by David Wells
Alexander assigned the Rangers to the catapult platforms fore and aft and had Anatoly man one of the ballistae—he was familiar enough with the weapon to make good use of it. Alexander, Isabel, and Abigail would take the crow’s nest with their bows. He knew that he and Isabel might not be able to take down one of the riders, but he was confident that Abigail would be able to cause real damage with her magical bow. If they could bring down the first two that attacked, they might be able to make landfall before reinforcements arrived.
With their plan set, Alexander made the rounds to talk with the crew and the Rangers. He wanted to thank them for their service and reassure them that they would be victorious and that their purpose was both right and necessary.
The Rangers were reserved but ready for the fight. They knew the stakes and had volunteered for this voyage. The crew was a little more hesitant, especially since Alexander wouldn’t tell them why he was taking them into such dangerous waters. But they were all loyal to their captain, and since he was convinced of the need to approach the forbidden island, they would do what they could to keep their ship afloat.
Alexander slept well that night, holding Isabel in their cozy little bunk. The gentle rolling of the ocean actually served to calm and relax him for the first time since he’d been at sea. He woke to a clear day with calm seas and clean-smelling salt air. At breakfast, Captain Targa informed him they should start looking for the wyvern riders within the hour. Not half an hour later, Alexander was perched high up in the crow’s nest with Isabel and Abigail. They had a barrel of arrows and the best view around, save for Slyder who orbited high overhead scanning the horizon for the enemy.
“Slyder can see the Reishi Isle,” Isabel said. It was still a little too far off for Alexander to discern land from ocean. A few minutes later, Slyder screeched.
“Here they come,” Isabel said, pointing off toward the southwest. “They’re heading straight for us.”
Alexander signaled down to the captain and the Rangers. The deck burst into a flurry of activity as everyone made ready to meet the coming attack. It seemed to take a long time for the wyverns to arrive. They made a pass high overhead. When the Angellica didn’t change course, they turned as one and descended to a lower altitude before making another pass. Alexander held his right hand up and open, a sign of goodwill to the passing wyvern riders, a man and a woman. The woman looked down toward him with intensity and surprise. They coaxed their wyverns to gain altitude and wheeled for another pass. This time their intent was clear. They meant to attack.
They made a run straight for the crow’s nest. It looked like they’d decided that Alexander was the target. He wondered why they had singled him out on a ship bristling with weaponry. A moment later, he heard the sharp twang of Abigail’s bow as she let the first arrow fly. It sailed out over the water and hit the wyvern squarely in the chest. The beast roared but held its course.
Alexander counted the moments before the wyvern was in range. The ballistae fired, and a moment later he and Isabel released their arrows along with a second from Abigail. Then the platoon of Rangers sent up a volley. The wyvern shrieked in rage as the deadly hail of arrows peppered its chest and wings, but it didn’t stop.
Quite suddenly, Alexander felt his awareness plunge into the firmament. He was not on the surface of the ocean of possibility but in the quiet endlessness beneath the wave of creation. He knew what was happening so he didn’t resist the strange sensation. Instead, he watched the wave of potential that crested in the present moment as it sped up. He was seeing the future. The few times this had happened, the knowledge he gained had saved him.
He watched the wyvern fly just over the crow’s nest and snap its bone-bladed tail with such force that it shattered the top of the mast, breaking off the crow’s nest and casting them into the water—broken, bloodied, and unconscious. It was a terrifying display of power, but what came next was even worse. He saw the second wyvern hook its wing under the yardarm and drive the entire ship onto its side. Just as the wyvern started to free itself from the sails of the sinking ship, Alexander was back in his body and watching the enemy come toward him.
Everything slowed down. He dropped his bow and pulled Abigail away from the coming attack while stepping in front of Isabel and drawing the Thinblade. He watched the shadow of the wyvern pass overhead; its tail flexed and snapped down toward the crow’s nest. Just a moment before it struck, Alexander lashed out with the Thinblade and cleanly severed the wyvern’s tail. The bladed end was still coming at them with force and it crashed into the mast supporting the crow’s nest but didn’t have the energy to do more than send reverberations through the entire ship. The wyvern screamed in pain and rage but passed over their heads and out of arrow range in a moment.
