High Flyer - Michelle Diener Page 0,84

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 had 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.

“Anything?”

She shook her head. “At some point, we're going to have to go out there. Do we wait for the shadow fold?”

He thought about it. “If we can go before, while its still light, we'll have a sense of the lay of the land beyond the trees, and we can make better decisions about where to hide tonight.”

She nodded, eyes back on the open ground in front of them. “And if they're there, they'll have a clear view.”

“Can you hear anything?”

She shook her head. “I'm pretty much neutralized. The magfield here is really strong.”

“Then we move forward carefully.” He took the lead. There were only three or four rows of trees left until the forest stopped and the pale green meadow began. He could hear water, so there was a river flowing through the valley.

He stepped out into the open, heard Hana's footsteps