Kal Moonheart Trilogy: Dragon Killer, Roll the Bones & Sirensbane

by Rob May

  After the sudden destruction, Kal found herself still pinned to a rapidly sinking section of the deck,

  ‘Don’t go anywhere, Mooney!’ a voice shouted from the circling warship. ‘Help is on its way!’

  ‘Ben!’ she groaned. I couldn’t escape if I wanted to.

  IV.viii

  Dreadnought

  Kal was hauled onto a pontoon and winched up to the main deck, while the Mort Royal continued on to pick up the survivors of the pirate ship battle. Kal soon found herself surrounded by sailors and soldiers in both Republic and Eldragoran uniform. Lula appeared and took Kal’s hand, while Doctor Tooth examined her leg.

  ‘Looks pretty bad,’ he said, fingering his bonesaw. ‘Might have to come off …’

  Kal sat up and shook away everyone’s probing hands. ‘Lu, go and make sure Dogwood and Pip have been picked up. Doctor, if you really want to help, get me some rum! And where the hell is Ben?’

  Benedict Godsword pushed through the crowd. He was still wearing his blue sea coat with the gold buttons, but it looked a lot more travel-worn than the last time Kal had seen it. He was also clutching a bottle. ‘Kal!’ he said. ‘I might have known I’d find you in the thick of the action!’

  ‘Is he dead?’ Kal asked urgently.

  ‘The Nubaran zombie guy? Yes, he’s dead. We removed his head to make sure. He put up quite a struggle, though!’

  Kal relaxed, but only slightly. ‘What are you doing here, Ben?’ she asked, grabbing the bottle from him and taking a swig. The liquor was hot in her throat, and the warmth spread to her limbs.

  ‘Your friend Lula put up signal flags from the pirate’s rigging. My crew spotted them—they meant nothing to me, of course—and we headed straight over!’

  ‘No,’ Kal groaned. ‘I mean, what are you doing here? At Port Black? You must have followed us all the way from Amaranthium!’

  ‘Well, no, not exactly,’ Ben said. ‘I went to visit the King of Eldragoro first, on a diplomatic mission. I wanted to see if he knew anything I didn’t about what was going on down here. When I heard he had sent the Armada, I had to quickly think on my feet to negotiate a deal. Can I have my rum back?’

  Kal had yanked the splinter from her thigh, and washed away the blood with rum. A gaping hole was left in the middle of her new tattoo, making it look as though the ink dragon had been violently slain. She tore a strip off her shirt and bound it tight. ‘You’re drunk enough already by the smell of it,’ Kal said to Ben. ‘What sort of deal?’

  ‘Of course I’m drunk!’ Ben said. ‘I’m in the middle of a sea battle. It’s either hide below, or get drunk and join the fun! The deal I made with the King of Eldragoro was the creation of … well, of a league of nations of sorts, to make sure that the world can never be held to ransom by people like … like …’

  ‘Sirensbane,’ Kal said. ‘The governor of Port Black broke bad. He’s manufacturing and smuggling drugs on a large scale, and turning zombified addicts into his own private workforce.’

  ‘Good work, Kal,’ Ben congratulated her. ‘I knew you’d uncover the truth. When we’re done with his ships, you can tell me all you know, and we’ll go after him.’

  ‘He’s a monster,’ Kal went on. ‘Possibly insane. And if you’re going to send someone after him, then it’s going to be me. You don’t even need to pay me—’ Her words were drowned out by a cacophony of cannon fire. The crew of the Mort Royal were all looking and pointing at something, so Ben helped Kal to her feet and they went to the side to have a look. At the centre of the battle, the action continued to revolve around the zombie galleon, like a cyclone swirling around a malevolent eye. Its cannons were inexhaustible, and it was laying waste to the allied fleet.

  ‘Sirensbane is aboard that ship.’ Kal said. It was obvious now: his secret manufacturing base was a floating fortress.

  Ben put his arm around Kal’s shoulder. ‘Well, he won’t be for much longer. You see those ships—’ Two frigates were closing in on either side of Sirensbane’s galleon. Kal couldn’t see how they could possibly be carrying enough firepower to bother the larger ship, though. ‘The Firehand and the Cassava,’ Ben laughed. ‘Like their illustrious namesakes, they have a lot of underhand tricks prepared.’

