The Motangan ships fired their catapults at the beach where the mages were lined up, while the Sakovan catapults aimed for the stern of the ships to account for movement from the mage-created breeze. Huge balls of fire soared towards the beach, and groups of Sakovan mages scattered. The wind faltered a bit, but the mages who fled immediately rejoined the line in a different place. Several Sakovan catapults scored direct hits on some of the ships. Motangans raced around in an attempt to extinguish the blazes.

Another round of catapults fired from the ships. The behemoths immediately turned out of the wind after firing and tried to dodge the second round of catapults from the Sakovans. One ship was hit with two loads of burning material and its sails went up in flames. It drifted freely as the crew tried to put the fires out. Even as the first row was retreating, the second row of Motangans ships started heading for the city.

“How long can your mages keep up the wind?” asked General Manitow.

“Not indefinitely,” Lyra replied. “It takes a great deal of power to fight nature. The winds are against us.”

“They are aiming their catapults at the mages,” the general declared, “not my catapults. They are not afraid to lose ships this close to shore. Can you move your mages back?”

“Tell them to drop the wind,” Lyra ordered the mages next to her. “When they start it up again, they are to slowly back up so their position keeps changing.”

LifeTender and ValleyBreeze relayed the information to the mages. When the second row of ships got within range, Lyra gave the order to summon the wind. Moments later, lightning flashed in the clear sky. The lightning bolts slammed into the beach where the mages had just moved back from. Lyra gasped in horror as the lightning bolts blew up huge clouds of sand.