Levi twisted the fuses tight and linked them securely with the roll of fuse material in his hand. He ran back toward the main gate of Evelah as some of the king's soldiers waved him on hurriedly. "We've not got all day!" they shouted, impatient to have the walls secure well before the arrival of Mordred's army.
The spool unwound in his hand as he jogged back toward the waiting guards. Levi watched carefully as the gate was lowered down into position again, wanting to be sure that the gate didn't actually cut the line. It seemed all right. The guards did not wait to see any of Levi's further preparations. They shot up the stone stairway leading to the top of the wall. Every man that could be mustered to the city's defense had been called to service by Stephen in the hours following the news of the coming siege.
Men were still coming from villages and towns nearby, while couriers had been sent on horseback with the hope of rounding up as many more as possible. According to Wayland Law, every able bodied male above the age of fifteen was required to answer the King's summons to war. The penalty for not doing so was death.
As Levi came back within the city, he noticed one small barrel of gunpowder still left unused. He'd begun with nearly fifty barrels, but had put them to good use both outside the wall and before the king's palace. He picked up the last with a smile. "You look lonely, little fella. I'll have to find a job for you."
He noticed a large group of priests marching toward the palace down the main road. They were all wearing the light armor worn by Wayland's Order and carrying various weapons with them. He ran from the wall to intercept them.
"Hello, men! where are you all going?" Levi asked as he caught up with the last of the group. A few of the last in the line paused to answer him.
"We've been conscripted by King Stephen as his personal guard," one of them said.
"Personal guard?" Levi asked. "Why in the world would The Order of Shaddai be operating in that capacity? I thought your first business was protecting Shaddai's Word and the Temple?"
"It's been a longstanding agreement with the Royal House," another said. "Besides, who would you rather have guarding you, the King's soldiers or the priests of Shaddai?"
Levi smiled. "You've got a point. Mind if I tag along? I'd like to talk to King Stephen anyway."
The priests waved him on as they jogged to catch up. As they passed the courtyard sitting before the palace, the same where Evelah's citizens had been gathered in order to receive the King's proclamation earlier, Levi observed the mounds of freshly dug earth at various intervals in the lush green lawn. He imagined the Royal Groundskeeper cursing whoever had dug so many holes and refilled them on his once beautiful lawn. Still, those holes might well save many lives before this was all over. Levi found it easy not to feel guilty about it.
As they began to pass beneath the portcullis, Levi heard a massive explosion behind them. He and the other men turned toward the Temple, finding a mushroom of smoke rising off the side of the building. Even more startling than the explosion was what had caused it to happen.
In the sky above the Wayland Temple, just now coming into the city, were at least two dozen of Mordred's Man-o-war battleships sailing through the air. Levi's mouth dropped open.
"What in the world are they?" yelled one of the priests standing next to Levi.
Levi could only stare in astonishment. "I've no idea. Never have I seen their like."
More explosions erupted both at the Temple and within the city. In moments the sounds of panic and screaming had reached their ears at the palace. "They're dropping grenades on the city," Levi said. "They could practically level Evelah before Mordred ever shows up!"
"We've got to stop them," one of the priests said.
"No!" said the priest in charge. "Our place is with the King. He needs our protection." He motioned to the others and began issuing commands.
"Wait!" Levi pleaded. "Are there any cannon we can use here at the palace?"
"Not with enough range to reach those things as high up as they are," said one of the priests who had straggled behind the main group. Most of the priests had already fallen in line behind the ranking priest in order to protect King Stephen inside his palace. "But I think I know of something kept within the King's Museum of Science that might help us."
Levi followed the two priests whom the leader had grudgingly allowed to stay behind. They led Levi deep into the palace as many of King Stephen's soldiers rallied their defenses. The ships flew silently over the city leaving a rain of devastation in their wake. Each time they passed a window, Levi found the floating Man-o-wars edging ever closer.
The priests led him higher and higher utilizing stairways Levi had never accessed before during his own time in Stephen's court. Finally they arrived at a set of large steel doors. One of the priests, Kline, opened the doors, revealing a vast store of strange inventions. Levi entered with Kline and the other priest, Devin.
Many items lined the walls: strange suits of armor, weapons, and contraptions of every kind imaginable. Levi's eyes swept across the treasures before him. Kline led them back around a corner in the room where another hall of artifacts had been housed. There, suspended from the ceiling by steel cables, hung an assortment of flying machines.
Levi smiled. "What are they?"
Kline pointed to them. "I believe the King referred to them as gliders. I saw a man launch himself from the large balcony out that window during an exhibition for King Stephen. Inventors often bring their creations to the King of Wayland in the hopes that he will be inspired to fund their work."
"I don't think I've ever seen anything like them before," Levi said.
"I guess the King wasn't feeling very inspired that day," Devin said. "These are the only ones."
Levi grinned, looking up at the gliders suspended from the ceiling as though in flight. "Well, I'm certainly feeling inspired. Let's get them down. I've got an idea."
