. It’s meant for short jumps. Still, we could get pretty far from here, hopefully over the giant crevice.”
Meaning they could possibly escape. Without Cam. She knew the right thing to do, but it didn’t make it any easier to push the words past her stiff lips. “Is there enough fuel for you to practice and still refill?”
Milo nodded.
“Get it in the air. Try not to crash, and once you know for sure you can fly it, let me know. Gorri and Lila, get the crew packing but in a compact kind of way. Everyone needs food, water, a blanket, and a weapon.” She ticked off her fingers.
“We’re leaving?” Lila asked.
She nodded. “Yes. I want everyone out of here as soon as we can be sure that thing will fly us safely.”
“But what about your Marshlander?” Lila tried to catch Kayda’s gaze.
Kayda avoided eye contact and looked to the distance. He was out there, alone, thinking he had no reason to come back.
She could give him one. But her responsibility was getting the kids to safety.
Her heart broke. “He’ll have to handle the volcano alone.”
Chapter 19
Being alone sucked.
Cam had not realized how much he’d come to enjoy the intimacy formed with Kayda and the others. Younger than him, but that didn’t matter. They accepted him in their midst, made him part of their family.
A family that would be wiped out unless someone did something.
He was the outsider. The expendable one. It made him aggressive. He dropped into hunting mode. When he’d embarked on this mission, he’d not been able to use his more subtle skills. The air in the tank didn’t let him filter and find what he was looking for. The helmet also messed with him.
He had no excuse for what had happened in the basement. He must have still been weak from his wounds at the time since he’d failed so horribly to notice anything.
But he was fully healed now. Rested. Energized, and somewhat pissed. He’d found something he didn’t know he wanted. Someone to fall in love with. He just couldn’t have her.
He channeled that angry disappointment and breathed deep of the ash, no longer afraid of it or the heat. He closed his eyes and felt around him. The air currents brushing across exposed skin. The smells hinting at things burnt. And then there was the acrid one he recognized. Dragon.
I’ve got your scent now. They wouldn’t be sneaking up on him again.
Cam trod lightly on the ash, the goggles keeping it from stinging his eyes. It puffed around his feet. He’d almost reached the valley between the mountain and the next peak. Then he’d go sideways to the volcano.
But first…
He caught its scent well before it came for him with claws extended. Cam ducked and swung, the dagger he’d chosen to fight with honed with the tools in the base. Sharp enough to slice dragon flesh.
Oh, the screeching when that happened.
It flew off. But another took its place, coming at him from downwind. Yet the very shifting of the ash caused enough disturbance to alert him. He too leaped into the air, higher than most could even imagine and then slammed down.
The large dragon did not get back up.
He eliminated all the dragons that attacked, as well as some he came upon along the way. The fewer of them in the air, the better for Kayda and the kids. It only cost him a few extra minutes and some scratches.
He encountered fewer than expected. It seemed odd, especially given the number of abandoned roosts. There were piles of cracked shells larger than his head but few actual beasts. Had they moved