Hell's Ascendant (Mantles of Power Book 3)

by Benjamin Medrano

  Instead, Kitania was treating Eziel… almost like she treated everyone else. Oh, she gave directions and made the occasional request, but it was almost maddening to Eziel that most of the time Kitania did things herself rather than ordering Eziel to do it for her. All Eziel’s being was wrapped up in making Kitania happy, since that would make Estalia happy.

  That was why Eziel was focusing on her training with the bow. It wasn’t her primary weapon, though she was almost as skilled with a bow as she was with a sword, but Eziel didn’t care about that, not anymore. The privateers which were bearing down on them would try to kill Kitania and all the others. That would make Kitania unhappy, and if Kitania was unhappy, Estalia would be very unhappy. And that was a result to be avoided at all costs.

  So Eziel slowly breathed in, her bow steadier in her hands than the ones in the hands of the elves around her, taking aim carefully. The rocking of the ship was nothing compared to adjusting to the winds of the heavens when flying, after all. She loosed her arrow suddenly, almost not realizing when she had, and watched it fly toward the aftdeck of the privateer unerringly.

  “Drat. He ducked,” Eziel muttered, disappointment rushing through her. The human didn’t look nearly as happy as she’d expect at surviving, and his hat was pinned to the railing by her arrow.

  Eziel didn’t have much time to dwell on it, though, not when the enemy fired again, and this time the ballista came far closer.

  Splinters flew as a ballista bolt glanced off the rear mast, and Kitania ducked, swearing as a couple of them hit her armor. Several cries of pain came from the crew, which made her wince, then she glanced at the mast, relieved that it’d been hit at an angle rather than dead on. That could’ve dropped the mast, which would have been really bad.

  “I hate naval combat. No room to maneuver as easily,” Vinara said, her voice taut as she brushed herself off. “How soon will they board?”

  “Just a couple of minutes,” Riss said, scowling as she wiped away some blood from where her cheek had been grazed. “Why?”

  “I’d like to ruin their day. Care to reduce sail and set things off early?” Vinara asked, grinning as she glanced at the others, adding. “I’m tired of being target practice.”

  “I think their captain is, too. I see someone casting a spell!” Yain called out, and Kitania’s eyes went wide as she spun around.

  “Oh crap, where… ah!” Kitania spotted flickers of light from the aftdeck of the ship, and based on the angle… she hissed and yelled, “Everyone, down!”

  Fortunately, it seemed that people listened, though not everyone was in any position to duck when a deafening crack split the air and a lightning bolt blasted into the mast, leeching into a pair of unlucky sailors as well, who fell to the deck, writhing in pain.

  The mast creaked and groaned, but Kitania ignored it as Riss began snapping out orders while climbing to her feet. Rose calmly spoke, her voice betraying her tension as she said, “Now would be good, Violet.”

  “As you wish, Milady,” Vinara said, rising gracefully, her eyes glittering with malice as she added, “I’ll keep the mage busy but will have my hands full.”

  “Right,” Kitania agreed, taking a deep breath as she rolled to her feet. They were slowing down, probably because Riss didn’t want to lose the mast, and that meant that any second the other ship would pull alongside. Losing the mast in particular would be bad.

  An instant later Vinara snapped out the quick words of a spell, and a rippling orb of fire launched out from her hands, racing down on the second ship, then detonated over the deck with a muffled boom. Screams echoed across the water, but Eziel and Yain didn’t seem to care about that as the two women stood to take shots at the helmsman of the ship as well. Kitania glanced over to see people on fire and scorch marks across the middle of the deck, and she winced. Obviously Vinara had impeccably aimed at the gathered crew, and she’d done enormous damage in her initial strike.

  Kitania’s attention whipped back to the nearby ship an instant later as it’s ballista fired again. This time it was almost alongside, though, and the ballista bolt suddenly twisted in mid-air as it was redirected by Kitania’s spell and went flying off ahead of the ship. Before she could do more than take a deep breath, the two hailthrowers fired, each looking like large crossbows without arms, but with numerous crystals across the front of them.