  The two frigates positioned themselves fore and aft of the galleon, avoiding its broadsides, but also seemingly giving themselves a smaller target to fire at. Kal shook her head in puzzlement as she watched. The guns on the sides of the frigates were not conventional cannon … they were more like long tubular piping …

  And then they fired. Or rather, squirted. An oily vomit splattered the galleon’s hull and decks, and when it slopped around the waterline, it burst into a terrible and vivid red flame.

  ‘Dragonfire!’ Ben exclaimed gleefully. ‘We found stores of dragon oil in General Cassava’s armouries last year. She must have extracted it from dragons while out on campaign. We had to mix it with petrock and burnt lime to make up the quantities we needed, but the intensity is almost as much as the real thing. That ship will be a floating funeral pyre in less than a minute!’

  Kal watched the burning galleon. ‘Would you like to wager any money on that?’

  Ben frowned, and his expression turned sour at having his moment of triumph doubted. He gave Kal a disappointed look, but when he turned back to look out to sea, he swore.

  The fire had burned itself out, but the galleon was still there.

  Only now, its wooden shell had completely fallen away, revealing an indestructible metal hull and superstructure. The high afternoon sun glared off it, and Kal had to cover her eyes.

  ‘A dreadnought!’ Ben gasped. ‘My naval engineers have been trying to come up with one of these for years, but they assured me it was impossible!’

  Amaro Azul appeared at the rail and whistled. ‘Well, that was quite a show, Senator,’ he said. ‘What are you going to do next? Send up some fireworks to really impress and delight the enemy?’

  ‘I need to get on board that ship,’ Kal said.

  Lula had returned, too. ‘Kal!’ she protested. ‘You’re not going anywhere. Your leg—’

  ‘—is fine!’ Kal snapped. Her leg was not fine, but she could stand on it, and that was all that mattered. ‘I’m going to end this thing, Lu.’

  Azul was checking his gun bandolier. He tossed a soaked pistol over the rail, repacked the other three in their holsters, and nabbed a spare off one of his marines. ‘This ship is the only vessel that can get us close enough and survive a battering by those cannon,’ he observed as he checked his kit over.

  ‘Get closer?!’ Ben choked. ‘This ship cost me over ten million crowns!’

  They all watched as the dreadnought rotated on the spot without any sign of being under oar. The Firehand and the Cassava were instantly destroyed by two simultaneous broadsides. They turned into flaming beacons as they were consumed by their own deadly dragonfire payloads.

  Ben took his rum back off Kal and downed the bottle in one gulp. ‘But then again,’ he said, ‘what’s ten million crowns anyway? I’ll just raise taxes next year!’

  * * *

  Kal’s boots hit the deck of the dreadnought with a clang. The entire deck was a patchwork of six-foot square sheets of iron, fastened together by giant rivets. An enormous chimney rose into the sky and belched out thick black smoke. The vessel would be driven by steam, Kal guessed.

  Azul had found a door. At least it looked like a door; the Eldragoran examined the metal wheel for a moment, then wrenched it anticlockwise. It spun freely, and the door opened outwards on heavily greased hinges. Azul stepped aside to let a troop of zombies stagger out. Lula was on hand to round them up; she had a length of rope along which manacles had been tied. Kal nodded in satisfaction; there would be no more zombie deaths added to her count today if she could help it.

  She also didn’t want Lula’s fate in her hands. ‘Stay up top, Lu,’ she said. ‘We’ll send any more zombies your way. Find a boat and get them off this ship.’

  ‘Aye aye, Capt
ain!’ Lula said. She snapped manacles around a zombies wrists while it tried to paw her face. These were Lula’s people, when it came down to it, and Kal had rather Lula help them than risk her life plunging into the heart of the enemy’s stronghold.

  Kal stepped over the bulkhead and into the dreadnought. Azul followed, as did the dozen or so surviving Eldragoran marines. Boots clattering loudly, they all found themselves on a metal gantry overlooking a large hall full of strange machinery.

  ‘Be quiet, you imbeciles,’ Azul chided his troops.

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ Kal said. ‘He knows we’re here. He knows everything. Our only hope is that he eventually runs out of tricks and traps by the time we find him.’

