Commander Morvath landed beside the supply road, scattering ash beneath his black wings.
He folded them before approaching Kharos. His gaze passed over the ruined guns, then over the wounded being carried toward the transportation array and the bodies laid beside the trees.
"My lord."
Kharos stood beside the broken observation table.
"Captain Zherak tells me your warriors arrived after the dragon had finished its business."
"We launched as soon as the warning was sounded but by the time we cleared the trees, it was already casting."
"Then you were too late before you left the ground."
Morvath’s jaw tightened.
"There was no hesitation, my lord. Every formation answered the horn."
Kharos stepped toward him.
"Look around you. Does this position seem well defended because your warriors answered a horn?"
Morvath glanced toward the crater.
"No, my lord."
"Then stop telling me how promptly you arrived to find it destroyed."
A smith working nearby lowered his hammer. Rhaz stood a few paces away, watching the Nightwing commander.
Morvath drew his wings closer against his back.
"We expected an attack across the ridge. The camp was close enough for us to reinforce the gun crews. We underestimated how quickly a dragon could strike from above."
Kharos pointed toward Othrek’s body.
"He had enough warning to raise a ward and he stayed beneath it until it broke and now you are telling me your warriors had the same warning, and none of them reached the enemy."
"If we had been given more time—"
"Next time, perhaps send someone ahead to ask the dragon to wait,how about a punch line-mr.dragon we are quite slow will you please wait till we assemble."
Morvath fell silent.
Kharos let him stand there for several breaths before continuing.
"Rhaz has given you my orders?"
"Yes. The first patrols are already in the air. I have sent officers to the other batteries to arrange their coverage."
"And who will make certain those patrols remain there?"
"I will."
"Good. The gun captains have enough to do without searching for the demons assigned to protect them."
Morvath glanced toward the black shapes passing above the ridge.
"The patrols will give us an earlier warning. They will engage anything approaching the guns while the other formations join them. But I cannot promise that every dragon will be stopped."
Kharos moved close enough that Morvath had to look directly into his face.
"Then do not promise it. Promise me your warriors will be where I ordered them, ready to fight."
"They will be, my lord."
Kharos lowered his voice.
"Good now listen for one last time,if another battery burns because your formations are waiting in camp, I will take your wings before I take your command."
Morvath’s expression stiffened.
"You will not receive another warning," Kharos said.
"I understand."
"Then go and make certain your officers understand as well."
Morvath bowed and withdrew toward the road.
The smith resumed hammering only after the commander had passed him.
CLANG! CLANG!
Beyond the wagons, Morvath spread his wings and pushed himself into the air. Dust rolled beneath him as he climbed toward his patrols.
Kharos watched him rise above the ridge.
Rhaz approached with the reports tucked beneath his arm.
"The healers have arrived, my lord. Zherak is being treated. Shall I have the transportation array prepared for our return?"
Kharos started to answer, then glanced at the gun beside him.
Its long barrel rested above a scorched carriage. Farther along the position, demons were still struggling to pull the destroyed gun’s barrel off the road.
His gaze returned to Morvath, now climbing through the darkening sky.
Kharos looked back at the cannon then pointed at the smith.
"Bring me that smith."
Rhaz followed his gaze.
"The one examining the carriage?"
"Yes. Bring him here."
Rhaz called across the position. Drevik, the Emberworks smith, set down his tools and hurried over immediately.
"My lord?"
Kharos pointed upward.
"Can these guns fire straight into the sky?"
Drevik looked above them before turning toward the weapon.
"How far upward?"
"Straight up to the sky with the barrel pointing directly above us."
The smith’s hand stopped moving against the cloth.
He examined Kharos’s expression, then crouched beside the carriage.
"The present mounting will not allow it, my lord."
"Could you make one that does?"
Drevik looked up.
"You want to fire at dragons?"
"I want something beneath them that can fight back."
Rhaz lowered the reports he was holding.
Until then, he had been looking at the damaged cannon as another weapon they needed to return to service. Now he followed the direction Kharos had indicated.
Drevik rose and put a hand against the mounting.
"We built this to fire at targets on the ground. It allows the crews to raise the barrel enough for the ranges we have tested. Pointing it straight upward would require a different mounting."
"You have already taken the cannon out of a Warhound and put it on this."
"We have."
"Then find out whether you can put it on something else."
The smith glanced toward the ruined fourth position.
"A new frame is probably possible. I would need to work with the forge masters responsible for the original mountings. We would also have to test the gun at those angles before letting a crew stand beside it."
"How long?"
"I cannot give you an honest answer before we examine the problem."
Kharos’s expression tightened, but Drevik continued.
"I can tell you it will be ready tomorrow if that is what you wish to hear, my lord. I would still have to do the same work afterward."
For a moment, Rhaz thought the smith had gone too far.
Then Kharos looked down at the broken carriage.
"Do the work. Give me the answer when you have one."
Drevik bowed his head.
Above the ridge, a group of Nightwings changed direction. Their wings flashed briefly in the light from the fires below.
The smith watched them for a moment.
"There is something else."
Kharos waited.
"Even if we make the gun fire upward, the crew will have to aim at a moving target. Those demons have already crossed the sky above this position while we have been speaking."
"Then the mounting must allow the gun to follow them."
"That would be part of the work. But the gunner would still have to learn how to hit something flying."
Kharos looked toward the shattered observation table.
Earlier, his crews had needed mages to help them find the right aim against targets that did not move at all. A dragon would hardly remain in place while they corrected several missed shots.
He turned back to Drevik.
"We can arrange trials with moving targets once you have a gun that can point at them."
Rhaz glanced toward the departing Nightwings.
Kharos noticed.
"Wooden targets, Rhaz."
"Of course, my lord."
"I have just ordered them to remain in the air. I would prefer to keep them there."
Drevik pressed his lips together before looking down at the mounting again.
"I will need a sound gun for the trials. Until we finish inspecting these, I would rather use one from the forges."
Kharos nodded.
"Rhaz, send word to the Emberworks and Ash Cannon forge masters. Tell them what I have asked. Have Vorth join them."
His aide began writing.
Drevik hesitated before speaking again.
"Even if we hit a dragon, my lord, I cannot promise what one shell will do enough damage or will it even break its wards."
Kharos looked toward the place where the ammunition wagon had exploded.
The dragon had been able to concentrate on breaking the wards beneath it. Nothing from the battery had threatened it while it cast.
"For now, find out whether we can put a shell where it is flying," he said. "We will have something worth testing when you can do that."
Drevik bowed.
"I will begin tonight."
Kharos stepped away from the cannon, then stopped and looked back at him.
"Find out whether it can be done. I am tired of watching them fly away anyway."