Deferring to Gomja’s battle sense, Teldin watched as the giff deployed the defenders. The deathspider’s leg had driven through the bow and now formed an arch from ship to ship, the way lined by web-like sails. The leg made a firm boarding ramp for the neogi attackers, who were about halfway across when the gnome defenders arrived.
Still trapped in a single-file line on the narrow leg, the umber hulks in the lead were at a clear disadvantage, which Gomja intended to capitalize on. Giving brisk orders, the giff divided the gnomes into two groups and stationed them on both sides of the attackers. Teldin remained to one side as the giff planted himself at the head of the army, squarely in the path of the attacking lordservants. His flanks were supported by the doughtiest of the gnomes, armed with spears, poles, or any kind of long weapon. Those few gnomes with crossbows were sent to the upper deck, where they would have clear shots at the enemy’s back ranks.
“We’ll hold them on the grapple,” Gomja ordered his companions as he primed his pistol. The giff was not one for making speeches, but his fierce look of determination inspired the little warriors with him. The gnome fighters assumed their fiercest scowls, ready for the task.
“Sir, have your lot try to push them off the walk with spears,” the giff shouted to Teldin. “With a good shove, you should be able to topple them over the side.” The cloakmaster looked over the edge. The two ships, straining and grinding against each other, had drifted away from the lake and were now flying high above the crater’s rocky walls. A fall from this height, Teldin guessed, would mean certain death for the lordservants.
The deck lurched and swayed as the first umber hulk came unsteadily down the deathspider’s leg. The creature’s bulk allowed it to bat easily through the thicket of poles and spears put up by Teldin’s squad of gnomes. Before the lordservant could reach the bow, however, Gomja rose up with his pistol leveled at the beast. “To the void with you!” he bellowed, his defiant cry punctuated by his pistol’s crack. The space between the two giants filled with smoke. The umber hulk reeled back with a squeal as a lead ball smashed through its forehead, then it stumbled over an out-thrust spear, plunged off the wood-and-metal leg, tore through the thin sails, and plummeted to the rocks below. “Again! Again!” cheered the gnomes as they marveled at Gomja’s wonderful weapon. The giff only shook his head, thrust the still-smoking pistol back into his sash, and drew his elven blade.
Another lordservant charged forward to take the first’s place, once again tearing through the bristle of spear points. Its wild rush was finally stopped by Gomja’s almost equally matched bulk as the giff stood astride the spiderleg boom. Gomja, now in his element, wielded his sword with crazed intensity, aided by the gnomes at his side. Teldin had little time to watch, since another of the hideous umber hulks already charged down the boom. Unable to proceed past its predecessor, who was locked in battle with the giff, the newcomer slashed and battled against the forest of spears.
“On my signal, lunge!” Teldin shouted to the gnomes around him. “Now!” A wall of spear points thrust at the umber hulk. A rope shot out from the other side of the bow and snaked over one of the creature’s mandibles, jerking the beast’s head to the far side. The spears pressed at it and, though these were unable to penetrate the creature’s bony hide, the beast staggered back. Suddenly one taloned foot was clawing air and the umber hulk plunged over the side with a chittering squeal. A faint, pulpy thump echoed from the rocks below. Almost mindlessly, another pushed forward to take its place.
Although the umber hulks possessed advantages of size and ferocity, the battle was unwinnable almost from the start, once their chance of reaching the bow was lost. Restricted to their narrow beam, the lordservants were unable to bring their might to bear. While the front rank of gnome defenders, Gomja at their head, stalled the lead attacker, Teldin and his squad brought the second rank down. From the deck above could be heard the twang of crossbows as gnomish marksmen concentrated on ranks even farther back. Time after time the gigantic umber hulks plunged to their deaths, and as more of the lordservants fell, Gomja boldly pushed himself farther and farther onto the deathspider’s leg.
Just when the giff was almost beyond the reach of the spears, the two ships rolled precipitously to the right as the Unquenchable tore free of all but this, the last of the deathspider’s grasping arms. Teldin suddenly found himself sliding across the deck in a snarl of gnomes. There was a series of unnatural screams followed by the distant thuds of flesh on rock. “Gomja!” the human shouted in panic, dreading that his friend may have been among those lost.
“Still here, sir!” boomed the giff. The big brute had caught the bow railing just in time, but the lordservants facing him had not been so lucky. The other spider legs were clear of the gnomes’ vessel, and now the wooden beam was all that joined the two ships.
“Axes, quickly!” Teldin shouted, pushing the gnomes around him to action. There was no telling how long this opportunity might remain. “Chop that leg free!” The gnomes scrambled quickly to gather the necessary tools. Turning to Gomja, still on the beam, the farmer waved the big giff back. “Clear off, Gomja, we’re ready to go!”
“No, sir, I won’t!” Gomja shouted back. He stood unsteadily in the center of the boom, his sword and tunic splashed with blood. “First platoon, gather to me!” he bellowed, raising his elven blade as a rallying point. Already the fiercest of the gnomes scrambled to join him.
“Gomja, what’re you doing? Get back here. I order it!” Teldin cupped his hands and shouted to the giff over the freshening breeze.
“I’m sorry to disobey, but I’ve got to, sir. This tub-” Gomja waved his sword toward the Unquenchable- “can’t outrun a deathspider. The neogi ship’s got to be stopped from the inside. First platoon!” he bawled again.
“There’s got to be another way,” the human insisted as he forced his way onto the boom.
“No, sir,” Gomja answered firmly. He strode down the leg to meet his friend, balancing himself with his sword. “It’s time I took on a command, sir, a real command.” The giff held out his big hand to Teldin. “It really is good-bye this time, sir. Don’t worry, I’ll get back all right-maybe even aboard this deathspider.”
Teldin looked at the giffs offered hand and then, finally, took it in his own. They had been together long enough for Teldin to learn Gomja’s sense of honor. The farmer did not like it-did not even understand it-but he could not deny the giff his chance for glory. “Damn it, good luck, Sergeant Gomja. You’re going to be a famous giff someday. You’ll have a lot of stories to tell when you become a sire.” The wind whipped the cloak around Teldin’s arms.
“Thank you, sir. I’m sure you’ll be in them, too.” The giff shook the human’s hand firmly, but Teldin didn’t even notice the crushing pain. “Now, clear off, sir, so your gnomes can cut that plank.”
The cloakmaster nodded numbly and backed off the deathspider boom, signaling his axemen to their task as he did so. “First platoon, charge!” Gomja bawled. With a rush, the big giff led his handful of gnomes up the arching span of the leg, then straight down into the deathspider’s maw. The giff scrambled onto the hull and disappeared from sight. Over the wind, Teldin could barely hear the sounds of battle. That distant noise was drowned out by the sound of axes biting into wood.
Teldin stood back and watched, ready to order the gnomes to stop if there was any sign of the giff or his men, but none came. Finally, the last axe blows severed the deathspider’s leg and the Unquenchable lurched backward with a savage jolt. The splintered end of the wooden boom dragged across the bow with a grinding squeal, then swung out over emptiness. Without waiting to supervise the cleanup, Teldin turned and sprinted back to the bridge, barreling past any gnome who got in his way.