《Bringing Fire to Heaven》 Chapter 1 - The Gods Must Die Talitha scrambled awake at the blaring of a klaxon, the electrical wailing combined with a flood of red light and distorted shouting over voice tubes. Her initial thought was frustration, was this a drill? Then realisation set in, this was real, she rubbed her eyes before glancing across her cramped, draughty little cabin, barely large enough for a folding cot. A luxury aboard ship, she had ejected the first officer from her own quarters upon boarding. She shivered in the chill air as soon as her blankets fell away but did not have time to waste being cold even as her skin goose pimpled, jerking open a locker before shrugging hurriedly into her padded silk arming jacket. No time for any primping or preening, she bundled her hair into an awkward tangle behind her head before lacing on an arming cap, squirmed into pants to match her jacket, stepped into heavy boots. Then she snatched her scabbarded sabre from alongside the door, her belt with her holstered pistol in the other hand, bumped open said door with her hip before barging outside. ¡°Eleni! My armour!¡± She emerged into the chaos of the Spear of Retribution''s wardroom, the teak dining table being broken down by scared looking young legionaries, the veneer panelling being pulled away and stowed to reveal pierced aluminium struts and metal grill work beneath. Fortunately the armoury was open and her squire to hand, though the girl was looking even more dishevelled than her mistress. Good, she knew her priorities, Talitha gave her a curt nod before handing across her weapons. ¡°Three quarters plate and hurry about it Eleni.¡± The ship''s officers, those who had not been on duty, were also hurrying to get ready, boots hammering down corridors beyond, she looked to the 2nd Officer, Commander Eldon, the third son of a duke which would explain a man having such a posting upon a battlecruiser. ¡°What are we facing?¡± Her tone was blunt and demanding. As she spoke her squire began to buckle the laminated plates of her leg armour on, lacing it to the silk points of her arming jacket, rune warded steel buckling into place with practised efficiency. The legionary commander gave a curt bow as his own armour was being laced in place. ¡°Angels.¡± He spat the word. ¡°At least four of them your grace and only a few kilometres out. They will be upon us momentarily.¡± Talitha twisted her face into a sour expression, four. So much for this being a routine voyage, she lifted her arms out from her side as Eleni began to fit her cuirass, a sectional backplate and breastplate encasing her torso in steel whilst barely sacrificing mobility. ¡°How did they get so close without general quarters being sounded, commander? If we survive I doubt the watch officer''s career will. But now is not time for such thoughts.¡± Her left arm now, she angled it, her vambrace and upper cannon already laced together into a single articulated piece now being latched and pinned into place, she worked the limb briefly, a nod, her right arm now. The commander set his jaw at that, annoyed? Irrelevant especially as the battlecruiser abruptly lurched in the air along with the thunderous aftermath of lightning. A whine of distressed metal then a change in the tempo of the thrumming engines, had they lost one? She could hear the heavy crack of guns and the growl of diesel engines as compression generations spun into action. Eleni faltered, there were some screams, people stumbling, Talitha shifted her stance effortlessly as the deck tilted. ¡°Keep at it Eleni, I will face them once I am fully armed.¡± That apparently reassured more than just her squire given the demeanour in the room though there was the continued crack of rifles and the impossible to miss throbbing and pulsing of magic from above. Another shudder passing through the twenty thousand ton hull of the Spear, then sparks overhead as half of the lights in the wardroom exploded, shards of glass raining down to lacerate a few unfortunates still out of their armour. Talitha casually hardened the air above her, leaving herself and her squire untouched as the commander and a few lieutenants rushed for the main exit and out, several of them still not fully equipped. A shake of her head to Eleni. ¡°Fully armed.¡± Her gorget followed, her sallet helm, gauntlets, she tugged those on herself as her belt was buckled around her hips. Once completed she could feel the runes inscribed into each plate interlocking, reinforcing each other, she was not just clad in metal from head to shin but protected on a far more fundamental level. She turned to her fourteen year old squire. ¡°Armour up yourself but remain here and only fight in self defence and extremity Eleni. You are not ready to face an angel. Yet.