To Be Grand Maestro (Book 5) (30 page)

She watched as Vermalien eyed the fireballs striking the shield and the disposition of ships surrounding his own. The Equalizer was now in the middle of a kill zone, but the Barracuda had cruised into the armada, maneuvering close to the capitol ships, and the enemy Accomplisheds could not strike the boat without hitting their allies. Even so, flaming bolts from those ships were bouncing off the topaz blue hull. Lances of light and pebbles of flame shot from the arrow slits, but the bow and stern guns were unattended. Both men may well have died during the barrage of fire balls. The crew must have put out the internal fire because smoke no longer billowed from the boat. The Captain cleared his throat, drawing Lela’s attention back to him. “It is good to have you aboard. Is it possible to fire through that shield?”

“The variable shield composed by the Maestro blocks anything from getting to us while allowing us to go on the offensive,” she replied, to which he smiled.

He touched the topaz on the binnacle. “Arrow slits facing the armada are to open and commence firing.”

She focused on the bow where Joreb lay curled up, both hands over his face, on the deck beside the tripod. After a few moments he began to stir and sit up. The shield amulet protected his skin but his blue uniform was now black threads.

“Lieutenant, send someone to relieve Gunners Cession and Lumsfer,” Vermalien ordered. “Accomplished, when you have fulfilled your duty, I would appreciate it if you would return to the bridge.

“It will be as you say, Captain,” Lloyd replied.

Lela nodded agreement, added a Da Capo to the shield, and followed the Lieutenant off the bridge. She would wait in the mess for the bow and stern gunners to be brought to her for any healing they may require.

A steady round of coughing and wheezing coming up from the spiral stairs announced the imminent arrival of Rase Lumsfer before he entered the mess. He stepped forward wearing a fresh uniform, no doubt the other had been burned away, and then sat at the crews table beside her. This was the first time she had seen his thick dark hair, every other time he had been wearing a helmet. His brown eyes were shot with red.

She summoned the potential for, How You Feel, and then placed her right hand on his forehead. The coughing fit occurred because his nose, throat, and lungs were scorched by super-heated air. This meant she would have to use the spell, Hearts Beat As One, in order to heal the internal injuries. “Open your shirt, I need to touch your abdomen,” she instructed in a professional no-none-sense tone.

He did so and the notes of the spell filled her mind, summoning the potential, and their bodily functions became as one. She cast, Heal Wounds, and could feel the tingling warmth flow through his body and restore it to perfect health. Just as she removed her hand from his tummy, a violent turn of the boat threw them to the right and he caught her arm, steadying her.

His clear brown eyes fixed on her. “Accomplished, we can’t let you fall,” he said and glanced at the stairs where Joreb came up from below. “Thanks for the healing, I feel much better. It looks like your next patient has arrived.”

He finished buttoning up his blouse and passed the bow-gunner, gave him a nod of acknowledgment, and went back down stairs, perhaps to see Ensign Sloak. Joreb had also taken time to put on a fresh uniform, rather than enter from the forward hatch wearing smoky tatters. Another violent turn sent Lela forward, flat onto the table while the gunner stumbled his way to the bench and fell more than sat down on it. “Was the battle all you hoped it would be?” she asked after regaining her composure.

His smile seemed more like a grimace and that was when she saw where the super-heated air had burned the insides of his mouth, gums, tongue, and throat. “Ah can haly wait ta gi ba ta fighing,” he did his best at replying.

She rolled her eyes, wondering why young men were so eager to get themselves injured. “Well, you will have to wait a little while before you can get back to fighting. Now, open your shirt, otherwise it will be necessary for me to stick my fingers all over the inside of your mouth and half way down your throat.”