  Azul nodded. ‘When we find him, he is mine!’

  ‘It doesn’t matter who gets him,’ Kal said as they made their way down a spiralling metal staircase. ‘He can trip on his own robe and knock his brains out for all I care.’

  ‘It matters to me,’ Azul said. ‘I want revenge; for my brother, who Sirensbane had killed even after he tortured him and found him innocent; for riches and for glory. Do you not care about any of those things, Kal?’

  She shook her head. ‘Not any more. I just want him dead.’

  Kal, Azul and the marines spread out. The interior of the dreadnought was a maze of narrow passageways and hissing machines. Strange phosphorescent lamps were fixed in the overheads, providing just about enough light to see. The whole ship was compartmentalised, presumably to contain damage and flooding. There was no way that the Armada would be able to destroy it by cannon alone. Kal ran her palms along the warm machines; if she only knew where to start, maybe she could dismantle the dreadnought from the inside.

  She could hear Azul’s voice blathering away from one of the parallel passageways: ‘You are not what I first thought, Kalina Moonheart. I had heard that this famous Dragon Killer was heroic, fearless and willing to gamble everything in her quest for fame and fortune. I am relieved, in a way. I still admire you, girl, but I have to say that you are only the second greatest buccaneer in the world at the moment. Ha ha ha—look out!’

  Kal could hear running feet, shouts, and the sound of guns being fired at close quarters. A man rounded the corner—a Nubaran pirate wielding a big axe. Kal’s reactions were faster than his, and she managed to shove her blade between his ribs before he even had chance to take a swing at her. She quickly moved into the shadows between two of the phosphorescent lamps, and took the next enemy before he even noticed her, let alone attacked her. She grabbed him by the mouth and pulled her cleaver across his neck. He fell to the metal floor making a lot of mess, but not a lot of noise.

  Kal felt a surge of exhilaration, and not a little satisfaction. Two quick clean kills; and this time, enemies she wouldn’t be losing any sleep over. It was a rare moment of triumph in this whole sorry business.

  She could hear clangs as swords hit metal walls and pipes, and the double-bang of Azul’s pistols going off. Seconds later, there was another double-bang as he reholstered his spent pistols and drew the second pair from his bandolier. After that, there was silence except for Eldragoran voices. The surprise attack had been thwarted.

  Then Kal saw movement at the end of the passageway. A red-cloaked figure passed through her line of sight and disappeared into the gloom. Seconds later, Azul must have seen it too—Kal could hear his shout, followed by the sound of pursuit. She followed, but with a little more caution.

  She rounded a corner and found a compartment with an open circular hatch in the floor. A ladder descended to what sounded like a noisy engine room. It was hot down there, and Kal could sense the movement of numerous pistons and flywheels. She descended slowly … and arrived late at the scene of a bloodbath.

  Azul was standing in the middle of a pile of bodies: his marines were all dead, as were about twenty mercenaries. The red-cloaked figure was lying face down, a sword in its back. Azul was clutching his ribs; when he pulled his hand away, it was red.

  ‘Are you alright?’ Kal asked.

  ‘A mere scratch,’ Azul replied. ‘I didn’t have time to reload my pistols, so I had to resort to a little close combat. A few nicks are inevitable. Why don’t you have a lick, Kal—Eldragoran blood tastes finer than the most expensive wine.’ Azul pulled back the hood of the corpse at his feet. ‘We should toast my dead compañeros, and celebrate the death of—’

  ‘It’s not him,’ Kal said.

  The man under the cloak was tall and slim, but that was where the resemblance to Sirensbane ended. Azul swore in several languages. ‘Where is he? I’ve had enough of this accursed trickery!’

  Kal tried to contain the frustration she also felt. She looked around the engine room. The giant turbine towered over them, and the steam that powered it was generated by hundreds of furnaces. The dreadnought could travel without sails or oar; it must burn an incredible amount of fuel.

  ‘I know where to go,’ she said.

  ‘Good,’ Azul said. ‘You lead the way. I will follow your pretty little ass.’

