Shadowrun - Earthdawn - Mother Speaks (29 page)

During a break I ran into Krattack out on the deck, though more likely than not Krattack had sought me out. I did not mind. I remembered him fondly since I'd last seen him. Of the people I'd met since the Theran castle flew over my home months earlier, he had been the most honest and the most interesting. He seemed terribly old now. The gray-green flesh now sagged along his large muscles. His eyes, once piercing, now seemed unfocused and carried a white shadow within them. His gentle smile — with a touch of his humor — still remained.

"You're very tired, aren't you?" I said to him.

"Somewhat. I just don't make a show of hiding it anymore."

"Retiring soon?"

"Dead soon," he said. Then, when I reacted with surprise, “Not anything strange about that. I am old. I travel with warriors. It's going to happen."

"You don't know ..."

"I wanted to tell you that none of this would have been possible without you. Or, rather, I would have arranged it somehow, but you were the one."

"None of what?"

"This meeting. This cooperation."

"I'm not sure ..."

"Of course you're not. You haven't been around, and to you cooperation seems perfectly natural. But trust me, this gathering of warriors was no easy task. Vrograth had his work cut out for him."

"Vrograth? I thought you were the magic behind this, old man."

"No. No." He twirled his fingers in the air. “I can work manipulations from a distance, but no one would take an old troll seriously. Warriors don't understand or trust talk of cooperation unless they hear it from someone who is as fierce and independent as they are. That's the only way they can really come to accept that cooperation may be the only viable option. Vrograth was the person to send to the front."

"I wouldn't think he could gather people into an alliance."

"Which is where you came in. You made quite an impression on him, you know. You bested him three times. First with your peculiar contest of patience — wonderful, by the way. I would never have thought of that. Second, during the war dance. And third, when we defeated those two Theran ships. The day you were captured you proved that your way of thinking worked well. In his own clumsy way he's tried to emulate you."

"Really?"

Krattack laughed. "No one would ever confuse the two of you, but he's done passing well at it. Anyway, thank you so much for not running off that night."

"You would have stopped me in any case."

He touched his bulky fingers to my right shoulder. "That, my dear is where you're wrong.

If my words could not persuade you, you were free to go on as you wished. What would have been the point of holding you against your will? I needed someone who could speak to Vrograth from her heart."

"But I wanted to go after my children."

"Dying wouldn't have helped them. You knew that. Anyway, thank you."

"It's seems like you're the one who should be thanked."

"Both of us. But neither of us will be. The histories are written by men who think the killing and body totals are the most valuable part of a solution's conflict. The peacemakers are seen as extraneous elements, usually dangerous."

I smiled at his humility. "I doubt that, Krattack. If we win, your work will long be remembered."

"You're wrong, dear Releana. But I appreciate your kind words."

Krattack was right, of course. He died the next day, and no one speaks of him.

24

The raids on the Theran ships did not prepare me for the Battle of Throal. The number of people involved overwhelmed my sensibilities. The number of deaths I witnessed from moment to moment stretched the bounds of my sanity.

Airships flew like swarms of black birds around each other. Fireballs raced between the ships, brilliant red arcs of death seeking out their victims. Flames blossomed on drakkars and castles and stone airships. Men and women plunged to their deaths, some twisting and turning in pain as ragged flames ate their flesh and trails of smoke uncoiled behind them. The ships raced toward one other, the stone ships trying to ram the wooden drakkars. The troll raiders attempted to swing in close to the Theran vessels to board the stone ships without being struck. Sword fights erupted on castle walls. Riggings of ships became delicate stages for sword fights.

On the ground, hundreds of troops swelled up against each other in terrible, raging confrontations. Magic and arrows and swords stole the lives of hundreds.

The t'skrang riverboats made it up the Coil, navigating the turbulent and rocky water, delivering supplies to the kingdom. Later that afternoon the horde of Throalic warriors swept out from the kingdom, overwhelming the Theran troops stationed at the gates of the kingdom. Theran airships descended to support their soldiers, and with their attention split, the battle came our way.

