novelraw Chapter 255: Princess of Midnight
Chapter 255: Princess of Midnight
Aramellianna watches from the command bridge of the airship. The dragon is gigantic, making Neith, Jeavana, and Magnir look like sparrows attacking a falcon, while Yaulwembor is restrained, by the looks of it, because she’s not trying to kill everyone and everything around him. The problem is, even from this distance, the Grand Duchess Senior can tell that what would otherwise be grievous wounds for virtually any other creature are healing in mere moments on the enemy dragon.
“Ma’am, order from Mechanic One; Guardian Actual and all Guardian Echoes are to evacuate the airship immediately.”
Aramellianna snaps her gaze to the officer who just reported to her, having received a report from the phone talker nearby. “What?” asks the brunette.
“The Emperor has ordered the airship to target the hostile dragon and aid the Einherjars in driving it into the mana fire.”
“That’s nearly three miles they have to push it!” retorts the Grand Duchess.
“I… don’t think the airship is intended to make it, your Grace. The Emperor evacuated all logistics and non-essential personnel to evacuate as well. Only minimal piloting and combat teams have been asked to…”
Whatever goals they manage to reach, it doesn’t matter. A flash comes from the battle raging between titans. The enemy dragon slams Magnir with a devastating blow from its tail, and the dragon’s body craters deep into the ground while it continues its momentum. A glow is already illuminating its dark black maw and stone-colored teeth. Magic circles illuminate around its muzzle, which is a means by which dragons “focus” their fire breath, amplifying the stone-melting inferno and condensing it into a longer-ranged ‘bolt’ or ‘beam’. The enemy dragon doesn’t breathe normal fire, but that doesn’t mean it can’t make that liquid fire jet stronger.
And, that’s exactly what happens.
Yaulwembor and Neith, in separate efforts to foil the dragon from firing at the weakest of the four currently attacking him, dive towards the dragon’s line of fire. Yaulwembor, specifically, lunges in close and slams the dragon’s jaw with an uppercut motion, while Neith’s own motion to close the distance is too late. The lava that erupts from Sayrdarralouche’s maw sprays in a much more violently fast stream, splattering in a lancing arc against Neith’s chest and helmet as the titan’s head flips upwards from Yaulwembor’s strike.
What the dragons and faormyr don’t know yet is the full path of that deadly shot.
Someone screams out, “Brace!” while another screams, “Incoming!”
But, even this warning isn’t enough for most of the crew on the bridge, which is at the front of the ship like the long-range air vessels of Earth that Wenlianna used as a foundation for the design.
As such, the entire airship is lurched violently when the highest-velocity part of the stream spears through the hull like a shotgun’s scatterblast of buckshot, which Aramellianna has been familiarizing herself with for her own defensive weapon.
Large portions of the airship’s command bridge are pierced and damaged by the ballistic projectiles, and the temperature skyrockets from just the small splatter that loses momentum and remains, clinging to the metals and wood of the airship. The whole vessel shudders and tilts, having lost vital control functions. And, the barrage has only just started.
Not all of the lava that was fired by the dragon lanced through the hull. Some followed a much softer arc as the stream was slammed upwards, and now it falls down on the airship like a demonic rain from hell itself.
“Emergency landing! Now!” orders the Grand Duchess Senior, clinging to the command chair she was using, though she’s now on her feet.
“The engines aren’t responding, your Grace!” cries out the helmsman.
“Steering’s gone down too!”
“Fire! Fire just behind the bridge!”
Aramellianna glances around, her heart racing. She’s not a combatant. Even her training with Daniel’s firearms has been in a calm environment firing at stationary targets. Daniel, Treia, and the two Dragonslayers, Helbeit and Resken, have the patience of saints. But, Aramellianna is capable of magic, even if she rarely uses it.
She jogs to the doorway that leads to the next room, where there is a large mass of molten slag melting and burning everything. Several of the airship sailors have been killed outright, and a few others are trying to smother the fire or retrieve the fallen.
Aramellianna can’t do much for the sailors, but she does seem to be the only one immediately present.
The lava itself is letting off an eerie, shrill squeal, especially where it is in contact with the surfaces of the airship, and the temperature is quickly climbing above tolerable.
“[Come forth, spirits of mist and rain! Grant me relief with a cooling stream!]”
