* * *
Aboard the airship Vendetta, Casta Mett gripped the rails. Lights still streaked through the skies, and no one knew if another meteorite would strike. She'd been right; the ancient texts had been right. This alone exonerated her in her mind, though it wasn't really her opinion that mattered. When the sea serpent appeared, Casta couldn't help but feel the universe was conspiring against her, but this was no time for caution.
"There," Casta shouted, pointing at the cloud of spray glistening in the spotlights. Captain Vaida did not hesitate, knowing this was the reason they had come. Two meteorites had fallen. The one that struck the water would be difficult to find and retrieve; the other would be an easier prize to claim. Part of her wanted to locate it first, but the possibility of two artifacts was more than she could resist. The one on land would wait. Airplanes flew overhead, braving the skies in spite of the fading light and particulate in the air.
As Captain Vaida executed the course correction, Casta saw something that made her blood run cold. Flashing through the spotlights was what could only be a dragon—and not just any dragon but one in particular. Casta Mett hated all dragons, but none did she loathe as much as Dashiq. When her passengers moved through the spotlights, Casta recognized Emmet Pickette and his sister still aboard that ridiculous carriage. Now was the time to kill them all and be done with it. Perhaps victory over one Lord Kind hated so much would take the sting out of losing the boy.
"Change course!" Casta Mett ordered, pointing to where the meteorite had struck solid ground. Other airships were closing on their current position, and she left it to them to retrieve the stone from the water. None of their forces had yet reached the crater site on land. The dust cloud made it difficult for planes and jets to get close.
The airship Vengeance was far better designed for this type of mission but lacked the speed of the other craft. It also had a new weapon Casta Mett would love to test on Dashiq: a rotating hammer shot. This ingenious device fired up to a dozen hammer arrows in the time it would take a skilled archer to fire two. There would be no lines attached to these arrows as with traditional hammer arrows, which made it unlikely any arrows fired would ever be retrieved. Judicious use of munitions was called for, and Dashiq was beyond the weapon's range. Grinding her teeth, she watched helplessly while Barabas took the meteorite and Dashiq flew away.
Desperation washed over her. When Argus Kind found out who had beaten them there and claimed his prize, there would be no mercy. Few things enraged Argus Kind more than the mention of the man's name or that of his dragon. Even the Al'Zjhon themselves had been named as a jab at the Drakon and their customs. Argus had done everything within his power to besmirch their reputation and reduce their influence and numbers, and still a single dragon won the day.
Perhaps the planes could have brought the beast down in daylight, but darkness, too, served the dragon. Not for the first time, Casta Mett vowed to wipe all dragons from the planet. They were the one advantage the people of the Heights and Midlands had over the Zjhon, and no matter how much she hated to admit it, they had thwarted her over and over again. Howling with impotent rage, Casta Mett fired hammer arrows into the night, knowing full well none would reach the intended target. This was the last time dragons would beat her, she swore to herself. Knowing Barabas had the boy made everything worse.
Around her, the world continued to change. Columns in the shallows fell, marring what had been a sacred place of power. No matter how much hatred ate at her heart, seeing such a magical and historic place damaged pained her, but it was not her doing. The gods themselves, it seemed, were angry.
A series of flashes from the airship Dominance indicated nothing had been found at the underwater impact site. Casta spit on the deck.
"I wouldn't want to be there when Lord Kind finds out about this," Captain Vaida said. "When he hears a single dragon made off with his prize under the nose of an entire fleet, he's not going to be happy." He shook his head.
"We'd best get it back, then, hadn't we?" Casta asked. Vaida was a good man and had done nothing to get in her bad graces, but she would not hesitate to drag him before Argus Kind and let him take the blame.
"What are your orders?" Vaida asked, his flag master ready to convey her will to the rest of the fleet.
"We make for Sparrowport," Casta Mett said. "And we will destroy them. With their airfields in our possession, we'll own both ends of the continent, and we can crush them between us. Even if that were not the case, this is personal."
Someday soon the boy and his sister would return home. They always go home.
Dragon Airways Page 17