Chapter 13 #2
We swooped down and flew in, the daylight quickly giving way to the unnaturally greenish glow the underside of the fog emitted.
In the distance, forming a long line, were a good number of carts being drawn by bovine of some kind.
There was an odd shimmer surrounding the cart directly ahead of us, one that didn’t extend to the warriors walking on either side of it.
I tried refocusing the viewer, but it didn’t help, and I couldn’t help but wonder what that shimmer was hiding or why they’d need an extra layer of invisibility when everything under this fog tunnel was already hidden to outside eyes.
There were plenty of other warriors ahead too, most of them escorting carts that held either cannons—there were at least six of them that I could see—or weapons and supplies such as tubes and acid pouches.
There had to be a couple of mages somewhere, too, if only to maintain the strength and opacity of the fog.
We swept toward them. Kaia’s inner furnace rumbled to life, and anticipation danced through her thoughts.
The men walking beside the cart didn’t react in any way, despite the fact that, at the speed we were now approaching, they should at least be able to hear the scream of wind past wings.
The inner unease ratcheted up several notches, but it was too late now to back out.
I shoved the long viewer away and said, Unleash.
The command was barely out when the men on the ground leapt up into the cart’s rear. The shimmer became translucent, revealing the biggest fucking cannon I’d ever seen. At that exact same time, the fog encasing us began to boil and retract .
It was a fucking trap.
All we could do now was erase the bastards before that trap completely ensnared us.
As one, the drakkon unleashed. A thick wall of fire rushed down the tunnel, turning the green glow a molten red in color and ashing everything and anyone walking in front of the cart, including the animal that drew it.
But it simply washed over and around the cart itself and the men and weapons inside.
It had been shielded against fire, but had they shielded it against claws? There was only one way to find out.
Kaia, tell Taitia and Lura to increase their pace to get past that cannon, then take out as many of the Mareritt up ahead as possible. We’ll grab that cannon and crush.
Plan. As the two younger drakkons pulled ahead, she added, Fog touch wings, feel strange.
My gaze shot right and then left. The tunnel had closed in enough now that her wing tips were cutting through it, causing a stream of fog to bubble up and over them, leaving behind a strange build-up of gloopy material.
Does it burn?
No.
Is it affecting the others?
They smaller. Not touch yet.
Movement dragged my attention back to the Mareritt. Two were raising the damn cannon while several others were loading acid pouches into place. Get that fucking thing, Kaia.
She roared in agreement and unleashed her fire, creating a blanket around the cart that covered her intent.
Then she banked, snapped her tail forward, and smashed it through the cart, sending it and its contents high into the air.
As a pouch dropped to the ground and exploded, spraying acid into the air that was swiftly destroyed by her fire, she swooped in, grabbed the Mareritt and the cannon in her murderously large claws, and crushed them all.
Once she’d released the remains, she flew on, chasing after the younger drakkons.
They were burning everything they saw, but we now knew that everything we saw might not be everything that was here. ...
The thought had barely risen when Lura bellowed and dipped sideways, her wing half shredded.
She’d been hit by acid.
Kaia, tell her to get out of the tunnel and fly back to the Igna River so she can wash down that wing. Ask Taitia to drop her speed and fly with us.
What of fog?
It’s less dangerous to Lura than the acid right now.
And I crossed mental fingers as I said that, because who the fuck knew if that was true or not?
The fog tunnel continued to contract, and the buildup on Kaia’s wings was increasing.
It might not be worrying her, but I couldn’t escape the notion that it was intentional. I just didn’t know why.
As Lura disappeared through the green, glowing fog and Taitia dropped back, I added, We need to find and kill the mages so we can see exactly what else is hiding underneath this shit.
How do?
I hesitated. Let’s get out of this fog and come in at them from the opposite ? —
The rest was lost to Kaia’s bellow of fury. I twisted around, saw the cart and the four men armed with small tubes standing on either side of it; saw the large tube emerging into existence, getting ready to fire....
I screamed a warning. Kaia banked sharply and rolled up into the fog.
It was thick and wet and weirdly felt like slime, and while it ran off my hair and clothes, it clung to Kaia’s scales.
