Omrai took a deep breath. They had just repelled another wave of automatons, and he was getting very tired. He had more bruises, cuts, and gashes than he could count.

He heard the humming of ships and looked up. Hundreds of tiny craft swarmed around in synchronized formations. Swarming like bugs, flowing out of and around the larger ships. Each one looked like a small pod with wings sticking out.

Almost as one, the swarm turned to him.

Omrai cocked his head.

But they can’t fire their weapons at us…

The ships sloped upward in a high arc. Higher and Higher.

“Defensive positions!” he shouted, “Shields up!”

His men responded, grabbing shields and taking cover, some men covering the heads and bodies of the saurians.

The ships reached an arc high in the sky, then started to slope downwards, as if they were diving.

“Spread out!

The guns started firing at them from above. A roar of loud whooshing explosions pelted his ears. The bullets didn’t lose their arcs or their strength because the projectiles fell from straight above, natural gravity assisting them.

Omrai himself grabbed a shield off a dead soldier and put it above his head. Bullets rained down in a waterfall of metal, giving his shield a hundred dents in a few seconds. He dropped his sword to use two hands on the shield. It pushed him down to his knees, and his arms strained at the effort. He screamed as his shield threatened to break.

The firing stopped, and Omrai ventured a cautious gaze upward. The ships swooped away at the last moment, heading away from his army. He looked around. The area around him was pelted with metal balls. Scarback had followed his order to spread, so she was about a dozen yards off, but there was a much higher concentration of shots around himself.

He looked at the shield, it was covered in bumps and grooves where the balls had struck. A few holes where some had punched through, narrowly missing him.

By some miracle, he had survived.

He closed his eyes and uttered a silent prayer of thanks.

He heard louder humming. The big ships were beginning their slow ascent into the sky. They would do something similar. Raining even bigger munitions down upon them.

“Revin!” Omrai called out for the twentieth time. Again, no response. It had been an hour or more since Revin had called for help. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to retreat, but without a connection to those on the command ship, he didn’t know whether they were truly winning or not.

He heard trumpets from the rear of his army, from the valley they were defending. His heart skipped a beat. He turned around.

Hundreds of green Koyejian flags waved in the distance. A mighty army descended the hill.

Retreat was no longer an option. This was to be his doom or his salvation.

✦✦✦

Kaiato crested the hill. He and the Koyejian army stood arrayed just behind the Ateyan lines. He could even spot Omrai down below, near the front. He lowered the scope on his rifle and focused on Omrai’s face, seeing his questioning concern as he watched the Koyejians. Kaiato turned to the prince, whose jaw hung low.

“So many saurians fighting on their side,” Prince Siroki said. He looked at Kaiato. “This monk truly has powers from the gods.”

“And, my lord,” Johuto said, “it looks as if General Speartip has been holding his own so far. Look at how many they’ve destroyed.”

Prince Siroki nodded.

Kaiato looked up. The ships he’d spotted just before coming over the hill were slowly approaching, arcing up into the sky. They had seen what the little ones had done from afar… these would likely do the same.

“I suggest we send Omrai a message,” Kaiato said. Prince Siroki cocked his head, then followed Kaiato’s gaze.

Prince Siroki smiled.

“Kerinkumen! Assemble immediately! Missileers, fire at those flying ships on my command!” Prince Siroki shouted.

Kaiato noticed one hung further back. Flying alone. The command ship! It still hadn’t been forced down. He looked around first with his eyes, then with his scope. The small craft with the gravitonium spines was nowhere to be seen.

The Koyejian army scrambled, getting to work like a fine-tined clock, each piece doing its part. The guns were pulled forward by saurians. Each saurian was led around and behind each gun and missile array in the same fashion. The crews surrounded the weapons, turning cranks and preparing to fire.

“My lord don’t hit that one hanging back,” Kaiato said.

Prince Siroki squinted his eyes at it. “Why?”

“That one’s the command ship, Omrai’s got a special plan for it. We don’t want Jebuthar flying away. And, we’ve got some of our allies inside.”

Prince Siroki nodded and had one of his men relay the command to all the gunmen and missileers. They were about ready.

The ships were arcing high in the sky now, still sloping upward.

When are we firing? Kaiato thought.

The command began with Prince Siroki and echoed down the line. Kaiato prepared himself for the familiar sound of a volley.

They fired.

It was the strangest thing he’d ever heard. Not a series of near-simultaneous pops, like a musket volley, but a string of small explosions in a consistent rhythm.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The missile arrays were louder yet more spread out then the rolling kerinku guns, and rather than bullets they sent rockets sailing through the sky toward the oncoming fleet.

The ships were pelted with bullets and pounded with rockets. Metal shards and fire exploded outward from several, and many began to plummet. Automatons tumbled out of the broken ships, their cracking transports and bodies cascading toward their comrades below. Several ships crashed into others, and those which didn’t crash slowly reversed their advancement. Automatons below scattered away from the falling ships and sprinkling debris, many were unsuccessful.

Moments later Kaiato heard a thousand men running. Omrai’s army approached the bottom of the hill, saurians and all. Omrai pushed through the crowd and made his way towards Kaiato. He wore a wide smile. Kaiato stepped down the hill to meet him, getting further away from the exploding weapons to do it.

“You succeeded,” Omrai said.

“He did,” Prince Siroki said, walking up next to Kaiato. “It seems Jebuther had my father killed because he wanted to ally with you. We’re here to respect his wishes.”

