The captain considered one moment, then surprised himself by saying, “Very well, but I’d like Tim along as well.” He nodded to the boy. “You knew this pyromage. Be ready in three minutes.”
Donnely strode toward his cabin without waiting for a reply. He retrieved a clean jacket and his written report. Getting the admiral to recognize the seriousness of this situation was crucial. Akrotia was not going to wait for discussions.
≈
“Captain Donnely!” barked Admiral Joslan, as Donnely, Huffington, and Tim were admitted to the great hall. Huffington wondered if the officer sat there day and night with his reports and logs and endless pot of blackbrew. He seemed irritated—even more than usual—and his tone verged on sarcasm, tinged with disbelief. “Please tell me you have a coherent report! Lieutenant Jundis arrived yesterday and gave me a ridiculous tale. How in the Nine Hells did we lose another ship? And this floating city? Why is it in the Fathomless Reaches? Brelak’s coordinates were hundreds of miles south!”
“Akrotia is not in the Fathomless Reaches, sir,” Donnely declared with a sharp salute. “It’s in the Shattered Isles, and I’m afraid my report is going to be even more fantastic than Jundis’.”
Joslan scowled, drained his cup, and placed it back in its saucer with exaggerated gentleness. “More fantastic than the immolation of another of His Majesty’s ships?”
“Yes, sir. In fact, the immolation of an entire island.” He placed a scroll case upon the table. “The pyromage inhabiting Akrotia is moving the city north by manipulating the winds. When it reached Vulture Isle, it caused the dormant volcano to erupt, then positioned itself near the lava flow and seemed to draw power from the heat. It glowed, even in the daylight, sir, and continued to brighten for as long as it was within our sight. The count’s son, Timothy Norris here,” Donnely waved Tim forward, “reported that prior to the loss of Clairissa and Fire Drake, this pyromage caused Fire Isle to erupt as well.”
“Timothy Norris says that, does he?” scoffed the admiral. “Since when, Captain Donnely, do you base your reports on children’s stories?”
“Sir!” Tim said, stepping forward, his head high and shoulders back. Huffington smiled to himself; it was quite a good imitation of a naval officer at attention. “I knew Edan before he became a pyromage. I only told Captain Donnely things that Edan or Mistress Flaxal Brelak told me directly.”
“And I, admiral, saw the city with my own eyes,” Donnely reminded Joslan. “The seamage’s and Jundis’ reports of its size and…capabilities are accurate. If it comes up the island chain, it can harness enormous amounts of energy from the volcanic islands, including this one.”
Huffington eyed the admiral keenly, and noted that the man’s face blanched from its usual crimson hue to that of aged parchment.
“So, you think that the damned thing’s coming here, and will make the island erupt? Why?”
“All I know is that it is moving north, sir. It has the ability to call up volcanoes, and Plume Isle has the potential to erupt.” Donnely’s voice took on a pleading note. “We’re sitting in the path of a charging coach, and this one is on fire, Admiral. A precautionary evacuation seems only prudent. If Akrotia does not arrive, and the island does not erupt, then we can return and establish our garrison. But if it does, and we have not evacuated…”
Joslan sat silent, then nodded. “Your point is well taken, Captain Donnely, and I know you haven’t the reputation of a man who would retreat when there is a chance of victory. Which brings up my next question.” The admiral stared intently at him. “What strategy might we employ to battle this…this monstrosity?”
Donnely shook his head. “Sir, right now, I have no idea.”
≈
Chaser gulped water through his gills in a sigh of relief as he rounded the last reef and spied the phosphorescent glow of the mer city. Yet, even within sight of home, his heart pounded with foreboding. He flipped his tail and raced for the entrance grotto; there was no time to waste.
He thrummed as he approached the entrance, and the thick nets of stingweed swept aside. Glow crystals in the entrance grotto revealed Trident Holder Broadtail and Tailwalker waiting for him; Chaser had sent his dolphin scouts ahead.
