Rylae's Storm Read online

CHAPTER TWENTY

  Turning to Calgonnel and Simon, I still need to check one thing before I’m certain. “Simon, did you and Gimmir requisition a full storage bay worth of spellshooters from Hallowforge?”

  That stops the Master Sergeant cold. “No, ma’am. The armory was fully stocked before our last mission, so we didn’t need anything new. Certainly not more than a couple crates at most, and those weren’t urgent enough to get immediately. Are you saying the ship has a storage bay full of dwarven-made spellshooters?”

  I nod and turn to the LC. “LC Darkmuck, is it possible for you to come with us back to the Corsari and verify what I’m thinking? I think I have dozens of crates like this in my storage bay right now, but I’d like your opinion on them if possible.”

  The goblin nods and pulls a communicator from his pocket. Another goblin head appears in-front-and-to-his-side. “Sir?”

  “Foulburn, I need to check on something with the Commander. I’ll possibly be gone the rest of the shift. You’re in charge until I return.”

  The head nods and disappears. I nod to the group and the LC leads us toward the exit. Calgonnel looks at me. “Rylae?”

  I shrug. “Not sure. I think I found a piece of the puzzle, but I still don’t get it. We’ll have to question that dragons-be-damned storage bay chief when we get back to the ship. I’m starting to think he knows something about this whole thing.”

  He smiles. “Simon should enjoy that. Nice catch.”

  I smile back, but my mind’s working in overdrive. Why are those crates on my ship? The Senior Chief has to know something about them. He certainly didn’t complain about his space when he filled the storage bay with spellshooters!

  We get to the door and Simon looks out. “Clear,” he states, then steps outside with the LC following.

  As we round the corner of the building, I hear the LC speak, “That’s strange.”

  Simon stops and looks around. I look past Calgonnel to the LC. “What’s strange?”

  Darkmuck points over at the now-empty scaffolding across the walkway against the opposite building. “Those construction workers have been there constantly for months. They’re always there. Always. This is the first time I’ve seen it empty since they started.”

  The area’s quiet enough that I can easily hear the ‘kachunk’ sound off to my left a split-second before a crossbow bolt embeds itself in Calgonnel’s chest.

  Dragons be damned! I pull my spellshooter with my right hand and my parrying dagger with my left. “Contact left!” I flip to the lightning setting, turn toward where I think the crossbow sound came from, and pull the trigger. A large blue ball of crackling lightning appears in front of me and speeds across to the far building. Hitting the wall makes it explode outwards. I don’t hear that it hit anything, but maybe it did.

  I hear Simon shout from behind me, “Contact right! Get cover!” Dropping to a crouch, I move behind the nearest landcraft, which covers me from Simon’s side, but not from the goblins on my side. I switch to my spike shot setting and look for the crossbow operator. “LC! Check the Ambassador!”

  A goblin head pops up behind a plant slightly to the right of where I’d fired the lightning. I drop flat to my back before he can fire, and hear the ‘kachunk’ followed by a satisfying ‘clang’ as the bolt hits the landcraft instead of me. The head disappears again behind the plant, but I’m ready. I aim directly at the center of the plant and fire.

  A sharp steel spike about 10 cm long appears from the end of my spellshooter and flies true at the center of the plant. I hear a scream and see a hand with a crossbow pop up over the plant. With that confirmation, I fire again. The spike flies into the plant, silencing the scream. The crossbow drops.

  A goblin wearing leather armor steps out from behind another plant to the right and runs at me carrying a small shield and a mace. I fire another spike at the new attacker, but he deflects it off the shield and keeps running. I don’t have time to fire again before he’s on me, so I jump to my feet.

  The mace flies at my head from my left. I duck and use the dagger to push the weapon arm up and to my right, continuing the direction of the swing and messing with the attacker’s balance. I use that opportunity to aim the spellshooter below the shield and fire.

  The goblin screams as the spike hits his leg. Wherever it hit, it’s bad enough that he topples over to my right and lands hard on the ground. I kick the mace away from his hand, point the spellshooter at his head, and pull the trigger. He stops moving.

  I drop back behind the landcraft and scan the area, but I don’t see another threat. I hear clanging behind me, and think that I should help Simon, but I remember training and know better than to stop looking at my side. I need to know what else is happening, though! “Simon!”

  I hear a grunt, followed by another round of clanging. Obviously still alive. I need to give him an update. “Two down! Quiet left!”

