674 - Flying Beasts

Skies over the Old World

The atmosphere between the three UN airships was grim as the crew watched the lands below them split open and villages and towns were swallowed up by either the earth or hordes of unknown creatures. Following behind the tiny UN flotilla were dozens of airships of various sizes, all clinging after the safety offered by the UN flotilla as the locals abandoned their homes and took to the skies in a variety of airships for safety.

"Why are we not saving those people?" Plee asked as she leaned over the railings, looking down at the ravaged lands below them.

Magister Thorn sighed as he looked away from the ruins of a town below them and explained, "We can't stop and save everyone... We simply do not have the resources to do so..."

"What we can do, is to escort these fugitives behind us to safety," Magister Thorn said. "Those on the ground... We simply do not have enough space to bring them along with us... They have to find their own way to safety..."

"Can't we just blow away all those monsters coming out from the ground?" Plee looked unhappily at a sizeable gathering of creatures crossing the lands, her hands feeling itchy.

"No, we do not have enough munitions if we do that," Acting Captain, Trism replied from the side. "We still have a long way to go. Those on the ground will be left to the heavens fate..."

The situation below them was something that they neither had the time nor resources to deal with, especially since communications had been lost with Fort Anchorage a few days ago. Trism had half the mind to return to Fort Anchorage to find out what had happened but Magister Thorn as expedition head had instead wanted to continue on.

"We can only escort the fugitives following us in their airships to the nearest Cartel mountain city," Trism said. "And we should be arriving soon at the Cartel's capital. The Silver Mountain city."

"CONTACT!" The bridge watch cried out, his eyes glued to the pair of binoculars while his other free hand pointed out to the horizon. Trism rushed forward and took over the pair of binoculars and scanned the skies. "Unidentified flying creatures!

"It's those damn flying beasts!" Trism growled. They had encountered a flock of these strange radar evading flying creatures a few days ago. "All hands action stations!"

Crew members rushed out from the hatches as the siren was sounded. Weather covers were removed from deck guns and were loaded with munitions as they were manned. Even the goblins ran the original steam cannons of the Old Ugly out, all heavily modified until their original appearances were totally unrecognizable.

The three UN ships quickly adopted a battle line while pre arranged signals flags and lights to the refugee fleet were displayed out. The refugee fleet spotting the signals turned and tried to gather together in a tight defensive group, some ships even fled the group, taking their chances out there alone. Those refugee ships carrying cannons ran them out to provide some extra assurance as to the dark mass in the skies headed towards them.

Sharp thunder broke out from the UN ships as their larger calibre guns tracked onto the approaching swarm both by eye and laser. The 88s boomed sharply, sending AA shells spinning into the air before their timed fuse exploded, turning into a dark cloud of flak. Deadly shards of metal scythed out randomly in the air and the flying beasts screamed in a human manner as they were cut down from the skies.

As the flying beasts broke through the clouds of flak, they were met with a hail of bullets, shells and even grapeshot. Trism watching the action from behind the armoured glass windows of the bridge, sighed inwardly as he made a mental calculation of the number of munitions spent in this single engagement. The decks beneath him shuddered once more as the hidden main guns fired, sending off another salvo of flak at the flying beasts.

"What manner of creatures are these?" He asked the magister who was flipping through dozens of scrolls at the corner of the bridge.

Magister Thorn frowned deeply as he dropped another ancient scroll that he had skimmed as he was trying to identify the flying creatures. "I have no idea... Some kind of flying nightmare?"

"Its looks like a very skinny land dragon with wings... but it's definitely not a kind of dragon nor a lizard!" Magister Thorn mumbled to himself. "What can they be?"

The previous encounter hasn't netted them any samples as confusion and the need to move a large group of panicking civilians onboard airships away from any threats didn't help in giving a clue to the beasts they were facing. As Magister Thorn dived back into his scrolls, a crew yelled out in surprise at a report from the deck gunners. "A- A rider?"

"Gunners are reporting spotting people riding those flying beasts!" The bridge crew quickly reported. "We have yet to confirm those reports!"

"What?" Both Trism and Magister Thorn were shocked. Even Professor Hamlot was dumbfounded by the news. "Some people are riding those things?"

They hurried over to the viewports once more and used their binoculars to peer through the smoke at the fast flying beasts, trying to spot those with riders. Professor Hamlot looked around with a hopeful expression, "Could we communicate with them? Call for a truce?"

"If they are willing to," Trism replied before Magister Thorn said anything. "But looking at their actions so far, I doubt so..."

The decks quivered once more as another salvo was sent on its way to the flying beasts.

-----

The Cartel, The Silver Mountains

Molten iron hissed as they were poured out from massive crucibles, the cherry red liquid flowing down the grooves into moulds. Half naked dwarvens wearing thick leather aprons and gloves worked with the liquid metal, reforming the metal into their needs. Constant bangs of hammers rang out inside the huge workshop.

