Two Halves: Chapter 47

chapter 27, a long one

Twenty-four days later Nicolas was sitting on the edge of the ship, his legs dangling off the edge. Plans had gone remarkably well, everything had slotted into place. The smaller faster crafts of the Cloud Walkers could make the round trip to Cloud Top and back in two days, so they were receiving regular reports and updates form that city as well. Apparently the deployment there had gone easier than expected there as well; the great noble houses, who were the ones who commissioned and technically owned the great blimps, had always planned to go back to war, and as such had slowly fitted the zeppelins out for war.

 

For once everything seemed to be going their way, on Ernie’s side the different mafia groups had finally stopped bickering and were uniting under a banner that they could all accept. Ironically, as Ernie had told him, it was the old banner of the Flamel clan. The hand clasped around the vial. Since the plans were all set in place, and because the Cloud Walkers were expecting this all along Nicolas had a lot of free time over the past few weeks. It was a welcomed breather, and it seemed since coming up with this idea of rebellion all he had been doing was running and fighting. He had time to rebrew most of the potions he had lost when their luggage had been trapped in non-space, and had even been able to find suitable replacements for his clothing and magical tech.

 

Zeckle sat next to him; she laid back her raven hair sprawled out like a black sun framing her face. She had stayed away from the Sky Lord once he had told her of what was he was. It was a curious power to be sure, and Nicolas had never even heard of a null existing before. Never the less he had been courteous and helpful; he and Jento even had something in common, for Venlock’s father had close a friendship Jento’s predecessor.

 

Everything, like puzzle pieces slotting into place. They had left five days previous, and due to a favorable headwind had passed through Cloud Top the previous day. The eight great blimps were surrounded by hundreds of small ships. He and Zeckle were aboard the Cloud Walker’s flagship, Cerenlius. Their plan was already making itself evident. Below them was a mushroom shaped construct with ten shamans dancing around it. under each of the great ships was a shaped stream of magic. The ships of the Cloud Walkers were shaping the currents of magic energy that constantly flowed around the planet. Diverting and unifying the smaller streams into single giant spear heads.   The magic had become so think under the ships that it glowed as waves of incandescent blue miles across.

 

Their entire plan hinged on these magical projectiles. They were needed to smash through the Mile High Wall. They would overload the runes and reduce them to nothing in once spot with amounts of magic that hadn’t been seen in such quantities since the Blaze War. Once the wall was smashed through magic would flood the city destroying all Salex tech and allowing them free reign.

 

They were on the planes now, where the magic runs were deeply set, and once diverted would continue to flow behind the bulk of the magic projectiles. In the next four days before they reached the city they would turn from the blue shimmers in the sky to flaming torrent of sheer magic ferocity. Nothing would be able to stop them, not Salex, not anyone.

Though by now they would not have gone unnoticed, and from Ernie’s reports there were already mobilizing to fortify the city. They had started a curfew in non-space, and only moved during the outlawed hours, but from the sparse information they seemed to be moving in the elite of the elite. The auditors were on the move, and would be there to meet them. The only consolation was that they were small in number, numbering only a thousand at most. While the combined might of the Cloud Walkers and the Royal Guard Squads on the ships would outnumber them many times over, but that still left the standard Salex units, who had probably been equipped with magic shielded weaponry if they expected the fight to drag out. It was going to be a good fight, but they were going to win, they had to, they had too much at stake.

 

“So, this is really it,” said Zeckle suddenly.

 

“I suppose it is.” Though he had only really known Zeckle for a few months, he felt a lot closer to her than that. Though they say you know someone better once you’ve fought alongside them for five minutes with them than if you’ve been friends with them you’re entire life. She had come with him on his errands, and had relished the hanging city.

 

“Good, I have been itching to really get back at these guys. For you all the Blaze War happened years ago, but time works differently in the demon-scape. For me I was watching him die less than half a year ago.”

 

“You’ll have your chance, we all will.”

 

In the distance Nicolas felt like he could make out the grey splotch of the Mile High Wall, but knew they were at least a day away from coming into view of it. It was anticipation that did it. The calm before the storm, and they were bringing a typhoon.

 

The next morning he had dressed in his combat leathers, and had bought a new demon’s flute. This one was nothing like the sleek metallic models that Earth-1 employed; instead it was made of ceramic, carefully carved and hand painted. The outside was glossy and water proof while white runes lined the surface. He had added in every imp and fiend he could find in the magic districts of the Terrance, and despite being offered he had not added in the emotional limiters. After a lengthy and aggravated speech from Zeckle, who had been with him at the time, on the subject.

