Windcatcher: Book I of the Stone War Chronicles

by A. J. Norfield

  “What now?” asked Raylan.

  “I don’t know,” said Gavin, truthfully.

  “Do we go back north? Continue south? Perhaps send out Galirras?”

  “I don’t know,” said Gavin, again.

  “What do you mean, you don’t know? You’re supposed to know! We need to come up with something…we can’t stay here, Gavin. We need to keep moving, before they come looking for us.”

  “Don’t you think I know that? It’s my job to get you all back to safety. I just don’t know how,” Gavin yelled, angrily.

  Gavin pinched his nose as he tried to think. Xi’Lao laid a hand on his shoulder.

  “It’s okay, we’re still here. There’s still time,” she offered.

  “Look, I’m sorry. There are too many uncertainties at the moment. I need to think on this. I’ll make a decision in the morning.”

  Gavin headed for some sleep, while the rest, including Raylan, followed shortly after. Richard took first watch.

  Raylan felt his wake-up came way too early, for he and Galirras had the midnight watch.

  “What do you suppose we will do?” asked Galirras quietly, when they sat alone in that late hour of the night.

  “Good question. I really don’t know, yet. I’ve always kind of expected Gavin to come up with the plans.”

  They silently watched the surroundings again, for some time, until they heard the now familiar cracking sound reach their ears again. It was muffled by the rain, but it was unmistakably the same sound they had heard every day on the landmass. It still sounded far away.

  “Galirras?” said Raylan, after he pondered for a while.

  “Yes?”

  “How high would you be able to fly in this weather?”

  “It looks like rough weather. It looks like a storm is coming. The wind is twisting all around, up there. It is actually quite beautiful to look at. I am sure I can manage, though. Did you have something in mind?”

  “Would you be able to go high enough for people not to notice you?”

  “That should not be too difficult, on this dark night. It will be hard for anyone to look up into the rain, while I can see everything downward with ease.”

  Raylan fell quiet and thought, long and hard.

  Galirras felt Raylan’s thoughts come together into a plan. He did not want to interrupt him or push him in any direction, but he hoped Raylan would take the chance. His patience got rewarded, when Raylan looked at him, reaching a conclusion.

  “Alright, I don’t like to put you at risk, but I think you can help us make more sense out of the situation…”

  “You want me to scout down south and check where that flying ship came from, right?”

  “Yes, we need to know what we’re up against. Fly down south, high enough to be safe, but low enough so you can clearly see things. I want you to see if there are more of those ships. Also, where and how they are docked. The sound we kept hearing might be tied into things, so check if you can find an explanation for that. We need an estimation of the number of soldiers down south. Is it just one ship or a small harbor? As soon as you’ve seen enough, come back right away. Use the dark of the night and the rain for your cover and report back as soon as you can. And under no circumstances should you land, until you are back here. If you leave now you’ll have most of the night still and you’ll could be back before Gavin wakes up…I don’t know if he, or Xi’Lao, would agree to this.”

  “I will be fine. They should not worry, nor should you.”

  “That, my friend, I can’t help. Just get back as soon as you can.”

  With that, Galirras walked out from under the tree, where they had been sitting, and launched himself into the air. Quickly ascending into the night, Raylan saw Galirras was right. It was hard to track the dark shape of the dragon against the raindrops falling down. Within moments, the dragon had disappeared from view.

  “I will be back before you know it.”

  After that, he felt the dragon slip from his mind.

  As the night carried on, Raylan began to doubt if he had done the right thing. Galirras had much improved with his flying, but perhaps he should not have put him in danger like that. The wind had picked up some more and thunder and lightning could be heard, and seen, in the distance. It was just that he did not see an easier, or safer, way to get the information. Traveling that distance by ground would be much too dangerous and would take far too long.

  The approach of squishy footsteps on a soaked ground announced the next person on watch.

  “Time to get some sleep,” said Harwin.

  Raylan looked up.

  “If it is alright with you, I’ll stay a bit longer. I’m not sleepy, at the moment.”

  “Where’s Galirras?” asked Harwin.

  “Close, he wanted to do some night hunting.”

  It was not entirely the truth, but Raylan did not want to inform the others of the risk they were taking, until he knew it was worth it.

  “Not afraid he’ll get into trouble?”

  “Always, but he’s likely the biggest predator in these woods, by now. As long as he does not bite off more than he can chew, he should be fine. I’ll wake you when he’s back and we can switch.”

  “Sure thing. If I learned anything on the battlefield, it’s that you should get your sleep when you can and this body can do with some more.”

  Raylan returned to his thoughts as Harwin returned to his sleeping mat. The rain was lessening. He hoped Galirras would return soon.

  Time is relative as it flows and winds through the day. Spent together, a day can go by in an instant; but waiting for something or someone, even for just a short time, can feel like an eternity. Raylan noticed himself tracing the scar on his right arm. It felt restless. The scar did not exactly ache, or burn, but he noticed a certain feeling flow through it that he could not completely put his finger on. His other hand ran along the skin, following the scar as one would trace a river on a map with a fingertip. After a while, he attributed the feeling to the ongoing storm. His scar had always acted up when a storm came. It was like his skin remembered the night it had received the scar in the first place…but he was not entirely sure…the feeling tonight was slightly different, almost as if it was outside of the skin…around the scar.

