Chapter 28

Corec tracked Sarette’s progress through the warden bond. She was no longer visible, hidden by the distance and the gathering storm, but she’d headed steadily southwest. Then her pattern changed, and she made wide sweeps to either side before settling down again. Corec checked his compass. She was just a few degrees west of southwest. Had she found the dragon?

“Cenric!” Corec called out, deciding not to wait until the creature came into view. “Pike-and-shield wall in front of Ballista Three. Face southwest, stay behind the stakes, and listen for my signal in case I need to move you. Single rank, but double up if you need to.”

The mercenary nodded. “Let’s go, men! You heard him!” His squad followed behind, struggling to carry their shields and pikes at the same time. Moving the equipment was awkward, but once they could brace both the shields and the weapon on the ground, they could keep them steady.

“Same with you, Ned, but Ballista One,” Corec said. The young man had just arrived, jogging back from completing Shavala’s task. Leaving some distance between the two infantry squads would ensure the dragon couldn’t hit them both at the same time.

“I’ll take Ballista Two, then?” Ellerie asked. Ballista Two was the closest to the dragon’s approach. If Ellerie’s attacks could draw the creature there before it landed to attack, then Cenric’s and Nedley’s infantry squads would be protecting the two other ballistae which still had a direct line of sight to their target.

Boktar scowled. He didn’t like Ellerie’s part of the plan.

“Yes,” Corec said, “at least until we can see the dragon. After that, go wherever’s best, but get out of the way before it gets too close. Behind the back lines, or at least back to Treya and Ariadne.” The Chosar woman had joined Treya on top of the second freight wagon, where she’d have a good view of any fighting. She’d protect Treya if needed, or join in wherever she thought she could help out.

Ellerie nodded and took off.

Boktar watched her go, a worried look on his face, then turned back. “Corec?” he prompted.

Corec hesitated. Boktar was commanding the three catapults from Tir Yadar, which could be repositioned quickly, but his crews needed time to carry ammunition from the freight wagons to their final locations. If Corec waited until he could see the dragon’s approach before he let them get set up, they might not have time to take more than one or two of the heavy loads.

“South, but keep them spread out,” he said. “Choose spots where they can change direction as much as possible without the rest of us getting in their way.” The catapults couldn’t pivot, but the crews could shrink and rotate them, then return them to full size.

“Weapon ready!” said Ral, a retired caravan guard who worked with Ballista One. As the only ballista that didn’t require a mule team, the crew had just needed to enlarge it, then crank the winches.

“Get it loaded,” Corec said. He himself was in command of Ballista One, but he’d be otherwise occupied once they managed to get the dragon on the ground. He’d selected Ral as the crew member most likely to keep his head if left in charge of one of the weapons. “Where’s Bobo?”

Bobo was already on his way to the ballista, carrying an armful of bolts. Ral took the bundle of ammunition, then his partner, Ludlo, helped Bobo up onto the cart.

The knights were issuing orders to their own weapon crews, and the infantry squads had arranged themselves in shield walls. Now they just had to wait until they could see something. If the dragon came from a different direction than expected, Corec would reposition anyone who needed to be moved.

Scattered flickers of lightning had begun appearing in the distance as Shavala and Sarette worked, but now, suddenly, the roiling storm was full of lightning bouncing between the clouds, never reaching the earth. It had to be Sarette, but what was happening? She was moving around, but from this far away the directional changes to the warden sense were too slight to be helpful.

Then a dark shape emerged below the clouds. It was tiny due to the distance, but it didn’t look like a bird—or like Sarette. It could only be the dragon. Corec watched the figure as the armsmen murmured and pointed. The dragon grew more distinct as it drew closer, but then it almost came to a stop mid-flight, its neck twisting back and darting around as if it were a dog biting at a flea.

Sarette’s warden bond suddenly dropped lower in the sky, and then kept descending. Had she fallen? Or was she attempting to land? Corec was on the tips of his toes, squinting, but she was too far away to see. He cursed silently—he shouldn’t have asked her to go out there alone. What if something happened to her?

And then, well beyond the dragon, a massive lightning bolt snaked down from the clouds, and the sensation of Sarette’s bond shot back up into the sky. The roll of thunder washed over the formation as the tension drained from Corec’s shoulders. She was all right. He focused on the dragon once more. It had resumed flying, allowing him to judge its approach.

“Nedley, reposition!” he called out. Now that they could see the creature, the infantry squads could move their shield walls to face it directly. Cenric had adjusted his squad without prompting, and the knights were estimating wind speed and ordering their crews to adjust the ballistae pivot mounts. Boktar eyed the line of attack for each of the catapults under his command but left them as they were.

When Ellerie glanced back from her position near Ballista Two, Corec gave her the signal to begin the assault.

The dragon had passed by them before without attacking, but judging by the angle of its approach, it didn’t intend to ignore them any longer. They wouldn’t be able to delay the fight this time.

As soon as the creature drew within Ellerie’s range, she launched one of her beam spells. Her first attack missed, and some of the armsmen muttered in worry.

Corec tried to estimate the dragon’s distance. It was flying faster than he’d pictured in his mind, though something seemed off about the way it moved. He’d hoped for two volleys from the ballistae before the creature reached them, but there wouldn’t be enough time.

A single volley, then. Medium range would provide the best accuracy while still allowing the men time to flee if the dragon realized the source of the attack.

