CHAPTER 16

THE AIR FLEET

The mighty Grand Fleet of Lord Mentep’s Vognar airships raced southward across the Ares eastern continent of Cos toward the city of Sar. By now the Blues had heard of their winged allies major setback at Tarcos, the murder of Grusus days earlier, and this very day the death of Bron and the defeat of his forces. They had had a bad time of it. They were astounded of course, but that did not matter to them now. The mighty Vognar airships fl ew quickly and low above the ground over the eastern continent, a fleet of so many ships containing a massive army of blue warriors bent on conquest and gaining booty. They were anxious for easy and fast victory. They felt that victory was within their grasp and that nothing could stop them now.

Lord Mentep’s smaller scout ships brought back detailed news of the routing of the winged warriors and the attack against them by Jon Kirk’s army and his mounted warriors. They told tales of the devastation of the Winged-men by the Green’s archers. The archers were a unpleasant surprise. They had proved a disaster for the winged Zarans. It seemed there was serious resistance by the Greens this time. Most unusual, but it did not matter, nothing could save them now.

Mentep scowled, firmly hitting his balled up right fist hard into the palm of his left hand in violent anger. “This is all no doubt the work of that Jon Kirk. Blast him! I should have killed him straightaway back in my brother’s palace when he was our prisoner after the fight with Tharn. How on Ares did he win that fight? Now things are moving out of our control, but we will still prevail, and Jon Kirk shall pay dearly for his to our forces! I do not want him killed—I want him captured alive. Then I shall make him wish that he was dead!”

Lord Mentep was also angered because now he was forced by circumstances to change his battle plans and he knew he would have to turn his fleet around to seek out Jon Kirk’s army and destroy it. He had to complete the job of his winged allies and that rankled him. Before that however, he must first send his airship fleet to attack and destroy the city of Sar. His mighty ships should take care of that puny city soon enough, and he comforted himself with the fact that this attack would not take him that much out of his way—and give him a victory to laud to his brother.

So Lord Mentep gave his captains orders to bomb Sar from above, bomb it into submission, then send in one ship to land with shock troops and kill all who might be left alive. That would take care of them nicely. It would also be his first conquest on this continent and would prove an easy victory. The first of many. It would be important though, because he could tout it as a great victory for his invasion fleet and the news would be received with cheers of joy when sent back to his brother, Okvon, the Vognar’s Supreme Leader. Mentep knew Okvon well, and realized how important it was to send his brother good news of victories, no matter how small or insignificant they might actually be.

The siege of the city of Sar was short, it lasted only one hour. The Vognar airships rained down bombs upon the defenders mercilessly. The entire city had been sacked only weeks before by Grusus and his army of winged monsters. Now the Greens who had survived that attack had returned to rebuild their city and repaired the walls—even as their troops hunted down the broken remnants of bands of winged creatures that remained in the area. Many of the people of the city had fled to the surrounding hills before the attack so most of the people were still alive and safe. However, one small garrison of green warriors was cut off by the Vognar warships, these were quickly surrounded, but the valiant Greens would just not be killed off, nor would they give up. They were offering a hardy resistance and were becoming a problem.

Lord Mentep ordered one airship to land upon the ground near Sar. The ship landed and immediately unleashed a regiment of Blue warriors that quickly put the small force of defiant Greens under a heavy attack. He watched the brutal fight from above with glee, knowing that sending more good news back to Vognar would be to his benefit. This battle should be over soon too now. The swords of the Blues had now tasted the blood of the Greens for the first time since the dawn of Ares history, and they were eager for more.

However the battle around Sar was not yet done. More Greens suddenly came down from the hills and entered the fray to aid their brothers. Worse yet, reinforcements who seemed to be an advance guard from Jon Kirk’s army were now moving north from Tarcos. These Greens charged down upon the surprised Blues with a enraged vengeance and wild abandon, cutting like a knife into his troops. The Blues had never fought such a furious enemy before. They were used to putting the sword to defenseless people, farmers or tradesmen, not having the sword put to them by trained hardened warriors full of fierce revenge for the murder of their brothers.

The battle between the Greens and Blues around Sar raged on, but the outcome that had at first seemed an easy victory for the Blues was now in serious doubt. The Blues now found themselves outnumbered and they were totally outfought. While Lord Mentep could send more troops into the meat grinder, he decided to cut his losses in order to concentrate upon the main object of his plan; crushing the vast army of Greens under Jon Kirk. He had no time for this puny fight, which he now considered to be a mere skirmish. He must destroy the army of Jon Kirk, the main part of which was still many leagues to the south. He knew he needed to clean this mess here up quickly and then be on his way.

