Collateral Damage

Muld's scheme to foil the pirates has unexpected results.

28.

Collateral Damage

 

The greed of the pirates compelled them to load three of the cold chests onto the levitating platform and Muld waited calmly as they secured them.   

Then the dwarf that was their leader sent two of his men back to their levitating lifeboat.   Once they were clear of the roof, he ordered Muld to begin taking the platform upward.      Three of the pirates stood around him, giving him room to push and pull on the levers, but eyeing him closely, prepared for him to do something.

But Muld simply piloted the levitation platform.   It rose slowly to the top of the warehouse room and as he had told them, the roof began to open on each side, wider and wider until the platform floated through it.

The pirates’ lifeboat allowed the platform to pass, then they followed underneath it, to monitor the ground for someone seeing them.

Though the streets were lit by streetlights, the roof of the large warehouse was in a dark section, unaffected by the illumination below.   

“Veer eastward, elf,”   The dwarf ordered as they cleared the warehouse roof.

Muld flipped a lever and the platform slowly moved forward while still steadily climbing.     The night was warm and the moon had set, so their ascent was unnoticed in the city.

For a quarter of an hour they slowly climbed, without any sound betraying their presence.     About four hundred feet above the ground, hovering just across the unfinished extension of the eastern wall of the city, sat The Bloody Badger.  

It looked to be a newer airship, with only a center mast for sails and twin vacuum engines on the port and starboard sides.     Muld knew that the huge levitating platform would not fit on either the fore or aft decks, but he had no plans to actually land the platform there.   He hoped they wouldn’t calculate the size problem until it was too late.

He knew without seeing his pocket watch that he would now be long overdue back at the palace, but he had more important concerns to deal with at the present time.

The pirates were relaxing around him now, for they figured he could not escape this high in the air.   He didn’t give them any reason to doubt that.

“I’ll have to go above your ship and then slowly lower down to the deck.    But I won’t be able to see the ship below me, so I’ll need your lifeboat to be beneath me to shout out the distances to the deck, until I get within about 20 feet above it, then they can move.”

Muld held his breath as the dwarf chief considered his request.   

“Alright, elf, that sounds reasonable.     Turre, signal the lifeboat to come along side us and pass the instructions.”

“Aye, sir.”  The pirate walked over to the edge of the levitating platform and gave one shrill whistle.    A moment later the lifeboat floated parallel to the levitating platform and Turre conveyed the information to the crew.   Then the boat slipped down into position.

Muld’s heart pounded as he silently reviewed he details of what he planned to do soon.    It would be a risk, and if it failed, it would not go good for him at all.    But his hatred of the ruthless pirates that had plagued Marksylvania, and all the northern kingdoms was burning within him.   

If the dwarf chief standing close by him on the levitating platform was indeed Hobnail, then this was probably their best chance to put an end to him.   He had to try it, regardless of the risks.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the levitating platform rose above the pirate ship.    Muld could dimly see a few pirates on the deck of The Bloody Badger watching them and he prayed that none would shout out any questions about the size of the platform compared to the width of their ship’s deck.

He had to get the platform as high above the pirate ship that he could.   The dwarf that might be Hobnail was growing impatient and kept walking over to the side of the platform and glancing down.   Muld knew that soon the pirate chief would start complaining about how long it was taking.

His suspicion was correct.    A minute later the pirate sighed in annoyance and glared at Muld.    “How bloody high do you have to take this damned thing, anyway?   We’re a hundred feet above The Badger now!”

It was time to act.

Muld nodded casually, pulling a lever that stopped the ascent.   He turned to the dwarf pirate.   “I’ll start lowering us onto the deck of your ship now.     But I have to do it blind, so I’ll need the men in your lifeboat directly beneath me to guide me in.   I don’t want to come in too hard or it might tilt and spill out all the contents, with us as well.”

“My lads are underneath this contraption already.”

“And I’m directly above the aft deck of The Bloody Badger?”

“Yes, yes, now get this crazy thing down onto my ship before I toss you over the side and do it myself!”

“Alright then,” Muld replied, taking a deep breath, “One of the great things about these levitating platforms is how tuned in they are to the one who constructed them.    A single magic word can even deactivate them and this platform would loose its’ magic immediately.   But only the creator of the platform can dispel it.”

