by William King
It would only take a moment for them to form a disciplined company, and when that happened, the escapees were doomed. Frantically, Kormak glanced around and saw a large fire burning on the beach. He raced over to it, hauled a burning log from its midst and headed towards the ship.
Rhiana and Urag and some of the others saw what he was doing, and did the same. They carried the glowing logs towards the boat and tossed them at it. The smell of burning emerged from the ship. Flames licked around it. The giants realised what was happening and raced forward, the chieftain bellowing at his crew to put the fire out.
“Scatter and get out of here!” Kormak yelled. “It will take them some time to dowse the flames. Get away!”
He shooed the folks away from the ship. Seeing a horde of giants racing towards them, they did not need to be told twice. They ran. The giants ignored them in the teeth of gathering flames. They raced towards the waves scooping up water in barrels, shields and massive hands, returning to their ship.
Kormak and the others jogged towards the slope. It looked like they had bought themselves some time, but would it be enough? And where was Burk?
Chapter Fourteen
They reached the meeting place beyond the brow of the hill, a straggling line of women and children and tired, frightened men. Frater Rik was there, and Karla and her little boy. It looked like about half of the escapees had managed to find this place. Kormak hoped the rest were safely away in the woods or on the other side of the bay. He kept his eyes open for any sign of Burk but the bodyguard had not reappeared.
Zamara waited along with the marines and the nobles. His grim expression lightened when he saw Kormak and Rhiana. He rushed across to greet them, flanked by Terves. His laughter boomed out. “You did it. I had my doubts, I don’t mind admitting, but you got them out.”
“We’re not in the clear yet,” Kormak said. “We need to get back to the Pride of Siderea.”
Zamara nodded. “If need be, we can come back and rake the ship with ballistae and alchemical fire. They won’t get off the island so easily now.”
“The main problem is how we’re going to get back to town. The men are tired, and we’ve got women and little children. It’s going to be a nightmare finding our way back through the forest in the dark.”
Rhiana produced the green pearl from inside her jerkin. Its eerie glow flickered out and lit their faces in ghastly green. “We can see,” she said.
“Get everybody together now!” Zamara bellowed. “We’re moving out before those big bastards down there realise where we are.”
Tired as they were, no one gave him any argument.
“It wasn’t so bad,” Zamara said, as they marched along the path. “We made our way down the hill, snuck up on some of the giants and unloaded our crossbows into them. They were sleeping and taken completely by surprise. If we’d pushed the battle home to them, we might even have won.”
The claim was pure bravura on Zamara’s part. There was no way the giants would have remained surprised for long. He doubted the soldiers would have stood their ground in the teeth of a determined rush by their huge assailants. It was asking more of them than most men could bear.
“We poisoned a few at least,” said Sergeant Terves. “And we only lost a couple of the lads. I saw Hanar flattened by one of them, and poor Leroi reduced to pulp and splintered bone by a club.”
They fell silent for a moment. “Still. It could have gone a lot worse.”
The line straggled away behind them. Soldiers carried little children on their shoulders or hung them in emptied backpacks. Women clutched infants to their breasts. Stumbling with weariness, men followed the winding trail in the pearl’s green glow.
“How long till they are on our trail?” Zamara asked Kormak in a very quiet voice.
“I don’t know. They might not be able to pick up our tracks in the dark. They might take some time to put out the fire on the boat.”
“That was quick thinking,” Zamara said.
Kormak turned and counted the people. How many people had they lost? Too many. Still, the majority were clear. If only they could stay ahead of any pursuit until they got back to the port, he might get them all out yet.
“Where are the bastards then?” Terves asked. They had trudged through the forest all night, moving fast as they could over the broken ground. “If they were coming, they should be here by now.”
“Just be grateful they are not,” said Kormak. “It’s almost dawn. We’ll have daylight soon and unless I am not mistaken, we’ll hit the port.”
