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The BloodVaine EpicChapter 59: Firefight
The Arklyndelys Vulondur bobbed unsteadily above the fleet, just within the shimmering dome of water Bourne had summoned. Bourne’s face was pale with concentration, and a vein ticked in his left temple as he tried to hold the shield of seawater in place against the dragon’s assault. The sailors and soldiers scrambled across the decks, seeking shelter or a place from which they could fire back, though the shield was casting their arrows aside as well.
Lord Void rushed towards the airship, signaling for them to lower the ladder as he did. It had scarcely dropped towards the deck when he managed a running grab worthy of a man a tenth his age. He signaled the Arklyndelys Vulondur to begin an ascent, and it rose, carrying him and the dangling ladder across the deck of the Rose Marie as it did so.
Jack, seeing the dragons, and Lord Void making what he could only assume was an attempt to escape, lunged roughly for the ladder as it swept past. As the Fright Knight crew reeled the ladder in, they pulled both Lord Void and Jack Craft roughly over the side of the airship.
“Darkness take you, you fool!” Void shouted at him, as they tumbled onto thegoth girls deck of the Arklyndelys Vulondur, “you could have killed us both!”
“Aye, and I’d be twice the fool if I let you lead your dragons against Barbod, your Voidship!”
“This is Del Grakken’s work, Craft, not mine! Now stand aside and let me save your precious fleet!”
Lord Void pushed past Jack to stand at the controls of the airship, and guided it though the water shield. There was a momentary drenching, like the sudden sweep of a salty downpour, and the ship was flying free. Lord Void spun it away from the fleet towards the edge of the dragon swarm.
“Make yourselves useful, fools! Man the ballistae!"
The crew hastened to obey, rushing to the weaponry. Jack grabbed a post at the front most firing point. Lord Void rigged the controls for straight line flight, and closed his eyes. His face contorted in strain, and Jack felt a sickening twist of magic in his gut. Eroth Gamus suddenly appeared above the fleet. To the dragon swarm, it appeared that the most powerful of their kind, the god-dragon itself, was attacking. They wheeled in panic, and not even their handlers could bring them back into formation. Eroth Gamus blasted white-hot fire among them, but it curiously failed to find any of the targets.
As well it would, since the god-dragon and its blazing attack were only a shell of illusion surrounding the Arklyndelys Vulondur, and the false-fire could not have heated a cup of tea. Several of the dragons had fled already, but a few of the bolder among them had become suspicious of Eroth Gamus’s sudden appearance and lack of skill.
“Brix and Blox... his Voidship’s ghost dragon won’t hold them off without some genuine teeth. Hoy! You there, with the crossbow! I want a fire shaft ready!”
The Fright Knight thought Jack was a madman, since there was no way a tiny blazing crossbow bolt would ever be mistaken for dragon fire. Jack had meanwhile scooped up a small cask from the airship’s supplies to load his ballista. As he took careful aim, he shouted over his shoulder to the confused archer.
“Steady aim and Jack’ll stand ye a firkin of ale when we’re done! I want that fire shaft in this cask before it hits target! Ready! Sharp watch! And...go!”
Jack launched the unsteady missile on a wobbly arc through the air towards the nearest dragon. Just before it struck, the Fright Knight fired. The blazing crossbow bolt went wide, and missed the mark. Fortunately, the dragon, seeing the incoming object out of the corner of its eye, did not. It spat out a swirl of flame, which caught the cask of oil Jack had launched, setting it ablaze in an instant. The cask exploded like a small firebomb, spraying the dragon directly in the face and along the back with burning oil.
Dragons are largely fireproof. Their riders are not.
big girls movies Its handler on fire, burning oil in its eyes, the dragon turned away from the fight. The others, seeing that ‘Eroth Gamus’ had finally done damage, decided that they had had enough as well. Within less than a minute, the remainder of the swarm was flying back over the waves, to vanish over the horizon. Lord Void, his power spent, sagged tiredly over the controls, and the illusion vanished. He addressed the embarrassed Fright Knight who had missed his shot.
“You, archer, had best practice more diligently. And you, Jack Craft, are more useful than you would at first appear.”
“Aye, and you as well,” Jack grinned back.
The threat of the dragons gone, at least for the moment, Lord Void and Jack returned to the Bull’s Revenge.
Reno, Aros, the Lone Falcon, the Lone Ranger, Lord Barbod, Lovana, Berlin, the restored Searil Chordate, Bourne, and Marus, still in chains, were on deck. Jackal whimpered in the corner.
“Gib’s gone.” Barbod spoke sharply.
Orders were given out left and right. Men were accounted for, damage was checked, the murdered men were given proper sea burials. Amazingly, the ships remained unharmed. Largely thanks to Bourne and Lord Void. The only casualties were those murdered before the battle began. Five in number. When all was set to right and the ships were moving, Barbod called Lord Void and Bourne to council.
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