Venom and Song (50 page)

Kiri Lee gave out a cheer before almost losing her balance, startling herself back into a death grip on her raptor. This would take some getting used to, and quick.

Tommy and the others watched as the raptors rained down terror from above. He thought they resembled little sparrows defending their nests against an invading crow, diving and recovering, each swoop down bringing added pain. But these were not mere songbirds pecking at the head of a nuisance. They carried hundreds of pounds of rock that when dropped buried deep into the siege engines of the enemy.

The entire Elven war host watched as each boulder careened into the sprawling fortress, and the Spider King's vast network of tower defenses was blown to pieces.

But it wasn't long before the retaliation began.

Massive crossbows rigged with bolts the size of small trees took aim at the raptors that buzzed overhead. The
slap
of bowstrings filled the space over the fortress, followed by the shrieks of Elves and raptors as they plunged to their deaths on the side of the Crag. The precise aim with which the enemy took on the flying targets was staggering, as one by one the raptors started to vanish from the sky.

Tommy noticed that the number of giant birds had thinned somewhat, but he lost focus when the first boulder came hurtling at the flet soldiers gathered at Vesper Crag's base. At first Tommy thought some wounded raptor had inadvertently released his projectile on the Elves. But the stone was arching through the air, fired from one of the remaining catapults behind the enemy line. It crashed into the right flank, crushing five flet soldiers beneath it. Travin could do nothing but keep his soldiers at their posts, firing cannons and catapults at the walls and those who stood atop them.

More and more boulders were flung over the wall by the Spider King's forces, suspended in midair for the briefest of moments before slamming down into the flet soldiers. Some of the stones landed in the lava flows, producing explosive spatters of molten rock that showered the army in a lethal wash of red and orange. Flet soldiers screamed out in terror as the hot lava ate through their armor. They tried to bat it away, brushing it from their chain mail, but it was no use. The lava clung to them like cement, burning deep into their flesh.

“We've got to make them stop!” Kat screamed, looking away.

“We will, Kat,” Tommy said, looking to the front lines. “Our soldiers are gaining some ground on the walls! Look!”

The moment any space cleared on the high parapets, Travin signaled and tall ladders were thrown up. The Elves, who could climb a tree in seconds, raced up the ladders in no time. But the defenses were swift to respond. Warspiders.

The Warspiders crept out of unseen ports in the sides of the mountain. They poured out and clambered up the walls and over, devastating the Elves on the ladders. Thick strands of web sailed out over the Elves at the foot of the walls as well, snaring them long enough for other spiders to slay them.

Far above the battle, Kiri Lee saw a small flash of yellow light from the command hill where the other lords and Grimwarden were directing the battle plans. She turned and motioned to Ethon on the nearest raptor. The two leaders split and flew at the walls, circling in from opposite directions. Not nearly as skilled with a bow as Tommy, Kiri Lee hoped she wouldn't have to be. She nocked a layadine arrow and used her legs to guide the raptor in low. She spotted a massive Warspider hanging its bulbous abdomen over the wall and spraying gobs of thick webbing on the Elves below. Kiri Lee took aim and loosed her arrow. The shaft went off-center but still plunged deep into the spider's thick hide. In moments, the Warspider screeched and shuddered.

The other Elven archers released their first volleys as well, crippling the first wave of spiders. The problem became immediately apparent: it was only the Spider King's first wave of Warspiders. Waves two and three flooded out of the mountain and clambered over the living and the dead. Kiri Lee, Ethon, and the other archers made run after run until their layadine arrows were spent. But still the Warspiders came on. It seemed Travin's assault team might never get lasting purchase atop the walls.

Kiri Lee looked to Ethon and gave a different signal. Raptor to raptor the signal made its rounds. Each of the airborne flet soldiers produced a small flint stone kit, able to produce a spark with one hand. A few flicks of the tool set one end of a long powder-laden wick aflame, the small orange tongue of fire whipping violently in the wind. Each flet soldier released the wick from a clasp in their belts, the cord now dangling free far below them. The fuse now burned upward toward the oblong tube of metal harnessed on the side of the raptor: a bomb.

