Skyborn

by Eric Asher

  “Those bombs will work best against the soldiers on the ground,” Jacob said. “You won’t have to get close to them. And it … it’ll be bad when they go off around people.”

  Gladys grimaced. “Good. If we can’t destroy their crawlers, then we have to buy time for Archibald to get here.”

  “Gladys,” George said. “We have two small carriers in the south of the city. We need to evacuate to those. You cannot fight.”

  Bolts and shells pinged off the A-frames as the second wave of crawlers reached the riverbed. The soldiers behind them were organized into ranks and already marching into the center of the dry river.

  “Go,” Gladys said to George. “Take Helena. Get our people out of here. I won’t stand by while Fel destroys us again.”

  “Gladys …”

  “Go!”

  George grimaced and gestured to Helena. He hesitated and turned back to Gladys. “If the battle grows too intense, retreat into the city itself. Hide if you must. I will return.”

  Jacob picked up another launcher and clipped a sack of bombs to his belt, priming the launcher as he glanced around the edge of their shelter. One cluster of crawlers was already reaching the top of the opposite bank.

  The first ran into a surviving trap, but the second made it through. Time was something they didn’t have much of.

  “We fire and we run,” Gladys said. “They’re across the river.”

  Jacob nodded and passed the word down. “Fire and fall back.”

  “Keep moving until we’re in the city,” Gladys said. “Then set up what ambushes you can, and stay hidden if possible.”

  The word whispered down the ranks, a soldier from each A-frame hurrying to the next, spreading Gladys’s orders. Another crawler breached the river and ran into an A-frame as if it meant to knock it over on anyone sheltered behind it.

  Instead, the crawler ramped up it, tilted, and rolled back into the riverbed. Jacob raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t expect that.”

  “I don’t think they did either.” Gladys clicked the fuse on a Banger and snapped it into a shell. She stepped out from the shelter of the barrier as the foot soldiers rushed to help right the crawler. The launcher jerked in her hands, sending the bomb arcing through the air only to clang off the crawler’s undercarriage.

  One soldier frowned at the orb a moment before a fireball enveloped everyone standing near the crawler. Blood and viscera sprayed across the sand as Gladys reloaded and fired again.

  The second round bounced off a dying soldier, and the blast tore the face off another man rushing in to help. Jacob vomited into the sands. He’d done that. He’d made that bomb. Gladys grabbed his arm and hauled him backward.

  “Run!”

  They abandoned the A-frame as a volley of bolts came down around them. A soldier beside Gladys went down without a sound, a bolt glistening in his neck. Gladys grunted as something caught her arm, and Jacob didn’t miss the splash of blood on her cloak.

  He turned as he locked his own bomb in place and fired back at the corner of the A-frame where the first foot soldiers had now progressed. He didn’t watch the fireball, or the shrapnel, do its work. The screams were enough.

  The thunder of metal on metal crashed behind them, followed by a series of explosions. Gladys threw Jacob to the ground as the small home in front of them vanished into a fine cloud of sand and rubble. Jacob scrambled to look at what else might be coming for them. One of the crawlers had its cannon aimed right at them, and judging by the damage done to the buildings, they’d opted for explosive rounds.

  Charles had always warned Jacob about explosives. The wrong mixture, or the loss of focus at the wrong time, and you might not have a hand left, or your life. And to carry those inside a crawler? Something that would surely take fire from an enemy force? Jacob shuddered at the thought.

  The turret rotated, and Jacob pulled Gladys to her feet. He didn’t miss the princess’s wince as she flexed her arm and led the survivors down a narrow alley.

  Another explosion ripped through the city above them, echoing in their ears and sending bricks and wood to rain down as part of an unrelenting tide. One thing Jacob was sure of as the buildings collapsed behind them: if Archibald’s reinforcements didn’t get there soon, there wouldn’t be a Midstream left to salvage.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Deeper into the city, the shelling slowed. Jacob jumped at every sound, tracking the movement of every bug and lizard that crossed their path.