“And that would be Muld Mozzil?”  The dwarf asked, only halfway listening.

“Yes, only he could do that,”  Muld bent his legs, tensed to jump, “For it to fall, all he would have to do was say is Ferebatur artis, dissiparentur!” 

As soon as he uttered the last arcane word, Muld jumped into the air.     Immediately the magic controlling the levitation platform dispelled.    The metal platform, with several tons of weight on top of it, fell suddenly like a rock.   

But Muld floated like a dainty leaf, gently and slowly falling toward the ground, thanks to the old pair of Feather Fall boots that he’d donned.

The platform slammed into the lifeboat beneath it first, shattering it and sending both, plummeting toward the pirate ship.     There was only a few moments for the pirates to scream before the platform and debris of the lifeboat crashed into the aft deck.      The Bloody Badger was unable to withstand the force of several tons impacting into it, and the wood deck exploded in a million pieces.    As the fireball cannon balls burst from the crash, flames roared all around as the metal platform and its contents took deck after deck out until the hull enchantment was compromised.

The Bloody Badger, now a burning mass of debris, fell like a meteor to the ground below.

Muld prayed that no one was underneath the path of destruction.   Hopefully no guards patrolled the unfinished walls and there were no buildings built there yet.

There was a huge explosion that echoed through the night like amplified thunder when the platform and airship slammed into the ground.    Orange flames shot straight up, but died off before it got near to Muld’s meandering descent.

Everyone in Westmark will be awake now, Muld thought as he drifted downward.

He could see people running in the streets below and lanterns, torches and candles being lit in most homes.

 

Suddenly there was a series of strange noises coming from above him.     They were thumping sounds that sounded vaguely familiar.    He was straining his neck to look above him for the source of the sounds when, from the city below, there came another series of sounds �" the booming crash of large boulders falling through buildings.

Then Muld knew what the first sounds had been.    They were the thump of a catapult arm at the end of a throw, stopped by their guards.    There was a second pirate ship somewhere high above, flinging catapult stones into Westmark in retaliation for the loss of The Bloody Badger.

Horrified, he looked up and saw faintly, a dark mass obscuring the stars.    A second series of thumps could be heard and a few seconds later there were new crashes coming from below.     This time they had apparently flung stones soaked in burning oily rags.

Screams came from within the city as several fires burned.     He could see several areas of destruction from the catapult stones.

But all he could do was slowly fall to the ground!

What could he do?    Frantically he tried to think of some way to attack the second pirate ship, or at least help mark the vessel so those in the city could see what was attacking them.

He remembered an altered spell that his master had taught him.   It combined a Faerie Fire spell with the range and accuracy of a Magic Missile spell, allowing a magician to point his finger at a far away target and cause it to be outlined in a glowing eldritch light.

Quickly Muld chanted the spell, pointing at the starless spot directly above him.      A moment later the outline of the pirate ship glowed in a greenish hue.   

But it did not deter the pirates aboard the vessel, for a third barrage of rocks and flaming pitch was flung into the city.

Horns and bells were being sounded in alarm in Westmark.    He was still about a hundred feet above the rooftops, but he could see the pandemonium below.   Shouts, screams and crying drifted up to him.

“My God, what have I done?”  Muld said aloud, turning as he heard the distinct hiss of vaccum engines being activated.    But the sound did not come from the pirate ship above.   Instead, from the direction of the airship docking platform, three airships �" two merchant vessels and one Marksylvanian air navel craft, were rushing upward to intercept the pirate ship.

The pirate vessel did not have time to activate its own vaccum engines before the three airships came at it from three sides.

 

As Muld drifted down onto the flat roof of a merchant building, a brief air battle filled the sky above him.    The two merchant vessels lacked cannons, but both had magic users aboard them that lauched an arcane attack against the pirate ship, while the Marksylvanian warship blasted them with its cannons.

The pirate ship responded with arrows and several offensive spells lauched by the pirate ship's wizard, but they did not damage the three attacking airships.

Outlined in Faerie Fire, the pirate ship was flanked on both sides by the three airships by the time Muld’s feet finally touched the stone roof.

