A Lich's Love (Death Knight Series Book 5)

by Michael Chatfield

  He looked at the beam towers. The towers extended up into the air. Each of them floated a crystal filled with chaotic power. They had taken the work of elites to create the different protective beams. With them, they could use the chaotic power of the harvester to defend the conversion towers and the harvester, or they could be used to attack the enemy.

  In the middle of each of the harvesters, there were small crystal mounds. These had conversion towers sticking out of them and the greatest number of the beam weapons.

  Khurok stepped into the control mountain. He went to the top of the mountain, the Drafeng and the chaotic beasts moving out of his way.

  He transformed into his close combat form without weapons in his hands and he looked at the command crew of the large harvester.

  “Aeran?” Khurok looked to the master creator who had designed the platforms years ago but had been unable to create it as there was a lack of power on their home planet. He could only make smaller models with the limited power he was rationed. Here in Dena, he had as much power as he could ask for, turning his model into a functioning weapon of war.

  “We are ready, Leader.” Aeran bowed his head.

  “If this succeeds, then you will have made a great contribution to the race and our continued survival.”

  Aeran bowed his head deeper this time, touched with emotion.

  “It is time that we took the offensive from these Dena people. Raise the harvesters!”

  Aeran turned to the Drafeng who he had trained and raised to build the harvester and control it.

  A harvester ahead of them started to shake. The ground started to rumble; pieces of crystal were dislodged from the ceiling as the harvester struggled against the ground.

  Then it started to rise up. Rocks started to fall from it as its large underside was revealed. Everything shook. Others were panicking but Khurok stood steady, looking at the harvester as it reached higher into the sky. One meter...five...ten. The ground stopped shaking as it reached thirty meters into the air. At the bottom of the harvester, a mass of crystals was revealed.

  It rose up higher, one hundred meters in the air, and held steady.

  Aeran was talking with the sound crystals.

  After a few minutes, Aeran turned to Khurok. “The first harvester confirms everything is okay.”

  “Good. Have it lower to the ground and take on Enya’s force and the remaining queens and Drafeng. Have the second harvester raise up with all of its Drafeng aboard,” Khurok said.

  “Yes, Leader.”

  Each of these tests made sure that the harvesters were functional, that they could work with people aboard them. Once they had that, then they would strike out. It would only be a matter of time till the enemy found out what they were doing.

  Their scouts are already moving toward us at great speed.

  The second harvester raised up from the ground as crystal ramps rolled down from the first. The Drafeng who were waiting for it quickly boarded. The queens, with their queens guard, headed into the conversion towers. The chaotic beasts pushed into the pits, and the Drafeng took up places in the crystal and control mounds.

  The second test was completed.

  “Raise us, Aeran,” Khurok said.

  The harvester shook once again, more violent than when the other harvesters were rising up into the air.

  The ground at the edge of the platform shifted and cracked as they rose higher into the air. Khurok could see farther as he looked around the control mound and out of the clear crystal.

  “We leave for Cresmond Peak immediately,” Khurok said.

  ***

  Mora was listening to the reports from the scouts when one messenger ran up with a message orb.

  They were rare and powerful magic used to record scenes and send them over limited distances. They were great tools for scouts, but due to the cost to make them, they were rarely used.

  She injected power into the orb and a scene appeared above it.

  She was looking at crystal mountains.

  No, they’re moving.

  The crystal mountains rose over the surrounding hills and moved forward. They passed the scout. Three massive crystal creations passed the mountains, making the scout fall into shadow as they covered the sun. They headed out over Cheon.

  Seeing familiar sights, Mora ran out of the command center and grabbed a telescope. She looked out and checked the sky. Her hands trembled as she saw the floating and moving platforms with her own eyes.

  “Get me Tamarra! Get me the other generals!”

  ***

  “What?” Anthony asked as he listened to the small purple flame gnome, General Axion, who was on Cheon.

  “I can’t believe it, either. I had no idea that they were making something on this kind of scale,” Axion said.

  “Well, how can we deal with floating islands that are heading to the southeast?” Admiral Raye asked.

  “We intercept them.” Claire studied a map, using tools to check something. “It is clear that their destination is Cresmond Peak. If we can just intercept them before that, we should be in with a chance.”

  “In with a chance?” Admiral Raye asked.

  “We are a waterborne navy,” Anthony said.

  “You think that is going to stop us? We have how many mages and Guardians on these ships? Shouldn’t that be enough for us to lift these ships a little higher and make them go a little faster?”

  “What are you talking about?” Raye asked.

  “We carve enchantments into the ships. We make them fly. We then intercept these islands and we hit the hell out of them with cannon fire. Now, dealing with them, that’s going to be a bit harder. I have an idea, but it’s ballsy, even by Anthony’s standards.”

  “Agreed!”

  “You haven’t heard it yet, Anthony.” Claire turned to him.

  “Yeah, but you just said ballsy plan. Anything you say is ballsy sounds like fun!”

  Claire rubbed her temples, trying to regain her strength.

  “What is your plan?” Axion asked.