 

The leather was made out of something he couldn’t quite recognize, some kind of mammal though. It was soft with tufts of fur around the opening, but at the moment he didn’t have the hood up. Even though it prevented spills from burning the skin it was outrageously hot. Luckily due to having access to ingredients scarcely available on Earth-1 he had been able to brew up the most power and exotic potions in his arsenal. Either way he was as prepared as he was ever going to be.

 

Outside he met Zeckle and Bestalel. The ship was big enough to accommodate the entire crew comfortably, and had several stations for shamans to rain magic down on the ground below. They planned to attack at down, and the small fingers of sunlight snaked over the horizon. The mile high wall was clearly visible now, and it towered over the landscape like a blemish on the geography. The magic waves had force behind them now to knock out and entire section of the wall.

They walked out onto the bow to stare out over the land as the distance between them and the city closed. The eight ships flanked by hundreds of smaller vessels, and they were at the very center of it. Nicolas looked to his left and saw the Red Crag air ship moving along pace with then. Then a thunderclap rang out over the planes.

 

A whole twenty feet wide suddenly appeared in the side of the ship, while an identical one appeared at the top. Even as the second rumble burst over the planes panels were already being put over the hole the first had made.  Even for a ship as large as these having a hole that big could still prove a problem if left unattended.

 

The second hit home shredding the nose of the zeppelin, loose flaps hanging lazily, and a few desperate crewmen hanging on the wreckage for dear life. The claps became more frequent and frantic, dozens ringing out at once. There must be at least a dozen Salex artillery batteries in the city, and they were all aimed at the air ship. Nicolas tapped his throat muttering a spell. His voice expanded to ear shattering proportions as he yelled an instruction.

 

“Set protection runes on at the ship! Protect the magic battering rams!” His voice was so loud that for a moment he could only stand there as his ears rang. He had used each of the zeppelins around him, turning each into an enormous subwoofer to carry the noise from one ship to the next. Such a feat of magic shouldn’t have been possible, but because of the magic streams being diverted here was so much ambient energy floating about for him to channel it really didn’t matter.

 

The small ships of the Cloud Walkers swarmed before the ships, the shaman platforms on each frantic with activity as they combined and pooled their might to form a barrier. In front of each ship a barrier like the compression cone on the front of a jet formed. Luckily the strikes were no longer focused on the Red Crag and the giant slugs of the artillery batteries smashed against the shield, sending spider webs of cracks over the entire thing.

 

Nicolas starred along the entire line as their ship rose in altitude to observe the entire line. The barriers were holding, but not for long, and to break the wall they would need as much magic as they could get… Even as he thought this the shield in front of the Dawn Chaser splintered, hundreds of shards of the barrier floated lazily towards the ground. The ships began to attempt to erect a second barrier, but it was too late. All fire on the other ships ended and the entire front quarter of the Dawn Chaser tattered as it was ripped apart from dozens of different shots. It began to lose altitude, and quickly.

 

The individual Cloud Walker ships swarmed along side it as the crew rushed towards the edge in order to jump to the smaller ship. The hangar unloaded every one of the vessels it could as, but it could have never gotten them all, and even as Nicolas could see the ship pick up slightly as the ships attempted to perform levitation spell more of the bulk ripped apart.

 

The magic ram crawled along the ground in a roughly hundred-foot wall, each Zeppelin a few thousand feet in the air above it, but now the Dawn Chaser was barely a dozen yards above it, and closed fast. Without the sorcerers at their posts constantly stabilizing the construct it began to lose form. Ribbon arced off and scored huge holes in the remaining balloon. Finally it struck the bulk of the power, and disappeared in a white-hot inferno of raw magic destruction. Luckily it had slowed behind the other ships when it began to fall, but still the explosion that ensued sent a shockwave the rocked the other ships quite dangerously. Nicolas looked back and most of the Cloud Walker ships had gotten away and a good number of the others as well, probably at least saving two thirds of the crew. The ship was entirely vaporized from the magic discharge, save for a few scraps of cloth and timber, and all that was left was a black scorch line more than a mile long.

 

Even though they were closing the distance between them and the city it would still take them minutes before the first zeppelin could deliver its payload. Nicolas dashed towards the pilot’s compartment, Zeckle hot on his heels. Inside he saw the same gruff man from before, whom he had later learned was named Uzzrick.

