Set in Stone (71 page)

She moved to the Thump Driver and relayed the coordinates. The team manning the weapon adjusted the position and angle of elevation, and Dierk loaded a single stone.

The
whump
of the weapon as it fired the ceramic pot was drowned out by the crashing of the third wave of Stone Rain. The missile struck right at the base of the distant Sentry's tower. It did not blow up. Instead, after three long seconds, a thick column of water erupted and flooded the tower. It started to shift to the side, but the disintegrating tower sent the distant Sentry plummeting to the muddy ground.

The shield wall that had been leading Carbrey's army collapsed and shook the plateau with the impact. Carbrey's army, barely one hundred yards downslope, stood exposed.

Good. The Sentry would waste precious seconds relocating himself and reestablishing contact with the earth.

Wolfram signaled Ilse. Slingers started launching spiked granite balls at the advancing army while a dozen strong soldiers moved to the front of the lines. They carried odd-looking weapons so new, Wolfram had only ever seen them test-fired once.

Once was enough. He pitied the men of Carbrey's army.

The weapons were as ugly as they were deadly. Little more than basalt drums, twelve inches in diameter, set in steel frames lined with more basalt. A two-foot basalt acceleration tube extended out the fronts. The heavy assemblies hung from the weapon bearers' shoulders on sturdy harnesses.

Four Builders paused at each weapon, triggering the various basalt components to increase speed. After they touched them all, soldiers stationed next to each weapon bearer yanked the ends of ropes coiled around the drums, setting them spinning.

As soon as the drums reached maximum, enhanced speed, Ilse raised one clenched fist. The signal to fire.

The weapon bearers pulled back levers opening connecting ports on the front ends of the fast-spinning drums, allowing the hardened granite projectiles spinning inside to release down the acceleration tubes.

Streams of small projectiles shot out of the tubes in deadly, blurring streams. The little projectiles made an ominous buzzing sound as they ripped through the air.

The rain of tiny missiles cut through the front ranks of Carbrey's army like a blizzard of daggers. The hardened granite drilled through armor and flesh alike.

Soldiers collapsed by the dozen under the withering barrage, and their screams echoed across the battlefield.

Carbrey wanted this, curse his eyes, and his men paid the penalty for his pride. Wolfram forced himself to watch the carnage with calm composure. The Stone Rain was so far contained, and Carbrey's initial advance already faltered.

Soon, the real battle would begin.

Chapter 87

"This is a bad idea," Keith said as Hendry lit the torch.

"We cannot ignore this one chance," Hendry said. He moved to stand beside the tall wooden crane and started waving the torch in the air.

Just then, one of the Cutters stationed on Quarry Road to spy on Anika, rushed into the quarry. His voice echoed from the stone walls.

"The fighting is starting."

Keith swore and tackled Hendry. The torch fell as the two men struggled on the outer edge, above the five hundred foot drop down to the Powder House.

Hamish ran forward to help, but Stuart moved faster. The brawny young Cutter pushed Hamish tumbling, and then stomped out the torch.

"No!" Hendry heaved the bigger man off and surged to his feet. "Stop, you fool. Don't you see we need to act?"

Keith rolled to his feet, "Finally, we both agree." He snatched the chisel from his son's hands and ran for the cut in the eastern wall.

Hamish shared an incredulous look with Hendry, and they gave chase. For a giant of a man, Keith ran like a gazelle.

"Don't!" Hamish shouted. "You'll die in there!"

Keith didn't enter the cut. He threw the chisel.

An explosion of granite, followed by a solid wall of water, blasted out of the cut and swept Keith off his feet. The ground shook, and thunder rumbled through the quarry.

The water gushed into the quarry and quickly spread to cover the area. Stuart ran to help his father rise. Keith shook his head violently and, after staggering a couple of steps, seemed to regain his balance.

He returned to the group near the gushing flood and smiled in victory. "Now we're safe. We've done what they ordered, so they'll leave us alone."

Hendry shouted, "Tallan-loving pedra-spawn!" and launched himself at Keith.

With the rushing water already filling the floor of the doomed quarry to their ankles, and with the level rising quickly, the two powerful Cutters pummeled each other with fists hardened from battling the mountain all their lives.

Hamish looked on in despair. Did Jean see the signal? Were the villagers even now escaping?

Hopefully. Hamish wished them on with all his heart. Someone needed to escape this insanity.

Chapter 88

Connor paused at Lookout Rock above Quarry Road and sucked in deep breaths of air. Nicklaus crouched beside him, watching. The long run back to this point had taxed even his basalt-enhanced legs. Verena touched down nearby, her face worried.

As soon as she cut the power of her quartzite block, she said, "Connor, you need to know why Wolfram should've left already."

"It doesn't matter. Look." Down in the valley, three huge spheres were arcing up out of the forest at the base of the slope. They crashed onto the plateau, and hulking Boulders erupted from them. The broken remains of other spheres already littered the plateau.

