Chapter 171: Sardanal’s Cradle

There were no cheers when Sardanal’s Cradle came into view. The crew gathered on the deck, watching the island approach with consternated expressions as the cold wind dispersed the last of the good mood. Viv herself had to consult with Sidjin, her faith in her own memory failing.

 

“Wasn’t this supposed to be… green?”

 

“The jungle north of Glastia were green as well. And they stayed green… for a while.”

 

The island was supposed to be a beacon of hope, a green jewel standing in the middle of the ocean to welcome ships for a day or two as they crossed the ocean. Now only blackened land latched to the highest point like a rotten foot to a surviving heel, the city at its top barely surviving. Plumes of dark smoke rose from ashes to meet the low clouds above. They seem particularly ominous above the island though there was no rain.

 

Viv had known the war had been ferocious but she didn’t expect… this. The low lands, most of the island except for the easternmost tip, were completely overrun. From the beaches to the crags to the scorched forests, nothing remained of the erstwhile emerald jewel. She was forced to use a lens spell to confirm the city was still standing or, well, at least it wasn’t currently on fire and the walls were not obviously breached.

“By all the light gods,” Captain Sil said by her side.

 

“It wasn’t that bad last time?”

 

“The temples were still holding the promontory! Now it looks like everything but the city has fallen. Neriad’s bollocks, I don’t think they’re even holding the docks. How are we going to unload our supplies?”

 

“If the docks are in the black section of the island…” Viv began.

 

“They are. They were. The island has several ‘ports’ where one may moor, or at least used to have. Now though, we need to reach the unloading dock at the bottom of the cliff protecting the city. A narrow path leads up. I don’t think the pulley system is still intact. By all the gods, what a nightmare.”

 

“We’ll make it work,” Viv said. “Worst case scenario, we can strike the shore from Emeric’s Girl. I doubt they can match the three of us with what they can shove on that narrow strip.”

 

“Yes, most likely,” Sil said, though it was clear she wasn’t listening.

 

A moment later, the captain left to order her men around. Emeric’s Girl turned eastward towards the city’s promontory and the pier that was still hopefully in its shadow. It was already afternoon and it was going to get darker fast so Viv hurriedly inspected what she could of the island. It wasn’t good.

 

The plains were mostly black and devoid of life but on the west side, the scorched forests hid strange pink trees, large swaths of silk nests and other strange shapes she didn’t recognize. Quite a few ships were moored here and there in the ruins of the island, civilian transports, most of them. A couple didn’t look like they had business in the high seas but, Viv supposed, they didn’t have much to fear from monsters. That was a worrisome development. Octas obviously never used logistics so those belonged to either Efestar or Gomogog and if they dared to reveal those resources to that extent, it meant they were committed.

 

The sky darkened the closer they got to the hostile shores. Between the black smoke and the low clouds, between the burnt island and gray ocean, the landscape turned into a vista of the apocalypse. Viv stopped the lens spell when she realized the flesh trees in the distance were squirming. She spotted no army moving to bar their way though that didn’t mean they would land unopposed, so she reconvened with the temple guards, this time resolved not to underuse any of her resources.

 

A part of her wondered if it was already too late. If the churches were reduced to such a tiny pocket… but maybe they just decided to hunker down and wait for food. Viv wasn’t sure what would have happened if the Beast sank the ship but she guessed she would find out soon enough. Half an hour later, they were getting close enough to see that the pier had been the scene of an intense fight.

 

“Reef the sails!”

 

The ponderous shape of Emeric’s Girl approached the pier at slow speed. It may have been nice and welcoming once, but the war had shown it no mercy. The mosaics on the stone embankment were defaced, the crates smashed and empty. Nothing was left of the warehouse and dock offices but ruined husks, their stones cracked and blackened by an intense heat. Beams planted vertically bore awful fruits. Viv didn’t want to look but she had no choice, because she was going to have to walk past them. There were bodies attached to them, desiccated corpses held by tight rope with nothing left but bone and torn skin waving in the wind like banners of horror. Many of the skeletons were small. Too small. As Viv watched, a ruby-bodied spider crawled out of an eye socket.

 

“Shit, be ready for spiders,” Viv said.

 

“Oh really,” a nearby soldier mocked, but he deflated under Viv’s glare.

 

“How are we to send the supplies up?”

 

Viv looked. The pier had a single trail leading around the cliff to the mainland. Another snaked up the incline towards the city walls. It was partially hidden from sight.

 

Arthur landed near Viv. The dragoness’ mood was forlorn. Viv could see it in her half-lidded eyes.

 

“We need to have sailors carry it while Sidjin and I guard the convoy.”

 

Sidjin guards the ship.

 

I lead the convoy up!

 

“The temple guards don’t know we have a dragon with us.”

 

“It will be fine if she sticks with them,” Sidjin said. “And besides, I’m much better on defense than offense.”

 

“Alright. So I’ll make landfall and cover a squad of templars. We clear a path up. Arthur covers our back with some other squads while Sidjin provides fire support and guards the ship. Would that work?”

 

The various temple guards didn’t object. Rather, squad leaders discussed who would be where. Captain Sil approached Viv.

 

“I’m coming with you. I will be in charge of my crew. I need to see the mayor anyway.”

