Sea Dragon (Dragon Knights Book 9) Read online

  “It was time. You still need a little polishing, but you’re more than capable of wielding it with more skill than most of the young knights. I hope it serves you well.” Gowan felt good that his gift had gotten to Seth in time. Seth was an able warrior and could be of great use to the townsfolk—and in defending Livia, if she didn’t get out of there in time. “I’m counting on you to take care of Livia,” Gowan reminded Seth needlessly.

  “I will. I promise you.”

  “Good enough. Now, the enemy ships are lining up in rows of five across to enter the harbor. I believe that’s all that will fit through the entrance at once.”

  “Too many,” Seth said immediately. “We can take on maybe three at a time with the cannons we have positioned there. We have plenty of ammunition and able-bodied folk willing to man the guns, but the cannons themselves are the weak link.”

  “Let’s get the dragons in on this,” Gowan thought, immediately linking Genlitha and Hrardorr into the conversation.

  He hadn’t expected to be working with the blind dragon on this, but if he was their scout in the water, then he needed to be in on the planning. He might see something from below that Gowan and Genlitha couldn’t see from above.

  Gowan recapped what they’d discussed so far about the number of ships the cannons could fire on at once, bringing the dragons up to speed. Gowan had never been in command in battle with Genlitha as is partner, so he was unprepared for how quickly they analyzed the situation and came up with creative answers.

  “I can try to scout for which ships have the diamond bladed weapons, but it won’t be one hundred percent accurate, I fear,” Hrardorr offered. “I believe I have a more accurate count of number of cannons per ship. I’ve been experimenting with what to look for, and I believe I have it sorted out now. The first five ships lining up at the harbor are all heavily armed. At least ten cannons per ship. The two on the ends have more than that. Maybe fifteen or twenty.”

  “That’s not good,” Seth replied, speaking to the entire group and linking Livia into the discussion so she would know exactly what they faced. “The batteries near the harbor entrance can take on about half that.”

  “But they’ll be under sail, with more behind, right?” Livia offered. She was the nautical brain in this gathering. “Chances are, they plan to blow right by the harbor guns, getting off a broadside on their way, but otherwise clearing the entrance for their companions who’ll be speeding along right behind.”

  They were all silent for a moment while they thought about that scenario. “Makes sense,” Genlitha finally offered. “They have no shortage of ships, and a reserve force too. Their strength is their overwhelming number.”

  “And ours has always been the limited opening to the harbor. If we can stop them at the mouth of the harbor, they’ll pile up,” Livia said, a hint of cunning in her tone.

  “But how? The cannons won’t even make a dent in that number of ships in such a quick encounter.” Seth reminded them all.

  “What we need to do is stop them at the mouth of the harbor,” Livia insisted. “We need to make them fight it out with our gun, and not streak past, letting the rest of their forces in.”

  “I can do that.” Hrardorr’s calm voice surprised them all.

  “What?” Gowan demanded as the same time Seth asked “How?”

  Hrardorr’s voice in their mind sounded both amused and eager. “Remember when I joked about chomping on the rudder of the spy ship?” He paused, letting that picture sink into their minds. “I can disable the ships’ steering mechanisms from beneath. I might also be able to poke a few strategic holes in sensitive spots below the water. The rest will be up to you above.”

  “Stars!” Livia was the first to recover. “That’s ingenious.”

  “Are you sure about this, Sir Hrardorr?” Gowan asked. He hated to be the voice of doubt, but it was his job as leader to ask. He noted that Genlitha said nothing.

  “Water is my element more than air now, my friend. I can manage the fight below. You take care of the battle above. And keep the dragons clear of the ships I alert you to. I think I have a system for sensing the diamond blades, but we’ll have to have a few fly before I’m sure I’ve got it right, unfortunately. I’ll need you and Genlitha to let me know when you see them and where they came from.”

  “We will, Hrardorr.” Genlitha sounded utterly confident, which went a long way toward calming Gowan’s mind.

