Beyong the Moons

Gomja pushed his way over to Teldin and shouted over the pinging racket the Unquenchable made. “Plan? I assume the improvements to speed the gnomes made on the helm will let us easily outrun the neogi ship, sir.”

“Improvements to speed?” Admiral Niggil spoke up, overhearing their exchange. “Oh, no, no, no. We improved the sound and color of the helm, not the speed, since- Teldin and Gomja looked at him with expressions of fear on their faces. “Admiral,” Teldin practically screamed, “that’s a neogi ship out there! How do you expect to get past it?”

The impractical Niggil looked at the human with a pained and confused look on his face. “But why should they chase us? This is only a scientific-”

“Gods, Gomja, we’ve got to do something!” Teldin yelled as he comprehended the gnomes’ utter naivete. The giff nodded in agreement, still stunned to find the gnomes so unprepared. Out the fore porthole, Teldin could see that the deathspider had already started into motion. The slender legs were beginning to open, ready to receive the onrushing Unquenchable. Teldin grabbed Niggil, practically lifting the little gnome off the floor. “Niggil-that deathspider. What are you going to do?”

The gnome sputtered and kicked, as unprepared for Teldin’s assault as he was for the attacking ship. Furious, Teldin pushed Niggil aside and grabbed Ilwar. “The deathspider!” Teldin yelled at him, pointing at the approaching ship.

The stately Ilwar looked out the window. His brownish skin went pale at the sight of the voracious neogi ship bearing down on the lumbering Unquenchable. “Oh, dear,” Ilwat mumbled, awestruck by the vision. “They mean to attack us, don’t they?”

The answer to Ilwar’s question came as a shattering boom mingled with the grating screech of tearing metal. The Unquenchable heaved forward and everyone, Gomja included, slid to the back of the bridge as the bow suddenly angled upward. As the portholes flashed by, Teldin caught glimpses of the deathspider’s metal legs wrap around the Unquenchable’s hull in a murderous embrace. The view ended when the farmer thudded into an unyielding mass of arms, legs, chests, and boxes.

Floundering out of the pile of tangled gnomes, Teldin shouted at Gomja over the noise of the groaning hull. “What’s happening?'

“She’s grappled us, sir,” the giff boomed. “Prepare to be boarded!” Gomja grabbed the doorjamb and heaved a group of the gnomes outside.

Teldin staggered across the canted deck to Gomja’s side, dragging Ilwar along by the collar of his uniform. Planting the admiral between himself and the giff, he shouted questions at the dazed gnome. “Do you have weapons aboard-big ones?”

“No, Teldinmooreofkalaman,” Ilwar answered, too dazed to obfuscate. “This is a scientific vessel.”

“Wonderful,” Teldin commented sarcastically. “Then at least keep your spelljammer engine going full-speed reverse to try breaking free.” He let go of the gnome, who scrambled back to the slowly untangling mass of his fellows to pass on commands. “Gomja, we’d better organize something to repel boarders.” The giff nodded in agreement, a smile crossing his face at the thought of battle.

With an easy pull, the big fellow dragged Teldin off the bridge and onto the deck. Up near the bow, they could already see the grappling legs drawing the gnomish ship closer to its hull. Only one leg was firmly embedded in the bow; the others clung precariously to projections along the Unquenchable’s sides. Umber hulks were already clambering through the rigging of the anchored leg, gradually nearing the bow.

“That’s where they intend to attack, sir!” Gomja bellowed over the continuous squeal of grinding metal. None of the other grapples is secure enough to carry a boarding party.

Teldin nodded. “Then that’s where we’ll fight them. Come on.” He charged along the pitching ship’s deck, past masts and cabins, toward the gangways that led to the main deck. As the pair worked their way forward, they corraled every gnome that scrambled into their path. Those Gomja deemed fit to fight joined their growing squad; the rest Teldin curtly ordered to fetch axes and begin work chopping the other grappling arms away.

Teldin and Gomja pressed on, down the gangway and onto the main deck, past the ship’s boat, swinging wildly on its davits, and through the jumble of booms and chains the gnomes used to load cargo. By the time they reached the bow, the two commanders had an ad hoc collection of engineers, deckhands, and scientific types carrying everything from swords to spanners. The little warriors noted the lordservants’ advance with apprehension, but none shirked from his or her duty.