  More clanging, then Simon’s voice. “One, two!” One down, two fighting. Got it. That makes five. Weren’t there six construction workers when they were gawking at us earlier? That means there’s one still out there somewhere.

  I’m scanning the left when I see a hand reach up from behind another plant and grab the wall of the building. That’s the area I hit with the lightning. Must have hit one of them after all! I switch back to lightning and fire again. The large blue ball flies out and explodes against the wall, directly on the hand. The hand twitches and drops.

  What’s the damn count code for ‘down but still alive’? We never went over that! Should I repeat the two I already took down? Dragons be damned, I don’t know! I’ll make something up. “Simon! One new contact, down not dead!”

  The clanging behind me is quieter. I wait, watching the spot with the remaining goblin attacker. After a few seconds, the clanging stops, and Simon coughs. “Three down.” I hear footsteps as he steps around the landcraft where I am. When he sees me, I point at the spot where I saw the hand and he takes off to find it.

  I stand and turn to look past the landcraft to where Simon just was so I can watch that side. Three goblins in leather armor are dead on the ground, and weapons scatter the area. It’s not exactly a pretty sight, so I try not to look at it directly. Out of the corner of my eye to the right, I notice movement and spin toward it.

  I see it’s the LC crouched behind a different landcraft, so I lower my spellshooter. “LC Darkmuck! Are you hurt?”

  He shakes his head, then glances off to his side. I follow his eyes.

  Calgonnel Telathyr is lying next to him, not moving. The crossbow bolt is still in his chest.

  Simon’s voice behind me brings me around. “Clear left!”

  I scan the area one more time and holster my weapons. “Clear right!” Now clear, I rush over to Calgonnel and drop to the ground, placing a hand on his neck. He’s not breathing, and I can’t find a heartbeat. His eyes are slightly open, but his face is slack.

  I hear footsteps and the sound of something dragging across the ground coming up behind me. I stand and spin, reaching for my weapons, but it’s only Simon dragging a goblin body over. I release a breath and drop back to the ground, checking Calgonnel for a heartbeat again. It’s still not there.

  I feel a hand drop on my shoulder. “Commander. The Ambassador is dead. You can’t help him.”

  I can’t help him. We actually were attacked by assassins, and they got Calgonnel…. Dragons be damned! Admiral Shockpaw! Cap! If we were attacked, they might be too! We’re too far from the ship for our communicators to reach anyone there, and we’re not tied into the local com codes. “LC! I need you to call the Palace and inform them that His Excellency’s contingent has been attacked here!”

  The goblin shakes his head, worried. “I don’t know anyone there I can call. I could find someone inside who maybe knows someone at the Palace, but…”

  The Overseer! “Simon! Rosa’s number!”
/>   He pulls a crumpled piece of parchment out of his pocket and hands it to me. I read the scrawled numbers on it and pull out my communicator, pushing the charm. “Rsadun Stonebeast, one-eight-five-seven-five-nine-six-one-seven!”

  After a second, Rosa’s head appears. “This is Rosa. …Rylae?”

  I look at her. “Rosa! We were attacked at the warehouses. Ambassador Telathyr is dead. The Overseer needs to inform the Palace immediately! There might also be a group after the Admiral… I mean, His Excellency!”

  Her eyes grow wide, and her face fuzzes out and disappears. I hear the communicator hit the desk, then I hear Rosa’s voice a little farther away, “Sir! They were attacked. His Excellency’s ambassador is dead. The Commander needs you to call the Palace immediately!”

  It’s quiet for a few seconds, then her face reappears. “He’s calling now. I’m bringing some enforcers and a caregiver wagon out immediately. We’ll be there in a few minutes.” Her face disappears as the call disconnects.

  I pocket the communicator, then look back at Calgonnel’s body. I’m so sorry!

  A sound snaps my attention away from my sadness. I see the goblin at Simon’s feet starting to move. Simon’s tied his hands and feet together, so he’s not going anywhere, and he’s starting to realize that. I tap the LC on the shoulder and motion for him to follow me as I walk over.

  The goblin looks up at Simon, then sees me and snarls. Simon kicks him in the head. He gets the message and stops snarling. I crouch down and look in his face. “Why?”

  He snarls at me again, and Simon kicks him in the head again. “Answer my question and I’ll stop him before he kills you.” I don’t really want to stop him, but I do want answers.

  He looks at me. “Go ahead and kill me. We failed.”

  “Failed at what?”

  “Failed at killing the bastard king’s dangerous elf.”

