by Bob Blink
“Finally, Jolan and Shyar are due back tomorrow. We feel it would be best to have them back here safely before we initiate anything. That also means the scouts would not be torn between attack duties and the need to run up to Tilano and pick them up. Besides, Jolan is the gunner for Iach-Iss’ scout. It will be a sudden transition for him to come back from vacation and go directly into battle, and I know Shyar will not be happy, but it will give us our two most effective teams.”
“It makes sense,” Vaen agreed. “Where do you plan on attacking?”
“The largest attack will be at the two bridges that Tishe created. They have represented a contested area for some time, so it will seem natural at first that we might initiate something there. We have had frequent skirmishes there, even though the troops are mostly confined to their own side of the river.”
Vaen frowned. “It doesn’t seem like those would be the best places for us to mount an offensive. The enemy had far too many troops in the area.”
“You are correct,” rumbled Den-Orok. “This will be a feint designed to give them a false impression of our ultimate intentions, such as you have done in the past. We will take their side of the river, and they can wonder through the winter what we are doing. A future assault would begin far differently, but this might keep their minds from thinking of it. Besides, the goal here is to shake them up, and take out a group of their wizards.”
Wylan nodded. “In addition, we have long known of the wizard headquarters in Kimlelm’s capital, in the port city of Sisco, and in Angla, just a short distance in from the river border between Seret and Kimlelm. After the daytime attack on the river crossing, Kavel and Samm’s teams will make assaults on these three locations. They will be assisted by the skimmers, which will have changed pilot crews after the daytime attacks along the river. With the precise locations we have of the headquarters using the dragon’s technology, we can move the skimmers into position above the compounds and bomb them from above. As they react and try to escape, the ground teams we will have moved into place will be able to attack them with a combination of Jolan’s sniper rifles and the new weapons the dragons have given us. With just a bit of luck we can eliminate a significant number of Ale’ald’s wizard force in just a day or two. Then we can watch and see how they react.”
Vaen thought for a long moment. They would certainly be stirring up an angry mess, but she agreed they needed to react. If they could retake the river crossing before the first snows it would both send a message to Ale’ald and give them something to stew about for the winter months. She would have to brief the Queen with Wylan, but she was certain they would get approval to proceed.
* * * *
Jolan was secured into his flight seat as Iach-Iss’ scout flew high over Seret on the way toward the Lasayss river. He had only been back on Gaea for two days, and he was on his way back into battle. Shyar was already near the river, having used one of the portals earlier this morning to jump ahead and join Wylan’s troops on the Seret side of Tishe’s northern bridge. There wasn’t much she would be able to do, but she wanted to be close to where Jolan was flying, just in case something happened.
Asari was similarly situated in Den-Orok’s vehicle, and the four of them were in a group conference. It seemed like they were all in the same vehicle, but that was simply an artifact of the dragon’s communications system. They were also in communication with the pilot crews of the skimmers and Wylan’s troops on the ground via the satellite communicators. How the battle conditions had changed here on Gaea in the past couple of years.
Once they approached the target zones, Asari and Den-Orok would turn south and provide support for the attacks on the southern bridge. Jolan and Iach-Iss would take on the northern one. The desire was to attack simultaneously, which would create maximum confusion and insure the greatest chances of their taking over both of the enemy sites.
When they were a few minutes out, the two scouts split apart, each heading toward their designated patrol areas. Word was sent to the skimmers, two located above each of the enemy bridge sites, to begin their bombing runs. The bombs were simply rolled off the back of the skimmer’s cargo platforms as the skimmers made a pass across the desired target area. Since they were at ten thousand feet on a cloudy day, they were hard to locate, not that the enemy was equipped to do anything about them even if they had seen them making a slow pass.
The bombs fell along the river front, striking approximately fifty meters apart all along the enemy front lines. These were nowhere near as potent as the fuel-air bomb that Jolan had created several times in the past, but the high explosive threw thousands of half inch ball bearing like projectiles at high velocity in all directions. The heavy explosions tore huge holes in the ground, and troops nearby were torn apart by the flying projectiles. Those farther away were startled by the heavy thumps and the screams of their fellow soldiers. Within minutes pandemonium had broken out among the Ale’ald forces. They had expected some kind of an attack, but had expected the first signs would be soldiers on the bridgeway. The suddenness of the attack falling from the sky had caught them off guard.
The first of the skimmers now having dropped its load of ordinance, turned and headed back across the river into Seret. They landed in the middle of the camped army where men waited with the stores of bombs, ready to quickly load up the vehicle for a repeat run. While it was loading, the second skimmer started it’s run, also parallel to the river, but inland an additional hundred feet. The bombs continued to fall, and the confusion and panic continued to grow.
