“Sounds good to me,” Jane said too quickly, and her face turned bright red. She adjusted her jacket so Bella could squeeze into the inner pocket and be protected and then climbed onto the back of the seat.
Jackie just laughed and stepped into the side car and pulled her helmet down over her hair.
* * * * *
Eriunia and Carvin stood looking down over the cliffs at Palisade Head, the moon was climbing in the sky, and the night was turning cool. Below them the waves pounded on the rocks.
“Have you seen Bella lately?” Eriunia asked. She had not seen the fairy in two days now, and she was not sure what to make of her sudden disappearance. “Or what about Puck?”
“No, I haven’t,” Carvin replied. “I talked to one of Puck’s goblins yesterday. He said they haven’t seen him in several days.”
“If that little sneak betrayed us, I’ll hunt him down and kill him,” Eriunia muttered fiercely. She turned and started walking back to where their defenses were finally almost finished. There was very little movement around the camp this late at night, and those few who were still awake were slowly walking the perimeter, keeping a close watch in all directions.
“Who commands the forces on the Isle of Lakes now?” Eriunia asked. They walked back to where a dozen tents were set up amidst the scrub trees and boulders.
“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Carvin replied. He rubbed his face with his hands and considered. “Probably Commander Darkback if he has returned from Madeline Island.”
“Him I have heard about,” Eriunia said. She stepped up to the entrance to her tent and stopped. “He’s an evil creature if there ever was one. I sometimes wonder if mortals were destined to be good or evil but in his case I think he might have been evil before time even began.”
“I believe everyone has a choice,” Carvin replied thoughtfully. “My father was the most evil man I’ve ever known. I always hated how he treated everyone else. I never thought it was right . . .” Carvin paused as he considered what to say, the young elf princess was beautiful but he ignored that. He knew the woman he loved, and he would walk through fire to be with her forever. “I knew I would do anything to stop him from the moment I met Jackie. She was the most amazing person I had ever met. Despite the horrible things that happened to her, she still stopped and paid attention to one of her captors. I love her, and I’ll do anything to be with her, I don’t care what side of the Divide it is on.”
Eriunia nodded.
Carvin bent over and stepped inside his small tent. A single bedroll lay on the ground as well as a wooden crate that held five of the magical guns. Eriunia had made sure every one of the weapons they had taken were accounted for and brought with the force.
Carvin slipped into his bedroll and pulled his blanket up around his neck. Sleep came quickly to him, and soon his dreams were full of a raven-haired prisoner who had taken him captive.
Inside her small tent, Eriunia moved her bedroll around until it was on a level spot on the ground. When that was done, she sat down on a crate with five of the new magical muskets. Before her on the ground were two more full crates acting as a small table. On the table a rough map of Lake Superior was spread out and held down by small stones in each corner. She examined the map carefully and marked in her mind the locations of the forces they knew about. The biggest question in her mind was the whereabouts of the monster Ironship that had been spotted at the dry dock on Isle of Lakes.
Suddenly Eriunia heard a rustle of her tent flap, and she turned her head to look back. Standing just inside the door to her tent she saw the goblin Puck. Carefully she put down the corner of the map and placed her hand on the hilt of a small dagger sitting on the edge of the crate.
“What do you want?” Eriunia asked carefully. The goblin was dirty and disheveled, the fur covering his legs matted and covered in oily filth. His clothes were ripped and torn to shreds, and he looked like he hadn’t eaten in weeks. In short he looked horrible, and she wondered what that meant.
“I suppose everyone has been spreading stories about me,” Puck muttered. He slumped to the ground and rubbed his legs. He was exhausted, and he really had not eaten in days.
“Well, no one has seen you since the attack at the Isle of Lakes,” Eriunia pointed out. She sat up and palmed the knife. She slipped it around behind her leg and watched him. “Most people think you’ve been feeding information to Cain.”
“Well, I haven’t been,” Puck said finally. He looked up at her and shook his head. “When the dragon started burning everything, I decided that was a good time to see what I could find out about Cain’s plans. I snuck onboard that big ship of his and started to poke around.”
“Why did you wait until now to come find us,” Eriunia asked.
“Have you ever been around that much cold iron?” Puck asked. “It saps the will and the energy. It took everything I had just to remain hidden. Of course the fact that Cain is on the ship didn’t help either. He may not be the strongest with a pen and map, but he is no idiot.”
“Cain is at the Isle of Lakes?” Eriunia exclaimed. She winced as her voice rang out and she saw a scared expression cross Puck’s face. He motioned at her to keep her voice down.
“No, he’s actually about a mile out from shore,” Puck replied. “He knows you’re here.”
A look of surprise crossed Eriunia’s face and she started towards the tent flap.
“Please wait,” Puck pleaded. “This is our chance to take a large portion of his army and maybe cut the head off the snake.” Ideas whirled in Puck’s head. He had to convince the elf to listen to him.
“How so?” Eriunia asked. She was intrigued and stopped with her hand resting on the flap of the tent.
