Page 29 of Stalk the Sky
Before Fieran could reply, Lt. Rothilion’s voice cut over the radio. “Do not forget that Flight A can hear you.”
“Oh, right. Sorry about that, sir.” Stickyfingers still sounded far too cheerful.
Fieran would have smacked himself in the forehead if he hadn’t needed both hands on the stick to keep his aeroplane under control in the freshening wind.
“I agree with you, Sticky.” Aylia’s voice rang through the headset, speaking in Escarlish, likely for the benefit of Fieran’s half of the squadron. “That was not Thalanil’s most graceful landing.”
“Just wait until your turn. The winds down here are quite strong.” Another elven-accented voice came over the radio, also speaking Escarlish. Thalanil, presumably.
Fieran could imagine the elven first lieutenant grumbling about how Fieran’s mutts were rubbing off on his elven pilots.
But Fieran wasn’t about to quell the banter. It would be good for more banter to spring up between his Flight and Lt. Rothilion’s. Thanks to Lt. Rothilion’s stuffiness, the two halves of the squadron hadn’t interacted much, and most of those interactions had been stiff and official.
Once the ground crew wheeled Thalanil’s biplane out of the way, another elven pilot lined up for a landing. The aeroplane also crabbed sideways before it touched down.
Aylia’s voice crackled over the radio again. “Thalanil was not joking. The winds are fierce. Take care with the landings, Flight B.”
“Thanks for the warning.” Fieran paused, debating. He didn’t want to admit his squadron’s weakness over the airwaves where Lt. Rothilion and Flight A would hear.
But his men’s safety came first over any kind of pride.
Fieran pressed the talk button again. “Ground radio, switch to channel 2.” After the person on the ground radio acknowledged, Fieran switched to channel 2.
A moment later, the voice came again. “Ground radio on channel 2. What is it, Lt. Laesornysh?”
“Could you alert Mechanic Pippak Detmuk-Inawenys to be standing by outside the hangar to use her magic to assist with the landings?” Fieran wasn’t sure how badly these landings would go, but Pip’s shield might be able to stop an aeroplane from crashing into the cliff or one of the surrounding hills if necessary.
“Will do. Anything else?”
“No, that’s all. Returning to channel 1.” Fieran swapped back to channel 1 just as the last of Flight A’s aeroplanes touched down safely. “All right, Murray, you’re up.”
Fieran’s chest squeezed as Murray lined up for his landing. Now just to hope that all his flyboys survived their first truly difficult landing here at Dar Goranth.
Pip raced outside, her stomach already in her toes. As soon as she stepped from the hangar, a gust of breeze slammed into her so hard that she stumbled.
No wonder Fieran had asked for help in making sure the flyboys landed safely. The wind gusts had picked up even in the past few minutes since the elven half of the squadron had landed.
With the radio tucked in a corner of the hangar, hooked up to the temporary antenna that she planned to rework to extend the range, Pip couldn’t talk to the flyboys as they came in for their landings.
She stepped aside as the ground crew wheeled the last of the elven aeroplanes into the hangar.
High above the inland cliffs of the island, the first of the Soarwings lined up into the wind for the landing. A gust came from the side, crabbing him sideways in the air.
Pip called up her magic, keeping it at her fingertips, readying herself for anything.
The aeroplane dropped lower and lower until it skimmed right above the grass at the far end of the airfield.
A gust slammed the aeroplane into the ground hard enough that one of the wheel struts cracked, the wheel spinning away. The broken shaft dug into the ground as the aeroplane toppled over, skidding on the grass. Thankfully it remained upright, coming to a halt after digging a furrow in the grass.
Pip released a breath, even as the ground crew rushed to remove the biplane from the airfield to clear it for the next flyer.
Once the airfield was clear, two more aeroplanes landed badly but safely without her assistance.
Then the fourth aeroplane came in for a landing. Right as it neared the ground, a particularly strong side gust of wind caught one wing and just about turned the flyer onto its side.
Pip threw out her magic, trying to press on the aeroplane without smacking into it with enough force that she caused something to break.
For a moment, the aeroplane hung there, pinned between the competing forces of wind and magic. Then it flipped back onto its wheels, slamming into the ground.