I myself crewed the
Stone Rainbow
's fire cannon, along with Wia. First I became numb, and then euphoric. The entire battle, which raged three days, turned me into something I no longer wish to remember. I felt Thystonius nearby — along with everyone present, Theran and crystal raider alike — though I did not see her. She loved the battle. She craved only that there be excuses enough for conflict and that people act on them. She infused us all with her Passion so we might fight harder and longer.

On the third day it seemed that we had won. The Theran fleet had been cracked in half.

With their valuable armada weakened, I thought our victory was certain. Then I saw at castle rushing towards us — the largest of those the Therans had in the air. I did not recognize it at first, but knew it when it began firing on us.
The Preserver
.

25

"J'role," I shouted, "Get us about. The Overgovernor's coming!"

Even as I screamed the words, I felt the ship lurching to starboard. We had little choice but to retreat, for we had become separated from the rest of our fleet while pursuing a Theran airship. The winds picked up around use and large drops of rain began stinging against my skin.

"Drop the sails," Wia commanded, and we quickly climbed up to get the sails down. As we worked, I glanced over my shoulder and saw
The Preserver
getting closer and closer.

"Why did they stop firing?" Wia asked.

I looked back. It was true. My mind drew a blank in its attempt to answer her question.

And then it came to me. "He knows we're on the ship … "

"He?"

"Overgovernor Povelis. He wants us. He wants the boys."

I left the others working on the sails and ran to J'role. "It's Povelis. He's coming for the boys."

He kept his eyes focused forward, trying to keep the
Stone Rainbow
on a course toward the rest of our ships. "The boys,” he said softly. "Releana, this custom of the Therans, with the twins. Do you think it's true? I mean, can we stop him no matter what we do?"

"I don't know. I don't." I remembered the fight on the drawbridge in Vivane. I told J'role about it and said, "When the Overgovernor almost cut Torran, that's when I punched him.

He nearly went over the edge. He would have died. But he didn't. The boys were still fine. So maybe."

"Or, they were almost cut. Just a little. Maybe the magic almost killed him to keep him in line. To remind him how important they are."

Behind me came a red glare. I turned to see two fireballs rushing toward us. Grabbing J'role, I slammed us both into the ground. The ship rocked wildly and flames rushed up over the stern.

J'role jumped up, grabbing the wheel. He tried to steer back toward the drakkars, but the wheel turned loosely in his hands. I looked out over the stern and saw that the fireballs had ruined the rudder. The castle loomed over us now, its massive, dark stone walls filling all the space behind us.

"I've got to get the children off the ship," I said.

Distantly, as if to himself, J'role said, "Yes."

Upon committing to fight in the war, I had found a copy of the metal wings spell and inscribed it into my grimoire. It was my plan to take the two of you in my arms and fly off with you. I rushed toward the stairs to the lower decks. Glancing off to my left as I reached the doorway, I saw that a dozen drakkars had broken off from the fleet and were rushing to meet up with us. There was no guarantee they would reach us in time.

26

I'd had to leave you boys in my cabin when the fighting began. As I rushed down the corridor to reach you, I was halfway there when the
Stone Rainbow
slammed suddenly to port. The sound of stone grinding against stone raked through my ears. The castle had rammed us. I fell into the wall of the corridor, catching myself just as the castle rammed us again. The sound of stone cracking open grew louder, and I heard the two of you screaming.

With the ship listing back and forth, I ran until I reached the cabin. When I pushed the door open, a gust of wind rushed past me. A long fissure seven inches across cut along the floor and up the wall. One of my crystal seals had split. The two of you were on the other side of the fissure, clinging to each other. The Preserver struck us again, the fissure widened.

I was completely unnerved. It was one thing to look over the edge of a ship and see the ground far below. It was another to see the ground far below from the room where one slept.

I heard shouts from above, and knew the crew of
The Preserver
had begun boarding us. If we were going to get away, it would have to be now. I jumped over the fissure, scooped you both up in my arms and then jumped back. Struggling with your weight, I ran out into the corridor, toward the lower deck's cargo door. All I had to do was open it, cast the spell, and fly away, as the magician had forced me to do months earlier.

