already had repeating rifles and heavy cannon.
They were beaten back with heavy losses, on the water. Though The Epons
had twice as many ships, they were blown away. But they were stubborn
and would not even talk of peace.
23 So Bright Sword brought forty gliders, a large army including
Sorrowful Dove, and some of his people who had come north, to help. On
the beaches of Zo they readied their airships. They could not make it
overland, so they would rise high, here, sail over the lake, attack
Epon, rise again, and sail home.
24 As one by one of the ships were pulled skyward, gained their
altitude, and headed out over the water, they all wondered how it would
go. Hours later signal mirrors danced across the water. "Attack begun,"
they read, "city already burning, but several gliders exploded."
25 As the hours passed, they waited then black dots began to appear in
the sky. As the gliders grew near, it could be seen that some of them
were in trouble. They were riddled with holes. Several of them hit the
water instead of the beaches, but boats were there immediately to pick
up the pilots.
26 Of those that landed, several men were wounded. The lead Pilot told
them "They've got some new kind of weapon that reaches higher than any
rifle. It took us by surprise on the first run. We stayed higher after
that. After seeing four ships blown out of the air you tend to. They
also use rockets. They got pretty close, but none of them hit."
27 Bright Sword counted planes. "I only count thirty-five," he
remarked. "If you lost four, where's the other one?"
28 The Pilots all looked at each other. "He was right behind us," one
man explained, "a little low, but he seemed o.k." They all looked back
out over the water,