  “They’ll have the city surrounded by now,” Gladys said. “Did you see how those crawlers were starting to circle as we left.”

  Jacob nodded. He had seen it, and they didn’t have traps to the south of Midstream. “Once they have a perimeter, they’ll move into the city.”

  “We need to get higher and see what’s happening.”

  “Lead the way.” The buildings of Midstream weren’t tall, but being tucked away in the tight alleys didn’t give Jacob a view of what waited on the outskirts of the city.

  Gladys ducked into one of the few three-story structures that remained from the last time Midstream had been burned to the ground, and Jacob stayed close to her. Ancient area rugs, woven with intricate designs and symbols of the old desert, silenced their footsteps.

  Jacob followed Gladys up a wooden staircase, parts of the banister still scarred from sword strikes and pocked with shrapnel from whatever had happened there when the warlords came. A simple ladder led from the second floor to a squat square room on the top. A single window graced each wall, and a few pieces of musty furniture sat covered by aged sheets.

  Gladys crept to the eastern window while Jacob peered out the corner to the north.

  He cursed when he saw the shadows on the horizon. More airships, and these were no landers. The long narrow hulls, crossed at regular intervals with what looked like perpendicular pontoons, could only mean one thing.

  “Bombers,” Jacob hissed. “We need to get into the basements if we can.”

  “We don’t have basements,” Gladys said, joining Jacob at the window. She stared out at the looming shadows closing on them. “The water table is too high here, even in the desert.”

  “Can we get south?”

  “No, the crawlers have already surrounded us, but they aren’t moving into the city.”

  Jacob shook his head. “They wouldn’t be. They’re going to destroy Midstream and us with it. We have to get to George on the docks.”

  “The docks are outside the perimeter, Jacob,” Gladys said.

  He clenched his teeth. “Then tell him to go. We need to split up everyone who followed us. Scatter through the perimeter. They can’t catch us all.”

  “Catch us?” Gladys said. “They’re going to kill us. Come on. There’s another transmitter downstairs. The lower floor used to be a school, and George always kept one here.”

  “Don’t you have a portable one?”

  Gladys ran shaky fingers through her hair before she opened her cloak by the streak of blood. Jacob’s eyes widened when he saw the shattered transmitter box. It had cut into her, yes, but it had likely saved her arm in the process.

  “Okay, let’s find it.”

  Jacob hurried down to the first floor, and Gladys followed close behind. She made her way over to a bookcase, not unlike the one in George’s place, and opened a panel hidden in the bottom of a shelf. Gladys pulled out another copper box.

  She turned the dial and clicked the transmitter. “George, it’s Gladys. We’re surrounded. A bomber is heading into Midstream. Take the ships and escape to Bollwerk. This is an order from your princess.”

  A burst of static came back a moment later. “No! I will do no such thing. Where are you stationed? We can …”

  “George,” Gladys said. “George, it’s too late. Fel has a perimeter set up around the city. Save who you can.”

  The line was silent, but Jacob could only imagine how much cursing George was doing at that minute.

  “I’ll be back for you, Princess. Take
the corridor to the mountains. It won’t get you to the docks, but it will provide shelter for a time.”

  Gladys exchanged a glance with Jacob. “I’m a fool. I forgot we dug out the old passageways. It’s how we maintain our wells.”

  “You’re not a fool, Gladys. Now show us how to get there.”

  Gladys turned the knob on her transmitter. “This is your princess. Get underground. Get to the old wells and shelter there as long as you can. May the gods watch over us all.”

  They were back in the street when the earth shook beneath their feet as if the desert itself meant to swallow them.

  “Are they bombing the riverbed?” Jacob asked.

  “I guess your traps bothered them,” Gladys said with a brief, savage grin. She sprinted down an alley, following another cloak, while several more trailed them. But even as they moved farther into the city, the explosions didn’t stop.

  Bomb after bomb blew gusts of sand and debris into the air, and the sky itself vibrated with every clap of thunder.