  “All right then,” Gowan took control of the planning session once more. “Livia should go to the Lair now, for safety. Seth, will you be overseeing the batteries of guns?”

  “Of course.” Seth sounded a little affronted, but Gowan had had to ask. He couldn’t take anything for granted, though he’d assumed Seth would want to be right where the action was.

  “Good. We need someone who can communicate with us from the ground. You’re it,” Gowan confirmed.

  “I’m staying. I can relay information to the council.” Livia tried to find a reason she had to stay in town, just as Gowan had suspected she would.

  “Livia, I must insist that, once you finish briefing the council on this conversation, you head for the mountain. They won’t be able to do anything once battle is engaged. You risking yourself by staying would be pointless. In fact, they should evacuate all the non-fighting people to the Lair immediately. Please, Livia. Promise me? I won’t be able to concentrate knowing you’re in danger.”

  That seemed to convince her. “All right.” She gave in with a distinct lack of finesse. “I’ll go. And I’ll take those who can’t fight with me. You’re right. We can’t do any good here once the battle starts.”

  “Thank the Goddess for that,” Seth summed up Gowan’s feelings exactly.

  Seth made sure Livia was well on her way to the Lair before he moved down to the harbor gun emplacements. The harbormaster would coordinate the attack from the guns along the innermost sections of the harbor, but Seth was going right out to the edge, to the guns that had been placed decades ago inside a rock wall three feet thick, with only small ports out which the barrels of the cannons poked.

  There were several batteries of them, all functional, thanks to the guns being inside the rock enclosure, out of the weather. They were well supplied with shot, and plenty of fresh gunpowder had been stocked next to each cannon.

  What they lacked was someone to lead them. To organize the various gun crews and signal them to fire at the right times. Seth stepped into the breach and was ready to fill that role. He really was the only one who could do it—besides Livia, which Seth wouldn’t even contemplate—because he could communicate with Hrardorr and coordinate the guns with the dragon’s action below water.

  The enemy wouldn’t know what hit them.

  Seth hoped.

  Otherwise, this wasn’t going to be a long battle, and Dragonscove would be forfeit in short order.

  “Livia, are you safe?” Seth paused long enough to ask, even as his feet kept him running toward the guns.

  “We’re almost to the Lair.”

  “Almost?” Seth wanted to curse. Why wasn’t she inside the mountain already?

  “We stopped to help some old timers who were having trouble with the climb. We’re almost there.”

  It made perfect sense. Livia would not pass someone in need of help, though Seth could have wished otherwise at the moment.

  “Let me know the minute you’re safe. We’re about to have company in the harbor, and I’d rather have one less thing to worry about.”

  “Not sure if I like the way you phrased that, but it’s nice to know you care,” came the rather sarcastic reply.

  He didn’t really have time for this right now, but he couldn’t leave it alone. He didn’t want her mad at him now. Not when there was a good chance he wouldn’t make it out of this alive.

  “I do care about you, Livia. I’ve had a crush on you since we were youngsters. You were always they prettiest girl in the world to me, and I never thought I’d ever stand a chance with you. N
ot with your father glowering at me every time I came into the shop.” He tried to inject a bit of his current amusement and past frustration into his tone. “I wanted you to know that, in case…”

  “Stop right there, Seth. Nothing is going to happen to you. Not today. You have to go into battle believing that. I’m almost to the entrance. They’re opening it for us.” There was a slight pause. “People are coming out to help the elders. We’re going to make it.” Another pause. “I’m inside, Seth. They just closed the barrier. I’m heading up to the war room. Perhaps I can be of help there. And Seth…” A shorter pause, this time. “I care about you too. Be safe.”

  “Seth, are you ready?” Hrardorr chose that moment to communicate.

  “I’m just getting there. The guns are primed and ready to fire at my command,” Seth reported, including Hrardorr, Genlitha, Gowan and Livia in his thoughts.

  Livia would report to whoever was left at the Lair. Gowan and Genlitha would interface with the leaders of the dragon wings.

  “We are ready,” Genlitha reported.

