Jake: Bleth

Chapter 1

The shantak circled lazily around the fort, wings barely moving as it drifted downward.

There was a crash as the scorpion a few meters away let loose, sending a bolt into the air. Jake watched it rise ever so slowly to impact neatly on the shantak’s chest.

It would have been a kill shot on any other animal, but on the shantak it merely glanced off the scales, falling impotently to the grassland far below.

“Hold your fire!” he shouted, holding up one palm.

Eyes still fixed on the creature, he heard Nadeen shouting at her troopers to hold fire. Behind her voice, a hubbub of shouts, the sounds of running feet, horses galloping.

The gong began to sound, alerting everyone within kilometers who didn’t already know they were in deep shit.

Its long neck was balanced by a long, ropy tail, all black and scaly, suspended from huge black bat-wings that stretched out for dozens of meters on either side. As the creature drew closer Jake could make out the elongated, almost equine skull, with its jagged teeth and forward-facing red eyes.

The creature turned closer, heading almost straight at him, and Jake suddenly noticed the rider. A large man, and judging by the way those robes bulged, quite fat. His face was sun-burned, clean-shaven, slightly shadowed under a large, electric-blue kaffiyeh. His robe was a very dark blue—looks expensive, he thought.

He instinctively ducked as it swooped just over his head, even though he knew it must still be quite high. It felt like a 747 passing overhead, but quieter.

It glided low over the fort, banked, and came in low over the main gate. One outstretched wing barely grazed one of the flanking towers, knocking half a dozen stones out of the crenellation before it dropped into the vegetable fields in front of the gate.

As it dropped out of sight on the other side of the wall, Jake slid down the ladder, ignoring the splinters in his hands. Nadeen was right behind him.

“Get Mintran!” he shouted to one of the troopers running in the same direction. “Help him get his thalassion fire ready!”

The trooper changed direction and raced toward Mintran’s laboratory without a reply.

The main gate was still open, and Jake leaped the simple bar that was across it to prevent travelers from entering, or animals from leaving.

He skidded to a stop, and Nadeen came to a stop at his side.

A dozen troopers spilled out of the gate behind him, spreading out to face the shantak.

“K’shalah Dun, emissary from His Imperial Highness Thuba Mleen, Emperor of the Eastern Desert.”

Jake took his hand off his pistol and straightened up.

K’shalah Dun was standing between the shantak and the main gate, quietly waiting.

Jake noticed a purple pennant on the saddle—this must be the person they saw leaving Bleth that day.

“Jake of Penglai.”

A bellow of pain erupted from the direction of the shantak—Jake saw that it was holding two of the fort’s cows in its claws. Both were struggling to escape, one already gushing blood around the deeply sunk talons.

The shantak’s neck twisted around, head tilting one way and the other, before plunging down to slam its enormous jaws tight on the cow.

A scream, a crunch, and the front half of the cow was gone. The head snaked down a second time and nothing was left but the red, sodden soil.

The other cow was struggling furiously, eyes white, bellowing in fear, but the shantak just held it in place nonchalantly, almost ignoring it.

“I bring you an offer from the Emperor, Commander,” continued the emissary as if nothing had happened.

“I’m listening.”

“Your Scorpius Company has attained considerable fame in the field, Commander. The Emperor would like to hire your services.”

“I am not for hire.”

“The Emperor is most generous with those who serve him,” said K’shalah Dun, and held out a bag.

Jake held out his hand, just a little bit short, forcing the other to raise his arm and reach a little farther. The bag was quite heavy.

“And this is?”

“Proof of good faith,” replied the emissary. “A gift.”

Jake opened the bag, revealing a mass of gold coins.

He hefted it in his hand.

“A kilogram or so?”

“Yes. Payment for your services would also be in gold. Payable in advance, if you prefer.”

“I see,” said Jake. “A gift, you say?”

“Yes.”

“Very kind of you.

“And what services would Thuba Mleen be interested in?”

“You would have to discuss that with the Emperor, of course, but nothing you and your company is unfamiliar with, I assure you.”

“And when do you require my reply?

“Two weeks,” said the emissary, then turned to the shantak and waved his hand as if shooing it away.

The shantak’s head reached out again and almost daintily bit the middle out of its captive cow, then snapped up the legs and head almost as soon as they hit the ground.

The poor animal was gone.

“It is not a complicated choice,” continued K’shalah Dun serenely. “On the one hand you have the promise of as much gold as you might desire, and on the other…”

He gestured toward the shantak as it licked its lips, glistening black tongue collecting the last gobbet of red flesh.

“Very impressive,” said Jake. “But next time perhaps come in your carriage. Four horses and two twelves of guards would do less damage to my carrots, not to mention my cattle.”

K’shalah Dun stared silently at Jake for a moment, then laughed.

“Very good! We have been watching you, too, Commander Jake.”

He walked back to the shantak and climbed up the ladder to the platform on top, taking his place in the saddle.

“I will return in two weeks for your answer. And if the answer is no, well, then I will level this fort and kill everyone in it.”

“Your last attempt to destroy this fort didn’t work out as you planned.”

“This isn’t a plan, my dear Commander. This is a promise.”

“Before you go,” said Jake, “I’d like to give you a gift as well.”

He turned to the troopers standing nervously behind him.

“You! And you! Go get the two captives who refused to give bond, and bring them here. Now.”

Two troopers ran back through the main gate.

Jake stood immobile, staring at K’shalah Dun silently until they returned only a few minutes later, shoving the two captives in front of them.

“These two refused to give bond,” he said as they were pushed forward, toward the emissary. “I spare their lives and return them to you.”

“I have little use for troopers who are taken captive,” said K’shalah Dun. “But I do have room for one, and the final decision should really be up to the Emperor.”

He looked down as the two captives and shrugged.

“Well, get on with it.”

Guillaume, the man who had claimed to be a spy for Queen Caila of Perinthia, kicked forward into the back of the other man’s knee. He staggered as he lost his balance, dropping one arm to the ground to catch himself, leaving himself defenseless for a moment. Guillaume threw his chains around the man’s neck, his knee in the man’s back, and yanked.

It was over in seconds, and the man—Tanawat, he’d named himself—fell, possibly a broken neck, his fingers scrabbling weakly in the dirt.

“May I mount, Lord K’shalah Dun?”

Breathing heavily, Guillaume stood and looked up at the emissary, who nodded, and snapped the reins of his shantak.

The monster’s neck uncoiled, darting forward to snap up dying man with a bubbling shriek, mercifully cut off. A juicy crunch and he hung limply like a ragdoll, only to be flung up into the air and swallowed in a gulp.

Jake stood frozen, mouth open as the shantak began to walk, then run toward the edge of the cliff, wings pumping powerfully. It jumped off the edge, plummeted out of sight for a moment, then slowly dragged itself up into the sky and away.

“Jesus fucking Christ… they just… Holy shit!”

“So Thuba Mleen really does have a pet shantak…” said Nadeen, less shaken.

Jake shook his head, trying to erase the scene from his memory.

“That was Guillaume, right? The one who got on.”

“It was,” confirmed Nadeen.

“Jesus. It just… Aw, fuck!”

He spit, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, took a breath.

“Get that flanking tower fixed. We need a meeting,” he said, and hefted the bag of gold coins. “When is Aercaptain de Palma getting back?”

“Supposed to be this evening, assuming the new sails are ready as ordered.”

“They will be,” nodded Jake. “And Beorhtwig?”

“He’s up on Mt. Thartis with the wyverns; should be back any time now.”

“Captain Chinh’s out on patrol along the river but we can send a horse from the other end and catch him, I think. If necessary de Palma can fetch him later.”

“Everyone else here?”

“Except Ridhi…”

“Damn. Yeah, Ridhi,” said Jake. “What are we going to do with her?”

Nadeen tilted her head fractionally to remind Jake that there were a dozen troopers standing within earshot.

“Ah, right,” mumbled Jake. “Sorry, I didn’t expect him to just… kill him… like that.”

“Let’s go,” suggested Nadeen. “I’ll get the word out to everyone.”

“Before we go, though… that scorpion up on the wall… they got a shot off while that monster was coming right at them. Who’s in charge of that team?”

“Dhaval of Oxuhahn. Good man in a fight with his sword-and-dagger combo.”

“Dhaval. Thanks.

“Look, before we meet all the captains tonight I want hold a full assembly. Everyone in Scorpius.”

“What do you mean by ‘everyone’?”

“Everyone we pay salary to, whether they’re on a long-term or short-term contract, and everyone who puts their life on the line for us when they need to. So, the Bagatur’s people, and Chinh’s troop, too.”

She cocked her head in a question as they walked through the main gate back toward their quarters.

“You have something special planned?”

“Oh, yes I certainly do,” smiled Jake. “I’ll need to see Portrisha, too. The kitchen staff is going to be pretty busy.”

* * *

Later that day, as the sun was approaching the tops of the Mohaggers, almost everyone was back in the Fort. It was unusual to have the full complement together in one place, and Fort Danryce was crowded.

The airship was still gone but was expected back momentarily. Aercaptain de Palma had flown down to Rinar to pick up the new sails for the airship. Once they were checked and rolled, they’d be secured in the hold with the new spare mast, putting the airship back into good shape after the deadly eagle attack.

“Airship approaching!” came the outlook’s shout from the wall, and Jake stood, letting the map roll up again.

He replaced it in its hole in the wall, adjusted his sword belt, and left the library to greet de Palma and the airship crew as they descended the bell tower.

“Welcome back, Aercaptain.”

“Thank you, Commander,” replied de Palma. “What happened? The tower damage, and everyone here…”

“You’ll get the details later at the Captains’ Meeting, but we had a visit from a shantak.”

“A shantak!? Here?”

“They really wanted to make an impression.”

“Wow! And all you lost were a few stones off the tower?”

“He wasn’t here to fight, just to talk. Lucky thing, too, because that shantak was huge.”

“Yeah,” said the Aercaptain, nodding. “I’ve never seen one up close but even from a distance they look deadly.”

“They look a lot deadlier up close, I can assure you. Downright evil.

“Everything good with the sail?”

“Perfect. The Cavor is as good as new.”

“Good, good. There will be an assembly of all Scorpius troops in thirty minutes, and a Captains’ Meeting after that. I want everyone at the assembly, on time. No exceptions.”

“Yessir,” said de Palma, wondering what was up.

The troops were wondering the same thing as they gathered in the ground between the church and the gates.

Several bonfires and multiple torches illuminated the ground with their flickering, orange light, but Jake brought out half a dozen of the sunstones the Bagatur had collected, bringing with them the brilliance of the noonday sun.

He had already directed his captains to keep their troops together, but that there was no need to stand in ranks, or to stand at all, for that matter.

His captains, being captains, had their people stand in ranks anyway, at ease.

It was the first time the full complement had assembled at once, and the vast majority of them were wearing their red-and-gold scorpion patches prominently. Jake took his position in front, under the Scorpius flag, and caught his breath for an instant—These were his troops, his men and women, who had survived Thuba Mleen’s attack that day, and had thrown their lot in with him.

“Scorpius!

“You all know I’m not very good with speeches. I hate speeches.

“But as you’ve heard, and most of you saw with your own eyes, we had a visitor from Thuba Mleen today.

“You know what he offered me—join him for power and gold, or die. He gave me two weeks to make up my mind.