Lord Mentep would send no more men down to the surface to fight and die. His plan was to order all his airships to fire down into the green warriors and destroy them in a massive array of bombs. This was the logical tactic to take now—or at least it seemed to be—but for some reason something in the Lord Admiral’s mind made him decide against taking that action. The Vognar lord could not understand it of course, it was most strange, but for some reason he did not want to order any bombing—he would not order any bombing. It was as if some power within his deepest thoughts choked his thinking or clouded his reason. It caused him to neglect to give that crucial order. He could not understand why he did not give the order to fire, and soon he did not even care to think about the reason behind it. For some reason it did not matter to him now. It was most perplexing, but he soon forgot all about it. Afterwards the thought was entirely gone from his mind, with the result that none of his airships ever received any order from him to fire down upon the Greens and Jon Kirk’s army.

That same mysterious mental power, which was now being sent mind-to-mind from Aron and the other Old Ones of Keva, soon caused Lord Mentep’s airship commanders also to neglect to ask permission of their Lord Admiral to use their ship’s armaments to fire down upon the Greens at Sar as well. Their thoughts were now also controlled by Aron The Eldest, and that control was created without the Vognars ever suspecting they were under the control of Kevan mind-to-mind thought powers. So no bombs were ever dropped upon any of the Greens on the ground around Sar.

Meanwhile on the ground, many of the Blues near Sar, realized that their fight was hopeless, and that they would get no further help from their airships above. They could not understand why this was, they tried to contact their commander without any reply, so they knew they were in terrible danger from the Greens. They retreated and ran back to seek refuge inside the one airship that had landed near Sar. They shouted frantically to the captain of the vessel, but for some reason the ship would not take off. The Vognar ship did not take off because the pilot had suddenly inexplicably forgotten how to fly the vessel. Something in his mind had clouded his thoughts regarding the use of the complex controls of how to pilot the airship. None of the other officers there seemed to know how to fly the vessel either. So the ship just sat there doing nothing.

Many more of the Blues, before they had ever reached their landed ship to hide, were brought down by the swift arrows of more green men sent as reinforcements from Tarcos by Sahn Jor. What was left of the Blue force now was a mere handful of the original thousand troops that tried in vain to flee out of range of the Greens and escape. They could not get away. This action had ended in disaster for the Vognar host and those that remained would soon became captured prisoners. The ship would be taken over by the Greens. All that was needed now was one more concerted bold attack.

Meanwhile Lord Mentep’s vast fleet left Sar and flew onward seeking to find and destroy the main part of Jon Kirk’s army before they would begin their bombing of Tarcos. However, the commanders seemed quite confused on exactly how to accomplish that mission now. There was much conflict and argument. While they argued among themselves, and until a decision was finally made, the fleet did nothing.

Aron The Eldest smiled, it was quite easy to influence the thinking of these Blues.

* * * *

Far away in the hidden city of Keva an Old One called Aron The Eldest and his companions entered a small black airship that took off and raced to Sar. They held a precious cargo, Emperor Jon Kirk and General Zaor. The ship suddenly became invisible, then it reached the city almost immediately.

Out of nowhere, the mysterious black fighting ship suddenly became visible again and set down outside the city of Sar. The ship was an immediate cause of great concern and fear as it landed, for everyone who saw it had never seen such a thing before. From everywhere eager warriors of the Green army rushed out to create defensive positions around the strange vessel. They were ready for whoever, or whatever would come out of that mysterious black airship. The locals lurked in the shadows, curious, yet fearful, too scared even to run. For in truth, there was nowhere to run from these airships if they shot down upon the people and the warriors. Many Greens wondered why the Vognar ships had not used their mighty beam weapons or bombs as they had done on their initial attack to shoot down upon the city and the Green troops. But the Blue airships did not fire. Why this had occurred no one could understand, but they were greatly relieved, for it changed the entire course of the battle around Sar.

* * * *

“No, My Lord, do not go towards it,” a green warrior warned his officer, Major Tal, who had now joined the advance troops at the Sar battle site. “It is almost certainly a Vognar flying ship full of Blues. It is a trick of some kind, to lure us all out in the open where they can cut us down.”