  “Well, we can get the ships up into the air. The fleets should focus on breaking apart the islands as much as possible with cannon fire. Then we drop a Guardian force onto the islands. We carve a massive Guardian Flame formation into that bad boy. It will take time to make the formation and then time for it to activate.”

  “What about the fire formations? Couldn’t we use those instead of dropping people on the islands?” Raye asked.

  “The flames that we use in cities and villages aren’t strong to start. Think of them more like a spark—then the power in the area supplies it with the strength to be as powerful as they are. With this, we need a Guardian Flame that will go in and cleanse the Drafeng chaotic power and reverse it. If we can burn out their power, then...” Claire made a diving motion with her hand.

  “Boom, pssht, ahhh!” Anthony added in sound effects.

  “Wasn’t totally necessary,” Claire said.

  “Better with sound effects.” Anthony shrugged, looking for support in the room and finding none.

  “Okay, well, a lot of sparks can make a flame,” Axion said.

  “It might and I’m not discounting that. We will try it, but with this kind of power density that you weren’t able to see them... Think of the chaotic power within the Drafeng like kindling—easily ignited. This power is much denser. So, think of trying to start a fire with having a big tree in front of you and you’re hoping that one of the sparks that you are throwing at it will cause it to go up in flames.”

  “How long will it take to work on the ships?”

  “Shouldn’t take more than a day. Thankfully, with the mages aboard, we don’t need the prettiest or best enchantments, just something that will work. And the rest of it is pushing a ton of power into the enchantments to get up and going.”

  Chapter: Flying Fleet

  Claire was able to come up with the necessary enchantments that would raise the ships into the air, hooking it up to the controls tha
t were on the ship. The rudder and such were harder. Once she had one set complete, then the mages and the craftsmen on the ships set to work, carving out the enchantments on the other ships. They were still moving toward the west while under sail.

  Among the fleet, there were a number of merchant supply ships that were part of the island’s merchant navy. To get to the island, the Guardians needed a number of large ships that could take a lot of people and that wouldn’t be missed if they were destroyed. The fleet all had cannons on them, making them valuable, while three sacrificial ships were released to the Guardians to retrofit as they needed into their attack craft.

  “Captain Lothir,” Anthony said as he stepped aboard the ship Hubberston.

  “Guardian Anthony,” the shark kin man said with a wide smile.

  “How have you been?”

  “Have been better. But I am told that you are taking the Hubberston.” Lothir held his captain’s hat, wringing it.

  “I thought that they were giving us the worst ships. Don’t they know the power of the Hubberston?” Anthony said.

  “No finer merchant ship out there. She might not be much to look at but she is reliable. Taken me from port to port, weathered many a storm, and we even outraced that elemental in it, didn’t we?” He laughed and looked at his hat. He shook it out and then passed it to Anthony. “With you at the helm for one last time, I know that she’d be happy.”

  Anthony took the captain’s hat with reverence. “I won’t let you down.”

  Lothir nodded and then headed down the side of the boat to the rowing boat that would take him to one of the other merchant ships. Supplies and items were shifted to the smaller boats. They wouldn’t need any of that on their trip. The lighter, the better.

  ***

  Admiral Raye thought that the plan was downright crazy. Ballsy? It was insane. Though there was a part of him—maybe it was that young boy curiosity or the sense of adventure that sailors held dear—that loved it.

  They were cruising across the water. The wind was with them; it was a clear day.

  He saw the mages pouring power into the tester ship’s enchantments. They glowed brighter, coming alive with power.

  It started to raise in the water. The waterline and the barnacle-covered bottom of the ship started to rise out of the water. With the loss of water, the speed of the ship climbed and it started to move faster with the wind. The helmsman guided the ship back and forth, tacking with the wind. Then, using the magical power systems, the ship nearly tripled its speed.

  Raye’s eyes went wide; he gripped the side of the flagship with a wide smile on his face. Damn! I want to fly on one of those!

  Testing complete, the rest of the fleet started to power up their enchantments. The merchant fleet would continue to Cheon to hand off supplies and await further orders.

  They bore witness to First and Third Fleet as they rose up out of the water.

  Raye held onto the rigging as the flagship rose above the water, increasing its speed. The spray of saltwater reaching his unmoving figure.

  He took a deep breath tasting the salt as the navy charged forward.

  “Captain Devra, alter yer heading one fifty degrees. Run out her full sails. Let’s see what we’re capable of!” Raye yelled.

  “Aye, Admiral!” Captain Devra said from the helm. He had taken over personally, using the power of rank to be able to fly the behemoth.

  The colors went up and signals were passed. The ships in the fleet turned their rudders and the enchantments worked overtime. The mages powered it all, switching out frequently. There were so many of them that they didn’t grow tired with regular rest.

  The three Guardian vessels rose from the water. They were in large merchant vessels. They looked ungainly. The leading ship was covered in light, as wings of golden scales and red fire spread out from the ship.

  With a phoenix and dragon roar that made one’s soul tremble, the ship’s wings flapped. Working with the magical formations, it took to the skies.