“Well, like most people, I enjoy having money. It’s darned useful when you need an ale, I’ve found.”

He waited for the chuckles to die down.

“How much gold does a man need, though? If you think I’m in this for the money you’re sadly mistaken.

“Now, he said I needed to give them my answer in two weeks, and then the idiot bought two cows off me for a whole bag of gold!”

Jake held up the bag he’d gotten from K’shalah Dun and swung it gently to show how heavy it was as everyone laughed.

“Just between you and me, there’s no way in hell I’d work for that bastard. But keep it a secret, OK?”

More laughter.

“So we have two weeks to get ready for one hell of a fight.”

He paused and let the silence harden.

“Captain Nadeen!”

She stepped forward from the line of Captains.

“Today one of the scorpions on the wall fired a bolt at the shantak as it dove toward them.”

“Yessir.”

“Who was in command of that team?”

“Trooper Dhaval of Oxuhahn, sir.”

“Trooper Dhaval! Step forward with your team!”

Dhaval, a tall, black-haired youth in his mid-twenties, slowly stepped out of formation at Nadeen’s gesture, followed by two others, and approached Jake.

“Trooper, you fired and hit that shantak as it flew straight toward you.”

“Yessir.”

“That took balls of steel, trooper. Let me shake your hand.”

He held out his hand, and wrist-shook with Dhaval, then the other two.

“I bet you were scared shitless.”

Dhaval cracked a smile.

“We were, sir. But what else could we do?”

“You did right. And this’ll help you get over it, I think,” said Jake, and held out a handful of gold crowns.

The coins glittered brilliantly in the light of the sunstones, clear to everyone. Gold Kuranes crowns, the most trusted coin of the Dreamlands.

“Ten for you and five each for the crew, with my thanks.”

Dhaval gingerly accepted the coins, and, catching Nadeen’s gesture, walked back to the ranks with his men, unable to keep a huge grin off his face. One of his crew slapped him on the back in celebration.

“Tonight,” shouted Jake to the assembly. “Tonight we celebrate the successful sale of two cows, the first of many victories to come. And thanks to K’shalah Dun, every trooper here tonight will receive a special bonus of three gold crowns!”

There was a cheer, and as they cheered the door to the church and two casks of ale came rolling out, pushed by Portrisha and the kitchen staff.

“The drinks are on me!”

There was another cheer and the ranks dissolved.

* * *

An hour later they gathered in Jake’s quarters for the Captains’ Meeting.

Jake looked around the table: Nadeen, now his wife, had been one of the first people he’d met here, along with poor Danny, whose seat at the table was taken by Serilarinna, whom he’d met on that mission for Factor Humaydah and Captain Feng. He’d met Beghara and Long, now captains of their own twelves, on that same mission.

Captain Chinh of Celephaïs, Bagatur Khasar of the Blue Eagle of the Ibizim, and Captain Ekene of Zar, all on “loan” for an indefinite term.

His “air force” consisted of Aercaptain de Palma of the airship Cavor, also on loan from King Kuranes, and wyver-master Beorhtwig.

And here in Fort Danryce, Horsemaster Turan Dratund, Alchemist Mintran, and Einar Ibrahimson the armorer.

The only one missing was Ridhi Chabra, who had been with him almost since the beginning. He’d met here on that mission with Captain Feng, too, which she had only barely survived.

Later he’d ask Sergeant Highweigh—TT— to join them, along with Borislaw of Eudoxia who was here to get them up to speed on cavalry now that they had smart horses in their force. He considered asking Roach to join them as well, but decided against it for now.

Once the meeting was done the captains would meet with their sergeants, possibly even with their troopers, to share information and hopefully pick up more good ideas.

Portrisha, temporarily replacing Ridhi Chabra, brought in teapots and cups for everyone, plus a carafe of water for Jake.

After the discovery that Ridhi had been feeding information to Mochizuki, Jake held meetings with all the doors and windows open, and two troopers posted on the wall making sure nobody was sneaking around out of sight on the roof or somewhere.

“We’ve got a busy two weeks ahead of us. I don’t expect K’shalah Dun to be late.”

There was a soft murmur around the table.

“We have a lot of things to cover, and not much time,” he continued. “I can’t think of everything, and while I have some ideas I really, really hope you’ve got some ideas, too, because I don’t like the odds.

“That shantak is fucking huge…”

“Is there any way to kill it?”

Jake slowly nodded.

“Actually, I think there is, but let’s put that off for a bit. The first thing I’d like to settle is what to do about Ridhi Chabra. She’s admitted to spying for Mochizuki, passing information to her. Mochizuki is certainly not an enemy, but she’s not exactly an ally, either.

“We work with the King, maybe even for the King, but does that give him the right to put a spy in our midst?”

“She saved your life,” pointed out Beghara. “Surely that counts for something.”

“She’s been with us for a long time,” added Long. “I can’t believe she’d do anything to harm us, including leaking information that could put us in danger.”

“You don’t think we’re in any danger from Mochizuki?”

“Only if we’re in danger from King Kuranes,” said Long. “And to be honest, I think Mochizuki could get the information she wants, or kill anyone here, at any time even without Ridhi.

“I say accept it and let it go.”

Jake pursed his lips.

“What about the rest of you? Any comments?”

“I agree,” said Beghara. “I think Mochizuki is an ally, just like the King and even Factor Chóng. I wish Ridhi had just told us in the first place but I don’t think it really matters.”

“Hmm. Anyone else?”

There was a general shaking of heads.

“OK, let’s put it to a vote, then,” said Jake. “Those in favor of putting Ridhi Chabra back into her previous position raise your hand…”

Beghara and Long immediately raised their hands, followed slowly by Mintran.

There was a short silence, and then Nadeen also raised her hand.

“Five in favor. And the rest of you are against it?”

“The King trusts Mistress Mochizuki, and therefore so do I, but in all honesty I do not know Captain Ridhi, or her history, well enough. I abstain,” said Chinh.

“And I also abstain, for the same reason,” agreed Captain Ekene.

“Aercaptain?”

“I do not believe we should willingly accept a spy in our midst, even for an ally. Secret allegiances are dangerous.”

“Horsemaster Turan? And the rest of you?”

“I vote no,” said Turan.

Bagatur Khasar and Serilarinna both voted “No” without explaining their reasons, and Armorer Einar abstained.

“So, four for and four against, then. A tie,” mused Jake. “Meaning the decision is up to me, again.”

He drummed his fingers on the table.

“I thought about this quite a bit last night and had already reached a decision for myself, but I feel that it is important to hear your thoughts. If more of you had been against the idea I was willing to give her a horse and tell her to never come back, but since we’re tied…

“I vote to reinstate her. Mistress Mochizuki is not an enemy, and while I am not happy with secret spies, I would have little objection to her asking straight out for information on what we’re doing. So now we have a more transparent relationship, and hopefully we can continue to enjoy Captain Ridhi’s considerable talents.

“I’m far more concerned about the possibility of Thuba Mleen’s spies… Beth was clearly a spy, and that thief who snuck into my quarters that night was probably a spy, but there are unquestionably others here. If Mochizuki and Ridhi can uncover and neutralize them all the better.”

He turned to Nadeen.

“Would you go now and ask her to join us? We’ll wait.”

“Of course,” said Nadeen. “Captain Long, Captain Beghara, Captain Serilarinna, I would like you to accompany me, if you’re willing.”

“With pleasure,” smiled Beghara, and she stood with Long to join her.

Serilarinna frowned for a moment, then straightened, and stood.

“So be it. The decision is made, and we must work as a team, or die. I’ll go too.”

“Jake?”

“No, I will stay here,” he replied in a flat voice.

The four captains left, and Jake poured himself another cup of water.

“As Captain Serilarinna said, we need to put this behind us. Thuba Mleen will show us no mercy with or without Captain Ridhi, but I believe that we stand a better chance with her.

“Horsemaster, how are Thunder and Meatball doing?”

“Oh, very well,” replied Turan, relieved to change the subject. “They are both almost full-grown now, very spirited. They’re both stallions so there’s some competition between them, but not as much as we’d feared.”

“They’re working together without difficulty?”

“Very well. Meatball is more aggressive than Thunder, more willing to take chances. Thunder is always worried about tripping in ground squirrel burrows.”

“What, he tripped in one before?” asked Captain Chinh.

“No, I don’t think so… he’s just cautious about his footing.

“They’re both very good at keeping the rest of the herd under control, and we’ve worked out a number of commands that they can implement, adjusting as necessary to deal with changes in the situation. We’re putting new foals in with them, too, to help spread the language.”

“Is it a language already?”

“I think so, yes,” said the Horsemaster. “They can’t write, of course, and human speech is close to impossible, but they understand an awful lot of what we say as long as we say it properly—they like having the verb at the end of the sentence, for some reason, but they’re good at catching context—and they are getting better at making themselves understood.

“They communicate amongst themselves far better than with us.”

“But can they drink and roll dice?” asked Einar. “I mean, let’s concentrate on the essential skills, shall we?”

There were a few chuckles around the table.

Nadeen returned, followed by Captain Ridhi and the other three.

“Mistress Ridhi Chabra, Commander,” she announced formally, and stood aside to let Ridhi step forward.

Jake stood and extended his hand for a wrist-shake.

“Captain Ridhi, welcome back. I hope you’re all recovered from your recent illness?”

She hesitated for a split second, then grasped his arm firmly to shake.

“Thank you, Commander,” she said. “Fully recovered, and I am confident there will be no relapse.”

“Excellent.

“Please, sit. I’m glad you were able to rejoin us here today because we have a lot of things to cover. I’m sure Mistress Mochizuki will want to know about them immediately, and hopefully will have some information for us in return.”

“I… Uh, yes, sir,” mumbled Ridhi as she sat. So she was a Captain again (still?) and expected to be reporting to Mochizuki. That made her job easier in some ways, but…

“While you were gone I asked for an update on the horses, just so everyone’s knows what’s going on. We’ve gone over it at the Captains’ Meeting every week, but I don’t think the Armorer or Trooper Beorhtwig were up to speed yet,” continued Jake as Ridhi took her seat.

“Captain Ridhi, did they fill you in on our recent visitor?”

“Yes, Commander. K’shalah Dun.”

“Good.

“OK, so we have two weeks to get ready. Since they went out of their way to show us that shantak I think it’s safe to assume it’ll be back. How do we stop it?

“Captain Nadeen? What about the scorpions?”

“Sure, we can shoot at it, but you saw what happened to Dhaval’s bolt. We could use fire arrows, of course, but unless they stick long enough to set fire to the damn thing they won’t help much.”

“What about the wings? Are they armored, too?”

“No, they’re pretty thin, which is another problem,” explained Beorhtwig. “Unless it’s right on top of you, you need to shoot the bolt with plenty of force to hit it, and if it’s got any power behind it it’ll just punch right through the wing.

“They’re damned hard to hit anyway, unless they’re diving straight at you.”

“Can you tangle it up in a net? Dropped from above, or shot from the scorpions?” asked Ekene.

“The Pinnacle is equipped with scorpions to defend against air attack as well, but as far as I know they have no plans to defend against shantaks,” revealed Chinh.

“I don’t think we could net it using scorpions,” said Nadeen. “One scorpion can fire a net, I suppose, but the chances of getting it in exactly the right place at the right time are pretty slim.

“And what happens if the shantak actually flies into the net? No rope could hold it.”