Major Tal nodded, though he did not agree with the soldier. He took a deep breath and bravely advanced toward the vessel. He was careful but he had no idea what to expect. No green man from this continent had ever seen such a strange black flying machine like this before.

Suddenly a doorway in the ship’s hull opened and Major Tal swallowed hard with growing terror, not knowing what to expect. He uttered a deep sigh of relief when he suddenly recognized the faces of his Emperor, Jon Kirk, and his general, Lord Zaor.

The two leaders came out of the strange black airship and Tal ran forward to embrace his Lords and friends. Lords and friends that had seemingly returned from the Afterworld of the dead. Immediately a wild cheer when up from Major Tal and all the green warriors under his command as they crowded around the emperor and general to greet them. The survivors of Sar cheered the return of their greatest leaders. That cheer rang loudly through every throat, from the mouth of every green warrior as the green men ran forward in one mad frenzy of joy and victory. Tal let out another lusty yell of delight and came forward to meet his returned friends. “Surely you have returned from the Afterworld!’ Tal shouted triumphantly with sheer joy overtaking him. “It is good to see you both again.”

“And I you, Major Tal,” I said to the man, grasping his shoulder in staunch friendship. “You seem to have done well here against the Winged-men.”

“Yes, your plan to kill Grusus worked. It bought us the time we needed. Now I hear that their new leader, another brute named Bron, is also dead and has been sent down into the Afterworld.”

“Yes, I sent him to the Afterworld myself not long ago,” I said proudly.

“Well, My Lord, that broke the back of their siege upon Tarcos, but now these blue men are here. Who or what they are I do not know but they are deadly and seem intent upon conquest,” Major Tal stated.

“I will tell you about them soon enough, but for now let us get things arranged here, and quickly. We have a battle to begin and a war to win,” I stated firmly.

“Yes, My Emperor, we are at your command!” Tal spoke up, his voice echoed by each green warrior there.

“Then let us ready ourselves. We attack now!” I shouted to resounding cheers.

Then with Major Tal and his men, and adding Zaor and his men, I ordered our attack on the remaining Blues and we defeated them resoundingly. The battle was quick. The Blues had lost all heart for war now and gave up resistance—they were not gong to lay down their lives for a tyrant such as Okvon when they were offered life by me if they surrendered. While many were killed, the few remaining Blues surrendered and were taken to add to our growing groups of prisoners. These were placed back into their own captured airship with the rest of Major Tal’s advanced guard of troops.

“An airship? A ship that flies through the air like a winged man? That is amazing, My Emperor!” Major Tal stated when he was taken inside the captured Vognar airship to be flown back to Tarcos. Zaor and I would travel inside the Kevan black airship on our way to join up with three other Kevan airships, which we called the Black Fleet.

“It is one of many new wonders that we have been given by the Kevans, or taken from the Vognars,” I had told my young officer before we took off.

“These airships are deadly to ground troops,” Major Tal stated with alarm and some awe. “They are armed with heat beams and they can also shot down bombs and projectiles upon our warriors—they could have wiped us out easily but then inexplicably, they stopped firing upon us.”

I nodded and smiled, “The Kevans are responsible for that I would bet. Aron and the Old Ones are using their mind-to-mind powers to interfere with the thinking of the Vognar officers so they would not order their ships to shoot upon our men.”

Major Tal smiled, “That surely is a wonder, My Emperor.” I smiled, “It surely is. Now let’s go!”

* * * *

The Grand Fleet from Vognar flew further south from Sar, and as it did so it was met by four even stranger mysterious black airships which closed in on them rapidly. Grand Admiral Lord Mentep was startled by the appearance of these unknown airships for he expected no such opposition to his Grand Fleet from the Greens. He was sure the enemy had no such flying vessels, and he was also sure these were not Vognar vessels that had been captured. They were something else, something new. But there were only four of them, after all. It meant nothing in the greater scheme of things and could never be a threat to his massive Grand Fleet, nor interfere with the Vognar plans.

Lord Mentep looked upon the four lonely ships coming towards his vast fleet and smiled. They were small but quick. Why, the fools were coming right at him! So much the better! It made it all very convenient. He would not have to waste time hunting them down. Though he did not know who they were, nor where they were from, he was supremely confident that his powerful armed force could handle them easily. His airships were a dozen times the size of these tiny vessels and far more numerous than this puny force of only four ships. He smiled triumphantly. While it appeared that these ships were armed, their armaments could be nothing compared to the weapons on his own mighty vessels. It was almost laughable that such a small force would even dare oppose his own great fleet. It was a grand but useless gesture. At least it would give his men something to shoot at, some action for his men before victory was declared would be acceptable. It was, after all, good for morale for his men to make some easy kills.