“You have to trap the force he landed here,” Puck muttered. Slowly he pushed his body up and walked to where the map was still laid out on the flat crates. “You won’t need the dagger,” Puck said. “I’m too tired to fight you at the moment.”
“How did you get here?” Eriunia said suddenly.
“I snuck ashore with one of the landing boats and spent the night dodging patrols,” Puck admitted. He turned the map so he could look at it and picked up a small piece of charcoal sitting next to the map. “First off.” He picked up the map and ripped it in two with a broad sweeping motion.
“What are you doing,” Eriunia said. “That map was not connected to anything. If it was, I would have felt it.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” Puck replied. “Cain has found a way to monitor the location of any map from his master map. Thankfully his master map is incomplete and only covers half of the great lakes. The bad news is that the half he concentrated on is centered on Lake Superior.” Puck tore a large section out of the middle of the map and held the section over the lamp. The fire ate greedily into the parchment. When it was almost gone Puck dropped it to the ground. When there was nothing left but ashes he flipped some dirt over it and looked up at her. “I heard him say it only works with complete maps.”
“So what now?” Eriunia asked.
“Your defenses here are solid,” Puck said. “Before I came to you, I opened two mushroom rings on the Palisade. You leave a strong force here to defend the positions you’ve built. It needs to be enough to hold out for a few days but not so strong that the Adherents call in more troops.”
“What do you have planned?” Eriunia asked. She looked down at the ripped map and realized how much this little bit of information explained, if it is true, she thought.
“After I landed I contacted every tribe I could find and called in every favor I have ever earned,” Puck said. “They will strike the Adherents from here.” Puck pointed at the ripped map and indicated a spot just north of Palisade Head. “The force he landed is almost two thousand strong, enough to trap you here and keep you fighting.”
“Small enough we think we can defeat them b
ut strong enough to hold us here until Cain can finish finding the book. Then he can turn back and land the rest of his forces and wipe us out. Everyone who can stand after the fighting will be mining iron or locked in a cold iron cage somewhere,” Eriunia muttered. Her mind was grasping the situation quickly, and she began to understand what Puck was planning. “We trap them here and hold them, while your force from the north swings down and strike at the rear. Together we wipe out the forces he left here. Instead of him coming north to wipe us out, we march south and take Duluth.”
“Close,” Puck admitted. He smiled appreciatively at the elf princess. At another time he would have been tempted to tell her how he felt about her, but there was no chance of that happening. He knew much about the elf, knew she had been betrothed, knew her betrothed had recently been killed. When this war was done, she would go into mourning for Braun. If she ever emerged, it would be a long wait. “Cain has one other surprise up his sleeve. He is not landing his forces on our side of the Divide.”
“Impossible,” Eriunia gasped.
“Not so,” Puck disagreed. “Mounted to the front of his Goliath is a device with enough raw power to sunder a break in the Divide. He believes the book is hidden on the other side of the Divide, and he is going to cross over and land the rest of his force on the other side. While the locals are busy trying to figure out what’s going on, he’ll be free to search for the book.”
“But such an act would unite the councils against him and the Temple,” Eriunia insisted. “It would even force the Seely Council to finally break their silence and become involved.”
“I think the Temple has placed itself beyond that,” Puck muttered darkly. Deep inside he wondered if the more powerful races of the Seely Council had the strength any more to stand, personally he doubted it.
“Impossible,” Eriunia said.
“We will see,” Puck replied. “We will see.”
They sat up for another thirty minutes laying plans and Eriunia knew that sleep would be hard to come by tonight. She called in messengers and started shifting troops, she sent another to wake Carvin and together they began dividing up the veteran units and mixing them with the raw recruits.
Chapter Eight
Palisade Head
Cain stood on the raised deck at the back of the Goliath and looked south to where the city of Duluth was waiting for him. Half way up the hill, the massive Temple of Adherency dominated the town below it. Delicate spires that had originally marked the center of learning and cultural beauty now flew his new flag—a black ensign with a red hammer and fist set atop a design he had created: two lines that resembled snakes and crossed each other in the middle, one standing vertical and one standing horizontal.
“Drop anchor!”
Cain listened as the massive chains ran out the open ports on the sides of the ship. Two huge chunks of cold iron dropped into the depths of the lake and buried themselves in the lake bed. Mounted to the deck before him was a control box with a series of switches and gauges that displayed the amount of energy the sundering device was pulling. Before coming on deck, he had checked the master map carved into an oak table in his chambers. Working the map into a table made of planks cut from the heart of a mighty crimson oak was a stroke of genius. The boards were so hard to make it had taken three years just to find enough wood to build the table.
It had taken workmen another four years to carve the intricate designs that marked the edges of Lake Superior and most of Lake Huron. He had killed four map makers of varying skill during the painting of the map. All that time and effort invested into something he didn’t even know would work. As it was, he could catch glimpses and hear scattered bits of what was happening on maps around the marked area. Still, it allowed him to stay a step ahead of these so called rebels. He knew where they were gathering and generally what they planned, and it worked well with what he was doing thus far.
