“They'll kill us!”
“Maybe they'll give us enough time to work out a plan.”
“No, we can make it,” I said. I looked around at Taka his eyes wide, his hands trembling where he gripped the handle in front of her seat, the whites of his knuckles showing. But he kept a brave face. “I can help Auntie. I know a song.” I looked into his eyes and I saw the same kind of resolve that I would have seen on Sukina's face.
I nodded. “Whatever you want, darling.”
He let out a melancholy harmony which both softened my heart and strengthened my resolve. Velos, I felt him gain some strength too, as he'd been weakening since getting clipped.
The airships ahead were gaining distance now. Soon, they'd be on top of us, and I thought maybe we could hide under their gondolas for a while. But there were some fat looking turrets on some of the cabins, with red eyes that would latch on to Velos and shoot him down in an instant.
We reached the next of corner of the carrier's hull, and I turned Velos just in time to evade some Hummingbirds. The airships had their rifles cocked and ready, but they didn't fire yet. Probably, they didn't want to damage the front of the boat, perhaps there was fuel in there or something.
“You can't keep this up forever, Miss Wells,” the voice boomed out again from the airship. “Surrender is your only chance.”
There was no point even trying to reply. We turned the corner again, and this time I kept watch with my augmented eyes for when the rifles would fire. But just as I saw the finger tighten on one guard's trigger. A klaxon sounded, and a guard ran up on the officer airship's deck to point in the direction of the battle behind.
I looked in the same direction to see a silver line forming on the horizon, beneath the shrapnel-flak and below the Greys. Reinforcements had arrived. Sandao's fleet, I presumed. The guards lowered their rifles, causing a temporary respite in fire. This didn't stop the Hummingbirds approaching though. Another swarm of them buzzed towards us.
“Got it!” Faso shouted, as he fiddled with the control panel at the back of the armour. “There's a secondary reserve.”
“What?”
“I'll explain later… We have around a minute.”
Beneath me, Velos' armour began to glow green again. The Gatling guns came back to life. They homed in on their targets and Hummingbirds began to fall out of the sky. The Hummingbirds fired shots back, one of which I had to duck out of the way of, another that hit the armour. If it wasn't for the armour, that shot would have gone straight through Velos' heart. But instead it just deflected off into the water.
One by one, the number of Hummingbirds in the swarm dwindled. I managed to turn Velos around enough to meet them straight on. It seemed we didn't have to worry about fire from the airships anymore. The airborne fleet had begun to separate again into two flanks, heading towards the navy. Now, instead of having the rifles trained on me, they had them trained on the horizon.
“It's time to join the battle,” I shouted, and we ploughed forwards. Behind me, Taka kept singing her song. I could feel Velos' pain, though he didn't even groan. Still, I have no idea how he managed to carry on with that clipped wing. Perhaps it was the armour's reserve tank and the secicao within it that kept him able to fly.
Beneath me, the armour had now taken on a bright luminous green. Faso laughed. “I'm a genius,” he said. “I wasn't sure it would work.”
I wanted again to pull in the dragons, but the wall of shrapnel-flak still separated me and Sandao's fleet. Another cloud of Hummingbirds emerged from one of the carriers, but this time it wasn't sent off in my direction but towards the battle ahead. I kept Velos flying towards the fleet.
“Pontopa, you're crazy!” Faso shouted. We'll never get through that shrapnel-flak.”
Yet I knew there was no turning back now. We would push forwards and we would make it. We'd return to Gerhaun and give Sukina a proper funeral. Although, I hadn’t quite yet worked out how.
But still, I knew this would be the right way.
So, I gritted my teeth and pushed down on Velos' steering fin to get him closer to the water. And then I enjoyed one of the brief respites that separates the barrages of war.
CHAPTER 31
We were losing. Though we had dragons and we had bigger guns, Gerhaun's naval technology was a little outdated and, as I drew closer to King Cini's boats, both Faso and I noticed the green pipes running through the hulls.
“My technology!” Faso said.
