Sea of Stars(60)
My view is obscured for a moment as an unmanned hovercycle careens beneath us. Recognition dawns on me; it’s Trey’s hoverbike—the same one that brought us here from the palace a few nights ago. Was it only a few nights ago? I think in confusion. The hovercycle positions itself directly under Trey as the hatch opens, allowing him to fall into its open cabin. His legs straddle the seat while he pulls me by my hand so that I fall onto the vehicle behind him. He brings my hand to his waist; I seize it and wrap my other arm around him, gripping him tightly. My cheek presses against his back as I hug him with what strength I have left.
The hatch closes around us; the sound of the wind is immediately cut off. It’s very quiet, with only the hum of the hovercycle. Trey takes control of the bike; it veers to the right, banking and coming around the other way. Through the sound system of the vehicle, Wayra’s voice echoes as he emits a loud whoop. “Baw-da-baw! I want to do that again!”
His elation is matched by that of Jax’s voice, as he asks, “Did you see the look on those knob knockers’ faces when we all jumped from the skywalk?” Jax’s hovercycle comes abreast of ours, hugging our side in a defensive position. I shift my face to look in the other direction and see Wayra’s hovercycle as well. A small group of hoverbikes joins us, weaving around buildings. The darkening denim-blue sky is unzipped by choking columns of black smoke. I recognize Hollis. Drex has Fenton on his hovercycle with him. Seeing the destruction of the ship, however, causes their laughter to die down quickly. “We have to evacuate,” Trey’s voice rumbles through his back, tickling my cheek.
“Do we follow protocol seven one nine—evacuate to ground—regroup—hook up with a ground base?” Wayra asks.
Trey’s voice rumbles again, “We’re hunted—by both sides. We act like civvies for now until we can make our case with whoever is left to take command. For now, our mission is to protect the priestess against all enemies. Anyone who can’t do that needs to tell me now.”
They have to pretend to be civilians—lose their identities as Cavars?
The com is silent; no one speaks up. “Right,” Trey says. “Diamond formation. Make ready. They won’t let us leave without a fight. Kyon has probably diverted every available ship to search for us.”
At first, I think he’s wrong; none of the big ships pay attention to us as we slink away, heading to the edge of the Ship of Skye. The shields are down, so there’s nothing barring our way from leaving. Darkness is falling fast as we emerge over the lip of the main deck. My heart nearly stops at the fleet of warships beneath us. Trey hugs the contour of the ship, blending in with the dark, hieroglyphic-shaped metal.
In the next few moments, everything gets turned up way too loud outside. I can’t slow anything down. We’re weaving through the crowd of ships that converges on our small group, firing unbelievably scary weapons upon us. Explosions on the lower deck of the Ship of Skye force Trey to make sharp turns to avoid falling metal and debris.
We dive into a cloud; I can’t see anything but white, and then dark sky as we emerge. I’m in a bird machine and the only objective is to get low. I clutch Trey’s back; his muscles bunch beneath my cheek. The side of his face lights up in orange and red when a ship near us explodes. He swerves to avoid the explosion. Something hits and then bounces off the lid of our hovercycle. It takes me a moment to realize it was a person. I cringe, tasting fear. Trey’s neck stretches as he tries to keep an enemy ship in his sights so they don’t outmaneuver us. My mind keeps up a steady mantra of go, go, go, go, go . . .
A gleaming silver ship near us fires off a round of shots that light up the sky with blue fire as it passes right in front of us. I don’t think the shots were intended to hit us; they were a warning to surrender. Trey’s back becomes damp with sweat, and he growls when we avoid colliding with another ship as it tries to absorb us into its tractor beam.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, in rapid-fire succession. The vibrations tear into my chest, and my already fluttering heart beats twice as hard from the shock waves. The sky lights up as lightning strikes turn it to the color and texture of marmalade. A loud groan of metal shifting whines above us.
Above us, a dark shadow looms. The entire Ship of Skye leans over us, careening sideways. As I look up, it topples over, changing direction as it charges toward the ground and into our path just beneath it. Trey stands the hoverbike on its head. We point straight down to avoid being crushed by the tons of ship hurtling toward us. As we bank, g-forces exert too much pressure upon my body. I can’t breathe or think as my world turns to black. The only thing I hear is the sound of ringing in my ears—a bell clanging—a Skye-blue bell.