“Raylan,” carried a voice across the square.
They looked up to see Sebastian jogging toward them.
“Hey, Seb. What are you doing here?” said Raylan.
“I was spending time at my sister’s place when I heard Galirras’ call. I came over right away to see what was going on, but they held everyone up at the gate,” said Sebastian. “They didn’t let me through until just now.”
“Wait, were you not confined to camp?” Galirras asked, confused.
With a laugh, Sebastian rubbed the back of his head.
“Ha! I, uhm, snuck out.”
“Richard is going to have your hide for that,” said Raylan.
“Probably, but I’ll deal with that later. I just want to make the most of my time with my sister and her family. Before we leave, you know.”
“You could stay,” said Raylan.
Sebastian opened his mouth and shut it again, uncertain.
“So, what the hell happened here?” he said, changing the subject as he gestured at a trashed wall where one of the ghol’m’s blocks had landed.
“A ghol’m. It must have been the one from the beach. Richard mentioned it had disappeared this morning. Somehow, they got it into the castle.”
“However did they manage that?” exclaimed Sebastian.
“Snuck it in as part of Lord Algirio’s exotic statue collection. And that’s not all he collects. The man is peculiar to say the least.”
“But everyone’s alright?”
Raylan shook his head.
“Several guards didn’t make it, but Galirras managed to stop it before it could get to Lord Algirio and his wife. Xi’Lao was there, too. She's gone to give a full report back at camp,” said Raylan.
“Did they catch the escaped prisoner?”
“No. The servant who dealt with those who offered the statue was found dead shortly after the attack. The Doskovian soldier is probably long gone,” said Raylan. “You really heard Galirras all the way at your sister’s place?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire city heard him. People were quite nervous, especially when those stones came crashing down. One hit as far as the southern market square.”
“I hope you assured them I was not actually the one breaking everything?” said Galirras.
“I might have mentioned that once or twice,” assured Sebastian with a grin.
“Good,” said Galirras simply. He returned his gaze to the ocean beyond the harbor.
“How’s your sister doing?” asked Raylan.
“Fine. She still can’t believe I’m alive,” said Sebastian, still smiling. “We spoke for a long time today; went with the kids to the market, too. Did you know her husband works at the glassmakers’ guild? He’s considered among the best in the city.”
Sebastian’s expression changed briefly.
“I’ve missed out on so much.”
“We’ve been over this, remember? You’re here now, and that counts for something, right?” said Raylan, grabbing his friend’s shoulder and shaking it briefly.
Suddenly, Galirras raised himself on his hind legs. Raylan looked up at him questioningly.
“What is it?”
“Black sails.”
The dragon’s eyes scanned the horizon.
“Blast! I knew we shouldn’t have kept quiet,” said Sebastian angrily.
“Four in the air; five at sea from the south-east. They are coming straight for us,” Galirras counted.
“Only nine? That can’t be right. Where’s the main force?” said Raylan, confused.
“Maybe these are just the ones that followed us?” said Sebastian.
“No use wondering,” said Raylan. “But against nine we might stand a chance.”
He turned around and sprinted off, calling back over his shoulder, “Stay here and keep them in your sights. I need to warn the council.”
The sound of metal ringing once again rose to the sky, but this time the signal did not originate from within the castle walls. A watchtower in the harbor had spotted the airships and called their forces to attention; with what had happened at the castle, the man in the tower knew better than to wait and see. Soon, the entire city followed suit.
By the time Raylan emerged from the castle again, the Doskovian ships had come dangerously close. A few sailing ships veered off toward the beach, while two others set a course for the harbor.
“Galirras, we need to take care of those in the air. No one else can get to them,” Raylan called as he ran toward the dragon and Sebastian. “Sebastian, I told Lord Algirio you would tell his soldiers what we know of their forces and the ghol’ms. Even if their force is only nine ships strong, when the ghol’ms come into play it doesn’t matter how many men we have; we're going to get slaughtered. Our only chance is to take out the ghol’ms before they’re activated.”
