Omensent: Revealing the Dragon (The Dragon Lord Series)

by Barry Gibbons

  "They are capable of throwing immense objects for tremendous distances." He explained to the others as he oversaw a group of soldiers carefully roll the massive machine into its place atop the harbor wall. "We've made a few modifications so it'll throw hundreds of smaller objects at one time instead, and spread them over a much wider area. We've been filling every container we could gather with naphtha and pitch for weeks now, and have thousands of them ready for when the Etazk finally draw within range."

  "How did you find the time to do all of this?" Sly asked in amazement, watching as the soldiers carefully manhandled the machine's huge wagon wheels into a set of deep channels that had been chiseled into the stone. "Between the harbor and wall defenses, and all of your other contraptions, when did you have time to build these monstrosities?"

  "Well, Stephan did most of the work," Damarius admitted with a frown. "I was far too busy with overseeing the placing of the catapults atop the harbor towers. Stephan was quite interested in the plans though, and after going over the designs with him, he was able to oversee their construction for me."

  "Are you sure these things are safe?" Fedrio asked with a doubtful expression.

  "They're perfectly safe to use." The old wizard assured him with a smile. "It's actually a fairly simple contraption. All you have to do is raise the counterweight, attach the nets Stephan designed to hold the containers, set them aflame, then pull the lever that releases the counterweight, slinging the nets high out over the Etazk's fleet. The nets will then release the burning containers to rain down upon their ships."

  "It sounds like these things generate a lot of force." Juco frowned, inspecting the huge machine.

  "Oh, they do indeed." The old wizard assured him, gesturing towards the deep channels in the granite. "That's why we installed wheels on them. By placing their wheels in those groves, it allows them to roll back and forth, dispersing the stress on the machine, while still allowing it to fling its payload for enormous distances."

  "It still sounds as though they could inflict a lot of damage to our men if they were to malfunction." Fedrio murmured, keeping his distance from the machine.

  "They'll cause far more damage to the Etazk if they don't malfunction." Damarius told him absently, watching as they soldiers finally sat the machine into place. "Just wait, once you see them in action, you'll no longer doubt their value."

  They watched as the soldiers carefully muscled each machine into place, then slowly made their way back to their tavern headquarters, which was now the only building still left standing along the waterfront, the rest having been disassembled or destroyed to be used as construction material.

  That night no one managed to sleep as they awaited word that the Etazk fleet had arrived. Finally, just after dawn broke over the glistening sea, one of the lookouts atop the wall spotted several dark smudges on the horizon.

  "It's about damn time!" Juco growled as they quickly made their way to one of the imposing towers the dwarves had constructed atop the harbor walls. "All of that waiting was beginning to grate on my nerves."

  "I was kind of hoping they decided to choose a different target," Ignan murmured, his face dangerously pale. "Somewhere far, far away from Sierra."

  "Sound the alarm." Langsten ordered several nearby soldiers. "Get everyone to their positions, and make sure that riders are dispatched to Sevria to advise them of the Etazk's arrival."

  The soldiers immediately hurried off in different directions to sound the alert. Men jumped into action as everybody hurried to get into position, their faces tense as they steeled themselves for the upcoming battle. They had spent the last several months preparing for the arrival of the Etazk army, and now, all of that waiting had finally come to an end, and it was time to see if all of their preparations had been worth the effort.

  Several of Captain Harper's sailors aboard the Fearless Lady cautiously began to roll the barrels that had been filled with Damarius's chemicals out into the water as they slowly made their way across the harbor, being careful not to knock loose any of the stoppers that kept the seawater from entering the barrels. Once they had dropped the last barrel, they skillfully guided the Fearless Lady into the very last slot along the massive dock, carefully avoiding all of the jagged debris that had been dumped along the dock to prevent the Etazk from landing.

  They hurried out onto the harbor wall and up to the highest level of the battlement, which overlooked both the harbor and the sea.

