Devils Own ( Steam Punk Adventure ) 6.8

6.8

There was a clearing near the exit where they had taken out of the tunnel. The men had taken to that clearing for their discussion while the ladies took to a nearby stream for a wash. Kassius held the small case in his right hand. It measured no more than three inches in length and two inches in width. It was not a high with less than two inches in height. It was also light and he was tempted to open it but the prince stopped him.

“The Ark had been claimed to be a large case carried by the followers then, but not many knew that the Ark was actually a small case. The case may be small in dimension when held in our hand. But in a different reality, it’s even larger than even our cities boundaries. It’s all about perception. An ant percept a man as a mountain that moves, but the man may percept the moon as huge but compared the moon to the Sun, the former is just a speck in the skies.” Prince Csaba explained. “The case you held is the Ark that many seek. You have heard of its power. Or part of it.”

Kassius looked at it again. He was sure there was it more to the Ark.

“I read your mind, Assassin.” Prince Csaba spoke out. “The Ark had a price for its calling.”

The Prince opened up his jacket to reveal the missing sections of his chest. He was like Merlin, but his body was still much intact. He closed back his jacket and then continued on.

“Leave us and be on your way. You got what you needed.” Prince Csaba continued on. He sighed at the end of the statement. “I will seek out my people and lead them to a new sanctuary. You continued on with the war with King Richard. Complete the Ark and destroy him. Richard II will soon cease to exist.”

“No, we will stay and fight your war. There are some things that you may not know of fighting the war.” Kassius replied. “We can help you but we need people to build the weapons to fight Richard II.”

Prince Csaba shook his head and then smiled.

“I think you are a mad one, Assassin but I liked the idea. We may be saved after all.” Prince Csaba shouted out to the skies. “You are not the only means to end the war. We will fight ours the way we were supposed to be. We will be equal in strength and equipped in the same.”

The prince then whistled out and the carriage with the four horses appeared.

“Take my coach. The horses will lead you to a safe place. Stay there and plan the weapons. I will get the materials and people.” Prince Csaba smiled. “And we will show Richard II there are more to us than just faith.”

*************

Six months have passed, and with effort of thousands the first dirigible took to the skies. It was a smaller version than any frigate. It was actually the size of a dhow with its hull made of wood; with the inflatable balloon above it and the twin rotor blades behind at the stern. The ship was powered by a small steam engine that powered the rotor blades. On the side of the hull was the extended twenty foot wing. On the wings were mounted several four lock release holders that held the oblong shaped canisters of explosives with an impact detonator. On the fore of the ship were twin mounted machine guns manned by the gunner. The pilot was seated at the rear with the lever to control the wings explosives. They had made the ten of them, but the first was to be tested flown that day. The pilots were tested on five smaller narrow in design, with half of them crashing initially on landing. The others just crashed into the trees. Of the initial fifty pilots, only fifteen came back for the second flight and subsequent flights. The men of Prince Csaba made good pilots as they were used to short flights on man-made wings that extended from their arms as vampires.

“My Prince, I am ready.” The pilot saluted his lord and then climbed in the ship. His gunner had climbed in while the crews were getting ready to taxi the ship onto the long clearing stretch. The pilot gave the thumbs up and the crews pushed at it. Their effort helped the ship to move faster, while the steam engine heated up to generate the power to the mini turbine and then it worked up the engine gears. The gears lubricated the joints and working parts to push the ship forward. The engine ran up the wheels that cleared the ship to an increasing speed. At the distance of two hundred feet, the pilot who was Kassius himself moved the flaps on the wings to propel it upwards. It climbed up and then dropped down but it was increasing speed. Kassius tried again at the one hundred and fifty feet, and that time the ship lifted off to the skies. It hovered at fifty feet and then slowly soared higher. The watching crowd of the flight cheered, and then the other pilots climbed into their ships. They were taking turns to fly their own ships.

Prince Csaba smiled and then walked to the giants hangers that were hidden among the trees. They had fled the tunnel of Fafnir and came to this secluded valley. The valley was surrounded by hills and on each of them, sentries were posted. His father had once assembled an army there hidden from the Romans.

“Lady Irina, I am impressed by your design.” Prince Csaba congratulated the lady.

“Nothing of this would happen without your assistance.” Irina replied. When she first arrived at the safe place, she was greeted by a warehouse of mechanical components. It was salvaged from the abandoned or crashed vehicles of Richard II army. They had scourged the land from afar and even at the sites of previous wars. Anything remote was not discounted and brought here. The experts have replicated some of the components but with Irina’ guidance, they had progressed more than before. She also improvised where it was needed. Her motto was nothing was to be scrapped until its molten metal.

“Now that your flight ships are up, may I see that others?” Prince Csaba interrupted her thoughts.

Irina smiled and then motioned the prince to mount the coach available there. The ride was short and soon they reached the end of the valley where the factories to build the ships. It also builds other inventions which Irina was familiar with. She took the prince into the large wooden structure where the people assigned to her had constructed a production line. They were producing the armored vehicles improvised on the coach design. On the sides of the coach were protected by metal plates while the four horses were also given metal plating on their bodies. The top of the coach was mounted a set of machinegun at the rear where the gunners could swivel the gun to the left and right. Beside the gunner and the rider was the additional rifleman on the top. Inside the coach were two more gunners with their rifles.

“We had made a hundred of these machines guns, and some had been deployed on the coaches.” Irina told the prince. The other nodded, and then noticed the stacks of crates containing the explosives.

“Are those explosives that you taught them to make?” Prince Csaba asked. He was told that salt peter was one of the needed ingredients, and where shortages were noticed they raided the latrines for more supplies. They had progressed from gunpowder to more refined cordite contents.

“You heard of the salt peter?” Irina questioned back. She smiled as that news had caused them to be named as the latrine diggers.

“How fare your other inventions?” Prince Csaba asked.

Irina told him of the flame throwers which she had commanded over five hundreds of it, with other numerous weapons. She then looked to the prince.

“What about your call to the people?”

“The Szekely people had answered my call. They will come from all over the world.” Prince Csaba smiled. “We will now fight Richard II on equal terms.”

Prince Csaba then paused.

“There won’t be only one front, but two. Commander Ian had also rallied his army to fight us and Richard II. He viewed it as the moment for him to vanquish all of us. He had also built more weapons similar to these ones. The war had escalated to a new level, where machines battle man.” Prince Csaba smiled again. “Among the three, we lacked the numbers but I hoped we have the extra edge in weapons.”

“There may be another way.” Irina spoke out. “We could acquired more by stealth. We have the means to do such tasks.”