To Be Grand Maestro (Book 5) (40 page)

The Aqua Sphere vanished after he switched seats with Sherree, who took longer in learning to maneuver the manta, and so did Leah when her turn came, even though their reflexes were superb. Daniel supposed it was the time he and Joel had spent mentally linked with actual mantas. They both experienced what it felt like to be a ray swimming in the ocean and that must have contributed to their ability to adjust so quickly to operating the vehicle.

Harmonic waves began rippling across the world as the First Accomplished piloted them up the river at a speed of forty spans per mark. “He is still safely shielded,” Daniel announced, after seeing Leah’s eyes widened. He would have thought she was used to the morning spell by now.

“I have just received a message from Accomplished Karen Ducappus, assigned to the Wager. Port Valeen is under heavy attack. The Pentrosans are using ships that operate without sails and are slinging spheroids from deck-mounted launchers. The Ducaunan Royal Navy has lost every ship that has engaged in battle with these new vessels. The Wager, Cutlass, and Quester are in the area. The rest of our patrol boats are monitoring the other three armadas, which are now slowly advancing once again within the one hundred span-limits,” Leah announced while steering the manta forward. The command array on her head had enough jewels to provoke an Ecoppian Queen to jealousy, never-the-less, Daniel understood the news she just received through it was bad enough to widen anybody’s eyes, and her earlier expression had nothing to do with the harmonic waves.

They were less than thirty spans from the Taltin Sea and the temptation to lend a hand was more than Daniel could resist. “Give me the controls. We are going to find out how destructive a manta ray can be. Dad, I need you to sit in one of the middle chairs. Leah, you operate the tail crescendo, and Joel, you come up here and operate the forward pair. Sherree, use your personal viewer to better examine the enemy vessels and point out any areas of weakness or interest.”

When everyone was in position, Daniel’s thumb came down on the emerald, and the manta shot forward in a burst of speed. The river was nearly half a span wide at this point and deep, so there was little danger of hitting anything when he brought the velocity of the craft into triple digits. They raced into the Taltin Sea and Daniel gradually, being mindful of the laws of motion, banked right and to the north. He cast Find All, focusing forward thirty spans. They swam beneath a shark and over a manatee, and under Ducaunan frigates that were sailing to reinforce those in battle off the coast of Port Valeen. A short time passed, the battle zone came into his scanning range, and he willed the manta to slow into double digits. The ripple effect of the spell from Mount Filia ended at the same time, having lasted about two tenths of a mark.

Through his spell, Daniel became aware of three Atlantan Guild patrol boats twenty-eight spans out from the coast engaging a fleet of ships. He did not actually see ships, he sensed human beings in and on containers of wood, half of which had canvases, and the rest were smaller wooden containers without any canvases, but each of the last group had several pigs deep inside the lowest level.
Why pigs?
He sensed no Aakacarns among the crews. Some of the ships had to be Ducaunan frigates but he had never touched any of the members of the royal navy and so could not distinguish them from any other human beings.

While the Atlantan Guild boats fought valiantly to stem the tide of warships, their efforts were not enough. More than thirty of the smaller, fast moving vessels had slipped by and were assaulting the port.

Daniel made his decision. “Get ready, we are going to attack the ships nearest Port Valeen.”

He set course and soon the bottoms of the enemy vessels were in sight. Deep beneath the water the manta sped toward the closest grouping of hostiles. The tail whipped forward and a beam of energy extended from the tip and took the form of a giant eagle beak. Daniel held the grip steady and watched as Leah’s Beak Strike snapped shut into the planking of the closest ship, tearing a massive hole in the bottom.

Twin beams of light shot from the forward crescendos of the manta, shoving a wall of water up out of the sea, and into the side of the next ship in line, capsizing it. “Nice move Joel,” Ronn spoke his approval. “Leah, that beak is something fierce.” The former Senior Soarer’s prey sank beneath the waves and was in full view of the Manta while on its journey to the bottom.