While the bombs were deadly to the normal forces on the ground, they really posed no threat to the wizards, whether singly or grouped into triads. There were a number of each present. There simply had been no time, nor was there sufficient copper to coat all of the projectiles with the magic defying metal, so the bare metal balls could be stopped easily enough by the shield the wizards could raise. The head of Ale’ald’s wizard forces looked out the window of his observation post at the mayhem that was taking place outside. The attack was obviously meant to distract his troops. He could already see a large mass of the enemy starting to make their way across the bridge on the other side. He signaled to his fellows that it was time to go. They would make their way down to the river and prepare to engage the enemy when they crossed far enough to be in range. He wasn’t sure how the enemy was managing to get the explosive launched all the way to this side of the river, but their attempts to cross would result in failure. He could sense the projectiles and could tell they offered no threat to him or his fellow wizards.
The wizards were halfway to the river when the scout ship appeared in the distance heading their way at a high rate of speed. Suddenly it became clear. They had received messages from Ale’ald that the enemy had apparently found a new ally, one from the past who had flying vehicles. This had to be one of those vehicles. Several of the wizards released premature bolts of energy in the direction of the approaching vehicle, but by the time they reached the distant plane they had lost all effectiveness.
The attempted attacks served another purpose however. While Jolan was responsible for targeting the enemy and firing the primary weapon, the ship itself had a number of smaller blasters that would automatically return fire against any attacks. The weak blasts that arrived from a number of the individual wizards on the ground were returned with brief powerful blasts of deep blue light. The nature and the intensity of the energy that found the foolish wizards that had launched their useless attacks was far more than their shields were able to resist. Each was instantly turned into a burning pillar of screaming fire until the wizards inside the pyres died.
Realizing they were up against something new, the triads quickly formed and linked, raising the strongest shields they could muster and prepared to engage the oncoming aircraft. Bombs were still dropping behind them, and they could sense that their troops were running away from the river after seeing the impact of the aerial bombardment and the sudden loss of so many of the wizards they
relied upon for protection. The leader and strongest of the wizards in the camp prepared his most powerful spell to launch against the aircraft. The two other triads were hurrying down toward the bridge to deflect the assault that was coming from that direction.
The scout shuddered as the intense beam of energy from the ground struck the shields, but Iach-Iss only grinned and flew onward. As powerful as the blast had been, it was nothing compared to the encounters this ship had seen in the past. For some reason the ship’s auto firing system didn’t respond to the attack. Jolan had seen the origin of the blast and centered his holo-projection on the three wizards that were clustered at that location. He was amazed at how his point of view seemed fixed despite any rapid movements the scout might be making.
As his indicator settled onto the intended target, he let his thumbs caress the trigger node and fired the scout’s weapon. A yard wide distortion left from the front of the ship, traveling down toward the triad below. The distortion was colorless and almost invisible, and Jolan doubted the enemy even saw it coming, but when it arrived the effect was instantaneous. The triad hadn’t taken the time to protect themselves with the metal barriers they used to deflect the bullets from their enemy, and it wouldn’t have mattered if they had. The impulse blast from the scout worked very differently. It was similar to the pulse fired by the hand weapon, but far more powerful. When the pulse arrived, it instantly overwhelmed the combined shield the triad had formed and destroyed the wizards within. They didn’t even have time to realize what had happened.
Iach-Iss was already turning and coming around. The first of the triads had reached the end of the bridge and launched an impressive blast of rolling fire across the stone of the crossway. It was partly for show since the advancing troops were still a long way off, and Wylan’s defending mages were able to raise strong enough shields to protect the troops. Soon, however, they would be close enough that the deadly fires would be irresistible.
Through the communicatons link Jolan could see that Asari had already dispatched a pair of triads to the south, where a very similar battle was unfolding. Jolan was already tracking the triad that had launched the attack on the bridge troops, as the inner portion of the scout rotated and allowed him to target his enemy independent of the motions of the vehicle. Once again he triggered a shot from the ship’s massive weapon, and once again a triad died.
The final triad was not unaware of the sudden death of the others, and rather than pursue the attack had decided it was time to be elsewhere. They had tried to make a shelter a short distance down the shore, but it was to no avail. Once again Jolan targeted the group, even though they were fleeing rather than attacking, and released another burst of killing energy. As the scout flew over there was nothing to see. Jolan was vaguely aware that during his targeting of the triads, the ship or Iach-Iss had dispatched a number of lone wizards. The skimmers had stopped their bombing, waiting to see if the fleeing troops needed additional encouragement. Wylan’s army was flowing across the bridge onto Kimlelm soil. They would chase the fleeing troops only so far, setting up a defensible perimeter for now. Several of the dual sniper teams, armed with rifles and dragon blasters would be stationed there against any attempt of other triads attempting to retake the area. To the south, Asari reported similar success. He and Den-Orok had taken down a total of four triads to Jolan and Iach-Iss’ three. It was time to cross the river and join up with the skimmers and set up for the night’s planned activities.
