Vaska slipped her high-heeled sandals onto her feet as she sat at the end of the bed. Ingrid slipped her own feet into her tall leather boots. Her leather hat, complete with brass goggles, rested on the exposed sheets of the empty bed. Soldiers would likely not enter the room after they left, and they would find the bed unmade when they returned.
If the Ten Skies even returned.
"Father has forbidden me from joining the fight," Vaska said. She leaned over and kissed Ingrid on her forehead. "The other engineers are waiting for me. Stay safe."
"It should be safe," Ingrid said. "The Falling Leaf is a very safe airplane."
The air split with a line of consuming darkness, which spread into the shape of a portal. Vaska stepped through, swaying the skirts of her thin white dress on her hips as she vanished within the darkness. As the portal closed, the familiar shadowy form of Ashe began to appear on Ingrid's shoulder.
"The puppets have found their strings again," the little woman said. "Are you excited?"
"I am," Ingrid said. She set the leather hat on her head and snatched the sack of keystones off her bed stand. "How could I not be?"
When she arrived on deck the White Ravens were already busy taking off. Her own Falling Leaf fighter jet, now painted white, was being taxied directly to her. After an unremarkable line up and takeoff, she caught up with the other Ravens and took her place in the Left Wing. All of the Ravens had been given brand new Falling Leaf airplanes, and in spite of the mission, all the fighters were fully equipped with missiles.
"Maintain heading and altitude, hold formation," the Commander of the White Ravens said. His name was Matvei, and he had been the Left Wing before Ingrid took that position. He flew behind the diamond formation a ways, spotting for them. His voice was calm and methodical: "Open the portal in five... four... three..."
"Fire! Open a portal to the Plane of Fire!" Ingrid yelled. The three red keystones began to glow, and then they vanished, appearing in a triangle outside. She craned her neck back to look at the crystals as the portal formed, first a trio of crimson lines, followed by a circle around that triangle. A violent, bloody mist began to form at the edge of that circle.
"One-eighty left," Matvei barked. The Lead began to roll, and Ingrid focused her attention on holding formation. Small changes in air density and wind caused the four airplanes to jostle about, sometimes moving closer or farther apart. Ingrid succeeded in completing the turn without being scolded by Matvei for drifting too far. They passed the portal, and it continued shaping its undulations of crimson and transparent air. Ahead of the Ravens, no less than thirty airships were arranged in rows of three, in a column ten rows long.
A dark cloud loomed on the horizon. Three thousand HY-1 Arrowhead fighters, some former Taisian Air Navy, but mostly Imperial, swarmed in formations behind the fleet. Massive, six-engine bombers moved in formation with escort fighters past the rows of airships. There were even high-wing, four-engine airplanes equipped with a door under the tail designed to drop paratroopers. Mia and many other former sacrifices were riding in those airplanes.
The scouts rushed past flying in HY-4 Spearhead fighter jets, traveling toward the opening portal. Behind them, a row of six HY-7 Fat Meg fighters, including Reese. A single HY-8 Falling Leaf fighter jet followed them, piloted by Ivan. Glenice and her pack of Imperial Marine tilt-rotors followed behind Ivan. The portal flashed bright red, and then the land beyond appeared in the center of the crimson ring of light.
Something felt wrong. The landscape beyond the portal looked almost exactly like the surrounding area. White, mountains, trees, snow.
"Scouts are inside the portal," one of the scouts said. "A single red moon, otherwise it looks a lot like the snowfields of Taisia. There are huge volcanoes on the horizon. Air density is normal. Gravity is normal. Airspace is clear."
"Resume the mission," Elizabeth said. No other communicators activated. "This is a message to all unit commanders. The cold war ends today. By our actions, we either cripple our enemy or we guarantee that we will lose this war. This is my command: press the attack. Spend the lives of your soldiers well, but do not hesitate to spend those lives. Be aggressive. Attack! Attack! Attack!"
The communicator dimmed. A second activated. "One-eighty left," her commander repeated. The formation turned to face the portal. The Fat Meg fighters, as well as Ivan, were already flying through by the time they finished the turn. They followed behind a paratrooper dropship as the portal grew and grew, dominating the sky. They passed the threshold.
The sky was a dull gray, as if shrouded by clouds in the space beyond the stars. It was snowing lightly, and it appeared to be snowing lightly everywhere. A massive crimson moon rested halfway above the horizon. Otherwise the Plane of Fire looked exactly like the snowfields of Taisia outside. Mountains, glaciers, snowclad trees, frozen lakes... except for the volcanoes.
The horizon was broken by jagged teeth jutting up into space. Tens, if not hundreds of thousands of feet tall, they billowed black smoke from the peaks, drooling orange lava in great rivers down into the snowfields below. A nearby volcano, at least thirty thousand feet tall, had set fire to a snowclad forest, boiling away the snow in the trees, creating an upwelling of steam.
"So much snow," Ingrid said.
"Well, if I was a Fire Elemental," Ashe said, "then I would want something to burn. A world of fire and lava would be so boring! There needs to be trees and cute little animals to burn!"