“I know,” I shouted back. He didn't have to state it for what must have been the thousandth time. Cini was using secicao to power his automatons and now his boats, it seemed. And this technology would be here to stay.
Only a couple of ships on Cini's side were sinking, their hulls now tipping below the water. But in the distance, I could see smoke and fires on hulls, clouds of Hummingbirds descending on naked steel superstructures.
Then there were the Greys. I could feel their pain. What must have been a good several hundred of Gerhaun’s best now had been reduced by half. Each lost life tugged on my heart as I felt it sink beneath the water. Could we really win this battle? Could we really defeat a much larger foe?
You can, Pontopa, Sukina's voice came in my mind. Your strength is within. Again, it must have been a figment of my imagination. My own head telling me this, nothing else.
What's the use, I said back, just like I was talking to her in the collective unconscious. I considered the inviting Hummingbird carrier again. To land on it would be easy. Then all this would be over.
The boat in question was getting closer to us. Funnily enough, that thing hadn't sent out any Hummingbirds. Maybe it needed extra space for Velos — huge beast that he was. Or maybe it was saving a bigger weapon for a last resort. I shuddered as images flashed passed my mind of what that could be.
Behind me, four airships were also closing in on us. The rest of the airships were now some distance between us and the distant fleet.
I felt drained, and I wanted to collapse. So, I raised my hip flask to my lips to take another mouthful. But the secicao had almost gone, so I only got about half of what I'd usually get.
I steered Velos back towards the enemy fleet. In the distance, a smaller cloud of Hummingbirds disengaged from an emerging swarm, the larger cluster swerving off towards a small cluster of Greys. I could also feel Velos running out of energy. The secicao in his armour had virtually ran out.
“There's not much left in him!” Faso shouted. “Dragonheats, Pontopa, you need to turn around.” He had stood up in his seat now and Ratter was perched upon his shoulder, its red eyes glaring at me. But soon a Hummingbird approached us, and Ratter shot it out of the sky using the cannon in his throat.
Velos doused the rest of the approaching swarm in an orange flame. One by one, they sputtered and fell to the water before they had chance to release a shot. Velos still had something in him after all.
But then my heart lurched as I felt five more Greys fall out of the sky. I let out a song to try and at least give the rest of the flock some heart. But my singing was so meek that I doubt it fell upon a single dragon's ear. Taka seemed to catch on and he also began to echo the song. The dragons on the other side of the barrage turned around to start to form into a larger group.
“Safety in numbers,” I said back to Taka.
He simply nodded then he pointed over to the larger carrier, the one we were meant to land on. “Auntie Pontopa, look!”
Out of one of the funnels of the ship emerged what must have been thousands of Hummingbirds. These weren't the standard bronze variety. Instead, they were tinted green. As they approached, an olive coloured cloud began to surround them.
“My technology, again!” Faso said. “What happened to patent law? Dragonheats we're screwed.”
“Pontopa Wells,” the voice filled the air again. The officer's airship had drawn ahead of the other three ships and the blue suited officer stood on deck, once again with the megaphone to his mouth. “As you can see, the battle is l
ost. I'll give you three seconds to turn Velos around or our new technology will cut you out of the sky.”
I felt a pull then, a need to draw towards those Hummingbirds. They had something I wanted…
Pontopa, resist it. Sukina, again inside my mind. This isn't you.
But there was something in that swarm. The Hummingbirds had now lined up in a lattice formation, and a larger black Hummingbird was floating in the centre of this. Instead of a gun, it held a large transparent flask in its arm, and I could see what was in the centre of that flask. Exalmpora. Drawing me towards it.
I must have it, I said back to that voice in the collective unconscious. Alsie took Francoiso and Sukina away from me… I'll hunt her down and I'll kill her.
Pontopa, don't let it take control.
“Auntie… Auntie!” Taka was screaming. Perhaps he hadn't seen the Exalmpora. No, he knew it was there. But he had more power to resist. As Francoiso said, children had more control over these things.
“That's it,” said the officer over the loudspeaker. The secicao-powered Hummingbirds charged forwards.