He quickly unbuttoned his shirt and she placed her hand over his slightly hairy tummy. She cast the spells, became one with his system, and then restored him to perfect health. She did not linger with her hand on his rock-hard warm flat belly like the widening of his eyes suggested. Another violent turn jolted her off balance and half way to the deck a hand caught her. The gunner held her with one hand while gripping the table with the other to steady himself and brought her back upright with seemingly little effort. Clearly the man had strong arms.

“Thanks for the healing,” Joreb told her while glancing at the forward hatch. “I need to get back out there. This battle isn’t over.”

He released her, buttoned up, then sprang for the hatch and was soon out on the deck. She had promised to return to the bridge after the healings and agreed with the gunner, the battle was not over. She headed up the spiral stairs and half way up another sudden turn caused her to miss a step. A tight grip and fast reflexes set her to rights and produced a smile. She did not really need the help the men had given her, but was pleased they passed her little test of their thoughtfulness. She reached the bridge in time to see a flaming bolt strike the forward window and deflecting off into the side of a massive cruiser. The fiery head stuck into the planking just above the waterline.

Her shield protected the left side of the ship, yet did not stop projectiles coming from any other direction. The captain was clearly ordering the rapid turns in an attempt to keep the shield between the Equalizer and the worst of the assault. Ships of all sizes and shapes surrounded the boat and were launching racks of flaming bolts into the air, all of which seemed to be targeted at where she was standing. Joreb was once again at the bow gun and began concentrating his fire on the heavy cruiser coming in beside a squat modified Demfilian freighter. He sent harpoons of light blasting into the bow of the cruiser below the waterline. Planking came apart like snapped twigs, water rushed into the gaping holes, and the great ship came to a sudden stop and began slipping beneath the waves.

A large ballista bolt shot from the Demfilian freighter, which was probably the least threatening of the warships surrounding them, Lela believed, going by how the gunners of the Equalizer were shooting aggressively at the dreadnaughts, cruisers, destroyers, and frigates while paying little attention to the glorified supply ships. Unlike all of the other bolts that had been hurled at them, this one had no flames, not even a point, just a teardrop-shaped head. It struck the tripod and exploded in a bright flash. The shock force shoved the bow down almost below the water, throwing Lela forward across the deck and into the bench as the back end of the boat came up out of the water. The CAPU would have driven the Equalizer down into the sea if Jennsen had not broken contact with the emerald by flipping over the gemstand. Len Kross had slammed against the wheel and was now flat on his back on the deck in front of it. He just missed hitting his head on the stool. Vermalien and Loben were on the deck a few paces from where Lela had landed. The Equalizer sat dead in the water.

Lela shook her head, gathering her senses, and glanced out the forward window. It took a few moments for her mind to process what she was seeing. Black shards covered everything from the bow to the forecastle and there was no sign of the tripod or Joreb. The incredibly strong substance of which the boat was made was proof against the power unleashed from the unusual ballista bolt, yet did nothing to keep the boat from being nearly shoved under the water.

As the shock began to wear off, tears started dripping from her eyes, and refused to stop no matter how hard she wiped at them. The bow-gunner was the first person on the boat to show her any kindness, and in an instant, he was gone. She pushed herself up and stood as the men went back to their usual positions.

To the rear, the tripod remained but of Rase Lumsfer there was no sign. Part of her wished she could say the tears were also for him, but she had spent little time with him, and the only words they shared was after she replenished his vat. Still, she wished him no harm and felt sorry he was gone. He did needlessly and gallantly act to keep her from falling earlier.

She willed her personal shield to include her hands, grateful they had not been broken, and realized good fortune and the crew’s amulets were the only reason no one had any broken bones after being thrown so roughly. That being the case, it was possible both men might still be alive in the water and can be brought back aboard. She took courage from the thought and noticed all of the enemy ships had stopped firing, perhaps assessing the results before proceeding.

“Captain, another one of those Demfilian bolts is headed our way,” the Lieutenant gave warning.

“Helmsman Kross, evasive maneuvers, Driver Laffen, half speed,” Vermalien responded instantly while moving to stand next to the binnacle.

