“But we cannot win against that fleet!” Came a shout from the back of the gathering.
“So we go back to running?” Tasker replied. “NEVER! We moved each time the Adherents came close to us and look what it’s gained us. Our families are taken prisoner and used against us, our children grow up never knowing the fathers who died in the iron pits, our wives and mothers outlive us and our own children weep over our graves.”
Now the courtyard was silent but the upturned faces were filled with determination.
“We have the strong walls of a fortress between us and them. We have eight guns that have longer range, and we have the desperate courage of those who have been pushed to the breaking point,” Tasker said quietly. Despite his low tone, his voice still carried to every part of the gathering. “Every one of you is worth twenty Adherents. I say we hold this fortress and break his fleet here and now. They may not even know we are here yet. That will be their downfall.”
The tremendous shout that followed literally shook the stones under Jane’s feet. She felt a surge of excitement and courage that took her by surprise. She looked back and watched as the two ships they had captured slipped away from the port, leaving the docks empty. Out across the water, the advancing force halted for the night. Below them in the courtyard there was a burst of activity as Braun took command of the forces and began directing teams of rebels into the gun emplacements.
“Have you ever been in a battle?” Eriunia asked as she stepped to Jane’s side and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Well, no,” Jane admitted.
“It’s very dangerous yet exciting,” the elf princess explained. “Stick near me. I’ll do what I can to keep you safe. After all, you are our secret weapon.”
“What?” Jane asked but she stopped as she looked down at the inner pocket that held her map and pen. “Oh, I suppose so, but Tasker said that magic of the maps wouldn’t work against cold iron.”
“Oh, it may not work against the iron but there are plenty of other things that you can throw at those ships,” Eriunia replied. “For example, as long as they remain in the open water you can make it very difficult to aim their cannons at our walls.”
Suddenly a world of possibilities opened up before her. Jane smiled.
“They may steam right into the harbor,” Tasker said as he turned back from the frenzy of activity below them. “We have all the lights doused around the fortress. That’ll make it hard for them to see who’s manning the walls.”
“What then?” Jane asked.
“Braun’s going to retrain the cannons so they’re all pointed directly at the moorings,” Tasker said with a smile. “If we can get eight of their ships into port, we can go a long way towards balancing this fight.”
The tension on the walls was thick as the rebels took up positions atop the wall and around the eight cannons and waited while the advancing Adherents slid closer and closer. Jane took to walking the walls nervously as the night slipped away and morning began to lighten the sky. Out across Lake Superior, the Adherent fleet slowed as it approached the fortress and seemed to be waiting for first light to enter the harbor.
“They know something’s wrong,” Jane muttered darkly to herself. She nervously gripped her pen and looked down at the map spread out before her inside the protection of a small room above the gate. She glanced out a window that was no more than a narrow slit and watched as the ships continued to drift closer.
“No, they don’t,” Tasker replied. “Too little time has passed. This was probably a naval exercise planned out before we had the unfortunate timing to interrupt. We can use this to our advantage. Imagine if half of his Lake Huron Fleet goes missing. It’d be a great blow to Cain’s power across the entire great lakes area.”
“Here they come,” Eriunia burst out from where she was watching just outside the shelter. Her eyes were narrowed and she motioned with her hand towards the ominous fleet sitting less than a mile from the docks. “Looks like half of them are moving in and the rest are sitting.”
“Blast,” Tasker muttered. “Well, it can’t be helped. If we can get half of them into port we’ll take that. Are the boarding teams ready?”
Eriunia’s eyes swept along the hidden alcoves along the docks. She spotted the dark forms clinging to the back of barrels and crouched under the wooden docks. “Looks to be.”
“Send a runner to Braun. Remind him only to target the center piers,” Tasker told her. “I want the two outermost ships captured with the least amount of damage.”
“He knows,” Eriunia replied. “He’s fought more battles than all of your soldiers combined.”
Tasker huffed but didn’t press the point. Instead he looked out over the top of the narrow slit and watched as half the fleet slipped towards the waiting piers. At even points along the docks, he had stationed rebels dressed as Adherents and bearing muskets. He needed the advancing forces to feel safe and at ease as they came towards the waiting trap.
“They’re tying off the first Ironship,” Eriunia said quietly to Jane. “Get ready with your map to move against the others.”
“Remember, Jane,” Tasker hissed without taking his eyes from the vessels below them, “they’re built out of cold iron, and it’s all but impervious to our skills. Don’t try anything with the ships themselves. Send the wind or better, the water.”
“I understand,” Jane answered as she stared at her map and readied herself.
“Now they are all tied off,” Tasker signaled to Eriunia. The elf nodded and repeated the signal to those crouched behind the thick stones.
BOOM.