Raylan jumped on Galirras’ back in one fluid motion.
“Tell them we need heavy hitters, like Galen. Men who know how to handle a war hammer. And they need chains, too, for the feet!”
Shouts and sounds of chaos rose from the city below as the leading airship moved over the harbor and dropped its first fireball. Flames shot up between the buildings. The two sea vessels in the harbor bay appeared to have small catapults on their decks. They too fired a salvo of fireballs into the city. The townspeople on shore shot in every direction. Women, children and men rushed through the streets to flee from danger. In the more distant parts of the city people hurried home to their houses, rushed along by the clanging alarm bells.
“We’ll be back as soon as we can,” called Raylan as Galirras launched into the air and took off with strong wing beats. “Good luck with the guards.”
“Leave it to me,” shouted Sebastian.
Raylan saw his friend run toward the gathering guards to meet up with Captain Whitflow, who started shouting orders immediately after hearing Sebastian’s words.
“Let’s take the closest one first. We have to stop those fire barrels,” Raylan directed Galirras.
“I will come in from above. They have not seen us yet.”
Galirras was right. The Doskovian crew on deck were so busy with what was happening below them it seemed none had seen Galirras take off and move into the higher—more dominant—position in the air. Without delay, Galirras dove toward the airship. With the sun at his back, the dragon sent off a windblast, throwing the first of two sentries from the balloon. The other sentry turned around just in time to see Galirras’ claw come straight at him. The Doskovian soldier made a futile attempt to aim his crossbow, but the force from Galirras’ attack snapped right through his safety lines and sent him tumbling toward the ground.
Cleared of obstacles, Raylan reached out with his mind and let Galirras turn sharply for another pass. His clenched knuckles turned white as he tried to hold on to the dragon and the leather strap. Other soldiers scrambled up the ropes, but Galirras was there quicker. He all but landed on the tightly-bound balloon. Four claws dug into the fabric and ripped it open as Galirras pushed himself up with wings and wind power.
The airship banked and immediately dropped away. Those on the ropes lost their balance and plummeted toward the city below.
Raylan did not have time to watch the ship crash. One of the other airships was on an intercept course and two rows of archers stood at the rail ready to shower them with arrows. Below them, the ship smashed into a building with a loud crash while Galirras pushed himself sideways to dodge the first salvo of shots. A large windblast helped to block the arrows he had not been able to get away from in time. The crashed ship broke out in flames, forming a thick black column of smoke.
Quickly, Galirras turned and sped off to put some distance between him and the pursuing ship, but it proved difficult to outfly the arrows.
“Another salvo,” Raylan warned. He sat nearly backward, trying to keep the enemy in sight.
“Hold on.”
The warning came as he felt Galirras roll over in the air. For a moment
, Raylan hung upside down, doing his best to hook his legs around Galirras’ neck to stay seated. The dragon’s movement did not make it easy. Galirras fired another blast to intercept the arrows, but it was imperfect and insufficient to block them all. Two arrows pushed through his defense; one shot right past Raylan as Galirras’ roll brought him back on top. The second struck Galirras in the side, just below his wing.
“Oh!” screeched Galirras at the unexpected pain.
“Are you alright?” shouted Raylan against the rushing wind.
“It stings, but I will live.”
Raylan noticed that Galirras was already more out of breath than usual. The ghol’m fight earlier had depleted much of his winged friend’s energy. With the arrow in his side, the dragon’s turns became wider and the beating of his wings more irregular.
Past their pursuer, the other sea vessels reached the beach closest to the harbor. Dozens of soldiers poured out, wading through the last yards of water to reach more solid ground. From the city, the first guards on horses raced to meet them. Charging along the beach, they were clearly convinced their mounts gave them a clear advantage over anyone who tried to come on land.
Then several deep thumps echoed through the air. Rings of blue light spread from the ships nearest to the coast.