  “Not far now,” Gladys said, hurrying into what looked like a small square near the center of the city. But as the shadows drifted in above them, Jacob feared that not far was going to be too far. Another explosion deafened them, and bits of wood and brick pelted down in smoking hail.

  Jacob glanced back. The bomber had reached the city limits, and they were out of time. He dove at Gladys as a timber spiraled through the air above them, crashing into a decorative gazebo in the center of the square.

  Gladys dragged him back to his feet without pausing. “Everyone run!”

  It was the last thing Jacob heard before something slammed into him from behind, and everything went black.

  * * *

  Mary lowered the scope from her eye and slowly collapsed it.

  “What is it?” Alice asked.

  Mary shook her head. “They’re bombing the city.”

  “What?” Alice undid her harness and hopped out of her seat, snatching the scope out of Mary’s hand.

  “Get back in your harness,” Mary said, but there was no fire in her words.

  Alice raised the scope to her eye so she could better see the shadows around Midstream. Crawlers had surrounded the city, large gray things that looked invulnerable to almost any kind of attack. But Alice could see the broken ruin of more than one of those tanks.

  She swept the scope closer to the city and gasped. Fel’s bomber had cut a swath through the center of the entire city. Buildings lay in smoking rubble while fires had taken hold near the outskirts. Relief flooded her chest when she saw two small airships fleeing from the mountains.

  “Two ships past the mountains, headed south.”

  “Let me see,” Mary said.

  Alice handed her the scope, and even without it, she could see the smoke and fire rising from the city.

  “Why would they do this?” Furi asked, leaning close to Alice.

  “Those are the airships Archibald gave to Midstream,” Mary said. “Hopefully Gladys and Jacob are on there. It won’t matter if those schooners catch them.”

  Mary shouted into the horn. “Smith! We’re going to engage four schooners.”

  “Four!” Smith’s annoyed shout came back. “Why don’t you just fly us into a mountain instead?”

  “They’re chasing Midstream’s only airships.”

  Smith didn’t respond for a time. “Send Alice and Furi down here. We’ll need them on the guns.”

  “No,” Mary said. “I want to use the guns you installed in the hull. I don’t want to slow down.”

  “You want to engage with the thrusters on?” Smith cursed. “Mary, that’s insane!”

  “We have about two minutes until we’re in range. Be ready. Alice, Furi, buckle in.”

  Alice could hear Smith banging around over the horn. The sounds faded and something like steel dragging over steel screeched through the ship.

  Mary flashed a bitter grin. “Smith’s loading a belt in the new chainguns.”

  “Look,” Furi said, pointing to the windscreen. “The bomber is circling back around.”

  Mary shook her head. “They’re going to destroy Midstream entirely. Just like Ancora. Just like the Bay of Sorrow.” Her fingers whitened as they choked the life out of a lever. She took a deep breath and opened a copper panel to expose their transmitter.

  “Airships fleeing Midstream, this is the Skysworn. You have four schooners closing from behind.”

  The transmitter crackled and George’s voice burst to life. “Skysworn! We are not equipped for combat.”

  “We are. One minute out from engaging their rear. It doesn’t look good for Midstream. Fel’s bomber is circling back.”

  George’s voice choked up. “Gladys and Jacob are still in there!”

  “What!” Alice squeaked as her heart dropped into her stomach. “No. No!”

  Furi reached out and grabbed her hand.

  “She ordered us to leave,” George said. “It was the right thing to do. We have hundreds of souls on these ships.”

  “It won’t matter if you’re all dead,” Mary growled. “Split your formation. At least give them a hard target.”

  “You have to stop the bomber,” George said. “There could still be survivors down there.”

  “First, I need to make sure there are survivors up here,” Mary said. “Keep a line open. Smith, did you catch all that?”

  “I caught it. Now take down the schooners so we can figure out a way to bring down a bomber. Belts are locked in.”

