Chapter 13
"How the hell did they tame a Stormbird," Erend wanted to know. Aloy squirmed to take another look over the edge. Yes, there it was, perched in front of the main gates. It screamed again, its wings hissing steam as it attempted to rise into the air. The Oseram had it chained, it wasn't tamed at all. "They're using it to keep people away from the main gate," she murmured. "If we can…"
"How do we kill it?" Erend wanted to know.
"With my cannon," Petra supplied helpfully.
Aloy shook her head. "Avad never said anything about an attack," she told them. "He said he wanted us to watch."
Erend was bristling. "The more desperate they get, the more Carja they butcher on the other side of the walls. And the longer we wait, the more desperate they get!"
"Eloquent," Petra snorted. She gestured to Aloy. "You really fucked this guy?"
"Shh, shut up!" Aloy said, turning red. Oseram were a nightmare. Avad had a whole Vanguard of them? "They obviously think the Stormbird can't be tamed. I wonder if they'd tried?" Her eyes flickered across the field below, attempting to determine just how the bird was detained. "Petra, there," she pointed. "Looks like a lever system. It's rigged to release if the bird decides to go after anyone. Can you hit it with your cannon from here?"
Petra stared at her, a little dumbfounded. She glanced to where Aloy had gestured. "S…sure I guess. But I mean, the bird's a much bigger target."
Aloy shook her head. "If you can hit the lever, I think we can get rid of both the bird and a few of the bad guys too." Petra looked doubtful. Erend was ready for her plan.
"Erend. You need to be bait." His grip tightened on his hammer. "Get down there and get as many of those Oseram riled up as you can. The more of them they are, the less the bird'll go after you."
Petra was catching on. "And when there's enough of them, I trigger the release, and Stormy gets his revenge," she perked up. "I like it!"
"I don't," Erend said warily. "But I trust you."
"Give me your bow. If I see any snipers, I'll take them out. Petra, if the Stormbird goes after Erend, you know what to do." Petra grinned, hefting her cannon a few inches off the ground.
Aloy took a deep breath. "Okay. This just might work."
"Hey! Hey, you miserable tin-sniffers!"
Erend's voice rang out over the valley. The deep tones she was getting so used to now growled like a tuned engine.
"If you think I'm scared of your little canary out here, you've got another thing coming!"
Aloy watched as the Stormbird screeched with fury as it focused on Erend, striding up towards the front gate. It clawed at the stone beneath it, straining. Petra was dialed in on her target, but leaned away from her weapon, ready to spot anything.
An alarm sounded. It was answered by another system coming from near the palace. He'd certainly pissed someone off.
"Oh woops! Did I wake you? I should have guessed you all couldn't handle that watered down boar-piss the Carja call beer!"
Despite the dire situation, she heard Petra chuckle. She couldn't help but shoot her an amused glance. Her bow was nocked, but she had to lean heavily against the side of the cliff face to keep herself upright for the attack. It made her begin to doubt her accuracy.
A clamor went up from behind the gates. They weren't Carja gates, these were made of the same stuff Olin's hatch had been. Tough stuff.
"Is that you, Erend?" Called a voice from behind the wall. It sounded amplified, as if the speaker were using some sort of cone to make him sound closer than he really was. "Come to join the good fight have you?"
"Come to wring your neck, Lock!" Erend was getting dangerously close to the Stormbird, but Aloy could see that though his anger was on the voice, his attention was on the real danger. "Blameless Marad was my friend! Worth the entire lot of you Ealdormen!"
The voice chuckled. It was not a deep voice, she pictured an old man with missing teeth. "Oh please. Don't associate me with them. You could say we… broke up."
For a moment Erend was silent. The Stormbird shrieked, lunging at him, missing him by only a few feet.
"They're getting ready to fire on him," Petra murmured, and quickly Aloy aimed at the first bowman she saw. A whisper of feathers through the air, and he was down. No one had even noticed.
"It would be great to catch up over a few drinks, Erend, but alas, business to attend to. After all, someone has to deliver justice for Ersa's death."
The door to the front gate slammed open. A stream of Oseram guards, whooping with excitement, began to pour out after Erend.
"Idiots!" Petra cheered quietly. "They're falling right for it."
Erend backed up, glancing quickly up to their ledge. Aloy took out another archer. She knew Petra was watching for the signal, but she waited. Erend began to steel himself for the rush of fighters, all almost as big as he was. But when he began to realize that the retaliation was a bit of an overkill, he began to retreat.
"Now?" Petra begged.
"Now."
A hiss, then a series of screaming rockets exploded from Petra's cannon. They hurtled towards the mess in the valley, setting the entire scene ablaze with light. It looked as though the Oseram really were getting fed up with being behind the gates: it had to me most of them that had volunteered to help murder Erend.
A machine-gun of explosions caused most of the Oseram to hit the ground, including Erend. The housing of the lever system caught fire, buckled, and crashed to the ground. Some of Lock's men, realizing the had been missed, regained their footing and resumed the attack on Erend, who was quickly removing himself from the situation.
With a mighty lunge, the Stormbird broke free. The cables holding it down snapped across the road, felling a handful of Lock's men. They turned when they saw the machine was free, many of them attempting to scramble back to their fortress. Bad idea, Aloy thought. They'll be sitting ducks.
She looked away from the carnage. Petra let out a whoot of delight. "Well done, girl. If we can stay low, that thing'll finish with them and make itself scarce, right?"
"That's the plan," she murmured, lowering herself to the grass. "Either way, it'll leave. That'll make it easier for us to…"
A wave of heat flew up and over the ridge as the Stormbird, satisfied with its revenge, ascended. Petra and Aloy held their breath as it blocked out the moon, gaining the sky. When it passed them, Aloy let out a breath of air. It was over.
A squeal of exploding gunpowder interrupted the moment, and a trail of white shot out from one of the turrets on Meridian. Aloy gasped as she saw the plume of fire light up the night sky as it hit the Stormbird, winding it.
Desperately, cables still whipping from its wings, it tried to stay aloft. But one of its engines had been compromised, and it was going down. Petra threw herself over Aloy as it crashed meters from them, sending sparks and rocks flying.
Ears ringing, Aloy peered over Petra's arm to see the Stormbird regain its footing. Right behind it, Erend skidded to a stop, horrified as he looked at the machine, then back to Aloy. Everyone froze.
With a grinding sound, the Stormbird focused on the women, its optics twisting and glinting in the light of the flames burning around them. With a shriek, it lunged.
Everything happened at once. Erend yelled, diving for one of the cables hanging from the wings. Petra gripped Aloy tightly, but not as tightly as the steel that clamped down on the Nora's bad leg. She screamed with pain, clutching at Petra, but with one mighty swoop the Stormbird was once more aloft, compensating for its stuttering engine. Aloy felt Petra's fingers slip through hers, and saw the cable rip from Erend's hands. In no time, her companions were specks on the ground as the Stormbird vaulted into the clouds.