“It’s not like our luck to hold so good,” Terves said. “I can’t help but feel that fate has some dirty trick left to play on us yet.”
“Soldiers like to grumble,” said Kormak.
“I am a marine, sir, but I take your point.”
“Doesn’t mean you’re not right,” Kormak said. He glanced back over his shoulder. Any moment he expected to hear the heavy tread of giants reverberating through the forest. So far it had not come.
His ribs hurt from the earlier blow. His sword arm felt as if it had almost been torn from its socket. He did not think he would have the strength or speed to survive another encounter with a giant without rest.
“I am getting old,” he said aloud.
“We all are, sir,” said Terves. “And you shouldn’t be the one complaining. I have more grey hairs than you.”
They emerged onto the hilltop above the board just as the sun rose above the horizon. Below them lay the ruined streets of Fort Wrath. The Pride of Siderea lay at anchor beyond the harbour. It was only when he saw it that Kormak realised how much he had been dreading the possibility of the ship not being there.
The villagers cheered at the sight of it, finally believing in the possibility that they might escape. Gathering the last of their energy, they began to jog downhill towards the port. The nobles and the soldiers with them did the same, trying to keep them all together.
Kormak sat down on the brow of the hill to watch. “We’ll wait here for a little while,” he said. “Just in case.”
“What happened back there?” Orson asked Urag in a low voice, as they trudged through the dark. He glanced around to make sure they were not being overheard. He need not have worried. Everyone was too wrapped up in their own problems to pay any attention.
The tracker showed his teeth in a mirthless grin. “You were right. He was too quick and too wary for us. And I could not risk taking a shot at him with all the giants about.”
“Where’s Burk?”
“Don’t know. He vanished when the guardian cut him.”
“You didn’t see him die then?”
Urag shook his head. “Slippery bastard is probably still out there somewhere. Unless he’s providing a snack for a giant.”
“Does Kormak suspect you?”
“Probably, but he can’t know for sure. We fought side by side back there. He knows Burk wasn’t wishing him a long life and happiness though.”
“If any other opportunity arises to kill him, take it, but not where anybody can see you.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“You’d better.”
“Don’t worry, fat man. The giants might do it for us if they show up.”
“And maybe they’ll get us as well.”
“Everybody dies,” said Urag.
“I’m planning on putting it off for a long time.”
The cutter carried the rearguard back to the ship. Its decks swarmed with refugees. Sailors swarmed the rigging, unfurling sails, making ready for departure. Zamara bellowed orders. Cheers came from the crowds as Kormak and the rearguard reached the ship and clambered up the netting on its sides. They ran immediately to the siege weapons on the prow and stern castle, and began to make ready.
“No rest for the wicked,” said Terves, moving towards the prow. He looked cheerful though and pleased to see all the villagers on the deck. “We did good back there,” he said.
Kormak looked up to see Rhiana running towar
ds him. They hugged. Just for a moment Kormak enjoyed the feel of her body in his arms, then she stiffened.
“What is it?”
“My dolphin sees something big coming towards us round the headland. He does not like it either.”
“Best tell Zamara. Who knows what new deviltry will be upon us?” She nodded, and they moved over towards the command deck. Zamara gestured for them to come up.
“We’re going to have company soon,” Rhiana said. She looked at Serena.
“With your permission, Admiral,” the windcaller said, gesturing towards her elemental flasks.
“Granted,” said Zamara. He turned and said to one the ship’s officers. “Get some more lookouts aloft. I don’t want us surprised before we are under way.”
More sailors swarmed into the crow’s nests. A moment later, they were shouting, “Ship ahoy!”
Zamara raised his spyglass to his eye. “Bastard,” he said and Kormak understood why. Coming around the headland was a massive longship. It looked scorched but seaworthy. It had no sails but it was oared by nearly thirty giants.
“Mistress Serena,” said Zamara. “I would be grateful if you could get us out to sea as swiftly as possible. It appears we are pursued.”
“I’ll do my best, Admiral.”
