by Rachel Aaron
Josef cursed and ran for the stairs. “Admiral!”
The admiral, already halfway down the storm wall on his way to deliver Josef’s orders, looked up. “Yes, sire?”
It would have taken too long to explain, so Josef jumped the short wall onto the stairs and ran down himself, grabbing the admiral’s shoulders and pointing the man at the sea. The admiral struggled a moment, and then his body went slack as a look of pure dread crept over his face.
“Powers help us,” he whispered.
Josef let him go. “What can we do?”
The admiral ran a trembling hand through his thin, gray hair as he watched the ocean swell back up nearly to the storm wall’s base. “She’s pushed us neatly back to high tide,” he said, his voice despairing. “More than enough to get her ships over the reef. After that, it’s a straight shot to us.”
“You think she’ll hit the Rebuke?” Josef said.
“Undoubtedly,” the admiral said. “This is the most strategically valuable spot on this side of the island. It’s also where our fleet is and a clear path to the city itself. She’d be a fool not to take this bay, and I very much doubt the Immortal Empress is a fool.” The old man clenched his teeth. “We can’t let her enter the bay. If they land a ship on us here, we’re done.”
“Can we take the fleet out again?” Josef said. “Sink the ships as they come in?”
The admiral shook his head. “It took you two hours to sink three ships. By the time you cut one down, we’ll be overrun.”
Josef cursed loudly. “So what do we do?”
The admiral licked his lips, but before he could answer, another voice spoke up.
“Abuse your advantages,” Eli said, walking down the stairs to join them.
The admiral frowned, but Josef turned to face the thief. “Go on.”
“This is a nice, deep bay,” Eli said. “But those palace ships are ten times the size of the biggest Council freighter. They’re heavy, loaded for conquest, and running deep. Even with the current lifting them, they’ll have to enter the bay carefully to avoid scraping bottom. But raise that bottom a little, and you make a difficult task impossible.”
Josef stared at him. “How am I supposed to raise the bottom of the sea?”
“Put something on it,” Eli said, glancing pointedly at the ships filling the bay.
The admiral almost turned green. “You can’t mean—”
“Are you suggesting I sink my fleet,” Josef said over him. “My only fleet, to make a wall?”
Eli nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Are you an idiot?” the admiral screamed.
“No,” Eli said, crossing his arms. “But I might start to think you are if you can’t see that your runners are no longer useful.”
“Majesty!” the admiral cried. “You cannot listen to this madness.” He flung out his hand toward the boats. “Those runners are fine, precision-crafted warships. You can’t sacrifice our naval strength on one foolhardy gambit!”
“Actually, I don’t see why not,” Josef said, rubbing his chin. “Eli’s right. Without clingfire, the runners are only good now for drawing fire and dodging between palace ships. Dodging doesn’t win wars. If we can block the bay, we can buy time for the Council to arrive.”
“But, sire,” the admiral said, his voice cracking. “That fleet was your mother’s pride!”
“And my mother would throw it away in a heartbeat if it served her country,” Josef said. “We can’t be sentimental if we’re going to have a hope of surviving.”
The admiral looked like he was about to cry. “If you sink the fleet, we’ll be defenseless against the next naval attack.”
Josef smirked. “Fight the sword at your throat, admiral, not the sword in the sheath. If sinking the fleet gives me the luxury of missing it later, I’ll count that a victory. Man the runners, skeleton crews only, and tell the men to line them up at the mouth of the bay. I want everyone else to get a bow and get to the cliffs. This is now a siege.”
The admiral clutched his head in his hands. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Believe it,” Eli said, giving the old man a gentle push. “Off you go now. We don’t have much time.”
Too shocked to realize he was taking orders from the prince’s layabout friend, the admiral nodded and ran down the stairs, calling orders in a mournful voice.