¡± Then she rushed out into the corridor beyond before launching herself toward the nearest vertical ladder way, gauntlet shod hands and heavy boots propelling her upward as the ship fought around her. As expected, when she kicked open an armoured hatch to stick her head out of the dorsal hull, things were going badly. Arc lanterns stabbed out at the pitch blackness of the sky overhead whilst turrets stuttered, the multi barrelled weapons spitting streams of inch wide lead projectiles upward as they tried and failed to impact the darting forms of the night shrouded angels. The air compressors thrummed, allowing bursts of rapid fire before each turret fell silent to allow pressure to return. Sporadic rifle fire joined in the turrets of course as legionaries fired at the fleeting targets, more promisingly whomever was in command had gotten the bridge''s flare mortars operating, a pulse of starshell glare every few seconds as another magnesium bomb was launched aloft only to then fall behind the battlecruiser''s rapid movement and drop away into the gloom.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Above this martial chaos, the angels, huge feathered wings, shrouded in mist, idealised human figures she knew to be over seven feet in height and diving fast toward the ship as they weaved between rifle fire, deflecting it with the winds surrounding them or deft flicks of inhumanly fast spears. Then a flash far brighter than any starshell flare as lightning stabbed down toward the ship. She felt as much as saw the blows, the release of mana unmistakable. It first touched down forward, atop the bridge, a lance of sleeting destruction that then deflected from some combination of the defensive wards and efforts of legionary mages to crackle and discharge across the armoured hull. Then amidships, annihilating a turret and punching deep within the ship, then aft. She was aft. Talitha acted without thought, unsheathing her sword, lifting it skyward, twisting reality as she brought the lightning down upon her own upraised arm. She caught the blow, gritting her teeth as the surging, searing agony sought to simply wipe her human frame from existence. Instead she channelled it. The howling gale of the Spear of Retribution''s slipstream diverted to each side and above as her aura tore at the air surrounding her, crackling, sparks emanating as the runes in her armour lit, her sword cracking into life. It was trivial to balance herself now as she climbs up onto the hull, undisturbed by the wind but surrounded by her own personal storm. It was fully intended as the challenge that the divine soldiers took it as, though she decided she had to help that along. Sword uplifted, she aimed it at the nearest of the diving angels before focusing her mind appropriately. Anger, rage, fury. Vengeance, no detached and calculated strategy, pure emotion turned to fire. An upward stream of flame erupted from her weapon to wash across the nearest angel, blasting away his concealing mists, leaving him wavering in flight, singing golden wings and forcing him to focus his own power upon the air to divert it around his form as he twisted to dive upon her. Was that a cheer from the nearest firing gallery? She would have preferred the riflewomen to concentrate upon their marksmanship rather than cheering. No time to think about that though, she angled her weapon, a jarring impact down her arm as the angel''s spear struck then spilled to the side to cut a swathe two feet across through the inch thick armour of the battlecruiser''s hull. She countered, a riposte, fire burning along the edge of the saber as she lunged forward to try to counter her foe''s reach. He towered seven and a half foot tall, overmatching her by two foot, dark skinned, dark haired, golden eyed and winged whilst wielding a three meter long lance of blood red crystal, armoured in bronze and gold. He parried with inhuman speed and precision, far stronger than even his gargantuan frame would indicate, a millennia old servant of the gods endlessly trained for war. He smiled within his open faced helm, crackled with lightning, then surged it along the haft of his spear, assailing her magically as well as physically as the two exchanged a dozen strikes, parries and counters in three heartbeats. Her hip was struck, her armour held, she clipped his knee, bronze cracked and partially melted, he staggered. He dropped back, opening the distance again with an effortless snap of vast wings, she answered with another surge of flame that forced him to draw in said pinions as he concentrated his strength for a defensive sphere, something that also served to deflect the opportunistic rifle rounds that sought him out now that a gap had opened. ¡°How are you so powerful, mortal?