The Cloakmaster Cycle - The Radiant Dragon Part 15

"I want you to stay out of the fight, Raven," he said quietly. "Sound the alarm, then go directlyto your quarters. Whatever happens, stay below."

"I can handle myself," she a.s.sured him. She patted the shoulder strap of her broadsword's scabbard and smiled, but to Teldin's hypersensitive eyes her smile seemed to hold secret, ironic amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Oblige me," Teldin insisted. "I don't want to have to order you below, but I will."

A baffled expression crossed the moon elf s face. Teldin wondered briefly if she might be picking up his own feelings. That certainly would account for her confusion, he thought wryly.

Despite the mysterious power Raven had just flaunted, despite whatever game she might be playing with him, Teldin was afraid for her. Just because she looked like a legendary elven warrior, it didn't necessarily follow that she knew how to use the sword she carried. On those occasions when Teldin had used the cloak's power to alter his own appearance, he'd kept his own voice and his own abilities.

"Now," he repeated quietly.

"If you say so, Captain," she replied, still looking puzzled.

As she spoke, Teldin's vision wavered. Raven's mismatched eyes became yellow, hooded orbs slashed by vertical pupils. In the instant before he blinked away the vision, he caught a flickering glimpse of a reptilian face. He released Raven's arm as quickly as he would have dropped a live coal.

As soon as Raven had left the bridge, Vallus turned to Teldin. "That was well done," the elf said somberly. "Until we know for sure who and what she is, it's wise to keep her out of battle."

The image of a metamorphosing dragon flashed into Teldin's mind, and he silently agreed with Vallus. Since he didn't care to reveal-or even examine!-his other motives for sending her away, Teldin acknowledged the elf s praise with a curt nod and returned to their immediate problem. "How many insectare can we expect, and how do they fight?"

"Ten to twenty. They use long swords and antennae."

"Antennae? But how-"

"Whips," Vallus broke in grimly. "Eight-foot whips that can break an opponent's neck in a single strike. Even if you can get close enough to lay a sword on one, its body armor is virtually impenetrable. Ten or twenty insectare could give us serious problems."

"If they manage to board," Teldin replied. "Let's make sure they don't."

He hooked the bra.s.s tube back onto his belt and strode out of the bridge. As he sped down the steps to the upper deck, it occurred to him that he had never before directed a battle. The prospect was not as daunting as he would have expected. Thanks to the cloak, he'd had plenty of battle experience.

Teldin quickly shrank his cloak down to its smallest size so it would not hamper him in battle or mark him as an immediate target. He loosened his sword in its scabbard, and as he circulated among the elven troops he was surprised at how little fear he felt at the impending battle. The swan s.h.i.+p had a crew of some thirty elves, each a crack sailor and fighter, and Teldin felt an unexpected twinge of excitement over the prospect of directing such a force.

Raven had spread the alarm, and the upper deck was humming with tension and activity as elves took their battle stations at the railing. Loaded crossbows lay in piles, as well as pikes to repel boarding attempts, and a small band of wizards gathered under Vallus's direction. The tufted tail at the stern had been folded down to reveal a deadly catapult. A team of four elves busily cranked the mechanism into place and loaded the weapon. Teldin could hear whining of gears from the cargo deck below as the ballista was readied for firing. He positioned himself on the upper deck at the head of the stairs. There he had full view of the approaching foe, and his shouted commands would carry to the two lower decks as well as up to the bridge.

The wooden stairs behind him creaked in protest as the dracons lumbered up onto the deck.

Both were in full battle finery: Trivit wore his practical chain mail and wielded the enormous broadsword, and Chirp sported the purple-hued leather armor and carried his ornate two-headed axe as if it were a fas.h.i.+on accessory. Having seen the pair in battle, Teldin was not fooled by Chirp's frivolous appearance. The dracon brothers had proven themselves excellent fighters, but suddenly Teldin thought of a better use for their talents.

"I want you two to go below and guard Raven Stormwalker's quarters. Whatever happens, don't let anyone or anything get near her." Can't have her goaded into changing form during the battle, he added silently.