*Chaser,* the trident holder signed as the gate guards replaced the barrier. *You found the cause of the tremors we felt? We could not understand the dolphins’ message. All they said was, ‘Chaser comes, island comes,’ again and again.*
*I did, Trident Holder,* Chaser signed, trying to slow his rapidly pumping gills. He then glanced at the two gate guards and made a motion of discomfort. *Should we go to your grotto to discuss this?*
*I have no secrets from the school, Chaser, and all will know soon enough what you have found. Sign to us what you have discovered.*
Chaser swallowed and nodded. *Very well, Trident Holder. I followed the vibrations south, almost to the great trench. The island farthest south spews fire and smoke, and…I saw Akrotia. The city has come to the islands.*
Both Broadtail and Tailwalker flushed pale, and the two guards signed frantically to one another, their fins twitching in agitation.
*The city glows even more brightly than it did when it first came alive, Trident Holder. I—* Chaser’s fingers slipped on the words as he signed, and he didn’t know if they trembled due to his exhaustion or dread. *I think it called up the fire from the mountain, as the firemage did at the burning island during his ascension. Akrotia comes north, and could near our city in two or three tides.*
With obvious effort, Broadtail darkened his colors, but his fins remained clamped down in dread as he turned to his son. *If not for the mer, this would not have happened. Do you think the firemage comes for retribution, Tailwalker?*
*It is…possible, Father. Seamage Flaxal Brelak told the firemage of Eelback’s betrayal, but he could hold all mer responsible.*
*If he does, if he brings Akrotia here and summons fire up from the seamount, our city will perish,* Broadtail signed. *I have failed my people as trident holder.*
*No, Father!* Tailwalker’s color flushed dark, and he flipped his tail in agitation. *It was not you who betrayed the mer. Eelback brought this upon us! But it is up to us to do something! Akrotia is not only a menace to the landwalkers, but to the mer as well.*
*I saw a warship fleeing from the south,* Chaser added. *The landwalkers know of Akrotia.*
*If it can burn islands…*
*But what can we do to this thing, Tailwalker? If we act rashly, we may draw its wrath down upon us.* Broadtail’s color shifted dark, then light again, and his tail thrashed. Chaser had never seen the trident holder so openly upset, and wondered if he was regretting his previous decision; sometimes secrecy was a good thing.
*I think we are safe enough,* Tailwalker signed, his colors now deep and steady with confidence. *The firemage who is Akrotia does not know where our home lies. But the seamage’s island smokes always, and the fire is not very deep in the earth there.*
*The seamage is not on her island,* Broadtail signed, *and we can recall our scouts who watch the warships there so they will not be harmed.*
*But there are many landwalkers on the island and in the warships, Father,* signed Tailwalker. *Seamage Flaxal Brelak told us that she will have to answer to her emperor for the ships destroyed by the firemage…and the mer. If more landwalkers die, will she also owe him for all those lives? Might the landwalker emperor think the mer summoned this burning city to destroy them?*
Broadtail blinked in surprise at the notion. *What do you propose?*
Tailwalker’s signs were forthright. *That we work with the landwalkers to destroy Akrotia. Should Akrotia approach the seamage’s island, it will come into shallower waters. We can use the great iron hooks that we have recovered from the wrecks of ships, and the ironweed cables we use for the drake killer, to tie it to the bottom of the se
a. If the city cannot move, the warships can batter it to pieces with their weapons.*
Broadtail’s colors mottled in confusion. *There is much risk in what you propose, Tailwalker.*
*There is little risk to the mer, Father,* Tailwalker argued, flaring his fins in challenge. *Seamage Flaxal Brelak told us that the fire mage can control the winds, but has no power over the waters. It cannot burn us under the sea.*
*And what do the mer gain from this?* Broadtail flared his own fins in response. Chaser sculled slowly back. He had never seen the father and son in such a serious confrontation.
