Air Supremacy

Muld and his guild do battle with air pirates.

17.

Air Supremacy

 

Muld took the controls of The Locust from Jevon and shut down all of the vacuum engines, letting the ship decelerate as they approached.

“It looks like a merchant ship,”  Rick told them, staring at the burning airship through Muld’s field glass.

“Where are we, boss?”   Mutt asked as he and others gathered around the control panel.

“On the edge of the northern boarder - not far from where the pirates attacked that dwarven caravan.”

“There are still people on that ship!”  Syndi cried out, her elven vision as keen as Muld’s telescope.

“She’s right - they look like women and several children!    The ship’s really burning.”

“Muld, we’ve got to rescue them,”   Syndi pleaded, but Muld was already pulling levers and maneuvering the wheel to bring The Locust to the side of the burning airship.

His guild went into action without any direction, and to their credit, the two halfling ladies joined in to help.

Muld moved the ship to the side less consumed with flames and pulled the lever which released the drop anchor, then rushed out to join the others as they were lowering the docking plank onto the burning deck of the other ship.

The figures on the merchant ship just stood at the railing with doomed expressions on their faces, watching them.

“Come on!   Run to us!   We’re friends!”  Mutt called out, fearful that they were hesitating since he was a goblin.

“Maybe they’re chained or enchanted,” Jevon suggested.

“I’m going over to see,” Muld announced.

“Not without me, you’re not!”  Syndi said, joining him on the plank.

“Be careful, boss, it could be a trap!”  Tadd called to them as they were halfway across the plank.

As if his words had some power, as soon as the halfling spoke them, the figures on the burning airship vanished, as if they were ghosts.    But it wasn’t just the people; the flames engulfing the ship disappeared as well, and the whole ship shimmered then took its true form.   It was an old, worn-out airship with its deck and hull of half-rotted wood.   Clearly it wasn’t one used by anyone.

Muld knew immediately what had happened.

“It’s a decoy!” He yelled out, grabbing Syndi by the shoulders and spinning her around.

“Quickly!   We’ve got to get back to The Locust!  It’s a trap!”

Before either of them had reached the deck of their airship, in the distance could be seen three airships.

“Muld!”  Rick yelled, pointing at the ships, “They’re coming in fast - they’ve got engines!”

“Wonderful!”   The Practical Magician mumbled, “I’m so stupid!   I fell for it!   Rick, pull up the anchor - we’ll see if we can outrun them.”

Slowly the heavy anchor began to retract.

Suddenly one of the halfling girls screamed, pointing off the starboard side of the ship, “There are two more coming from this side!”

“Boss!”  Mutt yelled, “Two more on the port side too!”

“Not good!   We’re surrounded!   Yesh have mercy!   Everyone, listen to me!   There are weapons in the armory -- Jevon,  grab everything you can.    We’ve got some shields there and bows as well.   Hurry; they’ll be upon us in a few minutes’ time!”

“What do you want us to do, boss?”  Tadd asked excitedly.

“We’ll need cannoneers to load the cannons and activate them.”

“How many?”

“One to load, one to fire at least.”

“Mutt and I will go.”

“Take your ladies with you - it will be safer below deck.”

“I’ll pass the word to him.”   Tadd took off running toward the door to the lower decks.

“Can we fend off seven pirate ships?”  Rick asked, watching anxiously as they approached.

“We can’t get past them, so we have no choice.    You and Jevon will have to be prepared to fight them off if we’re boarded.   I will try to maneuver the ship around so we have a chance.   Remember the life pod in the hull of the ship - it will drop straight down to the ground, but slow enough for safety.   If it gets too bad, don’t hesitate to take everyone down into it and escape.    On the ground you might have a chance, but we’re going to give them a fight first.”

At that moment, Jevon came through the door from the lower decks with an armful of weapons and two shields.

“Tadd passed us and told us about your orders for the cannons.   Do you think the two of them will be enough?”

“Their girls can assist.   I want them out of danger.”  Muld turned to Syndi, “As for you, I want you to get someplace safe and… hey, what are you doing?”

The Losasidhe princess was untying the sash that held her robe closed.    She didn’t answer right away, but waited until it was loose and then quickly flung off her robe.    Beneath it was another very skimpy costume that greatly exploited her beautiful shape and curves.

“I’m getting ready " I need to generate Qi,”   She said as Muld, Jevon and Rick stared at her in wonder.

“Syndi, it’s too dangerous, if they know that you’re on board and who you are, they may try to take you captive to ransom you to your father.”

“Just let them try!”

“But-“

“Muld, I’ve learned numerous spells this summer - many of them offensive in nature.   Now I’m going to use them.”

“It’s too dangerous!”

“Right now, any place on this ship is dangerous, and you need all the help you can get.”

Muld frowned, but nodded, knowing that she was right.

“They’re almost in range; I see them pulling back the arms of their catapults.”