“We might not need to hold it,” said Beghara. “Just getting it to slow down and stop attacking could be useful. And if you can get it off balance for a minute we might be able to do something else.”

“Actually, if the goal is to just keep it off balance, a rope with weights might be even better…” Turan waved her hand in a circle. “There’s something called a bolo, a couple lengths of rope tied together with weights in the ends. You throw it at the legs of an animal to wrap the ropes wrap around them, and then the weight brings the animal down.

“It’s spinning out, which means it’s pretty wide in the air, so we’d have a better chance of hitting the shantak.”

“Excellent idea, Horsemaster!” smiled Jake. “I’ve never used one but I know what they are. If we can get a couple of those on the shantak’s wings it’d fall, and then it’s a hell of a lot easier to deal with.

“How the fuck did Thuba Mleen manage to control one of those things, anyway? Thuba Mleen is damned good with animals: wyverns, eagles, now a shantak. They all fly… Can he control land animals, too? Does he have a twelve of ghasts on call? Or dholes?”

“I can’t believe they could be controlled by anyone!” said the Bagatur. “But then again… I would have said the same thing about a shantak…”

“He’s got something, alright… Bagatur, can you get in touch with Matriarch Biwashaa and see if they have any information? How he’s doing it, does he have anything else hidden, anything at all.”

“Yessir.”

“I don’t expect a bolo or net to do more than slow the shantak down a little bit, to be honest,” said Jake, “but that might be all we need.”

“We can fly higher than the shantak—and the wyverns, for that matter—but I’m not sure that gives us much advantage,” said De Palma, scratching his head. “They already know about the thalassion, and we’d have to get pretty close to spray the shantak with it. Basically, anything that gets close to that abomination is dead, even the wyverns.”

“We can harry it a little, maybe slow it down, but if we get into a real fight with it, the shantak will win,” agreed Beorhtwig. “I think my wyverns would fight if I asked them, but I don’t think they’d do much more than slow the thing down, to be honest.”

“Shantaks are pretty damn tough,” said Captain Long. “They can be killed but they take a lot of killing. They burn as well as anything else, though.”

“How dangerous would it be for the wyverns keep it busy while the airship gets close enough to spray it with fire?”

Beorhtwig thought for a moment.

“If the shantak can be goaded into chasing us instead of the airship, it should be possible… the thing is huge, and that means it’s deadly and hard to kill, but being that big has disadvantages, too.

“It can’t change direction or speed as easily as a wyvern can, it can’t fly as high, and it tires a lot sooner.”

“And wyverns are faster and more agile than airships, too, right?”

“Yes, but the airship can fly higher, and obviously doesn’t get tired at all. We can fly higher than the shantak, too.”

“So in theory it should be possible to keep the shantak busy until the Cavor can spray it?”

Beorhtwig looked at Aercaptain de Palma, who nodded.

“I think so. Especially if we can kill whoever’s riding it first.”

“Absolutely,” agreed de Palma. “If archers can take them out the shantak will be much easier to distract. They take a long time to die, though, as Captain Long said.”

“We don’t actually have to kill it,” explained Jake, “although that would be nice. We just have to keep it away from the fort.”

“I agree. Fort defenses are much better now, and while they can’t stand up to the shantak, they’re probably good enough for Thuba Mleen’s troops. Unless they bring siege machinery, of course.”

“Well, they certainly can’t surprise us with a siege,” said Beghara. “They’d have to build them here, and that’d take a few days at least.”

“Agreed,” nodded Jake. “OK, so I want you two to figure out how to keep the shantak away from the fort. See if this idea of nets or bolos sounds like it might work. If you need anything talk to me.”

Beorhtwig and de Palma nodded.

“Captain Serilarinna, I think we can expect to see at attack when the shantak comes, or maybe the day after. We’ll get warning of their movements from the Matriarch, of course, but I want you up in the mountains ahead of them.

“Your job is to whittle them down, destroy their supplies and morale, and break them up into smaller groups. That’s exactly what you’ve been training for with Sergeant TT all these months.

“Bagatur, make sure the Matriarch sends some Y’barra with them.

“No more ideas?”

Shaking heads.

“OK, what about the fort. Captain Nadeen?”

“We’ve repaired the damage to the gate tower,” she explained. “The shantak can do it again, of course, but at least the wall’s back up.

“Last time they destroyed both gates, and got up onto the wall. The wall is higher now, with towers along the entire periphery, and twin towers over the main gate and the postern. The gates are both double gates now, with murder holes over the space between.

“We’ve cut the trees back to at least the range of our scorpions, so we can hit anything we can see.”

“But there are still plenty of trees they can make rams or catapults with.”

“Of course. We can’t fell every tree in the Mohaggers.”

“Any point in putting catapults up on the wall?” asked Serilarinna. “Boulders and grenades could be handy if they cluster.”

“We’re building them now,” said Nadeen. “They’re pretty big and would interfere with smooth passage along the wall, so we’re expanding the wall inward in places to hold them. Buttressed for strength.”

“When’s that expected to be done?” asked Jake.

“Only another few days. Work began weeks ago.”

“Good. Mintran, we’ll need more grenades. If you need help let me know at once,” said Jake, and turned to the others. “Figure out how many you want and let Alchemist Mintran know today.

“What about barricades in the fields?”

“Captain Ridhi?”

“Uh, yessir,” she started, flustered. “The ground outside the main gate is bare rock in many places, or relatively shallow dirt over rock, so a palisade is out of the question. We could build fences and barriers in places, wood or stone as appropriate, to break up attackers, and slow them down.”

“But unless they’re manned,” objected Captain Long, “They’ll just slow the enemy down the first time, and them serve to protect them from our fire.”

“Agreed,” said Beghara. “An open killing field is best, and we’ll want a clear space for the horses, too.”

“You’re more familiar with this type of combat than I am,” said Jake. “OK, skip the barriers out front. What about caltrops?”

Beghara laughed.

“Didn’t you just say we knew this type of combat better than you? I was just going to suggest caltrops! And pits.”

Jake grinned. “I used to read a lot when I was a kid.”

“Caltrops are only really useful when the horses are galloping, and they aren’t going to gallop against the fort. Plus which, any caltrops we used would hurt our own horses.

“Pits are the same as far as how they affect the horses, but a pit would also force the enemy to go around. Are there any places we can dig pits?”

“The ground gets deeper closer to the forest,” said Ridhi. “We could probably dig fairly deep there, but it’ll be hard going with all the roots.”

“Trenches would slow down any siege engines they bring. If any,” said Long. “They can fill the holes in easily enough, but it’d take time.”

“Anyone see any problems with trenches?”

“No way they can tunnel from one of the trenches and into the fort?” asked Einar.

“None,” said Ridhi. “The fort stands on bedrock.”

“Anyone else?

“Captain Ridhi, you and Captain Nadeen figure out where to dig those trenches, and get them dug ASAP.

“Is there anything else we can do?”

“The more troops we send into the mountains the fewer we’ll have here for defense,” said Chinh. “How about sending the raptors with Captain Serilarinna?”

“Sounds like a good idea… they’re best in melees, and hopefully we won’t have many of those here at the fort. If things work out they could even attack the rear of Thuba Mleen’s force when he’s attacking us.

“If the shantak is taken care of,” suggested de Palma, “The wyverns and I could certainly harass them. Grenades and thalassion fire would be very effective against both troops and any siege engines, as long as they don’t have anything flying.”

“As far as we know, only that damn shantak.”

“If we’re certain about that, we could stockpile grenades and naphtha on nearby peaks, reachable only by air,” added Beorhtwig. “That way we could rearm without having to come back to the fort and risk enemy fire. Now that the wyverns are based on Mt. Thartis—the place they used to use when Thuba Mleen owned them—we can patrol a lot easier, and have a ready-made storage site.”

“Thuba Mleen can’t get up there anymore?”

“The shantak can’t get that high, so unless they have another airship or some spectacular mountain climbers, no.”

“The wyverns are recovered now?”

“Almost completely,” replied Beorhtwig. “They heal incredibly fast as long as they have enough to eat.”

“Excellent,” said Jake. “I like the idea. Plan on doing it, but hold off a bit. Hopefully we can get confirmation on his air force from the Matriarch first.”

“There are a few bottlenecks in the Mohaggers that we could block,” suggested Captain Serilarinna. “They could go over or through any sort of obstacle in a day or two, but it would certainly slow them down. I can think of one place where we could probably trigger an avalanche right on top of them.”

“If they use that pass, right? There are alternate routes?”

“Unfortunately, yes. There are multiple routes, and they could really use any of them. Or all.”

“For that matter, they could send a force around the Mohaggers entirely, and attack from the plains. They sent a small force that way last time, and fired Cadharna,” pointed out Captain Chinh.

“I think we could give them quite a surprise down on the plains,” chuckled Beghara. “They may be used to defending against cavalry, but smart horses are very different. We can work with them to switch tactics in the middle of an attack. And if the Armorer gets their gear ready in time, we can do a lot more.”

“What sort of gear?” asked Chinh.

“Full chain armor, for one thing,” explained Einar. “Most horse armor is designed with a rider in mind, constraining the horse’s movement and adding weight. That slows the horse down, naturally. We’ve been working on armor designed for horses without riders. No saddle, no stirrups, no need to think about the rider at all, because there isn’t one.

“And unlike most horses, our horses understand pikes and ropes, and can react appropriately. They still need to be protected, just like people, but we’re talking about armor for a warrior now, not just a horse.

“And that’s the other thing: weapons. Horses kick when they’re frightened, but these horses kick deliberately, using their hooves as weapons. We haven’t tried it in battle yet, obviously, but I’ve seen them practicing. We’re making steel shoes for them now that fit over the pastern and down over the wall. They aren’t secured very tightly to the horse’s leg, but when they kick the shoe presses against the top of the hoof, armoring the pastern and hoof and providing a strong, sharp edge at the front.

“They are deadly, and when they’re all fitted out they are going to be a force to be feared.”

“Can you have them all fitted out within two weeks?”

“I can try, but it’ll be tight. Especially with all the other stuff you’ve got me doing,” sighed Einar.

“If we can help in any way, ask. I don’t think any of the troops have training as smiths, but at least they’ve got muscles.”

“How many horses are we talking about here?” asked Chinh.

“About two dozen smart ones, and we think they’ll be able to control about the same number of ordinary horses.”

“We have to keep the bloodlines safe,” pointed out the Horsemaster.

“Of course we’ll do what we can, but if we hold them all back we won’t have much left to fight with,” said Jake.

“They’re as intelligent as we are; they just can’t talk to us, and don’t have hands,” said Turan, frowning. “They haven’t been in battle before, and training isn’t the same.”

“Can we count on them?”

“I think so, but once they start killing and dying…”

Jake drummed his fingers on the table.

“So we might only get one charge, then. That sucks.

“I think they’ll do what we ask, but I don’t know. Nobody does. Horses aren’t predators, unlike raptors, and we just don’t know what’ll happen.”

“Captain Beghara, you’re in charge of the grassland. We need scouts out to determine if they’re attacking that way or not. If not, then we’ll need you back in the fort, maybe with a sally later, but certainly on the wall. If you can defend Cadharna, good, but your first priority is to defend the fort and yourselves.

“Captain Nadeen, Captain Long, Captain Chinh, Captain Ekene: fort defense. Captain Ridhi, your people are to make sure everyone has all the arrows, water, and other supplies they need, as well as getting the wounded to the church, helping Healer Dunchanti with the wounded, and putting out fires.