  "There they are." Garth grunted, standing on his tiptoes to see over the wall his kinsmen had constructed to help shield their archers from enemy arrows.

  They watched with grim expressions as more and more ships began to appear on the horizon and slowly make their way towards the city.

  "That is a lot of ships." Juco grunted, watching as more of the enemy fleet continued to appear.

  "And there are a lot of men aboard those ships." Sly grumbled.

  "We're going to have to do everything we can to keep them from landing." Damarius's face was as serious as anyone of them had ever seen it. "If they manage to make landfall..." He fell silent without completing his thought.

  They continued to watch in grim silence as the fleet slowly made its way towards the harbor city. As they drew closer, they could see that the decks of the ships were absolutely packed with Etazk soldiers, many of them already brandishing their weapons in anticipation of the battle.

  "They certainly seem eager to get things started." Langsten observed, fingering the hilt of his sword unconsciously.

  The Etazk ships continued to make their way closer to the fortified harbor until they were a few hundred yards from its entrance, then the lead ships suddenly dropped their sails and lowered their anchors, bringing their ships to a stop just out of range of their archers.

  "Why have they stopped?" Ignan asked in bafflement.

  "They're waiting until the rest of their forces arrive." Captain Harper surmised shrewdly. "It'll probably take several days before every ship that managed to survive the trip arrives to join the others."

  "We don't want to wait until they all arrive for the battle to start." Damarius murmured, his eyes narrowed in thought. "We want them to attack before they're are completely prepared. They're just going to sit there until the rest of their forces arrive, unless we're somehow able to goad them into attacking."

  "How are we going to do that?" Fedrio demanded with a scowl. "They're too far away for the archers to hit, and we don't have any ships to take the fight to them."

  "But we do have my trebuchets." The old wizard smiled, an eager gleam in his eyes. "I think it's about time we see if they work."

  They followed Damarius as he hurried back down to the wall and up to the closet trebuchet. which was manned by a dozen grim faced dwarves.

  "Raise the counterweight!" The old wizard ordered, sending the dwarves scurrying to ready the machine. "Prepare to fire!" Another pair of dwarves carefully dragged a large heavy net forward which had been stuffed with dozens of large containers.

  "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sly asked doubtfully, watching as Damarius poured a bit of oil onto the outside of the containers. "Your eyebrows are still filling in from your last little mishap."

  "It's going to work. Trust me." He double checked to make sure everything was prepared, then casually tossed a torch onto the net, setting the containers aflame. "Here we go!" He threw the handle on the oversized machine, causing the counterweight to drop, and was suddenly knocked from his feet as the machine lurched violently, sending the net full of flaming containers sailing high out over the open water towards the Etazk fleet.

  They all watched with bated breaths as the net suddenly burst open, dispersing its burning payload, and sending the flaming containers raining down onto three of the ships that had been anchored close together. The containers exploded as they struck the decks of the ships and burst open, sending their flammable contents spraying in all directions, and covering dozens of the warriors who had been crowding the deck.


  A sudden cheer went up from the soldiers manning the harbor walls as they watched the fire quickly begin to consume the ships, sending their occupants screaming into the cold, unforgiving sea.

  "Did we hit them?" Damarius asked, quickly scrambling back to his feet. He looked out over the fleet and saw the burning ships, then started to whoop and dance in victory. "I knew it would work!" He laughed in glee. He turned back to the dwarves. "Spread the word! Prepare all of the machines to fire on my signal!"

  "I'm impressed!" Sly told the old wizard, watching in satisfaction as one of the ships slowly began to slip beneath the waves. "I half expected it to kill us all!"

  "Nonsense." Damarius laughed, watching as the dwarves carefully brought another net full of containers forward. "I was completely confident in the design. I spent months working on the calculations."

  They waited impatiently for the crews manning the other trebuchets to finish preparing the oversized machines, then the old wizard nodded to Langsten, who quickly raised a red banner and began to wave it back and forth.

  Twelve burning nets suddenly arched out over the open water toward the gathering fleet, spreading their flaming payload over an enormous area, connecting with dozens of the overcrowded ships.

