[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.≈*Akrotia has turned, Trident Holder,* the scout reported, his gills pumping hard.*It approaches the harbor with the great rock at its mouth**This may be our chance!* Broadtail signed, flaring his fins in challenge.*Tell the teams to move into position and ready the augers! If Akrotia moves into the shallows, we will bind it to the bottom as before.Go!*Broadtail watched the scout shoot off into the blue.Finally, they might have their chance.The school had trailed in Akrotia’s wake for the past eight tides, making preparations.They had retrieved more augers and many more warriors from their home, and spliced more ironweed onto the burnt ends that dangled from the city’s underside.The lines were now hundreds of feet long, their ends weighted to keep them vertical and provide drag.Now mer swam ahead of the city to set the big iron augers in its path.When Akrotia passed overhead, they would once again bind it to the seafloor.Our plan will work this time, Broadtail thought.There is no fire mountain here to burn the lines.*Come!* he signed to his school, thrusting his trident at the surface.*It is time to signal our new allies that we are attacking!* And hope, he thought as he struggled to keep his colors vibrant and confident, that the foolish landwalker leader does not disregard our help this time.≈“Your pardon, Admiral!” Captain Betts barged into the great cabin with a hasty salute.“Akrotia has changed course.It’s angling in toward Rockport Harbor.”“Battle stations, Captain Betts! I’ll be damned to all Nine Hells if I’ll let that thing burn a city!” Joslan hefted himself out of his chair, grabbed his cutlass and clipped it on his belt.“Signal the armada.War Hammer and Bright Star will beat to windward and take position in the river mouth.The tide is flooding, so that should work in our favor.Joyous is to stand well off.If things go poorly, they are to report our efforts to the emperor.Stalwart will form up with us on an attack course.”“Aye, aye, Admiral!”He followed the captain out of the cabin and up to the quarterdeck, the nervous tension of the past few days melting away before the heat of the oncoming battle.The waiting was over; it was time for action.Signal flags fluttered from halyards, and he watched the armada start to disperse.Joslan and his captains had spent many hours devising an attack strategy, launches skittering back and forth between ships during their slow, tedious sail.Indomitable’s main deck was alive with activity as the sailors prepared according to plan.They furled and struck the great square sails to the deck, braced the yards tightly fore and aft, and stripped away every bit of unnecessary canvas, cordage and rigging.Only the jibs and staysails remained up to aid the sweeps.The deck was remarkably barren by usual standards; they had dismantled and stowed the smaller war engines days ago.Now the weapon crews worked with blocks and lines to bring up great granite spheres from the hold, ammunition for the siege catapult.The marines and ballista crews were put on the sweeps or armed with buckets and assigned to fire control.Preparations would be complete in a matter of minutes, but it would take at least an hour for all the ships to maneuver into position.Joslan paced the quarterdeck, steeling his nerves for the long wait.“School of mer off the port bow!”“Not again!” Joslan exclaimed, raising his glass to look.Not a single mer sighting for days, and now, just as they readied to attack Akrotia, the beasts showed up.It was disconcerting enough to think that they had been pacing the armada unseen all the way from Plume Isle; the timing of their reappearance could not be coincidence.As before, the mer stopped, raised their weapons toward Akrotia, then charged off.“What in the blazing Nine Hells are you doing?” he muttered.≈Edan edged near to the shore and tried to sense the seamage’s magic, but felt nothing.A little closer…but not too far; he didn’t want to run aground.His inability to see under the surface was maddening.The thought of those cold, impenetrable depths sent shudders of fear through his mind, but the constant anger helped keep the fear at bay.Strange…Sometimes it bothered him, sometimes it didn’t—his thoughts, her thoughts…their thoughts.Two of the warships that had paced him up the coast now raced past him and anchored at the river mouth.He would have laughed; did they think they could block his way? Of course, the inlet wasn’t wide or deep enough for him anyway, so their blockade seemed a parody of courage.Two larger ships approached from seaward, but he wasn’t overly concerned; he would burn them if they ventured too close.But the mer…He had spied the foul creatures on the surface just after he turned toward shore.Now they were below the waves where he could not see.They were planning something, he just knew it! The same trick they had played at Plume Isle, perhaps?Edan felt a twinge of fear, immediately followed by a surge of rage.His whole life he had been afraid: of drowning, of failing, of being alone and unloved, of some deep fault inside that made him powerless, weak and worthless.He cast out his senses, looking for the seamage, trying to rid himself of the bothersome thoughts.Then he felt it—a hard pull from below that halted his progress.He called the winds to scream through his upper reaches, straining against the resistance, but he remained stuck.The mer had done it again, had dared to bind him! And this time it looked as if the warships were poised to take advantage of his immobility.Wild anger burned away his trepidation.He let it wash over him, stoked his fires and threw caution to the winds.He would not be afraid any longer.He would not be a coward and a fool.If the mer and the warships sought to trap him, let them come! He would lure them in and burn them all.≈“The city’s stopped!” the lookout cried.“What?” Joslan ceased his pacing and reached for his spyglass, but it was hardly necessary; Akrotia was barely a half mile away.“Something that large does not simply stop! What the hells is going on?”Captain Betts squinted at the city and said, “I don’t know, Admiral, but the lookout’s right.And it’s slued over to starboard like it’s caught on a shoal, but the water’s near five hundred feet deep there.”Joslan cursed.“Could the city be deeper than—” Suddenly hundreds of mer surfaced between the Akrotia and Indomitable.He focused his glass until he could see them clearly.They lifted their weapons and thrust them toward Akrotia.He ground his teeth in frustration.Never before had he wished he could communicate with these creatures, but it would certainly be helpful now.He looked back to Akrotia; it almost looked like it was broaching.A memory of Captain Veralyn’s report of Fire Drake’s demise prompted a sudden realization [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]