The elementals roared and howled as they gusted into the sails and pushed the ship forward.
“Get those people into the hold,” Zamara shouted. “Clear the decks for action. We’re going to have a fight on our hands unless I miss my guess.”
He glanced at the sails and sniffed the air, as if testing the winds. A look of concentration passed over his face. Kormak knew he was calculating the giant’s speed and their own, and trying to come up with a plan.
Panicked townsfolk started to throw themselves overboard. A few of the nobles and their retinues did the same. Sailors and marines began to force the crowds down into the hold. Most did not want to go and Kormak did not blame them. The last place he wanted to be during a sea battle was under the decks of a ship. One of his nightmares was drowning amid a shipwreck.
“Either get below or get into the water,” Zamara bellowed. “We can’t afford any clutter on deck. If there’s anyone but my crew on deck in thirty drumbeats, I’ll have them put to the sword.”
The decks cleared. Zamara gave his attention back to the incoming giants. They were closing the distance with appalling speed.
“Helmsman bring us around! Catapults, fire when the enemy is within range!”
Already the great siege engines were being wound up, payloads of alchemical fire were lowered into throwing arms. Huge bolts were dropped into the slots of ballistae.
Zamara let out a long breath as he surveyed the preparations. “It’s going to be close,” he murmured. Their course was going to take them nearer to the giants before they could swing out to sea. “By the Light, they are fast.”
Kormak had been aboard giant longships in the past. He knew exactly how swift they could be when driven by the massed strength of their gigantic oarsmen. The Pride of Siderea was gathering speed too, driven through the waves by the bound elementals.
Zamara turned to the windcaller. “Is there anything you can do to slow them, Mistress Serena?”
“If they were under sail, I would send elementals to blow them back, but they are using oars. My little pets would be better used to propel us. Give me a few minutes to seal the bindings and I’ll show you a trick or two.”
“I look forward to it,” Zamara said, turning back to survey his foe. The long ship was huge—as long as the galleon, but considerably lower in the water. On its prow stood the white-cloaked giant chieftain, a huge battleaxe held in one hand. A row of spears in a rack beside him.
“Best get ready,” Kormak said.
“For what?” Zamara asked.
The giant picked up a spear, tested it, drew it back and cast. It hurtled through the air like a thunderbolt and cracked into the side of the Pride of Siderea. They were still out of range of the siege engines.
“That was impressive,” said Zamara. The giant threw another. It pinned a man to one of the huge catapults. His screams echoed over the decks. The rest of the crews hunkered down out of line of sight, slowing the preparations.
“Steady, men,” shouted Terves, stepping out boldly, making himself visible to all, showing he was not scared. “We’ll show that big bastard soon enough.”
The dragon prow of the longship cleft the white foam as it raced closer. “Now!” said Terves.
Ballista bolts chunked into the side of the longship. Flasks of alchemical fire plunged through long arcs into the sea on either side and plummeted, still burning, into the depths.
The engine crews adjusted their ranges. The Pride of Siderea continued to gather speed. The gap between the two vessels closed at a frightening rate. Kormak could see the faces of individual giants now, twisted and misshapen as their bodies.
“Ugly bastards, aren’t they?” said Zamara.
The catapults fired again. This time, a flask hit and splashed on the side of the ship, splattering its contents on the giants. Cheers rose up as greenish flames rose above the longship. Giants screamed as they roasted. One leapt off, features melting, hair afire and plunged into the sea that could not put the flames out. Several more followed the first into the depths.
The giant chieftain bellowed and his crew redoubled their efforts at closing the distance. The longship seemed almost to rise out of the water under their powerful oar strokes.
“It’s going to be very close,” said Zamara. The gap between the Pride of Siderea and the burning longship was only a few lengths now. The elementals howled in frustration as the spells impelled them on, but they did not seem to be able to make the galleon move any faster.
