The Outskirts: The Sky Raiders (Jace x OC)

Part 30

As the sun sunk towards the horizon, Jace tried to keep the Fair-Weather Friend away from the oncoming swarm of skycraft, which included the three large vessels, along with seven lifeboats. The plan to escape the legion by skycraft looked worse and worse as the persistent armada cut off any attempt to double back, herding them away from the Brink and toward the dead end of the Eastern Cloudwall.
From what I could see, the skycraft mostly contained uniformed legionnaires, with raiders at the controls and also manning some of the weapons on the larger vessels. The pursuing skycraft moved with ruthless coordination, climbing when we rose, dropping when we dived, crowding us toward a corner with no escape.
Me and the others had checked the castles we could reach ahead of the other skycraft. One had been crafted out of black metal and looked like a certain death trap. Another had crumbled to ruins, offering scant cover. A third was made of crystal, again leaving nowhere to hide.
With the skycraft hounding us relentlessly,
there was no time to plan. We could only flee and pray for darkness.
The Fair Weather Friend swerved farther away from the Brink and began to shudder. It dropped jerkily, leaning hard to the right. Jace curved the little craft back toward the distant Brink.
"If we go any farther out, we'll fall." Jace said.
I looked back at where the sun had disappeared behind the Western Cloudwall. That side of the sky remained bright red and orange. It would still be close to an hour before the true darkness of night. I glanced at the other skycraft drawing nearer, leaving no room for evasion.
"They've got us," Cole said. "We don't have enough room to run until it gets dark. We have to try to break through them?"
Jace shook his head. "If we charge between them, they'll just close in from all sides. We'll get swarmed. They have grappling hooks and plenty of weapons. We don't stand a chance of getting past them."
"He's right," Twitch said. "Avoiding risk is my specialty. Charging through them won't work." The Eastern Cloudwall loomed closer than ever.
Impenetrably dark and unnaturally flat, the cloud bank stretched high and low, left and right. Cole squeezed his bow. None of the other skycraft were close enough to hit with an arrow yet, but the nearest weren't out of range by much.
"We've got maybe ten more minutes of running room. What else can we try?" Jace said.
"They want Mira," I said. "Maybe we can bluff.
If we threaten to fly into the Cloudwall, they might back off."
"Try to stall them until it gets dark?" Mira asked.
"It's worth a shot." Jace said. "Unless anybody has another idea."
I could see no other solution. If we tried to fly through our pursuers, we wouldn't succeed.
If we tried to fight, it would be even worse.
The only option was to keep flying toward the cloudwall.
"What if they call our bluff?" Cole worried.
Jace frowned. "We'll have no escape. If they ignore the bluff, and we don't fly into the cloudwall, they'll swoop in and take us in seconds."
"It's a pretty weak option if we're not willing to follow through," Twitch said.
"If we fly into the cloudwall, we'll be killed," Cole said. "At least if they capture us, we'll have a chance to live."
"I might live," Mira said. "For a while. As a prisoner. They'll want to question me—try to confirm what I know and who I've told. You guys are runaway slaves. Kendal had the Commander of the legion at arrow point. Jace hurt some soldiers. Cole shot an officer. You all helped me. They know I could have shared my secret. They'll execute you."
"We don't know that going into the cloudwall will kill us," I said slowly. "We just know that no one had returned."
"Now you're talking crazy." Jace said to me.
"Am I?" I countered. "They won't follow us in there. We could just go in a little, barely out of sight. It's better than letting them have us."
"We bluff first, though," Cole clarified.
"Of course," Mira said. "But if they keep coming anyway, we take cover in the cloudwall. And if we can't get back out, we try to survive it."
Jace chuckled bitterly. "If you're going to die, you might as well be doing something really, really stupid."
I peered over the side of the lifeboat at the infinite drop. None of us had parachutes—there hadn't been time to grab them. I gazed ahead at the imposing cloud wall. What dangers was it hiding? Did it house deadly monsters? Or was there some other explanation for why people never returned? Could it be a one-way portal to some other place?
As the cloudwall drew near, the other skycraft closed in.
Me and Mira had our swords out, and Cole kept his bow ready. The Vulture was probably within range now, as were two of the lifeboats. But many of the legionnaires had bows. If everyone started shooting, I doubted whether me and my friends would survive.
Mira stood up. "Back away from us!" she shouted. "Leave us alone or we'll enter the cloudwall!"
A man on the Vulture raised his voice to answer. He had gray hair and a prominent nose.
"We would rather take you alive, child, but we can't help it if you destroy yourself. Do what you must."
"Take us in," Mira muttered. "Hurry."
"You sure?" Jace whispered back. "Even if they kill the rest of us, you might still live."
"I'm not so sure," Mira said, "I'll take my chances with the cloudwall. Don't let them get too close. Go for it."
I glanced over at the Cloudwall. It was less than a minute away. The closer they got to the foggy barrier, the clearer it became that the wall wasn't perfectly flat—some indistinct mistiness on the surface caught the glow of the sunset. Did that mean there might be a hazy space before the true cloudwall began, a place where we could hide?
"Don't be fools!" the man from the Vulture cried.
"You don't want to suffer a horrible death in that darkness. Mira, if you come to me, I will spare the four slaves who aided you."
"I don't believe you!" Mira yelled back.
"I am Commander Rainier, highest-ranked officer of the legion," the man replied loudly. "It is well within my power to make this deal. I swear by my office and by my good name, before all witnesses present, that your four companions will be returned to their master unharmed if you end this folly and turn yourself in."
Arms hugging her chest, Mira glanced down at the others.
"Don't give in for me," Jace said, still guiding the lifeboat at full speed toward the cloudwall.
"Me either," I said.
"Not me." Cole said.
"Up to you." Twitch said.
Mira scrunched her eyebrows and stared down.
"I'm willing to chance it, but it's not fair to force you guys into this."
"He's pulling your strings," Jace said. "Don't let him use us against you. If you give up because of us, I swear I'll jump. Plus, he could be lying. Who knows? Maybe we'll survive the cloudwall. Forget about us. Do what you want."
Mira hesitated, then called, "No thanks!"
"Stop them!" Commander Rainier roared. "Stop them at all costs!"