The Rawn Chronicles Book Three: The Ancarryn and the Quest (The Rawn Chronicles Series 3)

by P D Ceanneir

  Strong tail winds whipped at Sernac’s cloak making it flap around his legs. He concentrated on keeping the link with the orbs open and channelling more Dragon Lane energy through the stone circle. Cracks of lightning zapped from each stone, some found the Ri, but the shield of Air, Earth and Fire he projected meant that the worst of the electricity flares passed harmlessly around him. The effort of holding the link open would have taxed the strongest of Ri yet Lord Sernac merely laughed into the wind and spread his arms open as he did so. The sound of his mad laughter added to the screeching of the storm.

  The horses neighed loudly as the Cybeleion shuddered violently. They were safely tethered in huge body harnesses, which were pinned to the thick beams of the hull. Their panicking calls added to the high pitched and mournful keen of the Choylorran Tree.

  Whyteman and Linth had just finished tying down the kegs of gunpowder in the cold room when the Cybeleion heaved as the storm finally hit her. They, and those of the gun crews they were helping, bounced off the walls of the room and its interconnecting corridor as the ship shook in every direction.

  Tia ran as the stinging, wind driven, rain lashed down over the stern. She jumped to the lower deck and pushed Danyil and Lung to the ground, just as the body of the storm hit the rear of the ship.

  A similar scenario played out in the dining room. Velnour and Furran quickly pushed the two women to the ground; Foxe braced himself up against the dining table, which was placed against the window, as the force of the storm shattered the tall windows sending the glass shards spinning around the room.

  The howl of the storm was deafening, it knocked everyone to the ground as the Cybeleion twisted to port and the stern lifted up from the impact. Those of the crew below decks had the luxury of having something nearby to hold onto even if it was each other. Shouts and screams echoed around the ship.

  On deck, even though the crew knew of the storm’s speedy advance, some were still caught unawares. Danyil groaned as he saw two of his men sent hurtling over the starboard rail and the black clouds swallow them up. Sounds of creaks and splintering cracks accompanied the booming thunder. Loose debris was flying around in every direction, narrowly missing Hexor as he held onto Gunach. The wily dwarf had tied a length of rope around himself and both men clung tightly to it as the rain drenched them. Lung, lying on the wet decking beside Tia, saw two water barrels ripped loose from their bonds and lifted by the strong wind. One was tossed over the side and instantly split into pieces as the wrenching gales of the storm took it; the other headed their way, and if it were not for the Havant turning it into dust, it would have cracked open Captain Danyil’s head with its weight.

  On the bridge deck, the gale pushed Tyban up against the helm with such force that it winded him and he fell clutching his chest. Chichi ran to a sheltered corner and sat there quivering in a puddle of rainwater. The wheel spun wildly, and the Cybeleion twisted to port, turning out of control. The deck hands were once again sent to the floor or spinning to the four corners of the ship as the wind pushed and pulled the vessel in all directions.

  Havoc moved against the wind, using the arts to keep him steady as he lurched his way to the helm. The wheel was just a rotating blur and he wondered how he was going to grab it. However, Powyss had the answer as he got to it first; he wedged his arm into the wheel, jamming it in mid spin. The snapping of his arm bone was clearly audible above the noise of the storm as was his yell of agony; he fell to the ground holding the wheel with his other hand, his teeth gritted in pain. Havoc held one side of the wheel and helped Powyss extract his broken arm. He sensed a large mass appear at his side and was grateful to see Little Kith stagger from the port side stairs and grip the helm. The big man nodded once to the prince to acknowledge he will take over as rainwater cascaded down his wide face.

  Havoc turned to find Lord Ness. Astonishingly, the Ri was standing straight, eyes closed with his arms outstretched trying to subdue the storm in his soaking wet cloak. Havoc thought that the Ri’s actions was commendable, but futile. His Master was a powerful Rawn, but the storm was even stronger. Nevertheless, it was as if the Ri had enclosed the ship in a protective bubble, the standard shielding of Air, Earth and Fire. The storm, although still furiously pelting the deck with horizontal rain, was letting up in power under Lord Ness’s influence. The prince wondered how long he would last.

