Air

by Rosie Scott

  More meteors were falling, flashing through the skies in streaks of orange light and black smoke. It didn't appear I'd needed so many, but I'd never attacked a battleship before. The ship was now floating over the water like a lantern on the sea, and thick smoke billowed in the air above its destruction. Many soldiers were still below deck and were fighting the fire from the stairways. I heard the rush of water and realized they were using some sort of invention that sprayed water over the deck, attempting to clear it of both fire and calcint. It looked like a rope, but it was black and made out of a shiny material, and appeared to be coming from the lower deck. It scared me, in a way. The dwarves were able to combat us in ways I didn't know existed. I could have no idea what all they were capable of.

  “Kai!” Uriel's voice pulled my attention back to the deck. In my attack of the battleship, I'd nearly forgotten that we were up against two foes. The galleon was fully attached to our own ship via dozens of grappling hooks which were sunken deep into the wood of railings and deck alike. The dwarves on the other warship were drawing it toward ours with an immense effort, and now it was only a few yards away. Men and women on both sides trembled with the anticipation of battle. Anto, Maggie, Nyx, and Cerin were at the front of the pack to meet them. As Uriel focused on giving shields to individual soldiers, I rushed to the front of the defensive line to be with my friends. I gave myself a quick physical shield, and almost at the same time, Cerin and I reached across the gap between our ships, leeching from the front line of dwarves.

  “Necromancer!” It was a hiss of fear, outrage, and disgust. The dwarves clenched their weapons even tighter, their eyes set on my lover and me in particular. I hoped their hatred for necromancy would get them to focus on us so the others would remain mostly safe from their wrath.

  The dwarf I leeched from fell dead at the front of the pack. A throwing ax was pummeled at my shield in retaliation, though it only hit the life magic and fell to the deck harmlessly. Our ships were still too far to cross the gap, so both sides stared at each other while trying to avoid ranged attacks. The dwarves loved throwing weapons as sidearms, and our own soldiers found themselves under a rain of axes and daggers now that the dwarves no longer had to contend with the outside of our ship's shield. The foresight of Uriel and his shielding individuals saved most of our soldiers from hits.

  I wonder... An idea popped into my head, and I built death energy in both palms. Throughout my education at the Seran University, I'd only ever heard of elemental bomb spells being used in a circular area around the caster. But it was possible such spells could also be thrown.

  The enervat spell swirled between my hands, whirling like an intense wind. Only when the energy rattled within its protective barrier did I thrust the bomb of death magic forward. The black fog raced between our ships and into the crowd of waiting attackers, exploding outward once it hit its first target. A dozen men and women around the point of impact stilled as the spell engulfed them, crackling as it raced over bodies before sinking into their flesh. One by one, the soldiers fell dead, and black energy rose from their bodies, zipping back into the air toward me.

  It was the first time I'd used Hades's spell against a group of people. Much like when he'd used it, the spell had given me the ability to leech from a dozen people at once. Each life was taken in a fog of black, returning their energies to me. As the power imploded back into my body, the resulting leeching high was immediate.

  Cerin took note of the spell's new use, intrigued by the options now available to us. He thrust two pale arms to the deck of our ship, and dozens of black tendrils skidded along the wood, slithering between our warships and burying themselves in the recent dead. The deceased dwarves began to rise, and those who were still living started to scream in both terror and rage.

  Our ships were not even drawn together yet, and dwarven casualties were high. When deck finally met deck with a clunk of wood, the dwarves were already battling with their undead comrades. Those of our soldiers trained in melee rushed into the fray as mages supported them from the sides. I jumped over the small gap between ships, my boots landing on the deck of the dwarven vessel beside a fallen corpse. Using the enervat spell here was too risky when surrounded by friends, so I resorted to leeching with my right hand while regenerating shields with my left.

  “Kai! Shield!” Cyrus rushed up to my side, his protection flickering with damage and his katars drenched in blood. I regenerated his shield, though my eyes darted around for Uriel.

  “Where is Uriel?”