Lord Mentep immediately gave the order and soon his entire fleet of almost one hundred flying airships advanced at full speed towards the foolish newcomers. He ordered the Vognar fleet to train all their weapons upon the four small ships and be ready to fire upon his word. He could see that the fight was up in each one of his blue warriors and all were hungry for battle and blood. That too was good for morale.

As the two groups of airships converged they soon came to close quarters but the Vogars still held their fire. Lord Mentep wanted to see if he could entice the newcomers to surrender for he wanted to know who these new players were, and where they were from—rather than destroy them outright—if need be. However, if they did not yield soon, they would be blown out of existence by the many guns upon his mighty airships. The four mysterious black vessels continued to boldly come closer, as if they knew no fear, nor would they respond to any hail or orders from Lord Mentep’s flagship.

“They do not reply to our message, My Lord,” Commander Ken told the admiral, “and I believe they will not yield”.

“So be it, Ken. Order the fleet to fire on those four ships and destroy them! Burn them into molten slag!” Lord Admiral Mentep stated firmly, a smile of victory growing upon his lips. He could almost taste victor now.

“Yes, Lord Admiral!” Commander Ken replied smartly. However, before Ken could relay the order throughout the Vognar fleet, the four mysterious black airships shot out an astoundingly powerful blaze of bright white energy. It was a beam of terrific power. It was a great force of white fire that immediately blasted four of Lord Mentep’s mighty airships out of the sky. The Vognar ships were blown to bits in horrendous explosions, they had been destroyed completely. The Vognars, officers and all Blues on the other ships of the Grand Fleet could not believe what they had just witnessed. Lord Mentep himself was momentarily astounded, confused, then angry.

“Sir,” Commander Ken said to the Vognar admiral, “The enemy ships are… Well, they are now sending us a message asking about surrender.”

“Hah! Of course they are! Now that they have attacked four of our ships they fear immediate and devastating reprisal. Well, we will not entertain any surrender now. Destroy them at once!” Lord Mentep ordered feeling a surge of anger and victory run through him now. The power of utter destruction was in his hands and he would use it.

“No, sir… ah…that is not exactly what they are asking,” Commander Ken stated quite nervously now. He took a deep breathe and stated carefully, “The enemy ships are not asking for terms for their surrender, sir—they are asking for our surrender.”

“Our surrender!” Lord Admiral Mentep barked in rage. “How dare they! Who do they think they are! I’ll show them surrender! I’ll show them utter destruction and death! Fire! All ships fire! Fire and keep firing! Destroy them all!”

All the Vognar ships fired their beam weapons, and it was a brutal and massive crescendo of torrential power, but after it was all done it hardly seemed to have any effect upon the four mysterious black airships that still hovered before the Vognar fleet apparently undamaged. It was almost as if they were now taunting the Vognar fleet.

Then—in the sudden blink of an eye—the four mysterious black ships disappeared.

They just blinked out of space and were gone.

There was utter silence, astounded wonder and consternation in the control rooms of each of the Vognar warships as if their commanders were trying to understand just what had happened. Suddenly the Vognars on every ship in the fleet cheered at what they saw as the defeat of the four opposing vessels.

“I believe they have been destroyed, all have exploded somehow,” Commander Ken stated hopefully, though he could not figure out how it had happened. There had been no explosions, but there seemed no other explanation for what they had seen. “It appears you have won a great victory, My Lord.”

Lord Mentep grunted acknowledgement, but remained skeptical about the results. Something did not seem right about this. Of course his own vessels had the power of invisibility, but he had not used it in this tiny battle, it hardly seemed necessary or worth the effort. It was also not a good tactic to let knowledge of his tricks be known to the enemy so soon. So he had not gone invisible—but had the four enemy ships somehow gone invisible? It seemed impossible. He was nervous by the way this battle had gone—and even though he had apparently destroyed the enemy ships—he had lost four good ships of his own to do so. The Vognar lord still wondered where these strange vessels were from? They were not Vognar vessels, of that the admiral was certain, and the green people from this eastern continent were not capable at all of such scientific feats, except perhaps…

Lord Mentep whispered a dire phrase of fear, “It must be the mysterious Kevans!”