“Captain Nadeen is in overall command of the fort, including Captain Ridhi’s staff.

“Bagatur Khasar, I would like you to call on the Matriarch immediately and find out what they can do. I’m leaving your assignment open for the moment.”

“Talk to your sergeants, figure out what you need, and let’s meet again tomorrow, Hour of the Horse. If you need anything from the city tell me as soon as possible. Including villagers to help get ready, for example.

“Captain Ridhi, we’ll eat lunch here tomorrow, please.”

Jake took a deep breath.

“Anything else right now?”

Nobody spoke up.

“Uh, Captain Nadeen and Captain Ridhi, please stay,” said Jake as everyone began to stand and leave.

After everyone had left Jake’s quarters, Jake stepped to the doorway and waved his hand. A minute later Sergeant TT joined them.

Jake waited until everybody was seated again before continuing.

“I know you’ve all heard rumors of thunder in the mountains, and there have been a few people asking if we’re making cannons or bombs.

“Nadeen and I have categorically denied it, and we have been telling you the truth. Captain Ridhi, I assume you’ve already verified that?”

He stared at her until she responded.

“Uh, yes Commander, I did. I, uh, reported that there are no signs that Alchemist Mintran or the Armorer are working on cannons, gunpowder, or bombs. I also said your work on better rifles has been halted but apparently not stopped.”

“How long ago did you report that?”

“About ten days, I think.”

“And did you receive any instructions in response?”

“Commander, I… Mistress Mochizuki…”

Ridhi looked around the table seeking sympathy but found none.

“You’re asking me to…”

“Yes, I am, Captain Ridhi.

“We voted to let you retain your position and our trust. For now. I think it’s up to you to demonstrate that our trust has not been misplaced.”

Ridhi swallowed, then took a breath and looked back up to meet Jake’s eyes.

“Yessir, I was instructed to keep close watch on the activities of Alchemist Mintran, Armorer Einar, and Sergeant TiTi.”

“Why the sergeant?”

“They didn’t say, but I assume because he knows how to make such weapons.”

“Hmm. A reasonable assumption…

“Mochizuki and the King do have reasons for what they’re doing, and I can understand them, but it doesn’t mean I fully agree with them. For what it’s worth, the sergeant and I know how these things work, yes, but neither of us knows how to actually manufacture them. Knowing how they work is a great help, of course, but there’s a lot of necessary technology that we simply don’t know.

“I’m really hoping we won’t have to use them, but if there’s no other choice, I will.”

“You tell Mochizuki that if she wants more information she had better get her ass down here to talk to me privately, because I am not trusting this to secret messages left in the forest.”

“I think I already know what you’re working on,” said Captain Ridhi. “I haven’t confirmed it and haven’t reported on it, but the Mistress is much better at connecting hints than I am. I’m pretty sure she already knows, too.”

“Keep your guesses to yourself, please. No point in telling Thuba Mleen what to expect.”

---

Outline of Fort Danryce, after upgrade

Chapter 2

Jake rubbed his eyes, already red from lack of sleep.

He wasn’t alone: most of the troops had been working as hard and as long, getting ready for the attack they expected in one more week, when K’shalah Dun returned with his shantak.

Many villagers were working with them, hired from Cadharna and the surrounding region to help with a variety of tasks: cutting back the forest in places, digging trenches, building walls, making more arrows and bolts, and more. There was no question that some of them were spies reporting back to Thuba Mleen, but Jake really had little to hide… the shantak had seen it all from the air, and they were only doing what any force would do to prepare itself.

His secret project was ready to go, too, but impossible to test fully. Mintran had done what he could, but he wanted a Plan B just in case de Palma and the wyverns couldn’t take care of the shantak. He hoped it’d work as well as the tests had suggested. And if it didn’t, well, that would be a real problem.

Bagatur Khasar had met with the Matriarch’s people several times for a bonanza of information. They had a very good idea of the terrain now, probably better than Bleth, thanks to their Y’barra guides.

He was checking the fit of a new set of horse mail when he heard the shout from the wall: Party approaching!

“Armorer, take over,” he said as he stood and brushed his hands on his tunic. They’d come up with a way for the horses to take their armor off, but they still didn’t have any way for them to put it on… the lack of hands and fingers made everything more difficult. One horse could use its teeth and lips to pop the girth buckles on another horse, but not on its own. Putting it on required human assistance.

Without the need to carry a human rider the horse’s armor was significantly better—a little heavier, of course, but still lighter than carrying a rider. The new design offered improvements in agility, mobility and protection. Instead of being dumb mounts, the horses were now warriors in their own right, equipped with deadly hooves and their sheer mass.

He walked around the back of the church toward the main gate, and saw Nadeen climbing down from the wall to meet him. Aercaptain De Palma’s Cavor was moored to the bell tower, probably getting ready to set out on another mapping mission. The Y’barra Ibizim had updated their existing maps of the Mohaggers, filling in a lot of detail that wasn’t apparent through aerial surveys, especially which routes could be traversed on foot, or horseback, or by carriages. That information would be invaluable when they attacked Bleth eventually.

“Four riders,” reported Nadeen. “Three in black, so it must be Mochizuki.”

“Makes sense,” nodded Jake. “It’s been about a week now; I expected she’d be along one of these days. Or someone from the King.”

The outer portcullis was open, and the inner down about halfway so people could walk through without much difficulty but riders would find it awkward. Jake and Nadeen stood facing the gate and waited for their visitors to arrive.

As Nadeen had predicted, it was indeed Mistress Mochizuki, accompanied by her usual black-clad bodyguards.

“Commander, may we enter?”

“Of course, Mistress Mochizuki,” he said, signaling the gate guards to raise the bar and waving the four of them in. “I’ve been expecting you.”

“Nadeen, would you arrange for Mistress Mochizuki’s team to be taken care of, and then join me back at the quarters?”

“I sent a runner for Captain Beghara as soon as I saw who it was,” she confirmed. It was understood that Beghara would be watching Mochizuki’s bodyguards to be sure they didn’t wander about the fort. “She’ll be here in a minute.”

“Mistress? If you’d accompany me, perhaps we can continue our conversation in a more private setting.”

“Thank you, Commander.”

They walked past the bell tower and around the main church building toward Jake’s quarters, which stood a good distance from the church building. As usual, all the windows were open, and it was under constant observation from multiple directions. It would not be impossible to eavesdrop or sneak inside at night, but close to impossible during the day, at least.

As they walked past the kitchen Jake stuck his head in the door.

“Captain Ridhi! A pot of tea to my quarters, please.”

“Yessir,” came the muffled response from inside.

He ushered Mochizuki into his quarters and gestured toward an empty cushion, one of half a dozen scattered around the low table in the middle of the room.

As he was sitting down on the opposite side of the table Nadeen came in, followed almost immediately by Ridhi.

Ridhi hesitated for a second when she saw who the visitor was, then bobbed her head briefly, set the tray with the tea pot and cups down, and backed out of the room.

“Thank you, Captain Ridhi. We will not require more tea.”

“Yessir. I… yessir, I understand.”

“So, Mistress Mochizuki, you got my message, it seems,” said Jake as he poured.

“Yes, Captain Ridhi was quite clear.

“She was also very clear about your threat to execute her, and your decision not to. Thank you for not wasting a very good agent.”

“She would have been a better one if you had thought to merely tell me in advance. At least we knew who Roach works for.”

“We are not in the habit of disclosing our identities,” shrugged Mochizuki. “I understand you would like me to take Roach back with me?”

“Yes, I think he has outstayed his welcome here.”

“But he did warn your troops of the ambush in the Mohaggers.”

“Yes he did, and that is something that we would naturally expect from any trooper. I think he’s been here long enough, and will no doubt be more useful penetrating some enemy than an ally.”

“Yes, no doubt,” she agreed.

“She said you probably already know what I plan to do; do you?”

“Yes, and I must warn you it is incredibly dangerous… if Thuba Mleen discovers how to do it he will be unstoppable. The King and I implore you to stop, and destroy them.”

“And you will defend the fort for us?”

“You know we cannot, yet.”

“Why? Because you are determined to avoid open warfare?”

“Because open warfare would kill thousands and destroy half the Dreamlands.”

“But it’s acceptable if he only kills a couple twelves and destroys the fort?”

“The King must consider the safety of the many.”

“And I must consider the safety of my troops,” he countered, taking another sip. “Tell me, how did you discover what we’re working on?”

Mochizuki shrugged.

“We know what your armorer has been buying, and what he’s been making with it. Your Physician Nolan explained, quite innocently, what it could be used for.”

“Yeah, Geiszler’d know what it’s used for, but I doubt he has any idea how to make it. Theory and practice are quite different, and I’m not sure he even has the theory.”

“But you and Sergeant TiTi know.”

“Yes, we do. And we’ve kept that knowledge to the absolute minimum number of people.”

“The only way to keep a secret is to tell no one,” said Mochizuki. “Unfortunately.”

“And the only way for us to survive is to defeat the attack they will surely launch next week, and then defeat Thuba Mleen forever.”

“You know why there are no cannons in the Dreamlands, right?”

“Yes. You and the King have made sure everybody thinks they are deadlier to the artillerymen than the targets. How many inventors have you killed?”

“Fewer people than would die if cannons were used as weapons of war,” she calmly countered. “What were the civilian casualties in your World War II?”

“So you tell us to die and let Thuba Mleen’s cancer spread even wider?”

“We are warriors, Jake. We always die.”

“Yeah, well fuck that. If I go I’m taking Thuba Mleen’s sorry ass with me.”

“If you proceed with this plan and Thuba Mleen learns to make your weapons, his first step will be to destroy Matriarch Biwashaa and the Y’barra Ibizim; his second, probably Celephaïs.”

“The Matriarch has promised us her full cooperation.”

“She knows your plans?”

“In general, not in specific,” said Jake. “As you said, secrecy.”

“Does she know the danger her Home is in?”

“I made it clear to her that…”

His words were cut off by the booming of the gong in the bell tower—danger!

“I need to go,” snapped Jake. “Mistress, stay here!”

“You must release my guards,” Mochizuki protested, “or they will draw their weapons to reach me.”

“Nadeen, go with her and get Captain Beghara to release them,” said Jake. “For now.”

Nadeen and Mochizuki ran toward the mess hall, where Captain Beghara and the guards were waiting, while Jake searched for Sergeant Petter, who was in charge of fort defense while Nadeen was with him.

There he was, on the cliff wall.

Jake waved to catch his attention; he was shouting something at the scorpion team.

Petter looked up and noticed Jake, then pointed up and toward the mountains.

Jake spun around… the shantak was back!

It was flying in low over the trees, and had probably come through the mountain pass rather than fly over them, surprising the fort.

But K’shalah Dun wasn’t due for another week!

And they weren’t ready yet!

“Hold your fire!” he shouted, and he heard Nadeen and Petter relaying the order to the other crews around the walls.

Troopers were racing to defensive positions, most of which were designed to protect against ground assaults, not air.

The shantak stopped pumping its wings, and came gliding down toward the fort.

Damn, it was big!

The shouts around him faded as the beast approached… it was going to glide over the fort, not land.