Alexander leaned over the edge of the railing and extended his sword to strike the second wyvern across the shoulder. The rider had intended to use the wyvern’s weight and momentum to catch the main mast and drive the boat over onto its side, but the creature was met by the Thinblade instead.
The entire wing of the beast came off in a clean line. The wyvern shrieked in panicked fear as it spiraled off the side of the ship and into the water where it struggled in vain to stay afloat before slipping beneath the waves, taking its rider into the depths with it. Its severed wing fell across the foredeck and was quickly cast overboard by the Rangers and the crew. The other wyvern cast a look of fear and anger down at them before beating its wings and gaining altitude as it banked and made straight for the fortress.
Alexander looked down at the captain, who returned the look with renewed respect. He gave Alexander a firm nod, then started barking orders at his crew. Moments later the sails were full of wind and the oars were pulling the Angellica toward the Reishi Isle.
Chapter 41
The ship raced directly into the shallows as far as the captain dared before he dropped his sails, turned the rudder hard to starboard, and ordered the oars withdrawn from the port side, while the longboats were virtually dropped into the water.
Alexander and his friends scrambled down rope nets and boarded the longboats with the Rangers. They turned toward the shore a mile or more away and started rowing. Alexander, Jack, and Isabel were in one boat with eleven Rangers. Anatoly, Lucky, and Abigail were in the next boat with another eleven Rangers. The remaining Rangers filled the last longboat commanded by Lieutenant Wyatt.
The Angellica raised her sails and put her oars into the water to complete her turn and race away from the Reishi Isle. They weren’t a hundred feet from the ship when Isabel warned that more wyvern riders were coming.
She pointed off to the south. “Looks like a dozen.”
Chloe spun into a ball of scintillating white light. Alexander could feel her worry and fear in his mind. He did his best to reassure her, but he knew as well as she did that they wouldn’t stand a chance against twelve wyverns, especially if they got caught on the water.
“Make best speed to the shoreline,” Alexander shouted over the sound of the surf in the distance. “The enemy is coming in force.”
He could see the fear in everyone’s colors but he also saw resolve. The Rangers rowed with rhythmic order, bringing the longboats closer to the beach in surges as they pulled against the water. Alexander watched the enemy appear on the horizon. He felt useless. Every oar was manned. Isabel guided the boat at the rudder. All he could do was wait for the enemy to arrive, hoping against hope that they would make it to land before the wyvern riders descended on them.
The wyverns grew on the horizon until Alexander counted twelve. Two broke off and headed for the Angellica which was now running at full speed away from the Reishi Isle. Alexander silently wished them best speed and hoped the enemy would spare them. He knew they wouldn’t spare him. Ten wyvern riders lined up in a column and began gradually diving toward the row of longboats, no doubt to attack with their deadly bone-bladed tails.
Alexander’s boat was the first in the row. They were still a hundred feet from the sh
ore as he nocked an arrow and waited, watching the wyverns build frightening speed for their attack run. He knew the sturdy wooden longboats would be smashed to splinters in the first pass. An arrow streaked past him from behind; Abigail had made her first shot, and it was a good one. It hit the lead wyvern in the right eye and drove into its skull to the feathers.
It pitched forward and careened into the water not fifty feet from Alexander’s boat. The sudden wave created by the impact capsized the boat and sent everyone aboard flying into the water. A moment later the next wyvern lashed out at the empty boat with its tail. The keel of the boat shattered under the force of the blow, leaving two broken sections and a field of splinters and kindling scattered across the water.
