Chapter LV: Hunt for the War Knife IV

Demonic Wildlands

Month of the Tortoise 33, 172 ,328 DE

As Brigitte points the nose of the Silver Princess at the mountaintop, I target the cannon on the front section of the War Knife .

Boom!

Flame blossoms from the War Knife's gondola section near the middle cannon, but as the fire and smoke blow clear, the damage amounts to little more than buckling and cracking in the armor plates.

Boom!

I fire another shot, hitting the rear section of the War Knife's gas bag superstructure. Once more, t he armor plates buckle and crack.

Boom!

The War Knife goes into a tight turn almost the same instant that I fire. My shot passes over the top of the superstructure, and the War Knife straightens out. I have been firing as fast as the cannon would cycle, and it looks like someone on the War Knife picked up the timing in just four shots.

Boom-Boom-Boom!

The War Knife returns fire with all three of its starboard cannons. All the shells hit the Silver Princess' gondola section, and the airship shudders from the impact. I do not hear the howling of wind that would indicate a hull breach, but since I did not inscribe any sigils into the gondola, I cannot be certain of its condition.

When I asked Old Man Jones what he was doing to the gondola section, that shitty old man just told me it was something different and to figure it out for myself. That is not unusual for him. I lost count of how many times he would give something new and tell me to figure out how it worked or how it was made. But right now, I do not have time to examine the gondola or focus on how he fortified it.

I adjust the targeting of the cannon but do not fire. The War Knife banks into another tight turn, but after a five or six seconds it straightens out. Less than a half of a kilometer separates the two airships, and only the War Knife's bow cannon can target us.

Boom! Boom! BOOM!

The War Knife's shot follows a fraction of a second behind my own. My shot hits the War Knife's open gunport, and the War Knife's shot hits our gondola just below the bridge window.

By the time the smoke a flame clear, barely a hundred meters separate the two airships, but we are on parallel course. With a gaping hole where it bow cannon once was, the War Knife's speed falls off rapidly, and our airship begins to rise.

"Get ready to take a full broadside on the port side!" The volume of Brigitte's shout surprises me, and Vorn should have heard her easily.

Before my cannon finishes cycling, we are already side by side, but our altitude has already risen by twenty meters.

Boom-Boom-Boom!

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

All three of the War Knife's shots hammer into the Silver Princess' gondola section. The airship bucks and sways wildly. Even though I would not have fallen, I grab onto the edges in a reflexive action.

As soon as the airship's flight smooths out, I spin the turret around to target the War Knife once more. While the engine Old Man Jones installed is extreme powerful for its size, it would still take twenty seconds to spin the turret a full 360 º.

Boom! BOOM!

Before I can fire again, the War Knife's shot hits our turret and the turret freezes. The holographic camera still works, and I can raise and lower the cannon. But the turret will not turn.

"Vorn! Something is wrong with turret! It won't turn!"

Brigitte winces at the volume of my shout.

"Wait a minute!"

"We don't have a minute!"

"It's a figure of speech! Obnoxious dog!"

"Go fuck a cat!"

"You and your fucking cat hate! I'm moving as fast as I can!"

Other than the constant dull roar of the wind, which never goes away while the airship is in flight, silence fills the bridge. Brigitte turn the wheel, causing the Silver Princess' course to sway slightly to starboard, while still climbing.

While waiting for Vorn, I rush to the port window, but I cannot see where we were hit by the broadside.

"I can't find anything wrong! Something must be jamming the turret from the outside!"

"Hold on!"

BOOM! Boom!

The sound of the War Knife's cannon trails a fraction of a second behind the explosion of its shell on us. As fire and smoke fill the holographic image from the cannon's camera., the Silver Princes shudders from the impact.

"That shell didn't seem to damage the turret at all!

I try to spin the turret one direction before reversing the spin. After a dozen switches the turret starts to spin again. Its speed does not seem to be any slower than before, but Vorn did say there was no damage.

"The turret's moving!"

"I can see that from the camera! Idiot cat!"

"Go fuck a sheep! Asshole dog!"

Boom!

BOOM!

My shot goes right into the rear gunport of the War Knife , and this time, it was not just luck.

As flame wreaths its aft section, the War Knifes propellers, still spinning, fly off into the air. At this point, the airship can only land or drift until it crashes.

"You didn't sink her, but you disabled her!"

"I still have the camera! Idiot cat!"

"Shithead dog!"

"You and Prince Vorn are such good friends, Master!" Brigitte's loud shout is clearly meant for Vorn to hear, as well.

"Shut up, woman!"

"Shut up, bitch!"

