Stormsworn, p.18
Stormsworn, page 18
When they turned the next corner and saw daylight in the distance, he realized they were already out of time.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“This is it!” Samuel shouted as Bessie scuttled along next to Jacob’s Tree Killer, flanked by Mali and others from Karn. “Be ready for anything when we come out of this tunnel. Anything! Don’t slow down. Don’t stop to help anyone. Get to cover. Assess the battle. Got it?”
“Got it!” Jacob yelled back.
Drakkar raced beside them, another spear in his hand, his hood snapping in the wind that howled through the entrance to the mine. Broken vines hung between them and the daylight that waited beyond. Shadows of the forest dominated the view, but in the distance, Jacob could just make out the soaring towers of Karn and the airships that guarded the perimeter.
He hadn’t forgotten how short that distance was. If the armored crawlers circled around to the west, they might circumvent the best-defended zone altogether. If they did, it would be up to Jacob and the others to run them down before they could do any significant damage to the city.
It was the last stray thought he had before they reached the entrance and exploded out into the forest, a stampede of Tree Killers and Jumpers that needed no direction. They followed the crawlers’ tread marks, some diverting to the west, as Jacob had feared, but others heading straight toward Karn.
A shadow flew through the forest, and Jacob tried to understand what he was seeing—an armored crawler, upended and airborne, sailing through the woods until it shattered against a Forest Giant, sending splinters and metal shrapnel to rain down below.
Another silhouette stepped through the foliage, a towering form, designed by Charles, rebuilt by Jacob, an engine of destruction that unleashed the fury of its pilot on the armored column. But not even a Titan Mech could take down a force of crawlers that numbered so many.
Jacob cursed and shifted his path, heading straight for the Titan Mech as he unhinged another bomb. This one wasn’t a firebomb. This one Charles had designed to be an explosive like few others. Jacob clicked the igniter, clipped the orb closed, and hurled it into the space between four crawlers in a tight formation.
One moment, they were exchanging fire with the Titan Mech. The next, they were gone, the air vibrating with the blast. Shrapnel and flames rained down through the woods, casting an eerie glow in the shadows of the forest as choking smoke rose above the ruined crawlers.
Jacob’s mount leaped onto a tree and scuttled up to the first branch, following his commands to run down the Titan Mech. He froze when he saw who waited in the cockpit, clicking his transmitter and shouting at the man.
“Smith! What the hell are you doing here?”
“The Children of the Dark Fire were on the ground, Jacob. Everywhere. We tried strafing them from the Skysworn, but they had Bombardiers in the canopy. Firing blind against an opponent with a clear line of sight is not advisable.”
“Bomb the edge of the woods.”
Smith hesitated. “What?”
“Tell Kat to bomb the edge of the woods, now! The crawlers are circling west.”
Smith cut out, and Jacob’s focus on the Titan Mech shifted. He switched the dial in his transmitter and clicked the button. “Get everyone out of the forest. Get back into the city.”
“We have them on the run!” Samuel called.
“Get out now or feed the Carrion Worms along with them!”
The Spider Knight cursed, and Jacob heard the calls go up nearby. Riders flashed signals from Tree Killers and spiders alike, and the fighting broke off all along the edge of the woods. He scanned the area for Alice and Mali, finding them on the far side of Smith’s Titan Mech, sprinting back toward the city, almost inside the outskirts.
“Go!” Drakkar called as he passed Jacob.
He didn’t need another reminder. The Tree Killer matched the pace of the Titan Mech beside them, and they hurtled across the open space between the forest and city, scarcely glancing backward as they ran.
Jacob didn’t turn until they were halfway through the clearing, at least a quarter mile from the woods, but the bombs didn’t drop right behind them. They crashed through the canopy as the first crawlers entered the western blocks of Karn.
The explosions didn’t result in gouts of flame or burning embers being launched into the air. Instead, they looked like the white clouds of a glass fire extinguisher shattering across a blaze. The impact was no less violent. Armored crawlers turned to wreckage in the blink of an eye. The intensity of the blast sent some to smash into Forest Giants and a handful to barrel roll into the nearest towers.