As fuses burned low, the birds raced on, closing the gap between them and the wall with incredible speed. Kiri Lee worried the bombs might bounce off the wall and roll back into the advancing army or explode prematurely while still held by the birds. Either way, the results would be catastrophic; she knew here, as in her music, timing was everything.

The wall was coming up quickly now. Too quickly. She glanced down to her right; on hers the wick was burning as planned, but perhaps too slow. She had given the order too late. The bird needed to slow down. But when she looked to the wick on her left, her stomach knotted. She tried to speak, but her throat closed up. Finally, “LET GO!”

Three of the birds skimmed across the top of the army, not thirty feet above. The men cheered as the two bombs were lit, all eyes on Kiri Lee as she waited to give the order. The gap between them closed, and soon the birds angled up against the base of the mountain.

But it was Tommy who first noticed something didn't seem right. Kiri Lee was waving frantically to the bird on her left.

“Oh no,” he heard Jimmy say.

Tommy looked to him, then back to the three birds in flight.

Something was definitely—

A bright flash followed by a fiery explosion lit up the dim sky like the Fourth of July. Tommy winced, half at the eye-shattering light, half in stupefied horror. The raptor to the left was gone. Obliterated. The shockwave of the explosion shot the two remaining raptors sideways, dropping them out of the air. And with them sank the second bomb, now free from the raptor's talons.

Kiri Lee's bird flapped incessantly, trying in vain to recover the freedom of flight. Broken wings and blind eyes made it impossible. Kiri Lee was still holding on, as far as Tommy could tell, but when the bird disappeared behind the enemy wall, he feared the worst. The second raptor managed a few more flaps before succumbing to a bolt through the chest, its rider knocked off and crashing into the fortress below.

It was the next bomb that captured everyone's attention next. It landed not at the base of the wall as intended, but right in the ramparts, cradled between the crenulated wall and the wooden railing. The Elf Lords watched as dozens of Gwar attempted to dislodge the object or tried to snuff the wick out. But it was too late.

The explosion was far greater than the first. A muffled
wumph!
came just before a deafening
boom!
that blew the top half of the wall sky high. Rock, wood, and fire exploded from the fortress, raining down on those below. Gwar were flung through the air as if they were rag dolls, flipping lifelessly to a crude end, dashed on the mountainside.

“We have to get in there!” Tommy took a few steps forward. Grimwarden caught his arm.

“No you don't,” said Grimwarden, his hand over his eyes.

“But Kiri Lee!” Jett exclaimed.

What Grimwarden said next was spoken as a warrior. “
If
she is still alive, our men will find her.” He looked to Jett. “And
you
can heal her. But right now, we wait.”

“WAIT?!” Tommy was nearly jumping out of his skin. “Our men are dying out there, Kiri Lee is trapped on the inside, and you want us to wait?”

“Tommy, such emotions are to be expected. But if they rule you, they will destroy you. Whatever planning we have done will be lost, and the enemy has the advantage.”

“Planning? So far, our plans have gotten people killed! How bad do things have to get before you'll let us go wreak some havoc?”

Tommy had not seen enough of war to know just how much worse things could get. The lord's attention was drawn back to Vesper Crag as the raptors began shrieking. Rising from behind the mountain came a dark cloud, accompanied by a low drone.

The Spider King stood on the Black Balcony, commanding his forces through his generals, his generals through their runners. So confident was he in his own plan that a menacing red light flashed behind him, ensuring that his enemies knew where he was and that he was in command of all that transpired. Most everything was going according to plan, save for the infernal birds, and he tired of such uncertainties. They could be easily crushed, but it meant releasing his newest creation prematurely. No matter. Winning was winning, even if it wasn't as methodically as he desired.

Without ever saying a word, the Spider King lifted two fingers on his right hand. He felt ten pairs of eyes follow the command, and immediately orders were barked behind him. The communication would be swift and efficient. It always was. Those who couldn't or wouldn't comply with his procedures were simply executed. It made for a tight chain of command.

When the air began to stir above and behind him, his heart quickened. He longed to see his new inventions at work.
What havoc they will wreak,
he thought.