Windcatcher: Book I of the Stone War Chronicles (54 page)

He looked up at the sky. The night was drawing to an end. Those that were not chasing the dragon had been ordered to finish up with the invasion preparations. They did not have a lot of time anymore, before they would have to depart.

As Corza watched the flames roar, evaporating any water his soldiers threw on it, the clanging metal of the general alarm reached his ears. First distant, but as the other alarm bells joined in, the sound grew in intensity.

“Captain Dreck, make sure this fire is put out as fast as possible. Tear down the neighboring buildings if you have to. Under no circumstances does this fire reach the scrolls, you hear me?” said Corza.

To his subordinates, standing next to him, he added, “You all, follow me!”

Corza turned his horse and sped off to the center of the harbor, the other horsemen following behind, while the captain shouted orders.

“Sir, the alarm came from the scout windships. It looks like someone is trying to steal one,” announced a soldier, as soon as they rode up to Corza’s harbor command center.

Corza looked to the waterfront, in fury.

“Prep the other windships, right away. Signal the Firestorm to circle back and stop that ship from taking off. I knew it! That dragon was a distraction after all,” said Corza.

They rode off, right away, in the direction of the windships.

“And get a couple of ghol’ms to the windship area. And I mean
now
,” Corza shouted over his shoulder as the hooves of their horses thundered across the stones.

It was increasingly busy on the street, the closer they got to the windship plaza. They plowed through the soldiers in the streets, shouting for them to get out of the way, pushing aside those who were not quick enough. As they turned the final corner, the small windships came into view.

Corza took in the scene, for a moment, to decide his course of action. The plaza was crawling with soldiers. One of the smaller windships had a fully inflated air sack and was already hovering above its docking station. It only had the two anchor lines at the stern still connected, making it tilt over dangerously toward the stern. There was fighting on the deck, as soldiers tried to board the ship. He saw arrows fly from the ship, rarely missing. Most, it seemed, were fired from the cargo hold.

After spotting the nearest ranking soldier, Corza immediately called him over.

“Commander Lurik! Why’s no one firing back at them? Don’t you have arrows?”

“No one dared to risk damaging the balloon, sir! Especially with the invasion starting soon.”

Corza thought on this, for a moment.

“As they should,” he yelled to be heard above all the noise from the fighting.

Just then, he saw the doors in the ship’s hull swing close. Corza took charge of the situation, straight away.

“Have your men clear a way for our horses. We need to stop that ship from leaving. Then, gather some men with additional claw-ropes, and have them secure that ship,” he ordered.

The commander did not hesitate at all, ordering his men to split a path for the horses.

With the cargo doors now closed, the arrows were flying significantly less, allowing Corza to lead his small group of men to the bow of the windship unchallenged.

Grabbing the ropes they had prepped for Galirras from their saddles, the soldiers twirled the hook at the end around it a few times, at high speed, before slinging it over the handrail of the windship. In an instant, six ropes had been attached, as they quickly tied the ends to their saddles. Commanding the horses to slowly move away from the hovering vessel, they began to pull the entire ship back toward the ground. Soldiers, who had been looking for a way onto the ship, jumped at the ropes, increasing the weight and tension on the anchor lines. A couple of them were already on their way up to the deck, climbing along the ropes.

“Go to the far side,” ordered Corza to the men who came running with more of the claw-ropes.

Even with the added weight of the soldiers and horses, the initial decrease in height was only short-term. Slowly, the ship started to pull skyward again, as its air sack continuously filled with the green vapors.

Somewhere in the distance, two deep thumps were heard. Corza knew the sound all too well. It meant help was on its way.

“More men…get more men up there. Reinforcements will be here soon!” he screamed.

A soldier, falling from the battle taking place above, barely missed him, slamming into the ground next to him. Another screamed, as he tumbled downward, landing on three other soldiers holding a rope. Another group of men fell on the ground as the rope, unexpectedly, gave way, having been cut from the handrail.

Corza looked up and saw Raylan looking down at him.

“Raylan! We meet again. I…” Corza started, but Raylan had already disappeared again.

Corza’s blood boiled.

How dare he ignore me!

“I want them brought down. Get those men back onto the ground. Drag them over the edge, if you have to,” screamed Corza, furiously, at the soldiers around him.

Right away, a couple of soldiers broke off and ran to the side of the ship. A number of people were fighting along the railing, but they were all wearing Doskovian armor.

“What are you waiting for? Do it!” yelled Corza.

The soldiers slung their ropes over the side of the ship. This time, not aiming for the wood, but fishing for people.

On deck, the hooked claws landed heavily on the planks. Instantly, the soldiers on the ground pulled the rope back in. As the hooked skidded over the deck, friends and enemies alike had to jump out of the way to prevent their feet from being caught. One of the Doskovian soldiers was too late and went face-first into the deck, as his leg was pulled from under him. The other ropes hooked into the handrail, allowing more soldiers to pull the ship down, and allowing them a way to climb up to the deck.

A grunt made one of the soldiers, with a rope still in his hand, look up. He saw one of the fighters pushed against the handrail, another pinning him against it. The pinned fighter had the unmistakably mark of a slave on his cheek. The soldier made use of the situation, straight away. He quickly threw his claw over the rail, saw it hook on the shoulder of the slave, and pulled.

The slave, who had just taken a step forward fending off his attacker, found himself being pulled back onto the handrail, hook firmly dug into his shoulder muscle. But the soldier could pull all he want, the slave kept a firm grip on the woodwork, lowering his center of gravity in order to not be pulled over…which made him a sitting duck for attackers…

Raylan saw the hooks come over the edge. He had lost sight of Corza when they moved to the end of the ship, but he saw—right away—what they were planning to do.