The dracons exchanged worried glances. "But she sent us up to guard you," Trivit blurted out.Chirp hissed and rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Oh, marvelous. 'Act natural,' she said. 'Be discreet,' she said. Aren't you the very soul of discretion?" he said nastily.

"Well, I'm a bit unnerved by the dilemma in which we find ourselves. Moral dilemmas do strange things to one," Trivit replied thoughtfully. "I've always wanted to experience just such a thing-for the intellectual exercise, mind you-but now I've thoroughly repented of my wish. Moral dilemmas are d.a.m.nable nuisances."

"Below," Teldin ordered firmly.

The dracons responded instantly to his tone, saluting and clumping down the protesting stairs toward the moon elf s quarters. Teldin glanced toward the starboard railing, where Vallus had gathered the s.h.i.+p's battle wizards. Once Teldin had thought that six wizards was a frivolous use of crew s.p.a.ce, but at the moment he was glad to have them.

The klicklikak had drawn close enough that details were clearly visible, and it had slowed almost to a hover. It was a relatively large s.h.i.+p, about one hundred feet long, and had an odd, oblong shape. Two windows shaped like bulging eyes dominated the front of the vessel, and the long streamers that had trailed along behind while the s.h.i.+p was in rapid motion now stuck straight up before it. The s.h.i.+p was covered with intersecting plate armor, and two pairs of short metal rods protruded from the bottom. Landing gear, Teldin supposed, though something about them suggested the feelers that hung down on either side of a locust's mouth.

That's it, he realized with a sharp feeling of distaste. The klicklikak was shaped to look like the head of an enormous gra.s.shopper. The disembodied head seemed to possess an eery sentience, and Teldin had the uncanny sensation that the buglike eyes were watching and taunting. The insectare s.h.i.+p halted just out of ballista range, as if it discerned the elves' intent.

A strange, sc.r.a.ping sound distracted Teldin, and he cast a sideways glance toward the source. He immediately turned and gave Hectate Kir his full attention. The half-elf labored up the stairs to the deck, half carrying and half dragging an enormous, two-headed halberd. Like the halberd Hectate had lost in the battle with the mind flayers, the weapon had blades easily two feet across and a staff fas.h.i.+oned from an eight-foot length of stout oak. This weapon, however, boasted a bewildering overlay of bolts and levers that marked it as a gnomish design. Om's work again, Teldin supposed. The G.o.ds only know what "improvements" the gnome had made.

'Whatever the case, Teldin could have no doubt about Hectate's intent.

"Don't you think you should sit this battle out?" Teldin asked him pointedly. The racket of Hectate's approach had drawn the attention of the elves on deck, and all were eyeing the half-elf and his enormous weapon with astonishment and suspicion. It was not an auspicious moment to debut as a bionoid.

"If possible, sir, I will," the half-elf replied, "but I've fought insectare before. My experience may prove useful."

"You have?" Vallus asked, coming over to stand by Teldin.

"A swarm of the creatures destroyed my home and family when I was little more than a boy,"

Hectate said quietly. "I know how they fight, and how they attack. I'll do whatever I can to help."

Teldin gripped the half-elfs shoulder, accepting his offer with a mixture of grat.i.tude and foreboding. If Hectate was willing to reveal his bionoid nature before a swan s.h.i.+p full of elves, the risk presented by the insectare must be serious indeed. "What do you think they are up to?" he asked the half-elf.

Hectate squinted at the monstrous insect head. "That's not a battles.h.i.+p. The ballistae ports that should be around the base have been closed up. It looks as though it's been stripped down, either for crew or cargo."

"So?" Vallus prompted.

"I'd say the s.h.i.+p's a diversion," Hectate said. "A klicklikak is rare enough to get attention and keep it. Insectare only fight if they have to. What they're likely to do is to-"

His last words were lost in a piercing whistle. Teldin ducked reflexively, then shot a glance in the direction of the approaching sound and saw...

Nothing.

Their invisible adversary whistled in with a rising shriek. With horror Teldin recalled the banshees of his grandfather's tales-ghostly creatures with a keening cry. He'd seen strange things in wilds.p.a.ce, but so far all of them had been alive. As Teldin formed the thought, a current of air swept over them and he grabbed for the stair railing to keep his balance. Suddenly the banshee had pa.s.sed, and its voice abruptly dropped in pitch to a thrumming roar. It approachedand shrieked past again, and then a third time. Each cycle came in closer and lower. Just as Teldin thought he might scream aloud, a small, birdlike s.h.i.+p appeared from nothing but sound and air.

