Ken Liu - The Wall of Storms

Dissolver of Sorrows and the rest of the fleet were equipped with harpoons and strong cables. The idea was to take advantage of migrating whale pods who were headed in the right direction and hitch a ride underwater. The whales would pull the boats under the Wall of Storms, at which point the lines could be disengaged and the boats resurface.

Only now, instead of having to harpoon whales, the crubens were offering to give them a hand.

Strong cables were attached to the tails of the great crubens. The ships were ready to dive.

“Incoming!” one of the lookouts shouted.

In the distance, the Wall of Storms was almost completely closed. As the city-ships of the Lyucu foundered, a single garinafin had taken off without a pilot in an attempt to escape the doomed fleet. It saw the Dara fleet and winged its way directly at them.

Observers on the city-ship sent by Pékyu Vadyu, after suffering the shock of witnessing the destruction of the Lyucu fleet, now also steered their ship toward the Dara fleet.

“Dive! Dive!”

Théra and Takval and the rest of the crew scrambled belowdecks. Hatches were closed and oar ports closed and sealed. The ballast tanks began to fill with water. The ships began to slowly sink under the waves.

“We forgot to cast off the signaling kites!” Théra said. She gazed through the underwater portholes at the turbulent water in the wake of the massive cruben flukes. “And we never got a chance to let Pan know that the second Lyucu fleet is destroyed.”

“Too late to worry about that now,” said Takval. “They’ll figure out what happened soon enough.”

Above them, the garinafin circled. The cyclones of the Wall of Storms had destroyed the city-ships, depriving it of a place to land. The garinafin—riderless, terrified, and enraged—ignored the safe haven of the approaching Lyucu city-ship, despite the bone trumpets blaring from its deck. The beast would have its vengeance on these barbarian ships.

“We have to do something,” Théra said. “It takes time for the ships to dive, and the crubens are vulnerable as long as they are near the surface.”

Théra and Takval climbed back up onto the deck of Dissolver of Sorrows .

The garinafin dove at the cruben hauling their ship. Both of them more than a hundred feet in length, the king of flying beasts was going to challenge the sovereign of the seas.

The garinafin opened its maw wide, and just as it passed above the cruben, it snapped its jaws shut and opened them again to shoot out a scorching tongue of flames.

The cruben opened its blowhole and a spray of water shot into the air, meeting the tongue of fire halfway. Fire and water contended in midair and hissing steam drifted over the sea.

The cruben escaped unscathed. The garinafin swerved away, circling around for another strafing run.

The other Dara ships were almost all underwater. But if the garinafin avoided the blowhole, it could still severely injure the cruben before Dissolver of Sorrows was underwater.

“We have to distract it,” Théra said. “Come with me!”

How she wished they had silkmotic arrows or lances.

She and Takval took up positions next to the winch for the signaling kite. “Battle kites are from an older time, but sometimes you have to fight with whatever is at hand.”

Grabbing onto the cable, they directed the kite to swerve at the garinafin. It was just like in the old sagas, where heroes vaulted into the heavens on battle kites to duel, and their loyal retainers directed the kites to dive, swerve, and chase, creating intricate patterns in the sky as though writing in air.

The kite line cut into Théra’s and Takval’s palms. They gritted their teeth and held on even as blood coated the line and made it even harder to grab on. Théra tore strips from her dress so that she and Takval could wrap them around their palms and continue the fight.

The pilotless garinafin snarled at the kite and rushed at it.

Théra and Takval just barely managed to direct the kite to dive out of the way.

The enraged garinafin hovered in air and opened its maw to breath fire, the fleet below it having been forgotten.

All the other ships had disappeared safely beneath the seas.

Théra and Takval jerked the line hard, and the fire tongue from the garinafin missed the kite by inches.

Finally realizing its error, the hovering garinafin now stared at the two humans on the deck of the ship responsible for the nettlesome kite and opened its maw.

“Pull hard!” Théra screamed. And she and Takval winched the kite line hard and dragged it toward them.

The jaws of the garinafin snapped shut. When they opened again, a tongue of fire would shoot out at Théra and Takval, incinerating them where they stood.

The kite dove at the garinafin and the line caught the thin, serpentine neck as the kite made a loud buzzing noise and zoomed rapidly in tightening circles around the head of the garinafin, finally entangling itself in the antlers after tying the mouth of the garinafin shut with the trailing cable.

The garinafin struggled mightily at the end of the line, now a living kite. The winch unspooled rapidly as the cable let out.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Théra. The two dove back under the hatch, sealing it behind them. Dissolver of Sorrows continued to take on water and began to sink under the waves.

The cruben dove as well and began to pull the ship deeper under the sea for a safe traversal of the Wall of Storms. The gigantic flukes undulated gracefully in the darkening water.

The kite line jerked straight. The strong strands of silk refused to yield as the garinafin was slowly, inexorably pulled down, despite the slowing beating of its massive wings.

With a thunderous splash, the garinafin crashed into the water, its air supply choked off by the kite line.

The crew of Dissolver of Sorrows felt a light jerk as the kite line finally broke, leaving the death-dealing beast bobbing at the surface of the sea.

By the time the Lyucu city-ship finally arrived on the scene, all the crew could do was to butcher the garinafin carcass and retrieve useful supplies. Not a single man or beast had survived from the second Lyucu fleet. The thanes onboard mourned their comrades and did not relish the thought of reporting the news to Pékyu Vadyu back home on Rui.

Théra gazed into the murky depths of the porthole as they headed for the Wall of Storms, for the unknown, for the future.

The questioning voice was mellifluous and gentle, like a cool spring after a march through the desert.

- You’ve really decided to leave in this form?

The replying voice cracked with the weight of age and wisdom, like the back of a turtle shell.

- I have. It’s not possible to pass through the Wall of Storms as long as I remain an immortal.

- Giving up your divinity is a drastic step.

- Tazu once lived an entire lifetime as a mortal, a long time ago.

- That was a punishment. You’re doing this voluntarily.

- You have to admit, it’s getting a bit uncomfortable here with the Lyucu insisting that Tazu and I share the same body.

- That’s just a temporary phase. It will be sorted out.

- Maybe, but the desire to see other shores is hardly unique among the mortals. I want to gaze upon new lands, and Dissolver of Sorrows , led by your protégée, is as good an opportunity as any. I’ll be just another member of the crew on this grand adventure.

- We’ll miss you. No god of Dara has ever done what you’re about to do.