Isogorr Strikes: Book Two Angel's Blood Trilogy

By Gerard Bond

In book two, the war heats up in earnest and Wollfen finally gets to meet the Queen of the Sorcs. What will be the outcome? Will Wollfen continue his fight against the power of the Sorcs? Time will tell. As for the Kingdom, it will be sorely tested as the might of the Isogorrean army continues to grow and moves against the heart of the Kingdom. There are massive land battles and naval battles too as the war goes into full swing. There will be moments of triumph as well as tragedy. This latest book will get your heart pounding at the setbacks and cheering for the heroes as they fight hard to keep everything together. I know you will enjoy the second installment of this trilogy. Thank you again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329650558

Book preview

Isogorr Strikes: Book Two Angel's Blood Trilogy

Isogorr Strikes

Book Two

Angel's Blood Trilogy

by

Gerard Bond

Books by Gerard Bond

Angel's Blood Series

Prequels

Nightclans

Wolfe Pack

Angel's Blood Trilogy

Wollfen's Quest

Isogorr Strikes

A Kingdom United

First Edition

Copyright © 2015 Gerard Bond

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-329-65055-8

CHAPTER ONE

SETBACK

Underlord Thanos of Isogorr stood at the helm of his ship, the Nevacles.  It was a cruiser type vessel more heavily armed than a Man o' War and larger as well. It carried 150 men, but was not as quick. There were three in his flotilla and five Man o' Wars.  He had a good unit with disciplined men, all battle hardened and tested. This raid wouldn’t really be much of a test at all. They were expected to hit some fishing village in a shallow water port and return with whatever booty they could get their hands on, leave no villager alive and burn the town to the ground.  Simple enough goals and he would carry his orders out to the letter.

They had seen the occasional fishing vessel on the two day journey south, the boats had retreated very quickly and he didn’t think much of it.  Port Valderus would know they were coming, but it wouldn’t make much difference.  Valderus had no real defenses and no way of hurting them, so he wasn’t particularly worried. He could see the town now, approximately a mile ahead and off the port bow. A single jetty jutted out into the water.

Instruct the first mate to start the taking of soundings.  I want to know if we can sail right in.

Thanos could see the tide was in, and while under normal circumstances larger ships like his own wouldn’t enter the bay, he was hoping it was deep enough while the tide was high for them to dock against the jetty.  They could stay no more than a couple of hours or risk having their ships stranded at low tide. The first mate returned with news.   

Depth is 80 feet and getting shallow rapidly. Thanos nodded. 

Tell me at each ten foot interval.

The first mate turned and shouted out to the man holding a large plumb bob over the edge of the deck, working out the angle of the rope to how many knots in the rope as he pulled it in.  Dragging the weight and just letting it touch the seabed allowed them a good idea of their depth. The man shouted out a sounding at intervals.

Depth 70 feet!

They were less than a mile to the jetty but still a way to go.

Depth 60 feet! Depth 50 feet! Depth 40 feet!

Still they continued on under full sail. 

Depth 30 feet!

Two more minutes and they were half a mile off. 

Depth 20 feet!

This was going to be close. 

Call out 5 foot intervals!

At seven hundred yards the call came. 

Depth 10 feet!

Thanos turned to the flagman.

Signal for the three cruisers to hold back and the Man o' Wars to continue on. Captain Ephanos is to take command of the raid on shore.

The flagman started waving to the other ships. This was cutting it very close, those Man o' Wars would only be able to stay at the jetty for an hour or so, but no longer. When the tide turned, they could get stuck very quickly.

Thanos raised his telescope to study the jetty more closely.  Three larger fishing boats were moored alongside a few small ones.  A couple of them had spotted their own fleet the day before no doubt. He wondered if the town had emptied to the inland areas? It certainly would make his job a lot easier with the time constraints at hand, but then depending on how easily the town fell, he may just lay anchor for the next high tide cycle. No point rushing things if he didn’t need to.

