Sky Knights Read Online Free Page B

voice sounded very loud in her head.
    "She can't avoid us forever. This part of the camp isn't that big!" Ira pointed out. "She will run into one of us eventually."
    It sounded like everyone was against her, then. Fine! Did they not think she could find a way to avoid them? She could do a lot better than that. Even Meow would have trouble finding her if she left the camp.
    Getting stiffly to her feet, Dounia marched hurriedly in the other direction, towards the edge of their camp. Their regiment was staying in one place, but they were still a part of the 4 th Air Army, which included several other squadrons. The air base itself was huge, and if they thought she couldn't avoid them among all that, then they were very much mistaken.
    It took her only a minute to remember why she never went outside the camp.
    First of all: she had cat ears. The rest of her regiment had heard the stories and were used to seeing her with them. Her ears were very difficult to hide in normal circumstances, as they tended to move by themselves. The story had been kept as quiet as possible, and although there had been rumours, nothing had ever been confirmed.
    Second: there were only two other all-female regiments, and the rest were all men. The majority of them had the tendency of making unsavoury remarks about their female comrades, even though they were on the same side.
    Dounia put her hood up to hide her ears, but nothing would hide how short she was. Rebellion burning in her belly, Dounia refused to turn back and kept on her way, marching past supply tents and other various semi-permanent structures. It had snowed in the night, and everything was dusted in a fine layer of white.
    Mostly, the men were ignoring her. Dounia was short, and kept having to walk around people, not wanting to draw attention to herself by refusing to move out of the way. Somewhere in all this hubbub were two other female regiments, and wouldn't care if another woman was wandering among them.
    "Ah, what have we here? A little mouse?"
    Apparently it was too much to ask to simply be left alone. Dounia had been solely among female crewmembers for so long that she had forgotten what men were like. Some liked altercations and humiliating other people just because they could, and many of them picked fights or disparaged their female counterparts.
    "Leave me alone," Dounia said flatly, ducking her head further into the hood. "I am on an errand. I do not want any trouble."
    Someone grasped the back of her hood and pulled hard.
    "Oh, a little kitten! My mistake!"
    There were three of them, all leaning on each other and laughing. She saw it in their eyes. They had been looking for a target, and here she had presented them with the perfect one. They were all wearing bomber jackets similar to hers, although theirs fit better, having been sized properly.
    One of them reached out and grabbed one of her ears, saying, "Oh, do you need these––"
    Dounia grabbed his hand and twisted.
    "Ow, there's no need for violence, little cat," one of the pilots said.
    "You were going to pull on my ear!" Dounia snarled, backing away.
    "It's just a bit of fun," his fellow continued. "If you didn't want to play, you shouldn't have worn them!"
    Oh dear. These idiots thought that they were fake and not actually attached to her head. That pull had hurt! Dounia rubbed her ear and glared.
    "A black cat. You must be one of the witches."
    Well, no matter what derogatory name they wanted to call them, Dounia was a part of the night bomber regiment, and they did some damn good flying if you asked her.
    "So I am. What do you want?" Dounia demanded, ears flattening.
    "I want you to go home to your mama. War is no place for little girls."
    "This 'little girl' is worth an Iron Cross to the Germans. How about you?" Dounia retorted, bristling.
    "It just means you're annoying," one of the men said.
    "It means the Germans want to pin a medal on anyone who can put women back in their place," another added.
    "It means,"