Alexander went under and found that they were in six feet of water. In the back of his mind, he told himself it could be worse. He pushed off the ocean floor, bursting through the surface just in time to see everyone in the second boat bail out in near panic a moment before a wyvern smashed it into driftwood with one well-placed lash of its tail. The water was full of Rangers and his friends, all struggling to reach the shore in armor and waterlogged clothes and boots.
The Rangers in the third boat had stopped rowing. The rowers on the port side were kneeling while those on the starboard side were standing. All were armed with composite bows and fired on Lieutenant Wyatt’s command. The next wyvern in line banked sharply to avoid the barrage of arrows. Lieutenant Wyatt ordered his men into the water the moment the arrows were loose. They all made it clear and swam for shore as their boat was shattered into splinters by a wyvern’s tail.
Alexander looked around frantically for Isabel and Abigail. He heard Slyder screech overhead in distress. Anatoly burst from the water and took a breath only to be pulled under again by the weight of his breastplate. A wave came in and pushed everyone close enough to shore so that once it passed, they could all stand on the shifting sands with their heads just above water. Alexander heard a scream and whirled to see a Ranger snatched up by the powerful claws of another wyvern. The beast savagely dug its talons into him and dropped his lifeless body back into the surf from a height of fifty feet.
A loud slapping splash drew Alexander’s attention in the other direction. Another of the terrifying flying monsters cut a Ranger in half with a tail-strike.
Another wave washed them closer to shore. Now Alexander was in water to his waist. He looked around for his wife and sister and saw them thirty or forty feet away. Just before he could start moving in their direction, a Ranger called out in warning, pointing up and behind him. He refocused his attention on his all around sight as he whirled to face the threat, drawing the Thinblade in the process.
He spun just enough to avoid being crushed by the whip strike and slashed out with his sword, cleaving the last several feet of the wyvern’s tail. The section that came free hit the water with such force that the shock wave knocked Alexander from his feet.
Another wyvern tried to snatch Anatoly up with its deadly talons, but the old man-at-arms saw it coming and was prepared. He ducked low into the surf while planting the butt of his axe in the sand and directing the long top spike up into the underside of the wyvern’s foot. It screamed in pain and beat its wings with a powerful stroke to lift it away from Anatoly. Another wave washed them into shallow water just knee-deep. They ran through the surf toward the solid footing of the beach, scanning the sky for the enemy. Another Ranger fell to a tail-strike. Another was snatched up and mutilated before being dropped from dozens of feet in the air.
The first wyverns to strike were wheeling in the sky to make a second pass even as the last of the column passed overhead. Alexander angled toward Isabel and Abigail as he moved toward dry land.
He was looking straight at his wife when the unthinkable happened. A shadow fell over her as a wyvern reached out and grabbed her with its talons. She screamed as the beast beat its wings and gained thirty feet of altitude with one stroke. Alexander and Isabel locked eyes. In that moment they both silently acknowledged their love and commitment. She was in pain, but the wyvern had grabbed her tightly without tearing into her.
“Isabel!” he cried out.
She didn’t respond. Alexander stood in shock and disbelief as the wyvern steadily gained altitude and distance with each stroke of its wings. He saw Abigail send an arrow after the beast. Then the surreal scene played itself out again as a wyvern caught Abigail off guard and snatched her up as well. She cried out in surprise. Alexander watched helplessly as the two people he loved most were taken and his world crumbled around him.
He stood still, numbly watching his family recede into the distance when Anatoly tackled him and sent him crashing into the surf as another wyvern’s tail slashed through the shallow water and cut a deep gash in the seabed where Alexander had been standing. Anatoly jerked him up and shoved him toward the shore, then turned to face the next attack.
The tail came fast but Anatoly knew what to expect. He’d seen the wyverns’ strike enough times to know where to be and where not to be when it came. He whirled with his axe and cleaved the tail of yet another wyvern cleanly off. The creature roared in pain and drove itself into the sky, fleeing the fight. There were five of the beasts left in the air when everyone finally made it to the solid footing of the beach.