Tailwalker relaxed his fins a bit, showing deference to the trident holder, but remained firm. *Seamage Flaxal Brelak told us she would inform the landwalker emperor of Eelback’s betrayal, that the mer no longer want war. If we show the landwalkers that we are not their enemies, if we act to help them, they might not destroy us.*
Suddenly it became clear to Chaser: the mer no longer wanted war with the landwalkers, so if they helped them, worked together… He considered it. An alliance of elves and mer living together within the city of Akrotia had failed. But what if each lived where they ought, and merely tolerated the other? Chaser could see the trident holder’s mind also working through the idea of such a long-sighted action. Broadtail’s hands clenched on the haft of the trident that was his badge of office, then relaxed.
*And if the landwalkers do not interpret our actions as helpful?* he signed.
*Then we risk little and gain nothing,* Tailwalker signed solemnly.
*Very well, then.* Broadtail relented, motioning toward the inner grottos. *Let us go to my grotto and eat while we discuss this plan of yours, Tailwalker. Chaser is pale with hunger from his long swim, and we have many preparations to make if we are going to war against Akrotia.*
Chapter 19
Hell’s Reprisal
“Bloody magic,” Admiral Joslan muttered, glaring at Akrotia from the quarterdeck of his flagship Indomitable.
He raised his spyglass and examined the floating city, still five miles off, as it bore north along the leeward coast of Plume Isle. From a distance it seemed a sheer, unassailable mass, dreadful and beautiful at the same time, but magnified, Joslan was heartened by possibilities. The elvish architecture was not built to withstand siege engines; graceful towers could fall, and ornate balustrades were easily shattered. What discouraged him was the dull yellow glow of the stone, the heat-wavered air, and the fiery runes blazing across every surface. Magic…
“All ships are deployed as you ordered, Admiral.” The captain of the Indomitable snapped an uneasy salute, obviously shaken by the approaching monstrosity. “Drakes in the van, frigates in a cordon around the supply ships, and Stalwart hove to a mile to leeward. All the refugees are aboard the supply ships.”
Joslan’s stomach roiled with that same unease, but he’d be damned if he’d show it. “Very good, Captain Betts. Remember the briefing; Akrotia might try to turn the winds against us. If it does, we must be ready to strike all sails and yards to the deck, run out sweeps, and run.”
“Aye, sir!”
Joslan looked back toward Akrotia and pondered its course. Fortunately, the floating city seemed intent on Plume Isle, not his fleet. According to the seamage, it was controlled by the volatile young pyromage who had destroyed the emperor’s flagship, Clairissa. The admiral shuddered in revulsion at the idea of this monstrosity as a thinking being, but vowed not to underestimate it.
“School of mer to the south!” the foremast lookout called.
Joslan started, and cursed under his breath. A pyromage, and now mer; the last time these two things had assailed an imperial ship, Clairissa, Fire Drake and all aboard them had perished.
“Battle stations, Lieutenant!” Betts ordered while Joslan scanned the sea with his spyglass. The ocean frothed as hundreds of mer broke the surface in synchronized waves, the sun glinting from their weapons and shell-studded baldrics as they charged directly toward Indomitable. “Archers and pikes to the rails, and ready the stern ballistae. Keep them away from our rudder!”
Orders rang out and men moved to their stations. By the time they were ready, the school was barely two hundred yards away and closing fast.
“Do you think it’s a trap, sir?” the captain asked. “Seems passing odd behavior, breaking the surface like that. If they were going to attack, why not just stay under instead of giving us warning? The seamage said—”
“The seamage said the merfolk are no longer interested in war, but I daresay this does not look like a peace delegation. Peaceful or not, I’ll be damned if I’ll let them near my fleet. You may fire when they are in range, Captain.”
The captain shot him a quick glance, then nodded. “Aye, sir!”
But even as Betts gave the orders to the archers and ballistae crews, the entire school stopped and surfaced, heads and shoulders bobbing in the swells. In the fore, a single mer raised a long trident that glittered golden in the sun. With its other webbed hand, it pointed to the floating city.