  Dangerous elf? Bastard king? I turn to look at the LC, who sees my confusion. “The ‘bastard king’ is what criminal gangs have been calling His Excellency for a long time now.”

  That’s at least part of an answer. I turn back to the assassin. “How do you know I’m with Admiral Shockpaw? And why are you calling me the ‘dangerous elf’?”

  He chuckles. “Maybe it’s not you. Maybe it’s the one over there. Doesn’t matter to me! Our boss warned us that a goblin-killing elf might show up here, snooping around the warehouse. He warned us that you’re dangerous, and he told us that you’re with the bastard king. We’ve been waiting for you.”

  “Commander.” I turn to face the LC as he’s shaking his head. “These folk have been at that construction site for months. I’m not even sure how many months… just a long time!”

  That raises my eyebrows. “They’ve been watching the warehouse for months, waiting for us?” Something doesn’t make sense here. They’ve been waiting for the ‘dangerous goblin-killing elf’ – obviously referencing me on Firefork, not Calgonnel – for months, so they knew specifically that we were coming here months ago? But we didn’t even know we were coming here until fourteen days ago!

  Dragons be damned! That’s what doesn’t make sense! They knew before we did! I turn to Simon. “Whoever faked that document sent instructions to this gang, probably on the last message ship months ago. They specifically waited to fake the war message to make sure the Corsari was sent out here.”

  Simon kicks the goblin in the head again. “Why?”

  The goblin just laughs. “We don’t care why. Our boss wanted an elf dead. We waited for an elf to show up here. It’s that simple. You don’t get into the Black Tongues by asking questions!”

  I hear the LC gasp. “The Black Tongues?”

  The goblin on the ground laughs again. “Don’t worry about it, Spazkin. Another group will finish the job we started, and you can go back to your stupid warehouse job.”

  The LC stammers behind me. “You’re all supposed to be dead! There are no Black Tongues anymore!”

  I hear landcraft coming as the goblin on the ground smiles at the LC. “The Black Tongues never stopped, elf-bait! You should know that as well as anyone. After all, you’re family.”

  I really want more of an explanation to that comment! I turn to the LC and start to speak, but at that second three landcraft come to a stop in the area we’re standing in. One is a larger folk-mover, out of which a dozen goblins in black armor appear and move into a circular formation, scanning the area. Out of another large landcraft, two goblins in caregiver robes emerge. Finally, out of a standard-size landcraft, Rosa appears with the two guards from the Overseer’s office door.

  Rosa points to us and says something to the guards with her, who turn to the group in black armor and start giving out details. She then points at the caregiver goblins and back at us, and all three of them rush closer.

  Rosa gets to us first. “Rylae! Are you hurt? I have caregivers here!”

  I shake my head. “LC Darkmuck and I are okay. Simon?”

  He shakes his head. “Not a scratch.”

  Rosa looks relieved, and starts to look around. Before she can, Simon reaches over and places an arm around her shoulders, keeping her from seeing anything. “Commander, please let the caregivers check out all of you.” He gives me a look that makes me realize he’s including Calgonnel’s body in that count. Then he continues, “I’m going to have Miss Rosa take me to the enforcers to discuss what to do with the prisoner.” Without another word, he turns her around, using his body as a shield to keep her from seeing any of the dead bodies, and walks her back across the lot.

  I look at the LC. “Please show the caregivers Calgonnel’s body and let them look you over. We’ll discuss this more at the ship.”

  He nods at me and leads the caregivers away. I’m alone with the tied-up goblin, who’s still smiling. I crouch near his face so I can talk quietly. I only have one more question for him, then the enforcers can have him. “How do you know Spazkin Darkmuck?”

  The goblin laughs. “You don’t know much, do you? Spazkin’s in the family. The Black Tongues keep up with the family.”

  Two sets of booted feet enter my vision, and I look up to see two enforcers in black armor above me. The one on the left bends down to pick up the goblin while the one on the right offers me a hand up. “Commander, we’ll take the prisoner from here. Are the other two goblins with you?”

  I nod. “Yes. The Master Sergeant and the Lieutenant Commander will be returning to the ship with me.” It’s a stupid thing to think about right now, but diplomatic immunity is a nice thing to have at a time like this.

  He grabs the other side of the goblin, and the two enforcers carry him away by his elbows. I walk over to LC Darkmuck, who is watching the caregivers work with Calgonnel’s body. I place a hand on his shoulder. “LC, I think it’s time we go to the ship. We have some more things to discuss.”