Windcatcher: Book I of the Stone War Chronicles

by A. J. Norfield

  Slowly circling, he took some time to overlook the bay area. He had little time left. The Doskovian army was getting more organized, from the looks of it. Archers were getting to the watch towers and rooftops and they were already putting out the fires he managed to start.

  A movement caught his eye as he saw one of the airships take off and head toward him. It was the same ship that had taken out the caravel. It was quickly becoming too dangerous to stay on the offense much longer, and Raylan did warn him not to take any high risks.

  Alright, one more pass and I will draw them further south, Galirras thought, to himself. I hope the others were given enough time.

  Galirras set in a low dive, aiming for the large open area in front of the south exit.

  I will use my wind blast to knock over that large pyramid of barrels, and then I am out, he decided for himself, locking in his approaching target.

  As he descended, he left the airship behind him. He saw a few archers shoot off their arrows, but the smoke and darkness of the night made it very difficult to hit him. He only had to evade one of them.

  Pulling in the tip of his wings to pass the large structures, he compensated with some upward wind currents. He quickly glided through the lane he chose to use for his approach. Everything was going smoothly, until he suddenly caught another movement in the corner of his eye. To his far right, on the roof of a smaller building, two soldiers were hiding. The movement he noticed was the throw of a net toward him, which was now coming at him, fully spread. He tilted his body to the left, but had too little room to maneuver freely. It caught on his hind right leg and partially wrapped around it.

  Surprised by the weight of the net, he realized it was not constructed of rope but steel. Entering the plaza with the barrel pyramid, Galirras came dangerously close to crashing into the ground, thrown off balance by the net. He skidded to a halt, half limping, kicking his hind leg to get the net off. From all sides, soldiers poured into the plaza, spears at the ready, some with more nets. The archers and crossbows were the biggest problem. They were quickly becoming too many. Galirras kicked his leg furiously, finally throwing the net off as it unwrapped from the movement. It flew across the square, knocking two unlucky soldiers over. He stretched his neck and gave a full force windblast roar toward the crossbow soldiers closest to him. The blast lifted them off their feet and threw them backward. They weighed much less than the bear he had encountered.

  Instead of taking to the air and exposing himself as an easy target to the archers, Galirras turned around and dashed toward the south exit. Pouncing onto two soldiers, he quickly broke through and made a run for it. His tail whipped from left to right as he ran down the street, knocking over small food stalls and piles of crates. He heard crossbow bolts hit the wood to the side of him as he shifted left and right, finally deciding to take his chances in the air. With a giant leap, he launched himself into the air, pushing the wind upward with all his might, shooting into the sky at lightning speed. Having gained some initial height, he moved quickly—and erratically—to throw the archers off target. Retreating south, he heard the shouts follow him into the forest.

  Raylan, Sebastian and Marek moved to the north side of the bay. The streets of the harbor were a lot emptier now, but were not completely deserted. They would have to choose their route carefully with the others. Raylan forced himself to move slowly, walking silently and acting like he was right where he belonged, as best as he could.

  Marek had a similar helmet, like Sebastian’s, providing cover for his swollen face. It hurt to put it on, but walking around without it would not be an option. They arrived at the edge of the harbor structures and moved into the shadow of one of the buildings. Standing below the roof overhang, they looked into the forest. Every eighty yards or so, there was a sentry along the border of the small harbor settlement, and they noticed three guards just leaving the area and moving into the forest to patrol.

  They slid along the buildings, until they came to the northern most building. Looking toward the water, they saw the small airships, waiting. They would not have to cover much ground to get to them; but first, they had to meet up with the others.

  “Wait here,” said Raylan to Marek, as he and Sebastian took off around the corner.

  As they approached the edge of the settlement, they checked all sides. The guard to the right of them was facing south, transfixed on the scene of orange glow coming from that end of the harbor. The fire and smoke gave an eerie feel in the early morning, and they heard the shouts carrying through the night, across the water.