As it flew past the tower one wingtip reached out and almost daintily touched the Cavor. It tore through the prow, tearing it almost entirely off and smashing the airship into the tower. Someone was thrown overboard to fall to the ground below—Tomás, maybe?—he couldn’t tell.

The top of the bell tower wobbled for a moment, then began to collapse with a rumble, stones tumbling to the ground to shouts and screams.

The shantak slid past him, and over the wall, barely clearing it, as one leg dragged low to catch a scorpion and pull it up over the wall and off the cliff edge.

It flapped once, and turned, coming back for another run?

No, it was higher this time… and on its back, K’shalah Dun picked up a short cylindrical tube and dropped it, making sure that Jake was watching. It fell only a few meters away, but Jake let it lie as he watched the shantak vanish back into the mountains again.

It had only been a minute or two.

He looked around—the scorpion was gone, but it looked like the crew was unharmed.

The airship was toast. And who had fallen? That would be ten or twelve meters—dead or badly injured, was his guess. And it sounded like someone had been hurt when the bell tower crumbled.

He looked at the cylinder. It was a stoppered bamboo tube, used to protect scrolls from damage.

He pulled out the rolled scroll out, and yanked it open.

$$$$$

 

Commander Jake,

I trust you haven’t forgotten that we are to meet in one week to discuss the terms of your employment—or surrender. So very sorry about your airship.

Harithah of Thuba Mleen

 

Harithah!

He was the man who had commanded the first attack on the fort, when he’d lost Danny. The guy in the black kaffiyeh who always stayed well back from the fighting, and from Jake’s pistol.

He let it snap shut again, and ran toward the bell tower.

The airship—what was left of it—was slowly settling downward, like a leaking balloon.

Dozens of troopers had reached the scene before him, and he pushed through them.

“Here it comes!” shouted someone.

“Get back! Back!”

The airship suddenly accelerated, smacking into the ground to the sound of splintering timbers. Aercaptain de Palma, Valda, the mapmaker, and Clank were on the stern deck, holding onto the railings for life, and as the airship hit and began to roll, Valda and Clank were thrown off, landing awkwardly.

The Aercaptain was more successful, keeping his balance until the Cavor stopped moving, and then hopping off safely. He ran to Valda, getting there about the same time as Clank.

Where were…?

He glanced up at the tower, where the airship had been moored, and saw Bridok looking out worriedly.

No sign of the other crew, Tomás.

“Commander!”

He turned at the shout to see a trooper squatting on the ground, helping a casualty… Nadeen!

“Nadeen!”

He ran to her, forgetting all about the airship and other injured.

“Nadeen! What happened?”

There was no obvious injury, but her face was pale, jaw clenched.

“One of the stones hit me, Jake. In the side…”

Smoothing her hair back out of her eyes with one hand while supporting her with the other, he shouted “Healer! Healer Dunchanti!”

“In a second, Commander, in a second,” came Dunchanti’s calm voice from right behind him.

Jake twisted to see the healer washing the bloody leg of one of Ridhi’s staff.

He finally looked around, and saw about half a dozen people lying there, some injured, some maybe dead.

There was Tomás, his head crushed.

More had minor injuries—the tower had fallen on troopers readying the fort for an expected attack.

“Let me see, Commander,” said Dunchanti, gently pushing him out of the way and laying Nadeen down flat.

He ran his hands over her side and abdomen, pressing here and there.

Nadeen grunted in pain.

“Get her inside so I can have a better look,” he said. “And get more water boiled.

“I’ll be with you just as soon as I finish here.”

“Is she going to be alright?”

“I think so, but it’s hard to tell yet for sure…”

“And the baby?”

“We’ll see.”

Dunchanti rose and went to the next patient, a trooper with a long gash across the side of her skull. She was holding a rag to it and cursing up a storm: didn’t seem to be seriously injured.

“Healer! What about Nadeen?”

“Commander, get her inside and comfortable. I’ll be there as soon as I make sure the serious injuries are under control.”

“But…!”

“Commander! These are your troopers!”

“I… I…” Jake swallowed, grimaced, then tenderly picked Nadeen up and carried her into the church, and to the infirmary.

It only had half a dozen cots, and three already had patients, two from the tower collapse.

He laid her down on one of the empty cots and shouted for hot water.

“You’re going to be OK, Nadeen. Dunchanti’ll be here in a minute.”

She smiled up at him, then her face tightened up in pain again. He squeezed her hand again.

Dunchanti arrived a few minutes later with Ridhi and another woman, one of her staff.

“Commander, outside please,” said Dunchanti as Ridhi and the other woman erected fabric partitions around the cot to hide Nadeen from prying eyes.

“I’ll stay, it’s OK,” he protested, but Dunchanti ignored his entreaty and pushed him out. “Go see to your troops, Commander. I’ll let you know when we need you.”

Cursing under his breath, Jake went back outside.

Two dead and four injured to the point they would be in infirmary for weeks, if not crippled. Including Nadeen… what was happening with Nadeen…?

Jake pulled his thoughts back to the fort and his command.

The airship was destroyed. Whatever had kept it afloat until now was gone, like helium from an old balloon. Just a pile of kindling now.

The tower was partially destroyed, half the top torn off and the other half unstable; it could fall at any time, and getting it down safely was the first priority once the wounded were taken care of.

He saw the wyverns circling overhead, one empty, the other ridden by Ginette.

Beorhtwig was up over the main gate, shouting something, and then he turned to climb down the ladder and head for Jake.

“Ginette says the shantak is gone, off to the east. It’ll probably fly out over the Lake of Sarnath and then back to Bleth, I’d guess. She’ll keep an eye out just in case, though.”

“How’d it sneak up on us in the first place?”

“Lots of clouds hugging the mountains and passes today… made it impossible to see much down below. The shantak must’ve flown slow and low all the way.”

“Damn. And no way to prevent it from happening again?”

“Lookouts on the passes probably saw it fly by, but even if they sent a dragolet it would get here about the same time as the shantak,” said Beorhtwig. “No warning at all.”

Jake nodded, thinking. No point in worrying about it right now; there wasn’t anything they could do.

“Thanks, Trooper. Get up there with her and make sure there aren’t any more surprises on the way.”

“Yessir,” snapped Beorhtwig and raced for the main gate. Once outside he could signal for Flogdreka to come pick him up.

“Captain Long! Captain Beghara!”

They looked up from where they were working, Long with the injured and Beghara helping clear the shattered pieces of the airship.

“We have to get that tower down before it falls down,” he said. “I think the best thing is just clear everyone back and have the wyverns push it over into the assembly yard… what do you think?”

“Yeah, probably our best shot,” agreed Long. “A lot of it’ll fall into the tower, too, but we can clear that out later.”

“Captain Beghara?”

She shrugged. “Sure, sounds like a plan.”

“OK, let’s do it. Get everyone clear,” he ordered. “I’ll make sure Captain Ridhi gets her people back, too, just in case.”

“What about the church?”

“Damn. The infirmary’s right there… I’ll go see how Dunchanti’s doing, and get everyone moved. Somebody tell Beorhtwig what we’re doing,” said Jake. “And make sure he doesn’t knock it down until we give the word!”

Back inside the infirmary Dunchanti was just washing his hands.

“Healer Dunchanti, we have to get everyone moved back, away from the tower.”

He thought for a moment before nodding. “Just carry the cots. Should be alright, I think.”

“Good, I’ll get some troops in here right away. To the new barracks for now, I think.”

He shouted to a trooper to round up more help and get started.

“And how is Nadeen, Healer?”

“Oh, Commander. I just finished,” the other replied. “Captain Nadeen’s life is in no danger, just some bruising.”

“That’s wonderf…”

Dunchanti held up his hand.

“Commander, the Captain will recover, but I’m afraid she lost the baby.”

Jake’s smile faded.

“She miscarried?”

“I’m afraid so. I’ll arrange for a midwife to come up from Cadharna to stay with her, just to be sure, but I don’t think they’ll be any problems.”

“My son… Was it a son?”

“I don’t know, I’m sorry. It was too soon to tell.”

Jake spun around and stalked out of the infirmary.

“Captain’s Meeting,” he said to Beghara and Long. “Forget about the tower.”

He pointed to a trooper carrying a broken piece of timber.

“You. Put that down; go get Captain Serilarinna and Captain Ekene.

“And you! Find Sergeant Petter and Captain Chinh, tell them I want them here at once.”

He looked around for another trooper, waved two more over.

“Go get the Bagatur, and then find Mistress Mochizuki.”

“Find the Horsemaster, the Armorer, and the Alchemist. Tell them to come at once.”

They scattered as he commanded, searching for their targets, as Jake searched the sky for Beorhtwig, finally spotting the wyverns out over the grassy plains below the fort.

“You, trooper! Up on the wall!”

“Yessir?”

“Signal Trooper Beorhtwig to come at once.”

“Signal him, sir? How…?”

“Just do it, trooper!”

Jake stood, jaw clenched and arms crossed, staring at the wreckage of the tower, as his captains assembled.

They fell silent as they saw his mood.

Mochizuki and her bodyguards were gone. Jake assumed they took Roach with them, but he didn’t have time to worry about that right now.

Beorhtwig was the last one, walking into the group with a question on his face.

“Thuba Mleen said we had two weeks to decide. This letter,” he snapped, throwing the bamboo case onto the ground, “apologizes for destroying the Cavor, which means they planned it. The bastard not only wrecked the airship and knocked down the bell tower, he fucking killed my son!”

He took a deep breath, his jaw clenched, before he continued in a quieter voice.

“Without the airship, our best chance of killing the shantak is gone. Trooper Beorhtwig, you said it flew off over the lake, and then back to Bleth?”

“More than likely, Commander. It must be tired after the flight here, and it is an equally long flight back to Bleth. I’m sure they’d rather rest there than outside somewhere where we might attack them on the ground.”

“How long does it take to recover?”

“Hard to say… at least a few days.”

“We are attacking Bleth,” said Jake, ignoring their gasps of surprise. “Bagatur, I want you to get our troops and raptors through the Mohaggers and ready to attack at dawn the day after tomorrow. There’s no point in trying to hide, just get there. Contact the Matriarch and arrange for guides and assistance. We will need food and water.

“Captain Long, you are in charge of the march. Work with the Bagatur and the Matriarch to get it done.

“Captain Ridhi, you are to remain here with Captain Nadeen’s twelve, under Sergeant Petter. The wyverns will knock down the tower before we leave; do what you can to clear the rubble.

“Sergeant Petter, you are hereby promoted to Captain. That is a temporary rank and may or may not become permanent upon my return. You are in overall command of the fort and everyone in it, including Captain Ridhi, until we return. Your first priority is to keep as many of your troops alive as possible; protecting the fort comes second. Captain Nadeen is wounded and under your protection. Clear?”

“Yessir.”

“Captain Ridhi?”

“Clear, Commander.”

“Good. The fort is already set for attack, but I don’t think that’ll happen now. Still, there may be a small one if they’ve got advance troops in the mountains already.

“If you have to leave the fort, make sure you take all the maps with you. Get them packed and ready for transport now.”

“Trooper Beorhtwig. If the shantak is tired it should be possible to attack it now with a better chance of success, yes?”

“Yessir. It would take it longer to get up into the air, especially if it’s sleeping.”

“Are you willing to take a shot at it tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow, Commander? With thalassion fire? Aercaptain de Palma and I had a plan to take it out, but now with the Cavor destroyed…”

“Change of plans. I want you to hurt it. If you can kill it, great, but all I need is to make sure that it’s too tired or too wounded to fly, and it’s inside that fort when we start the attack.”