What do I do? I asked that voice in my head. Could it really be Sukina?
You know what to do…
But…
Just do it…
I looked back at Taka. His eyes were wide, his hands clutched on the bar in front of him. But still, he had this knowing look. “Auntie, you do your part, and I'll do mine.”
“What?”
“Mamo's here. I heard her voice. She's with us, Auntie.”
“Taka?”
“Just sing!”
For a split second, I was stunned by Taka's brashness. But then I swallowed down my pride and I snapped into life. I turned towards the Greys in the distance and I sang a dragonsong. This one wasn't to heal, not to give courage, not even to give strength, but to protect against what Taka was about to do. Somehow, the plan had already formulated in both our minds.
Cini's technology and the Exalmpora inside that black flask had created a source of the collective unconscious. And the song I let out created a shroud that I threw out towards the dragons in the distance. I saved a little for Velos as well, and it seeped out of me like two tendrils into his ears. He roared, deafened by my song. Then my hearing went too. We needed to do this, if we were to survive.
Despite the shrapnel-flak raging around me and the cannons booming not far away now, I managed to become strangely calm. I kept my distance from my fear as well. Taka looked into my eyes, knowingly and then his mouth opened wide.
Neither me nor the dragons heard the sound he let out. But the Hummingbirds did. The first of them had just come close enough to fire upon us. I grimaced for a moment, expecting to be knocked off my perch.
But Taka's mouth remained open and the Hummingbirds carried on in the same direction. One knocked hard against my shoulder, causing me to yelp out in pain. That same Hummingbird lost its momentum and fell into the water.
The rest continued into the wall of shrapnel-flak and buried themselves there. Then, a green explosion erupted from the black cloud and the secicao-powered Hummingbirds were no more.
I don't know where the knowledge of my song had come from. These things often just came to me at the heat of the moment. But I made a mental note that if we could second-guess Alsie then we could also use it to guard against her scream.
Once their deafness had worn off, I continued my songs to direct the cluster of Greys to reform and engulf an approaching swarm of Hummingbirds in flames. In numbers they became stronger. They had just needed a leader to organise them.
I continued to sing to tell the dragons exactly what to attack. It wouldn't be true to say I could see through the dragons' eyes, but I could feel each dragon's soul and somehow, I knew exactly what note would cause each one to react. Taka sang with me, but his notes were more focused on keeping up the Greys' courage.
With our song and the might of the dragons, we coordinated an attack that destroyed every single Hummingbird. And not one dragon fell in the process.
“You're back, Auntie,” Taka said.
I was. But we still had a barrier to cross. That cloud of shrapnel-flak kept being renewed by the cannons. If we tried to pass it, we'd arrive on the other side torn to shreds. Velos had no reserves left in his armour and I felt how his muscles wanted to give out. His last strength was dwindling, and he was drawing closer and closer to the sea.
“No Velos,” Taka shouted. He changed his song to strengthen Velos, while I still focused on the Greys. I wished they were over on the same side as us, so we could fight this battle together. Maybe with Velos, we could divert some of the fire so Sandao's fleet could move in. Sandao's boats themselves had been keeping a distance and I couldn't quite see what was going on over at the horizon.
“Pontopa, we have to surrender!” Faso shouted and he pointed out towards a second swarm of secicao-powered Hummingbird automatons that emerged from the ship's funnel. “We can't win!”
But there was no turning back now. I had a much better idea.
I turned Velos towards the shrapnel-flak. “We're going in!”
“What?” Faso exclaimed. “You're crazy!”
I turned a sneer back at Faso. “So, jump ship,” I said. And I gestured towards the churning, uninviting sea below.
“Death lies that way, Miss Wells!” the voice came from the airship. “You're committing suicide.”
And indeed, as if they saw our approach, the shrapnel-flak cannons on the carriers let out another barrage. Though Taka's song was keeping Velos steady enough, the dragon's physical strength was weakening. But we could make this. I had to have faith.
