Page 28 of Under the Iron Sky

Scenarios and problems began pouring into Soraya’s head, fast and quick like being pelted with stones.

Sunpanels weren’t nearly as absorbent as they’d once been, and despite having half an hour basking in the suns’ warmth, the power gauge on Soraya’s craft was already nearing a nail-bitingly low level after all those attacks. Theron’s and Deimos’s must’ve been the same.

How were they going to stop the dragon? The jets were fast enough to outrun it, but not the Sunrunners. And even if they could, where would they go? Lead it back to base? No. Not unless someone stayed back to distract it. To give it a big enough target long enough for the Sunrunners to escape.

Theron caught on right as the plan formed in Soraya’s mind. His head snapped toward her, eyes flaring with terror. “Don’t you dare.” He’d charged headfirst toward that dragon without a second thought for his own safety, yet this was the first time he’d sounded scared this entire mission.

Soraya was just about to tell him there was no other option when a familiar gasp rang through the speakers, sharp and panicked enough to draw both Theron and Soraya’s attention back to the fight to where a hundred feet away, the dragon was closing in on Deimos with alarming speed.

“There’s something wrong with my controls!” Deimos was screaming. “I can’t—I think it’s him! I think he’s got me!”

Now that Soraya looked at it, Deimos’s craft wasn’t going anywhere near as fast as it should have been, and with the speed the dragon and rider were going after it …

Soraya turned her gun toward Theron.

“Soraya, you can’t—”

One well-placed shot to his right thruster was enough to clip his wings. They’d last him long enough to get back to base, but not long enough to stay and fight alongside her. One of them had to survive this. And only one of them was without a family to lose, without someone who would miss them.

“I’m sorry.” She really meant it. “Get them home—and look after Twiigs for me. That’s an order.” Likely her final one. Severing the communication line with a flick of a button, Soraya cut the last string connecting her to all the other crafts in the air, and then she was gone, pushing her jet forward like a shooting star—right toward the dragon and its rider.

They saw her coming, but paid her no attention until she rammed into the underside of the dragon’s jaw. The beast screeched in pain, the fiery breath it’d been about to unleash on Deimos battering into the Iron Sky instead.

That knock seemed to be just the thing needed to let Deimos loose. His craft shot forward at normal speed, straight toward his brother and the fleeing Sunrunners that remained.

Soraya flew in close, letting the Demon get a good look at who, exactly, had dared to take aim at them. Time seemed to slow. The Demon’s head swiveled slowly as he followed her. She swore she could feel his eyes behind the helmet watching her until the very moment she sped away.

“Come on, you ugly bastard,” she whispered to no one, turning to watch the Demon from over her shoulder. “Follow me.”

She saw him glance toward the receding group, then back to her jet, and apparently he had a bit of an ego because then he was yanking hard on the dragon’s reins and they were spearing through the sky after her.

Soraya couldn’t help but smile as she led him away from Theron and her team.

Safe. A nice end, she thought. To finish the pages of her life filled with the people she killed, not with more death but with the names of the last few people she saved.

She eyed the power gauge, the warning light blinking that she needed to refuel soon. Well, it wasn’t as though she needed to reserve any energy for the return flight home. Better not let any go to waste.

She didn’t need to defeat either of them, just distract them long enough for the team to disappear. Didn’t mean she couldn’t give it a good fucking go.

Soraya slowed, letting the dragon close in. When it was right behind her, she dove and spun, releasing a pinwheel of Light behind her and narrowly avoiding the snap of those front talons when the beast tried to pluck her from the air.

She ducked low, thinking she might be able to lose them among the mountains long enough to sneak up behind him and strike while his back was turned, but quickly pulled back up when the Demon began throwing mining equipment at her with his magic.

A dogfight in the open air it would be, then.

She put some distance between them, then spun around to charge at him again. Across the sky, the Demon and the dragon were doing the same.

They rushed at each other again and again, like they were jousting just below the Iron Sky. Each time, Soraya tried to hit the Dar’rak and each time, the dragon threw its body to shield him. Maybe if she separated them somehow …

She’d have to work quickly, though. She was running on empty. Another pass or two and she’d be done. She went in for another attack, narrowly missing the dragon’s teeth when she tried to veer past its shoulder to get to the Demon.

A hand on the gear stick and still speeding in the opposite direction, she glanced over a shoulder to find the Demon in the same position she was: one hand on the saddle, his body twisted all the way around to look at her.

He yanked on the reins, and the dragon turned to chase her.

The Demon raised a hand—and then Soraya felt it. Resistance. Some invisible force pulling her back like trying to swim against an ocean current. The Demon had ahold of her craft.

The dash lit up with warning lights.