Chapter 11 #2
A few candelabras loaded with Candles of Serenity might, but he’d taken the only ones she’d seen in the infirmary.
She tucked a couple of vials of margroth tree oil into her kit, the astringent liquid she’d spattered onto the face of one of the giant bug-creatures in the laboratory.
With luck, she wouldn’t have to knock out an entire cave of stormers, maybe only a couple of guards charged with watching her during the night.
She did have ground dayvak buds, which could be mixed into food or wine to sedate someone.
It was what Atilya had used on Vorik and his lieutenant in her cave.
The stormers wouldn’t let Syla prepare them a meal, but she took all the powder she had.
“Just in case.” Syla slung the strap of her medical kit over her shoulder and across her body so it wouldn’t fall off if someone grabbed her.
My return is blocked, Wreylith stated into her mind.
By enemy dragons? Syla guessed.
Yes, I was unable to get close to the Island of Bogs earlier since stormer-allied dragons lurk there.
I returned to the Island of Eliok to fish and fill my belly before our inevitable battle, but, now, the stormer dragons have placed themselves in my flightpath to deter me from reaching you.
They do not answer me when I question them.
I am contemplating attacking them and reaching you regardless of the threat.
Wreylith growled into her mind. They are overly arrogant because they have greater numbers.
If you can get within five miles of the ship, I ought to be able to target them with the weapons platform. Syla wondered if Wreylith might be that close now.
Agrevlari has just joined them. Wreylith growled again. He seeks to impede me. The gall!
Maybe he’ll help you against the others if they attack.
That was my first thought, but he has informed me that he has orders to keep me away from your ship and the Island of Bogs.
A knock sounded at the door, and Syla walked over.
“You shouldn’t open that with so many enemies on board,” Fel told her, though he stood to the side. Major Hixun had been the one to knock.
“I should make visitors yell through it?” Syla asked.
“Yes.”
Ignoring their exchange, Hixun said, “I regret to inform you that we’re still looking for Captain Vorik, Your Majesty.”
Syla nodded, having assumed Vorik could remain hidden if he so chose.
“We also, ah.” Hixun grimaced. “I have to report that he got into the armory. He didn’t kill the men guarding it, fortunately, but we believe he took a few things.”
“Like… explosives?”
“We don’t carry explosives beyond the black powder for the cannons, but…” Hixun cleared his throat, and were his cheeks pink?
Maybe he was embarrassed that his men hadn’t been able to find Vorik.
The ship wasn’t that large. But Vorik… Syla wouldn’t blame anyone for not being able to find him.
She wouldn’t be surprised if he’d hung from the ceiling while men walked under him, or maybe he’d been outside the ship, clinging from barnacles on the hull like a spider.
“Lady Tibaytha,” Hixun continued, “reported that her cabin was broken into and someone stole a booby trap.”
“An explosive booby trap?”
“Apparently, she’d started making some this morning, using black powder and some of her magic. She said she’d only completed one but that it’s missing.”
Syla shook her head bleakly.
“We’re worried he’ll blow a hole in the hull of the ship to sabotage us as soon as we enter battle,” Hixun said.
Syla glanced upward, certain of what Vorik would target. “He’ll go after the weapons platform.”
Hixun opened his mouth, paused, then rocked back. “Of course, Your Majesty. It’s out in the open, but—”
“Put more guards up there. Don’t let anyone get close.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
As he hurried away, Syla asked Fel, “Do you think my aunt’s booby traps could damage something made by the gods? Of marble and magic?”
“Questions on that topic weren’t discussed in my basic Fleet training,” Fel said.
“It didn’t come up in your twenty years as a bodyguard for the royal family either?”
“Your parents and siblings didn’t acquire any magical marble artifacts that I was aware of.”
Syla didn’t truly expect Fel to know the answer to her question but wished someone did. “I’m going up there.”
Fel dropped an arm to block the door. “It’s been less than ten minutes since you agreed to stay in your cabin.”
“My dragon ally is being deterred, and my weapons platform is in danger. Things have changed.”