Up till now, they had been able to fend off the stream of soldiers that successfully climbed aboard. By hitting the ones coming over the handrail quickly enough, only very few made it all the way onto the deck to pose an actual fight. The biggest point of entry was the scaffold, which Harwin now blocked, as the cargo doors had been closed and secured. It was enough to keep them all busy though.

Gavin and Galen had made a strong team, taking on any new comers on the side, running back and forth on the main deck. Kevhin fought at his lover’s side as Rohan was attacked by two enemies that had managed to climb the bow of the ship. Xi’Lao had come up and currently provided support to them.

Peadar had joined Marek down below. While Ca’lek and Richard made sure no soldiers made it below deck to attack them. This all left Raylan in a position to freelance all over the place.

As he spotted the hooks, he sprinted up against the incline to the front of the ship. The hooks caught wood and they felt the ship level itself out, as weight was put on the ropes. Reaching the bow handrail, Raylan kicked a soldier in his face, pushing him back off the rail. To his left, another soldier’s head popped up, so he brought his sword down on him. As the soldier flung his head to the side, in an attempt to dodge the slash, Raylan’s sword cut off his left ear and struck his shoulder armor. The soldier screamed as he, instinctively, grabbed his ear, lost his balance, and fell rearward, crashing into a small group of men. Raylan looked down over the rail and stared directly in Corza’s face.

“Raylan! We meet ag…”

It was all Raylan heard. He had no intention of listening to him while his friends were fighting. Besides, he needed to cut those ropes. So, he ran to the other side of the bow and cut another two ropes, picking up the hooks that remained stuck in the woodwork.

Running back to the main deck, he put one of the hooks in the back of a soldier’s neck as he ran past him. He dove under one of Galen’s giant axe slashes and continued his way to the stern to cut the anchor lines.

As he was just about to run up the stairs to the upper deck, he saw Sebastian in trouble. A soldier pinned him against the railing, sword against sword. Flipping over the second hook in his hand, he took a step toward them and threw the hook in the back of the soldier’s head. Dazed and confused, the soldier stopped pushing, allowing Sebastian to finally shove him off. After Sebastian cut him down, he made a quick gesture of thanks at Raylan.

Raylan did not even see the gesture, as his attention was drawn to the hook coming in from behind his friend. Flying over Sebastian’s shoulder, it dug straight through armor and into flesh as the rope was pulled back over the side.

“Sebastian!”

Sebastian let out a scream of pain as he dropped his sword and grabbed the hook in his shoulder. He stumbled—pulled backward by the rope—and hit the handrail. Not wanting to fall over, he had to let go of the hook and grab the railing, forcing himself down, bracing his back against the wood. He gritted his teeth as he felt the tension on the hook increase. It burned, painfully, in his muscle.

Raylan rushed to his friend, trying to pull on the hook as a first reaction, but the rope was pulled too tight. He got up and readied his sword to cut the line, but before he could bring down his sword, two other ropes flew up. He had to dodge them to prevent being caught by the hook himself.

He recovered quickly as the two hooks caught on the railing. He lifted his sword, when suddenly the entire airship tilted sideways. Raylan slammed into the handrail, barely able to stay on his feet. The other people on deck lost their balance. Most were sliding over the deck toward the handrail; one or two managed to grab hold of something, just in time. Raylan saw an enemy soldier hit the railing and tumble over it. As he followed him with his gaze, the reason for the sudden movement came into view. Two ghol’ms were reeling in a number of the ropes, pulling the airship to one side with their strength.

“Oh, no…”

Without warning, Sebastian was pulled over the side by the rope, Raylan had forgotten to cut it. He saw his friend go over, the scaffold breaking his fall halfway, before tumbling to the ground. A number of enemy soldiers were knocked down with him.

“Hold on, Seb!” he screamed, as he saw Sebastian already scrambling to his feet. He jumped over the rail.

“Raylan, what are you doing. Come back here!” he heard his brother shout behind him.

“I
have
to help him!” he called back. He landed onto the scaffold, pushed two soldiers off, slid in between the wooden poles, and swung himself right next to his fallen friend.

“Damn him,” cursed Gavin, at his little brother’s foolishness. “Archers! Help me cover them. Galen, get those cargo doors open again. I’ll go get them. Richard, on me.”

As Raylan’s feet touched the dirt, he barely had time to counter an incoming sword slash aimed for Sebastian’s head. Diverting the blow, Raylan let out a roar as he dislocated the soldier’s elbow with a punch of his armored arm. He cut the attacker down and grabbed his sword.

“Seb, you with me? Grab this. You need to focus,” yelled Raylan to his friend, as he shoved the sword to him.

Multiple soldiers were already closing in. Raylan turned his back to Sebastian, ready for the next attack. Sebastian shook his head to get rid of the dizziness from the fall. He took the sword in his good arm and turned to face the incoming attackers.

The scaffold was somewhat protecting their backs, but they were much more outnumbered here on the ground than they had been on the deck. Raylan had to stand his ground, instead of being able to freely move and dodge the incoming attacks. If he left Sebastian’s side, it would surely not end well for either of them.

Two spearmen took a stab at him, simultaneously, which Raylan barely sidestepped. One of them got struck in the neck by an arrow, creating an opening for Raylan to move in and strike down the other.

Sebastian was fighting off an attacker that came in with a spiked club. The short soldier was dangerously fast with the thick club, but Sebastian’s range with the sword allowed him to cut the inside of his attacker’s arm. The club fell harmlessly to the ground as Sebastian quickly stepped in and stabbed the short soldier in his stomach.

Both Raylan and Sebastian repositioned themselves and, again, formed one front. The ring of soldiers closing in on them was suddenly broken. Two soldiers were felled by arrows, as Gavin and Richard jumped from the lower part of the scaffold onto the necks of three other soldiers, knocking them onto the ground.