Margaret Weis - Shadow Raiders

Green fire flared, racing toward the Cloud Hopper. Gythe’s magical defenses arced blue and the first shots did no damage-except to Gythe. She gave a whimpering cry and put her hands over her ears.

“Gythe! Go below!” Stephano shouted.

Gythe either didn’t hear him, or she was pretending she couldn’t hear him. He had asked her before what the demons were saying to her, but she had replied that while their words made sense at the time, they didn’t make sense when she thought about it. Like voices in a dream.

Stephano watched an approaching bat, waiting for it to fly into his sights, a trick he’d learned in the last battle. Below the Hopper, the shore batteries had opened fire on the ungainly black-sailed ship, which was flying straight toward them. The ship was still out of range, and the batteries were trying to find their target. The demonic ship was armed with only a single gun mounted on the high sterncastle. The gun wasn’t very big, and Stephano wondered what sort of damage the fiends thought they could do with that.

He fired the swivel gun at a demon and saw it veer rapidly off. He had no idea whether he’d hit it or not. Dag’s gun fired almost simultaneously. Dag struck his target; the giant bat shrieked horribly, flipped over, and bat and rider went spiraling down into the Breath. Before Dag could reload, a bat flew up from underneath the hull and dove at Miri. Dag grabbed his musket and fired, just as the demon shot green fire at her. Miri ducked behind the helm. The Cloud Hopper’s magic flamed blue. The demon flew off; one arm dangling useless at his side.

Gythe slumped down onto the deck and moaned.

“Dag! Take Gythe below!” Stephano yelled.

Dag tried to persuade her to leave. She shook her head obstinately. Stephano reloaded his swivel gun and Miri left her helm long enough to race over to reload Dag’s. Stephano waited tensely for another attack, but none came. Bats that had been flying toward them suddenly veered and flew off. Dag, shaking his head, went back to the gun. Gythe, shivering in fear, remained defiantly on deck.

Miri dashed back to the helm. The fight with the bats had cost them precious time. The Silver Raven, now with all sails set and its propellers whirling, was drawing away from the Cloud Hopper. Stephano had lost sight of Rodrigo.

“Stay with them!” Stephano yelled.

“I’m trying!” Miri yelled back impatiently. “Something is fouling the main yard control lines. I can’t set the mainsail! Port side.”

Stephano ran to the port blocks. A quick examination revealed several large splinters of wood lodged in three of the main pulley lines. Stephano used the butt end of his pistol to knock the obstructions free.

The port mainsail filled with air. The Cloud Hopper surged forward.

Stephano and Dag remained at the swivel guns, watching the bats and the demonic ship, which was crawling nearer and nearer the shore batteries. Its single gun looked like a child’s toy. The shore batteries were firing, attempting to hit the strange ship, but they were having difficulty targeting the vessel.

Stephano and Dag both aimed their swivel guns at the demonic ship, though there was small chance of hitting it. Still, a lucky shot might do some damage. As Stephano stared down the sights, the ship flickered and blurred in his vision, shifting left, then right. The sight made him dizzy and he had to look away. He blinked and tried to aim again, but the same thing happened.

“I can’t see to shoot at it!” Dag called.

“Some sort of weird magic,” Stephano muttered.

The Cloud Hopper was directly above the battlements, flying over them at about twenty feet. A man in a black cassock ran along the top of the wall, followed by a man in armor that shone in the sunlight. Stephano recognized Father Jacob and Sir Ander. Some distance behind the two, he could see their companion, the monk. Movement and the flash of sunlight on scales caught his eye and he looked up at the Bastion and his heart skipped a beat.

A dragon stood poised on the top of the cliff, his wings spread, ready to soar down and join in the fighting. Stephano recognized his old friend, Sergeant Hroalfrig. Stephano waved to try to attract the dragon’s attention. Miri had caught sight of Father Jacob and was exclaiming in worry over him.

A green beam shot out from the single gun mounted on the strange ship and struck the concrete bunker housing the guns of the shore battery. The beam was powerful, blinding as though one had looked directly into the sun. All Stephano could see for a moment was the afterimage, yellow tinged with red. The beam blazed for maybe a minute. Green light washed over the concrete and stone and magic walls of the bunker and then the beam went out.

Nothing happened.

No fire, no explosion.

The guns of the shore battery had not ceased shooting. Stephano could hear the booms and see the flashes from the muzzles and the cannonballs flying through the air. He was halfway inclined to laugh at the demonic ship and its little gun, and then he heard a rumbling sound, deep and terrible; the sound of breaking, cracking, smashing.

The side of the bunker crumbled. The stone and concrete walls collapsed, crushing the gun crews. The enormous cannons lurched forward and fell into the Breach, along with a huge portion of the side of the cliff. The walls of the old Fort cracked. The guard towers shook and started to topple.

Stephano tried frantically to see what had happened to Father Jacob and Sir Ander who had been on top of the battlements. Smoke and dust rose up in choking clouds and he lost sight of them. He looked for Hroalfrig and saw the dragon diving straight into the midst of the chaos and then Stephano lost sight of him, as well.

On board the Cloud Hopper, everyone was dazed, struck dumb. Sailing above the disaster, they looked down on utter ruin. Even from here, they could hear the screams of the wounded, the dying.

Then Miri gulped and said in a strangled voice, “How did… how did that happen!”

“I saw something like this back on the redoubt,” said Dag, shaken. He glanced at Stephano. “The fire from your dragons broke down the magical sigils. My crafter had to work to restore them. But this.. .” He shook his head, words failing him.

“This attack didn’t break down the sigils,” said Stephano grimly. “This obliterated them.”

Gythe gave an eerie animal cry and pulled herself up. She ran to the railing and was leaning over, staring into the ravaged fortress. Walls were still collapsing. One of the towers-located directly over the battery-had gone down in a heap of stone and rubble. Gythe pointed frantically at the fort.

“She wants to help,” said Miri. She didn’t say it, but they all knew Gythe was thinking of Brother Barnaby.

“There’s nothing we could do,” said Stephano. “We’re not out of this yet ourselves. And we can’t abandon Rigo.”

Gythe looked at him, her face tearstained and unhappy. She gave a bleak nod of understanding.

The Silver Raven was sailing past the last guard tower, leaving the Old Fort behind, heading out into the open Breath. Stephano looked back, fearing pursuit, but the demons were concentrating their attacks on the naval ships. Smoke and flame shot up from the dockyards and the harbor area. The demonic ship with the green beam was coming about. Another shot would finish the Old Fort, but now the demons were facing a new threat-the flagship, the Royal Lion, was bearing down on them.

“Ha, ha!” Miri cried triumphantly, pointing to the Raven. “I knew it!”

Stephano wrenched his gaze away from the battle and looked at the merchant ship, which had been steadily drawing away from them. He had been wondering dismally how they were ever going to catch Raven when he saw the ship had slowed considerably. Sailors were rushing about the deck, where Wallace stood, red-faced and furious, gesturing wildly.