The Fury Yet To Come
Page 12
In the distance, the towering Steelpeak Mountains spread out on either side of the harbour. They stretched to the heavens—so tall that airships couldn’t fly overhead before their engines stalled and sent the craft plummeting to the ground.
The range of jagged mountains stretched for miles. Some said they were formed when a meteor hit the earth, interfering with the geology and shifting the plates of the land, corrupting it. Others said that Aerulus the One Father punched the world and the mountains formed from the impact, like water rushing up when a boulder is hurled into a pond.
The horizon tilted as the Kismet made a sharp turn. Gallows’ crate screeched against its binding ropes and the pulses from the bricode machine came faster now, a frenetic stutter like the last gasps of a dying animal.
‘What’s going on?’ Gallows called to the captain.
Cauldbright didn’t respond—her head flicked between the Bride’s Code readout and the skyglass.
Gallows glanced at the rusty machine—most airships had a co-pilot who read the RADIOM graphs and operated the Bride’s Code transmitter—machines used to detect objects and for ship-to-ship signalling—but it looked like Cauldbright preferred to do it all on her own.
‘They’re all hailing your frequency directly?’ Damien asked.
‘Nah, open channel signals…’ Cauldbright’s voice tremored and spun away like a loose thread.
Steadying himself against the turbulence, Gallows got up and leaned down to the transmitter, trying to make sense of the contesting signals.
S.O.S. Emergency… Enemy numbers greater than anticipated… Petrel’s Tail gate breached—enemy incursion underway—repeat—Petrel’s Tail gate breached…
Ice shot through Gallows’ veins. ‘They’re in the city! How the hell did they hit the west side?’
Damien stood beside Gallows. ‘Perhaps they made their way through the mountains and crossed the desert? With the Idari navy attacking the east, they have the kingdom in a pincer.’
Gallows opened his mouth to respond but a nearby explosion cut him off.
‘Getting dicey!’ warned Cauldbright.
In the distance, Dalthea’s colossal coastal guns boomed, igniting the horizon. A pit opened in Gallows’ stomach with every boom.
The bricode machine didn’t let up: Irros’ Beckon overrun… City under siege… Suicide bombers… Civilians perishing… Number unknown… All units to return to base—Repeat: All units RTB…
Sera’s in the city. ‘Cauldbright!’ he bellowed. ‘Screw landing in the skyport, just get us into the city! Now!’
‘What do ya think I’m doing?’
A force thrust Gallows hard into the wall as the Kismet wheeled to the side. Damien caught him—the Ryndaran mouthed something but his words were lost in the maelstrom of din. The Kismet spun with a violent lurch, the sea filling her skyglass.
Cauldbright fought for control—Irros’ Bounty was aflame, swathes of blood-red fire smeared across the water. Gallows couldn’t make sense of what he was witnessing.
Anti-air flak erupted and one of the Kismet’s companion craft exploded and hurtled into the sea. Cauldbright swore, while Damien urged Gallows to strap himself in.
But all Gallows could think about was the woman he loved.
City under siege… Civilians perishing… Number unknown…
Metal screamed. Brass instruments broke from their fixtures and machines sparked and caught fire. Gallows’ head glanced off a bulkhead; copper filled his mouth and he twisted onto the ground.
Bullets punched through the Kismet’s hull. Shrill bricode signals rang, Cauldbright yelled, and Damien barked commands, but Gallows couldn’t make sense of the words.
Then—like Aerulus cleaving the heavens asunder—harsh, burning, white light flooded the Kismet. It filled the world and flared inside Gallows’ head, robbing him of his sight. His fingers reached out for purchase but grasped only air.
‘Damie—’
A detonation surged across the sea. The world tilted, and sharp pain needled every inch of Gallows as his body was hurled from side to side.
He landed on his front, blood and saliva trailing from his mouth.
Voices floated in and out of Gallows’ head—Damien’s, Cauldbright’s, Sera’s…
And then the stillness came.
The bricode signals fell silent, leaving a strangled hiss of static.
‘Brace for impact!’ Cauldbright warned.
The Kismet struggled in the air; she spun, her tail assembly whipping around in a frenzied arc. Dazed, Gallows stumbled to the skyglass, watching the horizon spin as Cauldbright fought to regain control.
Pockets of fire dotted the sea. The burned out husks of Dalthean and Idari vessels alike lay strewn across the water. A tidal wave swallowed huge vessels and spat them back out.
In the distance—stark against the slate black sky—a pillar of raging fire bridged the gap between Earth and Heaven. Thick smoke coiled around an expanding inferno, forming a monstrous mushroom cloud.
As the Kismet spun, Gallows caught fragments of the destruction wrought upon his home. Dalthea’s harbours lay in ruin. Bodies littered the beach. And with every inch the Kismet clawed closer to home, the chasm inside Gallows’ gut widened, threatening to swallow him.
Gods above and below.
The first time Nidra had exerted her will over him, it left him cowering and empty. The bitter feeling of powerlessness gnawed at him. She’d left him unable to scream, unable to fight. She’d caused something to fracture inside him—and try as Gallows did, it couldn’t heal.
When Nidra made Helmsley beat Rocco, Gallows had experienced it afresh—the sensation of falling, drowning—powerless against a current. He wasn’t under her control, but still he was incapable of doing anything but watch.
And here, miles from his cell, the sensation gripped Gallows again—dragging him down, deeper and deeper. It sapped the strength from him and stole any hope Gallows may have had that Sera was still alive.
As the destruction reigning over Dalthea grew closer, Nidra’s words rang in Gallows’ head: You will never be rid of me, dog.
Never.
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The End
Click the cover to see what happens next in Symphony of the Wind!
‘Fortune Find You!’
Also by Steven McKinnon
The Raincatcher’s Ballad
Symphony of the Wind
The Fury Yet To Come
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Other Works
Boldly Going Nowhere
The Vividarium, featured in the anthology In Memory: A Tribute to Sir Terry Pratchett
GoogleFuture, featured in Issue 6 of The High Flight Fanzine
About the Author
Symphony of the Wind is Steven McKinnon’s first fiction novel, and is Book One of The Raincatcher’s Ballad. The Fury Yet To Come is a prequel novella set in the same world.
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His first book, the true-life tale Boldly Going Nowhere, was released in 2015.
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Steven is 32 years old, and was born in the bathroom of a high-rise flat in the year 1986.
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He has since moved out.
Copyright © Steven McKinnon 2018
Steven McKinnon asserts the right to be identified as the author of this work under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. Except for the use in any review, the reproduction or utilisation of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means is forbidden without the express permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to people or events is purely coincidental.
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Cover design by James T. Egan of Bookfly Design
https://www.bookflydesign.com/
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First Edition
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This is an independently-published title released under
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V-Book logo are registered trademarks
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www.stevenmckinnon.net