Seven Sorcerers(73)
“They come!” The Feathered Serpent shouted his warning. Vireon turned to face the open sea, and his Giants did the same. A storm gathered far above his head, gray and black clouds swirling in to fill the sky from every direction. Dahrima did not know if it was Khama’s magic or Vireon’s power that brought the stormclouds. Perhaps both.
Cold rain fell in sheets and the wind rose to howling as the first ranks of sky-ships appeared on the horizon. They flew in a line that stretched from east to west as far as the eye could see, though as they came closer their lines converged. There were thousands of them, floating, flying miracles of varicolored sails and golden wood. Each one sported two sets of wings like those of great, white bats, flapping against the wind. Dahrima had never seen so many ships assembled anywhere, let alone among the clouds.
The vessels grew larger and larger, until the true size of them became apparent. Even the Giants drew in their breath at the sheer scale of the dreadnoughts. Each vessel was large enough for a hundred Giants to board, but they did not engage in such travels. The Uduru and Udvorg must remain close to the earth; they braved neither sea nor sky.
The glinting of spears and armor along the dreadnoughts’ railings became visible, yet their decks were still unseen thanks to their great altitude. The armada slowed as it came closer to the coastline, each row of ships dropping lower to the sea, followed closely by the one behind it. Now their numbers filled perhaps a quarter of the visible sky, stretching back to the flat horizon.
Khama had said there were three thousand of these ships, each carrying a thousand warriors. If each Giant in the valley could bring down a single ship, that would leave only a handful. Dahrima joined them now in hefting great blocks of masonry, clumps of ruined walls, the stems of broken pillars, and other great fragments of earth. The very stones of Shar Dni would be their weapons against the armada. But not yet. They awaited Vireon’s word as the Feathered Serpent glided above, drawing the armada’s attention with his gleaming rainbow of plumage.
Vireon grew even taller as the dreadnoughts drew closer and sank lower. Now the Giant-King towered twice as tall as any other Giant, yet his great fists were empty, the greatsword still sheathed upon his back. The Feathered Serpent, too, grew larger. It hovered above Vireon’s crown, coiling to face the armada with feline head and amber eyes. Thunder and rain filled the valley while Zyung’s armada filled the bay. A flash of lightning flared amid the sky-ships, but struck none of them. Khama had made it clear that the magic powering Zyung’s ships made them in capable of burning, and the sorcerers on board would keep them free of his lightnings. Dahrima saw none of the globes of light that were their primary defense, but she soon learned the reason for that.
A vast flock of winged creatures leaped from the decks of the sky-ships. Some sorcerous signal must have called them into the sky. Armored lancers rode in saddles on the backs of the flying lizards. The long beaks of the beasts gleamed wet and yellow, shod with sharpened bronze, or steel, or some alien metal. The metallic beaks would make them even more deadly, capable of snapping a man in half, or shearing off a Giant’s arm. Dahrima watched the flock fill the sky before the galleons. So this was to be the armada’s vanguard. Men riding beasts through the sky. Khama had guessed as much. She was learning to trust the wisdom of the Feathered Serpent.
Vireon lifted a massive marble pillar from the rubble. He raised it high in both arms as every Giant behind him lifted a section of the shattered metropolis. One shout from the Giant-King’s lips and his people hurled their stones as one. The massive volley flew across the sky, arcing above the ranks of lizard-riders toward the amassing dreadnoughts.
The splintering of wood filled Dahrima’s ears above the storm. Masts, decks, and hulls exploded as the great stones found their marks, tearing through the golden galleons. Many in the front ranks went down immediately, smashed to bits by the fury of Giants hurling earthy destruction. Other ships lost wings, masts, sails, or endured massive holes in their forequarters. Dahrima took great pleasure in seeing at least twenty of the impossible vessels crash into the storm-tossed sea. Yet now the globes of light appeared as Khama had said they would, blinking to life about every ship that was not already lost.
The Giants picked more slabs of marble and granite from the earth, shedding moss and mud as they tossed them high. Yet the second volley was aimed at the flocks of winged lizards, which were almost upon the valley now. The lances of the beast-riders were long enough to skewer Giants, and their reptiles’ great claws would be as deadly as their razor beaks. Dahrima hurled a block of stone at a diving lizard-beast. It crushed both rider and beast at once, sending them into the shallows of the sea. Hundreds of stones flew from Giant fingers, and hundreds of the winged lizards died along with their riders.