Exasperation stamping his face, Fel didn’t lift his arm.
“Let me go, Sergeant,” Syla said. “Vorik won’t blow it up if I’m sitting on it.”
“If someone in his chain of command orders it, he will.” Fel tapped his temple to indicate the possibility of telepathic communication.
Since Syla already knew General Jhiton could talk to Vorik that way, she didn’t argue that part. “No, he won’t. If he wanted me dead, he could have broken my neck any number of times, including last night.”
Fel’s eyebrow twitched. “While he was drugged and sedated by your Candles of Serenity?”
“His sedation wasn’t as complete as you would have liked.”
Fel did not appear surprised. “I don’t believe he wants you dead, but if General Jhiton commands it… are you certain he would disobey a direct order?”
The memory of Vorik standing between her and his brother in the shielder chamber under the castle came to mind. “Regarding my life, yes.”
Syla ducked under Fel’s arm and jogged for the ship’s ladder.
Her long-legged bodyguard could have caught her, but he sighed and strode after her to protect her instead of slinging her over his shoulder and locking her in her cabin.
He would have preferred that, she was certain.
But he was ever loyal. Someday, she hoped she could reward him for that.
When Syla stepped out onto the deck, distant screeches reached her ears.
Wreylith? she asked telepathically, afraid a battle had already started.
Bogberry Island filled the horizon now, the landmass dotted with lakes, bogs, and forests, with a single sprawling hill rising miles inland.
Unlike the volcanos at the core of many of the Kingdom islands, the high ground had been formed by an underground salt dome.
A mine within it provided the Kingdom with all the salt its people needed to preserve their food, with surplus left for trade.
It would be a valuable resource for the stormers to claim.
Syla frowned at the thought, eyeing the hill as they sailed toward the mouth of the Prominence River, a waterway that flowed down from the inland lakes and springs.
The main city of Seaward lay along both sides of the river, the bridge over it visible beyond docks along its banks.
Close to the mouth of the Prominence, those docks were in deep enough water for ocean-going vessels to sail to them.
Inland from the river and uphill lay the island lord’s palace. As promised, smoke wafted from the structure, and numerous other buildings in the city burned, as well.
To each side of the mouth of the river, wide stone towers with multiple platforms supported cannons that were currently pointed toward four stormer ships anchored out of range. Archers and crossbowmen stood upon the platforms, facing the threat.
With dragon figureheads, the stormer ships were nearly identical to the one that had brought the supposed diplomatic party to Castle Island weeks earlier.
They were laden with cannons aimed toward the city.
More concerning than the ships, six dragons flew back and forth just outside the island’s barrier, as if they were waiting for something.
The screeches, however, came from the opposite direction, back toward Harvest Island.
The oaf is singing to me while he and his allies obstruct my flightpath, Wreylith said.
Are you within five miles? Syla couldn’t yet pick out a red dragon in the sky.
After glancing around the deck to make sure Vorik wasn’t crouched somewhere with an explosive in hand, Syla strode toward the weapons platform.
There were enough crewmen about—each cannon was manned, and the fleet commander and major stood outside near the wheelhouse—that she trusted he couldn’t have approached it without being seen.
In addition, four Royal Protectors surrounded the weapons platform.
Aunt Tibby sat on it, a book open in her lap, though she was looking pensively toward the stormer ships.
I am uncertain of the precise distance, Wreylith said.
I can hear his screeching. You can’t be that far, right?
A dragon’s cries may travel a great distance.
More than five miles?
Many more. A wolf’s howl can carry ten, and dragons are, naturally, superior to lupines.
Vocally superior too?
Certainly.
Another screech floated to Syla’s ears, and she winced as she stepped past the Royal Protectors to climb onto the platform. I’m not sure vocally superior is the right adjective to describe that particular dragon.
I will agree on that matter. Are you going to engage in battle? I will attempt to get past these presumptuous dragons who block my way.
Do you want help? Syla placed herself between two posts and rested her hands on the marks, though, now that she believed the weapons platform could only fire a certain number of rounds before being depleted, she was loath to send them off carelessly.