  “Let’s do it now, while the other guard is distracted,” whispered Sebastian.

  Raylan gave a short nod, and he inched forward to the guard which was barely twenty feet away from them. The guard, focused on the outskirts of the settlement and forest area, did not take notice of the man sneaking up to him. Standing dutifully with his long spear, he never felt the blade coming. Raylan kept a hand over soldier’s mouth to keep him from making any sound. Raylan remembered seeing his brother make the same kind of attack, the night they raided the enemy camp on that rocky hill. It had been the night he first killed a person. For a moment, he realized that it almost felt normal. He shuddered as he dragged the dead soldier away from his post. Sebastian passed him and picked up the dead man’s spear. Moving into position, Sebastian took up the spot of the dead guard, and looked into the forest…nothing…just shadows, trees and rocks.

  An owl softly called out into the night. Sebastian answered with his best owl imitation. Two shadows suddenly took shape on a rock at the base of a small group of trees. Two figures came running over silently, passing Sebastian without saying a word. Galen and Gavin…

  The others followed on the discussed signals, crossing the small open area between the line of structures and the edge of the forest. As the last one passed him, Sebastian slid back into the cover of the building. Raylan propped the dead guard up on a barrel, making it look like he was asleep…at least from a distance. Sebastian put the spear on the slumped shoulder as a final touch.

  “What kept you so long? We’ve been waiting ever since Galirras launched his diversion. And who’s this?” said Gavin, who had just run into Marek.

  “He’s our ticket out of here,” said Raylan, “He’s an old friend of Sebastian we ran into. He’ll help us fly out of here with one of the small airships.”

  “Fly? Are you crazy? We were going for a boat, not going after the airships,” hissed Gavin.

  “The ships are all loaded up already, with at least fifty soldiers per boat. We’ll never survive an open approach over water with that many men waiting for us on deck. Galirras will surely have put them all on high alert. Marek says he knows how to fly one of those airships. Sebastian thinks he can do it.”

  “We’vfe gotf tfo movfe quickly tfhough. Tfhose ships…tfhey need some preparatfion tfime before tfhey’re able tfo tfake off intfo tfhe air……,” added Marek.

  “Good God, I can hardly understand you…what do you mean preparations? How much time?” said Gavin, shaking his head. “You know what…never mind. We can’t turn back now, even if we wanted to. Raylan…you lead the way, it was your plan, make it happen…”

  Raylan looked at his brother. Being called out like that once again strengthened his desire to prove himself to his brother. He quickly took the lead and guided the group, unseen, through the smaller passageways, until they came right upon the outermost airship. Its small cargo doors were closed, its balloon flattened to one side. Raylan only saw two men on deck. It seemed the rest had gone off to check out the chaos Galirras was creating.

  I hope they have finished loading up provisions.

  During the earlier reconnaissance, Raylan had gotten an idea on how to get aboard the small airship without getting noticed. Together with Kevhin and Richard, he moved to the far side of the ships and crawled under the fabric of the balloon. It felt like a rugged kind of leather, fully worked and oiled to be airtight.

  Lifting the fabric, the
balloon was much heavier than Raylan would have expected. It took the three of them quite some effort to squeeze themselves under it and to climb up the side of the ship. For a moment he was completely surrounded by it, trapped between the wooden planks of the ships and the greasy skin of the balloon. He felt the pressure push him against the wood. It was the complete opposite of the open air and sea he was used to. He felt like he was suffocating. His breathing increased, as cold sweat broke out on his neck. His hand tightened around the wooden ridge he was holding, and he felt his head start to pound. He needed to get out of there. The heavy skin of the balloon seemed to increase in weight with his every breath, as he looked nervously back and forth.

  A hand shot out from under the fabric and grasped his left shoulder.

  “Raylan, you okay?”

  It was Richard.

  “Yea—yeah,” said Raylan, feeling his panic subside.

  “Let’s go then. We’re almost there.”

