Sword of Wrath (Kormak Book Eight) (15 page)

The decks cleared. Zamara gave his attention back to the incoming giants. They were closing the distance with appalling speed.

“Helmsman bring us around! Catapults, fire when the enemy is within range!”

Already the great siege engines were being wound up, payloads of alchemical fire were lowered into throwing arms. Huge bolts were dropped into the slots of ballistae.

Zamara let out a long breath as he surveyed the preparations. “It’s going to be close,” he murmured. Their course was going to take them nearer to the giants before they could swing out to sea. “By the Light, they are fast.”

Kormak had been aboard giant longships in the past. He knew exactly how swift they could be when driven by the massed strength of their gigantic oarsmen. The
Pride of Siderea
was gathering speed too, driven through the waves by the bound elementals.

Zamara turned to the windcaller. “Is there anything you can do to slow them, Mistress Serena?”

“If they were under sail, I would send elementals to blow them back, but they are using oars. My little pets would be better used to propel us. Give me a few minutes to seal the bindings and I’ll show you a trick or two.”

“I look forward to it,” Zamara said, turning back to survey his foe. The long ship was huge—as long as the galleon, but considerably lower in the water. On its prow stood the white-cloaked giant chieftain, a huge battleaxe held in one hand. A row of spears in a rack beside him.

“Best get ready,” Kormak said.

“For what?” Zamara asked.

The giant picked up a spear, tested it, drew it back and cast. It hurtled through the air like a thunderbolt and cracked into the side of the
Pride of Siderea
. They were still out of range of the siege engines.

“That was impressive,” said Zamara. The giant threw another. It pinned a man to one of the huge catapults. His screams echoed over the decks. The rest of the crews hunkered down out of line of sight, slowing the preparations.

“Steady, men,” shouted Terves, stepping out boldly, making himself visible to all, showing he was not scared. “We’ll show that big bastard soon enough.”

The dragon prow of the longship cleft the white foam as it raced closer. “Now!” said Terves.

Ballista bolts chunked into the side of the longship. Flasks of alchemical fire plunged through long arcs into the sea on either side and plummeted, still burning, into the depths.

The engine crews adjusted their ranges. The
Pride of Siderea
continued to gather speed. The gap between the two vessels closed at a frightening rate. Kormak could see the faces of individual giants now, twisted and misshapen as their bodies.

“Ugly bastards, aren’t they?” said Zamara.

The catapults fired again. This time, a flask hit and splashed on the side of the ship, splattering its contents on the giants. Cheers rose up as greenish flames rose above the longship. Giants screamed as they roasted. One leapt off, features melting, hair afire and plunged into the sea that could not put the flames out. Several more followed the first into the depths.

The giant chieftain bellowed and his crew redoubled their efforts at closing the distance. The longship seemed almost to rise out of the water under their powerful oar strokes.

“It’s going to be very close,” said Zamara. The gap between the
Pride of Siderea
and the burning longship was only a few lengths now. The elementals howled in frustration as the spells impelled them on, but they did not seem to be able to make the galleon move any faster.

The Siderean ship had swept out towards the open sea. The longship altered its course, bringing it astern of them. The siege engines on the rear tower turned to bear on it but Kormak could see that if they did not fire soon, their target would be beneath the arc of the catapults.

The ballista fired. Two bolts impacted on giants. Another fireflask splattered at the back of the longship. More giants burned. The stench of roasting blighted flesh filled Kormak’s nostrils. He fought down the urge to gag.

The flames danced and swirled and were sucked towards the galleon by the power of the elementals. Looking around, Mistress Serena saw it and barked commands at her bound servants. The wind changed direction, sending the flames away from the ship. Kormak exhaled. Pitch and tar saturated the timbers of the galleon. The slightest touch of flame might make it go up like a flask of burning oil.

The sails stopped billowing as they lost the thrust of the magical wind. The galleon slowed.

The longship crashed through the waves, still coming closer in a final, desperate rush. Giant warriors dived from the side, hair and flesh ablaze. The giant chieftain threw himself forward, axe held in one hand. He fell short and sank from sight into the sea. Two of his companions rose from their benches and made the leap.

The whole back of the galleon sank in the water on the impact of their combined weight. They began to pull themselves up the sides. The ship rolled. The refugees screamed. Kormak stabbed down at a huge wart-covered hand that grasped the wooden railing. Flesh sizzled as the dwarf-forged blade bit home. Rhiana and Zamara hacked at fingers.

Looking over the side Kormak saw the twisted face of a mutated giant. He grabbed his sword with both hands and drove it down through an eye and into the brain. The giant let go and tumbled into the sea. Behind them more and more giants threw themselves from their vessel. Burning alchemicals clung to their flesh.

A huge form clambered over the side of the ship. The second giant had edged along the carvings on the galleon’s stern and found a new place to alight. He loomed over the prow like a demon, massive axe held high. Crossbow bolts thudded down from the crows' nests. More came from the marines on deck.

An engine crew tried frantically to bring their weapon to bear. The giant smashed it to flinders with his axe, picked up a squirming crewman and tossed him right at another engine. He tumbled broken-backed among the second crew and lay flopping and gasping for breath like a fish out of water.

Zamara and Rhiana rushed it, blades flashing. The giant reached down and grabbed the admiral, lifting him towards its gaping mouth.