 

“Reinforce the Star Catcher’s shield. We can’t afford to lose another ship.” Uzzrick obliged and they banked left descending towards the Star Catcher which was on the far right and was to be first to fire it’s ram. The shield glowed with a renewed energy as the dozen shaman platforms of the Cerenlius burst into life. The cracks mended themselves after each impact now. The ships lost with the Dawn Chaser distributed themselves among the other shields, adding their strength to them. It seemed they weren’t going to lose another ship, and now there were only moments away from the wall.

 

They closed fast on the structure. The warding shield flaring up as the wall of magic neared, the ward was just as faded as Nicolas had remembered, they had a chance. The Star Catcher sped up as the other ships slowed forming a staggered line. Nicolas could almost hear the chanting of the final incantation as the magic wave broke lose. It shot forwards at unnatural speeds for a thing so large, and impacted the wall. It burst over the structure and washed across it in a fiery blue wave. The entire dome of the warding field was covered in it, cutting off the view of the city. Their ship veered right to circle around the structure, while simultaneously lowering in altitude. They lowered past the artilleries ability to fire on them now that the ram did not constrict their height. The Cloud Walker ships broke away and sped towards to the ground, and theirs was among the first to touch down. The big-bellied drop ships of the Star Catcher unloaded, each full of the warriors of the Cloud Beakers.

 

Nicolas had been looking at this from outside the wind shield, but now went outside again to see Zeckle, her back morphed and two enormous raven wings there instead. They unfurled in a display of jet-black feathers, she wore the same chain mail from their other combat occasions, but this time it extended up to cap her wing’s joints with spiked metal plates. She dived from the edge of the ship, the decking dozens of feet from the ground, and he saw her soar with pumps of the wings as she glided towards the ground.

 

They had chosen an area right of the break point as the staging ground, by now a total of three ships had delivered their attacks and were joining them. No one had come out to meet them, which wasn’t a surprise. Out here they would be sitting ducks for the Zepplin’s magister cannons, but inside every shot risked collapsing a civilian building. They were holding the people hostage for their own protection. Nicolas ran to the ramp downwards and disembarked before coming up besides Zeckle.

 

“Bit of a show off aren’t you?” He said with a smile across his face.

 

“Indeed that was a little unnecessary, once we are inside please refrain from doing that. It’ll make you a obvious target.” Nicolas and Zeckle spun around to see Bestalel pulling the hood from his familiar chameleon suit. Nicolas had no idea how he had retrieved it after the ICO incident, but Bestalel always found a way. Nicolas was extremely glad to not even see a hint of bronze in his eyes. The last few weeks the power of Kintera was slowly gaining ground and seemed to be appearing more often than Bestalel himself did.

 

“Well fine then have it your way Besty.” Zeckle said this in a false aggravated tone before retracting the wings. She was obviously glad to see the old Bestalel as Nicolas was.

 

Lines of soldiers were filing into neat rows as they prepared to move out. Each slowly dividing themselves into smaller and smaller units until they became individual squads of twenty. Jento strolled towards them watching the Cloud Walkers come into place in their own regimental structure.

 

“A good day for some Salex hunting isn’t it,” he said as the fifth wave burst against the wall. A wall of air pushing rushing past them as the shock wave reached them. The runes were completely gone now, and a huge gap had appeared in the city’s barrier. Now the only thing keeping them from the city was the raw stone of the wall, and even that was already crumbling.

 

“Would you mind if we attach ourselves to your command squad Jento?” asked Nicolas unnecessarily. They had already discussed it earlier. Jento would be taking a mid frontal command of his troops. Each squad acting on a list of preset orders and objective points. Each objective double fail saved by multiple squads assigned to each point. Since Jento was probably the most powerful of the lot, and had chosen for his squad the most grizzled and power of the lot it was given the hardest objective. They were going to break the central line towards the ICO office, which was the staging point they had chosen for unloading the soldiers, than a long with half a dozen others within the city limits.

 

“Not at all, in fact I would enjoy the company.” He hefted the pole arm the gem blade on

each end trailing an acidic green aura. Nicolas surveyed the group, two dozen troopers along with Jento, his two personal guards, and the three of them. In total they had an upwards of twenty thousand soldiers. Each guard squad supplied more than a thousand, and the Cloud Walkers fulfilled the rest.

Author's Note

Lets go chapter 47. The final battle has begun

Reviews

[Aggie Skeleton]

Zeckel!!! I love her she's awsome!!! I read on with held breath...

[Senseless whatever]

Another great chapter. you seem to have done a fine job of balancing the rudimentary (swords, guns) with the exceptional (magic) to give this story a unique feel.

[Huggy Bear]

Great chapter:)