  Together, the three of them pushed onward, slowly, finally reaching the handrail on the edge of the deck. Slipping over it, they moved into the space between the rail and the balloon, Raylan going one way, Kevhin and Richard the other. Kevhin moved first, approaching one of the guards on the deck, barely making a sound. In the meantime, Raylan moved in on the other one. Richard headed for the cabin door to check below deck; he disappeared from sight.

  “Excuse me,” said Kevhin to the guard who faced away from him.

  Startled, the guard turned around, already drawing his sword. Before the guard could do anything, Kevhin used the handle of his dagger to hit the soldier on the side of his head. The guard slammed into the deck immediately, out cold. Raylan quickly moved on the other guard, who reacted to his comrade being taken down by drawing his sword, moving in on Kevhin. The guard did not even make it a step before the hilt of Raylan’s sword hit him in the back of his head, making the knock out count go up to two. It would be a while before they would wake up.

  They moved both guards to the side, against the closed handrail, and used some rope to tie them up. Two dirty cloths functioned as primitive gags. No one would be able to see them from the ground.

  Suddenly, they heard a ruckus, coming from below the deck. It sounded as if someone was fighting; but before they reached the door, all was quiet again.

  Raylan carefully slid along the cabin wall, toward the open door.

  “Richard…you there?” he whispered.

  No answer. Raylan looked at Kevhin.

  “Richard,” the archer hissed, more urgently.

  Footsteps were heard coming up the stairs behind the door, but it was still too dark to see far into the interior. Raylan saw Kevhin’s knuckles go white around the handle of his dagger. He raised his own sword and prepared to strike fast.

  All of a sudden, Richard’s head popped out, smiling.

  “All clear,” he said.

  “What was all that ruckus?” asked Raylan.

  “That? Oh, I tripped over some rope and knocked over a bucket of water or something.”

  “No soldiers?”

  “Just one, sleeping. He woke up, so I put him back to sleep again. Someone help me tie him up, he’s quite a big bloke…I already found some rope,” said Richard with a second smile.

  Kevhin went below deck to help Richard, while Raylan signaled the others to come aboard. In no time, they had a full crew on board. Taking the armor of the knocked out guards, Harwin, Galen and Sebastian took to the deck, pretending to guard it.

  Raylan looked around to take in more of the details of the ship. It was similarly built to the caravel they had seen in the bay, perhaps a little less tall from the deck up, and it felt less wide than the normal seafaring ships Raylan had seen. It felt like a very sleek ship, indeed built for speed.

  Instead of masts with multiple sails, the ship just had a single metal pipe, rising out of the deck, near the cabin. It went directly into the bottom of the balloon, where it was clamped with metal and rope. The deck contained dozens of ropes which formed a flexible frame around the balloon, all of them carefully laid out, so they would not tangle. The upper deck, above the cabin, contained the steering wheel to the normal rudder. Two smaller sails could be extended to the side of the upper deck with a setup of pulleys. Although the setup looked complex, and was laid out more horizontally, Raylan was pleased he could easily figure out how it functioned, since the principle of normal sails had stayed the same. Two larger sails could be extended on the main deck, but together the total surface of the sails did not even come close to that of a normal sailing ship.

  The front deck was spacious, and without many obstacles; Galirras would fit perfectly, if he did not thrash around too much. A large bowsprit was sticking out the front, with a rope running back toward the balloon again. It was not the only rope, but looking at where the other ones were attached to the rail, Galirras should be able to find a spot where he could still slip through onto the deck. Although, with the speed the dragon grew, Raylan wondered how long he would be comfortable in the available space. I wonder how big he’ll get…

  Raylan saw Gavin bring the two knocked out soldiers below deck. Marek disappeared below deck, too, to get the preparations started, figured Raylan. He quickly followed him to see if he could learn more about the ship and how it worked.

  Below deck, the layout was made as efficient as possible. The cargo doors were high on the hull, directly opening in the main hold, where the provisions were stored. There were rooms with hammocks for the crew, multiple thick pelts hanging on the walls to act as blankets. A basic galley and common area was in the back. There were a few smaller view ports in the back wall. Looking out, Raylan saw the single bladed fan below him.