Jacob wondered what it would take for the various farms to grow irritated enough that they would attack something on the ground. Apparently, more than the nearby battle. A chorus of shouts rose from inside the city, and he turned just in time to see the relentless rolling tide of Walkers, clad in armor and bristling with heavily armed soldiers.
These were not the weapons of Karn, but the Walkers led by Allie and Alana, leaders of Cave and Canopy. The Walkers were at home in the desert sands and stone, but the long hours spent training with Cave Guardians had made them more adaptable than Jacob could have imagined.
They surged across the streets, streaking over the smoking crawlers and closing on the survivors in the woods.
“Follow them!” Mali cried from the back of Alice’s Tree Killer. And it wasn’t only their company who moved to pursue the invaders. Every Spider Knight and soldier from Karn within earshot joined the charge, leaving churned earth in their wake as they plunged through the craters left by the bombs, the acrid stench of burning fuel and flesh choking the air around them.
Fallen trees peppered the forest floor, wreaking havoc on the treads of the armored crawlers, creating dead ends mired in splintered trunks and broken branches piled against the Forest Giants. As the Children of the Dark Fire fled into those spaces, the forces of Karn closed the trap.
There was no mercy in that moment. Not even those who tried to surrender were allowed to live as the defenders of Karn ran them down. It was an awful thing to see, but the leaders had chosen their path, and the soldiers at their command carried out their mission with ruthless efficiency.
Mordair’s allies grouped together as they moved through the Gray Woods, forming larger and larger squadrons of survivors. At the rate Karn was chasing them down, they were going to have a terrible battle in the woods if the Children of the Dark Fire were allowed to regroup.
Alice guided her Tree Killer with Mali still in her saddle. They both fired bolts into clusters of cloaked soldiers, but as they rounded a dense copse of trees, the bulk of the survivors were waiting. They’d already had the time they needed to form ranks.
Armored crawlers faced outward, forming a protective circle as their riders ignited flamethrowers in the perpetual twilight of the deep woods. It wasn’t a clean fire. It spewed thick, caustic smoke into the air, choking their own allies as much as it burned the eyes of Karn’s soldiers.
But it served another purpose. It hid the bolt launchers on the far side of the flames, and a hail of projectiles rained down on the Walkers. Mounts and riders scattered, but it wouldn’t be enough to save the invaders.
Mali had spoken of the ambushes set in the woods. Nearly invisible sentries, guarding the roads and trails to Karn, had established an armed perimeter few could slip past. And while the Children of the Dark Fire might have found a way underneath, word had reached the sentries.
The forest canopy behind Mordair’s allies churned, and two dozen Tree Killers sprinted between the branches, giving their riders a perfect angle on the exposed tops of the armored crawlers. But it wasn’t only the Tree Killers that came at Karn’s command. Their Bombardiers took aim at the ailing forces below and unleashed boiling jets of acid across the battlefield.
Jacob saw two more riders fall from their Walkers at the end of the battle. He hadn’t realized who one of them was until Samuel screamed her name.
“Allie’s down! Get her out of here, now!”
He could scarcely follow what was happening as Samuel fended off a surviving cultist with two quick swipes of his halberd. The Spider Knight didn’t see what was coming behind him. Couldn’t know a flamethrower was targeting his back as it inched closer.
Jacob raised his air cannon, focused, and gently squeezed the trigger. The tank of fuel for the flamethrower inside the armored crawler ruptured, and the flames took care of the rest. Heat washed over them all as a fireball billowed up into the canopy, dissipating in the wet leaves, though some embers still lingered.
The ground burned behind Samuel, and the Spider Knight stared at the blown-out husk of the crawler. He gathered himself and helped Drakkar load Allie onto the back of a Stalker. Jacob could see the two bolts that had found their mark. One in the neckline of her armor and another in an elbow joint. Depending on the angle, it might not be too severe. Judging by her limp form, he didn’t have much hope.
