Omensent: Revealing the Dragon (The Dragon Lord Series) (41 page)

There was a sudden earsplitting shriek as one of the winged creatures suddenly dropped down from the sky and crashed through the steel tube which spread the flammable liquid across the harbor, mangling the tube and ripping free from its mounts. It plummeted down into the harbor, leaving the foul smelling liquid to spew down into the water from the sides of the towers in huge arcs, where it began to spread across the surface with an oily shimmer.

"Not yet!" Sly stopped one of the dwarves as
he went to toss a torch into the liquid below. "Wait until they start to enter!" He watched as several ships began to enter the harbor. "Now!"

The dwarf tossed the torch over the wall, then covered his ears as an enormous explosion suddenly shook the tower.

"How long will that stuff burn?" Garth asked Damarius as he rushed back up to join them on the top floor of the tower.

"I'm not sure." The old wizard replied, leaning against his staff and breathing heavily. "An hour or so after
we finally run out of the supply that we have stored in the tanks, I'd guess."

They watched as many of the Etazk warriors
began to abandon ship as their crafts drew closer to the flames. They struggled against the powerful current for several moments before vanishing beneath the waves, unable to swim to safety due to their heavy armor. Their ships sailed uncontrolled into the flames and vanished, instantly consumed by the roaring inferno.

The catapults and trebuchets continued to fire volley after volley of
the containers filled with naphtha and pitch, which rained down onto the invading ships like miniature meteorites falling down from the sky.

The entire harbor tower suddenly shook violently, throwing them all to the ground
.

Sly quickly scrambled back to his feet
and looked out at the fleet. Standing on the deck of one of the oncoming ships, he saw several robed figures standing together in a semi-circle. As he watched, a huge ball of fire formed in the air before them. It hung suspended before the priests for several seconds before suddenly streaking forward towards the tower. It struck the heavy granite and exploded, throwing everyone from their feet once again.

"The priests have come out to play!" The little man bellowed to Damarius, who was busying trying to untangle himself from his robes.

"Target their ship with the catapult!" The old wizard roared to the dwarves as he scrambled to his feet.

The dwarves leapt into action, aiming the large machine at the ship carrying the priests, but
an instant before they fired, one of the winged gargoyles suddenly swooped down and slammed into the catapult with tremendous force, reducing the stone creature to rubble, and sending the catapult toppling off of the side of the tower, crushing several of the dwarves that had been preparing it to be fired. It crashed down onto the wall below and splintered into pieces, spraying dozens of their own men with jagged splinters of wood.

"Those beasts are crashing into your machines!" Sly roared, lurching back to his feet and rushing over to check on Damarius, who had been knocked from his feet yet again.

He helped the old wizard back to his feet, then turned to see another beast as it crashed down onto the opposite tower, destroying the other catapult. "You had better do something soon, or those things are going to destroy all of your machines!"

"
Oh no they're not!" Pushing the little man aside, Damarius leveled his staff and blasted three of the swooping beasts from the sky in rapid succession, then steadied himself as the tower was suddenly shook by another blast from the priests. Cursing viciously, the old wizard leveled his staff at the ship carrying the priests and sent a sizzling blast streaking forth, reducing the vessel to flaming rubble, and sending the priests hurtling into the sea.

He dropped down to one knee, his breath coming in great gasps
, and his face dripping with sweat.

"Watch out!" Garth roared as one of the stone beasts swooped down towards the exhausted old
wizard, its glowing eyes locked on his prone form. The sturdy little dwarf rushed forward and heaved his heavy battleaxe with all his strength, sending it whistling end over end, striking the beast an instant before it reached Damarius. The heavy steel bit deep into the creature's head, reducing it to dust, and shattering the rest of its body into tiny pieces, which rained down onto the startled old wizard.

"Thanks for that." Damarius murmured to the dwarven king as he brushed bits of rubble from his from his robes.

"Don't mention it."

