Markam raced away, yelling in alarm, and shortly the duke and several crewmen raced to the aft railing. The duke’s knuckles turned white as he looked below, watching the serpent take a struggling tarfin in its mouth, pulling it in half with its powerful mouth tentacles before consuming the huge fish. The waves it was throwing up were massive, and already swamping some of the walkways and barges that were close to it, washing people off into the sea.
The danger wasn’t so much in the creature attacking the people on the docks, but it was close enough that it was highly likely that if it did start flailing, it could easily breach and crush thousands and thousands of people, or destroy any countless number of ships belonging to the Wilthorn family.
Duke Terek turned to one of the crewmen, grabbing his shoulder. “Go tell Captain Rohansen to bring us down and to the east of it. We need to try driving it away from the docks with the needlers or thousands of people are going to die. Go!”
The crewmen ran as if he were on fire and shortly the Skywitch began to settle lower, getting closer to the feeding serpent as it did so.
As they got closer to the huge monstrosity that was thrashing and eating below, Aiden could see strange bolts of blue light began arching down from the skimmer and sizzling into its body. Everywhere they hit, there were hissing eruptions of steam and flecks of red blood flowing from its hide and causing some distress to the massive creature.
It was maddening the creature, but not causing it to turn away from its feast or stop in its inexorable drive towards the milking docks and walkways. Suddenly, Aiden realized that they did have an option. The quiet room! He grabbed Gavin’s arm, pulling his attention away from the sick disaster below.
“Gavin, I need to get to the room.” Aiden raised his eyebrow meaningfully, pointing with his eyes towards the front of the ship. “The forward room. The one we were in earlier.”
Gavin just stared for a second, not knowing what he was talking about until he suddenly nodded. Yes…yes, that’s it!” Gavin stopped, nodding at Aiden but not wanting to say anything more, before pulling Aiden along.
They made it quickly to the forward room, listening to the frantic babble of crewmen coming from different parts of the Skimmer and feeling the sense of hopelessness from them. They knew what they were doing wasn’t going to be enough and that their pulse-pounding efforts were still going to leave them safe while they watched people die.
The room opened and Aiden settled into the seat, with Markam and Gavin standing on either side of him, watching him closely.
“Gavin, are you sure this is wise?” Markam started but was cut off.
“Do you have a better idea, Markam? Seriously, do you care if those people die down there?”
Markam nodded glumly, going quiet as Aiden frantically tried to remember what he’d felt earlier.
There was a place, directly in front of him in the air. He didn’t understand it, but he knew he needed to touch that place with intent. So he did, pressing his hand on empty air even as Gavin and Markam watched in confusion.
The walls suddenly disappeared from the front half of the room caused all of them to gasp in surprise. Markam himself leaped two meters towards the door, his face white at the sudden happening. Several panels detached from the large, now independently floating device that had been inset into the floor. The panels became screens much as he’d seen on the bridge, providing them a detailed view of the serpent as it devoured yet another tarfin, its huge bulk shearing off a small section of docks.
“What… what the hell did you do, Aiden?” Gavin whispered in awe. “Is this what you meant? What you saw, earlier?”
Aiden nodded, trying to frantically figure out how to control the weapon further. A small flat panel had formed under his right hand, and there was a small, upright cylinder floating in the air near his left which he somehow knew he should grip. He wasn’t exactly sure how they worked but as his left gripped the cylinder, the large meter-long glowing contraption in front of them began to gyrate wildly.
They all flinched but the thing suddenly came to a stop when Aiden let go of the handle. Slowly Aiden reached once again for the floating handle and tried to move it very carefully. As he did so, the weapon moved, too. It was still fairly fast but not nearly as alarming as it was earlier. There was a sense of resistance to it which gave him some odd feedback, helping him to control it somewhat but there was still the matter of aiming or even firing the strange weapon.
Aiden was getting panicky. The serpent dove towards one of the huge milking docks that it dwarfed, swallowing two thrashing tarfins who were in its nets along with wood, people and anything else that was in its way. Watching in horror he could only imagine what was going through the people’s minds as they disappeared into that maw. It was hard to see details because the screens were covered with strange blue squares, but he was almost glad he couldn’t see their faces because of them.
“Gavin, how do I hit anything with this? What do I do?” Aiden screamed, staring intently at the screens and trying to think of something. He could see four red squares, and somehow they seemed to be attracting the blue bolts from the needlers but he didn’t know why.
Gavin grimaced, his eyes intent as he too tried to figure it out. “I don’t know! I don’t know how they fire the ships weapons. Father won’t let us near them, says their too fun or dangerous or something like that. Oh, my gods! Look! It’s going for another milk dock!” Gavin pointed, his finger resting on the screen in front of them both. “Wilthorn will be ruined!”
In shock, Aiden saw that where his finger touched, a thick red circle appeared over the docks and the weapon in front of them moved, pointing at a specific place and holding steady. Aiden jerked up, shaking in sudden realization. “Gavin! That’s it! Put your finger on the screen where you want me to hit the serpent. Do it now!”
