The Hidden Relic (The Evermen Saga Book 2) by James Maxwell

Author:James Maxwell
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: 47North
Published: 2014-07-29T04:00:00+00:00

31

The attack began two hours after dawn.

Miro deployed the landing craft first, carried upside-down on the arms of the men, who puffed and groaned as they ran toward the shore. From his command post atop a rocky knoll, Miro winced as he heard the popping thuds of the enemy’s mortars, and a hail of orbs sailed over the river, through the air, and down on his men.

The flat-bottomed boats served a dual purpose here, for the majority of the orbs destined for the men landed instead on the craft. The enchanters had built them as tough as possible with minimal use of essence, and the prismatic orbs exploded against the boats with little damage to the men underneath.

Then Miro’s greatest fears were realized when he saw a black cloud rise from behind the towering wall, and at least a dozen dirigibles rose into the air, heading straight for the place where the boats were slipping off the soldiers’ shoulders and plunging into the raging river. Even the rail bows would be useless against the enhanced armor of the dirigibles’ shells—it was the bows that were enchanted, not the arrows.

Miro’s counter was weak at best, and as the enemy’s dirigibles reached the middle of the river, Miro’s sole remaining airship came into view, high in the sky above their counterparts. The soldiers inside cast out a massive net, weighted at the ends with balls of lead, and Miro looked on as the net plummeted to envelope four of the clustered dirigibles in its web. Tangled, the net and its prey writhed before dropping down and plunging into the river. It was the best Miro could hope for, but it left eight of the black dirigibles ready to rain terror on his unprotected men below.

There were nearly a hundred of the landing craft, each carrying up to thirty men, which meant that for Miro’s army to cross, the boats would have to make return trips. If the first wave got into trouble, the boats wouldn’t be able to bring reinforcements. The second wave would stay on the wrong bank, and the brave men who first reached the enemy side would be doomed.

As he scanned the sky, fearful of the enemy dirigibles, Miro suddenly noticed how low the Black Army’s dirigibles flew. It would improve the accuracy of their fire, and they were still high enough that nothing could touch them. Nothing except . . .

“Send in the colossus,” Miro said to Marshal Beorn.

“The plan was to wait,” Beorn said.

“Unless you have a better way to take out those dirigibles, pass the order.”

Beorn passed the message, frowning as he clenched and then unclenched his fists.

The thunderous shaking of the ground told Miro his orders had been followed. To his right, he saw the top half of the colossus, twice the height of the tall trees around it. Glowing colors bathed the animator in his controller cage atop its head as he moved the massive construct forward. But it was slow—too slow!

All of the

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