The Gate of Eight Worlds

Chapter 36:The Sky Dreadnought’s

The blinding beam of the dreadnought’s prow searchlight pinned the party against the slick, dark granite of the sky-bridge. Above the deafening roar of the tempest, the ship’s brass propellers pounded through the gale, churning the storm clouds into violent eddies. Along the iron hull, four heavy ballista mounts rotated toward the narrow walkway, their glowing lightning-coils humming with a high-pitched, terrifying charge.

"Take cover behind the archway pillars!" Queen Natasha shouted, drawing her broadsword as the first bolt released.

THWACK!

An iron bolt as thick as a fence post slammed into the stone bridge, detonating in a shower of crackling electrical arcs that sent shattered fragments of granite flying through the rain. Caleb threw his shoulder against Princess Rose, shoving her behind a heavy stone buttress just as a second bolt scorched the air where she had been standing.

"We can't fight an armored airship from a static position!" Caleb yelled, wiping ice-cold mud and rainwater from his brow. "If they breach the structural keystone of this bridge, the whole path drops into the clouds!"

Princess Rose leaned out from behind the pillar, her eyes tracking the dark vessel as it hovered fifty feet off the bridge flank. The heavy crosswinds caused the ship’s stern to sway slightly, exposing the glowing blue glass of its secondary elevation valve.

"Barnaby!" Rose called out, pointing toward the vessel's upper deck.

The golden crest-griffin let out a sharp screech, folding his broad wings tight against his body. Diving straight down through the storm-clouds above the searchlight, Barnaby slammed into the rear upper deck with bone-crushing impact. His razor-sharp talons shredded the leather rigging of the main aft rudder, throwing the warship into a violent, unexpected drift.

The dreadnought’s spotlight swung wildly away from the bridge, its heavy weapons missing their next volley as the crew scrambled onto the wet iron deck with pressurized steam-lances to drive the griffin off.

"Alex, the engine keel!" Dwaho shouted, his eyes burning with electric-blue Sight as he traced the volatile energy pathways powering the warship. "The lightning-coils are drawing power directly from an unstable sapphire-line in the main hull! If you strike the intake port on the starboard side, the feedback will disable their primary weapons!"

"I need a lift to the deck!" Alex called back, his palm-crest blazing with white-hot solar fire that hissed aggressively against the driving rain.

Queen Natasha looked toward the high stone balustrade bordering the bridge. "Rose, give him the mark! Caleb, with me!"

Natasha and Caleb sprinted to the edge of the low stone wall, interlocking their gloved hands to form a step. Alex didn't hesitate; he sprinted down the slick stone walkway, planted his boot into their braced hands, and launched himself into the open air with everything he had.

Rose fired a broadhead arrow hooked with a heavy silk climbing line straight into the wooden gunwale of the dreadnought. Alex caught the taut rope mid-flight, swinging across the void as lightning split the sky behind him.

He landed heavily on the metallic starboard catwalk, his boots sliding against the wet iron plates. Three brass-clad steam soldiers turned toward him, raising pressurized flame-lances, but Alex was already moving. He channeled the full thermal force of his Sun-Crest straight into his steel broadsword, turning the blade into a blinding streak of solar light.

With a single sweeping strike, Alex sheared clean through the brass intake valves powering the lightning-coils.

BOOM!

A brilliant blue shockwave of electrical feedback erupted from the engine housing, shattering the warship’s primary weapons mount and killing the starboard propellers. The massive iron dreadnought groaned as its stern dipped heavily into the storm-clouds, its crew abandoning the deck as the vessel lost elevation and drifted uselessly away from the sky-bridge.

Alex leaped back onto the stone balustrade, landing beside Natasha as Barnaby swooped down to rejoin them.

"The way to the Lightning Spire is open!" Dwaho called out, pointing toward the high granite pinnacle ahead. "Move before another ship arrives!"