  “Then you better lock yourself in.” Mary slid a panel out from underneath the console. It looked shiny and new compared to the aged patina of the rest of the buttons and levers. She hit the pale yellow one on the left first, and the ship shook.

  “What is that?” Alice asked.

  “Drag from the chainguns.”

  Alice leaned as far to the right as she could, releasing Furi’s hand. At the edge of the porthole, she could just make out the railing flipping and locking into place. And on the far side, now starting to spin, sat a chaingun like the one Smith had used in Gareth Cave. Memories of Rana flashed through her mind before she came back to the moment.

  Mary hit the green button, and the barrels started to spin. And as the speed accelerated, Alice realized these were far different from what she’d seen in Gareth Cave.

  “You know this will either be brilliant, or we’ll explode, right?” Smith said with an odd calm to his voice.

  In answer, Mary flipped the brass locking mechanism off the red button and slammed her palm down onto it. It was as though they’d stepped into a swarm of Sky Needles, the chaingun buzzing like a saw powered by compressed air. Only instead of a single needle to cut down their prey, the chainguns sent bolts of fire screaming across the skies.

  The first schooner never had a chance. Mary’s volley cut through the cabin and gas chamber alike, sending a spray of metal and wood into the air before the gas chamber collapsed entirely, and the ruined ship plummeted to the earth.

  At the speed they were moving, Alice didn’t even see it crash into the mountains. By the time it hit, they were well past it. Mary targeted the next, the chainguns again thundering outside the Skysworn. This volley took the stern of a schooner, but it managed to evade being shot down.

  “Brace yourselves!” Mary said. “Thrusters down in three, two, one.”

  The inertia slammed Alice against her harness, and she didn’t miss Furi’s boots scraping against the floor as if she could slow them down on her own. But their ambush had done its job.

  “Schooners are retreating,” George’s voice crackled over the transmitter. “Thank you, Skysworn.”

  “I wish they were retreating,” Mary said. “Smith, we’re taking to the mountains.”

  Smith groaned, and Alice heard the ringing of metal on metal. “Ready when you are. Secondary boilers are primed, but I would still prefer you not run into anything.”

  “I can go below deck.” Alice started to unbuckle her harness.

/>   “Not now,” Mary said. “I don’t want anyone in those gun pods while we’re in the valleys.”

  Alice hesitated and then refastened her harness.

  The Skysworn dove, skimming a mountain ridge as it slipped into a valley.

  “We should take the high ground!” Furi said. “We’re an easy target for cannon fire here!”

  Mary released a bitter laugh at that. “Or so they’ll think.”

  Two schooners appeared along the valley above them, cannons swinging toward the Skysworn.

  “Let’s see you match this. Hold on!” Mary slammed two levers down and the bow of the Skysworn lurched into clouds. She increased the thrust, and a cannonball screeched past them, detonating in the valley below. By the time the second schooner could have even thought about firing, the Skysworn had reached the top of its arc.

  “Who has the high ground now?” Mary whispered. She primed the chainguns and fired again, cutting through the gas chamber of the second schooner. “Two down.”

  Before she finished getting the words out, small arms fire ripped through the cabin of the Skysworn. Furi screamed as splinters exploded into the air and metal clanged against the cabin door. Something boomed below them and Smith’s hurried cursing echoed over the horn.

  “Switching to secondary boilers. Don’t take another hit like that!”

  “Steering’s slow,” Mary shouted back.

  “We lost one of the chainguns too. Damn! I should have shielded that. Stupid.”

  “You can yell at yourself later; just fix the steering! Rudders are down. I’m taking to the valley again.”

  “Why would you do that when we can’t steer!” Smith squawked.

  Alice thought that was a perfectly reasonable question as the Skysworn dove into the valley again. But it was also a perfectly reasonable question as to why she was unfastening her harness, opening the door to the cabin to Mary’s protests, and scampering down the access hatch in the middle of the deck. She heard Mary’s voice come across the horn.

  “Alice is heading your way, Smith.”