"They are heading straight for us. I don't like this. Widen the circle," Alexi ordered. The pilot obeyed. The gondola swayed as it went into a turn.
Barrin was aware of what was happening, but his mind searched for the rest of the enemy fleet. He was confident that Alexi and the crew of the Kashan blimp could handle one attacker.
"I don't suppose there are any pets you can throw at them," the pilot asked, hinting that Alexi could introduce a sea monster into the fight.
"No-and too strong a call might endanger the convoy." The blimp was swinging wider, and sailors began to move more rapidly on the Keldon ship as it began its own turn to bear on the blimp.
"They could care less about the convoy. We're the one they want," said the pilot. Suddenly a catapult on the ship below discharged, throwing an arc of fire into the sky. "Someone got a little too eager," the pilot guessed as the arc peaked well below their altitude and turned into racing ribbons of fire, spiraling down to the ocean's surface. The pilot smiled and altered his course to bear on the ship. Gas began emptying out of the bag as the area below entered the range of the rockets the pilot controlled.
"Firing," he called. From under their feet came a rapid series of thumps, and the nose began to pitch up. A deluge of rocket-driven darts rained down and emptied into the water and against the ship.
"You got something!" Alexi crowed, and the tattered ship began losing way. One of the smoking machines on the ship's deck was on its side, and crewmembers sluiced a spreading fire with seawater from pumps.
The copilot was checking trim and preparing to deal with the loss of four bombs. Barrin was easing his efforts to bolster the ship's defensive system, while Alexi was concentrating on sweeping the area for additional attackers. All the people in the control cabin prepared to savor a masterful attack run. The doomed ship below sent up another arc of racing streamers, but the pilot ignored the futile attempt to distract him. He was about to release the bombs when the copilot dumped ballast in a rush. The shock tripped the already primed bombing system, and four heavy bombs fell toward the ocean. The crewmembers watched in disbelief as the bombs went off in close proximity to the ship but did not strike a crippling blow.
"Why the hell did you do that?" Alexi cursed as she watched their only remaining offensive weapons expending themselves uselessly against the sea. The copilot only pointed to a fire streamer in the distance.
"It skipped." The meaning of the confusing statement became clear as the Keldon fire streamer gathered into a closed ball of flame that pulsed and expanded and then rose steeply into the air. Even after dumping the bombs and the ballast, the flaming ball was still dangerously close to the blimp. If the copilot had not acted, the flames from the Keldon weapon would be spraying over them now. The pilot, Alexi, and Barrin had all succumbed to target fixation, and only the copilot remembered to check around for other dangers. Barrin reminded himself to recommend the man for a commendation.
The Keldon ship was cutting through the water again and closing with the League supply fleet. Its bow once more sent up a wave of spray, and sailors swept bodies and debris into the sea. Flares began to rise into the air, and Barrin wondered if the ship was relaying orders or just trying to confuse its attackers.
"Whoever is commanding the ship is completely crazy," Alexi said as they raced to interpose themselves between the ship and the convoy. "He invited a rocket attack, and if we hadn't acted at the last second to save ourselves the ship would have broken up under the bombs."
"He may be crazy, but he came uncomfortably close to hitting us," Barrin replied, computing the distance to the convoy and how much time before the Keldons could attack. There were only minutes to act, and Barrin didn't like the situation. He had many direct magical strikes that would destroy the opposing ship, but he might need those spells later to deal with the other Keldon ships. Barrin needed to sink this vessel quickly and cheaply.
"Alexi, begin calling whatever you can. If you call up a kraken or a leviathan, I won't mind. Just send something against that ship," the old wizard directed.
Alexi began concentrating, and crystal spheres formed. The crystals began vibrating, singing to attract the creatures of the deep, but the violence of the battle made success unlikely. The Keldon ship worsened the situation by launching several skipping streamers of fire into the sky. The transforming balls of flame drove the blimp off and made it harder for Barrin and Alexi to act. Now the League convoy appeared on the horizon, and the Keldon ship launched three more streamers of flame high into the sky. The fire raced in the direction of Barrin's supply ships, and he acted to protect them. The clouds that laced the sky seemed to darken as if soaking up ink. A wind blew from the land out to sea. Barrin threw out pulses of power in short bursts, accelerating the process. If he couldn't find the Keldon fleet, he would clear the seas surrounding the League supply ships. The wind and clouds circled over the fleet, and waves mounted and shifted directions as the sea went mad. The League ships continued on in the eye of a growing storm. No more fire streams flew toward the heavens as the Keldons tried to preserve their ship and enter the calm of the eye.
"Keep us between the Keldons and the convoy, even if you dump us in the sea to do it," Barrin ordered the pilot. The wizard continued to pound and shape the forces of the air with his will.
The battle was a strange one. The Avenging Cloud kept station and moved only in response to the Keldon ship, which became increasingly hard to track. The Keldons' attempts to conceal themselves were amplified by the rain and wind that Barrin kept roaring over the sea. Alexi sent out magic sentinels to track the ship, but the violence of the wind shattered their crystalline structure. She was blind until the violence of the storm abated.
Barrin paused in his assault when he felt Alexi's efforts. "I think I detected another ship beyond the wind." Barrin battled with the storm, not the Keldons. The winds and waves seemed hungry for the ships that sailed in the eye. Barrin could not reply to another Keldon attack for some minutes. The blimp and the entire convoy were in a dangerous position.
"We have to sink at least one of the Keldons right now." Alexi stated the obvious.
"Can you call up anything?" Barrin asked hopefully.
"Right now, I couldn't command a goldfish," Alexi said with disgust.
"Then we will have to get as close as possible and attack the ship directly," Barrin declared. "Have the pilot take us down to just a few hundred feet above the water."
The storm Barrin had conjured was making the pilot's job much harder than the man was prepared to deal with. He was constantly adjusting the throttles and was green with nausea. The blimp flexed and rose with the vagaries of the wind, and the pilot retched over the controls as he fought airsickness. The pilot listened to Alexi convey the old wizard's orders as he fought a downdraft.
"He wants us just over the sea?" the pilot exclaimed. "With this wind, he wants us just over the water?"
"It's the only way to attack the Keldons. We need to stay low," Alexi ordered, visibly gagging from the odor of vomit. She returned to Barrin.
"I will support the defenses, and you must take the offense." Barrin was winded from his constant struggle with the storm. He needed a few moments to collect himself. "Hit them with a massive power strike the second you can see the ship," Barrin directed.