  "Ha!" Damarius exclaimed triumphantly as the ships quickly began to burn.

  "Load them up again!" Sly roared, a satisfied smirk on his face. "Keep firing until they attack or flee!"

  The huge machines fired another volley of flaming pots out among the fleet, and then another, and another, setting ship after ship aflame, and sending their occupants screaming into the churning sea.

  "Some of the ships are raising anchor!" Juco pointed to a group of a dozen ships who had raised their sails and started forward. The warriors packed onto their decks were howling in anger and bloodlust as they boldly sailed towards the harbor entrance, eager to avenge their comrades.

  "Archers to the ready!" Langsten roared in a booming voice.

  "Save the arrows." Damarius told him, leading the others back into the tower and up the stairs to the third floor balcony, which overlooked the harbor entrance. "Let's test out some of the other defenses."

  They watched as the ships slowly drew closer to the harbor entrance, then Damarius suddenly raised hands to his cup his mouth. "Fire the catapults!"

  A heavy thump came from the top floor of both of the harbor towers as the huge machines flung their flaming payload down onto the approaching ships, completely engulfing several of the ships and sending one careening into the rough shoals that surrounded the harbor walls. It shuddered to a stop as it struck the submerged coral, and rolled onto its side, still burning uncontrollably. A powerful wave suddenly lifted the stricken vessel up and violently bashed it against the shoals, ripping an enormous hole in its side, and spilling its occupants out into the violent surf.

  The city's defenders let out an enormous cheer as they watched the waves smash the ship repeatedly into the shoals, then turned their attention back to the remaining ships, which continued to approach the harbor despite witnessing the demise of the comrades.

  The men aboard the remaining ships roared in defiance and sailed on towards the harbor's entrance, ignoring the screams of their brethren as the remains of the burning ships slipped beneath the waves.

  "They're getting closer!" Ignan warned in a shrill voice.

  "Calm down," Damarius told him, hurrying over to the levers that had been constructed into the floor of the platform. "I'm going to deal with them in just a moment."

  "The sooner the better." The fat merchant whimpered with a frightened expression.

  The old wizard watched calmly as the first couple of ships started into the harbor, then he yanked back on one of the levers, causing the volatile liquid stored in the tanks one floor above to release into the long steel tube that stretched across the harbor's entrance, raining the flammable fluid down onto the Etazk ships below.

  "What are you waiting for?" Langsten asked as Damarius grabbed a torch and walked over calmly to watch as more of the Etazk ships sailed through the curtain of liquid.

  "Just wait." The old wizard smiled mysteriously. He waited until the last three ships had started their approach into the harbor, then casually tossed the torch down into the shimmering liquid which poured down from the tube above.

  The resulting explosion rocked the harbor tower, and knocked everyone from their feet. The Etazk ships which had been entering the harbor suddenly disappeared in the enormous inferno that erupted skyward, and a wave of tremendous heat washed over Damarius and the others, causing them to quickly scramble to their feet and retreat back into the tower to avoid being roasted alive.

  "Whoa!" Juco exclaimed, holding up one hand to help shield his face from the intense heat. "Was it supposed to do that?"

  "Pretty much," Damarius hurried back out onto the balcony and yanked the same lever once more, cutting off the flow of the volatile liquid, then he quickly retreated back into the tower. "It may still have a little more kick than it really needs."

  "A little?" Sly snorted sarcastically, checking to make sure he still had his eyebrows. "Didn't we go through this back in Sevria?"

  "What are you complaining about?" The old wizard asked with a scowl. "It worked, didn't it?"

  "That it did." Langsten agreed, edging out onto the balcony and looking down at the water below. "There isn't anything left of the Etazk ships but a few scraps."

  They hurried back up to the upper most level of the tower and looked out over the fleet.

  "The Etazk are pulling their ships back out of range of the trebuchets." Langsten growled, pointing at a number of ships which were slowly moving away. "They must have gotten the message that we weren't receiving visitors."

