Chronicles of Gilderam: Book One: Sunset (35 page)

The elves were silenced with shock.

“
May the gods have mercy
…” one of them muttered.

“
Look! What’s that? Coming out of the flagship
….”

From gaping bays in the prow of the
Vacthor
spewed a swarm of tiny flying machines. They zipped much faster than any airship, and were miniscule – only big enough to house a single pilot. They lacked any varride balloons, but flew through the air more like birds do, with outstretched wings.

“
What, by the gods, is that
…
?!
”

Eridanean adjusted the viewing water, zooming in on one of the gnat-like contraptions. Shazahd shoved her way through the elves to see for herself.

The image had to race across the forest to keep up with the little aircraft. They were incredibly fast. From this angle they could see the shape of each craft was a simple cross. Two engines roared at the ends of the wingspan, spinning propellers and spitting exhaust. The perpendicular body of the craft ran backwards between the wings, terminating with a stabilizing cross fin.

“That’s not possible,” Shazahd exclaimed involuntarily.

“You’ve seen this before?” someone asked her.

“No… well, yes. Sort of. Sketches. Theories. Those are heavier-than-air flying machines. Engineers like my father have been trying to make them work for years, but no one could figure out how to do it. They were thought to be incapable of sustained flight, only gliding, but….”

“Apparently, they’re not incapable,” said Eridanean simply, zooming the image back out to show the whole stream of heavier-than-air ships. They flew en masse directly for the Inner City.

“Audim,” he said directly, “to your post. Defend the city from those …things. We’re about to be attacked.”

“Owein!” Audim called from the platform. “
Owein!
”

Maeriod jogged around the bulk of
Gilderam
to find the tall, blonde elf standing with Shazahd near the ship’s moorings.

“I need you to look after Shazahd. I have to lead the defense.”

“Defense? From what? I thought you….”

Audim pointed northward.

“From that,” he said.

Owein turned to look, and Audim took Shazahd by the arms.

“
My love
,” he said in Elvish. “
You have to stay here. Owein will protect you. You’ll be safe with him.
”

“
I know.
”

She had said it too quickly. Audim faltered a bit before saying, “
You know I love you very much. I
…
I –
”

“What am I looking for?” Owein called down. “I don’t see anythi–” and he turned back to them just as Shazahd leaned in to kiss her fiancé. Owein tried his best to appear oblivious, but he couldn’t help but watch.

Shazahd pulled back.

“
Go
,” she said to Audim. “
Stop them
.”

The elf steeled himself. Then he nodded to Owein, who returned the nod with gravitas.

And Audim was off.

“Did you feel that?” Captain Holth demanded. “Did any of you feel
anything?
”

Shaking heads confirmed what he himself couldn’t believe.

“Captain,” Lowol spoke up. “Again… no structural damage to the ship to report. We’re unharmed.”

“But
how
…
?!
”

“Captain!” said Rodroth. “Look! The fighters are being deployed.”

All attention was out the front window, watching a torrent of fixed-wing aircraft speed by. Their little engines, pushed to the brink, screeched like mechanized banshees.

“Look at them go,” said Emdun. “Marvelous….”

“What I would give to be one of those pilots!” someone said.

“Sir! Orders coming in from the
Atrac Ainené!
”

“Report.”

“All vessels are to cease bombardment immediately. Proceed to Inner City at full speed.”

“You heard the man. Tell the bombardier to ceasefire. Alert the gun crews. Helm – all ahead full!”

“We’ve got incoming!” Fulo yelled down
Gilderam’s
length. “Take cover!”

“Incoming…?” Owein echoed it to himself as he helped Shazahd over the rail. “Incoming what?”

“Heavier-than-air flying machines,” she answered. “And a whole lot of them.”

He gawked at her. Then he walked northward across the deck, squinting to see for himself. He could see the armada, still several
itthum
away. The bulbous airships were silhouetted against the black fumes of the blazing forest mixed with the sickly smog of nexane exhaust.

Then he saw a glinting. Something very slight was reflecting the sun in brief flashes. At first he thought it must be the heliographs aboard the airships, but then he saw the flashes fall below the fleet, shining over the trees.

“What the…?”

The high-pitched buzz of their engines registered in his ears, and Owein began to make out the shapes of the fighter craft on approach. Each was a thin flicker of metal in the air, and he could just barely detect the red of their paint. Blood red. They quickly closed distance, and Owein took a guess at their numbers. A gross? Two grosses? Five? They were so small.

Then they opened fire.

Owein saw the muzzle fire from their noses before he heard anything.

“Get down!” he shouted, and pulled Shazahd by the arm behind the bulk of
Gilderam’s
forecastle. Just as he did, the air around them crackled to life with whizzing bullets. Planks exploded from the portside deck where it was hit.

The tree city was pelted with shot. Hunks of bark and shredded leaves rained thickly in the barrage. Screaming reverberated all around – a mixture of hopeless terror and defensive orders. Whole branches tumbled down, slamming onto ledges and breaking apart catwalks, as shells peppered the Inner City indiscriminately.

Then, all at once, the fusillade ended. The roar of countless wailing engines filled their ears as the fighter craft ripped through the city in a fury. The miniscule craft negotiated the tree’s many winding and wandering limbs, though more than a few snagged some of the thinner bridges. They snapped themselves in half, throwing engines away with a magnificent
whoosh
,
and then toppled their way to the forest floor in cascading pieces, crashing over branch and limb on the long journey down.