 

“Okay?”

 

“To get paid.”

 

Viv chuckled though her heart wasn’t into it. Slowly, the ship aligned with the quay. Those docks were really small, barely fifty meters across. Emeric’s Girl dwarfed it so that people would have to jump down from the deck.

 

There was still no movement from the shore. Viv checked her armor one last time, strapped her round shield on, coated herself with a layer of mana, then it was time.

 

“Ok, go.”

 

She dropped down. Her mana sight guaranteed there were no spells hidden nearby but that didn’t mean there were no traps waiting for them. The squad of temple guards who’d won the right to go first landed soon after, forming a protective ring around her. They moved in.

 

Viv felt weird having solid ground under her for the first time in weeks. The squad cleared the quay without problem just as more squads jumped down, followed by the first crates and sailors.

 

“Something underground. Higher concentration of mana,” Viv whispered as they approached the trail leading up. It wasn’t paved like the quay, rather made of packed earth.

 

“Deep underground?” a templar said by her side.

 

“No. Surface. It’s probably…”

 

One of the men took a step too far and the earth writhed. A carpet of spiders crawled from the sand like crabs, bodies shining with ardent colors and nevermind that those were not even supposed to fucking burrow to begin with. The squad leader pulled his man back just as Viv deployed the ultimate solution in pest eradication.

 

“Nuée.”

 

Using the least power possible Viv cast her blanket spell, letting it disperse at point blank range in a tiny, roiling cloud that spread over the packed earth with the sizzling of flash disintegration. All that remained was blighted earth as devoid of life as the deadlands themselves. Viv guided the spell to glut on the land up towards the path and down along the shore until she was absolutely certain the path was clear.

 

“Well, that solves that,” Captain Sil remarked.

 

Viv resisted the urge to chastise her. Couldn’t do that in public and besides, she was a civilian. Instead, she moved forward with the squad now firmly committed to protecting her from the way they were looking around.

 

“Wait, over there!” One of them announced.

 

Viv raised an aegis before she could spot the threat, she’d reinforced it with mana which had probably saved her life. Her danger sense screamed at her at the very last instant. She overloaded the spell and shifted her posture ever so slightly. It was all she could do until she heard a ping.

 

She looked down.

 

Sneaking its way between two of her bodyguards, piercing through her aegis AND her coating and coming to rest against her roundshield was a black spear, no, actually a spike, an organic, yellow-tipped stinger as ornate as the finest sculpture. It radiated in her sight with black and divine mana to the extent she didn’t dare touch it. Battle instinct made her look up towards the threat. She cast an artillery spell towards a fleeing, eight-legged form but it teleported to the side.

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“What the f—”

 

An instant later, the entire area disappeared in a grinder of fire and colorless mana coming from the ship. Sidjin’s magically enhanced voice rang through the dock.

 

“Walls. Block their line of sight.”

 

“Eldritch wall!”

 

Should have done it from the start, maybe. Viv sprayed the entire path with the meaning of change, turning the earth and stones into towering waves of reaching limbs. Maybe she was feeling panicked but it was notably spikier than usual.

 

Also wait.

 

Their lines of sight? Their; plural?

 

Viv turned, looking behind her towards a strange gurgling sound. Captain Sil was behind her. She had a stinger stuck in her heart. Black veins snaked up her scarred cheeks. Her eyes were bulging. Her arms contracted and she fell, slowly, like a toppling tree. She was dead before she hit the ground.

 

“Fuck.”

 

The sailors panicked. Viv opened her soul and flooded them with leadership and intimidation in equal measure.

 

“You will stand your ground if you want to live because those supplies WILL reach the city, with or without you. Pick up the fucking crates.”

 

She didn’t even hesitate. A distant part of her reminded her forcing civilians to participate in a military operation was technically a war crime but she was long past caring. The group reformed in record time along with a worried Arthur. They gave Sil’s body a wide berth. It made Viv feel guilty.

 

This is meant to pierce magical defenses.

 

My scales are not enough.

 

Viv was about to say something but Arthur shook. Rocks flowed from her feet up her body before hardening into a silvery extra shell that made her look extremely intimidating.

 

All good now.

 

Cannot fly.

 

“What the fuck was that anyway and how do we fight it?”

 

“Sniper spiders,” one of the templars said. “You can’t really fight them. The only good thing is that they are few and it takes them a long time to create a spear. Or at least I hope so. I have never heard of any time when there was more than one…”

 

“They’re officer killers,” another said.

 

“Their aim is, well, you saw. Octas is fully committed to our doom, it seems. Alright lads. Double ranks!”

 

Viv wanted to complain that she couldn’t see shit but the death of Sil had chilled her to her core. One of the templars purified her body to be carried aboard while Viv moved up the path, a casting of nuée almost permanently active in front of her. The path was only broad enough to fit three people abreast but unfortunately, it was plenty good enough for spiders. They crawled from the rocks to jump at exposed skin, small and slow and yet they couldn’t be ignored because they carried a venom cursed by a furious goddess. The guards stomped and splattered the bulbous creations against the metal covering them. That, at least, was still holding.

 

A woosh came from below and fire came to lick the edge of the formation. Heat made Viv gasp.