The Man In The Wind by Sorenna Wise

incredulous.
           Rai sighed. “She’s not dead. I’m protecting her…from me.” He looked at the twisted form of the captain on the asphalt. “Speaking of, would you like your compatriot back? I’ll revive him on one condition.”
           “You can bring people back to life?”
           The utter ignorance of this pack of militants really surprised him. “These powers would be fairly useless if I couldn’t employ both sides,” he explained patiently. He elected not to tell them of any possible side effects, reasoning that a shorter life was a suitable price to pay for spending years in the service of a man like Serberos. “Now, do you want him back or not?”
           “Yes.” The first man spoke with a serious face. “What are your terms?”
           “Go away,” Rai said. “I don’t want to harm you or anyone else. Tell the king I was destroyed. He will not be able to refute you.”
           “That’s all you want?” The soldier seemed genuinely surprised.
           “That’s all I want,” Rai confirmed. “I do not intend to ever show my face in Volikar again.”
           The young man nodded sympathetically. It was a sentiment he could understand.
           “Hey, uh, I’m sorry I shot you,” he said awkwardly. “I just…you know how it is.”
           Rai shook his head. “That’s of no concern to me. Let me keep my end of the deal.” Obligingly, the men stepped back, and Rai raised his hand. A beat passed in silence. Then the commanding pilot gasped.
           “God!” he exclaimed, sitting bolt upright. “That was the worst—” As recognition of his surroundings sunk in, he passed his eyes around the circle of his men. Eventually, they came to rest on Rai, who acknowledged him and then turned back to his subordinate.
           “There,” he said. “Now, you keep yours.”
           “Yes sir!” The young soldier saluted as the others helped their captain to his feet.
           “What is the meaning of this?” the captain demanded. “What is going on?”
           “Sir,” said the young soldier, “an agreement’s been reached. We have to go now.”
           “Is he coming with?”
           “No, sir.”
           “Son, do you mean to tell me that you want me to defy a direct order from the king? Because let me tell you, that ain’t happening.” The troop gave Rai an apologetic look, which was answered with a shrug.
           “With all due respect, sir,” said the man, “do you realize you were dead?” The commander’s brow furrowed intensely.
           “What?” He looked between his secondary and the sorcerer. Rai nodded, as if to confirm the veracity of the statement. “That’s impossible.”
           “No, sir. He brought you back to life on one condition, that we let him be.”
           “Yeah?” This piece of information greatly reduced the remaining animosity that was separating Rai and the pilot captain. “Well, how do we know he won’t start using his powers for…whatever?” Rai rubbed his face.
           “Sir, can we just…?” The young soldier took the captain by the arm and started to lead him toward the planes. “He can’t do that without the king anyway. Isn’t that where he got all the bodies? Besides, there’s no way we can fight him. If we make this into a war, every one of us is going to die. Think of it as cutting our losses.” His voice gradually faded. There looked to be no more real opposition from his boss, and presently, all eight planes were running and ready for takeoff. Rai watched them ascend in a vertical line from the places where they had landed, and he marveled briefly at the variance of technology in the world. Serberos himself refused to use anything more high-tech than a candle holder, and yet his army was kitted out with the best that he could get. It was, he thought, an accurate representation of