They watched
helplessly as another one of the flying creatures crashed into a trebuchet, sending it toppling off of the harbor wall and crashing down into the shoals that surrounded the harbor, sweeping dozens of men to their deaths as it fell. The remaining trebuchets fired yet another volley of containers out among the fleet, raining flaming death down onto the Etazk, who continued to push forward relentlessly.

More Etazk priests appeared on the decks of the oncoming ships, returning the flaming volleys with their own balls of fire, causing the granite walls to tremble alarmingly.

"More ships are trying to enter the harbor!" Langsten reported, running up the stairs to rejoin them.

They all rushed over to look down at a group of approaching ships.

"What are those priests doing?" Garth asked, pointing down at several robed figures standing at bows of the approaching ships.

They watched as the ships started fearlessly into the flames that still raged in the mouth of the harbor, seemingly unconcerned by the inferno. As the ships entered the
harbor's mouth, the priests suddenly raised their hands to the sky, using their magic to part the towering flames, and allowing the ships to pass through unharmed.

Damarius cursed, then rushed down the stairs to the platform that overlooked the harbor's opening.

"They're going to make it through!" Langsten warned.

"That's what
they
think!" The old wizard yanked one of the control levers, releasing a set of heavy stone weights which dangled outside of the tower, causing them to drop into the sea below, and bringing a huge submerged log that was covered in hundreds of steel spines surging to the surface. It crashed into the bottom of the two lead ships, driving the steel spikes through the vessels' hulls and pinning them in place, completely blocking the harbor's entrance. Several more of the approaching ships crashed violently into their rear, trapping them all in the fiery inferno.

"They're stuck, but they're still alive!" Sly reported with a frown. "They're using magic to hold the flames at bay!"

"Just wait." Damarius assured him with a knowing look. "They can only hold the flames at bay for so long. It can be exhausting to use magic to do the simplest of things, and they're attempting to shield an entire ship! They won't able to hold out much longer."

They watched the trapped men scramble back and forth in panic
as they searched for some way to free themselves, while the robed priests standing at their bows quickly began to wilt under the strain of using their magic to shield themselves.

"There one goes!" Garth cheered, watching with a satisfied expression as one of the priests suddenly collapsed to the deck.

The wall of flames instantly surged forward and engulfed the ship and its occupants. The Etazk warriors screamed in pain and horror for an agonizingly long moment, then their cries faded away, leaving their ship to quickly burn away into nothing.

They watched with a kind of savage satisfaction as another ship was consumed, and then another, until every one of the trapped vessels had been burned away to nothing.

"Where is Juco?" Sly asked Langsten as the tower violently shook around them.

"The last time I saw him
, he and some of his men were down on the wall bashing one of those flying beasts into tiny pieces."

They suddenly saw a bright flash and heard an enormous crash, and turned to see the top two floors of the opposite tower completely engulfed in flames.
It burned for several long moments, then began to crumble in on itself, sending the men on the wall below scrambling for their lives.

"I think we had better fall back now." Sly advised the others, grabbing Damarius by the ar
m as he blasted another flying beast into rubble. "It's only a matter of time before they take this tower out too."

They all hurried down from the tower and emerged out into the chaos that raged along the top of the harbor wall.
The screams of the dead and dying were almost deafening now as their men tried to fight off the winged gargoyles that were decimating their ranks.

One of the beasts
, which had been rampaging along the top of the wall, suddenly rushed towards them, its glowing eyes narrowed in fury. Before any of them could react, nearly a dozens dwarves appeared and swarmed the beast under, their hammers swiftly reducing it to rubble.

Another explosion suddenly rocked the wall
as a huge chunk of the harbor tower was blown away, causing the rest of the tower to lean dangerously.

"Fall back!" Sly roared, pushing the others ahead of him. "Get everyone back to the dockside wall!"

They quickly made their way through the chaos until they reached the large granite wall separating the docks from the city.

