Nathan saw Oron aboard Captain Straker’s ship, slashing his fists sideways to whip up towering waves, which capsized a serpent vessel. Seawater sloshed over the deck and swept away a dozen angry raiders.
Nathan resonated his waves with Oron’s, which built them to twice the force. Hammer-walls of water crashed the Norukai ships together like toys, breaking open hulls and snapping masts.
But the raiders kept coming. King Grieve demanded more speed from his crew, and they pulled relentlessly on the oars. From the prow of each Norukai vessel, a carved serpent stared with jaws wide, ready to ram.
Nathan pushed a wave against one of the flanking serpent ships, raised it high, then instantly withdrew the water so that it plummeted back down and splintered in the sea. Waves threw two raider ships against each other, shattering both like eggs.
Dozens more plowed through the wreckage of their own ships. The Sisters of the Light worked together to raise a concerted shield of water that doused more Norukai ships and pushed several vessels back, but the raiders only rowed harder.
The Chaser’s crew held on for dear life in the backwash of the waves. Bannon stabilized himself against the rail, while Lila planted her feet and kept her balance, glaring murder at the oncoming attackers.
King Grieve somehow managed to keep his rowers pushing the lead ship forward. With surprising speed, his vessel plowed toward the krakener. Even with half of its oars snapped, the king’s flagship came forward like a snarling beast. Nathan tried to slam it with a wave, but the enemy ship kept coming.
Beside Grieve at the bow of the vessel, the ugly Norukai woman waved a sword of her own. The king raised his war axe.
Nathan called wind to try to drive away the oncoming ship, but the flagship crashed ahead in a suicidal push. He shoved his wall of air with such force that he cracked the mainmast, but the enemy vessel could not be stopped. The ship rammed the krakener with an impact like a thunderclap that shuddered through the hull and deck. As it slammed into them, the serpent figurehead shattered into pieces. Boards shivered and cracked.
Bannon was flung down the deck as the Chaser tilted, and Lila snatched his shirt to keep him from falling.
But Nathan had been concentrating on his gift, shaping the wind and moving the waves. He could not catch himself fast enough and lost his footing. Thrown off balance, he tumbled into the rail, tried to grab it, but slipped. He fell overboard and into the churning water filled with broken wood and bleeding bodies.
CHAPTER 76
Although the initial clash took place out on the water, Nicci and the ranks of D’Haran soldiers took their positions along the docks, ready to drive back any raiders that managed to break through the line of ships. With Grieve’s reckless navy, at least some of the vessels might make it to the city and wreak havoc.
Many Sisters of the Light were out in the harbor, but Nicci remained on shore with Sisters Eldine, Rhoda, Mab, and Arabella. She was armed with her two daggers, as well as her gift. She still carried the small bone box Richard had given her, even if she had not yet deciphered its purpose. Richard knew there was something special about Nicci’s background, her knowledge, her gift. In the meantime, she had plenty of other ways to fight a war.
Linden had dispatched scouts to ride into the hills above Tanimura, looking for any sign of General Utros’s army, but the scouts had not yet returned. Meanwhile, the Norukai were attacking now. The soldiers lined up, ready to protect the city.
In front of a group of waterfront warehouses, General Zimmer sat high on his warhorse, surveying the tremendous naval battle under way out on the water. His mount snorted and shifted from side to side, sensing the violence in the air. Along the extended wharves, all the piers were empty, every ship dispatched to fight the Norukai. His men moved restlessly in ranks, hands on the hilts of their swords, anxious to cut down any raiders that made it to shore.
The serpent ships plowed into the Tanimuran blockade. The gifted fighters summoned great waves to disrupt the Norukai advance, and even from the docks Nicci could hear the distant clamor of raider ships smashing into one another. Thunderclouds gathered as the wizards lashed out with storms.
At the forefront, King Grieve’s ship rammed into the Chaser, causing tremendous damage. Nicci watched two Norukai vessels flank Captain Mills’s ship and throw grappling hooks so the raiders could swarm aboard. Though many serpent ships crashed into one another, hammered by waves and driven back by the gifted defenders, others succeeded in breaking through the blockade and pushed directly toward the city. Dozens of enemy vessels had already sunk, and yet they kept coming.