Before he could drop down off the roof to the street below (falling safely with his Feather Fall boots), the pirate ship was breaking up, with debris from the vessel raining down.     Abruptly the hull of the ship lost its enchantment and it fell hard onto three large merchant buildings, knocking them down with a terrible crumbling crash.

“My God!   I caused all of this!”  Muld said to himself as he landed lightly on the street.   People were panicking, running in a hundred directions.     What had he done?     Mortified at the chain of events that he’d caused, he ran toward the nearest scene of devistation to him.    It was one of the merchant houses, with its’ business on the bottom floor and living quarters above it.     One of the catapult stones had impacted with a weight bearing wall and one side of the building had crumbled to the ground, which then had led to the other walls giving way.

Neighbors were already on the scene, desperately trying to pull stones and debris away, fuelled by the agonizing screams of a woman and several trapped children.

Muld rushed forward, chanting a lifting cantrip, then joining five men and one woman attempting to lift a section of the crumbled wall off a lifeless child and her hysterical mother.    The cantrip gave them the boost they needed and they threw the stones to the side.    The woman raced to the child, while two men held the mother, who was thrashing about like a trapped animal, desperate to get to her child.

“My baby, my baby, my baby!” Her piercing screams rang in the air as the men tried to pull her away.

Muld ran to assist the woman who had gone to the child.   She looked at him somberly as he approached and shook her head, then burst into tears.    He looked past her and promptly threw up upon seeing how the heavy wall had distorted the little child.    Her dead eyes were frozen in a pitiful look of fear.     Muld could see her face clearly when he closed his eyes for the rest of the night.

 

***

“Gentlemen, I am thrilled to announce the birth of three healthy baby girls to Princess Jeevy!   They are identical triplets and praise Yesh they seem healthy and strong.”    Queen Syntheaia grinned happily, revealing great beauty usually dormant under a frown or aloof expression.  

Her son, Symorden, leaped to his feet, rushed over to his mother and hugged her, then hugged his baby sister and ran out of the room to see his wife and daughters, hiding tears of joy and relief until he had left the presence of the others.

Syndi shared her mother’s joy and they smiled peacefully at each other as the rest of the royal family celebrated the amazing birth of triplet babies.     But as King Aedric offered his congratulations to her parents, she saw a somewhat troubled look in his eyes, which was further confirmed when her gaze fell upon Jevon, Rick, Tadd and Mutt, who were standing respectfully nearby with the same expression.

“What has happened?”  She grabbed the Sylvan King’s arm tightly.

Aedric looked at her and hesitated to say anything.   He was her first cousin, three times removed, and a sense of family bond to the Losasidhe royal line made him especially sensitive and compassionate to them.     He sensed that the beautiful girl had a strong bond with Muld Mozzil, so he was not sure how to respond to her question without upsetting her.

“Your Majesty, what is it?”  the princess asked, seeing his hesitation.

“There was a pirate attack a few hours ago in Westmark.”

“Yesh preserve me!”

“Two pirate ships were destroyed, but at least one of them bombarded the city for a few minutes and there are injuries and deaths.”

“Who... who died?”   Syndi asked, paling as she waited for his answer.

“Of the people we personally know, no-one... yet.    I was contacted by my wife about an hour ago and those around the palace are safe and unharmed.”

Syndi waited for him to continue, but when he didn’t, she whispered, “Muld?”

“He went to his guild building to change clothes after arriving in Westmark, and no-one has seen him since.   He never returned to the palace, but there are no reports that he was killed.”

“We’ve got to locate him then!    A crystal ball or a spell could find him!”

“Matron Zeatt and Alleania have already tried that, Syndi.   He doesn’t show up at all, and while that is alarming, if he were dead, a few of their spells would show his corpse.   But they picked up no trace of him at all.    Alleania suspects some magic is concealing his whereabouts from detection.”

“Oh Lord, you don’t think he was captured again by the pirates, do you?”

“I don’t know, but no witnesses reported more than two pirate airships over Westmark and both of them were destroyed.”

“I’ve got to get back there!”  She said with a rather wild look in her eyes that revealed her desperation.