  “Fighting.” The second Sentinel's eyes peered across the deck. “He is running low on energy.”

  “I'll take care of it.” My mind still trembled with its high, and I made it to Uriel's side just as the Sentinel impaled a dwarven woman with his spear through the sternum. The woman coughed with trauma, blood splattering out of her lips, before Uriel lifted her up with great effort over the railing, letting gravity pull her body to the waiting waters below.

  I thrust both arms at him, refreshing his energy. Since he was also a healer and defender, I gave him more than usual. He would need it to help others. The sixth Sentinel's light gray eyes sparkled with renewed energy, and he thanked me before coming to battle with another.

  Maggie was swinging her war hammer into dwarves near the edges of the ship, breaking their bodies and throwing them overboard at the same time. Despite her insistence that she was unused to this, she appeared to be enjoying herself. She was ganged up on due to her immense stature drawing attention, but Cerin was by her side, regenerating her larger shield from the energy he took from their pursuers.

  Anto and Jakan were fighting together as usual, though the orc could not challenge the dwarves using the same techniques he usually did. Spinning into them was impossible, for the enemies were so short that his arm blades would miss them entirely. Dwarves were strong despite their height, but they were no match for Anto. The two lovers covered each other's backs, fighting as one unit. Even Jakan was felling dwarves like it was something he'd always done, the muscles within his bronzed skin bulging with the efforts of swinging and stabbing with his scimitar as he used his crossbow as a back-up.

  As for Azazel, I became scared because I couldn't find him. There were just two people on the ship with blue or purple skin, and I only saw Nyx in the midst of dodging hammer swings nearby. When a dwarf skidded to a halt near me to fight and a black arrow split his eye, I noted the downward trajectory and glanced up to the ship's mast. At some point, Azazel had climbed up to the ship's crow's nest to overlook the battle and protect us from above. I found that amusing. If there were ever vantage points during a fight, I could be sure Azazel would find them. The archer grinned at me from his position before loosing arrows into the other enemies.

  The deck was full of the dead. I thrust both palms to the hardwood, and black tendrils sought out corpses and raised them. The dead picked themselves up from the bloodied wood before shambling to both stairways of the ship to go after the dwarves in the levels below. Nearest me, a few of the zombies banged on the door leading to the stairwell, not smart enough to know how to open it. I hurried to the door, trying to open it to let them in. The knob wouldn't budge.

  “Jakan! Nyx!” I glanced back to the battle still happening on deck, though very few of the dwarves on the surface were left alive. My corpses watched me with hollow and expectant glares. “I need this door open!”

  “Ha! And what are the scrawny ones gonna do, love?” Maggie came toward me, her war hammer covered in blood and pieces of shattered bone.

  “Pick the lock,” I replied, though I smiled given her playful demeanor.

  “That'll take too long.” Maggie eyed the corpses near the door. “Tell these beauties to skedaddle a moment, will ya?”

  I only thought about the dead leaving the vicinity of the entryway and they did so, backing up to let Maggie through despite staring at the door as if it were the enemy. The engineer tightly grasped her war hammer with both hands before swinging the massive weapo
n toward the door, smashing it open in an explosion of splinters. The door handle stayed locked and attached to the frame via a small piece of stubborn timber, but the rest was broken and open. Without delay, the dead hissed and gurgled as they filed through on their way below deck.

  “The scrawny ones couldn't do that,” I breathed to Maggie, who laughed.

  “Aye. The brawny ones can.” The engineer winked at me.

  “Aw, hell, Maggie,” Uriel laughed tiredly as he walked up to us, taking note of the broken door. “We're supposed to be taking this ship for Eteri, not breaking the damn thing.”

  “It's just a door, Mr. High-and-Mighty, I can replace it myself.” Maggie chuckled.

  “I'm not too worried about it, to be honest.” Uriel glanced at me. “Gods, Kai, you are helpful to have around. Our army is so low on necromancers as it is that I forget how helpful they are to have, not to mention your ability to give others that energy. Our ship will be the strongest in Eteri's army with you on board—”

  BOOM!