Unease once again sharpened, but I had no time think about it as she dove back into it and swept up on the wheeled tube from behind.
The men around the cart spun to face us, but Kaia’s flames erased them.
This cart, like the other one, was protected, so she extended her claws once again, crushing them all as efficiently as she had the other one.
Then she continued, keeping low, sweeping back and forth just above the ground to ensure there was nothing else there hidden by magic.
How bad is the burn? I asked.
Hit tail.
Bad?
No retreat. We kill.
I drew in a deep breath and tried to ignore the feeling that retreat was the only thing we should be doing right now. But Esan’s safety was on the line, and it had to come first. Too many people would die if whatever tubes remained up ahead were allowed to reach the Mareritten encampment.
Hopefully, Yara and her drakkons were now attacking it, but if they had mage magic protecting the machines here, they’d have it in the encampment. Still, any chaos the others caused meant there’d be fewer Mareritt to attack us if the worst happened and we went down.
Not go down, Kaia said. Simple.
It was, except for the fact I had a really bad feeling they were specifically targeting her , perhaps convinced by the riders that she was the key, that without her, the rest of the drakkons would be directionless.
No like these feelings. Stop.
I laughed, despite everything. That’s like telling the sun to stop shining. Let’s get out of this section of the tunnel and come back at them from the front end.
She rumbled her approval, bellowed an order at Taitia, and as one, the two of them banked and cut through the fog.
It continued to feel like slime and continued to cling to Kaia’s wings.
I glanced across at Taitia as we flew side by side along the outside of the tunnel; where Kaia’s wings were half covered, there were only small pockets of the stuff smattered randomly across Taitia’s wings.
Is fine. Just feel heavy. Not hurt, Kaia commented.
I didn’t like the sound of it being heavy, but it didn’t seem to be affecting her ability to fly, so maybe I was worrying for nothing....
The day remained cool, but the sun was hidden behind a darkly ominous-looking bank of clouds. The air mages had promised no rain, but there was a bit of me wishing that it would, if only to provide additional cover. Right now, we were standing out against the gray like, well, like blood on ice.
Ahead in the distance, drakkons bugled, darted, and flamed.
There might be only four of them, but they were flying so fast there seemed to be more.
Half the Mareritten encampment appeared to be on fire, but arrows and acid continued to cut through the air, and the drakkons’ fiery streams were having as little effect on the shimmering bubble that encased the center of the encampment or the small pockets that were scattered about the battlefield beyond it as ours had had on the magic encasing the carts.
Kaia, ask Yara if they’ve tried to enter the larger shielded zone.
There was a pause, then, Yes, can’t.
And the smaller pockets? They tried sweeping low and crushing?
Same. Can’t.
So why the fuck hadn’t they used that type of shielding in the fog tunnel?
Given the trap they’d attempted, they were obviously expecting our attack, so why not protect the whole supply train?
Was it simply a matter of not having enough mage power to do so?
Was that why they were also only protecting pockets of soldiers outside the main bubble rather than everyone?
Not that it really mattered at this point.
If the drakkons couldn’t breach the main shield, then we needed to find another means of doing so. .. and quickly.
I tugged the quill tablet free and sent a quick message to Garran, explaining the problem and asking if the mages could shift the earth enough to disturb whatever pins they were using to hold up the main shield, then tucked the tablet away and ordered Kaia and Taitia back into the tunnel.
As one, they swooped around and dove in.
More green sludge caked Kaia’s wings, but she ignored it, dropping long, sweeping her feet forward, catching and crushing anything in her way while the younger drakkon flew slightly ahead and above, sweeping her flames left and right, cindering everything that wasn’t protected by magic.
Within minutes, there was nothing left in that tunnel except ashes and broken bits of Mareritt, their weapons, and their carts.
One problem down, one to go—but until our earth mages could find a means of undermining the shield over the main encampment, we’d just have to keep hitting them with everything we had and make damn sure there were no Mareritt or weapons outside of that bubble left alive.
Plan , Kaia said ferociously, and banked up, out of the fog that was fading at a surprisingly slow rate.