  Hundreds of icicles spat out of the hailthrowers in a torrent that enveloped most of the deck of Dryad’s Gift, and it would have been just as horrific as what Vinara had done to the other ship, at least if they’d struck home properly. Instead the spell did its job, and those icicles began flying every which way instead of being focused on the deck.

  Screams of pain proved that Kitania’s spell wasn’t perfect, and six of the defending elves went down with injuries, though none looked like they were dead, and an icicle hit Kitania in the shoulder and bounced off, rocking her backward from the force of the blow. Kitania swallowed a curse as she saw the injuries, annoyed with herself. She’d hoped the spell would do better than that, but her unhappiness eased as she looked at the enemy ship.

  At least ten of the privateers were down and screaming due to some of the icicles being thrown back, but the ship came in so quickly there wasn’t any more time to prepare or change course. Privateers tossed grappling hooks as they pulled up next to the Dryad’s Gift, and boarding planks came down hard, the spiked ends slamming into the deck harshly. The privateers surged up onto the planks with angry war cries.

  “Ice to meet you,” Vinara said humorously, her voice barely audible as she snapped her fingers, and a layer of ice suddenly covered the boarding planks.

  The first privateers slipped and slid as their footing became incredibly precarious, and one man screamed as he fell between the two ships, followed by a sickening crunch. The remainder were off-balance as they came across, and the defending elves took advantage of their unsteadiness ruthlessly, as did everyone else.

  Kitania stepped forward beside Maura, who had a rapier in hand and a grim look on her face as they rushed the first woman onto the ship. The attacker looked panicked, but Kitania tried to put that out of her mind as she focused solely on defending the ship.

  The woman didn’t have time to defend herself, not as Kitania and Maura cut her down in seconds. In her peripheral vision Kitania saw Isalla slam the lead attackers back on the plank with her shield, sending at least one woman off the edge to her doom, while Rose was wielding her sword with two hands and cut a man almost in two as she led the defense at the middle of the ship.

  Kitania didn’t have time to focus on her friends, though, not as a couple of opponents launched themselves from the railings to avoid the plank, and suddenly battle was joined in truth.

  Fighting alongside others was an enormous change for her, and Kitania barely avoided overreacting several times as Maura and a male sailor fought at her side, the latter wielding a wickedly sharp cutlass. Her armor slowed her down, and the lack of room to maneuver was frustrating, though her armor quickly proved its worth as she took a pommel-strike in the helmet, then gutted the man in return.

  Magic rippled back and forth in the air above them as the enemy mage tried to attack, but Vinara had her well in hand, it seemed, and Kitania occasionally glanced up as she and the others fought the attackers, at least until Kitania heard a roar of anger from her left.

  Rose was staggering back, to Kitania’s shock, and in front of her was a large man in surprisingly light armor, but in his hands was a massive maul-axe, and the dent in her breastplate indicated he’d hit her with the blunt end. It wasn’t a large dent, but even so it was impressive. His attack opened a gap in their lines for his allies to spill into, and Kitania cursed, then moved, trusting Maura and the sailor to hold the line.

  “Get them, you sorry maggots! There aren’t that many, and—” the big man bellowed, but dodged just in time as Kitania lunged at him, his dark eyes flashing with anger. “Ah, a feisty one! Another sacrifice for the deeps!”

/>   “I think not,” Kitania replied shortly, recovering from her lunge and briefly regretting not being able to use her cloudpiercer. She mentally set that aside and struck again, aiming for the man’s gut.

  He dodged, roared, and swung his axe at her hard, almost completely disregarding his defense, something that startled Kitania. She hastily backed out of range, the axe-blade only inches from her throat, then surged forward to slam the man into the railing bodily, not using her sword or giving him time to recover.

  “You little—” the man began, but at that moment a sword thrust past Kitania’s head and into the man’s throat. Kitania jumped slightly and recoiled as blood sprayed on her, and looked up to see Rose by her side, the angelic woman’s face grim.