We reached the door. I pulled the latch ...

It did not open.

I tried again, and again but I could not force it. Damage to the ship had sealed it tight.

"Come on." Holding your hands, I led you forward to the stairs leading to the upper decks. J'role and Wia and two trolls met us from the direction we were heading.

"They're on board," said Wia. "We're dead. At least that's how it looks to me. The rest of the crew's given up the ghost on the upper deck."

"Hide," I said and the two of you turned and ran off.

"Overgovernor Povelis," a Theran shouted from somewhere up the stairway, "We have to leave NOW! The raiders will be here any minute."

"Not without the children!"

"But ..."

"NOT WITHOUT THOSE BOYS!"

Footsteps clattered down the stairs. J'role, Wia, the trolls, and I drew ourselves up for the fight. Five Theran soldiers, their silver and scarlet armor dented and bloodstained, appeared in the doorway at the foot of the stairs. Behind them came the Overgovernor.

"Wait," he said to his men when he saw us. "Wait." To us he said, "I have little time here.

If you give me the two boys, I'll leave you all alive. I'll just leave. I don't have time to fight with you."

His face betrayed such fear as I have never seen anyone reveal. It was as if he would die if he could not get the boys. And in his mind, that was the truth. Or perhaps it really was true. The ways of Theran magic are mysterious and unknown to me.

I felt a bizarre pity for him but said, "Get off my ship now." Wind from cracks throughout the hull rushed down the corridors. I almost laughed, for it seemed ridiculous to use my crumbling ship as sacred ground.

"They're just your children. They are my life." His white face contorted into deep anger, and he shouted at his men to attack us.

"J'role, what is it?"

"They can't be his life. That's wrong. Wrong. People can't ..."

He felt silent. The Therans charged. I cast a fireball, and it caught the first two full in the chest. They fell back as the trolls by my side rushed up and engaged the others. I thought the fight would be ours, but then more Theran soldiers arrived. "Get them! Kill them!

Find the boys. We will not leave the ship until we have them!" The soldiers seemed about to argue, then pulled the words deep into themselves and charged us. A magician was in the group, and he cast a spell to overheat our weapons. I cast a spell to manacle the Therans.

Swords and spells clashed until the trolls were dead, only a few Therans had fallen, and Wia and I lay bleeding on the floor. The Overgovernor walked up to us. "You see? The boys and I are bonded. I am safe." To his remaining soldiers he said, "Kill these two, and find the boys."

The
Stone Rainbow
groaned heavily once mare, this time not from collision, but from the damage already taken. Thick cracks ran through the ceiling, and bits of stone rained down upon us. In the floor between the Therans and us a huge fissure opened — five feet wide

— and the two sides of the corridor tilted down toward the opening. The corpses on the floor slid down through the blood and dropped out through the hole. The rest of us scrambled to keep our footing, and Wia and I worked desperately to pull ourselves further up the corridor.

The Overgovernor did the same until one of the trolls from our crew, now dead, began to roll down toward the hole. The body struck the Overgovernor in the back of the legs, and the two of them, their limbs tangled, tumbled out through the hole. The Overgovernor's fingers clutched at the edge of the hole for just an instant, then vanished from sight. All that was left was the Overgovernor’s scream, and then we could hear it no more.

The soldiers on the other side of the crack took the opportunity to retreat, racing back up the stairs and back onto
The Preserver
. The castle sailed off and still threatens Barsaive today.

Wia and I took the time to breathe a sigh of relief, then stood up carefully, gripping door jambs to make sure we didn't slip and meet the Overgovernor's fate.

"How long do you think the ship will last?" she asked me.

"I have no idea." I called out for the two of you, but received no answer.

"It looks like the Overgovernor's luck wasn't tied to the boys after all."

"Yes," I said numbly as we continued climbing up the corridor, then suddenly fear came at me with icy claws. "Where's J'role?"