Alexander fought through the panic and fear that filled every fiber of his being, brutally shoving his emotions aside. Another wyvern descended on a knot of Rangers. They responded with a volley of arrows and upraised spears. The rider cast a javelin down and killed a Ranger.
The next wyvern to make a pass at Alexander didn’t come low enough for a tail-strike. Instead the rider launched a javelin at him forcefully. Alexander stepped aside and pointed the Thinblade up at the enemy.
He was standing on a sandy beach that extended fifty feet from the surf to a craggy cliff rising a hundred feet or more straight up from the sand. With his all around sight, Alexander saw a movement. He looked up just in time to see a rock coming toward him. A dozen or more ganglings on top of the cliff started hurling head-sized rocks down at the men and wyverns fighting on the beach.
The first wyvern to be hit by a rock fell into the surf with a shattered wing. The remaining wyverns withdrew to gain altitude. Alexander pointed up at the ganglings and shouted for everyone to get into the boulder field at the base of the cliff for cover. They raced forward as a hail of deadly stone rain crashed down around them. A few Rangers fell but most made it to the relative safety of the jumble of giant boulders.
Alexander kept a wary eye on the four remaining wyverns. One broke off and went to retrieve the rider of the fallen wyvern and then headed off along the coastline to the south. The three remaining gained enough altitude to make an attack run at the ganglings on top of the cliff. Alexander took advantage of the enemy’s distraction and ordered his people to move through the rock field to the north away from the scene of battle.
They made their way through the boulders until they rounded a bend and saw a dark cave at the base of the hundred-foot wall of stone. Alexander knew that it might be inhabited, but he also knew that the wyverns would be back as soon as they’d driven off the ganglings. They needed to find cover, so he made for the opening quickly but cautiously. He breathed a sigh of relief when he held up his vial of night-wisp dust and revealed that the cave was not as deep as it looked but opened into a large round room filled with little tide pools. They took refuge in the safety of the darkness.
Once the rush of battle subsided, the panic and terror of unendurable loss washed over Alexander and he fell to his knees and vomited.
He simply couldn’t accept that his wife and sister were gone. The only consolation he could find was that they were both taken alive—the wyverns had clearly demonstrated the ability to rend the life from a person with their talons. He sat on his knees and sobbed without restraint. Lucky came to his side and tried to console him.
Anatoly took Lieutenant Wyatt aside and asked for a head count. Of the thirty Rangers,
twenty-one remained. Anatoly ordered him to send scouts to determine if the wyverns and the ganglings were still a threat and to see if any of their packs had washed ashore.
Alexander looked over when he heard a sob and saw Jack trying to keep from breaking down himself. When he saw Alexander looking at him, he shrugged and took a deep breath to steady his voice.
“I’m afraid I have a confession, Alexander. I’ve come to love Abigail. I regret that I didn’t have the courage to face it until just now. She was taken alive, though, so I choose to believe she’ll be all right and that I will see her again so I can tell her what’s in my heart.”
Alexander actually smiled even though he felt like dying. Jack had made a choice to have hope. Alexander resolved to do the same. He looked up at Lucky and saw tears running freely from his watery eyes. Chloe buzzed into existence and flew up to Alexander.
“I’m so sorry, My Love,” she said and kissed him on the cheek. “I followed them for a ways—Isabel and Abigail were taken alive and it was clear that the wyvern riders didn’t intend to kill them, at least not in the battle.”
He sat up at the news and took a deep breath to steady himself. With an act of will, he pushed his fears aside again and focused his mind. “Thank you, Little One. Were they taking them to the fortress island?”
“That’s the direction they were heading,” Chloe said with an emphatic nod.
Alexander looked over at Jack and they shared a look of hope. “You’re wise to hold on to the hope that you’ll see her again. She’s worth it.”
“I know,” Jack whispered.
Alexander resolved to believe his sister would return to him, but he was less certain about Isabel. She had only a few weeks before the poison did its damage. Without the aid of the wizards, she would die.