The sailors of Osera lived up to their reputation. Not fifteen minutes after the plan was hatched, the runners were moving out. Four men crewed each ship, rowing hard against the current until they reached the mouth of the bay. They worked quickly, throwing the wrist-thick docking lines from ship to ship. As one pair of men tied the lines, the other worked the anchor, dragging the chain back and forth across the seabed to catch the rocks. One by one, the boats linked together, forming a floating wall between the bay and the sea. When the ships were all tied in position, by rope to each other and by anchor to the ocean floor below, the sailors kissed the prows good-bye before pulling the bilge plugs. As the sea rushed in, the sailors jumped into the bay and swam for the trawlers waiting to take them to shore.
Josef watched it all from the cliffs where the royal guard and those sailors not tasked with sinking the fleet had positioned themselves with crossbows taken from the watchtower armory. The admiral was there as well, his face pale and drawn.
When the last ship had been scuttled, Josef examined the battlefield. The mouth of the bay was now a spiky wall of sunken ships. Each runner had been scuttled prow first, its iron-tipped nose shoved deep between the craggy rocks of the bay floor with its long body pointing up and its narrow mast stabbed into the water behind it like a brace. Even so, the wall of scrapped boats looked like little more than flotsam before the enormous palace ships.
“Will it work, you think?” the admiral whispered.
“We’ll know soon enough,” Josef said. “Are the archers ready?”
The admiral nodded. “Everyone’s in position. The scuttle crews will get bows and get up to the cliffs as soon as they land.”
“Good,” Josef said. “Because the enemy’s on its way.”
The Empress’s fleet had cleared the reef and was now plowing across the span of deep water that ran parallel to the coast. The front line of ships was already within striking distance of the sea cliffs, but the fleet slowed as it neared the island, turning off the Empress’s current to form a ring around the mouth of the bay. Lights flashed on the decks as the ships signaled to each other, and then one of the palace ships from the circle’s northern end broke off from the group and began slowly moving toward the wall of sunken ships.
“They’ll stop,” the admiral said as the palace ship crept toward the barrier. “They have to stop. They’ll break their hulls and strand themselves if they don’t. No admiral would waste a ship like that.”
“And no woman would give up life as a princess and betray her homeland for the love of a ruler she’s never met,” Josef said bitterly. “Don’t underestimate the Immortal Empress, admiral.” Josef looked up, raising his voice as he grabbed his crossbow from the ledge. “Stations! Here they come!”
The order was scarcely out of his mouth when the enormous palace ship crashed into the sunken remains of the Oseran fleet.
The squeal of wood on wood echoed off the cliffs, followed by the horrible crunch of breaking timbers. At the mouth of the bay, the line of sunken ships was bowing, dragged inward by the momentum of the enormous ship. The water churned as the sunken runners plowed along the seabed, and then, with a great clang of metal on stone, the tangle of anchors and knotted chains reached the end of its slack. The line caught, and the palace ship jerked to a halt.
The bay held its breath as the ship stopped. On its deck, the soldiers were sliding, thrown off their feet by the sudden stop. Some fell hundreds of feet into the water below as the ship tilted with a great groan, its keel well and truly stuck in the wall of the sunken fleet.
A cheer went up from the cliffs and then d
ied out almost as quickly as the prow of the palace ship began to shake. Josef squinted. It was possible the crash had broken something inside, but the soldiers on the deck weren’t running with the sort of panic he’d expect from the crew of a damaged ship. He was still watching their movements for a sign of their plan when the prow of the palace ship fell forward.
The great pointed nose fell like an ancient tree, crashing into the bay with a splash that echoed off the cliffs. It bobbed once in the water before a network of ropes wrenched it tight. Josef bit back a curse. The prow hadn’t broken. It was designed to fall, forming a launch ramp for the troop boats Josef could now see waiting inside the ship’s enormous belly. The second the ramp was steady, the boats began to roll out, pushed by men carrying long wooden shields over their heads, their dark faces set in grim determination as they hauled the boats down the ramp and into the bay.
Three ships were in the water before Josef realized his army was gawking and not firing.
“Shoot!” Josef shouted, arching his neck to look up at the sailors on the cliffs. “Now!”
