Aerial Conflict

As Ant searches for the kidnapped Losasidhe royals, Muld and Syndi begin their roles in the assault of Windhaven.

16.

Aerial Conflict

 

 “Captain Tolthe, sorry to keep you waiting,”  Larren said cordially, extending his hand to Ant.    The Changeling girl gripped his hand firmly, hoping the wizard would not sense something different from the handshake.

“I wanted to review security, to be ready for any contingency,” She replied, scanning the Faesidhe wizard’s mind.    He was anxious about the building being raided by the King’s forces and desperately wanted this kidnapping to end.

“Memthe and Tucando are monitoring the Losasidhe royals now.    Gelden has them frozen magically, and placed in the freezing chest bought from the practical magicians.   Did you know that the idiots delivered the wrong chest to us?    Oh, I guess you would know, wouldn’t you?    That was why the master wanted that practical magician executed - he affronted him when they were correcting the order.”

Ant nodded, “So the royals are both in the chest?”

“Yes, it was a tight fit, but it keeps them solidly frozen.”

“What about breathing?”

“Oh, they’re in a form of suspended animation - they don’t actually breath until we thaw them out.    We had a damned time when Gelden let their daughter speak to them, and we may have to do it again - we’re waiting for the master’s decision on that.”

“I’d like to see where they are and the set up of the room, so I will know better what to do if we are attacked here.    It is best to be safe rather than sorry.”

As she expected, Larren nodded in complete agreement, “I’ll show you where we keep them; I’m not sure master Gelden would want me to, but with you commanding the guard around the building, I’d rather you know where everyone and everything was located.    Follow me.”

Larren led her through the building and through two magically locked doors, which the wizard opened with a brief spell.     Ant knew she couldn’t remember the words of the spell, but hoped that Lady Sophia was still watching through the brooch and would know the spell.

She was led down a long flight of steep stairs into a very deeply dug basement that was more of a dungeon than anything else.

“We had a terrible time moving the freezing chest down these stairs,” Larren told her as they descended.

 

At the bottom was a room shielded by a wall of energy.    Larren took some time lowering the barrier, then ushered Ant inside.

It wasn’t a large room, but it was solid stone, with a heavy coating of lead over the rock, to keep magic from penetrating it.

In the very center of the room, like some sort of weird sarcophagus was a large cooling chest with its’ lid open and two grey robed Faesidhe men peering inside.    Ant knew they had to be  Memthe and Tucando, which Larren confirmed as he called to them.

 

The two wizards looked up, closed the lid and crossed over to them with frowns on each face.

“Captain Tolthe wants to review our defenses,”   Larren told the other two men.

“Why?”   Memthe replied dryly.

“Just so I know what to expect if my assigned guard post is breeched and we have to retreat inside.”

“Don’t allow that to happen and you won’t have to worry about anything in this building,”   Memthe answered coldly.

“Yes, but it is better to be prepared.”

“Then prepare your defenses outside.   Look around, captain, it is a simple room, coated in lead, with a prismatic wall barrier for a door.    A cooling chest holds the two Losasidhe royals and the chilled temperatures preserves and sustains the suspended animation.    That is all there is to tell, other than our presence here, and we will certainly defend this room to the best of our considerable abilities.”

“Thank you, sir,”   Ant said politely, “That is all I wished to see.   So the cooling chest keeps the spell active?   You don’t have to recast it periodically?”

“No, Captain,” Tucando replied, as annoyed as his companion at Ant’s question, “I don’t see how that concerns you.”

“Sir, if this building is breeched - by a considerable force that included wizards- and the three of you were killed or incapacitated, I wanted to simply know what would be required to maintain the Losasidhe king and queen.”

“Captain Tolthe, if the three of us are killed or incapacitated, I can assure you that you will be as well, and at that point it will not concern any of us.   This room is as secure as we can make it.   No magic can penetrate it and it would take considerable power to destroy the prismatic barrier.     Concern yourself with the outside perimeter and let us do our jobs.    Larren, escort Captain Tolthe from here at once!”