Mana swirls and forms the summoning circle in front of her palms, spraying water quickly forward. As soon as it hits the molten liquid, it hisses and screeches with a violent clash of heat and water, and steam quickly fills the room. She directs her stream towards the fires, instinctively shielding her face when the white cloud swirls outwards towards her. Smoke also quickly fills the compartment, and one of her guardsmen tries to guide her back into the bridge. “It’s no use, your Grace! We can’t reach the damage control teams!”
“All the more reason I have to try!” calls out the matron. They are trapped if no one can put the fire out, and the airship is not going to stay in the air long. With the shredded bridge missing massive sections of wall and the windows, and the tilt of the vessel as a whole, the colossal mana fire they need to be dealing with fills the field of view as if a fall will drop her straight into its annihilating maw.
They should be around a quarter mile back from the faux-fire’s leading edge, but it hardly matters with how high up they are in order to keep out of range of the embers that lazily drift around above it.
A violent explosion of mana erupts from the right side of the airship, and both Aramellianna and the guard are slammed against the left side. She cries out, coughing as the smoke and impact combine in a sharp burn. Somehow, she manages to remain conscious, but gravity is already shifting gravely.
Before she realizes it, she’s sliding towards the bridge, and she cries out, trying to grab any surface to stop her descent. Officers and soldiers of the bridge, as well as guardsmen, have successfully latched onto whatever they can, and one of the Guardsmen calls out, “Your Grace!” He tries to reach for her, but their hands miss each other, and Aramellianna bumps against one of the panels before she passes the edge of the ruined bridge. Her left hand manages to catch a purchase on a ruined piece of metal, slicing her skin as she desperately tries to catch it. She can just see one of the Guardsmen scrambling to run after her down the steep slope of the floor. He dives forward on his armor, sliding the rest of the way to grab her wrist while specifically making an effort to anchor them both.
While the Guardsman has her arm secured, the airship is far from stable as the others scramble to evacuate each other or rescue the Grand Duchess. The airship is drifting in a dying spin as wind rushes by from below, and the mana extractor continues to roar, shifting in tone and volume in relation to its angle.
Aramellianna catches glimpses of dark black beings walking effortlessly on the outer hull of the airship, similar in appearance to Arachne, though the frightening Princess Death Knight has started wearing custom-made clothing and armor.
Regardless, they seem to be moving towards the engines, from what Aramellianna can tell, but it’s unlikely they’ll be able to rescue the airship, even if they reach the engines and control them locally.
The angle shifts more, and the Guard cries out, “Your Grace! Hang on!”
She cries out in pain, doing everything she can just to cling to the small handhold she has and not shift her own weight too much while the Guardsman holds her.
In spite of both of their best efforts, as well as other Guardsmen trying to get to them, the one holding her slips free, wrenching his arm backwards, and the two plummet.
The ground far below is visible and the aristocratic woman’s uniform jacket flaps in the wind as she passes the modified main cannon.
Reality is sinking in, and she feels nauseous. She is helpless, with one of her loyal Guards having risked and ultimately cost his own life to try to save hers. She isn’t even the Liege ruler of the Stalvaltan Grand Duchy anymore, though a formal investiture still needs to be held for Yormolett to inherit.
The Guardsman doesn’t give up, though. He uses wind magic to close what distance has formed between them and grabs hold of Aramellianna as they fall. They have seconds before the ground finds them, and he calls out, “Brace yourself, your Grace! I’m going to use wind magic to soften your landing!”
She will come to regret not hearing his words more thoroughly after she nods in the present to acknowledge.
***
Back to just before the lavashot itself, a small army of Death Knights, Arachne’s custom summons, and Baeka’s wyverns have been assembled on the weather deck on top of the airship. Arachne and her first summon which she named Silence both have no concept of exhaustion, and are the only two still making use of the abundant mana around them to continue summoning Arachne’s bipedal, roughly humanoid style of summons, making a total of thirty such warriors they were able to summon between breaks to replenish their own mana. Djihnlierr and Vaergraes managed to summon seventeen Death Knights like Arachne between the two of them, and Baeka successfully summoned nine wyverns.
