A Memory of Fire (The Dragon War, Book 3) by Daniel Arenson Read Free Book Online Page B

shout. "Next line—faster!"
    The five shooters, their
arquebuses still smoking, marched behind the formation and formed a
new line. There they began to reload their guns. As they worked,
the next line of men stepped forward. They pulled their triggers.
Five more arquebuses fired, roaring across the island, loud as
cannons. More holes tore through the wicker dragon.
    Sila nodded in approval. For a
long time, he had insisted his men drill with empty guns. Iron and
gunpowder were rare upon these islands. But yesterday two dragons
had flown here, speaking of three thousand more.
    "Today we drill with live
fire," he said softly.
    After each line of gunmen fired,
they stepped behind the formation to reload. It was a slow, tedious
process. Damn too slow. Sila watched, grumbling.
    First the men pulled gunpowder
from pouches and refilled their barrels. New rounds—balls of iron
the size of marbles—followed, pushed down with ramrods. Some rounds
were the wrong size; they had to be wrapped in leaves to snugly fit.
Once the barrels were loaded, the men filled the guns' flashpans with
more gunpowder. These small, iron receptacles stuck out from the
guns like ears; when ignited, they would deliver a spark into the
barrel, lighting the main charge. Once barrel and flashpan were
ready, the men strung fuses through their matchlocks like tailors
stringing thread through a needle. When finally ready to fire,
they'd light their fuses, pulling the triggers to bring matchlocks to
flashpans.
    "It's still too damn slow
to reload," Sila said and spat. The whole process took a full
minute, even for the fastest fingers.
    By the time the first five
arquebusers had reloaded, their comrades had all fired their guns.
This formation—ten lines of gunners, the front line firing while the
others reloaded—meant Sila could maintain gunfire throughout a
battle without pause. But it also meant that, at any given moment,
most of his men were reloading rather than fighting.
    "Grandpapa will find a way
to make the guns faster," Miya said.
    Sila grumbled. "Your
grandfather is a dangerous man. He nearly blew himself up—and half
this island—with his inventions."
    "And he invented these guns
you now use!" she said. "And he invented the scope, which
you're always looking through. And he invented the canals to bring
water from the spring to our camp. And—"
    "Yes, yes, I know all about
his inventions," Sila said. "Half the time they work.
Half the time they nearly sink the island. We should send him back
to his rock."
    Miya stamped her feet. "No!
You cannot send him back. He's your father. When you're that old,
would you like me to banish you to deserted rock?"
    "I don't blast huts apart
when trying to invent an ice-making machine."
    He sighed. He didn't know how
he—a burly, laconic captain—had been born to a scrawny, wild-eyed
inventor like Bantis. Sometimes Sila wondered if the man had simply
swapped his true babe with another, too consumed with a new invention
to notice.
    "Keep drilling!" he
called out to his men. "I want you to double your speed. When
the dragons fly here, it will save your life."
    They nodded and Sila kept
walking, crossing the grassy plateau toward a hill thick with mint
bushes, brambles, and trees. These men drilled to slay dragons, but
today Sila had two dragons he needed very much alive.
    When he reached the hill, he
turned to Miya.
    "Stay here," he said.
"I'll speak to them alone."
    Her eyes flashed and she raised
her fists. "I will go with—"
    "You will do as I say,"
Sila said. He sighed and softened his voice. "Miya, you are
young and fiery and proud. You grew up in peace, in sunlight, wild
among the trees and upon the beach. I gave you a good life here. Or
at least, I tried to."
    She lowered her head, then
looked up again, stood on tiptoes, and kissed his cheek. "You
did."
    "I gave you a life most of
our people never knew. They burned, Miya. I watched them burn. I
watched the Vir Requis burn them and laugh. I saw flesh