Later that night the two scouts and four skimmers floated silently above the city of Yermo. The intelligence that Kavel’s teams had gathered before the portals were compromised served them well, and the dragon’s ability to monitor any location told them the buildings below were occupied by no less than a dozen and a half of Ale’ald’s wizards. Tonight the scouts were on support duty, since most of the action would be performed by the two skimmers loaded with bombs, supported by the troops that the other two skimmers had already released. The sniper teams were in position to take on any of the wizards that escaped the bombardment, and would be picked up at one of several locations that had been previously agreed to. The sniper teams could call out the preferred locations for pickup, and the skimmers would appear there to bring them back.
Shyar and Jolan sat in the scout with Iach-Iss, and Asari in the second one with Den-Orok. The weapons the scouts had were a bit too powerful for the desired action tonight, but they would be used if the situation deteriorated in any way. It was time to start, and Jolan signaled the two skimmers to begin dropping their bombs. Moments later the ground below lit up with flashes of light from the explosions as the noise thundered through the streets. More bombs than necessary were dropped, and soon the compound below was engulfed in flames.
Sniper team Alpha One was the first to detect movement and watched as two wizards ran from one of the burning buildings off to the side. It was clear they were trying to slip into one of the side streets, but the two shots from the Remingtons ended their flight. Moments later, six wizards emerged from the front of the compound. They had taken the time to form up into their triads, and each triad was surrounded by the metal barrier they liked to use for protection. It was likely they had witnessed the fate of the two wizards who had tried to flee unprotected.
The barriers weren’t going to save them this time. Two of the new teams took over, each targeting one of the triads with the heavy dragon weapons. The almost silent burp as the energy bursts were launched alerted Alpha One the shots had been taken, and instants later the shields around the two triads lit up as the energies of the shield and the weapon clashed. The outcome was predictable, and moments later another half dozen wizards lay dead on the street.
It took ten more minutes for two more wizards to make the attempt, and both fell like their friends. After that all was quiet, and before long it was obvious that anyone inside had been killed by the bomb blasts. There was no point in waiting any longer. The sniper teams made for the pickup points.
The following night the process was repeated over Sisco, and the next night over the city of Angla. For good measure they overflew the small town that had housed the Ale’ald airforce and rendered the airfield entirely unusable. In the past few days Ale’ald had lost a large number of valuable people, and had nothing to show for it in return. It was time to see how they would react. The dragons and their friends headed back to Cobalo to await developments.
Chapter 182
Once they were back in Cobalo and able to monitor Ale’ald’s reaction it didn’t take long for a pattern to develop.
“There’s been a major increase in the number of portals that are being activated,” Morin said. “They appear to be from all over Kimlelm, and even one or two in Seret. We haven’t seen any here in Angon as yet.”
Wylan’s people were monitoring the locations that were forwarded to them by Morin and Buris. It soon became obvious that there was a massive movement of people back into Ale’ald, all going to the Academy.
“The wizards are being recalled en masse,” Jolan said as they reviewed the data with Vaen. “It’s too soon to say whether this is a long term action, or whether they are being brought back for planning or to prepare some kind of specialized reaction to our attacks.”
“It’s an opportunity we can’t afford to pass up,” rumbled Den-Orok.
Iach-Iss snarled his agreement. “They are clustering together where we have a real chance at thinning them out.”
“It might be a trap,” Vaen cautioned. “We don’t think they know about your satellites which allow us to see what is going on in Ale’ald, but it is impossible to be sure what has been compromised. A week ago I would have said there were no wizards inside the Inner Court. At the very least, they must know we can monitor their portal use, and with your aircraft we probably have a good idea where their people are going.”
“If it is a trap, so much the better,” Den-Orok said with a satisfied grin.
Jolan looked at him questioningly.
“Eith
er way it is an opportunity for us,” Den-Orok explained. “With them in a single spot, we have a chance at removing many of them easily. If it is a trap, then Cheurt is trying to lure us in for the kill. That means he will have his strongest triads deployed to launch the attack. That is what we need. The strong triads are the ones we must eliminate. We especially want to get to Cheurt, and we can only do that where he is. He has brought everything to his own territory.”
“What are you suggesting?” Vaen asked after a minute while everyone considered what had been said.
“We attack the Academy tomorrow,” Iach-Iss answered for his friend. “We cannot expect them to remain clustered like this for very long.”
“I don’t think the approach we have been using will work there,” Jolan said.
“Just the scouts,” Den-Orok said firmly. “The skimmers would be of no use and it would put them and the crews at risk. It need only be the four of us. We can get in and out in a matter of hours. We will know if we have the opportunity by then.”
“It sounds like it is unnecessarily risky,” Shyar said after a moment. “With that many wizards in one location they may be able to penetrate the shields of the scouts. You have admitted they aren’t as strong as they once were.”
“It is unlikely, but possible,” Iach-Iss admitted. “This would be especially true if Cheurt is as strong as it seems and has triaded appropriately. Still, it is worth the risk. If the wizards, especially the triads, are not eliminated, this is going to be another very long war with an uncertain outcome. At some point we are going to need to go against him. It might as well be now before he expects us and while we are as strong as we are going to get. Over time, the scouts can only degrade.”