  "Perhaps they're fleeing." Ignan said in a hopeful tone.

  "I don't think we're that lucky." Juco frowned, gesturing toward the horizon. "There are more ships arriving."

  They all turned to see another huge group of ships had appeared in the distance. By the time the sun had set, hundreds of the Etazk ships had gathered outside of the harbor, anchoring just out of range of Damarius's trebuchets.

  "Do you think they will try to attack during the night?" Fedrio asked as they lost sight of the massive fleet in the growing darkness.

  "It's possible," Captain Harper grumbled, his expression thoughtful. "though they would run the danger of running aground in the shoals around the harbor walls."

  "I doubt that will keep them from trying to use the cover of darkness to make a surprise attack." Sly growled, staring out into the darkness with a frown.

  "They can't sneak up on us if it isn't dark outside." Damarius told them in a sagely tone.

  "But it is dark outside." Juco pointed out with a confused expression. "What are you going to do, use your magic to make the sun rise again?"

  "Not quite." He raised the elaborate crystal tipped staff that Damion had created for him a few years before, and drew in his magic. A small orb the size of a marble suddenly appeared in the air before him, glowing with a warm light that illuminated the top floor of the tower.

  "Um, I don't mean to criticize you or anything," The muscle bound warrior started, looking at the tiny ball of light with amusement. "but I don't think that's really going to do the trick."

  "Have patience." The old wizard murmured, still concentrating of the ball of light.

  The others watched as Damarius suddenly raised his staff into the air, causing the orb to float up and out over the open water outside of the harbor, rapidly growing in size and brightness as it moved, until the orb finally blazed like a second sun over the gathered fleet.

  "Look there!" Langsten pointed to dozens of rowboats that were a hundred yards or so away from the harbor walls, filled with Etazk soldiers. "They're trying to sneak some men up to the outer walls!"

  "Archers to the ready!" Sly roared in a bellowing voice.

  Hundreds of soldiers stepped forward with long bows and took aim at the suddenly terrified men inside o
f the rowboats.

  "Fire!"

  Arrows instantly began to riddle the helpless Etazk as the soldiers began to loose volley after volley at the tiny rowboats, which suddenly began to drift aimlessly.

  "Hold fire!" The little man roared once he was sure that all of the Etazk were dead.

  "I don't think they're going to be a problem anymore." Juco snorted, watching as one of the rowboats was dashed to pieces against the shoals.

  "How long will that thing stay lit?" Garth asked Damarius, gesturing to the blazing orb.

  "As long as we need it to." Damarius replied with a note of pride in his voice.

  "That'll prevent them from sneaking up on us during the night." Sly nodded approvingly. He turned and started to make his way down the stairs.

  "Where are you going?" Fedrio asked in confusion.

  "I'm going to get a drink." The little man grunted not bothering to look back.

  "What about the Etazk?"

  "What about them? They'll still be there when I get back."

  "Buthat if they decide to attack?"

  Sly sighed in exasperation, then turned around to look at the gaunt faced man. "Right now the Etazk are too busy arguing about what strategy they are going to use with their next attack. They've already seen that we can defend ourselves quite effectively, and could destroy their fleet if they're not careful. They're not going to rush into their next attack."

  "That's good," Ignan said enthusiastically. "Perhaps they'll hold off their attack long enough for Damion to arrive with the rest of the army."

  "Let's hope he does," The little man grumbled, starting down the stairs. "I have the feeling their next attack is going to be a lot harder to repel."

  Chapter 17

  "We should reach Sevria by tomorrow afternoon." Damion sighed wearily, plopping down next to the fire in exhaustion. "Hopefully we'll find the city still standing."

  They had been riding hard for the last several weeks in an attempt to get their army to Sierra. After passing through Mercedia and leaving their injured behind, the army had been riding day and night, pushing the tribesmen and their horses to the very brink of exhaustion in an effort to cover as much ground as possible.