The men jumped at his voice, and at once a ragged volley launched from the cliffs. The short, black crossbow bolts flew from all directions, falling on the boats like rain. The enemy raised their shields over their heads, but it wasn’t enough. Men fell screaming into the water with bloody splashes as the Oseran arrows struck true, but it did not stop the torrent of boats pouring out of the palace ship.
“Keep firing!” Josef shouted as he reloaded his own bow. “Don’t let up!”
Wave after wave of bolts shot down from the cliffs, covering the enemy ramp in a bristle of wooden quills. The bolts struck hard, hard enough to punch holes in the troop ships that were already in the water. But for every boat the Oserans sank, two more appeared from the palace ship’s maw, sliding down the ramp into the bay whose blue water was now a sickly shade of purple.
“How many of the bastards are in there?” the admiral shouted.
“Too many,” Josef said, tossing his empty quiver down and reaching for another. “But they’re not the real trouble. Look.”
The admiral followed Josef’s gaze past the palace ship’s open nose to its back, and his ashen face turned even grayer.
On the rear deck of the palace ship, ten men stood in a circle around a glowing sphere of iron and stone. The sphere grew brighter by the second, until it hurt Josef’s eyes to look at. When it was as bright as a small sun, the men threw out their hands in unison and the glowing ball launched into the sky. It arced above the bay and started to fall, hurtling toward the watchtower with a high-pitched scream.
“War spirit!” the admiral cried. “Get a team down there!”
“No!” Josef shouted. “Keep firing! The war spirit is covered!”
The admiral stared at him. “Covered how?”
Josef nodded at the storm wall. “Time for that lazy bastard to do his part.”
The admiral turned and nearly dropped his bow. Eli was standing on the storm wall, staring up at the falling war spirit with a calm smile as he unbuttoned his shirt. With each button, black smoke rose to curl around him, flashing with sparks. Overhead, the war spirit was picking up speed, its scream ratcheting up to a deafening wail even Josef could feel in his bones. Just before it crashed into the tower’s tile roof, the fire over Eli’s head exploded and an enormous, glowing hand snatched the war spirit out of the air.
Heat poured over the bay as Karon roared to life. He stepped out of the smoke, his great feet searing the stone of the storm wall. The lava spirit’s glowing face was split in a wide grin as he hefted the war spirit in his hand and, after a windup, threw it back. The war spirit shot out of the lava giant’s hand like an arrow. It flew screaming, leaving a streak of smoke behind as it barreled across the bay and landed with an enormous crash in the palace ship’s hull.
The palace ship rocked under the impact, slamming into the seafloor with so much force Josef felt it through his boots. The Empress’s soldiers screamed as their ramp tipped into the water, capsizing the launching ships and toppling their passengers into the bay. Up on the cliffs, an enormous cheer went up from the Oserans. Down on the wall, Eli held his arms up in answer.
“Stop cheering and keep firing!” Josef shouted. “We’re still under attack and you’re only puffing up his head!”
The men scrambled to obey, sending another rain of arrows down on the invading ships. The wizards on the palace ship were running madly now, too busy patching the hole from the returned war spirit to launch another. Meanwhile, the flow of soldiers from the open nose of the palace ships slowed to a trickle as the crews retreated to help deal with the damage. This left those already in the water unguarded as the Oseran arrows rained down like black hail, and for a moment, Josef almost believed they’d stopped the charge.
“Sire!” a voice shouted, shattering the illusion. “South!”
Josef turned just in time to see a second palace ship crash into the wall of the sunken fleet at the bay’s southern tip. The crack of wood drowned out every other sound as the boat ground forward. This ship was going much faster than the first, cleaving into the bay in an attempt to break the barrier. But for all its power, the stubborn tangle of anchors held, and the enormous ship slammed to a stop, sending soldiers skidding off her decks.
Josef gave a triumphant shout. But even as cheers began to ring from the cliffs, the second ship’s prow fell, and a fresh surge of soldiers poured into the bay.
“Don’t stop!” Josef roared, firing his crossbow at the new boats. “Keep firing! Don’t let them reach the shore!”