The two wizards turned their backs on them and returned to the cooling cabinet.    Ant turned to Larren, who shrugged sympathetically and gestured for him to follow.

To Ant’s surprise, he didn’t stop but walked right through the barrier, and motioned for Ant to follow.

“It’s a one-sided barrier, captain,”   Larren explained upon seeing Ant’s puzzled expression, “So you see, they can rush out to defend and still leave the royals secure.”

“That’s good to know, sir.”

Larren led him back upstairs and took his leave of him in the library.    Ant waited until he was gone and mumbled, “Sophia, I am going to go outside and speak to the guards, as that would be expected of me.   I hope this gives you enough information.”

 

Unheard by the Changeling girl as she went out of the building, Sophia smiled and replied, “It does indeed, Ant.”

 

***

 

Far too soon, Gelden and his men were ready and Muld had positioned the Queen Eioldth  high above the floating city, without anyone seeming to see the ship.    Dawn was breaking in the east when Gelden commanded him to leave the pilot’s cabin and accompany Syndi in the hold of the ship.

“It is your plan, Master Muld, and you will be in charge of implementing it.    My men tell me that there is cargo over all of the cargo doors and more can be moved quickly into place.     I will position men on the stairs so you can relay alterations of direction while targeting the catapults.   You will move quickly; I don’t want any of them escaping in the two airships docked there.   If any of the other airships arrive during the attack, we could be in trouble.”

“Do you want all of the catapults destroyed, or just enough so we can approach and attack?”

Gelden considered this for a moment, “Just take out those that could hit us if we came toward the wall opposite of the docking area.   I would like to bring this ship up to the top of Hobnail’s tower, lower a plank and work our way downward.    I think this will confuse them, for they still think like sea pirates and expect an attack to come through the docks.    An attack from above might confuse them enough to allow us to get the upper hand.   But this might not be possible, in which case we’ll improvise as the situation dictates.”

“I understand.”

“Good!    When the catapults are destroyed and we begin to descend toward Hobnail’s tower, hurry back on deck and do not delay.”

“We understand,”   He answered for Syndi and himself.

“Don’t fail me, Master Muld, and you will save the lives of the king and queen.   Do not forget the stakes at hand.”

“We won’t forget.”

“Then get to your stations.”

 

To best communicate changes of direction to Gelden’s pilot, the wizard placed four of his men on the stairs to relay messages back and forth from the hold.     He remained on the deck with his pilot and three other men, leaving Oilos, Freyc, Tolb and Rojin in the hold to move the cargo into place.

As soon as he and Syndi arrived in the room and the Faesidhe relay took his place halfway up the stairs to the lower deck, out of the shadows appeared Reverend Mother Zeatt, Lady Alleania, Princess Amala and Lady Allea.

“Ladies, I am very glad to see you!”   Muld greeted them, but Zeatt held a finger to her lips.

“Quietly, child!”   She whispered, “As you probably have surmised, Oilos, Freyc, Tolb and Rojin are impostors.”

“Let me guess " Baron Alvis, Master Carn…”

“Archmages Drake and Keith,”   Zeatt finished, “Tell us what is about to happen.   What is Gelden’s plan?”

Muld filled in the details to the group.

“It will still be quite a feat to take the city,”   Baron Alvis said when Muld finished, “But we’ll do our part.”

They heard some shouts coming from above, so the four women slipped back in the shadows, a moment before the Faesidhe relay at the end, ran into the room and said, “We’re ready to begin!”

“Alright,”   Muld replied, and the relay went back to his position, allowing the women to come out of hiding.

“Over the first catapult!”   The relay shouted down to them a few moments later, “Open the far starboard cargo door!”

Muld glanced at the cargo piled on the door, wondering how they knew that they were over the target without being able to look directly down upon it, but he had to trust their judgment, so he leaned down and slid the thick restraining bolt open.

The door fell open quickly, sending the cargo tumbling below.