  I would have fallen to the deck if it weren't for Maggie's steadying arm that reached out to keep me from it. A piercing ring reverberated through my head, and the floor rattled below my feet. We were on the ship that had been firing its cannons. That only left...

  In the heat of battle, I hadn't even noticed the battleship nearing us. It towered over both galleons, slowly overshadowing us. Our ship had been too far for the battleship's grappling hooks, but we hadn't anticipated that they'd have other tools up their sleeves. During our fight with the galleon, the dwarves had succeeded in squelching out the fires and calcint from the battleship's deck. Many were dead, and many of their siege weapons were destroyed in my attack. But on either side of the gun deck were windows for more massive siege weapons.

  From what I could see, these weapons looked much like the ballistae I'd noticed earlier that shot bladed ropes. Instead of blades, these had shot grappling hooks over to our ship that were much larger and sturdier than most. The hooks were sunken into the wood of our galleon, and the ropes that connected the two vessels appeared to be made out of metal rather than twine. There was a clicking cranking noise sounding out from both ends of the battleship as the soldiers manning the weapons reeled our original ship into theirs, bringing the dwarven galleon we were currently on with it. And now, the Eteri ship was close enough to be barraged with the battleship's devastating cannons. Within one round of cannon fire, the shield was demolished, and so were two thick sections of the ship itself.

  “Back to the ship!” Uriel screamed, rushing across the bloody deck to jump over the gap back to our ship, where he immediately forced energy into the ship's dying shields.

  We can't lose the ship. We would have no magical protections from the dwarven weaponry if we only stole their own vessels. Keeping our original boat was imperative.

  I left my dead to the remaining dwarves below deck and rushed after the healer. The next volley of cannon fire was unleashed into Uriel's building shield, immediately shattering the life magic and leaving our ship vulnerable. On the deck of the battleship, the bladed ballista from earlier was loaded, and the dwarves manning the scorched weapon were directing its blades to the right hull. Then, one of them released a lever, and the ballista released the blades. As they surged toward the hull of our ship with the whizzing sound of impending impalement, the rope was unraveled from the weapon.

  Shing! The blades crashed through the hull of the ship, jerking the vessel beneath my feet. I heard the sound of wood sprinkling the ocean between our warships from the damage before a harsh metallic shink reverberated from below deck.

  “What does the weapon do?” I screamed to Uriel, trying to figure out how to combat it.

  “I don't know!” The Sentinel yelled back, forcing more life energy into the charger. The ship was shielded, but it wouldn't be for long. “I've never seen that thing before!”

  Wonderful. I scrambled to a stand, my eyes rolling over the battleship and trying to figure out a way to overcome it. As helpful as the calcint and meteor attack had been, we were still outmatched. I hurried to Uriel's side, regenerating the shields with as much energy as I could spare. The battleship was already attached to us, but the buffers could give us time. The dwarves then began to crank the rope of the bladed ballista back. Somehow, the blades had spread out and latched onto the inside of our ship's hull, and it was helping to draw our galleon into their grasp.

  We could not regenerate the shields forever, and by the looks of the battleship's taller iron-sides, it would be hard and time-consuming to board. Its cannons could take out both of our ships and all the people on board in a matter of minutes if we did not think of a plan—and fast.

  Twenty-three

  “Cyrus! Azazel!” My voice was hoarse with desperation as I called out for the two men. Thankfully, Azazel had come back to the deck from the crow's nest of the dwarven ship and was just behind me. Cyrus hurried to my side.

  “Idea, Kai?” The Sentinel asked in a rush, his blue eyes on the looming battleship. It was close enough now that we could hear the dwarves inside demanding the cannons be reloaded for another firing.

  “That water jet spell you used against the gargoyles,” I rambled, pointing to the cannons which stuck out of windows in the nearing ship. “Use it.”

  “Directing it into the ship?” The Sentinel asked, even as he built up the spell in his hands.

  “Yes. I want the inside of that ship covered in water.” I turned to Azazel. “Prepare your bow. We will work together as we did in Hazarmaveth.”