Sentinels swept through the woods, scouring them for any survivors and bringing them to a swift end. Jacob wasn’t surprised to find more Titan Mechs in Karn by the time they returned. A handful of exoskeletons patrolled the smaller alleys, and Jacob didn’t miss the red stains along the blades of one.
He guided his mount back to the stables, only somewhat aware of Alice and Mali riding beside him. Mostly, he only heard the chants from the soldiers behind them. Cries of victory, a chorus of rejoicing that Jacob couldn’t feel. They were alive, yes, but this was a tiny, tiny section of the forces at Mordair’s disposal now. And in the end, they wouldn’t be fighting in the woods they knew so well.
In the end, there might not be anything left to rejoice over.
* * *
Alice stood outside the hospital with Drakkar and several Cave Guardians. There were at least as many dragonriders from Canopy there, and more of Karn’s soldiers than she’d expected. Of course, they might not all be waiting on news about Allie. A number of injured had been taken to the hospital after the battle. They were the lucky ones. The rest would be burned soon.
Allie and Alana clearly shared a bond that had only been strengthened in the new alliances. So many of the Cave Guardians under Alana’s leadership had family and distant relatives who had moved to Canopy in the city’s earliest days. Now they were together once more, side by side with allies from Ballern and Belldorn, Bollwerk and Ancora.
Quiet conversations filled the air, but the weight of what had come in that battle settled like a clump of iron in water. Two fire brigades had been sent into the woods to ensure the flames did not spread from the burning armored crawlers. No prisoners returned to Karn. There were no prisoners to be taken. Either the people they’d spared in the mine had escaped, or they’d fallen to Karn’s patrols.
Alice wasn’t sure how to feel about that. There was something to be said for compassion, but to release so many back to a city where they would simply have to fight them again? She didn’t know what the best answer was. She didn’t think the kind of mercy Belldorn had shown to the Skyborn would work in Karn. The Children of the Dark Fire were different, conditioned to a degree the nobles of Ballern could have only hoped for.
Although they’d done more than hope for it, hadn’t they? They’d been infiltrated by the Children of the Dark Fire, manipulated and corrupted and, in the end, turned against their own city.
Those spiraling thoughts only broke when Alana appeared at the door and raised her hand. She didn’t say any words. She didn’t need to. The whispers quieted as everyone faced her, Cave Guardians and dragonriders alike, waiting to hear Allie’s fate.
“She will live.”
It didn’t bring back anyone else they’d lost that day, but there was relief throughout the crowd and a vibrant joy that echoed out among the dragonriders. Part of her thought Rin and Tatsu should have been with them in Karn. A larger part of her was glad they were helping rebuild Ballern and caring for the damage done to its people.
She put her arms around Drakkar when the Cave Guardian smiled at her. She was happy there was some good news for him, a solid friend they could rely on. The Cave Guardian soon exchanged grips with Jacob and Samuel as Alice tried to hold on to that bright moment.
The world had been smeared into shades of gray in the war with Fel. Enemies had become friends. Allies had become traitors. It wasn’t only the shades of gray that worried Alice, and the delicate balance of a new alliance. It was the shades of red that stained the earth. Shades of red that drew a grim path to the funeral pyres. Shades of red that would lead to the Great Machine.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“That’s why I think Alice and I should do this alone.” Jacob sighed and leaned on the map-covered table by Arun. “If we run into anyone, they won’t think we’re from Karn.”
Mali grimaced and shook her head at Jacob. “Even with a guide, the chances of getting lost are great. I don’t think we should let them leave with nothing more than a map and a compass.”
Arun looked over the equipment Jacob had laid out on the table, from the grappling cannon to the thin ropes and hollow coil. “It is not our place to stop them, Mali. But we need you here.”
“We should at least send them with a scouting party.” Mali clenched her fists.
