Read Online Vikings battle Zeppelins while forbidden desires spark! (Swords Versus Tanks Book 2) by M Harold Page - Free Book Online
Authors: M Harold Page
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And you never did explain the Earth Elementals…"
"A similar war harness," said Ranulph firmly, "would require a master armourer. Perhaps a dozen apprentices."
"Leather workers. Iron smelters. Miners," added Lady Maud.
Ranulph nodded. "Merchants to ship it to the Rune Isles for etching, and back again. So?"
"Now," she said. "Imagine how many men are required to make one of Jasmine’s war machines?"
"Too many to count," said Ranulph. "But they are not here."
"They will be. They have weight of numbers and we have not."
So…" She put a hand on his. "What did Ragnar say?"
"He said that Saint Guthrum stole the Greater Runes on behalf of the Church"
"Absurd!” exclaimed Lady Maud. “Everybody knows the Church can destroy magic, but how could it possibly take it away? You cannot steal an idea." She shrugged. "Perhaps he gave them some sort of runic grimoire, and a Runecaster to complete the Rite of Incineration."
Ranulph nodded. That much he did understand. The Rite of Incineration required the burning of both the necromancer and the grimoire. Once performed, the necromancer’s magic was banished from the world.
Maud's teeth flashed in the moonlight. "But I suspected as much. If the Rune Isles still possessed powerful magic, somebody would have been tempted to use it."
The airship sailed closer, now at the leisurely pace of a merchant ship drawing into a harbour. Moonbeams caught on the crystal globe that served as its prow.
Lady Maud turned to fix him with her green eyes. "I can already play with the weather, render a handful of assassins invisible, heal wounds. But there are other spells in my grimoire, and not all of them are insanely dangerous and unpredictable." She drew in her cloak. "I shall spend the winter experimenting. You shall have your magic."
Ranulph thought about their precarious arrival on Greater Thule. He did not want to be anywhere near Maud's experiments. "It takes ten years to become a swordsman," he said. "Magic must be at least as complicated, and you propose to become an adept over the course of a season?"
"Then Westerland is doomed."
"You will be doomed if you attempt this," said Ranulph. "Magic makes you erratic — "
" Air Magic makes me... spontaneous," said Maud. "It corresponds, after all, to the sanguine humour. Earth however is melancholic. I shall experiment with that — "
" — and no doubt render yourself immovably morose instead," said Ranulph and suddenly remembered wanting to be a real, active , knight so very badly. "Cheer up, Milady. There are powerful magicians across the Impassable Ocean. I shall find you a tutor."
Lady Maud frowned. "My sylph is limited to this quarter of the Earth." She raised her voice over the buzz of the airship. "I shall rewrite one of the spells. It cannot be that complicated…"
The airship swept past the gatehouse. It was longer than the castle’s north wall, taller than the keep.
"Actually, I thought I'd steal one of those," shouted Ranulph.
"Now?"
Ranulph shook his head. "They are under flag of truce. I'll return to Westerland with a shipload of Ragnar's housecarls and steal one from there."
The dangling light connected with the handle of the giant bucket. The airship soared and the contraption whipped off into the sky, taking with it Colonel Klimt and Lowenstein.
"When I offered myself to you," said the sorceress. "You treated me like a child. She treated me as an equal."
"Your pardon?"
"You wanted to know why I lay with Jasmine."
The airship dwindled into a gap between the stars. Ranulph turned away from the moor and went down on one knee, buying time to find the right words. He kissed her hand. The skin was hot, as if the magic really did warm her blood. "You are my superior in most ways, Lady Maud."
She laughed. "But not in the ways that count to the rest of the world. I will come to nobody’s bed, except as an equal." She tugged at his hand. " Do get up, Sir Ranulph. You are being ridiculous."
Ranulph rose to face her.
"A similar war harness," said Ranulph firmly, "would require a master armourer. Perhaps a dozen apprentices."
"Leather workers. Iron smelters. Miners," added Lady Maud.
Ranulph nodded. "Merchants to ship it to the Rune Isles for etching, and back again. So?"
"Now," she said. "Imagine how many men are required to make one of Jasmine’s war machines?"
"Too many to count," said Ranulph. "But they are not here."
"They will be. They have weight of numbers and we have not."
So…" She put a hand on his. "What did Ragnar say?"
"He said that Saint Guthrum stole the Greater Runes on behalf of the Church"
"Absurd!” exclaimed Lady Maud. “Everybody knows the Church can destroy magic, but how could it possibly take it away? You cannot steal an idea." She shrugged. "Perhaps he gave them some sort of runic grimoire, and a Runecaster to complete the Rite of Incineration."
Ranulph nodded. That much he did understand. The Rite of Incineration required the burning of both the necromancer and the grimoire. Once performed, the necromancer’s magic was banished from the world.
Maud's teeth flashed in the moonlight. "But I suspected as much. If the Rune Isles still possessed powerful magic, somebody would have been tempted to use it."
The airship sailed closer, now at the leisurely pace of a merchant ship drawing into a harbour. Moonbeams caught on the crystal globe that served as its prow.
Lady Maud turned to fix him with her green eyes. "I can already play with the weather, render a handful of assassins invisible, heal wounds. But there are other spells in my grimoire, and not all of them are insanely dangerous and unpredictable." She drew in her cloak. "I shall spend the winter experimenting. You shall have your magic."
Ranulph thought about their precarious arrival on Greater Thule. He did not want to be anywhere near Maud's experiments. "It takes ten years to become a swordsman," he said. "Magic must be at least as complicated, and you propose to become an adept over the course of a season?"
"Then Westerland is doomed."
"You will be doomed if you attempt this," said Ranulph. "Magic makes you erratic — "
" Air Magic makes me... spontaneous," said Maud. "It corresponds, after all, to the sanguine humour. Earth however is melancholic. I shall experiment with that — "
" — and no doubt render yourself immovably morose instead," said Ranulph and suddenly remembered wanting to be a real, active , knight so very badly. "Cheer up, Milady. There are powerful magicians across the Impassable Ocean. I shall find you a tutor."
Lady Maud frowned. "My sylph is limited to this quarter of the Earth." She raised her voice over the buzz of the airship. "I shall rewrite one of the spells. It cannot be that complicated…"
The airship swept past the gatehouse. It was longer than the castle’s north wall, taller than the keep.
"Actually, I thought I'd steal one of those," shouted Ranulph.
"Now?"
Ranulph shook his head. "They are under flag of truce. I'll return to Westerland with a shipload of Ragnar's housecarls and steal one from there."
The dangling light connected with the handle of the giant bucket. The airship soared and the contraption whipped off into the sky, taking with it Colonel Klimt and Lowenstein.
"When I offered myself to you," said the sorceress. "You treated me like a child. She treated me as an equal."
"Your pardon?"
"You wanted to know why I lay with Jasmine."
The airship dwindled into a gap between the stars. Ranulph turned away from the moor and went down on one knee, buying time to find the right words. He kissed her hand. The skin was hot, as if the magic really did warm her blood. "You are my superior in most ways, Lady Maud."
She laughed. "But not in the ways that count to the rest of the world. I will come to nobody’s bed, except as an equal." She tugged at his hand. " Do get up, Sir Ranulph. You are being ridiculous."
Ranulph rose to face her.
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