Even Lela could see they were surrounded by a wall of ships and all of them were racking bolts and preparing to open fire. It would be difficult to avoid being struck by enemy projectiles. The Equalizer moved as ordered and the Demfilian bolt splashed harmlessly into the sea, although it was little comfort since another ten were in the air along with the flaming bolts of the other ships. An explosion to the rear shoved the stern under the water. Lela was suddenly in the air and slammed back into the wall of the map room, then the boat splashed down and she fell flat on the deck.

She stood up while the men were getting to their feet and looked out the window at the shield and decided it was not enough. She pointed her baton to the other side, established the same type of shield and then made smaller ones just off the bow and stern. She added the Da Capos and watched as the projectiles exploded against her shields.

“I should have asked you to do that sooner,” Vermalien commented while making his way back to his position beside the binnacle.

She should have thought of it sooner and was even about to tell him so when the deck rose into the air, the CAPU shoved the entire boat up out of the water, and then came the drop, but not before her head slammed into the ceiling. She flopped onto the deck and, after a few moments, slowly pushed herself up and to her feet.

“How low to the water can you make those shields?” Vermalien asked.

Obviously not enough to keep those cursed Demfilian bolts from slipping under, she wanted to say, but actually said, “If I make them any lower, the waves will make maneuvering difficult. We would be shoving at lot water.”

The Captain eyed another Demfilian bolt angling down at them and even she knew it would pass beneath the shield and hit just below the waterline. “All stop,” he ordered, and the boat came to a sudden halt when Jennsen released the emerald and touched the amber just long enough to keep from going in reverse. “Accomplished, extend the shields beneath the waves,” Vermalien then ordered.

Lela willed the four shields to expand down the distance of twenty strides beneath the waves and wondered what the Accomplisheds of the Serpent Guild would throw at them next. Some of the warships began lowering their sails, she supposed these were to be floating barriers, and Destroyers were sailing into the blockade along with Demfilian freighters. Fireballs flew straight across the water from the destroyers and slammed into her shields, which meant the Aakacarns were on those ships. Ballista bolts shot up into the air and began to curve downward. They struck the waves and water splashed high as the teardrop-shaped heads exploded against the extended shields. The constant barrage super-heated the air around the boat and while personal shields protected skin, such did nothing to protect nostrils, air passages or lungs. Lela coughed and took a sip from her canteen as the internal temperature steadily increased and she tried to think of a spell to counter the secondary threat. 

A thunderclap of sound at the bow announced the arrival of three men, two in blue silks and the other in the uniform of a Ducaunan Royal Knight of the Realm. “Sir Daniel has come,” Lloyd announced as if it was possible anyone on the boat could fail to recognize the Maestro.

Carlos raised his baton and a deep blue shield formed horizontally above her shields with only enough room between them to allow air to pass, effectively stopping any possible strike from hitting the boat. The Maestro said something to him and Sero Bagget and then spryly ran up the window to the top of the forecastle.

He is going to need help.
“Captain, I believe my talents might be more useful on the bow,” she stated out of respect instead of running off like she wanted to do.

“I agree, Accomplished, go assist Sir Daniel,” Vermalien replied while watching the two men on the bow.

Lela moved faster than at any other time while on the Equalizer, shooting down the stairs, running out of the mess, through the forward hatch, and onto the bow. She turned and looked up at the Maestro standing on top of the forecastle. He aimed his diamond-bladed crescendo and a multi-hued beam of light shot from the point and gradually widened as it reached a cruiser off the port bow. The sustained beam struck, held for a few moments, ceased, and then he aimed at a destroyer. Nothing happened that she could see even though the energy level was so high the non-Aakacarns would have difficulty watching without shading their eyes. “What is he doing?’ she asked out loud.

Sero, who had graduated earlier than she, came and stood beside her. “Cast, Find All, focusing in a two span radius, and you will see,” he suggested.