¡± His voice was rich and sonorous, a perfect ideal of powerful male enunciation in the language of Heaven. Talitha declined to answer, instead twisting the air and space around herself, launching forward. Another flurry of blows as she pressed the angel''s guard then she had the haft of that crackling spear momentarily locked against the hilt of the sabre. He was far stronger than her of course, starting to bear her down, she could see that he thought he had won. She drew her pistol with her offhand, angled it, then pulled the trigger repeatedly, emptying the entire magazine and air cylinder into the angel''s chest at point blank range. It was a semi automatic weapon, master crafted by the finest artisans to maintain pressure and power, it held a dozen shots. This close, his aura unbraced against the attack? The enchanted bullets cut through his armour near effortlessly. He coughed golden blood, glowing bright in the night, slumped, fell with a crunch of armour and sprawl of gleaming wings to the deck. Then said wings caught in the slipstream and he fell away aft with his spear tumbling into the darkness. Now there was definitely a cheer and she allowed herself to revel in it, deep breaths, aches from old injuries and from her joints, from her right arm where she traded blows with that thing. But three more angels would have landed on the hull by now and she could feel the pulsing of magic as they fought. Mechanically, she reloaded her pistol, shoving the spent magazine and depleted air canister into their little pouches, important not to lose those. Then she turned with a clunk of boots, the air still twisting around her in a personal gale as she ignored the vessel''s own motion and began to march resolutely forward, toward a breach in the hull where she felt surging power whilst hearing screams, gunfire and blade on blade. The gods had to die. Chapter 2 - The Death of Angels The Spear of Retribution was a nearly two hundred meters in length, a narrow lance of a vessel built around her murderous ram and huge engines, one of the fastest things in the sky and designed to shatter opposing warships with brute impact after outmanoeuvring them. Her weaponry was also designed around the goal of destroying opposing warships, forward batteries of mortars firing naphtha shells, with relatively light secondary armament of one inch repeater cannon turrets for close defence. The guns had proven completely useless against the angels so far as Talitha could tell but the Spear did have a crew of a thousand including two cohorts of aerial legionaries. Four hundred highly trained riflewomen supported by twenty battle mages in addition to those of the capital ship''s own crew. Could they defeat three angels in a boarding action? She suspected the answer was no, not with the darkness and confusion having allowed the angels to reach the hull uninjured. She marched forward even as she felt the engines cut off, the forward momentum of the huge vessel slowing. It seemed to be deliberate? No doubt the captain wanted to reduce the slipstream so that mere mortals could operate atop the hull now that the angels were on board regardless. Ahead was the twisted and shattered wreckage of what she thought was no 5 turret, a lightning melted ruin that lead to a deep rift in the armoured hull. She vaulted in through the hole only to feel a surge of lightning, the ping of bullets against steel and aluminium, the scent of burning flesh and blood. The magazine and compression station below the turret were a charnel house with a dozen broken and scorched corpses but she could hear fighting further on in and charged through the wrenched open hatch, sword leading and pistol still in her off hand. Beyond she found carnage. The spinal corridor of the Spear transformed from a well lit passageway to a nightmare hellscape of twisted and molten metal along with the corpses or maimed forms of crew women and legionaries. What illumination existed came from the crackling lightning surrounding a female angelic figure as she stalked forwards, her spread wings trailing sparks against the metal walls, spear levelled, pulsing strobes of light and death as every other heartbeat she stabbed out a bolt into the fraying ranks of the defenders. Talitha did immediately come to the realization that the angel was injured, she was limping, holes in her armour, the corona of lightning and whirling air wavering as a trio of mages projected rams of concentrated air against her. They were failing to overwhelm anything were acting in concert with legionaries rapid firing their rifles, the flat snap-crack of air weapons in an endless fusilade. Then two mages, one of them screamed and fell to the deck as she took a bolt to her unarmoured foot, spasming, the limping angel continued to close as bullets impacted off her aura, her armour, were spun by twisting winds to impact the bulkheads. Talitha cleared herself of the door, lowered her sabre, reached out to the torn aluminium grillwork underfoot. She fed it some of her frustrated anger, fuelled by the contempt on the angel''s face as she slaughtered those brave enough to stand against her. A thousand lines across the metal grates glowed white hot for a moment, severing the floor into hundreds of tiny metal red hot metal shards as it exploded by beneath the angel. Talitha grit her teeth as she pushed with her mind at the will of the universe, then it bent. The angel screamed as she was lacerated, the storm of glowing metal fragments ripping through her silver feathers, slicing into every scrap of exposed skin, her spear dropping from her hands as she staggered into the mess of pipes below the floor and awkwardly whirled toward the source of this new attack. Then she lurched forwards and lay still as golden blood leaked from her in profusion, her face a ruined mess from the rifle round that took her in the cheek. Her body then jerked as she was struck by more bullets, though most simply careened off her gleaming armour. A shout then. ¡°Cease fire!