Barrin could feel a pulse of power, and he watched a ball of sulfurous flame launched straight at them. Only Yarbo's dropping turn generated a miss. Barrin heard his bones creak as the pilot snapped his wings level and began climbing beyond the camp.
"We need to make another pass," the wizard announced. "I thought I felt something new when we flew over." The pilot turned the ship and sent it racing toward the ground.
"I hope you find what you need this time, because I'm not doing this again," Yarbo hissed.
The ornithopter dodged close to the ground to avoid fire while Barrin sent his senses out once more. The wizard massed power for attack as the ornithopter came closer to the Keldon army. Their craft was so low that Barrin feared a collision with the warriors and slaves scrambling for cover. The ancient magic user could feel stores of energy quiescent in the land barges-not hot like the magic that he had detected before. Waves of fire and attack spells prevented Barrin from looking further.
Keldon air defense crews ignored the danger of creating casualties and fired on Barrin's craft. Streams of flame dug into the ground and incinerated warriors in the Keldon camp as anti-air fire missed. Barrin directed a slap of power against a fire barge racing for a better position. The enemy craft exploded in flame, and the ornithopter jinked around the rising cloud of flame and smoke, pulling for altitude behind the screen of fiery destruction. Streamers still filled the air, but the pilot let out a long breath of relief as the range opened and the ornithopter sped away from the camp.
"I hope you got what you needed," Yarbo said as he rose to a high altitude.
"There is definitely something in those barges," Barrin replied distractedly. "It's more than the magic propelling them. There is some surprise cargo carried here for battle."
"Well you're about to find out," said the pilot. "The League is attacking."
The Keldons were near the bottom of a long rise and pulled back a hundred yards to deploy. Barrin could see the League massing its forces on the lip of the rise. War machines lined up, settling into place like restive horses at the start of a race. The infantry formed behind. Spears glinted as squares of soldiers prepared to kill or die. The cavalry was two irregular masses on the wings of the force.
"Don't attack now!" Barrin shouted, his voice reverberating in the cabin. Below him the first wave of League machines poured into battle.
The steel ants raced down the slope, quickly pulling ahead of the other machines and men. Barrin could see the Keldon lines contracting, tensing like a spring, then a flare of energy burst from the Keldon anti-air unit. It was a clear shot over the lines, hitting the face of the rise. War machines were smashed as they advanced down to the enemy warriors. Fire barges broke up the League units, and the ants hit the fighters awaiting them in disorganized driblets. The bludgeoning crabs, the center of the attack, started down the rise with infantry close behind. The fire barges would boot them all over the landscape. Barrin's head threatened to explode as he raised power over the hostile enemy force. A continuous bolt of lightning flashed from the ornithopter to the ground.
"Go slower," Barrin said through tensed lips, and the pilot cut speed to almost a standstill.
The lightning advanced at a brisk walk, leaving a narrow trail of fused soil. The arc bumped into a fire barge and played over the vehicle for long seconds as slaves and mages threw themselves onto the ground and away from pending disaster. The vehicle did not explode, but fires broke out and engulfed it, roasting the crew who were too slow to abandon their charge. Some fire barges surged into motion to escape the lightning's path. Others ceased firing on the League army and concentrated on Barrin. The pilot swooped like an escaping thrush, and Barrin let loose a second stream of lightning on a fire barge. The Keldons cooked and died, and the craft turned circles with the helmsman steaming on the deck.
The ants bunched up against Keldon warriors, and Barrin threw his senses over the fight. The men fighting the machines were large, garbed in heavy leather and swinging swords that bit into their metal opponents. Blood showed on steel mandibles, but more and more machines went down. The Keldons attacked joints, and those with axes and clubs pounded machines to pieces.
The second wave of League forces arrived at the base of the rise. Crabs advanced with infantry close behind. Enemy warriors started breaking from the lines for the land barges in the rear. Barrin dared hoped they were running, but only a thin stream of men withdrew from the formations. For each warrior that entered the barges, several armored figures came out. Barrin could feel a swelling of magic power as the Keldon army grew larger and larger. The swords and axes lifted against the League were wielded not by men but by simulations of warriors. Manikins-hollow warriors- pulsed with energy that mimicked fighters leading them from the barges. Warriors led squads to reinforce the lines as the League crabs arrived, each set of false men in sync with a living leader.
The Keldons chanted, and the line tensed, becoming rock hard as the crabs hit. Crab bludgeons rose and fell, each blow smashing men and manikins alike to the ground. Barrin could see misshapen corpses falling as bones shattered into mush.
League officers screamed orders as they ran to the line, and the crabs unleashed flurries of bolts into the Keldons. Men fell as blood and gore exploded from projectile wounds, but the hollow warriors soaked up the fire without wavering. A few of the false men dropped, but even the heaviest League blow couldn't crack the line. More and more swords flowed from the barges, and the Keldons started to advance. League machines attacked as individuals, but mixtures of manikins and warriors acted as unified squads. Manikins threw themselves onto war machines while axes severed mechanical limbs.
The infantry lagged behind its steel allies, hesitant to add merely human strength to the destruction the war machines inflicted. Now the League constructions were falling. Chanting madmen swung bloody swords. Here and there near-giants inspired twisting maelstroms of slaughter. Some Keldons were in heavy armor, steel enclosures on the shoulders and chest holding burning coals and brands. Waves of smoke poured over the League lines. Soldiers coughed and felt a spreading terror. The war manikins threw themselves on infantry spears and broke the League units into clumps of panicking men. The crabs were consumed, and more and more soldiers abandoned all hope. Many began to run away from the battles, streaming back to camp or into Keldon territory, fleeing the fighting without regard for direction.
A few units held firm. The single section of mantises advanced into the Keldon line, their arms flickering in attacks that yanked warriors into range of their cutting jaws. The infantry with the mantises supported the machines, protecting their flanks, but the rest of the League was melting away. Even the elite soldiers retreated. In the midst of the fighting withdrawal, Barrin could see General Mageta directing men equipped with launchers. The unit fired light rockets into the warriors and manikins. Dozens flew apart in explosions, but the Keldons charged, some jumping over the remains of their comrades. Mageta and other soldiers moved forward with swords and shields while their comrades reloaded.
The Kipamu League cavalry had swung wide and fell on the left wing of the Keldon army. Bolts bled Keldon warriors, and the League riders taunted them out of position, pretending to retreat and then turning on the strung-out warriors chasing them. The horsemen turned to attack again, but now the barges moved to the flanks. Ballista bolts and fireballs left wounded horses screaming in the dirt. Young warriors finished off dismounted cavalrymen.