  It was the worst-looking of the merchant ships but at that moment, she was a phoenix given a new life.

  Water dripped from their hulls, revealing their barnacled and worn hulls.

  The three Guardian ships were covered in purple Guardian Flames. Each of the ships were more dominating than the fleet’s Man-O-Wars.

  The two fleets and Guardian squadron forged onward and upward, cutting one hell of a sight in the skies.

  ***

  Khurok looked at the sea as it passed below. The sea had been an impassable barrier to the Drafeng. If they had ships, they could have crossed but their planet had long been turned to dust and rocks. Those practices had been lost in the past.

  “Leader, a fleet of ships has been spotted on the horizon,” Oru said.

  “They are below us. If they come into range, then I am interested to see the power of our new beam weapons.”

  “They aren’t on the water below—they are flying through the clouds,” Oru said.

  “What?” Khurok was confused and Aeran looked over as well.

  Oru indicated in a direction.

  Khurok looked where he was pointing and used the chaotic power within his body to enhance his sight so that he could see what Oru was indicating. There, among the clouds, there was indeed a fleet of small dots that were carving through the clouds.

  “How is this possible? What fleet is that?”

  “It is the First and Third Fleet that went to the east. They were not supposed to return for a number of days,” Oru said.

  “They must have got word about our departure. They are looking to intercept us before we reach Cresmond Peak. As soon as they get into our range, hit them with beam weapons! Even with their ships, they will not be able to stop us,” Khurok said.

  He stopped and looked at one of the ships. It was the worst ship in the fleet, but it had wings on its side and he felt a sense of danger from it. “What is that?”

  “I...I’m not sure, but those look like phoenix wings, or dragon wings,” Oru said.

  “Guardian Anthony.” Khurok’s words sent a tremor through the Drafeng around him as they all focused on the strange ship.

  ***

  “Dragon-phoenix ship, baby!” Anthony said as he flew the Hubberston, his captain’s hat off at an angle as he looked at the three large crystal structures floating through the air.

  Claire just sighed. Tommie tinkered with his Gnominator. A game of cards was going on the main deck. Aila was strapped to the back of the ship again.

  “Seasick and air sick, you should look into that!” Anthony said.

  She replied with retching.

  Tairlyn snorted and coughed before patting Aila’s back. “Come on, Commander. Got to pull it together now. Don’t want the other Guardians seeing you like this, right?”

  Troga retched beside her.

  “Shut up, you big ox. You don’t even have a stomach anymore!” Tairlyn bellowed.

  “I hate flying! Why did you tie me to the back of the ship? You know how I hate heights and I’m only looking down! If you hate heights, you’re not supposed to look down.”

  Claire hit him on the back of the head with her hand, making a solid noise. “Some of us are working here.”

  Troga retched again and Aila did as well. The two of them shared a suffering glance. Comrades in pain.

  “Are we—”

  “I will turn this boat around if you ask if we’re there yet again, Damien!” Anthony yelled up into the rigging, where Damien was in the crow’s nest.

  “I’m so bored!”

  “How did you survive for centuries down in that crypt in Ilsal?”

  “He would go around pranking people all the time—called him the prank knight of Ilsal.” Claire didn’t look up from her book on formations and wrote down something on paper. “You think this will work?”

  She passed the paper to Tommie, who took a look at it.

  “With all of the Guardians here, why don’t we have them act as the ignition for the
enchantment? That way, you don’t have to worry about replicating the Guardian power, which seems to be the most complicated part.”

  “Makes sense.” Claire went back to reading and drawing out enchantments.

  “H-hey, I helped people out too!” Damien complained from the crow’s nest.

  “People called him the deity of misfortune. He did it for centuries, thought that I didn’t notice it all until a few decades ago. I was the one who had to cover up the big lumbering man in armor who was seen sneaking around, laughing and giggling like some little kid.”

  Damien let out a sigh, his arms over the side of the crow’s nest as he rested his head at the top of the wooden railing. “It was funny,” he muttered. “So musty and boring in the caves...plots and plans here, training there, managing kingdoms.”

  “What about this?” Claire ignored him and passed another enchantment to Tommie.

  “Should work. If you were to change this...” Tommie pulled out a pencil from behind his ear and altered the plans. “That should make it activate faster.”

  “I’m going to play cards. Smells a bit back here. Let me know when we get there.” Tairlyn headed down to the game that had just finished.

  “I’m flying on a dragon-phoenix boat, a dragon-phoenix boat.” Anthony seemed to miss everything else, being the captain of his own ship, his face pulled back into a terrifying smile.

  Used to his strange ways, the others didn’t seem to mind him, going about their own work.

  He kept on talking about the dragon-phoenix boat under his breath, humming and laughing to himself.

  Chapter: First Battle of Its Kind

  Since the idea of flying ships had been brought up, Admiral Raye had spent the days working with the different captains and the people working the helm, to see what kind of tactics and strategies they could come up with to attack the platforms and do the most damage while protecting themselves from the enemy attacks.