“At least they don’t have cannons.   Their engines are bad enough.”

   “Muld, the anchor’s up now - shall we try to outrun them?”   Rick asked anxiously glancing at the ships approaching them.

“It’s too late for that, they’re too close and if we change altitude, it will take too long; we’re going to have to fight.”

“They’re firing the catapults!”  Jevon shouted.

From three of the ships came huge rocks, seeming to hang on the air for a moment.

“Brace yourselves!”  Rick called, trying to track where the rocks would impact.

“No need to worry… this time."   Muld assured them and as if to confirm his words, the rocks slowed down as they neared The Locust, then stopped in mid air for an instant, before accelerating backwards in the same trajectory from which they had came.

“Rebound spell,” Muld explained as they watched the missiles fly back toward the pirate ships, “It only works once a day, so our first arcane defense is gone.”

The rocks crashed into the decks of the three pirate airships, destroying all three of the firing catapults.

“Great spell, boss, but they’ve got other catapults,”  Jevon commented.

“Hopefully they will hesitate for a while to launch other missiles after seeing what happened to the first volley.   They are in cannon range now.   Jevon, yell down to Tadd and Mutt to fire when ready.”

Jevon ran to the doorway to the lower decks and yelled Muld’s orders.

A moment later two cannons fired, sending twin sonic booms as the spell launched the iron cannon balls at the nearest approaching airship.

Both shots slammed into the upper hull of the first pirate ship, doing impressive damage.   A shudder shook that ship and suddenly the ship was tumbling straight at the ground. 

The screams of the pirates could be heard for an instant and Syndi looked at Muld in horror.  An instant later there came a loud crashing sound of the ship impacting the ground.

“That was our second arcane defense (more of an offensive spell, I guess) " one of those two cannon balls had a very expensive dispel magic spell cast upon it.   It neutralized the hull’s levitation enchantment.    Sadly, that was the only spell I could afford to put on a cannon ball.   It cost me 5,000 gold pieces and took the wizard a week to put it on that iron cannon ball.   Effective, but too expensive to be practical.”

“What a horrible way to die.”   Syndi said, shaking her head, “But at least one of the ships is gone.”

“That leaves six!”  Rick called out, “They are dropping their anchors where they are!   That scared them.”

“Good, but we’re still surrounded.   We can’t rise or lower our ship any quicker than they can.   

The sound of catapult arms flinging stones began filling the air.   The first stone suddenly stopped about thirty feel from striking the hull of The Locust and fell straight down, crashing through the deck of the dilapidated decoy airship next to the guild’s ship.    A moment later the half-rotted ship lost its hull enchantment and fell from the sky to the ground below.

Muld smiled grimly, “That was a Deceleration spell -the last of the defensive spells I put on the ship.   It is good for only one missile each day.    I never dreamed we’d be attacked by a group of airships.”

A catapult stone crashed into the deck of their ship, splintering the wood then bouncing off the side, taking a piece of the railing with it.    A moment later, another stone hit the main mast of the ship, cracking it.    The Locust had three masts and Muld had left them alone, so the ship could be powered by the wind if the vacuum engines were disabled or destroyed.

A third stone crashed onto the fore deck, again splintering the wood, before bouncing down onto the mid deck.    Jevon, standing by the door to the lower deck, jumped back as the rock bounced past.

Volley after volley of catapult stones began to fill the air and rained down terribly on the fore deck and mid deck.   The main mast was hit numerous times, and finally the cross beams were damaged and the sails tumbled to the deck.

Then the pirate ships’ ballistae began to send large bolts into the hull of The Locust from all sides.

Mutt and Tadd fired the cannons in return, seriously damaging one of the pirate ships’ hulls, but not enough to disable it.

Around the captain’s cabin on the aft deck, Jevon, Rick, Syndi and Muld looked on in desperation as The Locust was systematically destroyed.

“I can’t take this!”   Syndi at last exclaimed and abruptly ran to the door of the cabin, chanting a spell as she ran.

“Syndi, no, you’ll get killed out there!”   Muld yelled, leaving the captain’s wheel to chase after her.

She stopped at the edge of the aft deck, to Muld’s relief, for so far none of the missiles had hit them due to the height of the deck.

“What are you doing?   Are you insane?”  He called, but she ignored him, engrossed in her spell.     She looked down over the edge and as she finished, a glowing ball of fire appeared in her right hand.

Muld stepped back in amazement, for she had conjured up a fireball which she now flung with all of her might at the nearest airship, which was about sixty feet across from them and level with the mid deck.

The pirates on that ship, seeing that Muld’s ship had no catapults and could only respond with cannons aimed at the hull of their ship, were massed on the deck, anxious to grapple against The Locust and board it. 

They saw the fireball only at the last second and could not move away from it on the crowded deck.    A moment later all of them were engulfed in flame, along with the deck.

Syndi screamed in horror at what she had done and Muld pulled her away from the railing and back into the captain’s cabin.