“Nothing so far,” Cain muttered. He looked over the map closely before coming on deck, but nothing had moved as far as he could tell. The rebels were still dug in at Palisade Head and his forces were moving slowly closer. “Time to make our appearance, Captain.”
The Adherent standing nearby nodded and turned the massive wooden wheel of the ship until the bow of the Goliath was pointing west. They steamed ahead at full power for almost an hour before the great rock cliffs of Palisade Head came into view.
Cain smiled as he watched the frantic activity atop the rock formations. Let them feel the destructive power of his fleet, even reduced as it was in number.
“One pass, Captain,” Cain instructed. “I want to be in Duluth tomorrow by mid-morning.”
“Yes, sire,” the captain responded. “Prepare to fire!” There was a temporary rumble of hatches opening, and the deck shook as dozens of massive cannons were run out. “Prepare a single broadside!”
The men in the confined spaces below struggled to load the regular cannons while the men on deck checked the arming charges on the magical versions. It took the cannons longer to charge then it did the muskets. They could safely fire the odd shaped cannons about once every two minutes, in between those shots the great iron cannon balls filled with gunpowder would force an enemy to stay out of range.
When the preparations were complete, they waited as the ship steamed closer with agonizing slowness.
“Fire a ranging shot!” the captain shouted. Moments later a single cannon from below decks barked out, and the ship shuddered. A plume of fire lanced out of the ship. Immediately everyone in the area knew they were there and spoiling for a fight.
Cain watched with fascination as the single cannon ball arched out from the ship. There was a sudden burst of activity on the cliffs as the small figures of fighters threw themselves behind whatever cover they could find. Then the cannon ball struck the cliff low near the water line and a great fountain of water and stone erupted into the air.
“Bring it up five degrees,” the captain shouted. “Fire another ranging shot.”
Again the cannon below deck barked, and the ship trembled. This time the shot impacted the top of Palisade Head. The explosion sent a great billow of smoke and rock in all directions, and there was a cheer from the Adherents watching from the deck.
“Fire a full broadside!”
* * * * *
Eriunia and Carvin watched as the first cannon sent a lance of fire towards them. All around them the rebels dove for cover. Eriunia, however, stood calmly watching. The first shot was well short. The second one she would worry about. Generally the second shot went to high.
“Are we ready?” Carvin asked. There was a tremendous explosion from near the water line, and the ground trembled as the shock wave moved through it.
“Can you hold this place with the forces we prepared?” Eriunia asked. She turned and looked at the young human. Despite the fact that he had so recently turned to their cause, she felt good about the trust she was placing in him.
“We will hold,” Carvin replied. “As long as Puck carries through with his end of the bargain, the cliffs will remain ours. If he is lying to us, we’ll be in chains by nightfall.”
“I know,” Eriunia said. “If that happens, I’ll find a way to unleash the might of the elf race into this conflict. We have been neutral too long.” There was still an army in Tir Na Nog that could strike at the Adherents and stop them. Bringing it out of seclusion was the problem.
“Good luck with your mission,” Carvin said. He grasped her forearm and gave her a quick hug. “Now go. We’ll take care of this.” He let go of his grip and scrambled back as they heard the next shot leave the ship. A moment later the cannon ball slammed into the stones at the top of the cliffs and sent a massive cloud of dust into the air. There was a chorus of shouts as the men near the explosion ran for more secure positions. They knew this possibility was coming and deep holes were already dug throughout the cliff top.
Without goblins around, such holes would have been impossible, but goblins had a way with stone. It was impossible to describe.
Eriunia ran south following a small foot trail tucked under the lip of the rocks. It had been widened and carved out so that the rebels could move freely without being shot. When she arrived at the far end, she found Puck looking exhausted but still helping move rebels five at a time to a mushroom ring north of Duluth.
“How’s it going?” Eriunia cried. The shelling was starting in earnest now and the explosions rumbled across the cliff top. She was not sure how long Cain would persist but she didn’t think it would last. The leader of the Temple was more interested in his personal goals then stopping a rebellion he considered beneath him.
“Almost done,” Puck shouted back. He pushed his body back up determinedly and thrust out his chest, he had pushed his body to the limit and still he could not rest.
He vanished with another group of fighters and was gone for about thirty seconds, when he re-appeared he nearly fell to the ground.
“This is the last group,” Puck said. He looked at her and shrugged. “I can come back for you.”
“Don’t bother,” Eriunia replied. “I’ll follow you there. I know the under trails as well as you do.”
“Really?” Puck said. He raised an eyebrow and looked at her. “All right then, follow me.” Together then stepped into the circle and the light rose up in the air around them and surrounded them. Moments later they were flashing through the earth and following a trail that seemed shorter then it was.
* * * * *
Carvin watched from a sheltered alcove as the Goliath slowly drifted south, peppering the cliff tops with both conventional cannon fire and gigantic blasts of energy that crackled out. All in all, Puck’s warning had come at the perfect time. The rebels had pulled out of the forward positions overlooking the lake and the shore leading north and south and taken shelter in deep caves tunneled over the last few days. They would come through the bombardment with few losses.
The Map Maker's Quest Page 7