“At three hundred yards, ready!” Corec shouted to the weapon commanders, then glanced at his own ballista and lowered his voice. “Right ten degrees and down five,” he ordered his crew.

Bobo waited for Ludlo to finish adjusting the pivot mount before laying his hand on the weapon. The bolt began to glow with a bright white light.

As the dragon neared the three-hundred-yard mark, Ellerie released another beam, this time hitting the creature.

The sound of its defiant roar reached them just as he shouted, “All ballistae, release!” That order gave the commanders the go-ahead to loose their bolts once their shots were lined up.

“Lead it by five yards,” he told Ral. “Go when you’ve got it.”

The caravan guard nodded and took aim, Bobo moving out of his way. During their practice drills, Bobo’s spell had lasted for half a minute after he stopped touching the bolt.

One of the front-rank ballistae launched its attack too soon, falling short of its target. Then Ral released Ballista One’s trigger mechanism and the white-glowing bolt shot into the sky, passing just ahead of the dragon at an angle. The others had loosed as well, the bolts soaring below the creature or off to the side.

Ballistae were difficult weapons to aim at a mobile enemy—they performed better when the crew could loose multiple bolts at the same stationary target and adjust their aim each time—but Corec had hoped for better results. If the ballistae weren’t accurate enough to hit while the creature was in the air, they’d have to wait until it landed to attack.

Then came Georg’s voice from Ballista Seven, which, at the northeast corner of the formation, was farthest from the dragon. “Now!” the knight shouted. His crew released their bolt. Corec couldn’t see the hit, but the dragon let loose with a cry of pain. Ellerie struck it with another of her beam spells and the beast roared again.

The dragon’s figure had loomed larger and larger as it flew toward them, and now, as it neared the expedition, Corec realized why its flying seemed so strange. Its wings beat unsteadily rather than with the smooth motion of the previous times he’d seen it. Had Sarette and Ellerie hurt it enough that it would be forced to land soon?

It was hard to tell—it was descending steadily, but wasn’t slowing down yet.

“Get ready!” Corec yelled to Treya. If the dragon intended to fly directly overhead at low elevation, it could burn half the expedition in a single pass.

Treya thrust her arms out to her side. There was no visible indicator of her fire protection spell, but they’d tested the manuever with torches and campfires to ensure it worked. A flame with a fuel source outside the barrier would continue burning, but it wouldn’t damage anything within the barrier. When they’d helped Treya practice back in Cordaea, Shavala had been able to maintain a flame using magic alone, but it hadn’t burned anything protected by Treya’s spell.

The ballista crews were frantically cranking the winches, but they wouldn’t be able to reload before the dragon reached the formation. While the expedition was protected from fire, there wasn’t much else they could do until the siege weapons or the mages managed to knock the dragon out of the sky or force it to land. Shavala had warned that she’d have to use most of her strength to summon a storm of the size they needed, and Sarette hadn’t returned yet. That left Ellerie, who’d remained near Ballista Two for some reason rather than moving to a safer location.

Before Corec could call out to her, the dragon’s wings fell out of rhythm with one another and the beast awkwardly dropped lower in the sky, heading straight for the ballista.

“Get out of there!” Corec yelled at Ellerie and the weapon crew, but with all the sudden shouting and cries of fear, his words were lost in the wind. The elven woman appeared to be trying to convince Sir Willem to flee.

The three Tir Yadar catapults launched their loads, but with the dragon’s rapid descent, two of the three overshot it. Only one load reached its target, half a dozen heavy stones pounding against the creature’s side. That caused the dragon to lose what control it had left, and it barreled toward Ballista Two. Corec could only watch in dread as Ellerie lost her footing and fell to the ground before she could get away. Then Leena appeared right next to her from out of nowhere.

The ground trembled as the dragon made impact, the massive creature half rolling and half skidding into the ballista cart and shattering it to splinters.

For a brief moment Corec froze, desperately searching for Ellerie’s and Leena’s warden bonds. Then they suddenly reappeared, pointing to the south. He took his eyes off the dragon long enough to look for them, but they were beyond his view.

How...?

Then he remembered. Some of the Travelers could take people with them when they teleported, and Leena had suggested she’d be able to do the same someday. She must have gotten Ellerie out in time. Had she saved Willem as well?

The dragon thrashed around as it tried to right itself. Its talons slammed down onto the body of a man who’d been thrown clear of the cart. The few mules in sight which hadn’t already fled took off running, frightened of the commotion.

“Ned, protect the ballista!” Corec called out, then gave a hand signal to the knights in the rear ranks. With the dragon down this close to the formation, only Ballista Three, commanded by Kevik, and Corec’s own Ballista One still had a clear shot. The rest of the knights would have to decide whether to risk loosing a bolt into the melee or join in the fight in some other way.

“Ellerie!” Boktar shouted, leaving his post as he ran toward the dragon.

Corec grabbed him by the shoulders and yanked him back. “She’s safe!”

The dwarven man tried to push past. “Let me go! I’ve got to go!”

“Ellerie’s safe!” Corec repeated. “Leena took her south!” With Boktar distracted, Corec waved a signal to the catapult crews, who quickly shrank their weapons down to miniature size, then ran them farther away. Unlike the ballistae with their pivot mounts, the catapults’ aim could only be adjusted by a small amount, and only by changing the tension. To use them at full strength, they needed more distance between themselves and the target.