Pass of Fire by Taylor Anderson

Author:Taylor Anderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2019-06-10T16:00:00+00:00

Lake Galk

“Most impressive, General of the Sky Ando. Most impressive indeed,” First General Esshk almost gushed, looking out at the lake and the fat, drifting pall of smoke standing over the sinking carcass of an unfinished ironclad greatship of battle. A wispy, dissipating tendril of white smoke still connected the settling wreck to another greatship on the horizon to the north. Esshk’s entourage included the local regent and numerous influential Hij of the relatively thinly populated province surrounding Lake Galk. At least it had been thinly populated before the war. Now the formerly pastoral mountain shores around the long, deep lake, resembling a ragged crack in the earth filled with water, teemed with Uul laborers, new industry, and shipyards. The forests on the nearby mountains were rapidly being denuded for their timber. “An expensive demonstration,” Esshk chided gently, “but effective.”

“Thank you, Lord,” Ando replied, less effusive. Like Muriname before him, he hated and feared the Grik. Who wouldn’t? With their tightly packed teeth, tearing claws, and reptilian shape, they horrified him. And their feathery fur added to his sense that he was surrounded by vicious, flightless, birds of prey. The fact that Esshk and the senior officials accompanying him were dressed in ornate, if macabre, finery only underscored their barbarity. But Esshk was Ando’s lord now, and he’d sworn to serve him. He’d do it despite his inner fear, but couldn’t pretend to like it.

Esshk didn’t care. If he noted Ando’s lack of zeal, he more than made up for it himself at present, and Ando was relieved. A happy Esshk had been a rarity during their association, and was less likely to allow Ando and his few comrades to be eaten. Movement caught Ando’s eye and he glanced to the south, spying one of the big Grik airships approaching in the distance. Its shape and dingy black coloration disturbed Ando on a primal level, reminding him of a painting of Namazu he’d seen as a child. But this giant catfish wasn’t a mythical beast, and it could fly.

He looked back at Esshk. “And not that costly. The old-style all-gun ironclad battleships are doomed. Though powerful and well protected, they’re excruciatingly slow. Only longer-range weapons can keep them relevant. Yet even if we had time to strengthen and rifle their guns, we’d never improve them enough to counter the still-greater range advantage of the enemy guns on their new iron steamers. Certainly not in time to influence the current situation.” He waved out at a shipyard across the lake to the west. “Though only one conversion is yet complete, we have more than sufficient unfinished hulls to make a formidable fleet of flying bomb carriers. And the fact they’re unfinished actually makes conversion simpler. You’ll have half a dozen of them in just a few months, and that should more than meet your most pressing need: to drive the enemy from your shores. When you can focus on rebuilding your offensive capability, we’ll start an entirely new class; smaller, faster, more difficult to see or hit, that can perform the same task as their lumbering predecessors.

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