  Energy is everywhere, can’t you see it? the Blacksword screamed sharply in his mind. He let the prince see the flux of yellows as it wove around the clouds. Something shifted and oozed within the high ceiling of the storm.

  ‘This is being generated by a Drift Circle,’ he gasped.

  And something else, added the Blacksword.

  ‘What was that, boss?’ asked Little Kith as he struggled to bring the ship into level flight, his biceps bulging as he steadied the helm. The sail-canopy was shredding in places and one of the outrigger sails was flapping loosely. Apart from that, it was a marvel that the Cybeleion was still whole; the Falesti engineers had to be congratulated.

  ‘We’re in the shit!’ was the prince’s reply and he saw the big man smile slowly then laugh.

  With the storm around them it was difficult to tell if they were heading into it or out. Lightning lit up the sky for the briefest second and Havoc could see the deck crew crawling around below him. Rain was in such abundance that water slopped around the deck as the ship bobbed in flight. Captain Danyil was trying his best to climb the starboard stairs to the bridge level as the wind battered his right side. Havoc could see Tia wrapping a rope around Lung and then go off and help someone else. He smiled, thinking that he may have had the wrong idea about her after all, but then thought better of it. Only a handful of strong Ri’s using a Drift Circle could invoke such a huge storm. Though the thought came to him, if it was the Brethac Order at the heart of this then why place their spy in danger?

  Danyil finally reached the top of the stairs and shouted something over the howling wind that the prince could not hear. The captain pointed to the loose outrigger sail and he lunged for the ropes to tighten it. Havoc helped him as he used the winch mechanism; the deck was now slippery with an inch of rainwater that cascaded down the stairs like a short waterfall. Once the sail was winched in, the captain staggered towards the helm and pointed to the compass that was set in the helm next to the control column. Kith nodded and between them, they changed course.

  The energy from the Dragon Lanes is feeding the storm, but I feel something else is here too, said the Blacksword in an almost thoughtful voice. Havoc tried to ignore him, he had other things on his mind. Nevertheless, he realised his alter ego was onto something.

  A long stream of lightning lassoed above the horizontal sail. Its heat burnt black holes in the canopy and the ship dropped a few feet.

  ‘Energy from the storm, fed from the ground,’ mumbled Havoc, then his eyes went wide. ‘THE GROUND!’ he shouted and Tyban jumped at the Prince’s voice as he sat clutching at a broken rib.

  Havoc gripped the Captain’s shoulder and shouted in his ear.

  ‘Ground her!’ he said.

  ‘What?’ Danyil shouted back.

  ‘Ground the ship, it is our only hope. We cannot go above it anyway, the air’s to thin.’

  ‘Are you mad? At this speed we will be torn to pieces!’

  ‘We will be torn to pieces anyway. Lord Ness will not be able to hold it for long.’ The Prince inclined his head to the Ri whose brow was etched with deep lines of concentration.

  Danyil looked to the Ri then to the Prince. Another bolt of lightning cracked a few feet off the port side, making everyone jump. The Captain turned to Little Kith and nodded; they both pushed forward on the helm.

  The Sky Ship plummeted downward at a steep angle, crashing through grey clouds as if they were surge waves. Turbulence rocked her from side to side. Flickering light followed her descent and long skeletal arms of lightning chased her as if they meant to grab her hull and rip her to pieces. The crew felt the drop of the ship and
thought this was the end; they were finally crashing.

  The Cybeleion dropped out of the clouds only to be hit by whirling sand that had turned the rain to gritty mud.

  ‘We’re close to the ground!’ shouted the Captain,’ level us off.’ Kith pulled with all of his strength and the vessel’s bow slowly pulled up. Through the sand and rain they could see the high dunes stretched out before them like a wind-rippled sea. Streaks of vertical lightning thumped down around them and the Cybeleion had to dodge through the gauntlet of electrical bolts as thick as a man’s body.