  Raylan had no idea how long he spent in his thoughts, but the moon was on its way down when he finally felt Galirras’ presence enter his mind again. It had stopped raining a while ago and the cloud cover had started to break up, improving visibility. It would make it more dangerous for Galirras to fly around unnoticed.

  I am back.

  Where are you? I can’t see you yet, replied Raylan, in his head.

  I am coming in on foot. I know you told me not to land until I got back, but the night became too bright, so I decided to walk the final part, in case anyone was following my place of descent. There is also a small group of soldiers a few miles east of us. Seems like a small scouting party.

  Raylan heard movement coming from the right, where shortly after, Galirras came into view. The dragon had this relaxed way of walking, while at the same time, you saw the alertness of a predator in him. It was clear he did not want to be surprised, by anything. He looked properly wet and dirty from the walk through the forest, but it did not seem to bother the dragon at all. Raylan found himself, once again, taking in the sight of this majestic beast. The muscle lines across his neck, going down his shoulders and back, gleamed in the shadows of the night. His scales took on a dark greenish brown in this light, while his eyes shined like two whitish yellow fireflies.

  “Any chance they saw you?”

  “Unlikely. Most of them were asleep, and I was high up in the air; but it was the reason I came through the woods, after landing in the opposite direction of our camp and circling around them,” said Galirras’ voice, in Raylan’s head.

  Raylan nodded.

  “That…was very clever of you,” said Raylan, smiling. “Okay, so tell me, what did you find?”

  Galir
ras’ eyes twirled, in excitement.

  “Something is definitely going on. As I followed the coast south, I came upon the inlet where the flying ship disappeared into. The first thing I noticed was the trees…they had all disappeared. The hills had gone barren, almost no trees left standing. You probably could not see it from the ground, but a large part of the forest has been taken down. I felt sad, thinking what destructive force could do such a thing to a beautiful forest, when I noticed men taking down the trees. Even in this storm, they were still at it. I saw a large tree go down as the cracking of wood could be heard. That’s the sound we have been hearing, all this time.”

  “They’re chopping down the trees? What for?”

  “I did not know at first, but I figured it had to be important to them, if they would continue even with the storm going on. As I saw a tree go down, one of the men did not see the tree falling his way, until it was too late. I do not think he made it,” said Galirras.

  “The other men were shouting warnings, but they were drowned out by the wind and the rolling thunder. The storm created rivers of rainwater, flowing down the land. Mudslides were tearing away at the earth, sweeping away sand as it was not held together by the tree roots, anymore. I saw a group of men, knocked down by the water, disappear below the surface. They did not come up again, either. It was very strange, because it seemed they were tied together with chains around the neck. It looked very impractical to me, to work like that.”

  Raylan shook his head, softly.

  “Those were slaves. They’re forced to work under such dangerous circumstances, not by choice. They probably wouldn’t waste the lives of their soldiers on work like this.”

  “Oh, you mean Sebastian had to do stuff like that?”

  “Maybe, but I think he was mostly carving out rocks in the mines.”

  “Well, I did not see any mines, but I saw piles of small rock later, so maybe they have even more slaves nearby. I did not see any other groups like that though. I followed the trail of destruction, and after two hills, the entire bay came into view. It was amazing! It was filled with ships, at least a hundred…”

  “A hundred?” whispered Raylan, in surprise, “Could you see a lot of people there?”

  “The ships seemed quiet enough, just a few men on deck, for guard duty. However, on land, it was very busy with people walking everywhere. There were structures, buildings—big and small—and a lot of tents. Raylan, there were so many lights! Three hillsides were completely covered in tents, on the east side. I saw people moving around, even at that time of night…and more were arriving. A long trail of lights poured in from the east. A constant stream of soldiers, and other people, came toward that bay. They were too many to count, going all the way out into the hills.”

  Raylan tried to form a mental picture in his mind.

  “More than that,” said Galirras, who picked up the image.

  “More?”

  “At least four times more…”

  “But that would mean thousands and thousands of soldiers. How can we fight against something like that?”

  “They were building more ships, too. They were using the trees to construct more.”

  “What about the flying ship? Did you spot that?”

  “I did. It was anchored in the bay with a dozen or so similar ships. I easily recognized them, because of the balloon and the strange sail placement. They were apart from the normal ships. There were a few on the shore still, too. Those piles with rocks I saw were being loaded into the airships.”

  “Airship?” asked Raylan, his head spinning from all the information.

  “The flying ship…a ship in the air. Airship seemed like an appropriate name for it.”

  Galirras looked at him for a reaction. He even saw a playful swirl of Galirras’ three pupils in the dragon’s eye.

  “Airship…definitely shorter than flying ship. Short and simple, I like it,” said Raylan. “But why load up rocks on ships that need to fly? Won’t it make them extra heavy?”

  “I do not know. I am just telling you what I saw. There were a few smaller airships, too, but they were off to the side of the docks.”