Beorhtwig thought for a moment.

“Inside the fort… ? Yes, I think we can do that, Commander. Me and Ginette.”

“Figure out what you need and let me know, Sergeant Beorhtwig.”

Beorhtwig lit up when he heard the promotion. “Yes sir!”

“I want to go with you,” interrupted Aercaptain de Palma.

“You don’t even know what we’re going to do,” countered Jake. “No, you stay here with Captain Ridhi.”

“With all due respect, Commander, I don’t care what you’ve got planned, or even if you plan on coming back. He killed Tomás, broke Valda’s arm, and destroyed the Cavor. I’m coming with you. If you don’t need my help then I’ll stand guard.”

“You’re a flyer, Aercaptain, not a foot soldier.”

“My feet work as well as anyone’s. If I can’t go with you I’ll follow behind.”

“In that case I’d be grateful for the assistance.”

“Commander? That’s a hard trip to Bleth,” said Captain Long.

“The troops have been training hard for months,” said Jake. “They can handle it.”

“But a major siege right after we arrive? They’ll be tired and that means more of them will die.”

“There won’t be a siege, Captain Long. Your job is to convince Harithah to pull all his troops back into the fort, and mop up afterwards.”

“Mop up…? Mop up after what, Commander?”

Jake bared his teeth.

“You’ll know as soon as they do, Captain. Just get there on time.”

“You’re not coming with us?”

“No, I’m not. Captain Serilarinna, will you release Sergeant TT to me for this?”

“So we won’t be harrying them in the mountains after all, Commander? In that case, yes.”

“Thank you. Sergeant TT and I—and the Aercaptain—have a different task. Sergeant Beorhtwig will fly us out tonight and we’ll be waiting for the rest of you at Bleth.”

“How will we find you?”

“Oh, you won’t. But you certainly won’t miss our signal.

“If you’ve still got holes in your twelves, fill ’em. If there are enough good people waiting to get in, pick ’em up on a temporary basis to a heavy twelve, if you want to. Just be there on time.

“Anything else?”

There wasn’t, and within a few minutes the camp was in an uproar as the troops made ready for a forced march toward Bleth.

* * *

Nadeen was resting peacefully, asleep in their quarters. Dunchanti had given her something to dull the pain, saying it’d be gone within a few days at worst. The midwife from Cadharna was with her, just in case, but she agreed that Nadeen should mend quickly.

Jake brushed the hair off her forehead, and laid his wrist against it to check her temperature. No fever. Everybody said she was fine but he was still worried.

“I’ve got to take a little trip, love. A little payback for K’shalah Dun and Harithah.

“You just rest here for a bit and I’ll be back soon.”

He kissed her gently on the forehead, and sat looking at her face a few seconds before standing.

“I’ll take good care of her, Commander,” said the midwife.

“Thank you, Mistress Haruna. Notify Captain Ridhi immediately if anything changes.”

“Yes sir, I will.”

He paused at the door before leaving, and took his Glock out of its holster. He checked it carefully, popped the clip. Full. And a second full clip, check.

He put it back gently and snapped the holster shut.

Time to go.

Chapter 3

Captain Long sent Serilarinna—with the raptors—way out front to make sure there were no ambushes. Several Y’barra guides accompanied her to ensure they stayed on the best path, and lend their knowledge of the terrain.

Scorpius had been into the Mohaggers many times, of course, but had never penetrated all the way to Bleth, on the ground at least. Now that they were moving in force and with Y’barra support they felt more secure.

Behind Seri’s twelve came Chihn’s horse, ready to support Seri and provide a rapid strike force if needed. They didn’t expect to encounter significant opposition in the mountains, and their objective was to convince Thuba Mleen’s troops to fall back to the security of the fort rather than fight, but an armored cavalry troop could strike a very hard blow very quickly.

The main force was Long and Ekene, together with most of the intelligent horses, and Bagatur Khasar brought up the rear. They had plenty of horses and were carrying a couple days of food and water, but if they were really going to set siege to Bleth they’d need a hell of a lot more. Jake had assured them there’d be no siege, but still hadn’t revealed what he had planned.

They left in the afternoon and Captain Long knew they wouldn’t make good time due to their late start, but given the deadline he had to get at least part of the way today.

They pushed north through the Mohaggers for two hours before he called a rest, and started up again half an hour later. A few hours later they set up camp along one of the many mountain streams, on the advice of their Y’barra guides. As long as there was no danger of sudden floods from mountain runoff, this would be the easiest and quickest place to camp for the night.

The captains met that night to share their concerns, and smooth out a few wrinkles that had developed. Nothing serious yet, but the troops were not happy to be heading for a major fortification. They’d been told it wasn’t a siege, but that meant they might be going up against double or triple their number of troops with a fort behind them, and that was enough to spoil anyone’s appetite.

“It’s been good training so far,” reported Seri, popping a few blueberries she’d found into her mouth. “The troops are getting real good at scouting without being seen. Twice now we’ve taken out observation posts without any injury—one post we detected and neutralized, the other the Y’barra told us about, but we took it out.

“What, no survivors?” asked Long.

“Two sixes, but we let one trooper ‘escape’ to warn Bleth that we’re coming.”

Bagatur Khasar smiled. “And of course they have no idea how large a force we have… all they know is we eliminated two of their observation posts cleanly. Excellent!”

“Wonderful, but we have to be sure they react by withdrawing into the fort, not moving to meet us head-on with a major force,” warned Chinh.

“Any ideas how to do that?” asked Long. “I’m guessing if we keep rolling over their troops when we find them, never even give them a chance to fight, they’ll want to hole up for a bit first, until they get a better look at what we’ve got.”

“And maybe until they get reinforcements,” added Ekene.

Long shrugged. “The Commander said to get them all inside the fort. I asked him about reinforcements, and he just smiled. Sorta. He said if they were silly enough to put more troops into the fort, we should stand back and let them.”

“Damned if I can figure out what he’s got planned…”

“Me neither, but I’ve been with him for quite a while and I trust him not to send us on a one-way mission. He’s confident this is something we can handle,” said Long.

“I agree with the Captain,” said Seri. “Doesn’t mean we won’t have some serious fighting, but he wouldn’t send us up here unless we had a reasonable chance. And a reasonable chance is all troopers can hope for.”

There was a murmur of agreement from around the campfire.

“Well, tomorrow will be a long day,” said Ekene, slapping his hands on his thighs. “Captain Seri, we’ll take over the watch at the Hour of the Ox.”

They broke up and headed back to their twelves.

* * *

“I have to ask a lot of you two, and your wyverns,” said Jake. “I know they’re not completely healed, but with the Cavor destroyed you’re the only chance we’ve got.”

Beorhtwig and Ginette exchanged a glance.

“Just tell us what you need, Commander, and we’ll find a way to get it done.”

“Thank you,” nodded Jake. “First and foremost, we need transport for the three of us—me, Sergeant TT, and the Aermaster—to the valley directly behind Bleth. The place where the passage through to the other side is.”

“I know where the valley is,” replied Beorhtwig, “but I never saw the passage…”

“Here’s the map of the area,” said Jake, holding out Valda’s work.

“Let me see… Thartis is here, so this is… un-huh, yeah, that’s easy,” nodded Beorhtwig, tracing his finger over the map as he thought. “Where in this valley?”

“We’re going to the area right on the other side of the mountain from Bleth, but you can just let us off at the closest part. It’s not a long walk.”

“That sounds easy enough,” said Ginette. “And not much fear of the shantak or even the eagles, I think, since we can stay out of sight all the way.”

“Well, that’s only the first part, for tonight… Tomorrow, things get a bit tougher.

“Tomorrow morning, just before at dawn with the rising sun behind you, I want you to drop as much thalassion fire as you can on the eagle coop. Burn it to the ground.”

“OK… that doesn’t sound too bad. They’ll see us, of course, but it should be possible to dive in, set it afire, and speed away before they can do much more than shout.

“But what about the shantak?”

“The shantak will almost certainly come after you, to stop you from fire-bombing the whole fort,” continued Jake. “Your job is kill its rider, and injure it. I don’t want you to fight it, just leave it riderless, and injured enough to fly back to the fort.

“That sound possible?”

“Killing the rider we can do… We were talking with the Aercaptain before, and came up with a good plan that should work. That was before we lost the Cavor, but the idea’s still sound.”

“It’ll be harder to get the shantak to fly home, though,” said Ginette. “We can probably tear up its wings a little without too much risk, as long as there’s only one shantak, but whether that’ll be enough to send it packing or not…”

“They recover as fast as wyverns, Commander,” explained Beorhtwig. “Unless it’s seriously wounded it’ll be back the next day, even if it isn’t completely healed.”

“The next day it dies,” said Jake. “Just get it into that fort and we’ll take care of the rest.”

Beorhtwig looked at him quizzically but nodded.

“Will do, Commander. And then what?”

“On the morning of the day after tomorrow the shantak should be tired, wounded, and resting. There’s a chance that the troops in Bleth will set up outside the fort to meet Captain Long’s troops. I want them to be inside the fort, and I think it’s likely they won’t actually leave the protection of the fort until at least after daylight. If I’m wrong, though, I want you to attack them from the air with whatever you’ve got. If you can kill some, great, but the goal is to get them to retreat back into the fort.”

“And if the shantak is flying?”

“Then things get real complicated real fast… in that case, do what you can to help Captain Long save as many troopers as possible, and get the hell out of there.”

“Yessir.”

“One more thing—if you can, stay away from the fort around dawn on the day after tomorrow. In theory the shantak and the eagles will both be out of commission and you shouldn’t have to, but just in case.”

“I hadn’t planned on it, Commander. We’ll do our best.”

“Can you get started ferrying us up there as soon as it’s dark?”

“Yessir. The three of you, right?”

“And a few crates. Any problem with a few crates?”

“Crates? How heavy?”

“Two crates. Maybe a hundred kilos or so, each, I’d say.”

“Two hundred kilos plus three men plus thalassion for the next morning… that’s quite a load,” mused Beorhtwig.

“Does it all have to be done at once?” asked Ginette.

“No, not at all. If that helps.”

“It would help quite a bit,” nodded Beorhtwig. “We’ve already got a stock of thalassion fire up at the aerie on Mt. Thartis, and it would be a lot easier to carry that up closer to Bleth tonight instead of flying up from here with it. Plus, we can let them rest between flights, even take it in stages.”

“Excellent. I’ll have everything ready to go at dusk. Come by the armory then and help us carry the stuff to the wyverns.

“Any other questions?”

“I think we’re good,” said Beorhtwig, and glanced at Ginette. She nodded.

“I’ll see you later, then. I’ve got some other things to take care of.”

They took the hint and left as Jake looked around for Sergeant TT. Sunset was coming and they had some preparations to make.

* * *

Jake and TT sat next to each other on Flogdreka’s back, sitting uncomfortably behind Beorhtwig as they flapped over the pitch-black mountain valleys, past rock faces stern in shades of gray. Jake twisted his head to check that Fæger was still with them.

Ginette was hunched over her wyvern’s neck, perhaps whispering something, or just resting, and he could see Aercaptain de Palma behind her with the two crates.