There was an unusually large amount of crating sitting on the jetty.  Would they trade in that amount of goods here? There seemed to be a wisp of smoke coming from behind some of the stockpiles.  Thanos could not have known that the town was now a military garrison or that they had placed catapults and ballistas in strategic positions on the jetty.  Hidden behind those crates were a hundred troops heavily armed with cross bows and bows, ready to open fire.

Sergeant Burkhard on the jetty couldn’t believe his luck, they were sailing right up to them! At a hundred yards his scream pierced the air. 

Catapults and ballistas, fire! Fire! Fire!

All of a sudden the jetty erupted, flaming pots of oil arced up into the air.  They had timed their range to the second.  Four pots descended on the Man o' Wars and ballista bolts flew into them.  The two lead Man o' Wars took the brunt of the fire, one taking two direct hits. One flaming pot hit square on the bow and the second pot smack damn in the middle.  You couldn’t hope for more.  The sound of screaming men burning and flames crackling immediately filled the air.  

The second ship was luckier with only one pot landing, but still it was devastating.  Ballista bolts were cutting through the ranks of the waiting sailors on the decks, all trying to avoid being hit.  It was a mess on both boats and the first one swung away to the side, burning furiously. The surprise was total and very effective. 

Crossbows and archers! Fire!

Now a hundred deadly sharps rained down on the decks of the ships raking them stem to stern.  The devastation was total.  The second Man o' War was swinging to one side too as a sailor, dead and pinned to the ships wheel by a Crossbow bolt, manned the helm.  Burkhard would have to give a beer afterward to who fired that bolt.

They didn’t have it all their own way, the three following Man o' Wars split up and swung wide, two going to one side of the jetty and the third to the other.  Opening up with their own catapults, six pots sailed through the air.  Four found their mark, this time it was the turn of Burkhard’s men to burn and die.  Two of the catapults were hit and burning, flaming bodies screaming and falling off the jetty into the ocean.  The Sergeant understood their position would become untenable very quickly.  Getting two Man o' Wars was more than they had hoped.

Archers!  Pick your targets. Fire one more volley, and then it's every man for himself!

Burkhard then turned and ran.  All they could do now was get off the jetty.  The remaining men were all running with him within the space of less than ten seconds. A second volley of flaming pots hit the end of the jetty but all of his men were long gone and retreating behind the barricaded gates to the town. They were a safe enough here as none of the ships could fire and hit them at this distance. Burkhard looked back down the main street. They had set up another two catapults there in preparation for this very situation.

Captain Ephanos was a very angry man.  They had just run into a trap like a bunch of rookies and gotten severely punished for it.  He was sure that Underlord Thanos would have him soundly flogged and demoted after this, even though he had been under direct orders. Ephanos had to save face, and save himself.  

Get us moored and disembark the men!

They moved in close, the end of the jetty burning behind them as the men poured on to it and waited to move forward.

Move ahead to within 150 feet of the walls of the town and get the archers to open fire in high arcs to land behind the walls!

The men raised their shields and moved forward, all chanting in response to their company leader urging them forward with vitriolic barbs spewing from his mouth. At the two hundred foot mark, two fire pots sailed over the wall of the town towards the jetty, crashing into the rear third of the column of men. Fire enveloping the soldiers and again there was screams of agony as most of the troops hit dived into the waters beside them.

Archers fire! Ephanos turned to his Lieutenant, Get three catapults on that jetty and down to within range of theirs.  I want their catapults destroyed!

The Lieutenant saluted and ran off barking orders. The troopers surged forward with their archers firing over their heads.  At a hundred feet the troopers stopped and kept their shields up. They had been taking return fire from the town and opposing archers were trading arrows. Two more pots came sailing over.  One missed the jetty splashing into the water, the second caught the edge of the jetty and most of the flaming oil sprayed into the water too. Behind the men, two catapults were loaded and ready. The third was still positioning. 

Fire now!

These men were well trained and had been watching where the pots were coming from, their own pots sailed over the walls and hit home.   Burkhard’s catapults were enveloped in fire, they would be of no more use.  Burkhard's voice bellowed out once more,

Ballistas fire!

