Read Online Sky Song: Overture by Meg Merriet - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Meg Merriet
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Baker.
“What!”
“We couldn’t take her into battle.”
With the doors still open, we heaved upwards and down in a perfect arc towards our beloved Wastrel. The men were abandoning her, strapping on parachutes and diving into the clouds. Cannon balls shredded the gondola, splintering wood and snapping cables. I clenched my whole body, dreading that those iron hulks might smash our tiny vessel.
Dirk grabbed Maive’s arm and met her gaze. “We are south of Nelise. Go there and find Dorian Belle. He’s the man who helped us escape our executions,” he said.
“You’re not coming with me?” she asked.
“I have to save Molly.”
“I understand, Lexi,” she said, kissing him.
Dirk leapt down to the crumbling deck. An explosion of dust obscured him.
“We can’t stay,” said Maive, sealing the copter airtight. The ship did a backwards roll as we took to the wind. She swept around the side of the Crescendo and fired a rocket at one of its golden orbs. A cluster of them exploded and the ship leaned. My stomach flipped and I looked to Baker, terrified because I couldn’t read him.
“Are you angry?” I asked.
“It’s odd is all,” he said. Fitz chuckled, but something about Baker’s tone suggested he had not meant to poke fun or belittle me.
“I understand now why you two got so close,” said Fitz. “You knew, didn’t you, Bakes?”
“Shut it!” I smacked the back of Fitz’s head.
“Control that wench!” Maive reproached.
Baker didn’t intervene. He just shook his head. “I must be a blinking imbecile,” he said.
My eyes stung.
I’d never seen him so flummoxed.
The Wastrel, a refuge for aimless wanderers, broke apart in the sky. She had been my home for almost a year. Throngs of men leapt off, opening their parachutes. They were well trained and I took solace knowing many of them would survive.
“She’s gone,” Baker said, placing his hand against the glass door. I didn’t know what to say to comfort him. I didn’t feel like his friend anymore, but more like a woman he had just met. Even if he wasn’t angry now, I knew once the shock wore off, he would be.
Maive gasped and swore in a foreign language. My heart raced as a million possible scenarios polluted my head. Then I saw what she saw: a man and a little girl falling out of the sky. Dirk clutched Molly to his chest. The child’s hair shot up like a pillar of fire. We circled their descent from afar, holding our breaths right up to the moment their parachute sprang upwards and inflated.
To trounce a military with radically superior technology, we needed to best them in numbers. The only way to rally that kind of force was to restore people’s faith. Dirk was a beacon of hope, the very spearhead that would usher in an age of peace. Witnessing his self-sacrifice for his crew and then for his sister, I knew he was the man I’d been waiting to follow all my life.
IX. Forest
M aive steered her ship towards the thicket of trees where Dirk and Molly had fallen. She drove with an impressive amount of nerve, plummeting suddenly, swooping around and skimming over the treetops.
I knew this woodland from my father’s stories. It was the origin of fairytales, a sprawling forest of pine, yew and juniper. Once upon a time, a witch lived there and lured children to her home full of wind-up toys, and every child who went inside became one hence. Father also said wolves inhabited this forest, and wove between the trees at night.
We hovered and discussed our course of action. With no place to land, Maive suggested one of us take a flare gun, climb down by ladder and gather as many survivors as possible until rescue arrived. Baker volunteered.
“I’ll go with him,” I said.
“Absolutely not,” said Baker.
“Why not?”
“Your dress alone will slow us down.”
“Not as much as your shoddy sense of direction!”
“Both of you, get out,” said Maive.
I stuck out my tongue and made a nasty pig face. What would
“What!”
“We couldn’t take her into battle.”
With the doors still open, we heaved upwards and down in a perfect arc towards our beloved Wastrel. The men were abandoning her, strapping on parachutes and diving into the clouds. Cannon balls shredded the gondola, splintering wood and snapping cables. I clenched my whole body, dreading that those iron hulks might smash our tiny vessel.
Dirk grabbed Maive’s arm and met her gaze. “We are south of Nelise. Go there and find Dorian Belle. He’s the man who helped us escape our executions,” he said.
“You’re not coming with me?” she asked.
“I have to save Molly.”
“I understand, Lexi,” she said, kissing him.
Dirk leapt down to the crumbling deck. An explosion of dust obscured him.
“We can’t stay,” said Maive, sealing the copter airtight. The ship did a backwards roll as we took to the wind. She swept around the side of the Crescendo and fired a rocket at one of its golden orbs. A cluster of them exploded and the ship leaned. My stomach flipped and I looked to Baker, terrified because I couldn’t read him.
“Are you angry?” I asked.
“It’s odd is all,” he said. Fitz chuckled, but something about Baker’s tone suggested he had not meant to poke fun or belittle me.
“I understand now why you two got so close,” said Fitz. “You knew, didn’t you, Bakes?”
“Shut it!” I smacked the back of Fitz’s head.
“Control that wench!” Maive reproached.
Baker didn’t intervene. He just shook his head. “I must be a blinking imbecile,” he said.
My eyes stung.
I’d never seen him so flummoxed.
The Wastrel, a refuge for aimless wanderers, broke apart in the sky. She had been my home for almost a year. Throngs of men leapt off, opening their parachutes. They were well trained and I took solace knowing many of them would survive.
“She’s gone,” Baker said, placing his hand against the glass door. I didn’t know what to say to comfort him. I didn’t feel like his friend anymore, but more like a woman he had just met. Even if he wasn’t angry now, I knew once the shock wore off, he would be.
Maive gasped and swore in a foreign language. My heart raced as a million possible scenarios polluted my head. Then I saw what she saw: a man and a little girl falling out of the sky. Dirk clutched Molly to his chest. The child’s hair shot up like a pillar of fire. We circled their descent from afar, holding our breaths right up to the moment their parachute sprang upwards and inflated.
To trounce a military with radically superior technology, we needed to best them in numbers. The only way to rally that kind of force was to restore people’s faith. Dirk was a beacon of hope, the very spearhead that would usher in an age of peace. Witnessing his self-sacrifice for his crew and then for his sister, I knew he was the man I’d been waiting to follow all my life.
IX. Forest
M aive steered her ship towards the thicket of trees where Dirk and Molly had fallen. She drove with an impressive amount of nerve, plummeting suddenly, swooping around and skimming over the treetops.
I knew this woodland from my father’s stories. It was the origin of fairytales, a sprawling forest of pine, yew and juniper. Once upon a time, a witch lived there and lured children to her home full of wind-up toys, and every child who went inside became one hence. Father also said wolves inhabited this forest, and wove between the trees at night.
We hovered and discussed our course of action. With no place to land, Maive suggested one of us take a flare gun, climb down by ladder and gather as many survivors as possible until rescue arrived. Baker volunteered.
“I’ll go with him,” I said.
“Absolutely not,” said Baker.
“Why not?”
“Your dress alone will slow us down.”
“Not as much as your shoddy sense of direction!”
“Both of you, get out,” said Maive.
I stuck out my tongue and made a nasty pig face. What would
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