So, I closed my eyes as we approached the black cloud. I could feel the static from it now, pulling at the hairs on my arms. Maybe, if we were incredibly lucky, we could fly through without getting cut to pieces.
But that wasn't my plan. “Faso, Taka, get ready to hold your breath.” I shouted.
“What?” Faso said.
“Just do it!” I pushed on Velos' steering fin as hard as I could. He knew immediately what I wanted him to do.
He plunged into a stall, just barely missing the cloud of shrapnel-flak. I felt the static even stronger and so I pushed Velos down even harder, sang a song to tell him to forget about the pain in his wings. Be brave, Velos. I said in the collective unconscious, for the Hummingbirds now closing in us behind us had created a source of it.
Something scratched at the top of my head. Shrapnel-flak, we hadn't evaded all of it. But we got away from that cloud largely unscathed. Instead, the water's surface lurched towards us. Velos' wing tips scraped the hull of the ship, and I worried this would slow him down.
“Now!” I shouted and then I took in a deep breath. Velos's head broke the surface tension of the water, so he probably would have felt the bulk of the sting. But still it felt like a huge slap to my face and the chest as my body followed his underneath the water. Great giant bubbles rose up to my side from Velos' breath, followed by the smaller ones from my own. I exhaled slowly, but steadily, not knowing how deep we would go. I could see the boat's hull in front of us now, which went so deep I couldn't make out the bottom of it.
As we plunged, the water turned greener and I felt increasing pressure on my ears. I turned around, half scared that those Hummingbirds would have followed us into the water. But I doubted they were also waterproof.
Velos' speed slowed and the water began to push up at us. Damn it, we wouldn't make it. We'd pop up out of the surface and that carrier would already be waiting for us with life buoys to take us hostage. If we hadn't already drowned.
Come on Velos. I said in the collective unconscious. I couldn't really sing down here but sang a dragonsong in my mind to spur Velos on. I felt a push of strength then. One last kick from Velos' feet to push us downwards and we made it under the hull.
Now, I had to hold my breath for long enough and hope that Faso and Taka could do the same. I kept that thread on Velos' mind now that I'd found it, pushed hi
m onwards with his feet. Surprisingly, he began to accelerate.
Then light came from the surface and I pulled up on Velos' steering fin to drive him upwards. He was weak, but he still had a little bit of oomph left in him. He kicked his legs as if he'd been swimming for life, pushed his forelegs in front of him and pulled the water away from him. Velos' buoyancy lifted him fast.
Behind me, Taka began to sputter bubbles and his eyes went wide. Faso too looked at me as if to say hurry up. Then my air supply started to go, and I thought that was it — we were going to drown.
But just as that thought came, Velos broke the surface and the three of us gasped desperately for air. The Greys had already brought down another swarm of Hummingbirds and now they regrouped and flew towards us. I could see Sandao's fleet, which was already in retreat. On the other hand, Cini's ships still had to turn and the airships wouldn't dare to pursue a fleet of boats alone, since they'd get shot out of the sky.
I got us a safe distance from Cini's fleet, and then I looked back to see his boats sinking away from us. Velos had gained new energy from somewhere and I knew he could make it to Sandao's fleet.
“We did it,” I turned around to Taka to give him a high five.
But he was fast asleep in his chair. That scream must have really taken it out of him.
“I'll take that high five,” Faso said.
So, I reached over behind Take and high fived Faso. “Thank you, Faso,” I said.
“For what?”
“For the armour? Looks like it wasn’t a bad idea after all. Although, make sure you get my permission next time.”
Faso smiled and then he looked behind him towards the horizon, behind which lay the scene of the battle that had almost killed us. In the very distance, I could ever so faintly make out the fading shrapnel-flak clouds.
CHAPTER 32
General Sako stood waiting for us in the courtyard at Fortress Gerhaun when we arrived, yellow secicao smoke rising up from his pipe. He spotted us coming in and then waved us down towards the courtyard. When we landed, I noticed how sunken and baggy his eyes looked, as if he'd not go any sleep for a few nights.
Dragonseer (Secicao Blight Book 1) Page 28