"Doesn't look very impressive, does it? But it's the troops on board that are the real threat," the combat mage said while preparing for battle. His comments were addressed less to Barrin than to the world at large.
Suddenly one of the engines on the Keldon ship discharged high into the air, the projectile a flaming mass. It burned so brightly that even when Barrin looked away he could see the trajectory's afterimage superimposed over his vision.
"Oh, those swine!" someone in the cabin swore.
Barrin looked again. The fire had been cast at such a high angle, he thought the Grey Dove safe, but at the apex of the trajectory the compact ball of fire expanded and altered shape. A cloud of fiery green and yellow streamers glided down. For every foot they fell, the flaming projectiles moved yards closer to the smaller blimp. Then the streamers collapsed and rained fire down over the pastel envelope. Barrin imagined the crew burning as he waited for the explosion-but the explosion never came. The envelope was burning, smeared with fire, but the flames weren't spreading. In fact, they were starting to slowly diminish even as he looked on.
"Told you the defenses make a difference. The engines are spraying a mist that retards combustion. As long as the fuel holds out, or they don't lose power, the flames should be controllable." Teferi sounded relieved, but he immediately turned grim. "The pilot, however, has no business being that low over the water. He is going to get another volley from that ship if he doesn't break off soon."
While Teferi talked, Barrin shifted his glass from the blimp to the ship. The Keldons were moving erratically on the deck, and as the Hunter closed, he could detect the marshalling of magical power aboard all the craft in the area. The Grey Dove began to point down in a shallow dive, and Barrin saw ballast being dumped aft. The nose of the blimp dipped toward the surface.
A hail of projectiles poured from under the blimp. Dozens of rockets leaped at the ship, leaving ribbons of smoke and light as they accelerated to a high velocity. Dark vapors poured from braziers on the Keldon ship, forming a cloud in front of the attack. If it served a defensive purpose, Barrin had no idea what it was. The projectiles were not effected at all and beat the water into froth as the spikes nailed the sea and part of the ship's deck.
"We'll follow his bombing run and finish what's left," the pilot called as he adjusted course to over-fly the Keldon ship.
The Grey Dove dumped bombs, but only four dropped from its bays. The smoke from the Keldon ship went black as coal as the bombs entered it.
"The Keldon mages are still working on the ship. Either the rocket darts missed or there were a lot of mages on board," the pilot reported.
Barrin's eyes dipped to catch the bombs as they exited the cloud of smoke, but the explosives failed to fall through. They reappeared after an obvious lag, falling farther to the rear than the bombardier had intended. The bombs exploded into giant green discs, covering the stem of the Keldon vessel. The ship listed to the port side, its steering apparently gone and the forces propelling it uncontrolled.
"Grey Dove says its remaining bombs are hung up. They will turn to support our attack if they can." The attacking blimp was on the right side of the Hunter and beginning a turn to follow the larger aerial craft in. The bomb doors were still open, and the combination of poor aerodynamics and unexpected weight meant the ship was much lower than intended.
Barrin saw the attack, but it was so quick that he was unable to respond. The envelope of the smaller blimp was smashed and the rigging tangled in an instant. The next strike he saw clearly. A drop of water leaped up from the sea. It was the size of a bathtub as it smashed the gondola into wreckage.
"Sea archer!" shouted the navigator.
Barrin could see the monster now. It body was reptilian and was at least sixty feet long. Its hide gleamed a dull, hideous shade of green with flashes of color as it reared out of the water. Its head was long and narrowed to an incongruously small mouth. The creature circled under the Kashan blimp it had just attacked.
Barrin could feel the bank as the Hunter turned. The monster submerged and then resurfaced, its head questing toward the sky. The skull seemed to compress, and the monster nearly disappeared at the recoil as another blast of water sheared into the Grey Dove. Debris poured from the stricken blimp. The rear of the gondola shattered, and huge sheets of its envelope spun down into the sea. Three crewmen were tumbling toward the water as the airship began to rise, the sudden weight loss sending the blimp higher. Interior balloons inside the blimp burst, and all the lift shifted to the front of the vessel. The nose of the blimp jumped toward the sky. More debris and personnel fell from the dying craft.
Teferi shouted, "I'll get-" and disappeared.
"You would swear the sea beasts are fighting for the Keldons," the navigator whispered as the sea archer struck at everything falling into the water.
"The enemy just throws bodies overboard, and monsters leave them alone," the pilot replied.
Teferi had jumped to the debris falling to the water and had grabbed a crewman, jumping back to the wardroom. Teferi disappeared again as the scream of a rescued man filled the cabin. It took a few seconds for the Grey Dove crewman to realize he was comparatively safe, and then Teferi jumped back with another crewman.
Barrin tried to find some magical hold on the beast but there was none to be found. The sea archer was hunting prey for its own reasons.
The nose gunner of the Hunter turned his launcher and sent a stream of rocket darts into the water. The single tube began to glow red from the heat, and Barrin could hear the man cursing as he corrected his aim. The monster lurched as two shots pierced its body. The well-placed darts smashed ribs and exploded tissue as they exited the other side of the beast.
Barrin had spread his mental net wide, trying to snare the beast from the non-existent Keldon influence. Now he threw that net of calling out into the ocean. From miles around, sharks answered Barrin's summons, converging on the injured beast as a blood slick spread around the thrashing body. The water roiled, and the sea archer disappeared under the mass of hungry predators.
"Gunner, aim for the Keldons right now!" the pilot screamed into the launcher compartment underneath the cabin. The beast's attack and Teferi's ongoing rescue of the crew had given the raiders too much time. The Keldon ship was only seconds from being under the Hunter's bomb bay. Suppression fire was vital. The enemy ship heeled hard as someone regained steering and overcorrected.
Barrin felt the rush of energy even as the men below were pitched off their feet by the sudden change in the ship's direction. The Keldons fired, and Barrin braced himself for a hit as a ball of brilliant fire arched into the sky. By design or luck, it struck the Grey Dove. The hydrogen in its remaining cells ignited and leaped to the heavens in a sheet of flame, then the fuel and remaining armaments exploded, and the craft disappeared in a rain of fire.
Teferi appeared, disoriented and dazed, in the command cabin, a charred body clutched in his arms-a final desperate attempt to save more crew from the doomed ship. The crew of the Hunter was shouting and trying to get to the planeswalker. Barrin, knowing how tough his friend truly was, moved up to the pilot's chair.
The front gunner was now firing into the Keldon ship, stabbing repeatedly around the bow area, searching for an enemy mage. The pilot looked at Barrin as he set the bomb bays for drop.
"I don't think we can allow those fellows to live," he said softly and tripped the release as they passed over the