Jake and the two men with him were pretty heavy, while the lighter woman and Aercaptain lightened the load for Fæger and made it possible for the wyvern to carry the cargo as well. They transferred it from the crates to fabric sacks to minimize the weight.

“Is Nadeen alright?”

“She was asleep—drugged—when I left, but Dunchanti said she should be fine after a couple days.”

“You should have stayed with her… I can handle this.”

Jake was silent for a moment.

“I knew we were heading for a fight, but I thought that fucker would at least give me the two weeks. He fucking planned to take out the airship!”

“So he fights the same way they did back where we came from,” said TT. “We should have expected it, really… all this talk about trusting people’s word and tradition and bullshit. It’s great when everyone believes it, but the whole thing falls apart when someone stomps on it.”

“I could have handled loss of the airship. Plans never last long once the fighting starts, even here… but now it’s personal. He killed my son, hurt Nadeen… He’s about to find out what happens when you tell someone the gloves are off.”

“You sure they’re ready? You were planning on using them later, to take out Thuba Mleen… if they don’t work it’s gonna be a royal shitshow.”

“Only one way to find out if they work. Wyverns, and eagles, and shantaks… but he really shouldn’t have hurt Nadeen.”

“You think he,” asked TT, indicating Beorhtwig with his chin, “can pull it off? Could get exciting if that shantak is around later.”

“Shortly before we met, you know, I put a few rounds into a sandroach that made the mistake of fucking with my troops. 9-mil slugs worked just fine on that thing, and they’ll work just fine on a shantak, too, even if it can stop a scorpion bolt.”

“What the fuck’s a sandroach?”

“Like an antlion, only about the size of a car. A big car.”

“Nothing personal, but I’ll pass on that, thank you very much.”

Jake snorted.

“Yeah, we just wanted to get past it, too. Damn thing killed two men before I popped it. Tried to get a piece of my ass, too.

“How many clips you got?”

“Only one spare. I’ve been trying to make new ones, with Einar, but they always jam.”

“One in the Glock, two on my belt. Should be plenty, though… we aren’t expecting visitors.”

“Famous last words.”

Jake grunted.

“Commander?” came a shout from up front, blown back by the wind. “That’s the valley up ahead.”

Jake leaned forward so Beorhtwig could hear him better.

“The closer to Bleth the better. Lots of boulders… make sure you can get down safely!”

Beorhtwig twitched the reins a little without answering. In response the wyvern slowed its pumping wings and began to angle down into the shadows.

The moon was only about half-full, and the surrounding peaks cut off most of even that little illumination.

Flogdreka bounced to a stop on a gentle slope half-covered by scree, with a few large boulders they could just barely make out in the darkness.

“I didn’t see any fires in the valley from above,” said Jake. “Did anyone?”

“Nope,” said TT as he watched Fæger skid to halt next to them.

“Nothing,” said Beorhtwig. “Doesn’t mean they’re not here, though.”

“We’ll take our chances,” said Jake. He walked over to help the Aercaptain unload the heavy cloth sacks from Fæger. “TT, keep an eye out, will ya?”

“I’m on it, Jake.”

In a few minutes the wyverns were back up in the air, heading toward their aeries on the top of Mt. Thartis for a little rest and some snacks. They’d pick up the thalassion—mostly naphtha—there, and destroy the eagles’ coop at Bleth at dawn if all went well.

With luck they’d get the shantak under control, too.

“We’ll have to wait until there’s a little light,” said Jake. “I know what the entrance looks like, thanks to these sketches, but I can’t see anything.”

“Let’s get everything out of the open anyway,” said TT. “Aercaptain, grab that one and I’ll get these.”

“Bleth’s that way,” said Jake. “Might as well look in that direction.”

Everyone picked up a sack or two and they moved closer to the mountain with their loads.

Two large boulders offered an excellent place to wait, and rested there quietly until the sky began to show signs of light to the east. The first rays of the rising sun had yet to touch the high peaks of the Mohaggers, but the sky was beginning to lighten.

Jake pulled out the sketches out to study the face of the mountain.

“This is definitely the right mountain—Snakescale, apparently—it’s triangular, and pretty thin. Now we just have to find the passage.

“That scar on the mountain is just a bit to the right of the entrance,” he continued, pointing to a lighter patch of rock. “We should be able to find it without too much trouble once we get closer.

“Just one sack each. Once we find the passage we can come back for the rest.”

They each picked up one sack and Jake led the way toward the sheer face of the mountain soaring above them.

“Now I need a big rock with two smaller ones right… ah, there it is.”

The passage was almost impossible to see unless you knew just where to look, but the sketch made it a lot easier. They dropped their sacks there and went back for the rest.

“How long until sunrise, do you think?”

“Can’t see the peaks from here, but the sun must’ve hit the highest ones already,” ventured de Palma. “Shouldn’t be long now.”

“Let’s get all this stuff into the passageway and out of sight,” said Jake. “And then I want to take a look at this overlook they found.”

A few minutes later they were looking down at Bleth.

Jake pulled out the layout sketch and compared it to the fort below.

“Don’t see any obvious changes… that building over there must be the eagle coop.”

“Desert’s getting pretty bright…Beorhtwig should be along any minute.”

They couldn’t see any peaks from here, but the desert sands stretching out below were already clearly visible.

“There!” cried de Palma, pointing to an upthrust of rock in the distance. It shone a bright orange in the first rays of the rising sun, and as they watched the sunlight raced across the desert, setting it afire with the brilliant yellows and oranges of the dawn.

Everything was silent.

Jake searched the sky for the wyverns, as much of it as he could see from here.

Nothing.

He leaned forward a little to expand his field of view, and suddenly a black mass swooped down only meters from his eyes.

“Son of a bitch!” He leapt back in surprise, then chuckled. “And there they go!”

The wyverns swept past at top speed, dropping out of the sky above the Mohaggers to plunge, wings back, toward the fort.

Jake watched as they dive-bombed the eagle coop, snapping out their wings at what looked like only meters above the roof to level off as Beorhtwig and Ginette threw bags of thalassion fuel left and right, covering the surface.

The alarm bell was clanging away now, alerting the defenders, and troopers came boiling out of their barracks. The archers were already firing at the wyverns, but their speed took them away from the fort safely as the eagle coop exploded into a ball of fire, a roaring conflagration that would burn for hours, he knew.

And if they wanted to spend precious water to try to put it out sooner, even better.

The wyverns were flapping their huge wings now, slowly climbing up off the desert floor, back toward the mountain heights. Beorhtwig was climbing steadily but Ginette’s wyvern seemed to be having trouble keeping up.

“Oh, yes,” breathed Jake. “That’s beautiful, just beautiful.”

“I only see one… no, there’s another… that makes two eagles that made it out, it looks like,” added TT. “I’d call that an unqualified success, Jake.

“Oh, look! Over there! The fire’s spread to that other building there, too. Barracks, maybe?”

“Where…? Oh, yeah. Burn, you fuckers.”

“There’s the shantak!” broke in de Palma, tapping Jake on the shoulder and pointing.

It was just leaving its own coop, sited on the closest side of the fort.

“Beorhtwig’s got the altitude on it now,” said Jake. “Hope he sees it coming!”

He searched the sky again.

There was Ginette on her wyvern, still climbing laboriously, and the larger shantak was making a beeline for her. It must be making a Herculean effort to catch up, heavier as it was, but the thing had energy to spare, and gradually grew closer and closer. Ginette turned out into the desert, where there was room to maneuver without the high peaks.

Ginette saw it coming and levelled off, letting Fæger concentrate on building up speed instead of height. All things equal, the wyverns had the edge in terms of speed and agility, but if the shantak got close enough to fight it out it could tear the wyverns to pieces.

And it was still coming after her, building up an enormous velocity.

She zigged and zagged, trying to force the shantak to slip a little bit and give her the chance she needed to escape, but it seemed to guess her every stratagem, growing steadily closer.

The shantak’s rider had his bow out now, getting ready to loose a shaft at the wyvern, or Ginette. He drew back, aiming, ready to fire as soon as he thought he could make the shot, sighting down the arrow, following Ginette’s every move.

She turned back toward the mountains again, perhaps hoping to find use her superior agility to escape.

A black shape hurtled down from above, striking the shantak a glancing blow from behind, then shearing off.

Beorhtwig!

Ginette’s wyvern miraculously sped up, twisting and turning in midair to drop under the shantak, spinning to rake its belly with its talons, as Beorhtwig came swooping back to attack the monster’s head.

“The rider! He’s gone!”

Jake looked again. He’d been following Ginette so closely he hadn’t noticed… the shantak’s rider was gone, dead, snatched away by Beorhtwig’s ambush, leaving the shantak an uncontrolled, wild beast that was much easier to deal with.

Ginette had been luring it into position, faking it.

The two wyverns were dancing around the shantak now, staying out of its reach while raking it with their talons at every opportunity: wings, belly, tail, head.

Recognizing its danger the shantak folded its wings closer, dropping sharply toward the desert floor, and the safety of Bleth.

The wyverns let it go, and triumphantly drifted back toward the Mohaggers, and out of Jake’s sight.

Below, the eagle’s coop was still burning fiercely.

* * *

There were no campfires, of course, this close to Bleth, but the inside of the command tent was illuminated by a single dim lantern.

“We made good time today, and according to Captain Serilarinna we’re right at the end of the pass.”

“We are. The forest starts to thin out quickly from here, and the valley widens out to open up into the desert. There is a pretty long section of scrub and grass, and then loose rock and sand until it reaches the actual desert itself,” explained Seri. “We’re hidden here, for now.”

“Well, I think it’s safe to assume they know we’re here, and they probably have a good idea of our numbers, too,” broke in Chinh.

“Of course,” agreed Long. “We made sure to let them know we’re coming.”

“Where’s the Commander?”

“He didn’t say,” said Long. “He said if can get them all back into the fort, he’ll take care of the rest.”

“By himself!?”

“Well, he’s got Sergeant TiTi and the wyverns with him…” pointed out Long.

“And we’ve got the shantak,” grumbled Beghara. “If they really hurt it yesterday, great, but if that thing can still fly we’re in deep shit.”

“From what we saw yesterday,” said Seri, “they hurt it. I know they killed the rider, so the thing’s just wild now, but whether it can still fly, and whether it’ll attack us or not…”

“Nothing we can do about that now,” said Long. “We’ll just have to deal with it when it happens. If it happens.

“Our job today is to chase Thuba Mleen back into Bleth. They have a huge advantage on us in terms of troops, and the defensive fortifications of Bleth itself behind them. If they decide to meet us in the open we need to really hit them hard, and drive them back inside.

“They’ll think of it as a chance to regroup before coming back to crush us, but Jake said all we need to do is get them inside.”

“But if they outnumber us and have the fort at their back,…” mused Chinh.

“Yeah.”

“We’ve got some advantages, I think,” said Long. “First of all, I don’t think anyone knows about the horses… we took care to always have riders on them, or at least some of them, so they probably think they’re just spare mounts.

“By the time they figure out the horses are armed troopers it’ll be too late.

“Captain Serilarinna, your raptors are another one. Everyone knows how to fight a raptor, especially if you’re in a group, but these aren’t dumb animals anymore. Again, by the time they notice the raptors aren’t playing fair, they’ll be dead.”

“If the shantak’s really out of it,” added Captain Ekene, “the wyverns alone will probably be able to force them back into the fort.”

