Chapter 114 – Demon.

The pilot stared at him for a few seconds, then screamed.

"Demon!"

Matt blinked.

The man had one hand clenched on the parachute straps and was trying to get away from him by kicking his legs.

He didn't get very far.

Matt kept descending beside him.

'At least he speaks a language I understand.'

That made things a lot easier.

Although the first word didn't give him much hope.

"I asked you a question."

"Get away from me!"

Matt glanced down briefly. There was still a long way to go before they reached the ground. The forest stretched out beneath them both, and the plane had disappeared somewhere past the trees.

Matt looked back at the pilot.

"Why are you attacking that kingdom?"

"I'm not telling you anything!"

"Listen—"

"Don't come any closer!"

Matt stopped talking.

The man was still looking at him as if he expected him to lunge and rip his head off.

That was fairly annoying. Especially since he had just raised his hands to show he wasn't carrying any weapon.

'Fine.'

Matt lowered his hands and a small dagger formed between his fingers.

The pilot saw it immediately.

"What...?"

Matt raised his hand toward one of the parachute lines.

The edge passed over it.

TWANG!

The line came loose.

The man felt a small jerk and gripped the straps harder.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Matt watched how the parachute moved. Then he looked back at him.

"Every time you don't answer one of my questions, I'm going to cut another one."

The pilot opened his mouth. The mask muffled part of the scream, but Matt understood it perfectly.

"Goddamn demon!"

Matt cut another line.

This time the parachute tilted a little more.

The man let out a yell and tipped his head back, trying to see how much damage had been done.

Matt stayed close. He could grab him if the canopy collapsed sooner than expected.

The pilot didn't seem to be considering that possibility, since he was only looking at the cut lines.

And at the forest.

Mostly at the forest.

"I'll ask you again," Matt said. "Why are you attacking that kingdom?"

The man swallowed.

Matt waited.

The pilot looked back at him and gritted his teeth.

"This is nothing. You're not going to get me to—"

Matt moved the dagger.

Three lines came loose almost at the same moment.

TWANG!

TWANG!

TWANG!

The jolt spun the pilot sideways.

"AAAAH!"

Part of the canopy lost its shape and started flapping above him. The man clung to the harness with both hands, pulling his legs up.

Matt had to follow the movement to stay close.

The pilot found him in front of him again.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

Matt raised the dagger toward another line.

"Why are you attacking the castle?"

"I was following orders!"

Matt's hand stopped.

The man looked at the blade.

Then at him.

"We were following orders!"

"Whose?"

The pilot stopped shouting.

Not because he seemed any calmer.

His breathing sounded fairly ragged even through the mask.

He looked down again.

There was still far too much distance before landing, and some of the remaining lines were bearing a lot more strain than before.

Matt didn't move the dagger away.

"Whose?"

"My superiors'."

"I figured that much."

The man pressed his lips together.

Matt brought the edge a little closer.

"We're on an operation!"

Matt waited.

"A rescue operation."

The dagger stopped moving.

The pilot took the chance to draw a breath, but didn't manage to finish before Matt asked again.

"Rescuing who?"

"A politician's son."

Matt frowned.

"What?"

"A politician's son! He was kidnapped! They're holding him in that kingdom!"

Matt looked at him in silence.

The pilot went quiet too.

For a few seconds there was only the wind and the movement of the fabric over their heads.

'Someone kidnapped?'

Matt thought of the castle again, and of what Lucrecia had told him.

"And you're trying to rescue him by bombing the kingdom?"

"They gave us targets."

"Lovely."

The pilot didn't answer.

Matt ran his tongue over his lips.

That information had made what he was already thinking a lot worse.

The planes hadn't ended up there by accident.

They had crossed over to carry out an operation.

An operation authorized by someone who knew there was a kidnapping victim in that place.

'How much do they know?'

He looked up at the pilot again.

"How many people in the government know about this world?"

The man shook his head.

"I don't know."

Matt looked at the lines.

"I don't know!"

