The Grey Chronicles Part Two: Under Siege.

Chapter 13: You're What?

Battlefield on Apostle Nine, planet's surface, January of 360 BL.

Salem wasn't surprised to find that he could hear his brother's screaming over the sound of his cannon shell whistling through the air. Augustus shouted and ranted and raved over the radio while they all flew through the air until, eventually, Aela reminded him of that fact.

"You dolt, quit your whining and tell me when to jump out of this goddamn thing!" her voice broke over the radio, catching him between breaths.

Augustus grumbled and went quiet, counting silently in his head.

"On my mark," he said, breaking the silence, "Two, one, now."

Salem gripped the pull cord on his parachute and kicked out at the sliding door with all of his strength. The door buckled and bent outwards. The door, at that time, had been facing the ground. Gravity and centrifugal force wrenched him out of the artillery shell and suddenly he found himself plummeting to the ground.

He waited several seconds, examining the landscape around him. He was plummeting towards the backside of the ridge forming the end of no-man's-land opposite of the Machinae camp and directly in front of the Titanus camp. Spires of rock randomly dotted the plains, the ground was littered with bones and black sand. The sand was ash, Salem realized; the Nephilim had used the area to burn their dead, not from any sign of respect, but as a method of efficiently cooking all of them at once.

Salem yanked on the pull cord as hard as he could and was relieved to hear cloth unfolding behind him. He took ahold of the steering cords and turned to the side. His entire body jerked as the chute filled with air and his plummet slowed to a controlled descent. Salem was smiling until he noticed the rock pile directly in his path.

He tried to steer away from it, but it was too late; less than two seconds later he was on top of the rocks, sprawled out under dozens of yards of black nylon and thick cordage. The parachute folded over him, pinning him to the rock as the wind pushed it downwards. He had no choice but to remain where he was for the time being, trapped between a rock and a parachute.

"All units come in, give me a sitrep." Augustus' voice broke over the radio again. "Let me know I haven't killed you all."

"I thought it more likely I'd been the one to kill you, darling," Aela answered him.

"Don't you start this 'darling' bullshit with me," Augustus growled quietly, "I'm pissed at you. How could you not tell me that earlier?"

"Ladies, ladies, quit fighting. You're both pretty," Salem interrupted his brother before Aela did, "But I'm beautiful, don't take your jealousy out on one another. Oh, I'm also tied to a rock. Would someone mind fixing that?"

"I've got him," Octavian answered, "Perseus is fine, his radio broke mid-flight. He landed a few meters from me, he's going to look for you, Aela. I'll get shit-for-brains, let's rendezvous at grid square 33-86."

"Sounds good to me, I have eyes on Aela," Augustus said, "We'll head towards the rendezvous point immediately."

"It seems he has a lot more than eyes on her, and quite a bit in her as well," Salem clowned, he heard Perseus growl. He may not have a working radio, but his voice carried quite well. Everyone made the wise decision and remained silent.

Salem only had to wait a few minutes for his friend to arrive. He wouldn't have known about his arrival if he hadn't spoken; the parachute flapped against the rocks in the wind, it had been torn in several places by the edges of the obsidian boulders. Salem had been saved from a similar fate by his armor; he shuddered to think what the glass-stone would have done to him otherwise.