"A cloaking device," Vallus said tersely. "One of ours, on a shrike s.h.i.+p!"

Hectate tensed as the shrike s.h.i.+p approached again, his brown eyes narrowing as he stared fixedly at the s.h.i.+p. Suddenly he grabbed Teldin's arm and, with surprising strength, shoved him toward the steps. "Get below, sir," he shouted.

Teldin didn't answer, staring upward in disbelief as the small craft veered sharply from its path, making a suicidal lunge directly for the swan s.h.i.+p's long, curved neck. Twin bolts of light, magic b.a.l.l.s of incredible power, burst from the shrike s.h.i.+p's forecastle and hurtled forward. The b.a.l.l.s of force hit the bridge tower with an explosion of magical power and splintered wood. Teldin watched helplessly as the severed top half of the tower plummeted toward the deck, shattering boards and pinning several members of the elven crew. The shrike s.h.i.+p dove straight through the opening it had made and continued on its frenzied, circling path.

"They got the bridge," Vallus said in disbelief.

"And the helm," Teldin noted grimly. The s.h.i.+p was essentially what it appeared to be: a beheaded swan. The crew would be every bit as dead if he didn't act quickly. Teldin doubted there would be time to get up the secondary helm before the battle began.

In response to the crisis, his cloak began to glow, its pale sunrise pink signaling its spelljamming magic. Teldin felt his awareness growing, spreading to every part of the wounded s.h.i.+p. He could see the elves hurrying to rescue their fellows, Deelia Snowsong bending over a wounded elf as her tiny, pale hands forced a dislocated shoulder back into place. He saw Rozloom taking refuge under a stout table in the galley. Suddenly he could feel the s.h.i.+p itself, as if wood and iron were no more than a continuation of his own bone and sinew. Soon he would be the s.h.i.+p, and his untended body would be exposed and vulnerable on the deck, despite the bionoid protector that now loomed over him.

. "Vallus, you've got to take command. I'm going to take the helm," Teldin said in a faint, faraway voice, and he gathered up a handful of the luminous, pale fabric. "This helm."

The elf shot a glance at Teldin, and his eyes widened at the sight of the glowing cloak. A mixture of comprehension and wonder suffused the wizard's face, and he gave Teldin a quick nod. As Teldin turned to leave, he couldn't resist adding, "Watch yourself, Vallus. Stay close to Hectate, and you'll be safe."

The elf's eyebrows rose, and he turned quizzical eyes toward Hectate Kir. He recoiled in shock and horror. In the shadow of the stairwell where the half-elf had just stood was a ten-foot, muscular insect holding the halberd in a guard position as it watched the shrike s.h.i.+p slowly circle in for another pa.s.s. The Change had overtaken Hectate silently and instantaneously.

Teldin slapped Vallus's shoulder. "There's something you should know about Hectate," he said casually, then he turned and left the wizard alone with the bionoid fighter. While he was still able, he pushed open the door that led to his cabin.

No sooner had Teldin disappeared than the shrike s.h.i.+p slowed to a hover directly over the Trumpeter's deck. Three enormous creatures leaped from it to land nimbly on the swan s.h.i.+p's deck, creatures identical to the one hidden in the landing behind Vallus.

Everywhere on deck the elves froze. All had heard stories of battles the bionoids had fought and won for the elves in the first Unhuman War. No one had the faintest idea how to fight against such creatures.

The bionoids, standing shoulder to shoulder and armed with huge swords or pikes, were a daunting sight even to the battle-hardened elves. Vallus shot a glance over his shoulder, half expecting to see a treacherous halberd swinging at his neck, but Hectate, in his bionoid form, still stood guard.

One of the creatures stepped forward and spoke into the silence. "We have come for the human. If you turn Teldin Moore over to us, we will leave peaceably."

In response, Vallus swept an implacable, narrowed glare across the immobile elven crew.

"Attack," he said simply.