The dagger cut another one.

The parachute lurched again.

"GODDAMMIT!"

The pilot swung around abruptly and had to cling even harder to the harness.

Matt stayed beside him.

"I'm telling you the truth!"

"Then explain."

"I'm a pilot! I don't know who authorized all this! They gave us a mission and sent us to carry it out!"

Matt watched him.

The man kept glancing at the dagger between one sentence and the next.

"We knew there was someone to rescue. We knew where we had to hit. That's what they told us."

"And it didn't worry you that someone might come after you?"

The pilot let out a fairly nervous laugh.

He looked at the cut lines.

Then at Matt.

"No."

Matt raised an eyebrow.

"They told us you wouldn't be able to catch us."

The man gestured toward him with a short jerk of his head.

"Even if you could fly."

Matt went quiet.

That explained part of it.

It was also pretty close to what he had just experienced.

He had spent several minutes chasing that plane without managing to get any closer. If the pilot had kept pulling away, Matt would probably have lost sight of him.

The man had had to come back toward him to give him a chance.

Matt looked at the dagger again.

"Then I have another question."

The pilot swallowed.

"Why did you turn around?"

He didn't answer.

Matt raised the edge a few centimeters.

"You were getting away. I couldn't catch you. Why did you come back to attack me?"

The man looked away.

Matt waited.

This time he didn't move the dagger.

The answer was taking a while for a fairly obvious reason.

The pilot seemed more uncomfortable with this question than with the last one.

"You always stayed there," he muttered.

"Who?"

"You people."

Matt didn't correct him.

The man looked toward where the kingdom had been left behind.

"You never came out to chase us. We'd make our runs and pull back. None of you had tried to catch us."

"And?"

The pilot gritted his teeth.

He was still afraid.

He also seemed fairly annoyed at having to explain it.

"I thought I could shoot you down."

Matt looked at him.

The man went on.

"If you could get out of that place and chase the plane… maybe you were somebody important..."

Matt said nothing.

"I thought that if I took you out..."

The pilot left the sentence hanging.

Matt finished it for him.

"They'd give you a medal?"

The man glared at him.

"A promotion."

Matt closed his eyes for an instant.

'A promotion.'

He had been trying to figure out whether the pilot had come back to protect the other planes.

Or whether he wanted to keep him from finding the portal.

Maybe he had received an order.

But no.

The guy had been thinking about a promotion.

Matt let out a sigh.

The pilot saw him raise the dagger again.

"Wait."

Matt looked at the lines that were left.

"Wait!"

The blade passed through them.

All of them came loose.

The parachute shot upward while the man's body began to fall.

"YOU BIIIIIIITCH!"

Matt dissolved the dagger.

The pilot dropped away from him, spinning and flailing his arms while he kept cursing him.

Matt dove after him. He caught up before he got too far and closed a hand around the harness. The jerk made the man let out another yell.

His legs kicked without finding anything to rest on.

Matt adjusted his grip.

"Stop squirming."

"You cut my parachute!"

"I know."

"You damn—!"

The pilot looked down again.

Matt was descending much faster than he had with the parachute.

The man stopped cursing him.

He started screaming again.

Matt tightened his fingers on the harness a little more.

He didn't feel like repeating the order.

Matt looked for a clear patch among the trees and changed course toward it.

The ground came closer.

The pilot pulled his legs up.

Matt slowed down before they could touch it.

The landing ended with a lot less force than the man seemed to be expecting.

Matt set his feet on the grass. Then he set the pilot down. The man's legs gave out as soon as they touched the ground and he ended up sitting, one hand on his chest and the other still clinging to one of the straps.

Matt let go of him. His wings folded behind his back before disappearing. For a few seconds he stood looking at the man.

The pilot was breathing very fast. His head was bowed and his shoulders moved with every attempt to draw air.

Matt waited for him to look up. The man did a little later. He no longer seemed so eager to call him a demon.

Matt pointed toward the forest with his chin.

"Tell me where your base is."