“Looks like they want a fight.” Fel pointed at the weapons platform. “That thing’ll work as well on ships as on dragons, right?”
“I would think so.” Syla had used it to blow up the storm god’s laboratory defenses without trouble.
“Cheeky of them to get in our way,” Tibby said.
“Maybe they expect something to happen to distract us. Or distractyou.” Fel pointed at Syla.
“Yes,” Tibby said. “They won’t yet know that I’m able to operate the weapons platform, so they might believe if Syla is busy, they’ll be safe from it.”
“Maybe they think Vorik has already kidnapped me,” Syla mused, her gaze toward the stormer ships.
“He’s planning to do that?” Tibby asked.
“And hetoldyou?” Fel asked.
Syla realized she shouldn’t have voiced that out loud. “We… don’t have as many secrets from each other as we should.”
“That relationship is going to be the death of the Kingdom,” Fel told Tibby.
“That’s my concern as well,” she replied.
“Maybeweshould kidnap her,” Fel said.
“And lock her up for her own good.” Tibby nodded with approval.
“I liked it better when you two were sniping at each other,” Syla said, “instead of in agreement over my failings.”
More screeches sounded, not so distant now. Wreylith flapped her wings, heading toward theStormslicerwith three dragons on her tail. Another arrowed in from ahead and to the side of her. She wasn’t going to make it.
12
Powerful wings beating,Wreylith sped toward theStormslicer, but a gray dragon intercepted her, roaring and snapping for her neck with its fangs. Wreylith twisted to avoid the bite while raking with her talons. Tail lashing out like a whip, she contorted herself to breathe fire at her enemy. The gray wheeled away, but the other dragons had caught up. Agrevlari flew at the back of the group, hanging back slightly, but he didn’t look like he would help her, not this time.
“I’llhelp her.” Syla wiped her palms, already nervous for the battle, then planted her hands on the posts of the weapons platform.
“Do you want me to assist?” Tibby asked uncertainly.
Syla started to shake her head but realized this would be the time to test her aunt’s ability to do so. “Yes, try shooting a sphere from one of the back posts.”
“Take out the stormer ships too,” Fel suggested, standing on the deck where he could keep an eye on Syla and Tibby and waving the Royal Protectors closer to the platform.
More worried about her winged ally at the moment, Syla targeted the gray dragon. Thus far, Wreylith had sped past twoothers, flying so fast that they hadn’t been able to stop her, but the powerful gray flapped its great wings and kept up.
Syla willed a ball of magical energy to launch. With a softthwumpreverberating through the platform, one shot out from her corner. As the gray dragon opened its maw to breathe fire at Wreylith, it noticed the silvery ball speeding toward it. With a quick barrel roll in the air, it tried to escape, but the projectile curved to follow, then slammed into its side. The screech that came from the dragon had nothing to do with singing.
Booms erupted from the stormer ships.
“They’re firing at us!” came Major Hixun’s call. “Fire back! Blow them out of the seas!”
Though Syla worried she hadn’t done enough to help Wreylith, she turned her attention to the enemy vessels. A cannonball splashed into the water a few feet from the bow of theStormsliceras their enemies sought to find their range. Another soared overhead, so close that it clipped the corner of the wheelhouse before streaking through the railing and splashing down on the far side.
As theStormslicerreturned fire, cannonballs blasting toward the enemy vessels, Syla launched two more projectiles. With the targets so near, they landed quickly, one crashing into the hull of a stormer ship. Shards of wood flew hundreds of feet, and what remained burst into flame. The other magical sphere slammed into a cannon, blowing it across the ship to land in the water on the far side and hurling its crew in all directions.
Syla grimaced, telling herself to pick her targets more carefully. She needed to use her precious magical ammunition to sink the ships, not blow up single weapons mounted on them.
Behind her, Tibby cursed. So far, she’d been unsuccessful in her attempts to launch an attack. Maybe the weapons platform would only respond to one wielder at a time?
The dragons that had scattered when theStormslicerarrived returned now that the battle had begun. Flying as one cohesive unit, they arrowed toward the Kingdom fleet. No, toward Syla’s ship specifically. They had riders, and she spotted a black dragon in the lead. Was that General Jhiton and Ozlemar?
