Spear of Destiny by James Baldwin (little bear else holmelund minarik .TXT) 📕

Karalti, trailing blood and ichor, wobbled on approach to the Aspern. She backwinged and flapped, stumbling as she touched down, and sunk to her keel with a wheeze. I hopped down, trying to scrape off sand, blood, and gods-knew-what-else as my friends ran across the deck toward us.

“Hector! Karalti!” Suri ran to me and caught me into a hug, then turned to squeeze Karalti around the neck. Rin was about to glomp, before she noticed the dripping ropes of goo and cringed back. Gar took one look at me, planted his hands on his hips, and began to laugh.

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up.” I pointed at him with a dripping hand. “This will be what your bed looks like in about two weeks’ time.”

“Hey, fuck you.” He grinned, clapping Rin on the shoulder. “You bet your skinny ass you’re paying me rent for every day that raging puta of a dinosaur is camped in my room.”

Soma emerged from the ship’s bridge, striding urgently toward us. “By Khors’ fiery red balls, we actually did it! Those Symphonic Arrays saved the day! Imagine the favors we’ll receive from His Majesty once we demonstrate these to the court!”

“Yeah. That’s exactly what I’m thinking about right now. His Majesty.” I pulled my helmet off, which kind of felt like pouring a tub of glue over my own head. “Do we have any option to like… hose us down?”

“CAPTAIN!” The starboard watchstander cried. “SHIPS INCOMING!”

Chapter 59

“Ships?” We all turned to face the railing, running over as a group. I spotted them first: six ornate airships with billowing golden silk sails, gold filigree on the hulls, and long trailing cerulean flags were headed straight for us. They were large galleon-type ships, the size of the destroyers. Rather than the sleek discreet engines I was used to seeing on Vlachian ships, these ships had giant fan-like peacock tails, with each ‘eye’ lit by a glowing disk of mana.

“That’s Dakhdir’s Royal Fleet.” Soma gripped the railings, leaning out. “They must be here to see what all the fuss is about.”

My gut tensed. “No, I don’t think they are. We need the ships to form a defensive position.”

Soma shot me a sharp look. “Dakhdir is an ally of Vlachia, and under the White Sail Alliance pact, we are allowed free access to their airspace. We are flying the correct flags on all our vessels-”

“Trust me, dude. This is not good.” I glared at him. “Signal the other fucking ships. We need the destroyers ready to blast these fuckers out of the sky.”

Soma looked like he was about to argue, but his moustache bristled, and he stalked off, yelling at the signalers to warn the other ships and steer them into a fighting position.

“Don’t tell me.” Suri’s face was hard with disbelief. “Violetta?”

“I don’t know.” I regarded the approaching ships, pressing my lips together in a grim line.

Our armada turned to face the newcomers in formation. The lead ship was not the largest: a smaller cruiser with an open deck. Dakhari soldiers were gathering on the decks, armed with powerful bows and muskets. As the cruiser pulled up broadside to our bow, I noticed that all the below-deck cannon ports were angled straight in toward us.

“Stand down, in the name of His Divine Eminence, Sultir Yazid Khememmu!” An imperious little man in court silks called to us with an old-fashioned megaphone, his voice piercing the still desert air. “You are committing theft against the nation of Dakhdir! Surrender your ships, or face destruction!”

The ship’s bosun ran to me with a megaphone of our own. I stood up from the railing and put it to my mouth. “Vlachia has a treaty with Dakhdir. This Warsinger is not your property – and even if it was, we aren’t going to surrender shit!”

“Yoo-hoo, over here.” Gar’s voice crackled through our group PM. “Symphonic Array armed and ready. Say the word, and we’ll blast this ponce out of the air.”

“Hold fire until they start getting mad.” I used the thought-to-speech to reply, focusing on the official.

“Treaty?” The man flashed a gap-toothed grin. “We do not have a treaty with regicides. Kill the Vlachian usurpers!”

“NOW!” I shouted.

The Symphonic Array let out a whining pulse, then a piercing scream of sound that was still only a fraction of the power that struck the Dakhari ship. The sonic ray smashed into the gold-decorated wood and blew through to the other side, and everyone aboard began to shout and holler as, all of a sudden, they were capsizing.

“All cannons, all artillery, now!” I turned from the railing and yelled at Soma. “Take ‘em down or run them off! Their choice!”

We couldn’t coordinate as easily without one Starborn on every command ship, but the crews of the Myszno fleet were combat veterans with the Demon’s War behind them – and we had the Arrays. The Salamander and Gae Bolg circled around, rising to avoid fire, and unleashed their sonic weapons on the largest of the Sultir’s vessels. They didn’t just sink it – they broke it apart, sending the two halves careening out of the sky.

“Watch out for dragons! Violetta’s behind this, I know she is!” I ran back to Karalti. My dragon was peeling herself off the deck. Her wings were sagging – her last potion had put her back to 28% stamina, and by looking at her, I knew it wasn’t enough. Cursing, I ransacked my Inventory for anything that could help, and was pitched down as cannon fire smashed into the keel of the ship. Then something zipped past over the sails: quazi riders.

Karalti used her wings to push herself up to her feet. “Get on! We have to help! I still have ten breath weapon charges – and my Queensong.”

I clenched my teeth and vaulted up onto her back. Karalti spun, snatching a