  The archer nodded, remembering how I'd imbued his arrow with fire. “Where do you want me to aim?”

  “Think you can get the arrows through those windows and into the puddles of water from Cyrus's spell?” I questioned.

  Azazel smiled at me. “Do I think I can? Who do you think you're talking to?”

  “That's what I thought.” I patted him on the arm. “Wait until I give the order.”

  BOOM! The ship's shields flickered with close-range cannon fire, and the boat rocked with the intense force of the hits. When the galleon was still enough to aim correctly, Cyrus directed his spell forward and into the open windows of the ship's gun deck. Water rushed forward like a sideways geyser, covering cannons and forcing its way into the soldiers beside them. Cyrus kept the water coming, hurrying sideways down the deck as he forced water through each window, ensuring the internal floor was covered in the liquid.

  Azazel lifted his bow and started to prepare an arrow. Just like in Hazarmaveth, I reached toward the arrowhead, and whispered, “Ades in bolta.”

  The purple-white veins of pure electricity sizzled over the metal, flickering out from the arrowhead with impatience for destruction. Azazel released the arrow, and it crackled through the air as it flew in its arc and between a cannon and the edge of its window. When the ammo landed in a puddle of water, I heard the sizzling of electricity scattering over the deck, and the sounds of soldiers within seizuring from electrocution.

  “Again,” Azazel said, loading another arrow. I imbued this one with air magic as well before he shot it through a different window. We did this a few times until the scent of burning flesh reached our nostrils and the sounds of life dwindled. The remaining dwarves on the top deck were dead, killed by Jakan and the other ranged soldiers. Though we waited, no more cannon fire came.

  Uriel was still waiting beside the charger, and he breathed a sigh of relief when the battleship went quiet. Across the ocean, the battle was still raging between allied and enemy ships. But for now, we were mostly alone and forgotten in our section of the sea, so we had a few minutes to rest and gather our energy and thoughts. The healer looked up at me and said, “I like fighting with you.”

  I laughed. “I'm glad, Uriel. I like fighting with you as well.”

  “All of you are magnificent fighters,” Cyrus complimented us, looking around to acknowledge all of the Renegades. “Now, we need volunteers to board the battleship and ensure the dwarves are d
ead and see if there's anything worth taking.”

  Cerin raised a hand casually. “I'll do it. It'll require climbing, I assume.”

  “Yes.” Cyrus glared up at the nearby side of the battleship. “Maggie? Grappling hook?”

  “Aye.” Maggie grabbed one of the tools and walked forward, swinging it around a few times for momentum before throwing it up to the railing of the gigantic ship. She then tugged on the knotted rope to ensure its safety, before handing it over to Cerin.

  “I'm coming with you,” I insisted, following my lover. Cerin could take care of himself, but I wasn't going to let him go alone so easily.

  Cerin looked at my scrawny arms with a charming smile of amusement. “Sure you are.”

  “I'm serious.”

  “Kai,” Nyx protested. “You don't even know what muscles are.”

  “Everyone has to start somewhere,” I replied stubbornly.

  “Here, then,” Cerin handed me the rope, which felt thick and scratchy in my palms. “Go first. When you inevitably fall, I'll catch you.”

  “Reconsider this idea,” Azazel pleaded from behind me, as I walked to the edge of the ship.

  I couldn't help but chuckle at everyone's protests. “We just battled through two ships of dwarves, and it's climbing the damn ship that gets everyone scared.”

  The side of the battleship was only a few feet away from our own deck, so swinging and hitting the hull of it painfully wasn't a concern. I grasped both hands above the nearest knot in the rope, before letting my boots off the deck. My body swung slowly to the iron-side, where I reached out both boots, allowing the soles of them to still me by catching the side of the ship. My arms ached with the physical effort they weren't used to, but I was determined. Using my boots to keep most of my weight on the side of the ship, I reached up, pulling myself up the rope about a foot, before stopping to breathe. The deck of the battleship was only a story or two above our own, but even so, it was a daunting proposition now that I knew how much physical effort it took.