“Daniel, I’ve been looking at the stern sections of these new boats. Take a look at what is propelling them,” Sherree called to him.

He picked a ship at random and focused his eye-shaped viewer at the stern. “They look kind of like those toys we saw at the Great Carnival. The one that has petals like a daisy angled so when the children blow on it, the flower spins around.”

“Notice the pair are mounted on a swivel, no doubt linked to a steering mechanism,” his father remarked.

“I knew it was only a matter of time before Tarin Conn would give his allies something to match our patrols boats. We need to capture one of those vessels,” Daniel said, just as Joel capsized another war-boat.

The view above the water was slightly distorted, but good enough to see spheroids being lobbed at the shore, and slamming into the docks of the port city. Pylons supporting the boardwalk splintered, being blasted in half, and fell into the water, bringing with them whatever was on the walkway. Iron shards ripped into flesh, penetrating the vitals of people who lay dying in pools of their own blood and that of others. Many of the victims died instantly, being blown to pieces.

Bolt launchers from the shores responded, sending flaming bolts at the enemy, sprinkling fire onto the decks of three vessels, and yet only managing to scorch those few. These new ships were long and sleek, like the Wager-class patrol boats, only light brown in color, and about two hundred paces from stem to stern. They were difficult to hit. The launch crews had no experience targeting objects that moved so quickly.

Daniel picked another ship and maneuvered the manta to where Joel’s spell would have the greatest effect, broadside. Through the upper spell-formed window, he could see men on the ships pointing to where the other members of their fleet had been capsized by mysterious waves, and where one went under for no apparent reason.

While the former Aqua Guild Accomplished sent another giant wave at the vessel ahead and thirty degrees up from the Manta, Leah launched another Beak Strike, ripping the bottom out of the next ship over. Both vessels sank beneath the waves. Hundreds of Pentrosans were in the water, some on the surface, and others trying desperately to reach the air and resume breathing. Still others swam toward the nearest ship and a few made for shore.

The Captains of the remaining ships had no idea what had caused the waves or sudden hull ruptures costing them five of their own, only that whatever the source, those losses were not a result of the attack coming from the shore. Fifteen ships continued their assaults on the port while the rest headed farther out to sea. The vessels nearest the ones eliminated by Leah and Joel began lobbing spheroids into the water rather than at the docks.

Daniel maneuvered around the explosive objects. One nearby orb struck a sinking boat and exploded, sending iron shards at the observation window. He flinched and angled the manta sharply to the right and down and only the straps kept him and the others from being thrown from their seats. No damage was done, but he felt a bit foolish for over reacting, seeing as the outer shield was in place. No one commented, for which he was thankful. As the remaining fat orbs sank to the bottom he brought the manta to the other side of the fifteen assault ships. “We’ll sink them from this end,” he said, and watched as Leah ripped the bottom out of a ship and Joel capsized another. What they did as they tore through the enemy vessels could not be describe as a battle, since the other side never knew what was attacking them.

After the destruction of nearly all the ships that had chosen to stay behind and attack the port, Daniel maneuvered the manta right under the last one. The spell, Find All, allowed him to sense the crew and the pigs, and then he focused Sleep Time, rendering them all unconscious. “We are now going after the twelve that fled. Leah, if you would cast Talon Strike from the tail, we can tow our catch behind us.”

“Might that give away our position?” Joel asked.

Daniel managed not to sigh. Someday people will stop speaking to him as if he just wandered off the mountain. “We will release the ship well before coming in sight of our enemies. Once we have eliminated the immediate threat to Ducaun, this vessel is swift enough for us to come back and retrieve our catch.”

“I have notified the Wager of what we have done and intend to do. Conductor Lassiter has also been apprised,” Leah informed, while her spell-formed talons closed, locking a firm hold on the war-boat.

The men in the water were all swimming to shore where Daniel was sure they would be taken into custody. MalFish, the huge military base built by Generals Malcus and Fisher, was about ten spans east of Port Valeen, and forces from the two legions should be on their way to render aid and bolster the defense. The assault had been suppressed, the frigates they passed earlier were on the way to provide protection, and it was time to get on with the next task.