  “The enemy is lined up and making their first run. I’m going to start now,” Hrardorr said. “When they’re at the mouth of the harbor, open fire, Seth. Genlitha, I believe the second and fourth ships in the first run have diamond bladed weapons. I can make out giant crossbows below decks, ready to be unveiled, and the ammunition has a crystal ring to it unlike anything else on any of these first five ships. In the second row, all five ships have that sound. In the third, only the middle three ships. Be warned.”

  Seth was impressed with the quality of Hrardorr’s reconnaissance. Ten ships with diamond bladed weapons in the first three waves was a lot for the dragons to evade. The harbor defenses and the lone half-sea dragon would have to bear the brunt of the fighting to avoid heavy dragon casualties.

  Seth was finally in position. He stood on top of the rock-walled gun batteries, the unfamiliar weight of his new sword at his hip. He drew the blade. He’d use it to signal the gun crews. Raising it in the air, he watched the first wave of five ships approach. He saw the cannon crews on the nearest ship readying to fire.

  They’d all get only one chance at this. Seth had to hold his own fire until the ships were in the optimal position. No sense wasting cannon balls or black powder. Not to mention the time it took for each cannon to reload.

  The able-bodied men of the town, along with the guard and militia, were ready as well, hiding their numbers behind the rock walls of the harbor defenses. If any enemies did manage to make it to land, they would have a fight on their hands.

  Seth watched the approaching ships, his heart racing as the time for action drew near. The ships were proceeding all in a neat line, and then…

  The middle ship swerved into the one next to it, colliding heavily and causing major damage.

  “Hrardorr just took out the middle vessel,” Seth reported to those who were waiting to hear in the Lair and in the sky above. “The farthest ship is listing heavily to one side, probably taking on water, and the one next to it is tilting.”

  In fact, it was hovering at an obscene angle, its mast clashing against the mast of the ship next to it that was already sinking.

  “It’s mast hit the other mast, and they’re both going down.”

  Men began jumping into the water and swimming for the shore, but Seth had to worry about the two ships that were left, which were still moving quickly closer.

  Closer…

  Closer…

  “Fire!” Seth dropped his sword, signaling the farthest cannon to fire even as the enemy opened fire on them. The volley of flame and iron went back and forth, causing destruction on both sides. The rock wall was built thick for a reason, but now, large chunks of it were scarred and missing. It held, but it was damaged.

  More successful shots in the same spots would crumble it. It was up to them to make sure the enemy didn’t get a second chance.

  “The walls are holding for now,” Seth reported.

  Though out of practice, the harbor crews did a decent job. They were able to score several direct hits on the nearest vessel and at least one or two on the next closest, though it was somewhat blocked by the closer hull. Both began to list even as they sped past.

  “Two slipped through, damaged, but still moving.” Seth gave the signal to the guns farther into the harbor to take aim and fire at will. The harbormaster was in charge closer to the town, and he would see to them while Seth worked on the next wave of five ships, already on approach. “Second wave is lining up.”

  The line was somewhat staggered this time by the need to navigate around the three ships that were lumbering slowly, heavily damaged. Good. The staggered approach would give Seth’s gun teams more time and opportunities to fire. It would also mean the fresh gun crews on each of those ships would have the same, but there was Hrardorr to consider as well.

  The moment Seth thought that, the farthest ship careened wildly off course, smashing into the vessel closest to it. And then, that one veered into the one next to it. Then that trio piled into the ships that were still limping along, sinking as they moved, from the first wave.

  “Nice work, Hrardorr! Whatever you’re doing, keep it up,” Seth spared a moment to send.

  “Messing with their rudders seems to be more effective than anything else, though poking holes in the hull is good fun,” Hrardorr said with a hint of glee in his deep voice. The old bastard sounded like he was having fun, and Seth got a hint of how Hrardorr must’ve been before his injury, as a fighting dragon, taking on the enemy from the air.