Grand Lord Hammerfall looking haggard, even more so under the glow of the forge fires and molten metal, let out a sigh as he turned to the head smith. "We need more barrels!"

"My Lord, my people are already working at their fastest!" The head smith hid his scowl at the demanding tone of his Lord. "We cannot rush the forming of the barrels! Or they will break and shatter if not properly formed and cooled!"

"We are out of time!" Grand Lord Hammerfall hissed. "Creatures from nightmares are crawling out from the hallows of the earth! We need more weapons!"

It had been a surprise for the Cartel when suddenly the underground highway that linked the mountain cities together was filled with hordes of blind monsters that poured out from the walls. Furthermore, sinkholes appeared which giants, a species that had disappeared for over a hundred years, reappeared and started wreaking havoc on the land.

Strange winged beasts with four long legs and a long head came swooping down on any airships that took to the skies. They targeted discriminatory and many Protectorate airships were weighted down by their numbers, their claws smashing wooden decks and their long necks snaking into holes and cracks for flesh to feast on.

"Lord Hammerfall!" A dwarvan messenger came running in. "Urgent request for more fire lances from Lord Glimmel! A horde of flying beasts is sighted over the Mountain!"

"What?" Lord Hammerfall turned away from the head smith and glared at the sweating messenger. "More fire lances? Do Lord Glimmel thinks fire lances fall from the skies? He can have twenty and that's all we can spare!"

The messenger nodded in relief as twenty fire lances were better then none. He quickly gestured to his porters who came over to carry the crates of fire lances, long metal tubes with wooden stocks, made out of dwarvan steel and dark wood. The messenger paused for a moment before he asked again in a soft voice, "My Lord... How about the fire bolts...?"

"Grrr! Take it! Take it!" Lord Hammerfall cursed loudly. The messenger quickly ordered the rest of the porters to move the barrels of fire powder and boxes of finger long lead bolts away before the angry Lord changes his mind. The strange but powerful weapons introduced by the Grand Lord Hammerfall and Lord Copperstone on their return were in high demand.

Both Lords had moved their entire clans' resources within the Silver Mountains to mass produce fire lances, fire powder and special lead bolts. True to their skills, the dwarvan metal smiths were able produce a simple muzzle loader together with a clockwork spring striker. The formula for black powder had used all of Grand Lord Hammerfall's wits and guts, as he drank and gambled with the goblins techies a long period of time before he managed to piece together the clues.

A mixture of cave salt, brimstone and charcoal, mixed in the correct portions would create a powder that will burst into violent flames at the touch of any spark. Similar to steam cannons, but without the need for steam, fire powder would be poured into the barrel followed by a small swab of linen or oiled leather and a finger joint length oblong lead bolt.

Using the existing steam release lever system together with a clockwork mechanism allowed a striker with a flint head to strike sparks into the rear end of the barrel, causing the flammable fire powder to ignite. The force of the violent flames will propel the lead bolt out at a force that could kill an armoured person at over two hundred steps away!

Unlike steam lances, which lethal range was around thirty steps away and required the pressure chamber to be charged before use, the new fire lances introduced by Grand Lord Hammerfall and Lord Copperstone were deadlier, easier to learn, operate and handle. Over a thousand smiths worked together to mass produce the new weapons, taking only a few days of non stop experimenting to produce a working model. As for the cave salt, it was easy to gather as miners encountered large qualities of the mineral salt and it was commonly used to preserve meat and shrooms.

Grand Lord Hammerfall cast one last glance at the head smith and said, "Produce as many as you can, these weapons will determine our fate!"

The head smith nodded grimly, "For Rock and Stone!"

"For Rock and Stone!" Hammerfall nodded and chased after the messenger who had the weapons carried off. After travelling in the slow and noisy rickety steam elevator, he realised he missed the amazing technology of the UN over at the New World. Finally, he emerged out into the sun and the steam elevator came to a shaky halt. He found himself outside at the tallest western battlements of the Silver Mountain.

Dozens of dwarvan warriors in leather and steel armour hurried past him and joined hundreds of others at the battlement steps, carrying a mixture of steam bows and steam lances. He followed behind and headed straight to the command tower, stepping over hoses and pipes and passing by rows of steam cannons and nervous warriors.

Suddenly a cry of alarm was heard, followed by a mad clanging of a bell. He paused and looked into the cloud covered skies and saw a host of flying beasts diving down from the clouds. Instantly, commanders yelled out commands and for a moment, the surrounding temperature rosed as steam was gathered into every steam cannon pointing right up into the skies.

"BY THE MOUNTAINS! RELEASEEEE!" A commanding voice rang out and dozens of steam cannons released their pended up steam, throwing hundreds of fist sized lead balls out. The diving beasts shrieked as they slammed into the wall of lead and exploded into blood mist from the force and like rain, they crashed into the walls and shields of the dwarvan warriors.


***** Author's Rumblings *****
Wow... ever since I started my new job... I had lost 6-7 kg in 4 mths...