Levi stood on the huge veranda overlooking Evelah on the southern side of King Stephen's palace. He now wore one of the large gliders on his back, having the form of a large, triangular wing fastened to a light tubular frame. "How does this thing work again?" Levi asked.
Kline stood upon the balcony railing, fighting against the wind which threatened to topple him from his perch. "Just use your body to lean against this bar," he said indicating the one which ran down from the wing-frame to cross below his chest. "Your weight will change the way the wing bears into the wind and thus change your direction. Lean back in the harness to rise once you have a good deal of speed going."
Levi nodded. He hoped the quick lessons Kline had given Devon and him would be enough to keep them from killing themselves with this stunt. At any rate, this was the only way he could think of to reach those ships and stop them. Already buildings had been leveled in Evelah. People were screaming and running through the streets for their lives. "Let's do this," Levi said.
Kline nodded and then turned to face Evelah spreading out below him. He threw back a salute to Devon and Levi and then leaped forward away from the stone rail running the length of the balcony. Immediately he plummeted toward the stone garden paths several hundred feet below. Levi gasped until he saw the cloth wing catch the wind.
Kline swooped over the ground only a few dozen feet from striking the pavement. He soared upward, peaked and then dove again, building momentum to rise again. He did this maneuver several times to gain substantial height. Suddenly he picked up altitude rather dramatically. He whooped from far away. "I've caught a pocket of warmer air!"
The priest continued to climb. Levi looked back at Devon, who had taken up the rear position in this little parade. "I guess there's no time like the present, lad." Levi rushed to the railing and climbed up trying to adjust his balance and keep from dropping to the stones below in the process. He tilted the nose of the giant cloth wing-frame upward as Kline had told them to do.
Levi had the distinct feeling this was going to end badly. He jumped down from the balcony railing and backed up toward Devon.
"What are you doing, Captain?"
"Back up a bit, lad. I'm going to at least give this contraption a running start."
Devon backed his own flying wing further into the palace and waited as Levi positioned himself. He took a few deep breaths and then surged forward as hard as he could. Levi felt the wing trying to catch the wind and nosed it down slightly. His speed increased, he leaped over the stone railing and cleared it, yelling reflexively. The wing-frame caught the wind and he sailed smoothly out over the city of Evelah below.
Levi's departure had turned out smoother than his would-be instructor. He found that he was able to gain altitude much more quickly. When he reached the approximate place where Kline had yelled back to them, Levi also felt the temperature of the air change dramatically. His height increased rapidly until soon he was even higher than the airships he and the others meant to attack.
He had difficulty seeing behind the huge wing-frame, but hoped Devon had gotten underway safely. Levi came up a little higher even than Kline had managed before sailing out toward the Man-o-wars still bombing the city. Levi found that gentle alterations made keeping his altitude fairly easy. He dipped slightly, then rose, dipped and then rose over and over until he found himself over the mass of warships moving slowing over Evelah.
He noticed a cloud of dust on the horizon to the north as well. Levi could only suppose what was generating it-almost certainly Mordred's army on the move toward Wayland's capital and king. Still, he had no time to be concerned about that now. If he and the others didn't manage to stop this first assault, there wouldn't be anything left to withstand Mordred anyway.
Levi counted thirty ships. He saw two more gliders out to his right, the men both waving to him. Devon had made it safely after all. Levi praised Shaddai for his mercy and providence. He said a quick prayer for direction in what they should do now.
Near the Temple, Levi spotted one of the ships moving somewhat erratically. As he and the others flew over, he spotted the crew members left onboard running back and forth like chickens without their heads. They had their swords drawn, muskets in the hands of others, and were apparently chasing someone around the deck.
Cables began to pop and fall away from the assembly of balloons which kept the ships aloft. This particular ship had all but stopped its bombing by now as they tried desperately to keep from losing the one thing keeping them aloft. No sooner did the crew run one way than they abruptly shifted directions. Gideon could not see the intruder.
Lines to the balloon rigging continued to fall away despite the hybrid crew's best efforts at stopping whomever was doing this to them. The Man-o-war floundered in midair as one whole assembly gave way. The balloons went up and fell apart completely as the cloth let go of its trapped hot air and its form. The sail cloth drifted peacefully down to the fires raging in buildings below.
The stern dropped, putting the ship vertical in the air near the Temple. The other section of balloon supports barely managed to hold, then snapped altogether. The Man-o-war plunged down into the streets of Evelah shattering like a bottle upon impact. Levi and the priests flying high above whooped for the small victory. "It had to be the boy," Levi said to himself. "He can't have all the fun!"
Levi angled his glider down and made a pass over one of the Man-o-wars still bombing the city. He was going too fast and soon overshot the balloon assembly. He realized getting from his glider to the ships would be far more difficult than he'd first expected. There were no landing platforms of any kind on a Man-o-war and Kline's description of how men landed these gliders assumed one would have a lot of room.