Angry, Nicci longed to be on the front lines using her gift to destroy the Norukai. She did not like to feel safe while others were dying, but she would not leave Tanimura so vulnerable. “We will have our time soon enough,” she muttered under her breath.
Waiting on dry land, the soldiers sent up a cheer, hurling angry insults out toward the enemy. General Zimmer shook his head in disbelief. “The Norukai are insane. Look at them! They do not value their own lives. They sacrifice five or ten for every one that gets through.”
The Norukai plowed forward despite the storm winds and crashing waves. Thirty raider ships penetrated the blockade, leaving many more behind as they charged straight toward the docks.
Nicci turned to the Sisters. “Nathan and the others will do their best on the water. Now it is our turn to mop up the rest.”
“I’m glad to fight beside you again, Sister Nicci,” said Eldine. “It is good that you came back to the Sisters of the Light.”
Nicci’s eyes hardened. “I did not come back. I’m not a Sister of the Dark, nor am I a member of your order. I serve Lord Rahl, and I serve myself.” She flashed a glance at the gathered women. “But we are Sisters in our own way, against a common enemy.”
As the handful of serpent ships careened toward the docks, Zimmer dispatched armed companies up and down the waterfront to meet them. Their boots created a staccato thunder as they ran along. Vengeful refugees from Renda Bay and Effren joined the D’Haran army to help fight, but the professional soldiers would bear the brunt of the first onslaught. Zimmer spurred his horse, and the soldiers yelled as they charged.
Several raider vessels also approached the shores of flattened Halsband Island and the new connecting bridges to the main city. Sister Rhoda looked at where the Palace of the Prophets had once towered above the city and flashed a hungry smile. “Maybe Halsband Island will grow green again if we drench it with enough Norukai blood.”
Nicci smiled. “I like that kind of thinking, but these nearer ships will cause a problem first.”
A trio of battered raiders headed for a patch of open shore at the far end of the main piers. One hull bore burn scars from where lightning had scorched the wood. The dark sails showed gaping holes, but a few intact oars pushed the ships along on a drunkard’s path until they ran aground on the stony shingle. Scarred raiders boiled off the decks and dropped onto land.
Two more serpent ships slammed into one of the empty docks, grinding against the pilings. Muscular slavers leaped over the rail and bounded toward the city, weapons drawn and ready for mayhem.
Nicci and the D’Haran soldiers were there to stop them. The Sisters of the Light lashed out with icy rain and sharp projectiles of hail, but the Norukai hunched down and charged ahead with their axes, spiked maces, chained balls. Opening their scarred mouths, they howled.
One of the new D’Haran soldiers was terrified. “They’re monsters.”
Nicci said, “They bleed like humans and they die like humans.”
To demonstrate what she meant, she summoned wizard’s fire in her palm. As raiders stormed toward her, their screams changed when Nicci’s flaming ball exploded in the first man’s chest and spurted out his back. The unstoppable fire roasted three other Norukai close behind him.
She summoned a second sphere and hurled it higher, so that the fireball dropped down into the ranks behind. Though many died screaming, the Norukai did not h
alt their charge for an instant. Even as their comrades fell dead, waves of raiders stomped over the charred bodies and kept running.
“Shields!” Zimmer shouted, and his soldiers held their shields edge-to-edge to form a solid barrier. They advanced slowly, swords extended to meet the enemy with a resounding slam of leather, wood, and metal.
Nicci lobbed another fireball high over their heads, and it exploded on the nearest serpent ship, igniting the deck and mast and killing the last few Norukai trying to disembark.
The disciplined D’Haran soldiers held a firm line, but the Norukai were in a mindless battle rage. Many angry refugees broke ranks and ran into the fray, throwing themselves upon the wild raiders who had destroyed their homes and killed their loved ones. Town leader Thaddeus leaped in, swinging a boat hook. He bashed skulls and stabbed faces with the pointed spar. Renda Bay survivors followed his example with enough fury to stall the initial Norukai charge. Zimmer’s men regrouped and moved forward.
From the roofs of waterfront warehouses, D’Haran archers fired volley after volley into the swarm of raiders. Soon the streets were piled high with Norukai bodies, and blood ran through the gutters. But the raiders kept coming.