Djihnlierr notices Magnir get slammed into the ground by the enemy dragon’s tail, and it makes her worried. Magnir almost single-handedly defeated her, but he’s also the primary face of the Fievegal for her; he has no prior history with her, so he’s not biased about how he treats her, and the dragon has extended a great deal of mercy to her and her followers.
But, the follow-up attack and Yaulwembor’s attempt to stop it bring the danger directly to the airship.
“Barriers! We have to block!” Djihnlierr quickly pivots and squeezes what mana she can out. Silence and Arachne both seem to be capable of absorbing the mana of the bright white false-inferno directly, while Vaergraes, Baeka, and Djihnlierr have to rest.
The younger of the two Uhl’tall Archpriestesses probably held back more than she should, since she really doesn’t like the feeling of being depleted of mana. That said, it’s not just a chore anymore, and she does everything she can to summon a magic barrier before the lance of liquid fire sprays across the airship. She’s not able to protect everything, and the others either don’t have enough mana or time to react. The leading jet of lava blasts the bridge at the front of the airship, and while some of the stray globules of molten liquid crackles and explodes against Djihnlierr, the vessel rumbles and tilts.
Lava continues to rain down while Arachne casts ice spears to try to intercept some of the molten projectiles, and Vaergraes jogs to Djihnlierr with Baeka in tow. “Djihnlierr! I’ll alternate with you! Here!” The former Demon Queen hands her junior a potation with a distinct marking on its phial of three yellow lines; a mana restorative.
Djihnlierr hates taking potations if she can help it, but desperate times trump likes and dislikes. She quickly opens the small bottle and downs the horrendous liquid inside that goes down like scorching daggers. She gasps and exhales quickly, nearly coughing on the burning sensation in her throat. Mana restoratives are the most potent in the distinct burn associated with potations, and they take a moment to bring about their effects.
In that time, Vaergraes shields them from a rather large spray of lava, and Baeka uses her own wind magic to push it away, sending it as safely as possible towards the ground. Moments later, Arachne fires an icicle spear nearly horizontal, trying to intercept a lava mass headed towards the front right engine keeping the airship aloft. Her spear hits, but the ensuing explosion is too close to the engine, and the blast causes a casting explosion of mana discharging violently from the crystals within, turning the propulsion-generating machine into a colossal bomb. There are five more such engines, but the damage to one of them, which may have shut down the middle right one, in addition to the destruction of the bridge pitches the massive airship forward in a slow spin.
The three women start to slide, and Baeka calls out, “H-Help!”
Arachne looks, and she quickly strides across the hull, seemingly unfazed by the shift in gravity due to its sudden forward pitch. She stops all three women from falling, adding, “Mother, Djihnlierr, send the Death Knights to stabilize the other engines and level the airship. Silence, you will take Mother and Djihnlierr to safety immediately afterwards. Baeka, summon one of your wyverns to take you.”
“What about you, Arachne!?” asks Vaergraes.
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“I will lead efforts to evacuate the airship. So long as we do not crash into the mana fire, I will survive a crash-...” She suddenly halts and stands straight upright, which is far taller than any of the four women, including Silence, standing next to her. She calls, “Silence!”
“Yes, Mother,” replies the sapient humanoid summon with a deceptively calm and mechanical tone, which belies her own haste and obedience. Revealing the true abilities Arachne obviously envisioned, Silence spreads her gossamer fabric-like “shawl”, which takes a more rigid form that resembles the wings of a large insect, or even a giant fairy.
In an instant, she launches herself down the hull of the airship, flying towards the front end, which is pointed downwards and currently away from the mana fire. She disappears over the edge, and Arachne orders, “Go. Split into two teams, one below the airship to catch any who fall, and the other to tear through the airship to lead anyone else to the portal in the cannon bay.”
Like Silence, Arachne’s tone doesn’t have the full range of emotions the situation would normally require, but the “giant fairies” she and Silence summoned obey without a word, taking flight in every direction, while the Death Knights make their way to the engines as ordered by Vaergraes and Djihnlierr while Arachne was sending Silence out.
Silence then says, “Baeka…”
“They’re coming! One for each of us.”
“Good.” Arachne wastes no time, hoisting each woman onto a wyvern as soon as the reptilian avians fly in close, flapping their wings to stay airborne. They are effectively smaller than Arachne, but show no fear due to being magical summons, rather than their natural counterparts.