Ghol’ms!
While the sea turned red from the first slain Doskovian soldiers, Raylan saw three ghol’ms emerge from the ships and make their way to shore. The stone trio reached dry sand and threw themselves into an oncoming charge of five riders. Two of the steeds buckled in fear as a third got its legs broken by a giant stone arm. The last two riders managed to avoid a head-on collision and now hastily retreated back toward the gate, where the first men on foot were coming out.
Near the harbor, buildings burned brightly from the barrage of fireballs. One of the airships slid slowly above the city’s rooftops. Its cargo doors swung open and a familiar device was extended from the hold.
“Look! Those are descenders, aren’t they?” said Raylan. Galirras made a turn in an attempt to lose a second ship closing in on them. “What will th—No way!”
A ghol’m was lowered from the airship directly onto the city streets with the help of two descenders. The ghol’m’s feet scraped the rooftops and it crashed into a wall, but made it to the ground in one piece. It was clearly a practiced maneuver. As soon as the ghol’m hit the cobbles, it detached itself by breaking the steel chain wrapped around its torso. Right away, the descenders were retracted, after which another ghol’m was lowered to the ground.
“We need to take them out,” shouted Raylan as another salvo of arrows flew their way. He quickly added in his mind, “But we need to get rid of the archer ship first, or we’ll never make it. Can you do that windblade attack you used on the ghol’m earlier?”
“Let me try.”
Galirras dove forward and pulled back up with his added speed. He twisted around and held himself stationary with his wind power. Through their connection, Raylan knew the arrow stung annoyingly in his side with every movement of his wings. The dragon growled as he increased the force behind the movement. His injury made it hard to move both wings in unison and create the necessary flow of air to manipulate.
On Galirras’ back, Raylan’s own adrenaline reactivated his wind vision, including the throbbing headache that seemed to come with it. He saw the airflow between Galirras’ wings being pushed together, guided by the dragon’s invisible influence on it. But it took five attempts to conjure the first curved wave of wind, and all the while their pursuers came straight at them.
Finally, a sharp-edged blade of wind shot through the air. But it was not as strong as the ones at the plaza; halfway toward the airship, it unraveled and vanished. Thankfully, two more succeeded immediately after, each more powerful than the last.
The second wind blade was stable enough to reach the ship. It cut a few of the ropes that tied the balloon to the ship’s deck. The third blade struck a bit high, but managed to tear a hole in the balloon. The effect was not as immediate as the first airship they had taken down, but it was clear this ship would not be able to stay in the air. Its bow dipped low and before they knew it the keel scraped across the roof tiles and crashed into a church tower. Those few people left in the streets ran away screaming. And for good reason, for as soon as the crashed ship ground to a halt, the Doskovian soldiers streamed out of the hold and into the city.
Galirras was already on his way to the other low-hanging airship unloading its ghol’ms. Surveying the situation below, Raylan saw heavy fighting on the beach and in the streets. He recognized groups of city guards moving to intercept the invading force. In the harbor, small boats with soldiers—and fishermen brave enough to join the fighting—were on their way to board the two fireball ships. Azurna archers rained down arrows on the ships and men attacking the beach.
“Xi’Lao and the others have joined the fighting on the beach,” said Galirras with a hint of concern as two more ghol’ms emerged from the Doskovian ships.
“They’ll know to keep their distance,” replied Raylan. “Let’s focus on the one in front o—Watch out!”
Raylan did not know precisely why he had looked up. Perhaps some part of his mind sparked an alert that he had lost track of the fourth flying ship. But when he did, two ghol’ms were right on top of them. Their silhouettes plummeted toward them like two giant birds of prey. Between them hung an iron net.