"It looks like we
abandoned the tower just in time." Sly grumbled to the others as they entered the guardhouse above one of the gates leading into the city and saw the tower crash down into the harbor's mouth.

The heavy granite blocks
destroyed the submerged logs which had been holding the Etazk fleet a bay, and cut off the flow of the flammable liquid that had been trickling down into the water, feeding the roaring inferno.

"This isn't good!" Juco
snarled, hurrying into the guard house with a worried expression on his face. "As soon as the rest of those flames die out, the Etazk are going to start pouring into the harbor!"

"We're just going to have to try and hold them off for as long as we can." Sly's told him in a grim tone. "We have to give buy Damion some time to get the rest of the army here."

"Well, he had better get here soon," Damarius murmured in a weary voice as he slumped against the wall in exhaustion. "I'm not sure how much longer we can keep them at bay."

They watched with grim expressions as
the flames in the harbor's mouth finally died away, and the Etazk ships slowly began to make their way into the harbor.

Chapter 18

"I can't believe they left me behind!" Leia raged in an indignant tone as she, Slither,
Dar, Lady Skie, and Shirk sat outside of the Serpent's Keep enjoying the cool night air. "They dragged me all the way across the continent and back, then ditched me when all the excitement begins!"

"They didn't ditch you
." Lady Skie told her in a reproving tone. "They went to try and stop the Etazk. They didn't
want
to leave you behind."

"But they did!" The young girl scowled angrily. "I could have helped fight the Etazk!"

"Yeah, you would have sent absolute shivers down their spines." Shirk snorted sarcastically. "One look at you and the Etazk would have fled screaming back into the arms of their god!"

Leia slowly turned to fix the old bandit with a withering stare. "I'm sorry," She growled at him in a dangerous tone. "Did you say something?"

"Uh," Shirk's chuckles abruptly stopped beneath her scornful stare. "No. No, I didn't."

"That's what I thought."

"Stop being ridiculous." Lady Skie chided her with a disapproving frown. "You know your parents couldn't take you into battle with them."

"Why not?" Leia demanded. "Father has been teaching me how to use my magic
ever since we left Kainpre, and I'm getting really good at controlling it! He says I'm almost as skilled as he was at my age!"

"That doesn't mean you're ready to go charging off into battle.
Damion spent years honing his skills with my father and Sly before he even thought about trying to run off into battle."

"Dragon!" One of the villagers suddenly warned, pointing up at a dark silhouette which was circling silently overhead.

"That looks like Tempest!" Dar exclaimed in surprise. "She must have news!"

They all watched as the enormous beast continued to circle, slowly dropping lower and lower until it finally touched down in the courtyard
outside of the enormous castle.

"Tempest!"
Leia exclaimed happily, hurrying over and scampering up the scarlet dragon's back.

"Hello, little
one." The great serpent rumbled, reaching up to pluck the young girl from her shoulder, then gently sitting her back down on the ground before her.

"What is it?" Dar asked his old friend, noticing the grim expression on the beast's face. "What's happened?"

"The Etazk are throwing everything they have at Sierra." Tempest reported. "The fortifications that the dwarves constructed to shield the city have started to fall, and they're starting to take massive casualties."

"Has Damion arrived with the rest of the forces yet?" Shirk asked in concern.

"Not yet. He is still several hours away from the city." The huge scarlet dragon looked worried. "I'm not sure how much longer they're going to be able to hold out. The Etazk priests have unleashed dozens of winged creatures that they summoned up from the Underworld, and they're wreaking havoc among Sierra's defenders."

"Can't
you
do anything?" Leia asked, a feeling of dread suddenly overcoming her.

"Not by myself. There are too many of them. I wouldn't stand a chance."

They stood staring at one another helplessly.

"What if you had a little help?" Leia asked, her eyes
suddenly narrowing. Something Gwynth had said several days before leapt into her mind, and she suddenly knew exactly what needed to be done.