The sailors on the cliffs answered him with a rain of arrows. The bolts whistled as they flew. Some hit nothing but water, others landed in the heavy shields the enemy took shelter beneath as they pushed the line. A few lucky shots struck true, sending soldiers toppling out of boats. But with so many firing from the cliffs, those few lucky shots had been enough. Just barely. But now, as the second palace ship began disgorging its troops in earnest, the Oserans started to fall behind.
“Keep firing!” Josef shouted again, grabbing another quiver of bolts. “Focus on the ones in the water!”
He had just launched another bolt when he heard a crash above him, and Josef looked up to see Eli’s lava spirit grabbing the edge of the cliff. Karon’s glowing hands cut easily through the stone, carving out an enormous boulder. Down on the storm wall, Eli was shouting words Josef couldn’t hear, pointing at the new palace ship. Karon nodded and hefted the boulder in his hand. He closed his fingers, firing the stone to a red-hot ember before launching it at the second ship.
The boulder struck true, hitting the palace ship’s enormous tower of a mast. Josef covered his ears against the crack of shattering wood as the mast snapped and fell, its top plummeting into the deck below. This, plus the impact of the stone itself, was enough to crack the ship’s keel against the seabed. The palace ship broke with a scream of wood, and then the air was filled with a rushing roar as the water began to gush in.
Josef screamed in triumph, raising his arm to Eli, who bowed in return, a huge grin on his face. Karon was grinning too as he reached out to cut another boulder from the cliff.
Nara clutched the railing of her balcony, glaring furiously at the enormous, glowing giant sinking her ships. Even at this distance, there was no mistaking the lava spirit for anything other than what it was, and that raised a new problem. No mere wizard could command the fire that ran through the heart of the world. The Oserans had a star fighting for them.
She clenched her teeth. What star would dare oppose her? She was no longer the favorite, but she close enough that it shouldn’t matter. Even forgetting that, how could there be a star here when Benehime herself had ordered this island burned to the ground?
Nara paused, thinking quickly. Perhaps the Shepherdess didn’t know? For all her power, she wasn’t omnipotent. Maybe she wasn’t aware that one of her stars had turned rogue? It wouldn’t be the first. The Lady had been forced to put down th
e Great Bear not long before this. If a star was interfering with the invasion, the wise thing to do would be to call the Shepherdess and get her blessing before continuing, but Nara hesitated.
The Lady loved her as a conqueror, an Empress. An Empress ruled with absolute authority. An Empress rolled over everything in her path. An Empress did not run crying to the Shepherdess whenever trouble appeared. Nara pursed her lips. Until the Lady told her differently, the order to burn Osera stood. Whoever this star was, they would soon learn what it meant to challenge the soon to be recrowned favorite.
Smile returning, Nara opened her spirit again and sank down into the sea. This time, she ignored the great current, grabbing a smaller one instead. The current cried and begged, but it obeyed like all the others in the end. As it fled to do her bidding, Nara sat back on her couch to see what the star would do.
Josef didn’t notice the admiral’s absence until the old man returned, his face grim.
“Sire!” he yelled over the roar of snapping bows. “We’re running out of bolts!”
“Can’t be,” Josef said, launching the last bolt from his quiver. “Finley had six months’ worth laid up.”
“Six months of normal fire,” the admiral said. “Not for this.”
Josef turned and looked, his heart falling. He hadn’t had time to notice in the heat of battle, but the crate he and the other men on this part of the cliff had been using was empty. So was the crate it sat on.
“They’re on the last box on the south side as well,” the admiral said. “A runner just came asking for more. I had to turn him away.”
“So there’s nothing left?”
The admiral shook his head. “We emptied the tower armory as you commanded. Every last bolt was here.”
Josef cursed and looked down at the bay. He could hear it happening already. The whistling roar of the bolts was shrinking, the light on the bay brightening as the rain of arrows began to dissipate.
“Send runners to the other cliff,” he said, tossing his now-useless crossbow on the ground. “Tell the men to finish the bolts they have and get down to the wall.”