  “Single combat has no place on the battlefield,” Rose said grimly, blocking the attack of a pirate and kicking him in the stomach. “Shall we go on offense?”

  “Sure, I’ll watch your back,” Kitania gasped, standing fully as she prepared to jump over the railing, hoping she wouldn’t end up crushed between the ships as well.

  The attackers were falling back quickly, Kitania saw, though they left numerous injured people in their wake. Just as Kitania was about to rush onto the enemy ship, she heard a man yell.

  “Cut us loose!” the enemy captain bellowed angrily, and several privateers quickly cut the grappling hooks, while Kitania heard gears whirr and creak as the boarding ramps ripped free of the deck. The release rocked Dryad’s Gift, and she swore as she almost lost her footing.

  “Crap, they’re getting away!” Isalla exclaimed angrily, fire in her eyes as she took a step forward.

  “No, we drove them off,” Riss retorted, and the captain looked much worse for wear, as she was bleeding from a couple of injuries and looked quite grim. “We don’t have the people to chase them properly, anyway.

  “That’s… frustrating, but fair,” Kitania said, taking a breath as she wiped her blade off on a nearby body and sheathed it. She’d clean it properly later, but she focused on the people groaning and bleeding out on the deck as she continued. “In the meantime, we should care for the injured.”

  “Agreed,” Rose said, looking around as her lips pressed together.

  Beyond the railing, the enemy ship was pulling away quickly, and Vinara snapped out the words of a spell as a fireball erupted from the aftdeck of the ship, only to be quenched by the succubus’s spell. The other ship was there when Kitania glanced over, and it was slowly turning away as well, obviously devastated by the previous attack.

  “How can we help?” Isalla asked, looking like she’d calmed down a little, and looked around in horror.

  “Find the worst-injured and call me over, starting with our crew. If I can save them, that’s the best option,” Kitania said and glanced at Riss as she added, “If you have a healer, I’d deeply appreciate their help.”

  “Of course, let’s get to it,” Riss said and turned to yell belowdecks.

  As she did so, Kitania got to work. The actual battle might have been short, but the conflict was far from over. Until all the crew were dead or stable, it would only continue.

  So few people thought about the aftermath of a battle, just about the supposed glory of the fight itself.

  “Damnation and brimstone, what in the ever-living fires of the hells was that?” Corbek demanded as Arrogance limped away from the battle, shocked by the losses they’d taken. Vengeance had only managed a couple of ballista bolts in the entire battle, and had lost over two-thirds of its crew from the opening blast of the elven mage, which was bad enough, but then she’d been sniped by archers as well.

  As for Arrogance, the crew was down to barely fifteen, and a quarter of them were injured, while Corbek had found himself dodging arrows from a particularly vindictive archer, even when the archer had been forced to shoot past Beatriz. It was infuriating, as was how the enemy mage had countered every spell his mage had thrown at them after the first.

  “That was an extremely unfortunate encounter with a highly skilled mage, possibly two of them,” Beatriz said, her tone flat as she glared back at the ship receding into the distance. “I don’t think someone who could counter my spells could also have put up the barrier that shielded them from the initial barrage, though I could be mistaken on that. Either way, it was incredibly frustrating, and I’m not terribly happy with how things went.”

  “You’re unhappy?” Corbek snarled, then cut himself short, growling under his breath as he shook his head, throwing his hands up in the air as he snapped at the helmsman. “We’re going home. Hells take us if we’re going to go after that deathtrap again!”

  “Aye, sir,” the man said, relief in his voice as he adjusted their course.

  At least he wouldn’t be having to pay most of the crew, which would make the trip a bit less of a disaster, Corbek reasoned morbidly, then perked up. They also might be able to spot a merchant ship on the way back, and that would be far more useful of a prize.

  It was always good to try and find a silver lining after a nasty surprise.

  Chapter 11

  It took most of the day after the attack for the crew to repair the mast, during which Kitania spent her time trying to save the injured, focusing entirely on the sailors. While a few of the privateers survived, it was mostly by chance and the occasional bout of pity on the part of the elves. Not that it helped, since they were promptly handed over to the first port they came across to be tried for piracy, which was a death sentence if they were found guilty.