Jane jumped as one of the big guns below them in the wall thundered out its welcome to the unsuspecting Adherents. Then the world around her faded as she entered her map and examined the tiny images of ships gathered off shore. There was a swirl of activity on the map around the fortress, but she forced her mind to ignore it and begin sketching in the oncoming storm. She started with a line of waves that began north of the fleet and sent them south. She was hopeful as she watched the waves start rolling towards the ships. When they struck the iron hulls, Jane realized fully the power of cold iron in this world. The drawn waves struck the hulls, but many of them died immediately.
BOOM!
A second round of cannon fire shook the walls. Now an answering barrage as the Adherents tried to swing their own cannons up to cover the walls. Seeing her first attempt dissipating, Jane brought her pen across the map again and a wall of fog slowly rose blocking the ships from view. Then she tried for wind and sketched a massive funnel cloud across her map and aimed it at the ships.
“That’s the idea girl!” Tasker shouted above the dim of the cannons, which were now firing as quickly as the crews could reload.
The massive water spout struck the clustered ships with the force of a hurricane, and Jane watched as the massive vessels bounced off each other and slammed about mercilessly across the heavy surf. However, the leaching power of the cold iron still worked against her, and slowly the water spout died. Six Ironships began to belch black smoke and scatter in six directions. Two of them steamed into her wall of fog and vanished from under the cover of her own summoned blanket. Jane struggled against the pull of her map for a moment and realized that the efforts were taking a toll on her body. She needed to do something quickly. This time she drew in a thing she had seen before, the image of a cloud with a great face in it and strong winds blowing out of it from the south to the north.
“Careful, girl!” Tasker shouted but it was too late. She had released her creation across the water, and it had taken a life of its own.
Jane stumbled back from her map covered in sweat and looked about, suddenly aware that smoke and noise filled the fortress. She managed to pull herself to the window and looked down at the docks. The four Ironships that had moored in the middle of the pier were half submerged, and the few Adherents still moving were throwing off their robes and leaping into the water and attempting to swim away. The outer two ships seem
ed to have fared better, and the southern one looked to be completely in rebel hands. The one furthest north was still held by the Adherents, and she could see the battles raging across its decks as Puck’s goblins and Tasker’s rebels fought to take the ship from the determined defenders.
With a shout, Tasker and Braun led another contingent of rebels across the docks to the contested ship. They scaled the thick ropes holding the ship in place, and the elf swept across the deck taking anyone who rose to challenge him.
“Jane!” Eriunia shouted from the door. “We need to get everyone under cover quickly.”
“What happened?” Jane replied as she stumbled to the door. Her flagging strength returned slowly, and she was just able to walk.
“Your storm’s going to stick around for a while,” Eriunia replied with a grim smile. She pointed out across the lake where the other two Ironships were just emerging from the cover of the fog and beating their way south toward land. Filling the sky behind them was a massive bank of clouds that blocked all view. They were an angry dark-green and great bolts of lightning flashed connecting earth and sky. In the middle of the clouds was the image of a face, and out of its mouth came great gusts of wind.
Chapter 12
The Wrecked Ship
By Odin’s beard, girl,” Tasker muttered when he finally returned from helping secure the last of the ships. He was soaked to the skin as were most of the others who braved the wind and rain and dashed from the shelters along the wall to the three central buildings. “You certainly unleashed a devil of a storm.”
“I didn’t know,” Jane said in a horrified voice. Outside the wind lashed at trees and sent branches flying across the inner courtyard. The two ships that had escaped the initial onslaught of the storm had been caught up in the surge of water and ended up running aground just south of the fortress. Little had been seen of the Adherents, and they would have to check the island carefully for any survivors after the storm blew itself out. The weather had been raging for nearly two hours with no signs of letting up. Lightening cracked constantly across the sky. They waited for another half hour and finally Jane heard the lessening of the wind, “Can’t we use our maps to move the storm on?” she asked.
“Never mess with a major storm system even if you were the one to start it,” Tasker muttered. “It’s like trying to stop an avalanche.”
Jane fell silent again and stared out the window to where the sky was slowly clearing and the clouds were no longer angry shades of green and black. When the storm finally dissipated, it was with a suddenness that left everyone staring up at the sky in awe. The curtains of rain simply stopped, and the winds died, leaving a layer of leaves and branches scattered across the fortress and the rebel forces in control of the remaining ships.
“Get a team of soldiers and go check the grounds,” Tasker said to Eriunia. “Braun, if you would, take another force and search the ships. Puck and his goblins and the trolls will search the island and make sure none of the Adherents escaped.”
Everyone scattered. The moment the sun began shining again a bubble of activity filled the fortress grounds. Teams of freed slaves went about clearing fallen trees and repairing damage to buildings, while the rest broke into search parties and headed to the dock or the forests.
Jane was tired, and since she had not been sent with any of the groups, she found herself wandering the outer wall of the fortress, picking up branches and hauling them out the smaller gate that led east. She soon tired of that task and began picking her way along the coast towards where a few of Puck’s goblins were examining the remains of one of the Ironships.
“Is it empty?” Jane asked as she approached the small wiry fighters.