"Fire of my spirit," Ingrid whispered. "Can you ask your mother for help?"
I can, a feminine voice replied, crackling and hissing like flames. Mother will be made to know of you, and the Queen of Darkness as well.
Ingrid flew in silence, and the White Ravens flew escort to the dropships but otherwise did not maneuver. As Natasha had promised, flying in formation had become much easier. It still required most of her attention to counteract the small motions of flight and stay in formation, but she could steal brief moments to look around and search for enemies. The green Colored Orb, from her missile radar, beeped occasionally. No contacts.
Mother has sent help. They will fly with you. Do not be alarmed.
Ingrid activated her emergency magenta Colored Orb to speak to Elizabeth. "This is Ingrid speaking. The Queen of Fire will send help. Do not be alarmed."
The nearby volcano began to erupt violently, splitting the mountain nearly in half. A long, unfathomably large snake began to slither out of the broken mountain. Tens of thousands of feet long, it snaked its way into the sky like an eel, breaking free of the ground. It appeared to be a reptile, with tight red scales separated by glowing flames within its body. Massive spikes lined the creature's spine. It also sported a pair of burning horns on its head, slender arms ending in massive claws, and many quads of leathery wings, arranged in a diagonal pattern, spaced out along its body. It was those diagonal quads of wings that appeared to propel it and allow it to maneuver itself.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
It seemed to have found Ingrid, because it began to fly straight towards her. Before getting close to any of the airplanes, it had already climbed far above them, perhaps double their altitude, and it remained at that relative height even as they ascended. The light snow turned to hail as the heat from the creature radiated into the air far above. More massive snakes slithered out of the other nearby volcanoes on the horizon.
The dragons fly with us, the High Daughter of the Queen of Fire said. For the first time since creation, the Queen has commanded thus.
"All soldiers, local help is in sight and identified as friendly," Elizabeth said. "Continue the mission, and do not be alarmed. Repeat. The creatures are friendly. Do not be alarmed."
The local help grew to dozens, and perhaps hundreds of massive dragons, flying ahead of and around the fleet. They formed an otherworldly tube, flying in rings spaced out in the sky, and began to violently slither as if hunting prey. The ground began to move faster below them, even while the airspeed remained constant.
They have been here for some time, the others. What they have done is unforgivable. Do not be alarmed, the dragons will take us to them.
"All commanders, continue the mission," Elizabeth said. "Ground speed is rapidly increasing even for the airships, while airspeed is unchanged. The creatures appear to be creating an atmospheric river that is dragging us across this Elemental Plane."
"My Fire Elemental says there are others here," Ingrid said to Elizabeth over the communicator. "They have been here for some time. It may be a trap."
"A risk I am willing to take," Elizabeth replied. "Keep this to yourself."
The ground began to rush by in a blur as the massive tube of air sucked the entire fleet through the Plane of Fire. Rivers of lava, burning forests, and erupting volcanoes appeared and rushed past. The White Ravens and the other airplanes were much faster, and so the airships continued to fall behind. However all thirty airships and the cloud of three thousand HY-1 fighters were keeping pace relatively speaking.
The flight seemed to drag on as Ingrid focused her attention on formation flying. Occasionally the faster airplanes looped around to rejoin the airships. Almost an hour passed before the first radar contacts appeared.
"Contacts!" Reese said. "Lots and lots of contacts!"
The dragons began to break away, causing the air to become turbulent. The wind began to shift rapidly and the White Ravens split apart to avoid being knocked into each other. The airspeed indicator in Ingrid's fighter was rapidly twitching and it took some effort to hold the nose straight and level. However, Ingrid felt relieved to just be able to fly solo and not have to worry about bumping into one of the other Ravens.
The last of the dragons broke away and the atmospheric river dispersed, depositing them within radar signal of the enemy fleet.
"Continue the mission," Elizabeth commanded. "All fighters, advance!"
Twenty four hypersonic missiles rocketed off the wings of the Fat Meg fighter jets as Ingrid reformed into a diamond with the Ravens. The Lead pilot veered to one side, aiming his nose toward a floating island nearby. The dropships, tilt-rotors, and escort fighters veered toward the island as well. The cloud of Arrowhead fighter jets continued straight, accelerating toward the enemy.
The island was jagged underneath and flat on top, as were other such structures in the Elemental Planes. An entire city occupied the flat top of the island, and it appeared to be made of red marble lined with veins of white and pink. Buildings, carefully arranged around blockish streets, small fields of snow with fountains and trees...
"Abort! Abort!" came the cry from the dropship airplane. "Close the tail door! Paratroopers do not deploy! Abort! Abort!"
"Ravens, that means us as well," the Commander said. "Lead, take us lower to get a better look at the city. However, we will not be performing our airshow acts."
As they passed the center of the city, flying mere feet above the roofs of the red marble buildings, Ingrid saw it. A pile of bodies, thirty feet tall, lifeless corpses with shattered skulls and chests ripped open, carefully preserved by a thin layer of frost.
"They beat us here," Ashe said. Ingrid shivered.