  ‘Decrease the Orrinn output by half!’ Danyil shouted to Tyban as he and Kith concentrated on keeping the helm steady. The Captain’s senior officer crawled to the control column and flipped the leaver to the correct symbol that ordered the five Orrinn Towers to decrease their output. The ship slowed and dropped some more. The dunes came dangerously close and so too were the bolts of lightning that sizzled around them. The ship shuddered and rattled under the strain, while at the same time, buffeted on both sides by constant gales. Havoc reached up for the Ri as a huge dune appeared into view. He had just managed to pull him down to the floor when the bow of the Cybeleion clipped the top of the mountain of sand. Everyone jerked forward as the ship suddenly slowed from the impact, but she ploughed through the dune as if it was a twenty-foot wave. Sand sprayed outwards on both sides and the wind caught it, sending it raining down on top of the poor souls on the main deck.

  Once clear of the dune there were other, shorter ones for the Sky Ship to bounce along, each impact slowed her down but sent violent tremors throughout her hull as she scraped out a ditch into the desert floor. Everyone held tight onto something as the Cybeleion ploughed along the surface of the sea of sand, shaking and creaking viciously. It took a long time before the ship finally came to a halt.

  ‘The storm is too strong,’ gasped the weakened Ri as the prince helped him to stand, ‘fed by too much energy.’

  ‘I know,’ said Havoc, ‘I can use that energy against it, Master; I can use the energy in the ground.’

  ‘Too dangerous, my Prince, it will kill you.’ Lord Ness looked older to Havoc; he had used up all of his strength.

  ‘I have to try, Master, or we will not survive this.’

  There were loud thumps as huge bolts of lightning struck the sand dunes around them, Tia noticed that they were getting closer, probing, searching. Why land the ship? They were a sitting duck. The bolts of electricity would find them and... she gasped. She reached into the folds of her cloak and extracted her Lobe Stone from her pocket, the Love Stone that her mistress had given her; it was pulsing bright white light.

  ‘I’m the Lure!’ she realised that her mistress had set a trap and the Lobe Stone was the device needed to bring the storm to them. ‘Why would she sacrifice me?’

  As she spoke these words, she saw the Prince walk to the centre of the deck, shouting for everyone to abandon ship. His sword was in his hand, he was apprehensively watching the lightning strikes getting closer - the sound of crashing thunder was deafening. He turned in her direction and saw her with the Lobe Stone and as the flare of lightening showed her features, he could see the shock on her face.

  Havoc had no time to ponder the riddle of the Havant because a hot spike of electricity hit the port side of the ship. Sounds of splintering and tearing wood reached his ears over the storm as the bolt racked down the ship’s hull before finally dispelling into the earth. He quickly formed a Pyromantic Surge and sought out the Dragon Lanes through the eyes of the Blacksword. They were not that strong here, although the conduits of energy did cross close by to give off more energy, but he intended to use the energy in the storm. He was hoping that the concept of two positively charged elements would neutralise each other.

  Three more lightning bolts hammered down from the dark bubbling clouds sending up showers of hot sand that tinkled in the deck as chunks of hot glass. The Blacksword guided Havoc towards the volatile energies inside the Dragon Lanes; he linked to as much as he could, drawing it too him in a vibrant rush. It was so intoxicating he wanted to find more; that is when he saw, quite clearly, the energy flux within the mass of clouds building up. It was flashing with sheet lightning all around the formation directly above him. His apprehension grew to shock as the flashes revealed tendrils of dark clouds disengaging from the body of the main storm. There were thousands of them writhing like tentacles from a sea bound monster. They reached down towards the small speck in the sand that was the Sky Ship.

  It’s him! Yelled the Blacksword in his head.

  ‘Who?’ The prince asked.

  The Earth Daemon. He is feeding the storm!

  The tentacles reached down to the ship, enveloping her in its dark embrace. Havoc stared up into the writhing mass. The Blacksword noted the concentration of volatile energy was strongest directly above them.

  ‘YOU!’

  The voice lashed out from the storm, made from thunder and the crackle of lightning.

  It knows I am here!

  Directly in the centre of the tentacles something opened and flashed with sheet lightening. A cavernous maw like the cephalopods beak of a giant leviathan opened and screeched with hate filled anger.

  ‘Come on then!’ Havoc said through gritted teeth raising SinDex above his head with both hands.