Galirras’ lightning-fast reactions were all that prevented a full-on disaster. Raylan’s world disappeared into a blur as the dragon pushed himself into another roll and dropped toward the ground in an attempt to buy the slightest bit of extra time. It worked. The net and its stone handlers missed them by an arm’s length. One ghol’m even made a grab for Galirras’ tail in the brief moment they swished past, but got nothing but air. The two stone warriors slammed into the street and shattered into pieces. Two blue rings of energy burst outward, knocking over a few of the locals who were trying to put out a fire in a nearby building.
Throughout the twists and turns, Raylan had wrapped his arm through the leather strap around Galirras’ neck a few times. The strap cut deep into his flesh with each sudden move, but he figured it beat falling to his death. He really missed having a weapon, but his sword would do no good on the back of a dragon. Perhaps he should consider a small, bow-like weapon if he wanted to contribute to the fighting. Though perhaps it was more important to function as an extra pair of eyes, with so many dangers from different sides.
Galirras had readjusted his course and now approached the highest airship. He dodged arrows, fireballs and spears left and right. Despite the arrow in his side, his wings now cracked like thunder with every stroke they made. He was about to pass the ship’s rail when another iron net was thrown down. This time, all the speed in the world could not help the dragon dodge it; he practically flew straight into it, head first.
Fortunately, it was just the net, without any heavy weights—like ghol’ms—attached to it, but Galirras’ head was completely tangled, making it hard to see as he dropped away from the ship again. The net’s own weight pulled down on his head and neck as he tried to level out his flight, which meant his body automatically tried to follow.
“Hang on,” Raylan yelled. He tried to grab the net while keeping an eye out for arrows at the same time, only to cry out a moment later, “I can’t reach it!”
Raylan moved his feet under him and hooked his left arm through the leather strap.
Please don’t break, please don’t break…
He pushed his legs out onto Galirras’ shoulder and stretched his arm, but then another shape above them caught his eye.
“Left!”
The dragon banked left without question, even though his own eyes were obstructed by the net. A moment later, a fire barrel raced past them. They had nearly gone down in flames.
Raylan made another attempt. This time his fingers wrapped around the edge of the net. He flung it back over Galirras’ head. It
unraveled, finally allowing Galirras to shake himself free from the weighted confinement. He trumpeted triumphantly and approached the airship again, this time keeping directly under its keel, limiting the enemy’s ability to attack him.
He grabbed the ship with his hind legs, using his front claws to tear out a large piece of the balloon. The airship keeled over and half glided, half fell toward the world below. As the ship dropped away, Galirras pushed off with his legs to give it extra momentum. He called upon his reserves and pushed the ship into a dive with his wind power.
The effort did not go to waste. The ship tumbled from the sky and crashed straight into the other airship hovering above the rooftops, still unloading its ghol’ms. A harbor warehouse, bar and house were completely obliterated as both ships slammed into the buildings. The whole mess erupted in flames and exploded in a ring of blue light as the activated ghol’ms inside the ship were shattered.
Galirras panted heavily. Raylan even felt himself out of breath—which seemed silly, since Galirras did all the work. He watched the chaos beneath them. The dragon ruled the sky now, but down in the city and on the beach the fight was far from over.
“Come on. We need to get back to the castle and have them send reinforcements to the beach. They’re getting massacred down there.”
Galirras dragged them both back to the castle, his movements heavy with exhaustion.
“Seb!” shouted Raylan as he dismounted.
His friend came running up.
“Great job with those airships, both of you,” called Sebastian out.
“Never mind that. Can you find a healer who’s not afraid to approach Galirras? He got struck by an arrow. And any food around for him? A cow or pig, perhaps?”
Sebastian ran off immediately.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Galirras lifted his wing and sniffed the arrow.
“I am, but I would not mind it being taken out now. It stings when I move.”
Shortly after, a nervous army healer went to work on the dragon’s wound while Galirras distracted himself with a plump pig that he casually tore in half. Around them, fighters came and went. Those wounded returned to the fight if capable, and everywhere messengers ran back and forth with important orders.
Wavebreaker_Book II of the Stone War Chronicles_Part 1_Trickle Page 28
