Page 397 of Of Empires and Dust
Alina nodded her thanks. She’d met many Narvonans in her lifetime, as was the case with most who lived along the southern and southwestern coasts of Epheria. The Valtarans were apeople of the sea, but the Narvonans’ love of the open water was even greater still. The Narvonans Alina had encountered had been smugglers, or traders, or pirates, or those come to make a home in Epheria. Many of the Wyndarii were descendants of Narvonan settlers. But whoever commanded these ships was no pirate or smuggler. These were some of the finest vessels Alina had ever laid eyes on. And there were hundreds of them.
Alina found herself praying to Achyron. If these Narvonans had aligned with the Lorians, then the rebellion was over. If they were here to invade, then the rebellion was over. She would not let that happen.
Alina turned to Amari. “Take ten Wyndarii and bring all of the Godfire we have left. If these Narvonans wish to do us harm, we will set their fleet alight from the sky.”
“At once, my queen.” Amari mounted Syndel and took to the sky, calling ten more Wyndarii to join her.
“If it comes to it,” Alina said, talking to Mera. “We will hold them here at the beach as long as we can. It’s better we take them slowly while their numbers are filtered through the narrow passage. We can pick them off from the boats as they try to land. If we retreat and allow them the freedom to come ashore, that will be our death.”
“Agreed.”
Mera relayed Alina’s instructions to three of the Wyndarii commanders, who in turn took flight to arrange the defence in the event that things took a turn for the worst.
Alina cleared her throat and called out. “Who goes there? Who sails a fleet to the shores of Valtara?”
No answer came, but a horrible creaking sound groaned from the ship and a section of the starboard hull came away from the inside and slid to the left, leaving an enormous opening. After a moment, two beams of dark wood, each thicker thanAlina’s torso, slid from the opening on a set of hinged brackets, dropping down into the sand with athump.
A pair of dark-skinned Narvonans appeared at the opening, both garbed in vibrant blue pantaloons and loose golden shirts marked with that same reptilian sigil. They were the finest dressed sailors she’d ever laid eyes on. The two sailors disappeared and reappeared as they loaded tethered slats into a groove in both beams of dark wood and slid them down one by one.
Upon seeing what had to be the largest gangway in existence, Alina had one thought and one thought only: what in all the gods required a gangway that large? It was at least twenty feet from edge to edge, thick and solid as a house.
It wasn’t long before Alina’s question was answered.
Those same deep roars echoed from within the ship, clearer this time, unmuffled by the wooden hull. Even stranger chirps followed, like that of a bird but more… otherworldly.
Commands in the Narvonan tongue sounded from within, and then the entire ship trembled where it stood, rattling in response to massive thumping steps.
“What in all that is sacred…”
A hulking scaled creature emerged from the hull of the ship. It walked on four thick-muscled legs, and its shoulders were easily twice as broad as that of a horse, its chest dense, its neck thick. The beast’s skull was shaped precisely as that of the ship’s figurehead: long and wide, its jaws curving out to the side, sharp and flat. Its curved snout tapered towards the end, fronted with two slits for nostrils.
Polished gold barding covered a large portion of the creature’s body. An ornate helmet protected the top half of its head, leaving slits for the eyes, nostrils, and horns, which were also capped with gold. Articulated plates of golden armour stretched along the back of the creature’s neck, the bottomcovered in silver mail. More plates stretched across its back and legs, along with thick pauldron-like segments at the shoulders and rump. More silver mail, clipped to the plates, protected its belly.
A man in silver and gold armour was mounted on the creature’s back, sitting in a gold and leather saddle that sat like that of a horse, adapted slightly to fit the curve of the reptile’s spine. The man was heavily muscled and held a set of reins connected to the creature’s helm. A massive, curved blade hung at his left hip, while a thick-shafted, eight-foot spear was clipped to the side of the saddle.
“That’s a lot of gold,” Mera whispered.
The gangway, thick as it was, groaned beneath the monstrous creature’s weight as it disembarked. Something about the way the beast walked told Alina that although it seemed slow and cumbersome, it was anything but. The razor-sharp teeth that jutted down past the golden helm were those of a predator, and the short black claws on the ends of its feet were made for tearing prey to ribbons. Just as the beast stepped from the gangway onto the sand, a second followed it, equally as massive and imposing.
There wasn’t a shield wall in the world that could stand against one of those creatures, never mind two.
Once both creatures had reached the sand, they walked side by side towards Alina and her Wyndarii, stopping a few feet short. They snorted and stomped, those strange chirping noises resonating in their chests.
One of the beasts reared onto its hind legs, nostrils flaring, but as it did, Rynvar stepped across Alina and roared, his frills rising. The wyvern puffed out his chest and hissed, shielding Alina protectively.
Beside her, Mera’s wyvern, Audin, did the same, snaking his head low to the ground, his lips peeling back to show his razorteeth. Audin was far smaller than Rynvar but no less savage in the protection of his family. Urin and two other wyverns joined them, hissing and baring their teeth.
The man atop the reptilian beast made a clicking sound and slapped its side with a leather whip. The creature snorted but stepped back, its eyes darting between each of the wyverns.
All five of the wyverns’ heads shot up as a fanfare of horns sounded and the two reptilian mounts separated, creating a space between them.
A stream of men and women marched down the gangway. The four at the front wore loose blue trousers and stiff golden shirts and blew long horns adorned with triangular flags. Brass rings hung from their ears and noses, each of their faces marked with a myriad of white-ink tattoos.
Two rows of ten warriors followed, clad in the most opulent armour Alina had ever laid eyes on, all polished black steel and gilding, embellishments of white enamel worked into the breastplates and pauldrons. Their helmets were formed from a single piece of metal lined with gold that broke up the black plate, almost like scales. A single slit two fingers thick ran from eye to eye.
The hornblowers and the warriors lined themselves in front of the mounts, twelve on either side. Once they were all in place, the horns sounded once again, and more souls poured from the opening.
These were not of Narvona. A man in black studded leather walked at their front, two swords slung across his back. A woman in a dark hooded cloak walked on his left, while a grey-haired beast of a man moved on his right, skin leathered, a well-kept grey beard covering his face. A column of others walked at their backs, several in mixed leathers and cloaks, followed by a number of warriors armoured in the black, gilded plate.