  Tia did not understand what the prince was doing, she screamed a warning anyway, then stood to throw the Lobe Stone over the edge of the ship. Powyss and Lord Ness were simultaneously running towards the Prince to stop him, but it was already too late. All the crew, still on deck, watched in shocked amazement as a stream of electricity, thicker than a man’s body, zigzagged down from that monstrous mouth and struck the tip of the Sword that Rules. The backwash of the strike lifted everyone who was closest to the Prince off his, or her, feet. The energy expelled by the lightning encased the prince in a white shining cage. When the Prince pushed a Surge into the volatile flux, it blasted the electricity into billions of fragments that shot out into a wide circle around the ship, sending everyone aboard into blissful unconsciousness.

  Before his senses shut down, Lord Ness saw a mass of bright yellow energy ascend from the Sword that Rules and shoot up through the core of the lightning bolt at amazing speed. It hit the thing in the storm and punched a hole through it into the dark clouds beyond. The circle widened as the energy burnt through the storm. Starlight twinkled beyond the gaping hole and Lord Ness chuckled in irony as he recognised the constellation of Kernot, the Storm God.

  Then his vision dimmed into darkness.

  The Earth Daemon screamed in Lord Sernac’s head.

  The massive thrust of negative energy blasted the storm into atoms and sent the Dark Entity tumbling back into his prison. Sernac’s last contact of information from the creature was a searing roar of agony and anger towards the Blacksword before he severed the link and closed down the flow of energy under the Stone Circle. He barely had time to protect himself as the backwash of pressure from the dispersing storm slammed into him and sent him spinning from the dais. He bounced off the nearest Saracen and his last image before unconsciousness took him was of the three orbs on the stone table; their surfaces still shifting with their individual colours as if nothing had happened.

  The energy from the Pyromancer dispersed the storm a thousand times quicker that it had appeared. The gaping hole that he had created destroyed some of the clouds and sent the rest to the four points of the compass. As the storm dispersed, it picked up trillions of tons of sand. The heat and friction from the retreating energy boiled the grains until they bonded together into millions of small beads. This new storm rained down upon Tenk of Mubea and the east coast of Tattoium-Tarridun as glass hail. History would record this phenomenon as the Night of the Rain God.

  Those around the Ring of Dulan had to cover their heads under the onslaught of the hail. Once it was over they were standing in an inch of glass beads and the sky had cleared into a twinkling starry night.

  King Kasan wa
s just as amazed as all of the Rawns and Ri around him. He picked up some of the clear beads and let them fall through his open fingers.

  ‘Can a Pyromancer do that?’ he said to his great-aunt. Cinnibar shrugged and shook her head at the same time.

  ‘ADMIRAL HURNAC!’ the king bellowed. The tubby admiral came from the back of the crowd and puffed loudly as he stood by the King.

  ‘I’m here sire.’

  ‘We shall implement the fallback plan,’ Kasan said this as he looked at Cinnibar, who nodded slightly with a sour expression on her face. ‘Take your Sky Ships and find the Gredligg Orrinn. If the Cybeleion gets in your way then destroy it.’

  ‘Understood, Sir,’ Hurnac saluted him.

  ‘Permission to go with him, Sire,’ this was said by Fowyn, a slim Ri with a neat trimmed fair beard that was a shade darker than his cropped white hair. He had narrow eyes that gave him a commanding and confident look.

  ‘Agreed,’ said Cinnibar before the king could say anything, ‘Serena, go with him, and if Tia stands in your way, kill her.’

  If Serena was shocked at the order to kill her one time lover, she did not show it.

  Chapter 17

  The Ancient Citadel of the Assassi

  Mullah Al Mullach sat on his camel as the midday sun beat down through the wispy clouds. His white kaftan flapped in the southern breeze as his hazel eyes stared out of his turban scarf at the strange sight in front of him. He had seen many unusual things in the desert in his forty five years as the leader of the Kaleeth Eba, but his band of nomadic scavengers had never seen a ship this far in from the sea. The dreams he had last night were so vivid and surreal that they woke him throughout the night of the great storm and left him wakeful, and fearful, throughout it. Certainly, the dark and oppressive voice that cajoled him to obey it’s every desire made the dreams difficult to forget. Furthermore, he felt compelled to do as it instructed him.