¡± A cough, the air thick with smoke. ¡°Cease fire! Triage the wounded!¡± The person speaking was obviously an officer, distinguished by her more complete armour, in three quarter plate similar in design to Talitha''s own though lacking the gold trim or intensity of glowing defensive runes. She was also limping as she tugged lose her helm then gave a plate stiffled bow. ¡°Your grace, thank you. That w-¡± Talitha cut her off. ¡°You fought well lieutenant but the other two will be assaulting the bridge. I want you to task every uninjured legionary you have to follow me forward. Immediately.¡± The younger woman immediately deepened the bow before turning to obey. Talitha turned to jog down the torn corridor and toward the sounds of fighting forward, a clash of steel accompanying her movement, pausing only once for a glance back that confirmed she was being followed by a good number of half armoured legionaries with their bayoneted rifles.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. An armoured hatch briefly impeded her process, sealed shut, partially melted, it was a matter of a few seconds to wreath her sword in fire then slice through the bulkhead before kicking the dripping steel aside. She was immediately met by a hammerblow of hot air, outstretched and gleaming wings, the achingly sharp lancetip of a heavenly spear with the entire weight and momentum of an angel behind him. He was shrouded in fire and apparently propelling himself down the corridor through the act of extending out his wings then superheading the air behind him, moving faster than thought. She caught the spearhead with her sabre, wrenched it, felt a crack or pop as the terrible impact did something to her elbow. The angel was deflected and slammed burning into the armoured bulkhead to her side even as her sword tumbled from her hand, arm hanging lose, she set her jaw as she whirled. Rather than trying to tug his spear from the wall the angel instead snapped out one crimson and gold wing to hammer into her chest, cracking with flame of course, her armour preventing the inhumanly strong impact from breaking bones or the fire from touching her flesh but did nothing to dampen the imparted momentum. She found the air forced from her lungs as she was thrown into the wall opposite, a harsh metallic clang, the ache of what promised to be truly spectacular bruises along with an agonised wrench from her right arm. She was stunned. As legionaries forced through the molten entrance she cut earlier, calling out wordlessly as they fired a volley then rushed with their bayonets lowered. The angel flinched, bleeding as at least one bullet struck home, then twisted with impossible grace to grab one bayonet, jerk the unfortunate woman closer, then incinerate her through her armour press of a palm to forehead. The others dropped back a step, another screaming as she was clubbed across the cheek with the half of the purloined rifle, the weapon shattering as she went down with shattered bones. Talitha lifted her hand, gauntlet glowing, then once again pushed against reality, drawing in the power stolen earlier as she absorbed the divine lightning and expelling it once again. Now the angel screamed as he was transfixed, smoking, spasming, shedding sparks from his wings and stunned for the few seconds that it required for a half dozen burly women to bear him down and stab him twenty times through gaps in his gleaming armour. More golden blood across the decks as Talitha forced herself, aching, to her feet, hugging at her right arm, wincing as ever motion caused the broken limb to throb. Eyes closed, a deep breath, she masked her agony once she composed herself and spoke aloud. ¡°Well fought legionaries, I will see all eight of you.¡± Nods given to the two on the floor, both the dead woman and the one with the shattered face. ¡°Promoted for this, or if not you have pensions for your and your families lives. My sword!¡± She let her broken arm hang at her side for now as she took her sabre in her left, shifting her gauntleted grip. Then as more followed through the breach. ¡°Tend to the wounded! You, and you. Everyone else, with me! There is only one of them left.¡± Despite her best efforts she was moving much more slowly now as she forced herself along the charred corridor, every step sending pangs of pain through her back and arm, deliberate breaths, focusing on ignoring the exhaustion. It was impossible to miss the ash and charred corpses as she worked toward the bridge, just how many people had that fire angel slain? Far too many. Even so she felt relief as she arrived to find the last angel badly wounded, forced back with one wing bloodied and dragging as a trio of plate armoured officers pressed at her with their swords and magic, focusing entirely on offense as a half dozen further mages behind them fortified their defence. She joined in that effort and within thirty seconds or so the angel had been cut down, the commander from earlier apparently having delivered the final blow. She turned to the captain, a woman in her mid fifties, clad in now battered but still gleaming armour, bloodied sword in hand as she gave a careful bow. ¡°Your grace! We have only slain one of them, you must prepare to abandon ship a-.