The surviving ships tore out the other side of the Inner City and sailed off into the distance. When Owein saw them wheeling around to make another pass, he ran to the nearest hatch.

“Come on,” he said to Shazahd. “We need to find the captain.”

“Loose the missiles!” Audim ordered, signaling his men.

He watched from high in the tree as the forest floor flung a cluster of bolts into the sky, right into the path of the approaching fighters. They couldn’t hope to maneuver in time, and a few plowed headlong into the mighty obstructions. Their tar-like fuel carried on ahead of them, and bloomed into huge, flowering balls of red fire.

But the weapons were too massive for such tiny targets, and most of the fighters banked around the shafts before gravity brought them back down to the trees.

“Archers! Fire at will!”

As the ships again opened fire, a hail of arrows flew in their face from the Inner City, gliding down in clean arcs toward the racing aircraft. This tactic proved even less effective than the first. The vast majority of arrows missed their speeding targets entirely, and those that hit bounced harmlessly off the steel fuselages. An unlucky few were sent down when crack shot elves put quarrels through their windshields.

“Confound them!” Audim yelled, following the trajectory of the fighters as they tore the city and spilled back out the other side, heading north. Past them, the armada was still slinking nearer.

“Captain,” he said to one of his officers, directing him to the armada. “Look.”

The cluster of airships was creeping closer, but their charred signature through the forest had stopped. It came to an abrupt end when the ceasefire was ordered. Now the Empire flew naked over the trees, brazenly unprotected, without a carpet of devastation below to disrupt elvish antiaircraft artillery.

“They’re not bombing anymore,” the captain observed.

“No, they’re not.… This doesn’t bode well.”

“Sir, the aircraft! They’re making another run!”

“Archers, north side! Fire!”

“Captain, we need to leave –
now
.” Owein addressed Captain Vrei in the war room with Shazahd, Jerahd, Fulo, Gorahem, Cavada and Levwit. “If we don’t get out of here, we’re all going to be dead.”

“Owein –” Vrei tried to edge a word in, but he interrupted her.

“This ship can still fly,” he said. “We might even be able to outrun them if they try to follow. Our only chance is to –”

“
Owein!
” Vrei silenced him at last. “Just… shut up. If you want to go, go. No one’s going to stop you. But this ship isn’t going anywhere until Mistress Ranaloc says so.” She crossed her arms resolutely. “Understood?”

Owein drew in a deep breath.

“Aye.… I mean, understood.”

“The Called Upon have no defense against these flying machines,” Levwit said. “And the fleet will be here in minutes.”

“Their airships are protected by some kind of magical force,” said Shazahd. “It’s coming from the flagship.” Everyone stared at her. “I was with the elves when it happened. They recognized it instantly.”

“So that means… what?” said Fulo. “That they’re impregnable or something?”

Shazahd nodded. “As far as we know.”

“So that’s why their rockets are useless,” Cavada said.

“If those ships get near,” Jerahd warned, “the prophecy will be unalterably progressed. They can not be allowed to destroy the Inner City.”

“Well,” said Fulo. “Looks like we’re out of options.”

“No,” said Owein quietly. “We’re not.” All eyes fell on him.

“What do you mean?” Vrei asked.

“We can’t leave, you said that yourself. And we can’t sit here, or we’re dead. By my estimation, that leaves just one alternative.”

“And what, pray tell,” said Levwit, “did you have in mind?”

“We fight,” he said bluntly.

“
Fight?
” Fulo blurted. “Fight what? The armada?”

Owein looked at him, and his stony expression provided the answer. A wave of realization spread quietly around the room, quickening everyone’s blood.

“He’s got a point,” Gor’m grumbled.

“He’s right,” Shazahd whispered.

“What?!” said Levwit. “You can’t honestly…” but he trailed off, unable to find the grit to finish his sentence.

“What other options have we?” Shazahd said with a weak smile.

Jerahd stood up.

“Yes,” he said unwaveringly. “We must fight. We either die trying to stop them, or we die when they get here. There is no choice.”

“It’s futile,” said Fulo. “There’s no point in it. We can’t stop the whole fleet by ourselves. Not with just four deckguns, anyway.”

“The question is not what
can
we do,” Shazahd said firmly, “but what
must
we do.”

After that, there seemed to be nothing else left to say.

“Well then,” Vrei concluded. “There you have it.” She untied the band from around her head, and great locks of dark hair fell around her face. “Anyone who wishes to be left behind may disembark presently.” She took a moment to meet everyone’s eyes. No one moved a muscle. As she unfurled the band in her hands, it turned out to be a red flag. Wrinkled, it bore the emblem of a black bird in its center, topped with a golden crown.

“Cavada,” she said, handing him the flag. “Raise this on the jackstaff. Crew…. Prepare the ship for battle.”

“Aye aye.”

“Captain,” said Emdun. “Our spotters have picked something up. It looks like some kind of airship. Coming out of the Inner City.”

“Airship?” said Holth. “The elves don’t have any airships….” He strode to the front of the bridge to get a better view.

“
Threithumé
…” he said. “That’s no elf ship. That’s –
nieva!
” He spun around and called to Lowol, “Relay to the
Atrac Ainené!
Gilderam
is departing the Inner City!”