The Queen's Dirk, Part 3
A Novella by Diane Morrison ~ WorldAnvil Exclusive!
As seen in
Missed the beginning? Part 1 can be read here, and Part 2 can be read here!
Part 3
The yeoman yanked their flags back up the mainmast. The rear ports burst open to reveal the aft ballista, which shot a bolt directly into the belly of the biting hornet. The catapult on the fo’c’sle launched a stone at point-blank range. Shaundar felt the vibration of the recoil like a slap between his shoulder blades. At the same time, the topside ballista drove a bolt into the enemy’s bridge with a terrible shriek of tearing metal and the crash of smashing glass. The light ballistae concealed in “eye-ports” at the bow each put a bolt into the ships flanking them. Incredibly, Shaundar could even hear the bolts strike home because the enemy was so close to Queenie that their etheric membranes were intersecting hers. The marines and all spare hands aimed their crossbows at the orcs and goblins who were preparing to board them on the deck of the wounded bug-ship abaft. A score of springs twanged in unison and several of the goblin crew cried out and fell back. “NOW, Mr. Sunfall!” roared the Captain. Shaundar pitched Queenie’s nose down and, with the crew tilting the sails, peeled out at the best speed he could muster. The three ships directly surrounding them let fly with their ballistae and catapults. Shaundar felt one of the stones graze Queenie's aft. But the rest careened uselessly into space, except a catapult stone launched from the portside ship, which scraped one of the mandibles of the bug that had been at their stern. The orcish ship listed to port and began to drift aimlessly. Shaundar realized they had taken out its engine with their topside ballista. The crew cheered. The Captain called, “Well done! Reload!” Shaundar fled into the rings. By the time the flotilla had sorted itself out to begin pursuit in earnest, he had built up a good lead between them. “Outrun them if you can, Mr. Sunfall,” the Captain commanded. And Shaundar ran. “Roll larboards twenty,” he cried as they skimmed around a big asteroid. “Pitch down twenty-five,” he called as they dodged another. But he sensed the pursuing ships drawing nearer. “They’re gaining, Skipper!” The Captain peered through his glass. “Some of them are, aye.” He grinned in that fierce, almost predatory way again. “So, you’ll just have to out-fly them, Mr. Sunfall. See if you can separate them into two groups. And stay within the ring.” “Aye, sir!” Shaundar continued to flee along the flow of the Airts. “Roll starboard fifteen!” he called as they dodged a rolling rock. “Yaw larboard fifteen!” They skimmed around the edge of a chunk of ice. He knew the Captain was right. Elven ships were legendary for being more maneuverable than anything else that flew, and Shaundar knew his training made them more dexterous still. If they could not outrun the enemy, keeping them busy trying to dodge asteroids was their best chance. Four of the insectoid ships drew away from the others and began to close the distance to the Queen’s Dirk. One Pilot was amazingly fast and soon on their tail. “Weapons aft; shoot!” the Captain shouted. Both the top and bottom-mounted rear ballistae, the catapult on its swiveling turret, and their “stinger” behind the aft doors, launched their missiles at the pursuing ship. Shaundar shuddered with the recoil, but all four made contact. The catapult stone bounced off the insectoid ship’s deck. It shattered the ladder that led up to a “stinger” platform above the orc-ship’s quarterdeck. Ballista bolts punched holes in its bow. The “hornet” returned shot. “Brace for impact!” bellowed the Captain. An enormous catapult stone bounced off the edge of the ballista mount on their topside stern. A piece of its protective wall broke off. Shaundar yelped as he felt Queenie’s pain like a sharp stab in the back of his knees. A second stone collided with their larboard wing, which felt to Shaundar as if he’d been punched in the shoulder. While the pain lingered, indicating a large bruise, nothing cracked. Their foe also fired a ballista bolt from its bow. The bolt skimmed across the fo’c’sle and across the whole length of the ship, slightly left of center. It missed everything. “Reload!” the artillery commanders called. The ballistae crews lifted more bolts into place and cranked the firing mechanisms back. The catapult crew levered the beam and spoon down to fill its cup with another boulder. Shaundar wasn’t going to give them another chance if he could avoid it. He was just waiting for a suitable large asteroid… there! The Airts swirled around it in a mauve loop of gravitational and inertial forces. “Cap’n! I’m bringing ‘er about!” Shaundar called. He shifted sideways in the chair and braced his feet against the port arm and his rear against the starboard, so he was firmly wedged in place. “You heard him, lads! Forward weapons crews; prepare to fire!” Captain Oleander commanded. “Sails!” directed Shaundar. “On one, pitch down fifteen; on two, pitch ninety up and follow the curve of the asteroid. All hands brace for gravity shift.” “When we come around the asteroid, shoot at will,” the Captain said. “Aye, sir!” the gunny acknowledged. The Queen’s Dirk barreled at the mountain of stone, metal, and ice tumbling through space towards them. “Ready for my mark… one!” The sail crew dipped the sails as they skirted the tumbling stone. He directed Queenie along this trajectory for the count of a breath. “Two!” The crew luffed the topsails and the Queen’s Dirk swung up and around the curve of the asteroid. Gravity shifted towards the ceiling, but Shaundar tensed his thigh muscles to bracket himself in place and did not budge. Shaundar noted the Captain had wrapped