  It must enter the ship directly below the galley.

  Raylan moved to the lowest deck and found two unwelcome sights in the main hold. Two dormant ghol’ms were positioned along the wall, next to the cargo doors. In the backroom, under the galley, the large iron bar of the fan outside came in through the wall. It attached, after a number of ninety degree corners, into the wall so it could freely turn. It was fortified by a couple of bars, attaching the entire setup to the floor and ceiling of the room. The shape reminded Raylan of one of those hand drills his father had lying around in the workshop. Turning it would turn the wheel of the fan outside, like a reversed windmill.

  The rest of the lowest deck was mainly occupied with piles of black stone with green veins in it and some wood. Raylan noticed a number of hatches going up into the main hold, which would be used to move cargo to the lowest deck.

  He found Marek on the lowest deck, looking at something that resembled a closed off smith’s oven. Only this oven was made of metal plating, resting on stone support blocks. A pipe ran up through the ceiling to the main deck; it was the one connected to the balloon.

  “Okay, letf see itf I can make tfhis work,” Raylan heard Marek say.

  “What do you mean ‘let’s see’?” asked Raylan. “You said you knew how to fly this thing!”

  “Well, I’vfe seen tfhem do itf so many tfimes…how hard can itf be?”

  Marek looked at him with such a blank expression, Raylan did not know what to say, at first.

  “How hard can it be? Half of these things, none of us have ever seen in our lives. Until yesterday, it was common knowledge that ships do not fly. For all we know, it could be magic.”

  “Evferyone knows tfhere is no such tfhing as magic…”

  “Like there’s no such thing as dragons…right?”

  “Dragons?”

  “Never mind…let’s just figure this out, as fast as possible…what do you know?” said Raylan.

  “See tfhis? Tfhis is an ovfen, used tfo burn tfhese stfones,” said Marek, as he grabbed one of the green veined stones. “I’vfe seen tfhem tfhrow in tfhe stfones. As tfhey heatf up and burn, itf releases a green vfapor, forcefully. Tfhe vfapor wantfs tfo go up very much. Tfhey catfch itf in tfhe sack on deck, which liftfs tfhe ship up, if filled enough.”

 
; “Okay, so that makes it float, and the bladed fan thing at the back of the ship pushes it forward, helped by the sails on the side?”

  “Yes, I’vfe seen tfhem tfake off lotfs of tfimes. Itf should notf tfake long for our balloon tfo fill, one stfone releases a lotf of green air,” said Marek.

  “Leave firing up the oven to me, I’ve done it hundreds of times for my father’s smith’s oven. Get me some of that cut wood and keep those stones ready.”

  Raylan found the person who had made the oven very resourceful. Air intakes sucked in constant air to keep the fire from suffocating, while the hatches were placed in such a way as to quickly and efficiently create a full force furnace. In no time at all, the temperature in the oven reached high enough to start burning the rocks. Everywhere were handles on the oven, used to regulate the amount of heat, wood and stones. It took Marek little time to figure out each of them; but, it was a close call or he almost dumped the entire burning load, by accident, while trying to figure everything out.

  Raylan ran up to the deck to see how things were going. On his way, he saw that the captured soldiers had been secured in one of the hammock rooms, where Ca’lek kept watch. He passed Gavin and Xi’Lao, who were discussing provisions. And dived past Peadar, who was setting up their stuff, making sure nothing was in the way—but could be found, if needed. Once up on deck, Raylan noticed the sky losing its darkness in the east. The sun would be up soon.

  Raylan still could not feel Galirras. He knew the dragon was supposed to stay away while they prepped the ship; but he wondered, if his friend was doing alright. It seemed the chaos on the south side of the harbor had quieted down, somewhat; but there were still fires burning which needed to be put out. The majority of the soldiers would still be too occupied by the mayhem, before returning to their normal duty. At least, that’s what Raylan hoped.