Once aboard, Djihnlierr calls out, “Arachne! I’ve instructed my Death Knights to defer to you! Order them as you see fit and be safe!”
The Princess Death Knight nods once, saying, “Straight below, find the Grand Duchess Senior and evacuate with Silence. I shall handle the airship.”
“Be careful, Princess Arachne!” calls out Baeka.
“You as well, Lady Baeka. Mother. Lady Djihnlierr.”
The Uhl’tall Archpriestess holds onto the wyvern as the trio of winged drakes dives away from the slowly crashing airship. Arachne seems to be fearless, immediately turning towards the front to head for the bridge with no regard for the mana fire, the crashing of the airship, or the lava spread across parts of its hull.
The mana fire alone is supposed to be the bigger threat, but the dragon seems set on proving that wrong, hiding the dangers the larger field of destruction represents simply because it moves at a “slow” pace.
And, even Vaergraes seems to be struggling on how to proceed meaningfully.
***
Silence has been “alive” or “awake” for only a few hours as the sun has started to compete with the mana fire for dominion over the sky. She has many questions, but simply observing silently has been enlightening. Her “mother”, Arachne, seems to be almost exactly like her, which Arachne made use of to create Silence in the first place. She can feel every lick and breath of the powerful mana washing over them all even from the impressive distance away from the mana fire that they are at. The core of her being is full of instincts that Silence has too few words to describe, such as how to make use of her mana, how to kill, and, most important to the task her mother just gave her, the ability to fly.
She scans the area quickly, since she doesn’t yet have knowledge of what her mother knows.
There. Human falling. The other… is that… Magic?
Silence watches as the two she is meant to rescue are closing in on the ground. Even at full speed, Silence isn’t sure if she’ll make it, but she has to try.
And yet, the male human in armor is focusing his mana into an offensive spell. Somehow, Silence can even tell what element it is –wind, in this case–, and she feels like she even has a pretty good idea of the amount of force, the direction, and the danger level the spell possesses.
Silence isn’t sure if the armored human saw her, but he casts his spell, targeted at the brown-haired woman he was falling with.
Silence realizes what he has done, and she swiftly flies past the woman to try to catch the man. After all, the brown-haired woman was just sent upwards by the wind spell. Even if Silence wasn’t trying to catch them, the woman has a higher probability of survival due to the greatly decreased distance she’ll be falling after she reaches the peak of the spell’s acceleration. She screams, but it quickly leaves Silence’s attention when she passes by.
I’m not going to make it. Magic. Do I have magic…?
Red sprays outwards from the man’s armor as he impacts the ground, and Silence slams to the ground beside him only a single second afterwards.
A single second too late.
Dead. Too late.
She looks up after having this emotionless thought, tracking her remaining target. She launches back up into the air with a jump, easily catching the woman with a soft, shock-absorption cradle in her arms. The woman is screaming, landing face-down in Silence’s arms, and she instinctively claws at and grips Silence’s body to try not to fall.
The woman is inconsolable, and time is of the essence, so Silence simply lowers back down to the ground using her fabric-like wings and magic.
“I… I’m… No,... No! Sir… Sir…!?” The woman quickly searches around herself, panicking. “The Guardsman who was with me! Where is he!?”
Silence shifts and points. It’s not something she knows to be hesitant about, since she is still learning what it means to be alive and self-aware.
“No!” The brunette scrambles to her feet and runs to the fallen soldier, slowing to a wobbly hobble before dropping to her knees.
“This one… is deceased…” Silence can tell words are slowly forming in her vocabulary, especially the longer she spends in the mana field and with other sentient beings. That said, emotions are far behind, as are the nuances of communication.
The brunette woman looks up her, horrified. Silence realizes something must be wrong, and she quickly adds, “Apologies. It is not a good excuse, but I was summoned mere hours ago. I am unwise. Forgive me.”
“H-He gave his life… to save me…”
“Then, forever, his name shall live. Duty fulfilled.” She’s not sure if that’s the right way to say it, but it is what she believes. If she’s afforded the opportunity to protect Arachne, Silence will be perfectly content with the mere price being her life. After all, she was forged for combat, born into a war-ready body. She has no fear or desires beyond protecting her mother.