Rhiana leapt, hacking with her scimitar at the giant’s wrist, slashing the tendons. The massive hand opened and Zamara dropped ten feet to the deck. The giant brought a massive fist down, aiming at Rhiana’s head. She leapt aside, deck planks splintering under her feet.

Kormak raced forward, aiming his blade at the giant’s leg, behind the knee. Something flickered in the corner of his eye. He ducked. A poisoned axe flashed past and buried itself in the giant’s belly. Kormak saw Urag standing beside Orson near the side of the ship. The cast could just as easily have been made at him as at the giant.

The giant aimed a blow, and Kormak stepped to one side. His return stroke took the giant’s arm off at the elbow. The creature reeled back, screaming, tripped over the bannister and tumbled headlong into the sea.

The crew cheered. The passengers responded to their cries. The decks were cleared and the blazing wreck of the giant vessel fell away astern. The heads of a few giants broke water, but it looked like the galleon was free.

“We did it!” shouted Zamara. The water to the left of the ship erupted and the giant chieftain emerged, pulling himself up the netting on the galleon’s side. Frozen in horror, no one moved to stop him save Urag, who tore a dagger forth from its scabbard and put himself between Orson Waters and the monster. The giant chieftain kicked out at him and Urag leapt to one side. As he did so, the giant’s huge fist swept down, smashing into the top of the woodsman’s head. There was an awful crunch as Urag’s skull splintered and his spine snapped. Moving with surprising speed for a man of his bulk, Orson Waters fled back towards the stern and the siege engines there.

Kormak came down from the command deck in a running leap. He impacted right in the middle of the giant’s chest, driving his blade through the ribs. The salt smell of seawater and the stench of blighted giant warred in his nostrils.

The giant clutched at him. Knowing that being caught in that bear hug would be certain death, Kormak let himself drop, still clutching the hilt of his sword. The downward tug of his weight pulled the blade free.

Another huge missile cleaved the air. A ballista bolt protruded right through the chieftain’s neck. Kormak saw Terves’s crew had rotated their weapon to cover the deck. They loaded another bolt. Kormak threw himself forward, chopping with his blade. The giant chieftain, off-balance, topped backwards into the sea.

Serena had called back her elementals. With full sails, the galleon leapt forward leaving the drowning giants behind. The crew raked their targets with ballista bolts and fireflasks until nothing moved on the surface of the sea, save the gulls that had come to feast on floating flesh and the sharks drawn by the scent of blood.

“
W
e cannot thank you enough
, Admiral,” said Frater Rik, as they waited for the boat that would carry him and the last of the survivors back to Port Wrath. “None of us would be alive today if it were not for you and your crew.”

“You can thank the guardian,” said Zamara with mock humility. “He is the one who convinced me there was a chance. Without him, we would not have known to look for you.”

The priest turned to Kormak and said. “The Holy Sun sent you to us in our hour of need.”

Kormak accepted his blessing. “Perhaps, Frater. Perhaps.”

“Rest assured our prayers will be with you in the coming days,” said Rik.

Kormak glanced at the open ocean beyond him and the sun sinking in the direction of Terra Nova. He thought about Vorkhul and his sarcophagus; he thought about the bodyguard who might have tried to kill him. He thought about Burk and his master Orson Waters. “I fear I am going to need them.”

“You have nothing to fear, Guardian,” said the priest. “Walk in light.”

His words filled Kormak with a warm glow. Just for that moment, he felt that he could.

“It’s time to go,” said the priest, clambering into the sling to be lowered to the boat.

The townsfolk stood on the pier for a long time, waving at them as they set off. Serena set her elementals to work, and the galleon headed towards the setting sun.

Kormak stood beside Rhiana, hand in hand, watching the sun sink. “You look happier,” she said.

“I am,” he said, and smiled and kissed her. For the moment, he felt at peace.

* * *

T
he changeling looked
around the small cabin and at the huge man who filled it. He had adopted the shape of one of the sailors during the long night march, leaving the man’s throat-slit corpse amid the bushes of the woods. It was too dangerous to return in the shape of Burk.

“You failed,” Orson Waters said. “The guardian is still alive.”

The changeling shrugged. “There will be other times.”

“The guardian suspects. It is written all over his face. He will be on his guard and he is a wary man.”

“No one can be wary all the time.”

“He will mention his suspicions to the merwoman, and to the admiral as well. It would be best, I think, if nothing happened to him until he is on land again. There is no escape from a ship on a transoceanic voyage.”

“Are you frightened?” the changeling asked.

“I would be a fool not to be of such a man.”

“I am starting to agree with you.”

“You begin to learn wisdom,” said the merchant.

“Indeed,” said the changeling. He disliked the smirk on the merchant prince’s face. By the time he finished this journey, he would settle matters with Orson Waters, as well as the Guardian Kormak.

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W
illiam King lives in Prague
, Czech Republic with his lovely wife Radka and his sons Dan and William Karel. He has been a professional author and games developer for almost a quarter of a century. He is the creator of the bestselling Gotrek and Felix series for Black Library and the author of the bestselling Space Wolf books which between them have sold over nine hundred thousand copies in English and been translated into 8 languages.

He has been short-listed for the David Gemmell Legend Award. His short fiction has appeared in Year’s Best SF and Best of Interzone. He has twice won the Origins Awards For Game Design. His hobbies include role-playing games and MMOs as well as travel.

His website can be found at:
www.williamking.me

He can be contacted at
[email protected]

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W
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