The Siderean ship had swept out towards the open sea. The longship altered its course, bringing it astern of them. The siege engines on the rear tower turned to bear on it but Kormak could see that if they did not fire soon, their target would be beneath the arc of the catapults.
The ballista fired. Two bolts impacted on giants. Another fireflask splattered at the back of the longship. More giants burned. The stench of roasting blighted flesh filled Kormak’s nostrils. He fought down the urge to gag.
The flames danced and swirled and were sucked towards the galleon by the power of the elementals. Looking around, Mistress Serena saw it and barked commands at her bound servants. The wind changed direction, sending the flames away from the ship. Kormak exhaled. Pitch and tar saturated the timbers of the galleon. The slightest touch of flame might make it go up like a flask of burning oil.
The sails stopped billowing as they lost the thrust of the magical wind. The galleon slowed.
The longship crashed through the waves, still coming closer in a final, desperate rush. Giant warriors dived from the side, hair and flesh ablaze. The giant chieftain threw himself forward, axe held in one hand. He fell short and sank from sight into the sea. Two of his companions rose from their benches and made the leap.
The whole back of the galleon sank in the water on the impact of their combined weight. They began to pull themselves up the sides. The ship rolled. The refugees screamed. Kormak stabbed down at a huge wart-covered hand that grasped the wooden railing. Flesh sizzled as the dwarf-forged blade bit home. Rhiana and Zamara hacked at fingers.
Looking over the side Kormak saw the twisted face of a mutated giant. He grabbed his sword with both hands and drove it down through an eye and into the brain. The giant let go and tumbled into the sea. Behind them more and more giants threw themselves from their vessel. Burning alchemicals clung to their flesh.
A huge form clambered over the side of the ship. The second giant had edged along the carvings on the galleon’s stern and found a new place to alight. He loomed over the prow like a demon, massive axe held high. Crossbow bolts thudded down from the crows' nests. More came from the marines on deck.
An engine crew tried frantically to bring their weapon to bear. The giant sm
ashed it to flinders with his axe, picked up a squirming crewman and tossed him right at another engine. He tumbled broken-backed among the second crew and lay flopping and gasping for breath like a fish out of water.
Zamara and Rhiana rushed it, blades flashing. The giant reached down and grabbed the admiral, lifting him towards its gaping mouth.
Rhiana leapt, hacking with her scimitar at the giant’s wrist, slashing the tendons. The massive hand opened and Zamara dropped ten feet to the deck. The giant brought a massive fist down, aiming at Rhiana’s head. She leapt aside, deck planks splintering under her feet.
Kormak raced forward, aiming his blade at the giant’s leg, behind the knee. Something flickered in the corner of his eye. He ducked. A poisoned axe flashed past and buried itself in the giant’s belly. Kormak saw Urag standing beside Orson near the side of the ship. The cast could just as easily have been made at him as at the giant.
The giant aimed a blow, and Kormak stepped to one side. His return stroke took the giant’s arm off at the elbow. The creature reeled back, screaming, tripped over the bannister and tumbled headlong into the sea.
The crew cheered. The passengers responded to their cries. The decks were cleared and the blazing wreck of the giant vessel fell away astern. The heads of a few giants broke water, but it looked like the galleon was free.
“We did it!” shouted Zamara. The water to the left of the ship erupted and the giant chieftain emerged, pulling himself up the netting on the galleon’s side. Frozen in horror, no one moved to stop him save Urag, who tore a dagger forth from its scabbard and put himself between Orson Waters and the monster. The giant chieftain kicked out at him and Urag leapt to one side. As he did so, the giant’s huge fist swept down, smashing into the top of the woodsman’s head. There was an awful crunch as Urag’s skull splintered and his spine snapped. Moving with surprising speed for a man of his bulk, Orson Waters fled back towards the stern and the siege engines there.
Kormak came down from the command deck in a running leap. He impacted right in the middle of the giant’s chest, driving his blade through the ribs. The salt smell of seawater and the stench of blighted giant warred in his nostrils.