Carbrey's army was moving up the slope, but just then the long wall that shielded them collapsed. A few seconds later, men started crumpling under some unknown assault from Wolfram's army. Connor was too far to see the source, but he dropped to one knee and groaned.

"Why couldn't they wait just a little longer?"

Distant screams echoed from the valley and shattered the last shreds of hope he'd clung to on the long run. Now that the armies were openly fighting, how could he ever break them apart? Men were dying, and Carbrey would blame him for all of it.

On the switchback road that led down to the plateau, Anika ran for the battle. No other Grandurians appeared anywhere nearby.

Verena placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "We'll think of something." But her confident tone sounded forced.

An explosion rumbled from the direction of the quarry. Connor frowned. "What's going on down there?"

"Probably nothing," Verena said too quickly.

"What do you know?"

She bit her lip, "Wolfram promised to flood the quarry if fighting started."

Horrified, Connor leaped down the slope to Quarry Road and ran for the quarry with Verena and Nicklaus trailing. He should take them back to Wolfram, should try to stop the fighting, but he had to know.

The quarry was the lifeblood of Alasdair. He'd fought so hard to protect the town, but if the quarry flooded, it would die anyway. He reached the cut in the mountain leading into the open pit of the quarry and ran through to the narrow road that led to the lowest level.

There, splashing through ankle deep water near a cut in the eastern wall that gushed water like a mortal wound, his father fought Keith. Hamish and the other Cutters stood in a half-circle, shouting the men on, but no one looked ready to intervene.

Connor skidded to a stop. Keith was a giant of a man, a legend among the Cutters, and a fierce scrapper.

Hendry seemed to have forgotten all that.

Although smaller, Hendry pummeled Keith with a fury Connor had never seen before. He shrugged off the foreman's blows and drove the bigger man back, his face a mask of rage. One particularly powerful blow staggered Keith, and he tripped into the rising water

Before Hendry could advance, Stuart tackled him from behind and drove him to into the churning water. Connor tapped and ran down the road. He'd murder the traitor for that.

Stuart hauled Hendry to his feet and Keith, still on hands and knees, spat out a mouthful of dirty water, "Kill him, son."

Even though Connor was still fifty feet away, he clearly saw Stuart's shock. The burly young Cutter released Hendry and backed away, shaking his head.

The other Cutters advanced, an angry crowd.

Keith climbed painfully to his feet and snarled, "I saved you all, ungrateful cowards."

Hendry spat, "You're the coward, Keith."

Keith's face reddened with rage and he charged.

Connor arrived first. Keith turned at the sound of his splashing advance, and hesitated at the sight.

As Connor whipped past, he grabbed Keith's thick overalls and held on tight. Secured by the bigger man, his feet left the ground and he swung wide. The unexpected attack tumbled Keith into the rising water in a geyser of spray.

"Touch my father again, and I'll kill you," Connor growled.

"Connor!" Hendry wrapped him in a powerful hug, and Hamish joined them a moment later. It felt good to find them both safe, but the icy waters, already to mid-calf, wrecked the reunion.

"What happened?"

Hamish explained, and Connor groaned. He rounded on Keith, who was advancing slowly. "You idiot!"

"Don't you talk to me like that boy. I'll thrash your hide."

Connor advanced on Keith, anger driving him beyond fear. "If you hadn't noticed, I'm Cursed."

Keith recoiled and backed away. Connor continued his advance. "I've already been burned and beaten and hung, so if you think you can do better than an army full of Petralists, stop wasting my time and give me your best shot!" He ended shouting right in Keith's face.

The big foreman raised his hands and backed away.

Hamish caught Connor's shoulder. "Connor, what are we going to do?"

"The battle's started."

"I told you," Keith said. "We had to flood it, or they'll murder everyone."

"It won't help." Connor said, suddenly exhausted. After everything he'd done, it didn't matter. "There'll be fighting in the streets soon. Anyone not killed in the battle will be enslaved by Carbrey."

As one, the assembled Cutters gasped. Keith shook his head. "Wolfram said we'd be spared."

"Wolfram's only one problem, and not the biggest one." Connor waved toward Verena and Nicklaus who stood at the base of the entrance road, just above the rising water. "They were Carbrey's prisoners, the reason Wolfram's here. Once I return them, he'll leave."

Keith glanced at the gushing waters, and for a moment looked horrified by what he'd done. Then his face hardened, "No, we have to hold them hostage until after the battle. We can use them to force Wolfram to leave."

"He'll leave anyway."

"We have the hostages. I say we use them."

"No."

Hendry said, "Connor's right." Hamish nodded his agreement. Even Stuart said, "Dad, listen to Connor."

Keith shouted, "You're no son of mine!"

He lunged at Connor.