To stop Agrevlari’s caterwauling?
A magical silver energy ball down his throat may achieve that, Syla replied, though she couldn’t imagine attacking Vorik’s dragon.
Even if Vorik was skulking around the ship, plotting ways to kidnap her and destroy her weapons platform, she struggled to think of him as an enemy.
“Which is a problem,” she admitted softly.
Tibby glanced at her. “Are we going to attack the dragons?” She touched her chest, then pointed at Syla.
“Unless they leave of their own accord,” Syla said.
“You should blast them whether they show signs of leaving or not,” Fel said.
“The stormers have already sneaked into the city and burned buildings. There may be Kingdom subjects lying dead in the streets. And we don’t know if the island lord or someone else who knows where the shielder is might have been kidnapped. ”
Syla didn’t explain the possibly limited reservoir in the weapons platform, saying only, “That is something we need to determine. It looks like we’re angling to head up the river toward the docks. We’ll see if the stormers oppose us.”
“We have to attack them, not sail past them.”
Syla waved toward the fleet commander and major—they were stepping into the wheelhouse. They hadn’t consulted her, but it wasn’t as if she had vast military experience, so she didn’t fault them for that. She was here to man the weapons platform.
“It’s such a beautiful island.” Tibby gazed toward the lush green landscape. “It’s a shame the stormers are targeting it.”
“All of our islands are beautiful in one way or another,” Syla said.
“True, but this one has the salt mine too. That’s an important resource for the Kingdom, and it’s full of history and something of a national treasure.”
“I remember the ancient carvings from my family’s visit years ago.”
“The mine itself is magnificent. An engineering marvel. I worked there for several months during an internship. Before I decided to specialize in agricultural engineering, I helped ensorcel some of the large drills, borers, and excavators.”
“So, the mine has significance because there are machines you touched down there.” Syla smiled faintly.
“I designed and built a couple of them.”
“Which involved touching.”
“A lot of it, yes.”
As the fleet sailed closer, the dragons circling in the area glanced toward the weapons platform, then flew farther out to sea.
They didn’t leave entirely, however, and more dragons were visible in the distance.
Was that green one Agrevlari? And, yes, there was Wreylith’s red-scaled form beyond him.
Agrevlari and other dragons were flying toward her. To intercept her.
Syla clenched her fist, wanting to urge Wreylith to come but also worried about her. As great and powerful as she was, she couldn’t fight so many.
Unlike the dragons, the stormer ships moved closer to the Kingdom fleet.
“Are they going to barricade the river?” Tibby wondered.
The stormer ships weren’t positioning themselves to block the way but to ensure the fleet would have to pass well within their cannon range to reach the docks.
“Looks like they want a fight.” Fel pointed at the weapons platform. “That thing’ll work as well on ships as on dragons, right?”
“I would think so.” Syla had used it to blow up the storm god’s laboratory defenses without trouble.
“Cheeky of them to get in our way,” Tibby said.
“Maybe they expect something to happen to distract us. Or distract you.” Fel pointed at Syla.
“Yes,” Tibby said. “They won’t yet know that I’m able to operate the weapons platform, so they might believe if Syla is busy, they’ll be safe from it.”
“Maybe they think Vorik has already kidnapped me,” Syla mused, her gaze toward the stormer ships.
“He’s planning to do that?” Tibby asked.
“And he told you?” Fel asked.
Syla realized she shouldn’t have voiced that out loud. “We… don’t have as many secrets from each other as we should.”
“That relationship is going to be the death of the Kingdom,” Fel told Tibby.
“That’s my concern as well,” she replied.
“Maybe we should kidnap her,” Fel said.
“And lock her up for her own good.” Tibby nodded with approval.
“I liked it better when you two were sniping at each other,” Syla said, “instead of in agreement over my failings.”
More screeches sounded, not so distant now. Wreylith flapped her wings, heading toward the Stormslicer with three dragons on her tail. Another arrowed in from ahead and to the side of her. She wasn’t going to make it.