  “Keep having fun, by all means,” Seth encouraged. “You’re well on your way to taking out most of the ships coming at us almost single-handedly. Just stay out of the line of fire. If we miss, the cannonballs sink at speed. I don’t want you hit by accident.”

  “Yes, mother,” Hrardorr teased, in the best mood Seth had ever witnessed from the dragon. “I’m going to work on the third wave now. Be aware of the smaller boats attached to the larger vessels. They’re probably going to use them to come ashore and fight hand-to-hand.”

  “Now who’s acting like my mother?” Seth felt invigorated by the battle, the blood singing in his veins. He saw the small boats making for shore, along with the swimmers off the less fortunate ships. He knew they were going to be fighting shortly, man to man, sword to sword, and frankly, he couldn’t wait.

  How dare these pirates attack a peaceful town? How dare they attack his people? His family? How dare they?

  Hrardorr took out each and every one of the third wave of ships, effectively creating a blockage in the harbor mouth that the rest of the enemy fleet couldn’t get through in their large vessels. They started sending the smaller boats out, filled with armed fighters, but Seth didn’t see much more than that because, just then, the first of the enemy fighters made their way onto shore near him. Seth waited only to give the signal, loosing the reserve troops he’d had secreted behind the gun batteries.

  And then, the battle was engaged.

  Seth got to use his new sword, christening the sharp edge with enemy blood.

  “I don’t like this.” Gowan grumbled to his dragon partner.

  He detested hiding from the enemy arrows, but by the same token, he couldn’t risk the dragons. For it was the dragons who would pay the price for confronting this pirate fleet without due thought and preparation.

  “I don’t either,” Genlitha admitted, “but it won’t be for much longer. As soon as the ships with the dragon-killers on board sink, we’ll go down and engage them in the harbor. You knights can shore up the fighters on land while we dragons burn the damaged ships where they sit, creating a more dangerous barrier to the rest of the enemy fleet.”

  That was the best plan their leaders had come up with, but it still felt wrong to Gowan. He felt like he should be doing more.

  “Hrardorr is going to have all the fun if we can’t get down there soon. He’s pretty amazing.” Truth be told, Gowan was heartily impressed at what the blind drag
on was accomplishing all by himself.

  Gowan had no idea how Hrardorr could perceive anything underwater. It must be some sense other than sight, but what it was, he had no clue. Something specific to his sea dragon heritage, no doubt. Gowan thought there were going to be a lot of questions asked in the Lair when Hrardorr returned. Maybe he’d finally get a bit more respect from the other dragons after this day’s work.

  “Yes, he is.” Genlitha sounded almost wistful. “He always was. When he was younger…” She trailed off as they watched yet another ship tilt wildly into its neighbor.

  “They’re engaging the ground troops now,” Gowan observed. “Come on. When are we going to get the order to join in?”

  “We should already be down there.” Genlitha sounded as if she disapproved of the leaders’ rather cautious battle plan. “Seth is fighting a group of them,” she reported, her sharp eyesight able to pick out individuals where Gowan could only see shapes of people from this distance. “He’s doing well, but when that other boat lands, they’re going to be outnumbered.”

  Gowan was through with waiting. “Can you get me down there without putting yourself in too much danger?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then let’s go. He needs help, and I’m sick of sitting on my ass, watching.”

  Genlitha launched from her perch on a rocky crag high above. Silently, she plummeted downward, using all her flying skill to get her down fast, before any weapons could be launched at her delicate wings. In fact, she kept her wings folded tight to her back until the last possible moment, increasing her speed beyond anything Gowan had experienced before, but he trusted her. She knew what he could handle. He never questioned her judgment when it came to flying. That was her expertise and he trusted it—and her—with his life.

  Genlitha landed quickly, and Gowan jumped off her back, his sword already drawn. He hit the ground running, even as she lifted off again, riderless.

  Gowan ran into the fray, swinging his sword and shouting his battle cry. It had been a long time since he’d been in a ground action, but it was something he had been doing most of his life. That was his area of expertise, and he didn’t waste time finding his way to his newest, and perhaps most naturally talented, student’s side.