Grandmother and Grandfather are important as well, though I am certain Mother will instruct me if they need protection greater than she can give. I wonder when I’ll meet Grandfather.
With these thoughts, Silence studies the airship. There’s still at least a few minutes before its altitude decay leads to a crash, thanks to the Death Knights forcing the engines to balance it. It could probably remain airborne with four of the six engines, but their power is unstable thanks to the myriad of factors that it wasn’t designed to handle; the loss of the bridge, the mana fire, and the power distribution imbalances caused by the damage and fires.
“I… I don’t know his name,” murmurs the woman kneeling on the ground next to the body. “I’m… I’m ashamed that I was ever this man’s Grand Duchess…”
“There are more people in this world who do not know my name,” replies Silence stoically. “That does not take away my name. So it is for this man. Someone knows his name. They will speak it, and it shall endure in his absence.”
The Grand Duchess stares down at the body for a moment. She murmurs, “I… I’ve never… had a soldier die in front of me like this… I always accepted my role, but…”
“There are hundreds more like him in this battle,” replies Silence. “The mission is not over. I would sacrifice myself for my Mother and her orders, but I do not wish to die. You should do the same. The dead cannot carry out missions.”
The woman is silent for a long time, petting the man’s arm. His blood is scattered all across the ground, and his eyes are only closed by happenstance.
The Grand Duchess orders, “A void bag. I will not move until I can store this man in a void bag.”
“So be it,” states Silence. She holds out her hand, and the man’s body dissolves into magic particles as it disappears into the glow in the magical summon’s hand. “I can emulate a void back, but only about ten more people of similar size and equipment will fit. May we go?”
Aramellianna looks at Silence with disbelief.
Sensing something wrong, Silence adds, “If I was quick enough I would have done the same to save him. But, I did not arrive in time. No, per orders of my Mother, we shall evacuate.”
The brunette woman is stunned for a moment longer, and Silence decides that she doesn’t have time to waste. She was not fast enough to save the man, but she suspects the woman was Arachne’s goal, anyways. Anything else is secondary. She scoops the woman up into her arms, spreading her wings in preparation to fly. “To the forward command post.”
Silence lifts into flight, mindful of the battle still raging with the enemy dragon. She’ll be able to avoid his spells at least, so long as she keeps her eyes on the group. But, she’ll have to be mindful of non-magical abilities, since they don’t seem to be ‘analyzed’ by her instincts.
“Wait! What of the airship!?” asks the woman urgently.
“Mother will handle it,” replies Silence confidently. “Rest easy. Mother has foreseen our victory.”
“My daughter is on that ship! Go back immediately!”
“No,” retorts the warrior bluntly. “I said, Mother will handle it.” I did speak it correctly, did I not?
“What mother!? I’ve never met you before now!”
“Princess Arachne is my mother. If I understand correctly, that makes me a princess as well, being first Granddaughter of the Sovereign Emperor as I am.”
The woman is stunned, and it makes Silence feel good for some reason. She doesn’t have ‘pride’, per se, but she does feel the strength of those titles and the weight that they carry. Having something worthwhile to stand for gives her a more solid presence in the world.
I wonder what my life would have been if I was one of Mother’s and I’s Obedient Ones…. Interesting… I wonder what would become of me if I disobeyed Mother… What a strange thought. Is this what it means to have free will?
The Grand Duchess seems to have some deference for the title, and she replies, “I… Your Highness, I assume you must be… born of power similar to her Highness Arachne, yes? Are you not worried about her? Wenlianna is my daughter, and I insist that we do something to protect her.”
“I do not fear. I trust Mother completely. Though, I know she is not invincible. Mother had no fear when she gave me orders. She…”
“...’Will handle it’. I understand. I just… if you do not know how I feel…”
“I do not. Which is why I can make this choice devoid of any irrational decision. You will be moved to safety. Barring a failure of Mother, your daughter will be saved. That is all there is.”
Silence’s words grant the Grand Duchess a moment of silence of her own. Silence knows she’s not wrong. It’s not out of overzealous faith in her Mother, but a general clearness of the situation at hand. Like the soldier that she failed to save, the woman’s daughter is but one more life that can perish in more ways than she can survive a long life. If they are on this mission, there is almost no chance she didn’t know there would be risks. A failure can’t be undone, not typically. All that can be done in the aftermath is continue the remainder of the mission, or to await further instructions.