  Of the ship’s crew of just over thirty, they’d lost eight entirely, another ten were injured, meaning that they’d been left shorthanded. On the other hand, Kitania’s skills had done wonders for getting most of the crew back on their feet quickly, while Vinara had been able to help with some of the more heavily injured. Kitania had been forced to stock up on more herbs when they reached the port, but despite her frustration at using some of her alchemical cures, she couldn’t convince herself that saving them and leaving the sailors with heavy injuries was a better idea.

  Even so, they’d resumed their journey with only minor delays after that, though Riss had been even warier than before. Fortunately, aside from a bit of rough seas that had made the passage unpleasant, they managed to reach Port Hope, their planned destination.

  “Thank you for your assistance, Captain. I wish that the trip had been uneventful, but we can’t have everything,” Rose said, offering a hand to the captain.

  “It was my pleasure, Lady Lynn. It wasn’t the most pleasant of voyages, but the company was pleasant, and we’d have lost significantly more people if you hadn’t been aboard,” Riss said, smiling warmly at Rose as she shook the woman’s hand. “Hopefully we’ll be able to have a more pleasant journey in the future, should our paths cross again.”

  “Indeed,” Rose said, smiling slightly. “Farewell for now, however. Uthren awaits us, after something of a journey.”

  “As you say. May you have safe travels,” Riss said, then turned to head back to her ship, where the quartermaster was waiting with an impatiently tapping foot.

  “Ah, dry land again,” Vinara murmured, stepping off the pier with a smile. “I do prefer not having the ground move under me.”

  “I just wish that I didn’t always feel like the ground was moving for an hour,” Isalla groused, glaring at the succubus. “I’m still not used to it.”

  “We learn to live with it or we don’t,” Kitania said calmly, looking around as she ignored her body claiming that the ground was moving. She wasn’t going to let it slow her down, and Port Hope was a rather nicer version of the human ports she’d seen before.

  Most of the city was made of wood, though it had a pair of towers with siege engines at the ends of the cliffs which encompassed the bay, and she could see the ends of a giant chain come up out of the water and into the base of the towers, likely indicating they could winch the chain up to block ships from entering or leaving the harbor. The piers were solid, even if they were somewhat weathered, a
nd she didn’t see any sign of the usual slums near the waterfront. There were plenty of warehouses and taverns, but there was also a fortress near the pinnacle of the city, while leaving Port Hope would require ascending a series of punishing switchbacks with gates along the way. There probably was more to the city above the cliffs, but Kitania hadn’t been able to get a clear look on their trip into the harbor.

  “So, where are we going?” Isalla asked, looking at Maura and Yain. “You two have the best idea of what to do.”

  “We’ll be resting here tonight, at a minimum, possibly for a day or two more,” Yain said promptly, glancing at Maura as she continued calmly. “We have to arrange for a carriage or mounts to reach Uthren. By foot we’d be looking at close to a sixteen-day journey to Uthren’s Throne, but if we get a stagecoach or use horses ourselves, we can cut that down to far less than that. I’m assuming you’d prefer horses, since it’s easier to see an ambush coming.”

  “That’s right. We’re all soldiers anyway, so it’d certainly make me more comfortable,” Kitania said, a shiver running down her spine as she remembered the attack when she was in the coach with Niadra. She’d been so helpless inside the carriage, which made her far less happy riding them now.

  “Agreed,” Isalla said, nodding firmly. Kitania was slightly curious why Isalla was so vehement but wasn’t going to argue with someone agreeing with her.

  “Everyone is agreed? Excellent. Then now for the climb,” Yain said, nodding toward the switchbacks unhappily. “It’s long, so be prepared for aching legs at the top.”

  “It does look unpleasant,” Rose murmured, looking up and frowning. “I’d hate to think about what would happen if an army took the upper rim, though. The docks would be nearly helpless.”