Syndi moved back from the opening, her fear of heights overwhelming her desire to see the effect.

The cargo seemed to fall forever, getting smaller and smaller.   Muld lay on his belly, his head peering over the edge of the hole, looking down to see.

Everyone held their breath, and finally there was a muffled crash and a plume of smoke from the shattered debris filling the air.

Tiny figures scurried around on the parapet wall far below, looking like alarmed ants.    It was a direct hit.

“Direct hit!”   Muld yelled out to the relay on the stairs, who repeated it.   The words were echoed until they reached the deck, and a shout went up.

“Move starboard!”   Muld called out, giving directions to the next catapult.

It didn’t take long to position the ship.   Muld had his head hanging out from underneath the airship, gauging the second cargo hatch’s position from the opened first hatch.

Syndi was horrified to watch, imagining him tumbling out of the hatch to his death.

“I think that is pretty close,”  Muld said, then in a louder voice yelled out, “On target, preparing to drop load number two!”

He didn’t wait for the message to reach Gelden, as he knew the ship would drift off target by then.    Muld waved at Alvis and Drake (still wearing their arcane disguises) and they kicked the bolt open on the second hatch.

The cargo fell as before and Muld watched it fall.    It was slightly off center, but the heavy cargo crashing into the parapet caused a portion of the wall to collapse, taking the catapult with it.

“Catapult destroyed!”   Muld yelled up the stairs, up and moving to the second cargo door so he could use that opening to position the ship for the third drop.

Carn and Amala pulled the hatch closed on the first door and locked it, then, with Allea and Keith’s help, pushed another pallet of supplies onto the cargo door.

“Starboard!”   Muld yelled out, then a few moments later he corrected, “Slightly to Port!   A bit more!   Good!”

“Open the door!”  He yelled over to Zeatt and Alleania.   The Drow Sorceress had a spell do the job for her, and the bolt slid easily to the side as the third cargo door fell open.

This time they completely missed the catapult, but as before, the impact of the heavy cargo crumbled the parapet wall.    Already weakened from before, to Muld’s surprise, the entire wall gave way, sending three other catapults with it.

“Southern parapet has collapsed!”   He yelled out, “Move to port!”

The message was relayed and another shout from the deck told them of their joy at the news.

“We’ve got this one set up specially,”  Alleania told Muld as he peered over the edge, targeting the northern parapet.

“Now!”   He called out, and Alvis and Carn pulled the last bolt on the fourth cargo door.    This load wasn’t as large as the other three, and Muld wondered what the Drow Sorceress had done to make it special.

He didn’t have long to wait.    The cargo again fell short of the catapult, but as soon as it hit the parapet wall, there came a loud explosion and a ball of fire shot up in the air.

“Wow!”   Syndi exclaimed, hearing the blast, though she stayed far away from the cargo doors, “What was that?”

“An old necklace of fireball beads,”   Alleania explained, “It only had three beads left on it, but I always carried it in my pouch for emergencies.    I thought this might be a good time to use it.”

“It was an exceptionally good choice,”  Muld replied as the smoke cleared.   He looked up at Alleania with a grin as he yelled out, “Northern parapet completely destroyed!”

“All of it?”  The Faesidhe relay called down, not believing what he’d heard.

“All of it - no catapults left!   Move starboard again, that just leaves the catapults on Hobnail’s tower!”

The relay called out the news and a great shout went out from above.

Those in the hold with him were already moving supplies onto the other cargo doors again.

“Too bad we don’t have more fireball missiles,”   Syndi commented.

“We might have something nearly as effective,”   Muld said, “Syndi, do you remember the Anchor Cantrip?”

“The one to hold levitated objects in place?   Yeah, I remember it… why?”

“It is always cast on something that is already levitating, and it holds them in place by simulating a great weight between the bottom of the levitated object and the ground directly below it.”

“Okay, but how is that helpful to us?”   She asked.

“Few people know what happens when it is cast upon a non-levitated object.”

“What happens?”