  He winced as he moved. Azul was making light of his wound, but then Kal didn’t have time or words to waste on sympathy, so it was just as well. They made their way to a spot amidships, below the waterline. It was here that Kal noticed the bulkheads were thicker and reinforced. She and Azul took out two guards silently, and pulled open a heavy hatch.

  The compartment within was stacked with racks of barrels from floor to ceiling. Each barrel was stamped with the enigmatic letters: X X X.

  ‘This is not the Magician’s quarters,’ Azul said. ‘This is …’

  ‘The powder magazine,’ Kal confirmed. ‘Come on, we need to find some rope.’

  They searched around the compartment. Azul found a coil of thinly-braided cotton rope, and Kal tapped one of the barrels. But their preparation was disturbed by the sounds of approaching enemies.

  ‘This is not going to work, Kal,’ Azul said. ‘If we leave a fuse burning, they are going to find it and stamp it out.’

  Kal punched her fist in anger. ‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘We need to cut our losses and leave. Are you ready to run?’

  Azul sighed. ‘No,’ he said.

  ‘What?’ Kal said. ‘Come on. I don’t even think the Magician is aboard. I didn’t see any evidence of a drugs lab anywhere.’

  Azul opened his shirt, and Kal could see that the wound he had received was more than just a glancing blow. His stomach had been punctured; it was the kind of mortal wound that tortured recipients with a long lingering death.

  ‘Go, Kal,’ he said. ‘I will give you as much time as I can.’

  Kal helped him as he struggled to load and cock his pistol for the final time. Before she left, she kissed his cheek.

  ‘Give the Magician a painful death for me, Kal.’ he said. ‘Tell him I will see him in hell. Oh, and tell my king’s daughter that she will have to settle for a lesser man now. Or maybe a woman. Perhaps you could do her for me, Kal.’

  ‘Shut up, you ridiculous man,’ Kal said, laughing back a tear.

  ‘You deserve all the spoils and riches of this world now, Kal,’ Azul said. ‘Who is the greatest buccaneer to sail the Silver Seas?’

  ‘You are,’ she reminded him.

  ‘Only for as long as it takes you to get the hell off this ship. Then I pass my title to you. Now go!’

  Kal didn’t need to be told thrice. She left the magazine and ran. The waves of pirates and mercenaries ignored her in their panic to check the powder. Her injured leg felt like it was on fire as she climbed the ladder, but it just served to remind her that she wasn’t dead yet. Back up on deck, she was relieved to see that Lula had gone, and the Mort Royal was a safe distance away, engaged in a close-range battle with the remaining pirate ships.

  Kal ran the length of the deck. She didn’t have time to lower a boat. Instead, she ran up the sharply pointing prow and continued along the narrow bowsprit, hurling herself off as late as she dared before she slipped. There was no time to ready hersel
f for a dive—the best thing she could do was curl her body into a ball to avoid a bellyflop.

  The last thing she heard before she hit the water was a tremendous boom. There was a flash of bright white, and then the noise and light were suppressed as she was swallowed up by the sea. As she sank, she was buffeted by shockwaves and battered by chunks of metal. She swallowed water and was spun around at the same time, only to see a great metal section of the dreadnought’s hull blocking out the sun above the water.

  When it hit her, she felt a smack of pain, then nothing.

  END OF PART FOUR

  PART FIVE

  UNDER THE SEA

  Now my heart is broken, my bridges burned,

  And all I know has been overturned.

  But when the world ends and we’re both free,

  Look for me under the sea.

  V.i

  Blood on the Snow

  Kal and Deros slowly backed away down the canyon. The frozen head of Mister Speckle seemed to watch them as they went. From somewhere up ahead in the dark, snowy mists they heard a shuffling sound and a bestial grunt. As one, Deros and Kal turned around and ran back the way they had come.

  Except that running was impossible in the deep snow; instead, they had to almost jump, lifting their knees right up and hopping into the footprints that they had made on their way up the canyon. It was a slow, agonising retreat, and Kal knew that at this rate there was no way they were going to escape the monster whose hibernation they had just disturbed.

  And then Deros did something unexpected: he dived to one side of the trail, disappearing into a deep drift. Kal immediately understood, and threw herself in, too. She landed on top of Deros, and together they scooped snow on top of them. If the snow could conceal and contain the monster’s scented trap, then it could also conceal Kal and Deros.