Prince Siroki put out a hand.

Omrai took it. “I would be happy to accept an alliance with Koyeji.”

The sounds of firing stopped.

Kaiato looked. The Kerinkumen attached new chains to their guns and the missileers were restocking their arrays with fresh rockets.

Prince Siroki let go of Omrai’s hand and turned to his men. “Infantry, to the front! Down the hill! Support the Ateyans!”

His orders were repeated in shouts by messengers.

Kaiato looked up to the sky. He estimated up to a quarter of the large ships had been destroyed in the first volley. The rest fell back, desperate to escape Koyejian firepower.

The larger command ship hung alone, hovering high in the air.

“Why hasn’t it landed yet?” Kaiato said.

“An explosion knocked our craft off. Now I think Revin and the others have been captured,” Omrai said, turning to Prince Siroki, “Jebuthar’s there. If we take him out, we win the war.”

“What allies are up there?” Prince Siroki said, “Are they enough to merit us not shooting it down?”

Omrai frowned. “We didn’t know you’d be on our side or not. Our beastspeaker, Revin Henrir, is on that ship. And he controls the giganotos,” Omrai looked down at the saurians below, “Their spines make Jebuthar’s weapons nearly useless. Without them, you’d have come to a field of corpses. If Revin dies, we lose.”

“My daughter’s up there too. Jebuthar took her before the battle.”

Kaiato’s eyes widened. His heart lurched and rage filled him. Not Shifra!

Omrai was quiet. Kaiato looked at him, worry filling him. The look on Omrai’s face made it clear. He knew. Kaiato hadn’t moved his thoughts to something else. Kaiato was prepared for some sort of reaction, but Omrai didn’t seem angry, just worried.

“I’ve known the whole time,” Omrai said, “You never hid it.”

“What are we talking about?” Prince Siroki said, looking confused.

“Kaiato’s just in love with my daughter,” Omrai said. He nodded at the prince. “Now, we must land that ship. The craft with the gravitonium spines should be on the ground, just beneath it. If Jebuthar and Narazoth escape, it’s over for us.”

Kaiato drew his rifle scanned the ocean of automatons below, first with his bare eye, and then with his scope. After a moment, he finally found where it had landed. The chains looked to be intact, and they still held the gravitonium spikes.

Prince Siroki touched his chin in thought. “I’ve got a battalion of ptero-riders we could send,” he said. He shook his head. “But, that far away from your giganotos, our riders would be shot out of the sky.”

“What if there were only two?” Kaiato said, focusing on Omrai and Prince Siroki.

Omrai and Prince Siroki looked at him.

“I’ve flown that ship before. The Almerian pilot let me take a few turns piloting it. I can do it,” Kaiato said. “Johuto and I will take two pteros, a few kerinkus can clear a path while the rest fire on the army. If the ship is still functional, we’ll get that gravitonium up there and land the command ship. The Koyejian guns can clear a path, and then you can move in.”

Omrai looked down at the swarm of automatons, then back at Prince Siroki. The Prince nodded. Omrai turned to Kaiato. “Go.”

✦✦✦

Kaiato and Johuto sailed through the air on the backs of two pteros. Below, the horde of automatons attacked in another wave. The Kerinku guns fired mowing the enemy down in a tumult of explosions echoing, shattering metal and sparks of blue.

Kaiato knew the missiles and the kerinku guns wouldn’t be enough. The Koyejians’ ammunition wasn’t infinite, but Jebuthar’s army seemed to be. They would need to take out Jebuthar and Narazoth. The enemy army would be uncontrolled, undisciplined.

He hoped.

He turned his gaze to the downed craft. Automatons armed with rifles, swords, and spears stood nearby, ready to fight. Their emotionless blue eyes trained on Johuto and Kaiato. As one, they raised their rifles, pointed them at Kaiato and Johuto, and fired.

Kaiato dipped and weaved, dodged and turned. Automaton bullets whizzing past him in the air. Sending rippling waves of weight distortion that disoriented and nauseated him. Holding on to the screeching ptero hard enough for his knuckles to whiten. He turned his gaze back to the Kerinkumen, wondering when they would fire.

And they did.

A handful of the guns slowly shifted from the front lines, cutting down a line of automatons as they lifted, targeting closer and closer to the crashed craft.

This distracted the automatons from firing at them. But they moved as one, rushing forward in a surge at the front. Those few guns were no longer keeping that section of the front line at bay. The automatons spilled toward the Ateyan and Koyejian armies.

“Johuto!” Kaiato shouted.

Johuto looked at him.

“As one!”

“As one!” His sister shouted with a grin.

They dove.

The ground rapidly approached, and Kaiato’s heart pounded. At the last second, his ptero flapped hard, slowing rapidly. Kaiato let go of his ptero and jumped, rifle in hand.

He hit the ground near the ship with a controlled tumble. He came back up and ended on his knee, raising his rifle and firing. An automaton went down with a bullet in the eye.

Johuto also landed, blades out and whistling. Her thick and stocky blade took an automaton in the chest and Kaiato heard the crackling of energy as the thing’s core went out.

Kaiato drew his pistol and fired into the face of another, knocking it back.

They had landed near the chains. Luckily, the spikes were still a decent distance away from the craft.

Unfortunately, so were they.

Several automatons approached, standing between Kaiato, his sister, and the craft. Kaiato drew his own sword and stood at his sister’s side.

They looked in the direction of the craft, then nodded to each other. No words were necessary, they knew what to do.

They charged.