The battle that followed was ghastly. The elven crew fought with bravery and skill, but they fell so rapidly that the dead and wounded piled around the bionoid band. Two other bionoid s.h.i.+ps closed in, and each s.h.i.+p discharged two more of the fearsome creatures. The light emanating from their crystal eyes bathed the deck with a reddish glow. Some of the bionoids battled theelves; others seemed to be searching the swan s.h.i.+p.

In his cabin, now fully taken up in the spelljamming magic of his cloak, Teldin's expanded senses took in the battle with a growing sense of horror. If Hectate alone had destroyed dozens of the mind flayers' slaves when in his bionoid form, how could the Trumpeter's crew stand against the bionoid invaders? If there was a way the creatures could be overcome, perhaps Hectate would know it.

Like a hawk circling a meadow, Teldin's magically enhanced vision searched the s.h.i.+p for his friend. The bionoids, however, were eerily identical, and Teldin was not sure he could recognize Hectate when he found him.

One of the bionoids fought at the head of the stairs, barring the way to the lower decks and to the captain's quarters, and its flas.h.i.+ng halberd held off two of the invaders. Teldin's instincts told him with unerring certainty that Hectate lived within the creature.

As Teldin watched, one of the invaders leaped, a spiked foot kicking out with lightning speed.

The Hectate bionoid apparently antic.i.p.ated the move, for he nimbly sidestepped and circled upward with the staff of his halberd, catching the attacker behind the knee. A quick twist threw the creature off balance. It landed heavily, and Hectate was upon it instantly. He planted one enormous foot on the creature's back, pinning it to the deck, then he hooked the curved blade of his halberd under a plate of insectlike armor and wrenched his weapon back toward him as if it were a giant lever.

A horrible cracking sound rent the air as the bionoid's armor gave way, followed by a woman's scream of unbearable anguish. Hectate's enormous body shuddered, but he quickly plunged the blade of his halberd deep into the opening. Ichor puddled on the deck, and the red light faded from the fallen bionoid's crystal eye. With a creaking groan the creature's body began to compact, for in death it reverted to its elven form.

As if from a great distance, Teldin noted that the fallen bionoid had become a tiny, red-haired elven woman with a huge, gaping wound under her left shoulder blade. Teldin saw his monstrous friend slump, and he felt Hectate's grief and despair as if the emotions were his own. He knew with certainty that Hectate had known the bionoid he had just slain, and known her well.

The second bionoid advanced, its enormous sword held out before it, and Hectate halfheartedly raised his dripping halberd into a defensive position. The creature came closer, but it did not attack. Its insectlike head tilted to one side, giving it an oddly quizzical air.

"Hectate? Hectate Kir, can that really be you?"

The creature spoke in a woman's voice, a voice that was soft, intimate, and full of longing. It sheathed its sword and stepped forward, ma.s.sive hands reaching out and up as if to cradle Hectate's bionoid face. Hectate's weapon lowered reflexively.

At the last moment, the creature's fist smashed into Hectate's vulnerable crystal eye. Teldin's bionoid friend slumped as if lifeless to the deck.

"No!" Teldin screamed. A second keening cry escaped him, only to be lost in an explosion that shook the swan s.h.i.+p to its keel. With effort he forced aside his grief to attend the s.h.i.+p. Again he slid his expanded vision over the elven vessel.

The Trumpeter's stern had been damaged almost past recognition. One of the bionoids had loosed a spell, taking out the swan s.h.i.+p's rear catapult and sending the heavy machinery cras.h.i.+ng to the lower level. The blasted bodies of elven crew lay amid shattered boards and smoking debris.

To Teldin's surprise, the invaders abandoned the fight as abruptly as it had begun. One after another, the shrike s.h.i.+ps dove in, hovered, and threw down boarding ropes. Within moments the bionoids were gone. All of the bionoids; try as he might, Teldin could not locate Hectate anywhere on the s.h.i.+p. The klicklikak faded from sight, and the shrike s.h.i.+ps darted off into wilds.p.a.ce after it.

Teldin took inventory of the s.h.i.+p's wounds. The bridge was gone, and with it the lookout tower and the primary helm. Their heavy weaponry had been destroyed. The Trumpeter was without eyes, power, or defenses. They had to put down for repairs, but they still were many days from Radole.