"I'm afraid it would take me too long to locate any of my brethren." Tempest told her regretfully. "They're spread out across the world, and it would take me too long to locate enough of them to help."

"Let me worry about that." The young girl told her confidently. "Just get ready to head to Sierra." She hurried off into the keep, leaving them all to stare at one another in confusion and disbelief.

**********

"Here they come!" Langsten shouted over the roar of the battle, pointing to a pair of ships that were slowly making their way into the harbor, followed closely by the rest of the Etazk fleet.

"Prepare to fire!" Garth roared to
the dwarves who were controlling the last two operational trebuchets, which had been placed atop the dockside battlements to help defend the inner harbor.

"Hold that order!" Damarius told him, pointing at the incoming fleet. "Watch
!"

The two
lead ships quickly set course for the docks, the warriors on deck roaring in victory. It wasn't long before one of the ships struck one of floating barrels Captain Harper's men had placed all over the inner harbor, dislodging several of the corks that kept the sea water from mixing with the chemicals inside.

The resulting explosion was spectac
ular. Men were sent hurling through the air as the ship was suddenly ripped in half and tossed into the air. It crashed back down into the water and immediately disappeared beneath the waves, leaving nothing but debris and dead bodies to mark its passing.

The second ship tried to steer clear of the explosion, only to strike a pair
of the floating barrels, causing them to instantly explode, reducing the ship to kindling.

"Whoa!" Zayan exclaimed, his eyes wide.
"Those barrels pack quite a bit of punch! How long did it take you to develop them?"

"Not long," Damarius murmured, watching as several m
ore ships entered the harbor. "I accidentally spilled a bit of water into one of the chemicals I was using while working on a potion a few decades back. The instant the water touched the chemical, it blew up in my face. I realized almost immediately that when combined with water, the chemical became explosive. I knew that it may come in handy someday, so I made sure to keep a copy of the formula."

They watched as three more ships were destroyed, then were all
suddenly thrown from their feet as one of the flying beasts crashed into the side of the guardhouse with tremendous force.

"Something has to be done about those things!" Sly snarled, scrambling back to his feet with a furious expression.
"They're decimating our men!"

Even as he said this, several of the beasts landed atop the
dockside wall and began rampaging through their troops, who desperately tried to fight off the massive beasts. Another beast crashed down into one of their last remaining trebuchets, destroying the siege machine, and reducing itself to rubble.

Things were quickly spiraling out of control. More ships continued to pour into the harbor
despite the threat that Damarius's barrels posed. Dozens of them were quickly reduced to kindling, but for each ship that was destroyed, three managed to make their way through unharmed.

"Fire that machine!" Garth roared to his kinsmen, who immediately launched a flaming net in a high arching shot
over the inner harbor, raining flaming containers down onto the approaching ships.

The dwarves quickly hurried to reload the trebuchet, but another pair of the flying creatures suddenly dropped down among them and began ripping into the machine, intent on destroying it. The dwarves drew their weapons and swarmed the creatures, their heavy hammers quickly reducing them to rubble, but the damage was already done. The last trebuchet had been rendered useless.

Sly cursed. "That was the last remaining siege machine!"

"We're just going to have to do our best without them.
" Damarius said helplessly. "We have to hold them off until Damion arrives! We don't have any other choice!"

They watched as several of the Etazk ships that had nearly reached the docks suddenly lurched to a stop as they struck the underwater debris, ripping great gaping holes in the ships' hulls. They rapidly began to take on water, forcing their occupants to abandon ship. Some of the Etazk
managed to struggle their way to the docks, but were quickly cut down by the archers on the wall.

One of the approaching ships slowed as they approached, and
a robed priest appeared at the bow, his arms outstretched.

"What is he doing?" Garth asked with a frown, pointing down at the priest suspiciously.