Gavin quickly whooped, pushing his finger hard against the screen right where the side of the serpent’s head was, actually moving the floating screen back a bit as he did so. “That’s it! Fire! Fire!”
Aiden’s eyes went wide, watching the serpent move with intent. Its huge body arching up high into the air as it prepared to crush another milking dock. Aiden’s fingers slid along the grip, pressing down on a button at the top of the handle. Aiden’ hadn’t known a second before, but when his thumb came down, he could feel that was the correct action.
A huge thick beam of blue shot out of the end of the weapon before them. It made a low, roaring metallic humming sound as it did so which wasn’t overly loud but alien enough to make his head spin. On the screen before them, they watched as the eerie, azure ray seemed to rise up from the bottom of the screen and spear the serpent through the side of its head right where the red circle was. It didn’t look like much happened to the creature from where the beam hit it, but Aiden and Gavin could both see a huge fountain of blood arch out from the other side of its head and splash into the sea below. The serpent’s body seemed to pause in its dive, giving a shudder of intense pain before trying to turn its mass away from that terrible attack.
Gavin, Aiden, and Markam all cheered, watching as the thing fell away from the docks rather than towards it. The sea turned red, and when it turned to escape, they could see the blood pumping thickly out of the massive hole torn in its flesh. They couldn’t imagine it not being dead, but it still moved and began trying to swim away from the docks and people in jerky, sloppy movements.
Gavin poked his finger at another place on the screen, the red circle reforming where he’d touched and the cannon in front of them adjusting slightly for the different target. His eyes were sad when he did so.
“It’s dead, but I don’t want to let something suffer through a long death. Finish it.”
Aiden pushed down on the trigger, sending another massive beam of blue down, severing the serpent’s spine and ending its suffering as suddenly as it had all begun. They watched for a long moment as its death throws took it, still causing massive damage to the dock’s several hundred meter
s away from the huge waves, but not nearly as much as if it were actively attacking.
“Okay, I think it’s done,” Gavin said. “Now, we better get out before someone finds us here? I’m sure they’re as surprised as the serpent was.” Aiden quickly patted the air where he’d turned the weapon on, sending the room back to the way it had looked before they’d started. He was amazed at the sudden quiet and darkness as the outside sun was blocked off before following the other two boys down the hallway and into a side room. It wasn’t long before they heard feet running along the corridor outside, but by then it was too late. They were away, with no one the wiser.
Markam turned, shaking his head. “No one ever even suspected that was there. Can you imagine if any of the other dukes figured it out? They could destroy whole cities with that if there are more like it out there.”
“Yeah,” Gavin whispered quietly. “I think Father is the only one that has large skimmers like this one, but who knows for sure? I’ve never seen anything like it. And-” He eyed Markam, “-yet another thing we can’t talk about. Not if we want Aiden to live.
“What?” Markam said angrily. “What do you mean? We have to tell your father. This is too big, Gavin. Too big! They’ll be looking for an answer, and everyone saw it out there. You’ll have to tell him. You can’t hide this.”
“I think your right, but I have to think about how. I…I got Aiden into this. If he dies because of me, then that’ll be on me for the rest of my life, Markam. I have to figure it out in such a way that doesn’t endanger him.”
“Why do you care, Gavin?” Markam snarled.
Gavin turned on him, his fists clenched. “Because, that’s our freaking job, Markam. Our job!” He yelled. “My father has tried to show our nobles this for years, and honestly, it’s been too easy to ignore it, but if I make the wrong decision here, someone dies. He will die, the person that just saved thousands of lives. We have the power not to just do whatever the hell we want, but to help those that can’t. To protect our people, Markam, even at risk to ourselves. You will tell no one. You will leave it to me. Do you understand that?”
Gavin locked eyes with the larger boy for several tense moments, but finally got a nod in return. Aiden knew that Markam was just trying to do his job, but he breathed a sigh of relief anyway. He really didn’t want to die.
“We’ll lay low here for a bit, then come out and act stupid,” Gavin said softly, not having enjoyed the confrontation. “I know that is at least something I can do well.”
Chapter 15
It felt like hours but was more like twenty minutes that they were forced to hide before the Skywitch began settling down towards the ocean. Even as they did, they heard the tightly controlled voice of the captain come over the ship’s strange announcement system.
“All free hands and guests report to the main deck. I repeat, all hands not at duty stations and guests please report to the main deck.”
The three boys glanced at each other. This had to be about the weapon.
“All right you two, remember what I said. Leave it up to me to tell Father when I think the time is right. Markam, I know that doesn’t make you happy, but it has to be this way.” Gavin finished, giving Markam one last hard look before leading them out of the door.
As they arrived on deck, a distracted Chari moved towards them and stopped on the other side of Gavin. She gave Aiden a sad smile that said she wasn’t quite ready to talk yet so he didn’t approach. It was confusing, but the last thing he wanted was to antagonize her further. As they came to a standstill and stood with the other few guests, the duke was pacing angrily while Captain Rohansen stood stoically off to the side.