There were two small holes in their walls recently cut out and four foot long bolts with steel barbs on the end flew out directly at the troops on the jetty. As they hit their shields, the bolts passed right through the first two ranks of men, killing them instantly. The troopers manning the enemy catapults had been watching carefully though.  Upon seeing the direction of where the first bolts came from, they directed the next volley of flaming pots against the wooden walls.

The walls of the town were made of logs of trees stuck in the ground and all were roped together for strength.  Against the wilds and raiding thieves they were fine, but against a well-armed enemy it was an entirely different story. Two pots flew to their respective targets and hit the walls hard.  A cascade of burning oil splashed out and through the cutouts. Two more bolts came flying out, cutting down more of their men. The third catapult now fired at the main gates and added to the fire too, it would only be a matter of  about ten minutes before the gates would be reduced to ashes.

The first two catapults fired another volley at the positions of the ballistas, but it was not having an immediate affect, bolts were still being fired out at their men. The Lieutenant changed his attack and directed all catapults to lob their pots directly into the town.

Inside the walls there were a number of dead men and many wounded as the arrows rained down from above, but they stood their ground. Burkhard looked about, this wasn’t going well at all. He knew it to be only a matter of minutes before the column of enemy troops charged those burning gates.  He made a decision. 

Fall back to the buildings on each side of this street! Use bows and crossbows to hit them!

The men pulled back and withdrew to inside the buildings and waited.  Then pots from outside started to crash into the town setting some of the roofs on fire. What should the Sergeant do? Burkhard realized he was fighting a losing battle and the enemy would soon take the town, they were far more experienced than his men in warfare.

Burkhard had to act, he ordered 100 men to stay and delay the enemy as best as they could before retreating. The rest, he ordered to destroy what supplies were in the store building and withdraw to the eastern gates.  He then took a small contingent and they raced off starting fires in as many buildings as possible. With luck, if the fires got big enough they would engulf the rest of the town too.

Outside, the Lieutenant had noticed that arrow fire from inside had dropped off to nothing. He waited for another minute then ordered the column of men forward. 

Hit the gates! Take them down!

The soldiers rushed forward using their shields as battering rams, crashing though the burning remains.  Inside, they were met with withering fire from the hidden archers and 2 dozen men were immediately cut down but still they pressed forward. There was little hesitation though after realizing where the defenders were.  They rushed to the buildings and started battering at the doors to make their way in and take the fight to the archers. It was a costly exercise as men were cut down either by crossbow bolts or by swinging swords as they entered the buildings, but they were making headway.

After another twenty minutes, the town was taken with the last of the defenders running for the east. Little did the Lieutenant know that the majority were now on horseback and retreating southeast along the inland road.  A trooper came up to him. 

We have captured two of them sir.

The Lieutenant reacted quickly.

Take them to that building there and send in trooper Vascala and his men to find out what they know.

The trooper saluted and left.  Turning to another subordinate, he ordered him to organize search parties to find what supplies they could and organize their return to the docks with them as soon as possible. Now he looked around. He could see there were a great many fires burning, he had a suspicion the supplies were torched. The Captain wouldn’t be pleased at all.

An hour later, Captain Ephanos and his three remaining Man o' Wars had returned to the rest of the fleet with a small number of fishing vessels.  He had left the Lieutenant nailed to a tree for his efforts. The Captain had brought the bad news of no captured supplies, and the fishing vessels, while seaworthy, had all been stripped of fishing gear. 

Underlord Thanos was not very pleased at all. They had lost 300 men and two ships for nothing. Thanos turned to his own Lieutenant and gave him strict orders. 

You will take the Captain here back to his ship, I am making you the new Captain in charge. 

What shall I do with Captain Ephanos sir?

Oh, behead him off the side of his ship and feed his body to the fish, now go.

The new Captain moved off quickly. The only good thing to come of this raid was that they had managed to gain some very important information from the two prisoners when they were tortured.