Though, she seems ambulatory, so couldn’t I just leave her and help Mother? Grandmother was in danger as well, yes? Mother spoke of being “most filial”. No, Mother wanted this woman protected, I think.
Silence arrives at the base camp with the brunette woman, but as soon as she lands, the humans aim their spells and some sort of non-magic weapons at her. Reacting instinctively, Silence shifts her posture, immediately setting the woman on her feet, but keeping an arm across her chest. Silence ducks below the woman’s shoulder line, since it seems the only reason an attack hasn’t commenced is because she is present.
“Grand Duchess!” “It’s the Grand Duchess!” “Contact! Enemy has the Grand Duchess hostage!”
Could Mother have made a mistake? This is supposed to be the command post of our allies, isn’t it? I see some with the emblem this woman bears, as well as the airship. Should I attack them? I could likely defeat them with hit and run attacks, but that will be difficult with this woman…
“Stand down! Stand down! Lower your weapons!” A human male jogs closer, asking urgently, “Your Grace, are you hurt?”
The Grand Duchess is surprised by everything going on, and she quickly says, “Oh! I-I am injured, but this is her highness, Princess… uh… what was your name, your Highness?”
“Silence,” retorts the summon, remaining cautiously behind the brunette as she keeps her right hand hidden, ready to cast retaliatory magic.
“They’re on our side, your Highness. Please just tell them your name.” She calls out, “I know how this looks, but this is Princess Arachne’s daughter, a sapient summon. I’m not a hostage. Code word: Green… uh, Green Enya. Princess, please tell them your name.”
“Silence,” repeats Silence, confused. I already said it, didn’t I?
“I can’t remain silent, your Highness. We have to…” Suddenly connecting the dots, the brunette clears her throat, “Right. This is Princess Silence kos Lawson. I swear this on my name. Princess, they won’t attack you, I give you my word. Please release me.”
Silence scans the crowd, and true enough, there don’t seem to be any incoming spells. She relaxes her grip on the Grand Duchess, standing up alongside her.
The man who spoke asks cautiously, “I’m not familiar with Princess Arachne having any children, your Grace. Was she one of the summons for Operation: Mana Sponge?”
“That is correct. The airship took a direct hit from the enemy dragon’s lava… breath. Prepare a triage area. Your Highness, please see to your other duties. And, thank you for saving my life. A-As for… the fallen…”
Without any further need for prompting, Silence deposits the fallen soldier on the ground in front of them without any delay or circumstance.
This prompts several gasps, while Silence mechanically reports, “This one is deceased.”
“Secure his body!” orders the Grand Duchess. “This man is a hero who sacrificed his life for me. I will not let it be in vain.”
Silence reports, “I am returning to the airship to assist Mother.”
“Thank you, Princess,” replies the Grand Duchess with a small ‘curtsy’, in spite of lacking a skirt. “You saved my life. I will return this favor one day.”
“Survive that first,” replies Silence as she points at the dragon. For now, the ally dragons and non-dragons are steering it away from the camp, but as the airship just proved, the camp is still well within its destructive range.
With that final suggestion, Silence lifts into flight and uses her magic to race back to the airship. Some part of her wants to divert and take revenge on the dragon, but she doesn’t know where that feeling is coming from. She isn’t angry, but a core of her being knows that she wants the dragon dead.
And, the other dragons seem to be wasting time that the dragon should be decaying for its crimes.
Saving these people is tricky. They worry about such trivial things and threaten to attack. I already know the dragon is my enemy. Yes. The dragon is my enemy.
Silence slows her flight and comes to a hover, her gossamer, mantle-like wings drift more like the relaxed mantle fins of a deep sea creature than the wings her insectoid appearance suggests otherwise.
You tried to kill me and my mother. Yet, you still live.
Silence glances once more at the slowly crashing airship where Arachne and the others still are.
It has maybe a minute remaining in the air, but hours before the mana fire reaches it.
Which do I choose? Mother, I am happy to be alive, but what does it mean to be ‘most filial’?
With this, Silence has a choice ahead of her, and it’s the first major choice she’ll ever have to make.
If she’s lucky, it’s going to be quite far from the last.
***