"Elizabeth," Ingrid said. "They already depopulated this city. Everyone turned into canisters, their bodies left in a pile in the town square."
"Recruitment and airshow teams, keep looking for more cities," Elizabeth commanded. "Repeat, keep looking for more cities."
The sky far behind lit up with the fires of hell as the two clouds of fighter jets collided. Her radar began to beep violently.
"Radar contacts, eight airplanes, coming straight for us," Commander Matvei declared. "Take them out!"
"Contacts confirmed," Reese said. "Conventional radar missiles incoming." Lights erupted from the six Fat Meg airplanes as dozens of Dark-Three radar-guided missiles lanced out into the sky. Ingrid's diamond formation rotated around and away from the contacts. "They are not defending. They are not using radar against us either. Three, no six kills. Two enemies survived."
"They are too close!" Ivan said. "Merging!"
"We should go help!" Ingrid said.
"Negative," Commander Matvei said. "Keep our distance, lock them up and lob missiles at the remaining fighters. Lead, bring us around. Slot, keep an eye behind us."
"I know that's you Bertrand, you bastard!" Ivan yelled.
"Break away!" Reese called. "Meg Squadron! Keep yourself alive!"
They slowly rotated around in a long loop. Ingrid's heart was racing as the battle ahead came into view. Tiny fighter jets looped around each other in the distance, leaving long trails of smoke in the sky. One airplane was heading straight for the formation.
A rapid set of beeps indicated a radar lock on that airplane. "Lock target," Ingrid said.
"Diamond, slight spread, fire!" the Lead bellowed. Ingrid pulled the trigger. Four missiles left the rails of the White Ravens. The smoke and fire of the Lead's missile was a mere ten feet away from Ingrid's head. The missiles vanished out of sight. Flares ruptured from the distant fighter, and then it exploded.
"Kill confirmed," Matvei said.
"Trying to use flares against radar," the Lead chuckled.
A second explosion flashed in the sky beyond, leaving spider-like trails of black smoke falling toward the ground. "How do you like thrust vectoring?!" Ivan cried. "You can keep coming back as much as you want, you bastard! I'll just kill you again!"
"Meg Squadron is mostly in-tact," Reese said. "Our far left fighter lost an aileron and parts of the rudder to bullets. Using Metal Elemental for patch repairs, but he needs to go back to the airships."
"Affirmative," the Commander said. "The rest of you stay in formation, look for more cities."
"Forward fighter squadrons," Elizabeth said. "Press the attack, focus on killing! Killing!"
A second city loomed on the horizon beyond the battle. The entire enemy fleet was between Ingrid and that city, and so the Lead pilot led them in a long arc through the sky. The massive flaming dragons had converged near the enemy fleet. They began setting fire to enemy airships, however they did not appear to be immortal. Flak cannons and the flashes of missiles from fighters were exploding along their scaly skin, rupturing their flesh in flashes of bloody fire. Several dragons grew dark, their lifeless husks breaking apart as they drifted toward the ground.
They have protected this place since creation, the High Daughter of Fire said. To end in this place is a great sadness, and a great honor.
"Solo and Opposing Solo," Commander Matvei said, "Go alone to that city and report to us. We can only assume that it has already been depopulated. We need to search for cities that might be further away."
The two other White Ravens flew some distance to either side of the diamond. They both pitched up and began to fly away. Opposing Solo even passed over Ingrid's head as he accelerated to join Solo for the mission.
"Something is wrong," Slot said. "Behind us, there are explosions in our fleet."
"Continue the mission," Matvei said.
"This is Vice-Admiral Oleg," a voice began over the emergency fleet-wide Colored Orb. "The Ten Skies is under attack by enemy bombers, contact with the command deck has been lost. I am assuming command of this fleet. All commanders continue the mission. Continue the attack."
Ingrid suddenly panicked. "Vaska!"
"Is safe," Ashe said. "Safe and sound inside my realm."
"Right, right. But... Elizabeth," Ingrid muttered.
"I'm sorry," Ashe said. She reached out and ran her hand along Ingrid's jawline. Her hand felt warm, like the paw of a small animal.
"Another city," Reese said. "About one hundred miles to the east."
"Forty-five left," Lead said. The formation began to turn.
Another magenta Orb activated. "This is Glenice with the Imperial Marines," a familiar, feminine voice said. "Our tilt-rotors are not going to be able to keep up for long."
"Slow down, wait for Solo to return," Matvei said. "Meg Squadron, protect the tilt-rotors. Marines, it is alright if you fall behind slightly."
One hundred miles was a short flight for a fighter jet at full power, taking only a few minutes. The flashing lights of the battle fell far behind, though the long burning dragons could still easily be seen at that distance. Solo and Opposing Solo returned to report the tragic fate of the city behind enemy lines. They flew in silence to the next city. The airspace was clear, and the White Ravens took the lead.
Flying low and fast, they approached the red marble buildings on the snowclad floating island. Ingrid held her breath as the city streets rushed past.
City streets filled with bustling people.
"Open the tail doors on the dropships," Matvei said. "Paratroopers prepare for the mission! White Ravens! Begin the airshow!"