So now they knew there was a deep-water port four days south of here.  Should he risk a foray down there to see what intelligence could be gained? He did have to salvage something from this trip and right now, they had nothing. Thanos came to a decision. Turning to an aid, he ordered a crew to use one of the ocean going fishing boats and take a southern tack along the coast until they found signs of another port.  Then they were reconnoiter the bay and return directly up the coast to him. With that taken care of, he decided to have a second fishing boat return to Port Cholandra with the intelligence already gathered and his decision to continue further south.  The Overlord would be very interested to hear of a new port.

The enemy ships set sail down the coast leaving behind an empty and burnt out town to be of no more use to the Kingdom. Looking back, Thanos’ eyes glanced over the blackened hull of the burnt out Man o' War settled in the water and its sister ship partly burnt and beached near the shore, both total losses.

Back inland, Burkhard was riding along on his horse passing information back and forth between his corporals.  There were many wounded and the going was to be slow.  He didn’t expect they would make the northern edge of Port Volarus for at least nine days. He knew some would die.  They had lost eighty men in the battle and by what he could tell another ten would probably die on the trail.  He hoped that when the boat that was sent south the day before arrived in Port Volarus, Raz would know to send a ship to the northern beach to pick them up at about the right time.  He really didn’t fancy the idea of sitting in the wilderness until someone realized they were there. Just over two hundred armed men traveling south, probably not of any real consequence to anyone, he thought to himself.

Three days later, the fishing boat sent south returned to Underlord Thanos with news and it was truly disturbing. A major deep water port was under construction and many cargo ships were moving in and out, but only three Man o' Wars could be seen. By their description, Thanos quickly worked out that many of the ships were once Isogorrean. If that was true, had the crews mutinied and joined forces with Kingdom people? Normally he would have rejected the idea out of hand, but he remembered that epic six-month journey across the ocean.  It had taken all their will and authority to make it this far, right now he couldn’t say no to the idea.

They had no choice but to go down and see just how strong the Kingdom was there. Maybe if the conditions were right he could inflict some major damage. He was sure that Sealord Gacek would react swiftly and send down a large flotilla of his own anyway.  This way, any damage Thanos did could be finished off by the second fleet he knew would be sent.  He would also be able to give them invaluable information regarding their defenses. He was right in heading south. Thanos ordered the fishing boat to go back to spying on the harbor.  He wanted to be up to date on the latest intelligence when his fleet got there. It quickly pulled away and within two hours was on the horizon ahead of them.

Late the next day, the six ships had dropped sail and were idle in the water.  The scouting boat had returned and Underlord Thanos was being briefed on what had been seen.  It was looking very good for a raid. Of the multitude of ships in the harbor, only four large cargo ships were anchored there with three Man o' Wars.  There was nothing else of significance in the bay at all. To the north, there was a sheer cliff face, some of his men might be able to scale it. To the south of the bay, nothing but swamp. Well that would be of no use.

Thanos decided they would go in, dispatch the three Man o' Wars, and recapture the cargo ships.  Then he would burn what else of the town he could with minimal casualties. It was decided to wait another hour before setting sail and when they approached in darkness, he would have men disembark at the cliff face and scale it.  That way, they would make good use of having a few men on shore to wreak havoc from the northern shore as well.   

He looked up at the sky.  It was cloudy but not overcast and it would be doubtful if the moon played much of a part tonight. It was a good thing though.  Without too much moonlight they would be able to get very close before being seen. It wasn’t long before the order rang out. 

Make sail!

As the sun set, casting an orange glow across the unfurling canvas on the ships, they slowly moved off to what would be a major and final confrontation for many on both sides.

A couple of hours later, ten long boats that had disembarked from the shadowing Isogorrean flotilla were approaching the cliff face. As it was low tide, they were lucky to have sandy beach at the base of it. The surf was a bit tricky but the seasoned sailors were able to negotiate their way to the shore without incident. Once the boats spilled their men onto the beach, they in turn quickly made their way to the rock face and began pulling themselves up with their weapons strapped to their backs. It was two hundred feet straight up and only the hardiest were picked for this mission. It was slow going and it would take them over an hour to work their way to the top.