his arm up in a safety line. His boots lifted off the deck. The catapult crew swiveled the turret to aim their weapon forward. They came around the curvature of the asteroid and found themselves facing the Hornet that had pursued them head-on. “Eyes and midships; shoot!” cried the gunny. The midships ballista just before the fo’c’sle, along with the catapult and the two light ballistae in the eye ports, all let fly at once. The orc-ship was not expecting this sudden turn of the table and had no way to avoid the attack. The ballistae bolt punctured its bow. Better yet, a catapult stone landed with perfect soaring aim directly on one of the enemy’s catapults, smashing the mechanism. Orcs scattered along the decks. Some aimed crossbows, but they missed due to Queenie’s sudden burst of speed from the asteroid’s gravity slingshot. As they rocketed past, the gunny cried, “Aft weapons, shoot!” The three abdomen-mounted ballistae let fly, and all the bolts found purchase. “Reload!” roared the gunny. Queenie now found herself facing the other three ships in the leading flotilla; one each to the port and starboard bow, and one approaching head-on that obviously intended to overtake them from above. “Dive!” yelled Shaundar. The sail crew yanked in the mainsails as Shaundar drove Queenie downward at the steepest possible angle. A ballista bolt from the ship they had just about rammed tore a hole in the mizzensail. Both the port and starboard hornets put on a sudden burst of speed in hopes of catching the elven man-o-war. Shaundar laughed aloud as the mandible of the portside one clipped its companion’s mandible right off. To add insult to injury, the catapult stones fired at Queenie continued their trajectory through space. One of them took out some of the port ship’s rigging. The other scraped the deck of the starboard ship, smearing one of their crew over the surface like a streak of red paint. Shaundar shuddered. “Nicely done,” said the Captain. But the ship that had almost collided with them tacked sharply starboard and was right on their tail. Shaundar swore as they fired off a ballista bolt. It caught Queenie in her rear door, causing a corresponding sharp pain in Shaundar’s left buttock. Their catapults were fortunately less accurate. The loosed stones sailed clear over their heads. Shaundar waggled Queenie’s wings and avoided them. “Return shot!” the Captain commanded. The three aft ballistae let fly. The topside ballista bolt shaved a line down the main deck of their pursuer, while the other two punched into their underside somewhere. Slower than the ballistae to reload, the catapult fired next. The stone ricocheted off the deck, taking some rigging and a couple of orcs and goblins with it. But the orc ship shot back with its ballista again. This time Shaundar was ready for them. He jinked so it only scuffed Queenie’s surface at the starboard stern. “Reload!” cried the gun-captain. Shaundar could sense the Airts parting for the lead ship of the second flotilla up ahead, just on the other side of an especially large asteroid in his path. Maybe the Pilot thought Shaundar would be confused by the swirl of its natural eddies, but Shaundar could sense the disruption like ripples on a pond. He had an idea. “On my first mark, pitch up forty-five,” Shaundar bellowed. “On my second mark, climb for all she's worth.” “Aye, sir!” the Sailmaster called back. He made a beeline for the asteroid. “Ready… Now!” “Heave!” cried the Sailmaster. Just as it seemed they would crash into the great rock, they pulled up and came around its other side, their pursuer still fixed on their six. The second flotilla’s lead ship filled his forward senses. “CLIMB!” he howled. They pulled up as hard as they possibly could. Queenie’s wings groaned under the strain and all the sails filled. They passed closely enough to the oncoming ship that Shaundar could hear what he assumed were Orcish expletives. There was a tremendous crash behind them and a sound like fingernails on a slate board, magnified about a thousand times. It was exactly as Shaundar had hoped. Their stalker, following too close to stop and not as maneuverable as Queenie, had collided head-on with the lead ship of the second flotilla and impaled itself on its jaws. Neither was going anywhere for a while. Cheering rolled through the Queen’s Dirk. “Three down, lads!” Captain Oleander announced. “Well done!” The three ships they had left behind had regrouped and were now bearing down on them again, and Queenie was still on a direct collision course with the second flotilla. But none of the pursuing ships were undamaged. One was missing a grappling ram. The second had damaged rigging and was missing its stays. The third had taken a brutal beating and was minus a catapult. Still, when all three of them loosed their shot on the elven man-o-war, it was almost a disaster. Five catapult stones and three ballistae bolts came at them from the aft firing arc. There was no way to avoid them all. Shaundar dipped low as he bellowed, “Hard down!” figuring the bolts would do less damage. The stones all miraculously missed, save one which clipped the lantern off their foremast. But all three of the bolts made contact. This translated to Shaundar as an excruciating sciatic pain all up and down his right leg. He gasped and clutched his upper thigh as though it would help. It took a moment to register the damage through the pain. One bolt had smashed a window in Queenie’s stern. One was thrust into the cargo hold. The third had clipped off the topside ballista mount. And the hit was not without at least one casualty. Someone in the stern was screaming.
Keep Reading!
The Queen's Dirk, Part 4
The Queen's Dirk, Part 5
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