¡± Mindful of her injuries Talitha made a vague motion aft with her sword, still glowing faintly, though she had dismissed the fire from earlier. ¡°I must do nothing Captain Vanmecker. Order the Spear back to full speed and resume our course. All of the enemy are dead though I will require medical attention. Your crew fought commendably and will be rewarded though I will have a full account of how we were caught with so little warning. Report your findings to me once you are done with damage control and medical triage.¡± Talitha was fully aware that she had only personally killed one of those three angels, she fully intended to ensure those who had aided her were properly rewarded and recognised, but no, she was not going to lessen the impact of what she had just done with false modesty. Not given her goals, what she needed to do. The impact was also obvious upon the faces and stance of those present. Three dead angels, each a peerless inhuman warrior with the power of an archmage and gift of flight. Yes, they were looking at her with awe as she tromped painfully back to her quarters. She could not let them see just how much pain she was in though or how utterly spent she was, even if she was not going to be able to hide it from the doctor setting her arm later, for now she could do her best to appear invincible. She was Arch Duchess Talitha Emelina Kathryne Cervantes, High Admiral, Archmage of Air and Fire, Minister of War and power behind the throne. Dragonslayer, now would they call her Bane of Angels? It was a good start. She sat heavily as Eleni fussed and removed her battered armour, suppressing as wince as the support of the steel was removed from her broken arm. She tried not to think about the fact that her own daughter would have been almost the age of her squire if she had lived. She failed. At least this attack gave her exactly the kind of argument she wanted for the summit. The gods had sent angels to try to kill her for what she was going to say, to silence her. They feared her, they feared what she could begin and they had just proved they could be stopped. Chapter 3 - Recuperation It would take two days for the Spear of Retribution to reach her destination, twelve hours behind schedule thanks to several of her engines being destroyed and her electrical systems largely fried by angelic lightning. Her torn hull and mangled midships turrets were going to make it obvious she had been in a fight as well despite the madness of anyone attacking a capital warship in a time of peace. For her part Talitha spent most of her time sitting through the painstaking process of having magical healing applied to her broken right arm, teeth gritted, a great deal of tea consumed, forcing her intangible defences down as a nervous young naval mage concentrated a complex weave of water and earth to accelerate her healing. It was a form of magic she had no personal aptitude for and she found herself bitterly considering how much more useful the mage''s talents might be applied to the most grievously injured of the legionaries and crew aboard. But first impressions are important and showing up crippled would undermine her entire message. Even so she dwelt upon the butcher''s toll. A hundred and fifteen dead, two hundred wounded, the loss of seven mages. Roughly a third of the ship''s compliment casualties thanks to four angels and an idiotic watch lieutenant who had been napping instead of concentrating on sensory magic to warn of impending attack. She would have to ensure that woman was executed upon their return home. For now though she was holding distracted conversation with the battlecruiser''s first officer as her arm was worked upon, Commander Escamilla was one of the trio who had felled the last angel, a skilled fire mage in her own right as expected for the second daughter of a ducal house and senior military officer. ¡°Your grace, we were able to retrieve the bodies of three of the angels along with their panoply, the one you defeated atop the hull went overboard. Do you have any instructions for what we should do with them?¡± Talitha paused in sipping yet more tea at the question, considered. ¡°Keep them in storage for now, they will be useful bargaining chips or failing that material for enchantment. Hmm, no, upon considering that further I want the wings of the fire angel amputated so that I have something dramatic to show the summit. Have some sort of frame put together so that they can be carried in at the right moment.¡± The commander nodded there though she also looked more than a little disquieted. ¡°Does this mean we are at war with heaven now though your grace?¡± Talitha set down her tea at this, a clunk atop the wardrobe table. ¡°Not yet.