Back on board the ships, Thanos was taking his time.  He wouldn’t enter the harbor for another  hour so that both forces attacked simultaneously.  He wanted the element of surprise to be complete. The clouds were doing their job. The moon had not shown at all in the past hour and it didn’t look like that would change.  A light drizzle had begun to fall. That would probably complicate and slow things for the rock climbers, but he didn’t envisage any real problems with it. He decided to wait a bit longer though to give the climbers extra time in the new conditions.

He considered his tactics once more. They had to stick to the port side of the bay when entering.  The scouting boat had noticed all the larger ships had done so. Once in, they would separate and move to individual targets with the Kingdom’s boats well spread out on the bay.  The Kingdom ships wouldn’t be able to organize a proper defense in the short time after the attack started. He had made sure of the moored positions.

The scouting boat had provided its last report at dusk.  Each cruiser would deal with the Kingdom's Man o' Wars in harbor with a surprise attack.  His ship would fire first, and when the other cruisers saw him start firing, it would be the signal for them to do so too. It was a simple tactic, but had proved effective many times.  The cargo ships would be easy targets after that and if complications arose, they were under instructions to beat a hasty retreat after firing at least a single salvo. Thanos was not going to make the mistake of sailing in without being ready this time.  All men and catapults were at the ready from the word go. The added advantage was, they wouldn’t be seen in the almost pitch black of this night. The starlight that was showing gave just enough illumination for them to make out outlines in the distance.

The time came for them to enter the harbor and the ships moved forward slowly, making their way line astern into the bay. There were no alarms, no sounds out of the ordinary coming from the harbor or the town.

On the cliff, the men were making slow progress but it was steady.  The drizzle proved to be a pain as the rock face had become rather slippery.  They were two third's of the way up and a little behind but they couldn’t rush this. If one man fell, the others directly below him would be in real danger too. A few of the men still on the beach looked out over the ocean but there was only blackness.  They knew the ships would be entering the harbor.  They were now on their own.

The cruisers separated and made their way slowly to their designated spots.  It was organized so they would all arrive at their respective targets at about the same time.  So with that in mind, each of them was traveling at a different speed. The Man o' Wars hung back to add support if needed.  The crucial part of this opening exchange was the destruction of the three opposing warships.  Once that was accomplished, they would have a free hand to do as they pleased.

Back at the cliff face, the men were about twenty feet from the top, almost there. The face of the cliff was covered with over a hundred men slowly making their way up, most of them were in the upper third of the cliff  and were looking forward to getting on top to take a quick rest. Then it happened, a shout rang out on top of the cliff.

Now!

Over the edge came boiling oil pouring out of huge pots, tipping their contents directly down the cliff. Men screamed as it hit them and they fell off the cliff face, collecting their comrades on the way down. At almost 200 feet to fall, they hit the beach below with sickening thuds.

Justin peeked over the ledge where there was a rocky outcrop behind his head, it was a perfect viewpoint that stopped anyone below from seeing a person’s outline against the sky when they looked up.  He took stock of their handiwork and whispered back at Keera behind him. 

About a dozen left, they copped some oil but they didn’t let go. Now Keera shouted,

Light 'em up!

A couple of lit branches stuck out over the edge and the oil was set alight, the flames raced down the cliff face faster than anyone could move.  Some of the soldiers let go before the flames got to them, preferring a quick death below.  The others were frozen to the cliff face in fear. As the flames enveloped their bodies, the last of them screamed madly and let go of their handholds. They cut a fiery path directly to the beach below where fireballs engulfed the other oil covered bodies, sending up huge sheets of flame. The cliff face was like a beacon facing the ocean with an eerie flickering glow cast over the beach and crashing waves.