Brigitte flashes a smile that looks more like a smirk. "You are in such perfect sync! Are you two really not married?"

"Bitch, do you want me to release you from your oath and kill you instead?"

While Brigitte's smile does not change, I smell her unease in her scent.

"Grandmaster Jones told me you were not someone who would kill for no reason."

"Making sure you will never talk about things that should be left unsaid is a good enough reason to kill you."

The uneasiness in Brigitte's scent changes to outright fear, but she keep her smirk-like smile in place. A human female's natural acting skill can never be underestimated. "Aren't you going to finish off the War Knife ?"

"Afraid of what I might learn from your former comrades?"

Brigitte frowns. "The War Knife's crew were never my comrades."

"They're not from your mercenary company?"

"They're fanatic. They were already with the Princess, when she hired us, and they always looked down on us."

"Interesting." As I mumble the word to myself, I stare at the slowly descending War Knife in the holographic image. After disabling the other airships, I will need to take a few of those fanatics alive for a not-so-friendly talk.

At the mountaintop, Jaanfaag's airship has disappeared. It must have flown over the edge of the mountain while we were occupied with the War Knife . The two transports have lifted off and are fleeing to the southwest. A pointless endeavor. They have no hope of outrunning the Silver Princess and my cannon.

Boom!

My shot hits the farther airship's gas bag superstructure dead center. Blue-cored flames burst form the huge hole left in the superstructure. It looks like this airship uses flammable gas for the gas bags. The gas does not have any consistent name among the Engineers of the different kingdoms and empire of the Great Plateau, but Old Man Jones calls it hydrogen. Military airships use a different nonflammable gas, which is commonly called aether gas, but Old Man Jones calls that one helium.

BOOM!

The transport disappears in a fiery explosion. Its remains drop into the ruins, but the fire does not spread. There much to burn on the mountaintop.

"I thought you wanted to take the airships in one piece." With a somewhat sad frown, Brigitte stares in the direction of the fiery wreckage.

"Shit happens. Using flammable gas on airships is as stupid as you can get."

Shit happens is another Old Man Jones-ism. He has so many strange expression, but at least, shit happens actually makes some of sense, unlike most. I still what the hell a Chinese restaurant is supposed to be. And what in all the hells is wrong with eating cat in the first place? Even though he whines like a little girl about, that shitty old man still eats it.

Brigitte shifts her stare to me. Even though her frown changes to an angry glare, she does not say anything more.

Ignoring Brigitte's glare, I target the after section of the last transport.

Boom!

The range is still a bit long, but I manage to hit the airship near of its propellers. Flame and engulf the back of the airship's gondola section.

boom.

As the sound of the shell's explosion reaches us, the smoke clears. With a gaping hole in the gondola and the propeller shaft twisted and no longer turning, the airship slews into a turn. Even with rudder turned as far as it will go to counter the remaining propeller, the airship still looks to be sidling through the air.

Boom!

Flame and smoke engulf the Transport's gondola section where its second propeller shaft exits the hull. T he transport no longer has any propulsion. It goes into a slow spin, but the wind catches it. Its course changes, and it drift toward the northwest.

"The magazine is changed!" Vorn's roar booms loudly from the bridge hatchway.

"What now?" While watching the drifting transport with a frown on her lips, Brigitte asks her question in a soft voice.

I scan the mountaintop. Jaanfaag's airship has yet to reappear.

"Head for the west side of the mountain, but gain some more altitude. I don't want to be ambushed by a supposedly unarmed airship."

We reach the southwest edge of the mountaintop without seeing Jaanfaag's airship. On the way back to the War Knife , we circle around the south side of the mountain, but have no more luck. It seems to have disappeared into thin air. They did not have enough time to get too far away. The airship must be hiding somewhere nearby. Old Man Jones' holographic camera allows me to observe anything below the Silver Princess in great detail, but I see no signs of where an airship could be hidden.

I have an uneasy feeling that I cannot waste too much time. "Brigitte, take us back to the War Knife , but stay well above her altitude. I do not want to risk them getting a line of fire for a broadside."

"Aye, Master."

With smoke still trailing from holes, where its for and aft cannons once were, the War Knife . has fallen to within a few hundred metes of the forested wildlands.

While scratching his bearded chin, Vorn stares at the War Knife's image in the holographic display. "Are we going to wait for it to land?"

"We're gonna cut a hole in the top and kill everyone but the officers. I have questions for them."

I turn to Brigette, "Take us down to about ten meter over the War Knife. After we jump, move away in case something blows up."

Brigitte frowns at me. "I know you are strong, but the War Knife is a warship. The crew will not be like my company was."

"Take us down."

"Aye, Master."

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