In seconds it was hovering in front of them. Darrok sat in its hollow, Pallidea at his back, her crimson hair streaming.
‘Welcome home, my friend,’ Darrok growled. ‘You’ll forgive me ignoring the formalities but we have a situation and I could use your help. The first landing’s just taken place.’
29
A harsh wind and eddying snow. Heavy, wet sand underfoot. Clashing steel and the cries of dying men.
They fought on a beach in semi-darkness. Two groups, one from the sea, the other defending the land, brawling ankle-deep in freezing waves. Above, a crescent moon beginning to show, and the brittle pinpricks of stars.
Caldason cracked an opponent’s skull, then spun to pierce another’s chest. The void he created was quickly filled by a further pair, looking to down him. He proved a disappointment. The first took a slash of steel across his throat, while his crony yielded to a punctured lung. Still the intruders came, uniforms ill-assorted, looming out of the dusk like murderous phantoms.
Glamour phantoms mingled with the raiders too, as confusion sowers; part of a parallel conflict raging between the small number of sorcerers present. A quarrel that saw blazing flashes of magical vitality exchanged, and men falling with blistered cavities in their chests.
The band Caldason had joined was at best half the size of the invaders’, and not overburdened with skilled fighters. But they had the edge in ferocity, born of desperation, and they had Darrok aggravating the enemy with his diving disc. And so the landing party was slowed, checked, and finally forced to withdraw.
Darrok swooped down to join Caldason, arriving as the Qalochian took up a discarded spear and lobbed it at a fleeing seafarer’s back. The rest of the islanders’ band was in hot pursuit of the retreating invaders, many of whom were already scrambling into boats.
‘If there had been more of them,’ Darrok said, ‘I’m not sure we could have held.’
‘There are.’ Caldason nodded seaward. ‘Plenty…out there.’ He scooped up a handful of moist sand and wiped clean his gory blade. ‘This was just a spat.’
The beach was littered with corpses. Those of the enemy bore tattoos of both dragon and eagle, revealing the extent to which the supposedly rival empires were working together.
‘Never thought we’d see something like this, eh?’ Darrok remarked.
Caldason pointed. ‘Look at that one. And there.’ The dead he indicated weren’t in uniform; at least, they weren’t in the same kind of uniforms as the majority.
‘Pirate garb,’ Darrok confirmed.
‘Vance’s men?’
‘Of course. I wondered how long it’d take him to make a pact with the bastards. No doubt his reward’s the privilege of looting what’s left of this place.’
‘It’s spitting in the ocean as far as our situation’s concerned. We were already massively outnumbered.’
Darrok seemed preoccupied with his grievance. ‘This is something else I owe Vance for, and if I ever get a chance to pay him back-’ He stopped and gazed at the sky.
‘What is it?’ Caldason said.
‘Friendly, I hope.’ A flying object was approaching from inland, and pitching their way. After a moment, Darrok added, ‘As I thought.’
It proved to be a bat, larger than any species known to Caldason. It had a wider than natural wingspan, and its black hide had orangey-yellow dappling, giving it the look of a predatory wildcat.
‘Be back in a minute,’ Darrok promised. He zipped off and met the creature, hovering before it. The bat hung suspended in the air, defying gravity despite no longer flapping its wings.
A commotion flared up at the shoreline, a last skirmish with the escaping invaders. As it died down, Darrok was hurtling back, the glittery remains of the spent message glamour dissipating behind him. His expression was grave.
‘They’re trying to get a squadron of land leviathans ashore. Our people are slowing them, but not much.’
‘Where?’
‘Not far from here. That sheltered cove further west. We’ll start seeing the really serious landings now, Reeth.’
‘And the enemy getting siege engines into play.’
‘I’ve got something that could stop them.’
‘You have?’
‘But there’s a problem with it.’
‘Well, there it is.’ Darrok floated beside the barn’s large open doors, indicating what was inside.
It was an immense wooden structure, with uprights and cross-struts of sturdiest timber, and a single arm that could be wound back by use of spindles and pulleys, with a pouch attached to its end by thick leather straps. In essence, it was a slingshot, built on a huge scale.
Darrok glided over to the trebuchet and gave it an affectionate slap. ‘They call it the Claw. That cradle’s big enough to take rocks the size of sedan chairs, and the mechanism’s powerful enough to fling them enormous distances.’
‘Where did it come from?’ Caldason said, cricking his neck to see the weapon’s top.
‘A few years ago I had a minor warlord and his extensive retinue as guests. When the time came for him to leave, it turned out he couldn’t meet his bill. I got his people to build this by way of payment. I was thinking of Vance. I reckoned it might come in useful for defending the island.’
‘So why isn’t it out there somewhere doing just that?’
‘The warlord was a lousy leader, but he had some great craftsmen on his payroll, armourers in particular. This thing’s beautifully designed and built, and it needs only a handful of people to operate, but it takes scores to move it. Manpower or horses; we can’t spare them.’
‘Ironic.’
‘You can say that again. We could do a lot of damage with this beauty, but I don’t know how we’d get it where it’s needed. And the frustrating thing is that it isn’t that far. Any ideas?’
‘No. That is…’
‘What are you thinking?’
‘That magician? What was his name?’
‘Who?’
‘The one everybody said was crazy.’
‘You’re not really narrowing down the field, Reeth.’
‘Frakk.’
‘Frakk?’
‘You can’t have forgotten. The wizard with the horseless carriage.’
Darrok snapped his fingers. ‘Right, him. We were hoping to use his invention for ploughing fields or-’
‘Or transporting things.’
‘How would we do it? Practically, I mean?’
Caldason looked about the barn. ‘You’ve got plenty of wheels here to fit on the trebuchet, or the makings. I guess we’d attach one of his magic boxes to each wheel. Or axle? I don’t know, we’d have to work out the details.’
‘It’s a good notion, Reeth.’
‘Do you know where this Frakk is?’
‘He should be in one of the designated sorcerers’ nests. I’ll find out.’
‘Meantime, I need to find Serrah.’
‘And we need you here to oversee this. I was hoping you’d lead the detail that delivers the machine. Serrah’s going to be fine in the redoubt, believe me.’
‘I’d like to confirm that for myself.’