He passed beyond the first ship he'd strafed and gained a bit of altitude before coming upon another. There was only one way to do this, Levi surmised. He would have to drop off of the glider and hope to catch a hold of the rigging nets keeping the balloons fastened to the ship.
Levi made his approach. At the last moment he remembered the way he'd seen gulls land with their great wings pulled up and back in order to catch the wind and use it as a brake. As he passed over the balloon assembly, Levi pulled back on the wing-frame as hard as he could. The cloth caught the wind and made an abrupt climb before stalling altogether.
Now almost completely vertical in the air over the airship, Levi felt the sensation of falling. He and the glider dropped like a stone to the rigging nets. He crashed with the glider and started to tumble backward as the impassive breeze grabbed the wing-frame and tried to jerk it away. Levi worked frantically to disentangle himself from the glider.
The billowing cloth and netting beneath him began to fall away again as the wind lifted him skyward. He drew his cutlass and slashed the harness straps. With the final cut, he came loose and gravity took over again. Levi fell backward hoping he was still over the ship.
He landed on the billowing balloon, bounced once, then raked across the surface on a downward slide over the side. Levi clawed furiously at the netting passing fast under his fingers until at last he caught hold, stopping his descent. His feet dangled in the air. He had nearly fallen away completely. As it was, Levi had only managed to get a grip on the side of the balloon.
The glider tore away, out of control, tumbled and then fell toward the streets below. By now he had certainly been noticed by some of the other ships, if not the crew on this one. Levi took stock of himself and his weapons. He still had two cutlasses and two braces with five pistols apiece. He looked skyward and saw the other two gliders circling. Soon they would either attempt a landing, as he had on this ship, or go to another.
Levi looked down toward the deck. It was still partly obscured from him by the swelling balloon. That hopefully meant he was likewise obscured from the crew below. He sheathed his sword and started the trek downward. This part he was fully familiar with having spent his entire life at sea running the sail rigs like a happy spider since the time he could walk.
He paused halfway down and tried to use his cutlass to cut through one of the ropes. The braid parted as his blade sliced through. Then he stopped. Beneath the braided rope lay a sturdy metal cable. "Blast," he muttered. There was no way he could get through it. There had to be another way.
The more Levi thought on it, the more he realized his original plan had been foolish all along. If they had managed to sever the lines to the balloons, they would have gone down with the ship-a suicide mission. He remembered the few hybrids he had seen scurrying in pursuit on the ship which had already fallen from the sky. "Surely I can take down that many," he supposed. Then he smiled, put away his sword and started toward the deck again.
He scaled down the lines cleanly enough, but as soon as he hit the deck, one of the hybrids dropping grenades on the citizens below spotted him. "Hey! What are you doing?"
Levi crossed his arms across his chest as he ran toward the soldiers lined at the railing where they were dropping bombs over the side. He whipped out two pistols, one in each hand, and fired. He shot the first hybrid right between the eyes. As the creature fell, Levi ran past, firing the second pistol at the next in line. Like shooting fish in a barrel, he thought. Could they make this any easier lining up on the rail like that?
As the next creature went down, Levi dropped the first pistol and reached for another. He continued hand over hand, firing, dropping, firing, reaching for the next pistol until he had killed ten with ten shots. But there were still two left on deck.
He reached for another pistol as a wolfish hybrid launched toward him with a huge battle axe in hand. As the beast raised the weapon above its head, Levi realized his braces were empty of pistols. He pulled one of his cutlasses just in time to attempt a deflection.
Levi pressed his hand against the back of the blade and raised it as the battle axe came crashing down. His sword shattered under the impact and the axe came down toward Levi's head. He fell backward against the rail as the blade bit deep into the wood next to his face. The creature freed the axe and raised it again for the deathblow.
Levi drove the shattered end of his sword deep into the hybrid's belly. The beast lurched back and fell to the deck, trying to remove the fractured sword from its middle. Levi snatched up the axe and laid into the beast like splitting firewood, ending it quickly.
Only one remained. He heard heavy footsteps approaching and whirled around to find a broadsword driving toward his chest. He didn't have time to react. Only a last thought of how close he'd come to taking the ship. The hybrid shouted its war cry and lunged.
Inches from Levi's chest, the sword and its owner were thrown sideways. The hybrid tumbled across the deck as a bewildered Levi watched. Ethan appeared on top of the creature's shoulders as it tried to get back to its feet in shock. He drove his blade down and let the beast fall to the deck beneath him.
Levi smiled, elated. "Glad you finally made it, lad!" He heard noise behind him and turned to find both Kline and Devon rounding the base of the balloon assembly with arrows nocked to their bows. They stopped and looked at one another, when they saw Ethan and Levi standing there on the deck smiling among all of the dead soldiers.
"Better late than never," Levi called, laughing. "Don't worry there's plenty of work still to do!"