“Kevans?” Commander Ken replied skeptically. “I have heard of them but they are just a rumor to scare children. They do not really exist.”

“Have all vessels go to complete invisibility at once!” Lord Admiral Mentep ordered sharply. “I do not think these intruder vessels are dead yet.”

Immediately more than ninety mighty warships of the Vognar Grand Fleet disappeared within the blink of an eye. They were gone.

Invisible.

“You think the four black ships are not dead?” Commander Ken asked his admiral. “Or, could it be… do they have the power of invisibility too?”

“We will find that out soon enough, commander,” Admiral Mentep warned.

Ken saluted smartly and set about the tasks ordered.

Moments later a sudden and fierce fire rained down upon every warship in the Vognar fleet. It was white fire, intense and all consuming. It was devastating.

“So they have the invisibility power as well!” Admiral Mentep shouted, fearful, now realizing that while he had the odds in his favor—he was concerned now because his pilots told him they could not find the location of the four enemy vessels. They could not track the four black ships at all—even as it appeared that the enemy vessels could somehow track his own ships quite easily. The Vognar fleet was being hit hard now. Their mighty airships were exploding, burning, crashing down to the ground in crimson flames.

“This can not be happening!” Lord Admiral Mentep whispered in fear.

“No, My Lord!” Commander Ken responded, awaiting orders. “Fire! Kill them all!” Lord Mentep barked order after order now. “Do not give up! All ships keep firing all weapons!”

Every Vognar airship fired all their weapons—at what they had no idea—for they could see no target—but the commanders had their orders. A deadly battle now raged between the invisible Vognar fleet and the invisible four black ships from Keva, but try as they might, the Vognars could not locate the invisible Kevan enemy. They could not hit the swiftly moving Kevan ships, even as more and more of their own airships went down one by one to defeat in devastating explosions. Lord Mentep soon realized that unless a change of tactics was made there could be but one outcome to this battle. Defeat! Such an outcome was unthinkable.

That was when Lord Admiral Mentep let out a dark curse and reluctantly barked an order throughout his fleet for a hasty regroup. It was a regroup, but it was in fact a retreat. It was an effort to save what was left of his fleet. The four black Kevan airships pursued the Vognar vessels relentlessly. They would not allow them to withdraw. The battle did not end but raged on for hours. Mentap finally ordered his remaining ships to break formation and split up—each commander was now on his own. They were ordered to scatter to the four winds. It did no good either. By the time that order was given it was too late.

By the end of the afternoon the last Vognar airship was blown out of the sky. Lord Admiral Mentep’s own massive flagship burst forth in a dazzling explosion of blinding white beam radiance. Soon all the Vognar airships were destroyed. The Blue fleet ceased to exist. There were no survivors. Now finally, any attempt at Vognar conquest of the eastern continent of Ares was ended.

* * * *

When King Shamar of Keva arrived in the city of Lanar upon his secret mission for the Old Ones, he discovered that the city, indeed this entire province on the western continent of Vognar, was in utter turmoil and rebellion. The Vognar masters who ruled here over the Blue Lanar people had already been killed while an army of Lanar rebels was already formed under a new leader named Konor, who were all ready to march west upon the capital city of Vognar. They were ready to take down Okvon, and all who stood with the man they called not the Supreme Leader, but the ‘Supreme Tyrant.’

Late in the day there were seen four mysterious black airships that stationed themselves in the sky above Lanar. They had arrived fresh from their victory over Lord Mentep’s Grand Fleet, after which they had landed Emperor Jon Kirk and his men at Tarcos. Now the four black ships were here in the west. When they landed Shamar and Aron The Eldest loaded eager Lanar Blue warriors onboard and then they raced to the capital city of the Vognars to pay a visit to the Supreme Tyrant, Okvon. The quick small black ships made the trip across the wild western continent in just an hour.

As the four Kevan airships approached the outskirts of the Vognar capital city, their great victory over Mentep’s fleet fresh in their minds, they debarked Konor and hundreds of troops comprised of vengeful Lanar Blues who were eager to continue to pursue the war on the ground in the capitol of their oppressors. Once that was accomplished the four black Kevan airships lifted off to fly overhead working together to destroy any of the city defenses that opposed the Lanar rebels.

The future history texts of Ares would tell of how the biggest mistake Lord Mentep and the mighty Grand Fleet of the Vognars had ever made was that they decided to meet four mysterious black airships in battle.