Walking back to his private room on the ship he dropped the bottle carelessly on the table and threw open the closet doors. Humming quietly he dug through the piled clothes in the bottom until he found the case he was looking for. He fished it out of the mess and regarded the rumpled clothes with a smirk. To think, Jala had been so very impressed with his tidy ship. It was a good thing she hadn’t seen the closet.
He snorted in amusement and moved to the table again dropping the case down beside his wine bottle. Lifting the bottle with one hand he took another long drink and wondered idly if there were adverse effects to holding too much magic in your reservoir. Well he would get rid of the extra energy soon enough, he decided, as he flipped the case open.
He hadn’t even considered this case in months and couldn’t quite understand what had made him think of it now. The armor inside had been a gift from his mother. He had never even bothered to take it out of the case before now. He stared down at the dark blue leather and tried not to think of her. For most of his life he had believed her mad and had always sided with his father. Now, he was beginning to understand why she was the way she was.
Setting the bottle once more on the table, he pulled the supple leather jerkin from the case and shook it out. Despite months of storage the armor was still soft to the touch and looked well oiled. He hadn’t thought much of the gift at the time and had been rather offended at the lack of house sigils on it. It had seemed blasphemous to wear anything without the twin snakes of Morcaillo on it then. Now, it suited him perfectly.
He studied the wards worked into the armor and shook his head in amazement, protection from location, fire, and enchantment. Leaning back in his chair he stared at the runes in amazement and wondered if his mother had known all along he would go traitor to the family. The ward against location would prevent his father, or anyone else for that matter from finding him. Then there was the fire and enchantment. They were the two primary weapons of House Rivasa and House Avanti, his father’s closest allies.
“She knew and she couldn’t warn me,” Shade whispered to himself and stood from his chair. He stripped his old leathers off and began buckling on his mother’s gift quickly. The leathers fit like a glove, much tighter than what he was used to. He raised his arms over his head and flexed his shoulders testing the give. Despite the obvious thickness of the leather it felt like nothing more than heavy wool. Lowering his arms slowly he examined the leather once again and wondered exactly what manner of creature he was wearing. This wasn’t cow leather he was sure of it, and it wasn’t serpent skin as he had seen others wear.
Shaking his head slightly he gave up guessing and moved to the mirror. The dark blue leather suited him, he decided as he admired his reflection. He ran a hand through his hair, tousling the auburn locks and smiled. “Well, if they do catch me, at least I’ll be the best looking prisoner they have,” he muttered.
I’m on the ship and it’s taking off, Charm’s voice broke into his thoughts once again and he grabbed the bottle of wine as he made his way quickly back to the front of the ship.
I’ll intercept over the water, Shade told him and pulled his sunglasses from the jacket draped over his pilot seat. The world turned a pale blue as he put them on and dropped into his chair. While sunlight wouldn’t bother him through the view screen, that wasn’t why he wore the glasses. The runes carved into the round lenses would show hidden objects and protection wards, and today that might be the difference between success and failure.
What do you mean intercept? There are six Avanti fighters flying escort as well as two Rivasan ships, Charm said, sounding rather concerned.
Eight escort? Really? They must really want to keep him, Shade replied and took another long pull from the bottle. He had guessed three, and then six shown up, and now there were eight. If he didn’t act soon there would be a bloody armada. He swallowed the gulp of wine and took another quickly. No problem, he assured Charm and grinned to himself. Leaning over to a compartment on the passenger side he pulled a small crystal from inside. With a hushed word he activated its magic and smiled as the fast drum beats of Firym music filled the ship.
“We got the music sweetheart, now let’s teach these bastards to dance,” he said with a grin and ran a hand affectionately along his ship’s panel. Placing his hands firmly on the controls he sent magic coursing through the ship. A soft vibration echoed through his fingers and into the ship as he connected fully with The Shade. His eyes rose to the view screen as it flickered to life showing him a full span of the rocky ravine he was hiding in.
“You thought I disappointed you before Daddy, you ain’t seen nothing yet.” He grinned wider as he spoke the words and pulled back on the controls bringing his ship from hiding. There was no doubt in his mind that any survivors from today would know his ship. The Shade was the only one of her kind. The structure of the ship was sleeker than the typical spell hawk and it was the only ship in the air without elaborate paint. Word would most certainly get back to Myth about this. His only regret was that he wouldn’t be there to flip him off as he heard it.
*
His adrenaline rose as the first of the enemy ships came into view. He was flying well above them using the cloud cover to mask his approach. If they had been watching closely, they likely would have spotted him, but with eight in the escort they could hardly expect to be ambushed.