Justin continued his surveillance, looking for anyone that might be left.  He didn’t see the solitary figure far off to one side.  The soldier was aiming his crossbow directly up the cliff face.  He saw Justin illuminated by the fire against the rocky outcrop a split second before Justin saw him.  He let fly and Justin didn’t move in time. The bolt entered his chest and went straight through him, pinning him to the rock behind. All he could do was croak in response.  Two men behind pulled on his legs, snapping the bolt off. Another soldier leaned over the edge with a bow and picked off the remaining soldier on the cliff, but for Justin, it was too little too late.  He lay there gasping as they turned him over, blood spreading on his tunic.

Get a stretcher here now!

Keera wailed while leaning over him, cupping his face. With tears welling in her eyes, Keera beseeched Justin to stay alive. 

Don’t you die, don’t do this, you need to live. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.

The stretcher arrived, and they lifted him on. The two soldiers started off along the ridge back to port, Keera beside him all the way holding his hand.

Out in the bay, they were unaware of the events on the cliff.  If they had looked a little harder they may have seen a bit of a glow from that direction. Raz was on board one of the large cargo ships, he had work done to convert it to combat status. Catapults, ballistas and 300 troops apiece were stationed on those three ships.

He sat there patiently waiting to spring the trap.  They knew there was a very real possibility of an enemy fleet showing up when they saw one of their fishing boats from Port Valderus arrive and leave again the day before.  He also knew of Burkhard making his way down the inland road too, they would have to pick him up in a few days.

There were over three-dozen fishing vessels stationed off to the sides of his Man o' Wars. Raz knew the Isogorreans would try to take his warships out first.  Days before he had them placed well apart to split the enemy fleet. 

So much relied on timing now, timing of the enemy arriving and their boats splitting up, timing of their warships approaching the Man o' Wars. The tough part was the enemy would have to open fire first.  It meant Raz’s ships would have to take the first hit. In preparation for that, he had the decks of the Man o' Wars covered in buckets of water. It would help them to douse the flames of any successful hits very quickly.  He was sure his ships would take casualties, but it was necessary to have a chance of winning this battle and saving the port.

As Raz stood there, he saw the first of the flaming pots begin arcing through the night sky.  It had begun.  Far off on the southern part of the bay, an Isogorrean ship had started firing.  Then all of a sudden two more opened up too.  They were going after the Man o' Wars just as he had thought they would. Right about now, his fleet of fishing vessels would be moving forward under cover of darkness to get alongside the enemy ships that had fired.  They were filled with as many soldiers as he could fit on each of them.  Most carried  bows and when they got close enough, they would open up on the decks of the enemy vessels, throwing grappling hooks on board and attacking. His Man o' Wars were also given orders not to use their catapults either, only ballistas and archers. He didn't want the smaller vessels attacking the incoming ships to be put in extra danger. Raz knew it was a risky move and it would be costly in men. He not only wanted to defeat the enemy, but he needed ships too and this was the best way he could think of to accomplish this. 

On board one fishing vessel near the second Man o' War, Dark was waiting at the bow.  Night and Loranda were behind her, there was no way they were going to miss out on any of the action. As a few flaming pots flew overhead towards their Man o' War, Dark called out to the helmsman. 

Let’s move now!

Their little flotilla of boats then moved forward to where the source of the pots was coming from. In the darkness, they were able to get to within twenty yards of the ship.  A guard on board the enemy vessel shouted and was cut down by a bolt from a crossbow.  All of a sudden, there were bolts and arrows flying into the men on that ship who were crying out and falling.  The last twenty yards took only a few seconds to cover and grappling hooks were thrown up onto the railing with men immediately pulling themselves up. Dark was in the front with her crossbow out, others stood in the fishing boats continuing to lay cover fire.  After pulling herself over the railing, she fired off a shot at the oncoming enemy sailors and immediately dropped the spent weapon, drawing her sword at the same time. Now she began screaming and swinging at anything near her.  Men from behind came charging in too.  It was a melee of swinging swords and raised shields, screams and yells filling the night air.  Who would win was just a matter of who fought more desperately.

Dark was swinging hard and clashing with swords and shields, it was tough going and they weren’t making much headway, even as more of their own men poured on to the deck.  These sailors were putting up a strong fight.

"Night! Loranda! On