“I’ll show you.    Wait until we are over the tower and when I give the order for the door to be opened, cast it on the cargo.”

“On the cargo about to be dropped?”

“Yes; just point at it; if it starts to fall before the Cantrip is finished, it will still work.”

“Okay… what will it do?”

Muld smiled, “You’ll see.”

A moment later they were over the tower.    Ant sized figures were running all about, most of them trying to get away from the airship.    He could see the two docked airships below were slowly backing away from the docks, so they would soon have them to contend with.    But he couldn’t deal with them right now.

“Get ready!”   He called to Syndi as well as Keith, Amala and Drake, who were standing ready by the bolt.

“Now!”   Muld called and Syndi immediately began chanting the short Cantrip as the bolt was slid open.

The cargo fell away as before, but when it hit the tower (side-swiping a catapult as it fell) it crashed through the stone roof of the building as if it weighed several tons.     The center section of the roof gave way and collapsed, sending everything on top tumbling down into the tower.

“Wow!” Several of those in the hold exclaimed upon seeing the roof crumble.

Seeing Syndi’s amazed and curious look, Muld explained, “When cast upon a non-levitated object, it makes that object extremely heavy - so heavy that it is impossible to move it until the spell wears off.    So the cargo we dropped had the mass of something far larger.”

“Brilliant!”   Drake exclaimed with a pleased laugh, “The catapults are gone, but now the two airships are free of the docks and rising to intercept us.”

“Maybe we can stop them!”   Alleania said to him, then, gesturing for Allea and Syndi to join her as she peered through the open cargo bay at the pirate ships beginning their ascent.

“This is a good exercise for you,”   The Drow sorceress told her students, “But remember that they might have some arcane defenses on the ships to deflect magic or even redirect it back at the sender.”

“Then what do you suggest that we cast?”   Syndi inquired, looking somewhat green from her proximity to the open portal.

“Test them out with something not too harmful if reflected.”

“Allow me,”   Drake interrupted, chanting a spell then ‘throwing’ it downward at one of the ships.

A small dark rain cloud formed as it fell, then burst into a mini-thunderstorm over one of the vessels with wind, lightning and thunder.     For a full minute the ship was engulfed in the cloud.

“That one doesn’t have any protection or a magic-user on board,” Drake proclaimed.

But as he was speaking, Syndi’s keen eye saw a flash of fire from the other airship that seemed to be coming quickly toward them.

“Uh oh!” She exclaimed, pointing.

“Fireball!”   Drake yelled, “Everyone away from the cargo doors that are open!   Quickly!”

They all scurried against the sides of the hold, but the impact never came.

“This ship has an anti-magic repelling spell on it, just as I put on The Locust.   But it is a one-time effect,”  Muld warned.

As if accenting his words, something slammed into the ship just as the group in the hold had began to approach the open cargo doors again.

The Queen Eioldth shook violently and lightning arcs danced through the open portals of the cargo bays for a few seconds.

“That was a Lightning Bolt spell!”   Mage Keith said, glancing around to make sure no one had been struck.

“There’s definitely a wizard on the other ship,”   Amala responded, daring to approach the nearest portal and glancing over, “The airships are already about halfway to us.”

“That’s because we’re descending toward them,” Muld explained, “Gelden must want to engage them.”

“If they weren’t killed by the Lightning Bolt,” Allea added.

 

A shout came from the deck of the ship, relayed quickly down to them, “Use Magic!   Take out those airships!”

“As if we need to be told that,”   Syndi grumbled.

“Well, fellow spell-casters, let’s return fire!”   Mage Keith exclaimed, beginning a spell.

They weren’t the only ones either, for on the deck, Gelden and some of his magic users were chanting their own spells.   The offensive type of spells cast manually took far longer than casting with a device such as a wand or staff, due to a recent change in the laws of magic.

The approaching airships were too low to fire the ship’s cannons at them.  