“I hope it is,” nodded Beghara, “because even with the horses and the raptors, we’re still outnumbered. Without the wyverns we might be able to drive them back to the fort temporarily, but it’ll cost us dear.”

There was a murmur of agreement. They all knew what their odds were.

“OK, so if they’re still inside the fort then all we have to do is keep them there long enough for the Commander to do whatever it is he’s got planned. How to accomplish that?”

“Suppose we just walk up and ask them to surrender?”

Everyone chuckled at Khasar’s suggestion.

“Actually, I’m serious,” he continued. “I don’t mean a parley, because it there’s an attack during a parley Scorpius Company’s name’ll be ruined forever. But if just walk up and ask them to surrender, no formal parley or anything…”

“They’ll shoot you full of arrows!”

“I’m not sure they would… a lot of Thuba Mleen’s troops are from the desert, and they respect bravery. It’d be a point of honor to talk to the enemy before a battle, and Harithah is of the desert, too. From their point of view they have nothing to lose, and it gives them more time to see what we’ve got here.”

“Hmm… sounds pretty risky to me,” said Long. “If they’re sure of their position they’ll still just shoot you full of arrows.”

The Bagatur shrugged.

“If they decide to fight us chances are I’ll die anyway… I have little to lose by trying.”

Captain Long broke the silence after a few moments.

“I don’t really like it but I don’t see any other way of getting a superior force to stay inside their fort. Anyone?”

Mutters and headshakes.

“I don’t seem to have any other options right now… and what if they meet us on the plain?”

“Without the wyverns? Worse, without the wyverns and with their damn shantak?”

“Then we’re royally fucked,” said Ekene. “If your scorpion can’t hurt that thing my arrows sure won’t.”

“If the shantak is really out of action and the wyverns can attack we’ve got an excellent chance, but without them…”

“We’ll have to assume the wyverns are with us,” said Long. “I want us in a primarily defensive stance, with the idea that we’ll hold our position until the wyverns do their work and Thuba Mleen retreats to the fort.

“If there’s an opening we take it and try to trigger a rout.

“But at the same time I want to make damn sure we can retreat to the forest quickly, without being routed ourselves, if that shantak shows up.”

“So the horse and the raptors will be shock troops on standby, then,” said Seri, glancing at Beghara to check what she thought.

Beghara nodded.

“No point in using the horses until we need to… the longer we can keep them secret, the more effective they’ll be.”

“And the raptors?” asked Long.

“Same thing, I think… they know we have raptors, but they’ll be fairly confident in their ability to handle them. There are a lot more of them than we have raptors, after all,” said Chinh. “We can play that to our advantage, though, by making it look like the raptor handlers are elsewhere. Mudge can jump to the attack when she sees a weak spot, even without a handler around, but they won’t know that.”

“Excellent point,” nodded Long. “Maybe even put up a little fence that looks like it’s supposed to keep them from running around.”

Half an hour later everyone was ready, and they moved up, out of the forest, into the open, lit by the grey, predawn light.

In spite of their planning, Commander Harithah was already there to meet them.

“That’s at least three twelves in the middle there, Captain Long,” said Chinh, holding the spyglass to his eye. “Swords, axes, the usual… They look surprisingly coherent: more formation, better defensive support.”

“Archers?”

“Yeah, there’s a line facing us, behind the swordsmen holding the front line.”

“And there’s another group of a dozen or so around the commander, on the hillock to the left,” added Captain Serilarinna.

Across the gravel-strewn wasteland they could see Thuba Mleen’s troops at the ready, drawn up into a defensive position. Few of them wore visible armor, but their weapons shone brightly in the pre-dawn light.

They also outnumbered Jake’s troops by about three to one, with massive fort Bleth behind.

Captain Long’s force was tired from the forced march the previous day, even though they’d rested for a few hours before leaving the forest. The sight of a larger and well-rested enemy facing them did nothing to lift their spirits.

Jake had said to be here by dawn, and he was, tired or not.

And it looked like he had a battle ahead of him, against a superior force.

“Wyverns!” came the shout.

Long looked up. The two wyverns had just flown out from the Mohaggers, circling once over the enemy force, and then swooping down to drop a row of grenades along their front line. Thuba Mleen’s troops scattered like thistledown, some dropping flat in an effort to protect themselves, others flung into the air in fountains of dirt and blood.

The wyverns circled around once more, well out of range of the Bleth’s engines, readying more grenades to drop on Thuba Mleen’s forces, suddenly revealed defenseless.

Long smiled. If the wyverns could bombard the enemy force they’d withdraw in short order.

Suddenly they sheared off, splitting off into two directions, wings booming in the air with new energy as the shantak roared into the air behind them.

“It’s still got a rider!”

Beorhtwig had killed the rider the day before, and torn the shantak’s wings… it was supposed to be inside the fort, unable to fly!

The wyverns swerved wildly, trying to throw the shantak off, but they’d been too close to Bleth when it had suddenly appeared. It closed in on Fæger, and Ginette tried to use the wyvern’s superior agility to escape, pivoting in midair to swing perilously close to the mountain’s face.

The shantak turned right on her tail, closing fast, and then gunshots rang out from midway up the mountain.

Long counted at least a dozen distant cracks—Jake’s pistol!

The shantak wobbled for a moment in flight, and as its rider slumped over onto its back, dead or unconscious, leaving the shantak uncontrolled and in pain at the bullets that had peppered it.

It immediately turned toward those loud noises, the source of the pain, and latched its front legs onto the rough mountainside.

* * *

Jake watched the two forces approach each other on the plain.

The situation wasn’t good: Thuba Mleen’s force had already deployed outside the fort, and unless Captain Long could come up with a way to get them back in again, he was going to lose a lot of troopers. Maybe everyone.

Then the wyverns appeared, bombarding the arrayed enemy force from the safety of the air, and he relaxed a bit. Without air support they’d have no choice but to pull back to the relative safety of the fort.

“Fuck! That damn shantak is back!” spit TT, standing at his side.

They watched the wyverns spin and twist in midair, striving to escape the monster’s talons. They had the agility, but they’d been caught too low, and too slow… unless they could somehow find enough breathing space to build up speed, the shantak would knock them out of the sky.

Ginette’s wyvern jinked suddenly toward the mountain, maybe in an effort to use its superior agility to cut inside the shantak before it could turn, and the shantak spun with her, close on her tail.

Right towards them!

“The rider! Get the rider!” shouted de Palma, and Jake and TT both fired their pistols at the rider as he rode past their vantage point.

Astonished, he glanced to see them there before two bullets tore through his chest, knocking him down, still held to the shantak’s back by his harness.

The shantak wobbled in the air as the rider collapsed. It turned toward the loud noises it heard, and saw the three puny men standing on the ledge.

Meat!

“Shit! Here it comes!”

Jake and TT raised their pistols, feet sliding on the stone to find solid support, while their pistols centered on the thing’s head.

TT shot first, four shots and then pop the clip to reload.

Jake was a second later, firing a full clip into the thing’s head and it came slamming into their hideout, its enormous equine head hitting the overhang as it forced itself forward, and lifted one arm to scoop them out.

TT, reloading complete, stepped up closer to the shantak’s head on the opposite side, and fired the full clip into it as fast as he could pull the trigger.

Blood spurted from the wound, half its skull torn away.

The arm slowed, twitched, scraped backwards along the rock, and it fell out of sight, down the side of the mountain, with a sigh and a rumble of rock.

Jake lowered his pistol, panting, glancing at the furrows scored into the rock floor to see how close they’d been to his boot.

He suddenly recalled the mission, and looked down…

Dismayed by the death of the shantak, and the attacking wyverns, Harithah’s troopers were pulling back into the fort.

The raptors surged from one side, tearing into the retreating force and turning it into a rout.

Jake saw how Captain Long kept his troopers back, keeping them from getting too close to the fort… perfect!

“Get ready,” he said, picking up a cord from the floor. “On my word.”

Sergeant TT and Aercaptain de Palma picked up their own ropes.

Almost all the enemy was back in now… yes, and there! The gates had just slammed shut!

Now if the raptors would just pull back…

They did! Whether they sensed what was coming or Long called them back, he didn’t know, but they were moving away from the fort, and that’s all he needed.

“Now!” and yanked the rope.

They’d spent most of the night setting everything up and double-checking what they could.

The sacks had been full of heavy metal balls of copper wire, about fifteen cm in diameter, each with a hole through the center. The balls had been set up along the face of Snakescale, stretching out from their hidden lookout for over a hundred meters, with a second line higher up.

Each ball was mounted on a long rope hanging down the mountainside, but held in place with a simple cord running through them all, one they could pull out quickly.

As they yanked the cords the balls were released, rolling down the mountainside, spinning the copper wire windings around their magnetic cores as they fell, faster and faster, spitting and sputtering electric arcs in simple patterns imposed by their design.

Jake watched them in their dozens as they raced down the mountainside.

If this didn’t work…

Within seconds, before the first ball has even reached the end of its rope racecourse, a giant eye appeared above them, a few clouds still visible through its semi-transparent image. Stars gleamed bright in the center, a pupil with the blackness of space.

Explosions began, rippling across the mountainside, like a string of monstrous firecrackers. Enormous gouges appeared in its flank, spherical holes that popped suddenly into existence, destroying the copper wire sphere and enormous chunks of the mountain at the same time.

“Go!” screamed Jake.

The three of them raced to the exit, leaping across the gap while prepared to grab hold of the safety rope if need be. Jake was last, and as his feet left the passage floor he felt it shift, and his hand slipped.

TT was there, holding his wrist in his huge hand and pulling him up to safety.

Without a pause they sprinted down the passage, away from Snakescale and into the valley, leaping boulders without thought to broken legs.

The ground shook and clouds of dust and smoke covered them until finally the noise stopped, except for the skittering of tiny stones slipping to new resting places.

They stopped and turned.

Snakescale was no more… in its place rose a shattered stump, the root of the mountain laid bare, pockmarked by spherical holes across its top edge like the crenelations of a castle.

“What… was… that…?” breathed de Palma, mouth gaping.

“I was almost killed by Reed when I first got here,” said Jake. “But this time she’s been downright useful.

“Those copper balls generated electricity. Electric arcs generate radio waves, and we found a way to get her attention by timing the sequence of arcs.

“Reed’s magic eraser took care of the rest.”

“But what happened to the mountain?”

“Walk with me and I’ll show you,” said Jake. “The show’s all over now.”

They walked back toward the edge, where Snakescale had once stood, and looked down at Bleth.

Over half of it was buried under the mountain, and the remaining half was shattered by huge boulders. A few troopers sat or stood in shock.

“And there they go!” said Jake, pointing down at Captain Long’s troops as they surged forward into Bleth.

There was little resistance.

A shadow passed overhead and Jake involuntarily flinched.

The wyverns!

They made a rough landing nearby and Beorhtwig called down.

“Quite a show, Commander!”

“Quite a show yourself, Sergeant. Thanks to your grenades they were all back in the fort.”

“It could have gotten pretty awkward if you hadn’t taken care of the shantak for us, though.”

“You led him to us,” said TT. “Made it real easy.”

Ginette laughed.

“I didn’t lead him anywhere! I was just running for my life!”

“You think you can get us down to Bleth?” asked Jake.

“Sure, no problem. Don’t even have to flap, just glide right on down,” said Beorhtwig. “Give me your hand.”

It was indeed a short trip to the ruins of Bleth.

END