“Okay,” he snarled, watching the crowd angrily as if he wanted to throw the lot of them over the rails. “I have no idea how to ask this other than to just ask this. Does anyone! Anyone at all know anything about what just came out of the front of my ship!”
Almost everyone was as baffled as the duke, so it was not difficult to blend in with the crowd. Markam sulked a bit but didn’t give them away so after several moments of silence, Valeran just threw his hands in the air. “By the gods, I hate mysteries. Hate them!” He spluttered as he stalked over to the side of the deck, looking over at the carnage below. The devastation was terrible, and as they settled lower the screams and cries began to filter up to them. Aiden could see small and large boats moving amongst the debris, pulling bodies and people out of the water as best they could. Cutter fish and sea clan folk were helping as well, finding people and pulling them closer to ships. The huge, floating mass of the dead serpent loomed as a backdrop behind it all.
“However,” Duke Terek signed, his eyes refusing to leave the terrible sight below him. “We need to help them first.”
“But, sir!?” The captain protested, clearly upset and wanting to know what had happened with his skimmer.
“No buts, Rohansen. My people need help. I know you want to know what happened. I certainly want to know what happened, but first things first, we need to help as best we can. Get the ropes out, and start cruising over the worst of it. We’ll settle at need and pull out people or bodies.” He turned to the crowd, pointing to the railings. “The rest of you get to the rails and keep your eyes peeled. Yell out if you see anything or anyone that needs saving. Even if it’s not moving, they could be unconscious.”
The next few hours were difficult at best and the skimmer turned out to have yet another amazing capability; it could actually settle into the water. Whatever shield that kept the wind at bay, also kept the water away from the hull by about two meters, even if the ship went below the water line. It was like looking out from inside a bubble which helped immensely to keep the ship and crew dry, while also making it easy to pull people onto the decks.
They saved a good number of people that day, bringing them to safety and letting them rest and recover on the warm, dry ship. Each room could have its temperature controlled which, for those in shock, helped them settle and recover faster than would have happened otherwise. Despite these advantages, they pulled out more bodies from the wrecks then they did live people, and by the end of the day, Aiden and all those around him were filled with grief.
At one point, Gavin came up to Aiden and gave him a hug, pulling back and wiping the tears from his own face. “It would have been…a thousand times worse, Aiden. A thousand, at least. Thank you. For whatever happens, you saved so many of them and they’ll never know.” He paused before continuing. “I let Chari know what happened. I didn’t think you’d want her left out of the loop.”
Aiden nodded, thankful but not trusting himself to speak. He was happy that Chari knew, even if he was baffled by her current behavior towards him. She’d been willing to work with him but not overly talkative as she kept herself moving. As the hours passed and the day had crept well into the darkness of evening, Aiden felt the skimmer rise and began to move away from the heart of the wreckage.
“Where are we heading?” Aiden asked.
“I think we’re done for the day,” Gavin replied. “We’ve not found any new bodies or survivors for an hour now. No matter how well we do, we’re no match for the cutter fish at finding people. I think we’ve recovered all that we can. Father wants to go check on the Wilthorn docks. They were the hardest hit, and he’s worried about Trelakor and his clan.”
It wasn’t long before they were once again settling back down next to the white and blue of the Wilthorn banners. He had been worried, but could see that there was still a substantial number of banners lit by various fires and torches in the night. As the skimmer settled and slid its gangplank out, Aiden was happy to see Skay standing next to the tall Arakuul, Trelakor. He was just about to wave, but noticed Chari watching him, so wisely refrained. Both of the sea clan people looked grim as Duke Tarek crossed first, met by a weary Trelakor just on the edge of the boarding plank, and grasped forearms.
“How goes it, Trelakor? Do you need anything from us? I’ve already signaled one of the other skimmers
to head back to the city and organize relief for everyone, though it may take a few hours yet for the ships to get here.
“We are surviving,” Trelakor replied. “We’d be doing far worse if you and the Skywitch hadn’t come to our rescue, though. What was that light that came from her? I’ve never seen the like before.”
Valeran didn’t answer right away. He appeared as if he wanted to start cursing again but instead just shrugged and replied in a low tone. “I don’t know, Trelakor. I don’t know what it was but I’m damned glad it happened. I swear, if I ever figure out who did it I’ll be pinning a medal on the bastard, right after I kill them for scaring the crap out of me. Thank goodness my trousers are dark.”
Trelakor nodded, too tired to chuckle as his eyes roamed over the crowd. For some reason, Aiden felt that the dark, pupil-less eyes of the Arakuul were watching him but wasn’t sure why. Did he suspect something? “Valeran, I need to speak to you,” Trelakor said quietly, but loudly enough that Aiden could make out what he was saying. “More has happened than just the serpent attacking, and I do not wish it to pass us by in the shadow of such a happening. Just before the trench serpents began to breach, my daughter saved your son and his friends from a group of men who were stalking them through the crowd.”
The Glimmer Steel Saga, Boxed Set, Books 1 - 4 Page 18