As she sobbed hysterically at the image of the burning men, there was a brief lull as the other pirate ships took in the inferno aboard one of their ships.

“That will leave five,” Jevon said as he stared out of the glass window at the burning ship.

“They’ll target the aft deck now,”  Muld replied, patting Syndi’s trembling form as she cried against his shoulder, “We’re going to lose this battle.”

“What are we going to do?” Rick asked.

At that moment the catapult barrage resumed, and several large stones began crashing into the top of the cabin, sending splinters of wood raining down on them.

“Take Syndi and get below!”  Muld yelled over the sound of stones pounding the deck and roof, “Get Mutt, Tadd and the halfling girls and all of you get into the Life pod.”

“But what -, “Jevon began to ask.

“Never mind that!” Muld snapped, pulling Syndi away from him and pushing her into Jevon’s arms, “You get everyone into that pod and jettison it.   It will lower swiftly to the ground, but gently.   When you get on the ground, run like hell as far and as fast as you can.”

“Muld, what are you going to do?”  Syndi asked, her voice raised in panic.

“I’m going to end this!”  He said, and he dug into his pocket and threw his mother’s brooch across to her.  

Syndi caught it, looked confused for a moment, then her eyes widened in horror at the implication.

“NO!!   MULD NO!! FOR GOD’S SAKE, COME WITH US!”  She screamed, and Jevon began to pull her out of the cabin.   She fought like a wild cat, trying to break free from him, but Rick grabbed her also, and the two of them pushed her out the door.

Rick looked over his shoulder at Muld.   “Boss?”

“I know what I’m doing, Rick, don’t worry!”

“But-“

Syndi’s screams and cries pierced the room.

“GET HER OUT OF HERE, RICK!”  Muld yelled, “GET EVERYONE INTO THE POD AND WHEN YOU HIT THE GROUND, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!”

“But what are you-“

“THERE WILL BE AN EXPLOSION - ONE LAST DEFENSE!” Muld yelled back as Rick and Jevon pushed and half-carried Syndi hurriedly onto the dangerous aft deck, “GET AS FAR AWAY AS YOU CAN FROM THE AREA OF THE SHIPS!   HURRY, FOR GOD’S SAKE!”

With a grim look from across the deck, the two men pushed the struggling princess to the stairs, carrying her down as catapult stones sailed all around them and wood from the masts fell onto the deck.    Muld held his breath until the three had disappeared through the door to the lower decks.

With a resigned sigh, he went back to the captain’s console and stared out the large window as The Locust lost two of its masts, then first one, then another, of the expensive vacuum engines mounted on each side.   A large stone sent the center of the captain’s cabin’s roof crumbling to the floor.   He could feel the ship begin to shutter and he knew this meant that the levitation spell keeping the ship afloat would shortly fail, as the damage to the hull increased.

He lifted his eyes upward, “Lord Yesh, you know that I have not been a particularly devout man.    I simply ask that you let all of my friends escape unharmed.     I foolishly thought my own skills as a Practical Magician could prevent any destruction from coming to this ship.   My vanity has endangered everyone.    Forgive me of my stupidity.    Let them live and I will…I will honor you… if I live through this.   Just keep them safe… especially Syndi, Merciful Yesh.”

A loud popping sound caused the ship to shake for a moment, but it made Muld smile slightly, for he knew that was caused by the release of the life pod.

“Please, Lord Yesh, have mercy upon them,”  He said, glancing down at a small lever that was recessed into the captain’s console with the words ‘DANGER!  DO NOT TOUCH THIS LEVER!’ painted into the console around it.

“Our maiden flight powered by engines and it is our last,” he said, more-or-less to The Locust.

He knew he had to wait as long as he could before he pulled the lever, but he feared that the ship would loose its’ levitation enchantment before they could get far enough away.

A large catapult stone bounced outside of the cabin and slammed into the large window, cracking it.

Muld flinched, wiping his sweaty hands against his shirt.

Another stone bounced off the deck and hit the damaged window.   It shattered instantly.    There was no way to see if his friends were clear of the area of effect of this last, most terrible weapon.

But the stones were falling upon The Locust like rain and if the deck and hull didn’t give way, there was the real possibility that he’d be crushed underneath a well-aimed shot.

The pirates were determined to destroy him by destroying the ship.   Especially after they had destroyed several of their own.

Was this how he was going to die?   The grim thought sobered him and chilled his soul.   But how could he escape this predicament?

He waited for what seemed like hours, cringing as each stone or bolt hit the ship.    Time seemed to almost stand still and he expected at any instant for the ship to suddenly lose its’ levitation enchantment and drop to the ground.

The fore deck collapsed all at once under the weight of an especially heavy catapult stone.

He had to act.   He was reaching for the lever when an idea came to him.   Quickly he reached into his pocket.

It’s a long shot, but it might work.   He told himself, quickly formulating his plan.