¡± Empthasis upon the yet. ¡°This was a warning, or an attempt at one. They wanted to show that they could kill me and silence me despite passage aboard a capital ship, that nobody was safe and able to defy the will of heaven.¡± She then allowed herself to smile. ¡°Instead they have shown weakness. They will respond with greater strength of course but what have we just seen? Four angels, striking from ambush. Yes we lost over a hundred troops but you know as well as I that the kingdom has over half a million men and women under arms then another two million reservists. Seventy capital ships, three hundred escort vessels. They have demanded the tithe of the firstborn for millennia and we have no reason to still let them.¡± The commander continued to look less than entirely convinced. ¡°They would have won if you had not been aboard though your grace. You had help yes but three of those angels died at your hand or near enough and would you have survived if two of them had attacked you at once?¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Yes.¡± Talitha did not let any doubt creep into her voice. ¡°I would have survived but the collateral damage would have been excessive. For that matter if the lieutenant on watch had given proper warning and the turret pressure chambers charged along with proper searchlight patterns and every mage on deck? Your crew would have crippled down two or three of the angels before they could board. You killed one yourself, they are potent but an angel cannot face a dozen magically gifted and properly armed warriors and hope to triumph.¡± ¡°Or one of you.¡± A tight, deliberate smile at that comment. ¡°Or one of me, though I do appreciate being addressed with the correct honourific commander. I trust that any doubts you or your family might hold about my having earned it have been dispelled?¡± A wince from the other woman followed by a nod of her head. ¡°Entirely your grace. But how? I hope to be an archmage before I am fifty but you are barely older than me and reached that point over a decade ago. I do not mean disrespect but when combined with your... Crusade, there are dark rumours.¡± ¡°Rumours of my selling my soul to dark powers are greatly exaggerated commander.¡± Talitha pulled a face as something twinged inside of her arm, a pointed look given to the mage working on her arm, who paled, focusing back upon their task. ¡°But you are right, it is not ''natural'', I took my power over flame from the dragon Undat when I struck him down. Though I was still a twenty nine year old archmage at the time who was able to kill an adult dragon. That however was pure talent and hard work. Along with a well trained air skiff crew and some very expensive equipment.¡± The commander nodded slightly, intent, her own tea forgotten. ¡°Then of course you ended the civil war your grace. Though according to my mother it was as much through bribery as it was through your immolation of the Summer Palace. I feel the immolation helped though.¡± ¡°It helped.¡± Talitha confirmed. ¡°The old Arch Duke would never have abandoned his claim and the northlands still allow succession to pass through the male line, they would have continued to back him. I killed the entire family and thousands of their retainers but fighting the war to conclusion would have ruined our nation.¡± ¡°And yet now you want us to wage war upon Heaven your grace.¡± The commander interjected. ¡°I want us to deny Heaven the souls of our sons and daughters, if they respond to that with violence then they will answer for it and the queen is fully in agreement. Anyway. You are dismissed commander. I need to prepare for our arrival.¡± Talitha took a while longer to dismiss the mage working on her arm, she was not altogether fixed but could use the limb now, tender, aching, incapable of fine or strenuous use, but she hoped not to engage in anything heavier than lifting a glass of wine over the next few days. For now she called in her squire and had Eleni dress her. Her armour again, this time not pulled on hurriedly but affixed with full care and attention in full array, no three quarters suit leaving the backs of her legs and her feet unprotected but gold chased steel from neck to toe. It was marred a little from her recent combat, but that could not be helped. An emine lined cloak of silk, scarlet and gold, embroided with dying dragons, a velvet slouch hatch to match instead of her helm, which, fitted with profligate plumes, would be carried by her squire along with her gauntlets. One prepared she reviewed the thirty seven remaining legionaries of her forty strong honour guard, tall women in heavily enchanted half plate, gleamingly bayoneted long rifles and heavy shortswords at their sides, a mental chide at herself for having allowed them to be quartered so far from her own accommodations. Ascending to the bridge she gave a slight nod to the captain, considered the pair of Palatinate cruisers now alongside, the walls of the city approaching ahead as, the desert now passed, villages and farms sprawled a mile below. Eyes closed, a deep breath. She had called representatives of every major nation together and they had answered, now to convince them to join her.