“What the—” Before Joslan could finish his exclamation, the mer thrust its trident toward the city. As if in answer, the entire school also thrust their weapons into the air, then charged off.
“What in the Nine Hells are they playing at?” mumbled the admiral.
“It looked like they were calling us to fight, sir,” the captain said incredulously.
“Calling us to fight, or luring us in?” Joslan clenched his teeth. “I don’t care. We’re not getting any closer to that blasted thing.”
“Captain! The mountain!” cried the lookout, pointing to pillars of steam jetting from the peak of Plume Isle. Deep rumbles stirred the air and rippled the surface of the water.
“Bear off, Captain! Signal the fleet to make best speed to the north!” the admiral ordered, gripping the rail as he stared rapt at the spectacle. “We’ll stay close enough to observe, but I don’t want any ships too close if that mountain explodes.” As the crew bustled behind him, Joslan raised his spyglass, trying to catch sight of the mer. Were they truly intent on attacking Akrotia? Their behavior had been odd, but he wasn’t going to trust them so readily; not without seeing just what they had planned.
≈
*The warships are moving away!* Tailwalker signed to Broadtail and Chaser, his scales tingling from the violent vibrations of the mountain.
*Either their leader is a fool, or he does not trust us.* Broadtail fluttered his fins in frustration and swept his trident in a broad arc. *It does not matter. We proceed with the plan. All is ready. Set the augers and hooks!*
The five school leaders pounded fists to their chests in assent and darted off. The mer school was clustered in the shadow of Akrotia, deep enough that the heat of the city did not reach them. They had watched the city as it approached. Now its spires stretched down toward the sandy bank just offshore of the reef.
Dozens of mer strained their tails pushing the long shafts that turned the huge iron augers into the seabed. Others lifted the hooks, anchors salvaged from the recently wrecked warships, and swam up toward the city. From the hooks trailed lengths of woven ironweed, each as thick as Tailwalker’s arm and strong enough to restrain a sea drake. The mer slowed as they reached the scalding water near the city’s deepest reaches, but soon iron clattered against stone as the hooks were set. The hook crews fled into cooler waters where priests and priestesses waited to tend their burns. The school leaders gave the orders, and dozens more mer pulled the ironweed cables tight, binding them to the augers.
A particularly strong blast shook the mountain. Corals broke loose and tumbled down the slope, hundreds of seasons of growth destroyed in a moment. The island was erupting.
*It is done!* the last of the school leaders reported to the trident holder.
*Good! Move the school away. We must get clear before the island explodes.*
The schools formed up and darted away to the safety of deeper water, where the concussions of the exploding mountain would be tolerable. Tailwalker and Chaser sculled over to where Broadtail floated, and stared up at the looming underside of Akrotia. The towers and spires hung in the sapphire water like graceful fingers reaching down to them.
*It is beautiful, is it not?* Broadtail signed, his fins limp with awe.
*It is, Father,* Tailwalker agreed.
*I can understand Eelback’s fascination with it now. Such a city could indeed have made the mer great.*
Tailwalker shook his head at the regret he saw in his father’s eyes, remembering the helplessness and hopelessness he had felt within its grottos. *I see only treachery and death in Akrotia. I will not be sad to see it destroyed.* He grasped the trident holder’s arm urgently. *We must be away, Father. When Akrotia discovers what we have done, the sea will burn!*
Trident Holder Broadtail nodded, and the three mer dashed off into the safety of the depths.
≈
“Milord!” Huffington stuck his head into the cabin. “Plume Isle is erupting, and a school of mer have been sighted!”
Emil Norris raised his head wearily and waved his secretary away. “There’s nothing we can do, Huffington. It’s in Admiral Joslan’s hands now.”
“Yes, milord,” muttered Huffington worriedly. He retreated and shut the door.
Emil lay down on the narrow bunk next to Camilla, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close. He stroked her hands with his fingers, then kissed her forehead.
“The world is exploding, my dear,” he whispered, “and I don’t care.”
Scimitar War Page 23