The trio looked over at her and nodded. “We think so,” the tallest one muttered. “Haven’t seen any movement, but Puck’s order was to watch while he checks the rest of the island. So we watch.”
“I’m going closer,” Jane said suddenly.
This drew a round of protests from the three. “Puck said stay away,” the tall one said as he turned his narrow eyes toward her.
“Well, Puck isn’t here right now, is he?” Jane retorted. “I’m not a member of his forces. And I want to see it up close.” She stepped onto the rocks and began to make her way toward the Ironship.
“Go get Puck,” the tall goblin pushed his shortest companion, who immediately sprinted off into the forest. The tall goblin then trailed after Jane looking around nervously as they approached the ship, which was lying on its side like a beached whale.
She picked her way along the rocky shore, skirting tide pools brimming with water and debris, until she was standing next to the iron hull. The metal was cool to the touch, and when she put her hand against it, she could feel the raw, contained power. She would never have noticed this back in her own world. She saw a great gash in the side of the ship, but the surge of water that beached it had been so powerful that over half of the vessel was aground.
“Don’t go inside,” the goblin begged her.
“Nonsense,” Jane muttered. “If there were anyone around, we would have seen something by now.” The hole in the side of the ship was big enough that Jane was able to step over the jagged metal into the ship. She found herself standing on a metal walkway that seemed to be part of the steam engine area. Great pipes snaked around what looked like two huge boilers, and the heat coming from deeper inside the ship was still considerable. Rather than go further that way, Jane turned around and examined the passage that led out towards the half of the ship that was still hanging out over the water and partially submerged. The goblin beside her fingered his long hunting knife nervously as he entered the ship, his eyes darting around the darkness.
“Please, map maker, we should wait for the others,” the goblin begged one last time.
“Go if you want to,” Jane said with a wave of her hand. “I want to look around a little.” She was feeling more adventurous today than she ever had in the past. Truthfully, she was feeling that no one thought she could fight. While others had been in danger and fought Adherents one on one, she had been in a secure place with pen and paper. She may have had a hand in winning the day, but she hadn’t been one of the ones to risk bodily harm.
Jane walked down the passage, carefully ducking under the pieces of iron that had broken free on impact. The goblin waited nervously where he could see her, constantly looking back and forth. Jane shrugged. She wanted to see the ship, and she was going to explore no matter what the little creature thought. After about thirty feet she reached an intersection. A short passage led to a door on her right. She tested the latch. It opened easily, but the hinges could use some oil. When the door was finally open, she looked about the room, which was filled with crates stacked from floor to ceiling and tied down to round hooks set into the floor.
Carefully she pushed back the lid on one of the crates and looked inside. What she found inside made her blood run cold. She gasped out loud, causing the goblin to shuffle down the corridor towards her. Inside the wooden crate, carefully packed with a heavy coating of grease, were ten brand-new weapons, similar to the muskets but with parts that reminded her of the automatic weapons carried by soldiers back in her world. The barrels were twice the size of a twelve-gauge shotgun and had a wide place at the bottom where a clip could be inserted. This Cain person was upgrading his weapons. Soon his forces would not be using the old muskets but modern rifles in their conquests.
She reached out to pick up one of the rifles, when a voice spoke, and she froze.
“I wouldn’t touch those.”
Jane turned slowly. A dark shadow detached itself from the wall and stepped towards her. She thought about running, but the figure pointed a pistol-like weapon at her and shook his head.
“Don’t try running or crying out,” he said. “Try fleeing into the Divide, and I’ll shoot you before you make it.”
“How do you know?” Jane retorted. She tried to sound brave but her voice shook.
“Do you honestly
think we haven’t tested that?” he replied. “The man I shot as he was entering the Divide barely had time to scream in pain before the darkness of the Divide took him, and he was lost forever.”
Jane edged back towards the crate of guns, but he shook his finger at her.
“Foolishness, girl. We stored the ammunition in a different place,” he said. “Now that we have that settled, I think introductions are in order. I’m Averill. Cain sent me to deliver these weapons and deal with some issues that seem to have begun to arise around Duluth. It appears things have grown a bit worse than he thought.”
“What he’s doing here is evil,” Jane spat back.
“So?” Averill replied. He smiled thinly. “I don’t care who I work for. He pays well. I’m not one of those empty headed fools who believe in the Temple of Adherency. I’m a professional. I go where the work is.”
Jane listened to his voice and knew in her heart there was little chance of convincing the man to side with the rebels. His tone was cold, and his eyes looked at her like a customer checking over a side of beef at a grocery store. No emotion was visible, just a promise that if she failed to do what he said she would die.
“Now, I have a few things that you need to do for me,” Averill said coldly. “Place your map, medallion, and pen on the top of that crate. I won’t turn those over to Cain. He has enough power already. Those things can stay here for your friends.”
“Why would you help them?” Jane asked as she removed her map and the other items from her pockets and laid them on the wooden lid.
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