Alice reached out and placed her hand on Mali’s forearm for a moment. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Mali, but anyone from Karn could be recognized. They certainly wouldn’t look as out of place as two Ancorans.”
“She is of the old blood,” Arun said. “That holds a great weight inside the Children of the Dark Fire. It could buy them precious moments, or an escape, should things grow complicated.”
Alice spoke quietly. “Nothing like being the favorite of cultists.”
“What did Kat and Archibald have to say?” Mali asked.
“It is not their place to make declarations on behalf of Karn, Mali.” Arun offered a warm smile. “Regardless of what they might say, it is ultimately the decision of Jacob and Alice. We can offer equipment and mounts that may be of service in the woods, but their plan is sound.”
“It’s not safe.”
“Little is in the Gray Woods.”
Mali’s rigid posture relaxed a hair, and her combative tone softened. “At least let me go over the map with you again. You don’t want to wander into any of Karn’s traps, either. Our soldiers don’t know you, and they’ll be on edge after the latest attack.”
Jacob and Alice huddled around the table, listening to Mali describe the coordinates displayed along the punched edges. Small triangles detailed known permanent nests, and the direction they pointed indicated the level of the threat. It fascinated Jacob, as many of the nests near Ancora moved with the seasons. You might find Red Death in a shallow cave in the spring, but by winter, they would be deep beneath the earth, surfacing only to scavenge for their next meal.
Either the weather around the Gray Woods didn’t have the same extremes as the mountainous terrain near Ancora, or the burrows dug into the Forest Giants provided far better insulation than he could have imagined. Regardless, knowing where a nest of Emerald Needles or Bombardiers resided was invaluable information.
They compared Mali’s map to what they had from the control center. The topography added more detail to the terrain, even though it didn’t have the details of the nests. But, combined, they could easily plot a path through the worst of the threats.
Mali tapped on a line to the far west. “This is a sheer cliff that drops down to a river. Avoid it because you won’t have anywhere to run if you go that far.”
Alice traced her finger along the same area on the control center map. Several lines grew close together. “These appear to show the cliff you’re talking about. It should be easy enough to avoid so long as we follow the crest of the ridge to the west.
“I’m so glad we found these maps at the control center,” Mali said. “Arun already has one of our cartographers creating an overlay. Most of the Children of the Dark Fire’s patrols likely concentrate around those tunnels. It’s going to make travel through the Gray Woods much safer for everyone from Karn.”
“I’m happy it will help.” Alice flashed a smile. “And I think we have our path through the woods. Staying along this ridge avoids almost all the nests. A good thing to know in case we lose the map or get separated.”
“I don’t see how you could possibly lose it. It’s too large and unwieldy for that.”
Memories crossed Jacob’s mind, thoughts of the panicked flights through the caves of Ancora and the mad sprints in the desert around Midstream. It didn’t matter how large something was; you could always lose it in the heat of a battle or the terror of an escape. The thought of getting separated from Alice in a situation like that made him shudder. It took him back to the underground bridge and the Water Beetle that had almost stolen his life in the river.
“Are you okay?” Alice’s brow furrowed as she squeezed his arm.
“Fine, fine. It’s nothing, really. Just remembering the river under Ancora.”
She eyed him for a moment, but moved on. He was grateful for it. There were some memories that didn’t need to be relived and sifted through over and over. And that moment, so close to death, was certainly one of them.
Mali held out a rough handwritten map with major landmarks noted. “This is in case you lose sight of the ridge. Tree Killers are normally drawn to higher ground, so once you reach the first rise, I don’t think they’ll lose the path.”
“Thank you.” Alice looked over the points and symbols, compared them to their own map, and then slid it into a pocket beneath the gray cloak she now wore. “And you’re sure we need to wear these?” She flared the edge of the cloak to emphasize what she meant.
“It will be safer if you run into the Children of the Dark Fire. Use their blessing if you can’t avoid any casual encounter.”
“Be you blessed by the Dark Fire,” Jacob muttered.
