the palace as many of King Stephen's soldiers rallied their defenses. The ships flew silently over the city leaving a rain of devastation in their wake. Each time they passed a window, Levi found the floating Man-o-wars edging ever closer.
The priests led him higher and higher utilizing stairways Levi had never accessed before during his own time in Stephen's court. Finally they arrived at a set of large steel doors. One of the priests, Kline, opened the doors, revealing a vast store of strange inventions. Levi entered with Kline and the other priest, Devin.
Many items lined the walls: strange suits of armor, weapons, and contraptions of every kind imaginable. Levi's eyes swept across the treasures before him. Kline led them back around a corner in the room where another hall of artifacts had been housed. There, suspended from the ceiling by steel cables, hung an assortment of flying machines.
Levi smiled. 'What are they?'
Kline pointed to them. 'I believe the King referred to them as gliders. I saw a man launch himself from the large balcony out that window during an exhibition for King Stephen. Inventors often bring their creations to the King of Wayland in the hopes that he will be inspired to fund their work.'
'I don't think I've ever seen anything like them before,' Levi said.
'I guess the King wasn't feeling very inspired that day,' Devin said. 'These are the only ones.'
Levi grinned, looking up at the gliders suspended from the ceiling as though in flight. 'Well, I'm certainly feeling inspired. Let's get them down. I've got an idea.'
Levi stood on the huge veranda overlooking Evelah on the southern side of King Stephen's palace. He now wore one of the large gliders on his back, having the form of a large, triangular wing fastened to a light tubular frame. 'How does this thing work again?' Levi asked.
Kline stood upon the balcony railing, fighting against the wind which threatened to topple him from his perch. 'Just use your body to lean against this bar,' he said indicating the one which ran down from the wing-frame to cross below his chest. 'Your weight will change the way the wing bears into the wind and thus change your direction. Lean back in the harness to rise once you have a good deal of speed going.'
Levi nodded. He hoped the quick lessons Kline had given Devon and him would be enough to keep them from killing themselves with this stunt. At any rate, this was the only way he could think of to reach those ships and stop them. Already buildings had been leveled in Evelah. People were screaming and running through the streets for their lives. 'Let's do this,' Levi said.
Kline nodded and then turned to face Evelah spreading out below him. He threw back a salute to Devon and Levi and then leaped forward away from the stone rail running the length of the balcony. Immediately he plummeted toward the stone garden paths several hundred feet below. Levi gasped until he saw the cloth wing catch the wind.
Kline swooped over the ground only a few dozen feet from striking the pavement. He soared upward, peaked and then dove again, building momentum to rise again. He did this maneuver several times to gain substantial height. Suddenly he picked up altitude rather dramatically. He whooped from far away. 'I've caught a pocket of warmer air!'
The priest continued to climb. Levi looked back at Devon, who had taken up the rear position in this little parade. 'I guess there's no time like the present, lad.' Levi rushed to the railing and climbed up trying to adjust his balance and keep from dropping to the stones below in the process. He tilted the nose of the giant cloth wing- frame upward as Kline had told them to do.
Levi had the distinct feeling this was going to end badly. He jumped down from the balcony railing and backed up toward Devon.
'What are you doing, Captain?'
'Back up a bit, lad. I'm going to at least give this contraption a running start.'
Devon backed his own flying wing further into the palace and waited as Levi positioned himself. He took a few deep breaths and then surged forward as hard as he could. Levi felt the wing trying to catch the wind and nosed it down slightly. His speed increased, he leaped over the stone railing and cleared it, yelling reflexively. The wing- frame caught the wind and he sailed smoothly out over the city of Evelah below.
Levi's departure had turned out smoother than his would-be instructor. He found that he was able to gain altitude much more quickly. When he reached the approximate place where Kline had yelled back to them, Levi also felt the temperature of the air change dramatically. His height increased rapidly until soon he was even higher than the airships he and the others meant to attack.
He had difficulty seeing behind the huge wing-frame, but hoped Devon had gotten underway safely. Levi came up a little higher even than Kline had managed before sailing out toward the Man-o-wars still bombing the city. Levi found that gentle alterations made keeping his altitude fairly easy. He dipped slightly, then rose, dipped and then rose over and over until he found himself over the mass of warships moving slowing over Evelah.
He noticed a cloud of dust on the horizon to the north as well. Levi could only suppose what was generating it-almost certainly Mordred's army on the move toward Wayland's capital and king. Still, he had no time to be concerned about that now. If he and the others didn't manage to stop this first assault, there wouldn't be anything left to withstand Mordred anyway.
Levi counted thirty ships. He saw two more gliders out to his right, the men both waving to him. Devon had made it safely after all. Levi praised Shaddai for his mercy and providence. He said a quick prayer for direction in what they should do now.
Near the Temple, Levi spotted one of the ships moving somewhat erratically. As he and the others flew over, he spotted the crew members left onboard running back and forth like chickens without their heads. They had their swords drawn, muskets in the hands of others, and were apparently chasing someone around the deck.
Cables began to pop and fall away from the assembly of balloons which kept the ships aloft. This particular ship had all but stopped its bombing by now as they tried desperately to keep from losing the one thing keeping them aloft. No sooner did the crew run one way than they abruptly shifted directions. Gideon could not see the intruder.
Lines to the balloon rigging continued to fall away despite the hybrid crew's best efforts at stopping whomever was doing this to them. The Man-o-war floundered in midair as one whole assembly gave way. The balloons went up and fell apart completely as the cloth let go of its trapped hot air and its form. The sail cloth drifted peacefully down to the fires raging in buildings below.
The stern dropped, putting the ship vertical in the air near the Temple. The other section of balloon supports barely managed to hold, then snapped altogether. The Man-o-war plunged down into the streets of Evelah shattering like a bottle upon impact. Levi and the priests flying high above whooped for the small victory. 'It had to be the boy,' Levi said to himself. 'He can't have all the fun!'
Levi angled his glider down and made a pass over one of the Man-o-wars still bombing the city. He was going too fast and soon overshot the balloon assembly. He realized getting from his glider to the ships would be far more difficult than he'd first expected. There were no landing platforms of any kind on a Man-o-war and Kline's description of how men landed these gliders assumed one would have a lot of room.
He passed beyond the first ship he'd strafed and gained a bit of altitude before coming upon another. There was only one way to do this, Levi surmised. He would have to drop off of the glider and hope to catch a hold of the rigging nets keeping the balloons fastened to the ship.
Levi made his approach. At the last moment he remembered the way he'd seen gulls land with their great wings pulled up and back in order to catch the wind and use it as a brake. As he passed over the balloon assembly, Levi pulled back on the wing-frame as hard as he could. The cloth caught the wind and made an abrupt climb before stalling altogether.
Now almost completely vertical in the air over the airship, Levi felt the sensation of falling. He and the glider dropped like a stone to the rigging nets. He crashed with the glider and started to tumble backward as the impassive breeze grabbed the wing-frame and tried to jerk it away. Levi worked frantically to disentangle himself from the glider.
The billowing cloth and netting beneath him began to fall away again as the wind lifted him skyward. He drew his cutlass and slashed the harness straps. With the final cut, he came loose and gravity took over again. Levi fell backward hoping he was still over the ship.
He landed on the billowing balloon, bounced once, then raked across the surface on a downward slide over
