"Tell Barrin we're sorry, but he'll get no more close views of the enemy. They have skipping fire launchers down there. They just took out the Moonrise. Unless a Mushan with long-range glide bombs gets diverted up here, we'll keep our distance from any and all barges." Barrin knew the crew was all volunteers, but he still cursed and regretted their deaths.
"I'll fly," said Barrin. "I need to see the enemy, get a feel for what they might throw. I wish the army had more experience in large scale maneuvers." A general who had been listening to the blimp reports spoke candidly as Barrin called for Yarbo to ready the ornithopter.
"Our soldiers are untrained, ill-armed, and afraid," the officer said. "But chances are very high that we can beat the Keldons during this particular battle. If we avoid battle, it would be more corrosive to morale and feed the Keldon legend of invincibility. Better to take casualties in achieving the victory and focus on training later."
Barrin agreed with the sentiments but thought the acceptance, even eagerness, for fatalities repugnant after the losses already seen. A vision of Urza floated before him. The ruthlessness that Barrin so admonished in the planeswalker was a quality he would have to cultivate as the war continued.
Barrin and Yarbo took off as the League army began to march. Barrin could see Tolarian runners fanning out along the axis of the attack. Yarbo took the craft toward the last Keldon position.
"Be sure everything is secured," the pilot said to Barrin. "There may be some sudden maneuvering."
The wings beat faster, and the craft accelerated toward the Keldon army. Barrin opened his mind and tasted the air over the camp. The sky was filled with traces of magic, and the wizard could feel the Keldon magic users below. The weapons and concentrations of power were coals burning on the plain. Then it was as if naphtha was thrown in a furnace as arcs of fire sprang into the sky. The pilot sent the ornithopter racing under the balls and streamers of flame. Barrin gripped his seat while the machine screamed in a dive that sent them whipping over the warriors below. The craft tilted as Yarbo sent it in a new direction. Barrin looked down on the camp. The launchers were firing. The weapons were mounted on smaller versions of the Keldon land barges. The major difference between these and the ones the old wizard had already seen was that the heavy upper wooden shell was completely removed to accommodate the launchers.
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.