As they watched, the priest suddenly pointed down at the water, which began to bubble and churn alarmingly, then raised both of his hands high above his head. Tons of the stone and wood debris that their army had used to block the wharf suddenly burst from the water and rose high into the air. The priest made a quick gesture, and the debris suddenly shot forward to slam into the granite wall, shaking it so violently that it sent several of the city's defenders plummeting to their deaths.

With the way to the dock finally clear, the Etazk ship slowly pulled into the wharf.
Before the vessel had even been tied off, the Etazk warriors began to pour off the ship with an enormous roar and rushed to huge granite wall, their eyes alight with battle lust.

"They've managed to land!" Damarius leveled his staff and released an enormous blast of energy that struck the ship
's mast and exploded, showering the Etazk with deadly splinters, and causing the mast to crash down among the warriors, crushing a number of them beneath its massive weight.

Other ships reached the dock
s and more priests appeared, duplicating the actions of the first, and using their magic to clear the debris from their path. The docks were soon packed with screaming warriors who rushed forward and began to try to force open the heavy steel gates that kept them from entering the city.

"This isn't
looking good!" Juco reported as he hurried into guardhouse bleeding from a large gash above one eye. "The gates won't be able to keep them out forever!"

"Start having
everyone but the archers begin pulling back from the wall." Sly decided grimly. "Have them form up and prepare to face the Etazk head on once they finally break through."

"It's about time!" The heavily muscled mercenary said savagely, heading towards the door.
"But it's going to take an hour or so to get everyone in position with these beasts dropping from the sky."

"I can buy us a bit of time." Damarius hurried over and grasped a lever similar to
those that had been in the towers, releasing more of the foul smelling liquid they had used to help keep the Etazk ships at bay. "Brace yourselves!" He took a torch off of the wall nearby and casually tossed it over the side of the balcony, then hurried back into the guardhouse, which was suddenly rocked by an enormous explosion.

The screams of the Etazk warriors lasted only a few seconds as the men were quickly consumed
by the roaring inferno that erupted from the foul smelling liquid.

Two more explosions rattled the wall as the dwarves activated the defenses over the other two gates
, forcing many of the Etazk to draw back to avoid being roasted alive.

"That should buy us enough time to get everyone into place." The old wizard grumbled in satisfaction.

They hurried down to join with the rest of the forces that had already started to form ranks a hundred or so yards from the granite wall that separated them from the Etazk, pausing once to allow Damarius to blast another of the flying beasts into rubble.

"Thi
ngs aren't looking good." Captain Harper reported to them as he and Ignan, who was now dressed in ill fitting thick leather armor, hurried forward to meet them. "We've already lost a lot of men to those damn beasts!"

"We'll just have to do our best." Sly growled, his face grim. "
We're the last thing that stands between the Etazk and the rest of the continent."

They hurried to get the rest of their forces in
to place while still trying to avoid the strange flying creatures who continued to swoop down and attack their forces. Their army did their best to defend themselves against the unearthly creatures, using ropes affixed with grappling hooks to snag several of the beasts and drag them down, where they were quickly reduced to rubble.

"The fires are beginning to die out!" Ignan warned them, watching the flames that had been blocking the heavy steel gates as they slowly began burn lower and lower.

Langsten, who had remained behind in the guardhouse to keep an eye on the Etazk, hurried up to them with a disturbed expression on his face.

"What is it?" Damarius asked, noticing the unsettled expression on the soldier's face.

"The fires keeping the Etazk at bay are dying out, and the Etazk are look like they're preparing for an all out attack."

"What are their priests doing?"

"They have gathered near the center gate. I think they may be preparing to use their magic to force it open."

"Have they managed to offload all of their forces?"

"Not even by half." Langsten snorted humorlessly. "There isn't enough room for all the ships to dock, so they've been lashing them together so their men can travel from ship to ship and make it to shore."

"We could sure use one of Damion's dragons right about now." Garth mumbled grimly.