  Raylan went over the presented information, in his head, for a while.

  “Okay, I think it is time to wake the others,” said Raylan. “I think Gavin needs to hear this.”

  “You did what?” exclaimed Gavin.

  Raylan looked at his brother, to see if he was serious. It was not the reaction he had expected.

  “…I sent Galirras to gather information.”

  “And you didn’t bother to check any of this with me first? I’m your commander for God’s sake. I can’t have the members of my squad just go out on their own and do whatever they like. Did you even think about how it would look, if my own brother does not bother to respect the chain of command? Especially when it possibly involves a mission-endangering decision!”

  Gavin let out a cry of frustration.

  “Oh, come one Gavin. You know you have our squad’s respect. We’ve been too far from home for too long to not surpass the strict hierarchy. You are our leader and we listen to you. I just thought it would be good for us to have more information on the situation. We need to know what we’re up against.”

  Gavin was about to go on a rant, when Xi’Lao put a hand on his shoulder and leaned over to him.

  “Don’t let the annoyance of your little brother not listening to you cloud your judgment on the fact that he made the right choice,” she whispered softly in his ear.

  His brother let out a sigh; his anger seeped away.

  “What if he’d been seen or followed?” Gavin asked.

  “I was not, I made sure of that,” said Galirras, with confidence. “And, I believe Raylan made the right call to send me. It was the fastest and least dangerous option for gathering information, else I would not have easily agreed to it.”

  The last of his brother’s resistance broke down as he finally gave in.

  “Fine. Let’s gather everyone around and hear what you’ve found out.”

  Gavin and the others listened to the information Galirras provided. His brother had to admit, they had not been able to get this kind of information, in such a short time, in any other way.

  “We’ll never be able to fight that many soldiers,” said young Peadar. He was normally the optimistic one, but these numbers even made him wonder if they would ever get home alive.

  “It’s a lot of soldiers,” said Raylan, “and I’ve been trying to figure out why there are so many here. It can’t all be for us, can it? Or for Galirras? They’ve only found out about him a few weeks back. There wouldn’t have been enough time to get so many soldiers together. This must have been going on for months already, perhaps years. Something else is going on…something big. The ships……the men…it’s like…almost like…”

  “…an invasion force,” said Gavin.

  “As if getting out of here and saving our own lives was not enough, “ said Harwin, “we now have to worry about a bloody invasion?”

  “If that’s so, we need to warn the king,” Richard put forward.

  “But we’ve got none of our birds left. How do we get such a message back?” said Peadar.

  “It will have to come from us. We need to get back home as soon as possible,” answered Gavin.

  “With the number of soldiers Galirras saw and the provisions being collected and loaded up, it won’t be long before they leave. Staying here only means using up those provisions while waiting,” said Xi’Lao, “a large force like that needs a constant supply of food, either by food coming to them or them going to the food. They can’t stay in one place. It will be hard to stop them once they start moving.”

  “We need to steal one of the boats,” said Raylan.

  All of them looked at him, in unbelief.

  “Steal one of the boats? Were you even listening? What about the thousands of soldiers between you and those boats?” said Kevhin.

  “He’s right, Raylan. We can
’t just walk in and take one,” said Gavin.

  “Can’t we?” wondered Raylan. “Galirras mentioned there’s a small scouting party nearby. I think we could surprise them and use their armor to disguise ourselves. Seb knows the local language well enough for a small number of us to sneak into the enemy camp. With the amount of soldiers pouring in, it shouldn’t be too difficult to join the newcomers that are arriving. Together we could scout the boats and see which one is right to take.”

  “How would we get the boat out of there?” said Sebastian. “A few of us will not be enough to sail away, even if we were to pick up the others, somewhere close by, along the way.”

  “Galirras will create a distraction,” said Raylan.

  “I will fly to the far side of the harbor. I will break something, or at least get myself noticed, and quickly retreat south. It should create enough of a panic. I am sure, if Corza is present, he will jump at the opportunity to get another shot at us. Maybe even send out a force after me,” added Galirras.

  “After that, he’ll circle back and join us on the ship as we depart,” continued Raylan. “As the soldiers focus on Galirras, the rest of us will sneak in on the north side of the harbor. We can meet up at the water, take a small dinghy to get on board the boat, and then set sail, right away.”

  Gavin looked at his little brother.

  “No, it is much too risky. If anything goes wrong, the enemy force will be able to overwhelm us in a matter of moments. Besides, what about the flying ship…or airship, whatever you call them?”

  “You’re one to talk about risk. You wanted us to simply jump from a fifty foot cliff,” pressed Raylan.

  “That was a calculated risk, you know that. There was simply no other easy way to get down to the ship,” answered his brother.

  “Well, I don’t see any other way this time, either,” said Raylan. “We’ve got to get back to Aeterra and warn them. We need transportation, which is only available in the hands of the enemy. Land travel would take too long to warn the kingdom, and there is no way that Galirras can cross the ocean to relay a message. Not to mention the fact that people would probably attack him, or run away screaming, before he could say anything.”