Seven Sorcerers(74)

Yet now the beasts flew among the Udvorg, passing by Vireon and the Feathered Serpent as if ordered to avoid them. Lances, beaks, and claws struck at shoulders, arms, and heads. The Udvorg struck back with spear and sword, swiping men from the backs of their mounts and cleaving the sky-beasts’ wings and heads. As the winged host descended, Dahrima imagined the Giants as wolves set upon by a vicious flock of ravens. She avoided the plunging lances of two riders and drove her spear through the belly of the nearest lizard. The beast screeched and flew on, trailing a string of entrails. It did not fall from the sky until Vantha’s longspear impaled it, as well as the body of its rider.

In the bay now the glowing galleons were sinking out of the sky to sit gracefully upon the water. As each ship became water-borne two things happened: Its double set of wings withdrew into its hull, and the sphere of golden light protecting it faded. The first rank of dreadnoughts approached the shoreline, sailing on water instead of air.

Vireon blew a single note on the great war horn that had belonged to Angrid. He had inherited it along with the Udvorg King’s crown. Along the ridges ten thousand archers of Uurz and Udurum let their arrows fly toward the flying lizards and their knights. The sky was so thick with them that the archers could hardly miss. Across the breadth of the valley man and beast glided among a hail of black-feathered shafts.

Dahrima laughed as her axe clove a swooping lizard-knight in two, and arrows bounced off her thick skin. The arrows of men could not pierce the thick skins of Giants. Knowing this, Vireon had commanded the bowmen to await his signal. The Giants were impervious to the death raining about them, but the winged lizards were not. Peppered with biting shafts, scores of the beasts fell from the sky. Some of their riders survived the fall; their armor defied arrows almost as well as Giantskin. However, these knights soon found themselves afoot among a legion of Udvorg who crushed them like insects, or sliced them apart before they could raise a lance.

A second volley of arrows filled the valley, and more beasts fell from the sky. Dahrima killed three more lizards struggling to stay airborne, then her axe took the lives of five lancers who fought her on the ground. They were fierce enough warriors for Men, but they could not stand against Giants. No human could, except perhaps a sorcerer.

The legions of lizard-riders were soon routed, and the storm broke overhead. Rays of sunlight poured through the clouds as dreadnoughts crowded the bay. Their broad decks swarmed with silver-mailed Manslayers. A few hundred flying lizards escaped the continuous rain of arrows and the flashing spears of Giants, returning now to their water-borne ships.

The archers along the ridges cheered, and the Giants in the valley laughed. Shafts of sunlight fell across the bay, and the dreadnoughts gleamed bright as gold. The first rank of vessels made the shallows, three hundred of them at least, and a series of ramps sprouted from each middle deck. Manslayers streamed from them like swarms of silvery ants, running up the beach to throw their lives away against the army of Giants.

More companies of Zyungian warriors came rowing to the beach on lean landing craft deployed by the dreadnoughts stationed further out. Hundreds of these lesser boats glided between the massive vessels like canoes through canyons.

The Giants let them come. Vireon stood still at the head of the Udvorg ranks. His legion awaited the onrushing hordes as he had directed them to do. From the decks of the dreadnoughts arose smaller globes of light now, each one with a silver-robed sorcerer floating at its center. The God-King would send the bulk of his forces against the Giants now, including his wizards.

Which one was Zyung’s ship? Dahrima could not tell the dreadnoughts apart. The main sail of each vessel bore the face of Zyung with his eyes of fire. Would the God-King come forth to face the Giant-King himself? Or would he let others do his fighting? She lost count of the sorcerers gliding from the anchored ships into the valley. There were hundreds of them. More ships rested along the base of the cliffs to the east and west of the Sharrian harbor, and more eager Manslayers rowed from them with spears, blades, and shields reflecting the sun’s fury.

They were tall, these Manslayers. Not Giants, but taller than normal Men. From their forward rush and the dark eyes behind their visored helms, she could tell they did not fear the Udvorg, the Uduru, or the Uduri. That meant they did not fear death.

They must be taught fear this day.

The archers along the ridges directed their volleys at the swarming Manslayers. Perhaps one shaft in ten found its mark, while most were deflected by armored plate or shield. Like the sails of their ships, the invaders’ shields bore the face of Zyung, his eyes those of a raging God.