He sought outward for a solution. Below them was a world, a tiny gray sphere streaked with white. From this distance, it looked very much like his last glimpse of his native Krynn. With sudden resolve, Teldin sent the swan s.h.i.+p into a rapid descent.

Vallus Leafbower burst into Teldin's cabin. His silver hair was disheveled and the shoulder of his uniform had been slashed open. His once-proud tabard was stained with blood and ichor."What in the G.o.ds' names are you doing?" he demanded.

"Landing," Teldin murmured. "We're landing."

"No!"

"The s.h.i.+p is damaged. The helm is gone. We've got to put down."

"But that's Armistice. We can't land there."

"Why not? Doesn't it have large bodies of water?" Teldin asked in sudden concern. The swan s.h.i.+p wasn't designed to put down on land, and an attempt would doubtlessly reduce the battered s.h.i.+p to kindling.

"Vast oceans, but elves must not land on that planet."

"Spare me your elven scruples," Teldin said wearily. "We haven't got much choice."

"We do. The secondary helm is operational. I've got someone on it now, but we can't override the magic of your cloak."

"d.a.m.n right," Teldin muttered.

"Let go, Teldin Moore," Vallus insisted, taking a step closer. "We cannot land on Armistice. It's heavily patrolled by the Imperial Fleet, and for good reason. There are huge nations of orcs and hobgoblins there, landlocked monsters who would do anything to obtain spelljamming capability. If the swan s.h.i.+p lands, we present them with not only a s.h.i.+p and a helm, but also your cloak."

"Vallus, let's fly that hawk when its feathers are grown," Teldin said. "The swan s.h.i.+p needs repairs now, or we're in serious trouble. We might not make it as far as Radole."

"I know," Vallus said quietly, "but it would be better to lose the swan s.h.i.+p and everyone on board than to put the cloak in goblin hands."

"Haven't enough people died for this d.a.m.nable cloak?" Teldin snapped. "I won't put the crew at risk."

"Really? And what do you think would happen to these elves in the hands of the Armistice orcs?" Vallus demanded. When Teldin hesitated, the elven wizard repeated, "Do not land the s.h.i.+p."

Teldin's resolved firmed. "I'm sorry, Vallus."

"So am I," the elven wizard said softly. He began to cast a spell, his long fingers gesturing as he murmured arcane syllables.

Teldin tensed, not sure what to expect. The cloak's magic had protected him from physical attacks many times before, but he had no idea whether it would turn aside a spell, especially one from a wizard as powerful as Vallus Leafbower.

A second voice joined the chanting, then suddenly there was only one. Vallus's fingers and lips moved, but no sound came from him. Chagrin flickered across his face, then fury. He spun to face the second spellcaster. In the doorway stood Raven Stormwalker, arms crossed as she leaned casually against the doorjamb, a catlike smile on her face.

"About time someone put him in a sphere of silence," she observed. She leaned her head back to look over her shoulder. "Oh, Chirp! Take the so-called wizard to his quarters, won't you?

Keep him there until the captain orders otherwise."

The dracon poked his mottled green head into the cabin. He hesitated, though, his reptilian face uncertain as his gaze flicked from Teldin to Vallus to Raven. His green shoulders slowly slumped under the weight of such a mind-boggling question of hierarchy. Seeing Chirp's dilemma, Raven shoved Vallus out into the hall.

"This elf attacked your kaba," she said briskly. She pointed across the hall that separated Teldin's quarters from those of the elven wizard. "Throw him in there and see that he doesn't get out. I'll stay here and protect the captain."

Chirp's rubbery face embodied outrage. "On your command, Celestial One," he said. He prodded the silent Vallus across the hall with a series of shoves, haranguing him as they went.

The dracon's voice faded in and out as he entered and exited the sphere of silence surrounding the wizard.

Raven came into the cabin and seated herself on the cot beside Teldin. "Go ahead and put the s.h.i.+p down, Captain."

Suddenly Teldin wasn't so sure that Vallus was wrong. "There are orcs down there. I've fought scro-s.p.a.ce orcs- before, and if those orcs are anything like them..." His voice trailed away uncertainly.