“We don’t have time to waste,”   Muld murmured to himself, hurrying over to the nearest cargo bay.    Quickly he chanted the Anchor Cantrip and pointed at the airship lacking a wizard on board.   He wasn’t sure how long the spell would hold the large ship before it broke free, but it might give them a bit of time.

Just as his Cantrip took effect, a spell from either Gelden or one of his wizards on the deck of the Queen Eioldth slammed into the pirate vessel.    He’d picked a powerful offensive spell, and Muld wondered at how quickly he had cast it.    The Practical Magician recognized the spell that was cast - Chain Lightning.    A glowing blue ball of electricity had exploded on the deck of the pirate ship into smaller blue balls that were sending lightning currents across the deck, between the spheres, electrocuting everyone in the way.

 

He could see the dancing blue currents going across the deck, but continued on with his next spell.

He picked a Heating Cantrip, used to melt lead and things like that.    Wrapping a piece of torn canvas laying on the floor of the hold, around a broken piece of wood packing that had been damaged while they moved the cargo onto the door, he made a huge, rough torch.

Muld lowered the make-shift torch out the portal and finished the Cantrip, touching the wood of the torch, and then releasing it.

 The Cantrip caused the flammable wood and canvas to burst into flame and he watched it tumble down onto the deck of the pirate airship that was still recovering from the chain lightning.

The torch landed on the deck, and the spell was still active, so contact with the torch immediately heated up the wood of the deck of the pirate ship.    To Muld’s relief, the wood soon burst into flames.

The Cantrip would not last much longer, but he hoped that the fire would continue to rage.

There was a flash of light from the pirate ship with the wizard on board and a bolt of energy shot between the two ships and struck Mage Keith squarely in the chest.      He was leaning over the opening of the cargo portal when the Magic Missiles spell hit him, and to everyone’s horror was knocked overboard.

Some of the women screamed in surprise as the elderly wizard - still wearing the shape of a younger Faesidhe man- disappeared far below.

“Was he wearing an Autocaster?”   Syndi asked.

“Yes, I think so,”  Drake replied, “Don’t worry; he’ll be waiting for us back in Westmark.”

The sight of Mage Keith tumbling out of the airship had broken the concentration of most of the spell-casters in the hold of the ship, but Alleania had managed to keep her incantation going.   After nearly three minutes of chanting, she suddenly stood up and made a flinging motion at the pirate ship with the wizard on it - which was only a few hundred yards below them now.

There was a flash of light and what looked like huge boulders materialized out of thin air.    Six of them formed and then slammed down on the pirate ship.

The boulders splintered the wood on the decks, and as they impacted, they generated miniature fireballs that exploded as well.

The decks of both pirate ships now were on fire.

 

The ship with the wizard on board was still rising, and they could see the magic-user on the foredeck, working to cast another spell - probably to douse the flames.

“There he is!”   Alvis said.   The baron picked up a broken piece of statue that had shattered when they were pushing the cargo to the doors.    The Paladin took aim and then flung it out the portal at the wizard.

His shot was sure, striking the man in the head.     He collapsed to the deck, either killed or knocked unconscious.

Shouts came from above them, relayed to below until the final Faesidhe guard yelled out, “Pirate ships burning!    We’re going on to attack the city!    Come up to the deck!”

Muld got to his feet, “Well, the fun now really begins.    He’ll ask about the guard that Mage Keith was impersonating.”

“Just tell him that he fell when the wizard on the pirate ship hit him with a spell.”

“Alright,”   Muld agreed, glancing at Syndi, "Ready?”

“I guess so,”  She answered.

“What about you, gentlemen?”   He inquired of Drake, Carn and Alvis.

“Ready to become guards again,” Carn answered for his fellows.

“We won’t be far behind, believe me; we’ll be monitoring what is happening,”  Zeatt assured Muld and Syndi.

“Come on down there!   Hurry up!”   Came the call from the stairs, so Syndi and Muld turned and rushed out, followed by Drake, Carn and Alvis.

“I sure hope this ends well,”  Allea said to her mother and aunt as they tried their best to see through the open cargo door.