“For what?” Charm asked. “I don’t want to save five goblins. I want to get rid of the bastards and get the hell out of this city.”
“Save them for the Fortress,” Shade replied as he pulled the ship around a partially collapsed building. His heart was racing so fast by now he was wondering if it was going to burst. For covering as much ground as he was, Lutheron’s magic was extremely effective. Charm had told him the man could handle the task and Shade had doubted him. He no longer held any doubts.
“The Fortress is locked. We can’t get them inside the Fortress. If you think I’m getting out of this ship you are even crazier than I thought. Which I’m not sure is possible,” Charm’s voice was rising again and Shade snickered at how it blended with the goblin howls. They had nearly the same pitch to his ears.
“Who said anything about getting out of the ship to go inside?” Shade asked and broke into another wave of laughter as Charm fell back to his mantra in more frantic tones.
Shade made another of the city streets before Charm spoke again. “We have five left,” he said in a choked voice that sounded as though he was in tears.
“Got it, time to knock on the big doors,” Shade replied and had to fight down the urge to laugh again. From the description Lutheron had given on the effects of fear it seemed he was one of the individuals that was struck by madness. The thought gave him momentary pause as the thick Fortress doors loomed ahead of him. If Charm thought he was mad before the fear, what did that say about his judgment now.
A small voice in the back of his mind urged him to forget about flying through the heavily warded fortress that was made entirely of stone that was several feet thick. “Bugger off,” he mumbled to the voice of reason as he prepared to fire. He knew from Charm’s reports that the largest hive resided inside the fortress. If they were going to do this right they had to take the fortress down as well as the city.
With a muttered prayer he fired and watched the liquid splatter against the doors. It was the same ammunition that had taken down the transport ship. With luck it would do equal damage to the Fortress doors. He was going far too fast to slow down now, regardless, and had calculated the distance with just enough time to allow the blast to go off. At best, his ship would suffer minor damage from flying debris. That he could repair. At worst, well, he didn’t have to worry about the worst case. No one would walk away from a wreck like that.
“Why are we flying that fast toward closed doors?” Charm asked, having apparently dared standing long enough to see what was going on.
“Ten, nine, eight …,” Shade whispered ignoring the rogue’s question entirely. Flames burst to life on the door and he found himself biting his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. It shouldn’t have taken that long to catch fire, but he couldn’t turn aside now. There wasn’t room. If he tried, they would broadside the unforgiving stone wall of the fortress. “Three, two, oh, fucking, come on, blow..,” Shade yelled, but the last of his words were drowned out by the concussive boom of the doors finally exploding. His ship rocked violently as fire and splinters of wood washed over it. He leaned forward in his seat, his eyes searching the smoke frantically for the first glimpse of what lay ahead.
“Oh, shit, you flaming moron!” Charm screamed from behind him as a massive stone wall loomed mere feet from the view screen. Apparently, at some point the rogue had managed to get the chain off of his ankle. Shade was impressed that the rogue had accomplished that feat in the chaos of flight while scared witless from Lutheron’s magic. He didn’t have time to dwell on it now, though. At the moment, the wall held his full attention.
A sound half-way between a curse and a laugh burst from Shade’s mouth as he strained against the controls, trying to bring the ship around before they crashed. The sound of squealing metal ripped through the corridor as the corner of the wall crumbled against the belly of his ship. He heard a loud thump and groan behind him and guessed the rogue had been knocked from his feet at the impact. With a steady hand he brought The Shade back under control and shot down the main hall.
“Throw a gobbie, Charm, don’t just sit there on your ass,” Shade called back. The fear still lingered at the back of his mind, but he no longer had time to focus on it. The main hall of the fortress was barely wide enough for the spell hawk, and it was taking all of his attention to keep the wings off of the walls. It was getting back out that was going to be tricky. For that, he would have to either make another hole in the back wall or manage a high speed turn in the throne room.
“I hate you, you crazy bastard,” Charm muttered, but the words were accompanied by the terrified squeal of a goblin.
Shade counted the remaining squeals until they had reached four and then increased the speed as they headed for the throne room doors. There would no doubt be wards on these doors as well, but they wouldn’t be the same as the outer door. The outer door had been designed to hold against siege weapons. This one was made more to hold against individuals. Against a full speed spell hawk it stood no chance at all. As long as there wasn’t a pillar directly on the other side of the door they should be fine. “I probably should have studied the building plans better before doing this,” he said quietly and silence fell behind him. He wondered briefly if the rogue had jumped when the mantra ceased.