Deferring to Gomja’s battle sense, Teldin watched as the giff deployed the defenders. The deathspider’s leg had driven through the bow and now formed an arch from ship to ship, the way lined by web-like sails. The leg made a firm boarding ramp for the neogi attackers, who were about halfway across when the gnome defenders arrived.

Still trapped in a single-file line on the narrow leg, the umber hulks in the lead were at a clear disadvantage, which Gomja intended to capitalize on. Giving brisk orders, the giff divided the gnomes into two groups and stationed them on both sides of the attackers. Teldin remained to one side as the giff planted himself at the head of the army, squarely in the path of the attacking lordservants. His flanks were supported by the doughtiest of the gnomes, armed with spears, poles, or any kind of long weapon. Those few gnomes with crossbows were sent to the upper deck, where they would have clear shots at the enemy’s back ranks.

“We’ll hold them on the grapple,” Gomja ordered his companions as he primed his pistol. The giff was not one for making speeches, but his fierce look of determination inspired the little warriors with him. The gnome fighters assumed their fiercest scowls, ready for the task.

“Sir, have your lot try to push them off the walk with spears,” the giff shouted to Teldin. “With a good shove, you should be able to topple them over the side.” The cloakmaster looked over the edge. The two ships, straining and grinding against each other, had drifted away from the lake and were now flying high above the crater’s rocky walls. A fall from this height, Teldin guessed, would mean certain death for the lordservants.

The deck lurched and swayed as the first umber hulk came unsteadily down the deathspider’s leg. The creature’s bulk allowed it to bat easily through the thicket of poles and spears put up by Teldin’s squad of gnomes. Before the lordservant could reach the bow, however, Gomja rose up with his pistol leveled at the beast. “To the void with you!” he bellowed, his defiant cry punctuated by his pistol’s crack. The space between the two giants filled with smoke. The umber hulk reeled back with a squeal as a lead ball smashed through its forehead, then it stumbled over an out-thrust spear, plunged off the wood-and-metal leg, tore through the thin sails, and plummeted to the rocks below. “Again! Again!” cheered the gnomes as they marveled at Gomja’s wonderful weapon. The giff only shook his head, thrust the still-smoking pistol back into his sash, and drew his elven blade.

Another lordservant charged forward to take the first’s place, once again tearing through the bristle of spear points. Its wild rush was finally stopped by Gomja’s almost equally matched bulk as the giff stood astride the spiderleg boom. Gomja, now in his element, wielded his sword with crazed intensity, aided by the gnomes at his side. Teldin had little time to watch, since another of the hideous umber hulks already charged down the boom. Unable to proceed past its predecessor, who was locked in battle with the giff, the newcomer slashed and battled against the forest of spears.

“On my signal, lunge!” Teldin shouted to the gnomes around him. “Now!” A wall of spear points thrust at the umber hulk. A rope shot out from the other side of the bow and snaked over one of the creature’s mandibles, jerking the beast’s head to the far side. The spears pressed at it and, though these were unable to penetrate the creature’s bony hide, the beast staggered back. Suddenly one taloned foot was clawing air and the umber hulk plunged over the side with a chittering squeal. A faint, pulpy thump echoed from the rocks below. Almost mindlessly, another pushed forward to take its place.

Although the umber hulks possessed advantages of size and ferocity, the battle was unwinnable almost from the start, once their chance of reaching the bow was lost. Restricted to their narrow beam, the lordservants were unable to bring their might to bear. While the front rank of gnome defenders, Gomja at their head, stalled the lead attacker, Teldin and his squad brought the second rank down. From the deck above could be heard the twang of crossbows as gnomish marksmen concentrated on ranks even farther back. Time after time the gigantic umber hulks plunged to their deaths, and as more of the lordservants fell, Gomja boldly pushed himself farther and farther onto the deathspider’s leg.

Just when the giff was almost beyond the reach of the spears, the two ships rolled precipitously to the right as the Unquenchable tore free of all but this, the last of the deathspider’s grasping arms. Teldin suddenly found himself sliding across the deck in a snarl of gnomes. There was a series of unnatural screams