“Take it easy, dear girl, there is an airship leaving tomorrow morning.”

“I need to get there now!”   She protested, looking around frantically as if someone in the room could help her.

“King Eleazar has grounded all airship travel in and out of Westmark until morning, Syndi, besides, you couldn’t get there much quicker if you left now.    It will be dawn in an hour and a half, and the ship will leave an hour or so after that.”

“He could be in trouble!”  She exclaimed, and her mother gently grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Syndi, it could be for best-“

The redhead girl’s head snapped around to face her mother, her green eyes flaring.    “How can you say that mother?   You hate him so much, you don’t care if he’s dead or not!”

“Syndi, that’s not true-“

“Of course it’s true!   He’s never good enough for you, is he?  How many heroic acts must he do to win your approval, mother?!   He stopped most of Hobnail’s pirate fleet, captured a pirate ship, fortified Losasidhe airships at a heavily discounted price,  saved you and daddy from dying of poison �" which almost killed him�"and now he is responsible for lifting the curse on Jeevy and �" indirectly�"the safe births of three grandchildren!   Yet you still hate him and treat him with scorn!    My God, mother, you are EVIL!”

Screaming this in her mother’s face, Syndi spun on her heels and ran out of the room, leaving everyone there stunned and silent.

 

***

 

Muld sat on the ground, covered in mud, sweat and the blood of the innocent victims of the pirate attack, staring bleary eyed at the ring on his dirty fingers.

He had rushed off to one of the guild’s other warehouses to find the Concealment ring that he now wore.   He didn’t want anyone from the palace to find him or see his condition right then.   They’d try to pull him away from where he needed to be.

So he’d donned the ring and hurried off to another scene of destruction.    A catapult stone had crashed through a large house, a few blocks from the first site he’d visited.

Neighbors and merchants, along with city guardsmen were struggling to clear away the debris, while the partially damaged house next to it was on fire.   

Muld dove right in and helped; carrying buckets of water, shouldering the twisted wreckage and tossing it into a pile in the middle of the street, casting an illumination spell on the helmets of some of the guards that were crawling through the wreckage looking for some of the children and servants still unaccounted for, and helping lift the bodies of some of the dead from the house.

All around him in the fire lit darkness were anguished cries and screams, as the families and friends of those killed grieved and mourned.

Muld hung his head and said nothing, but his soul was heavy with the burden of guilt.

If he had not taken it upon himself to stop the pirates raiding his warehouse, none of this would have occured.   They would have taken all they could and left.     The blood of the children and innocent people of Westmark covered him.    Muld loathed his very life right then.

So he worked, aching with guilt, and too ashamed to admit his responsibility to the heartbroken people working with him.

While he labored, he found clarity at last, for it wasn’t just this last incident that was caused by him.      The recent increase in pirate activity was due to his cockiness to think that he could counter them.   

Hobnail had nearly killed Syndi and all of Muld’s inner circle of guild members, due to his foolish conflict with them.    Her parents would have died if he hadn’t intercepted the poison, and Hobnail had tried to kill them after he had captured the pirate ship.

It all pointed to Muld’s foolishness.   He was responsible for death, destruction and harm.     Blood was on his hands.

In his self-recrimination, he took it a step further.    He had screwed up Syndi’s life, by befriending her.     She had been lonely and vulnerable and he’d filled her head with tales of improving the world with magic.    Look at the conflict she had with her mother, due to him.   

Instead of pursuing her life as a princess, she had left home and become a sorceress, wearing scant clothing and having crude and common men look upon her lovely form lustfully, just to generate Qi.    Because he’d encouraged her to do so.

He had ruined her life.

Now she was tormented with strange emotions for him.    She was drawn to him, but not attracted to him, and it was probably tormenting her.   She’d be tainted and shamed now, and might never find a royal suitor that would fulfill her destiny  or who would make her happy and complete, due to a frustrating and unfulfilling devotion to him.

Muld felt his stomach sicken at the thought of how he had corrupted her.

Looking at his filthy, trembling hands, he wondered if he could ever make atonement for his crimes.     Gritting his teeth so he could stand up on exhausted, aching muscles, he hobbled off to find the next site of death and destruction, to try to do some little thing to help.