Daniel kept the manta near the surface while increasing the speed. From the perspective of anyone watching from above the waves, the Pentrosan vessel appeared to be traveling under its own power. When the remaining twelve members of the original attack force came within osprey view, Daniel called out, “Release the ship from your clutches,” and Leah did so.

He moved the grip forward, diving deeper, then leveled off and increased the speed. The manta was closing fast on the enemy vessels, each with their twin daisy wheels propelling them onward. The tail of the ray whipped around and Leah’s Beak Strike shot out, ripping the stern off the first ship on the left, and forcing the front end up out of the water. It splashed back down, throwing most of the men on the deck off into the sea by the sheer violence of the assault. No one below deck had a chance of escaping before the large boat slipped beneath the waves.

“Disable the remaining vessels,” Daniel ordered. “Leah, shear the petals off those daisy wheels and the ships will be dead in the water.  Joel, concentrate on rendering the crews unconscious.”

The remainder of the enemy force split off in eleven different directions. They began evasive maneuvers and launching spheroids into the water, clearly recognizing the danger from below. A beam of energy emanating from the rear crescendo, in the form of a tiny beak, came in contact with the nearest daisy wheel, and sliced off the petals as they spun. The swivel turned and the second propeller moved the vessel to the right. “Blight it,” Leah called out as her attempt to prune the remaining daisy failed. She had cut a thin gash on the side of the stern and no doubt water was squirting into the rear compartment, but not enough to sink the boat. Daniel brought the manta closer to her target and she managed to finish the chore.

He drove the manta beneath another war-boat, matching its course move for move with spheroids plopping in the water behind them while Leah sheared off the daisy wheels from the rear. They repeated the process until all of the ships were drifting on the sea. Twins beams of energy emanating from the forward crescendos, focusing on each vessel in turn, rendered the crews unconscious. Chasing down each vessel had taken a little more time than Daniel had anticipated, seeing as they had been traveling at their full speed, fifty spans per mark, and were all far apart by the time he had caught up to them.

Leah used Talon Strike to tow one of the ships to where the men in the water could climb aboard, and when the last sailor was safely on deck; Joel rendered all of the seamen unconscious.

“I think it is time to go lend Tim and Gina a hand,” Ronn spoke the same thought that occurred to Daniel.

“The new war-boats, though faster and better armed than conventional ships, were no match for our manta ray,” Joel commented with a grin and a gleeful sparkle in his eyes.

“That is because there were no Aakacarns on their side. Accomplisheds of the Serpent Guild could not have seen us, but they could cast a spell to sense the direction of the potential given off by this spell-driven craft. We would have been in for a mighty bumpy ride at the very least and possibly neutralized if the theoretical spell-casters were clever enough to snare us,” Daniel was quick to put a damper on the mirth.

“But you said the shield is impregnable,” his father saw fit to remind him.

“Yes, he did, and it is,” Leah answered. “Even so, the right spells with enough potential could hold this vessel in place, thus neutralizing us. To be sure they would pay a price, seeing as we would not be sitting idly, but our potential enemies might, in the future, consider the achievement of their goal to be worth the cost.”

Her reply was as good as the one he would have made so Daniel decided enough had been said on that subject. It was time to focus on what to do next. “These vessels and their crews will be turned over to the Ducaunan Royal Navy, but I still intend to go back and get the one we caught earlier,” he informed his passengers. “And yes, Dad, we are now going to meet up with Tim and Gina.”

He had been sensing the surface confrontation through the spell, Find All, the entire time the manta was taking on the ships attacking Port Valeen, and thus aware of the general tide of battle. The Wager, Cutlass, and Quester were more than holding their own, but the Ducaunan Royal Navy had lost thirty percent of their frigates, the Pentrosans had lost half of their cruisers, and only ten percent of their daisy wheel-propelled war-boats since his first scanning of the conflict.