Gears of Troy 2

by Daniel Pierce

  Its bronze skin shimmered in the noonday sun, giving it the appearance of being more statue than beast. Behind its head stretched two stubby bat wings, likely vestigial but possibly helpful in maneuvering around in the water. The fins that ran down the rest of its body surely handled the majority of its mechanical inclinations. I could not see how long its body was, but the part I was facing already brought the tip of its head level with the deck.

  No more than two feet below its jaw protruded two stick-arms that would have looked more at home on a tyrannosaurus rex. Like the giant dinosaur, these poor excuses for limbs would have been comical had the rest of the creature not appeared so threatening. A brilliant red crest flared at the center of its head, signaling to us that it was ready to fight. I definitely was not in the mood for it, but I was not about to let this punk take a bite out of my ship, and much less out of me.

  We all had our weapons in hand. Linos opted for his sword this time, and I thought that was the best idea, unsure of how useful the blunt swings of his club would be. The other guys ran below deck, Scander and another reappearing in seconds wielding bows, and the third guy with a spear.

  It climbed higher from the water until it stood seven or eight feet over the railing. I would have to jump to get at its head, and that would likely cause my swipes to lose too much force to do any reasonable damage. I decided instead to cut straight for the section in front of me.

  Its skin was tough, but not so tough that I couldn’t break through. My men took my action as queue for them to attack, and before I knew it, Linos was at my side hacking away as well. Two arrows lodged into its scaly hide higher up, and the spear poked a small hole inches above my head, its wielder having lunged the weapon forward instead of tossing it.

  We could not have hoped for a better initial attack, but it was not enough to subdue the beast. Fights such as this were never over so quickly.

  It reeled back and let out an ear-splitting hiss before descending on the three of us huddled at the side of the boat. We all jumped out of the way in time; Linos and his man went to the right, and I went to the left. Its fin almost made me lose my footing, but I slid further away, avoiding the sideswipe by a hair. I took that as my chance to dig my blade deep into its side. There was reasonable resistance at first, but I pushed harder as I met it, forcing my sword so far in until the snake’s scales met the hilt. It screamed in agony and slithered toward the other end of the ship, and I glanced over the side closest to me, noticing that it had come fully out of the water. When I looked back to find its head, it had already found its way back to the water over the opposite rail. It must have been 30 feet or so in length, which was a sobering realization for me.

  “You guys all right?” I shouted to Linos and the Thirian with the spear.

  Just as they nodded, the serpent was on us again, for a second time bursting to the surface from the starboard side. We readied our weapons, and it charged us with a vengeance. I aimed for its eye as it came in range, but it was too fast. The tip of my sword glanced off its side, and the creature pulled back and disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

  “I missed it! You get any good shots in?” I asked the rest of the guys.

  Their eyes were wide in terror, an expression I was not accustomed to seeing on their people. They were likely not used to dealing with dragons though, so their reaction was understandable.

  “All right, fellas, get your game faces on. I doubt it’s finished with us yet.”

  I nodded to Linos and noticed that the spear wielder was missing.

  “Where’s the other guy?” Fuck! I thought.

  “Eaten,” Linos said. He was scanning the water.

  “Well, shit! Do you think there’s a chance he’s still alive?” I joined him at the rail, knowing it would not be a good place to be standing if the snake came back for an encore.

  “No chance. Thousand teeth stabbed him at once. No chance.”

  Ripples preceded its coming for a split second, but that was enough warning for us to jump back. The snake roared as if to brag of its kill. The only sign I saw of our fallen man was the blood dripping from the thing’s gaping mouth. I lunged forward and tore through it once more, this time about a foot higher than my first blow. Instead of falling on us as it had the last two times, it dropped back down to the water. I was not quick enough to either loosen my iron grip from my sword or pull it out, so I followed the beast down and prepared to die.

  Below the surface, I braced my feet against its belly and yanked my weapon out. It immediately snapped at me, but I kicked against its chin and dived lower, narrowly missing the attack.

  It snapped again, and this time I was not in a convenient position to use any of its body for leverage, so I took the only chance I had and jabbed my blade into the roof of its mouth. This prevented it from closing its jaw for the law few inches, sparing my arm from being completely ripped off. I jerked it back as deftly as I could, but was unable to avoid my tender flesh scraping against a dozen of its fangs. I would have laughed at the irony if I was not so worried about dying. Perhaps, I thought, the thing was venomous after all, and even if I slayed it, those minor wounds would do me in. That would have been a sad way to end the legacy I was making for myself.

  I could hear its scream even under the water and would have been more than happy to put it out of its misery right then, but there was no way I was going to be able to get my sword back. I was lucky braving its mouth the first time but was not about to test that luck more than I had to.

  Just then, I saw the severed remains of our fallen comrade floating on the side of the serpent opposite me. There was not much left of the poor guy—only his legs were intact—but what caught my attention more than the murky gorefest was his spear treading the surface directly above him. The bottom half had snapped off, but the point was entirely useable.

  I pushed myself back against the boat and kicked away in the direction of the spear. The snake dived for me as I went, and I had to pull my knees to my chest to avoid losing them. I swam the last few feet to the surface, grabbed the spear, and took a deep breath before going back down to finish it off.

  It snapped at me once more, this time following the action all the way through and swimming past me, its fins creating whirlpools in its wake. I spun around at the mercy of the swirls, getting ahold of my bearings quickly enough to see it wrap around and charge for me again. I had to admire its perseverance.

  As it came close, I pushed to the side and aimed my spear at its eye. It hit home, but I had not struck gold yet. The tip had gone in, but it was not deep enough to kill the thing. As before, it bolted past, this time taking my weapon with it, ripping it from my hands.

  I watched as the spear broke loose from the creature’s oozing socket and stayed suspended in the water yards away from me. It was already coming back, and I reasoned that if I swam straight for my weapon, I might be able to grab it just in time to get gobbled up.

  Seeing as I was running low on options, I hauled ass, praying something surreal would happen to save me in my moment of need.

  I was able to grab the handle moments before the leviathan was on me and, seeing no signs of divine intervention, I realized it was only up to me to help myself out of this mess. I was not about to risk losing my weapon in its mouth again if I could help it, so instead I decided to dig my fingers into one of its nose slits and try to position myself on its head like I was riding a bull. The feat was easier than I expected as the force of the snake’s body charging ahead provided me with more than enough momentum to kick myself up and let the resistance of the water pull me back. It was reminiscent of how I got back aboard my ship during the storm the other day.

  One hand on my spear and the other in its snout, I rode for a few moments, trying to decide where I could land a decisive blow. The creature spun around. It seemed confused, and I wondered if it even realized I was on top of it even as I held its nose in a vice and flattened its crest where I sat. Perhaps the pain in its eye overshadowed such mino
r sensations.

  Apparently unable to locate me, it darted for the ship, eager to finish off what remained of the crew. Meanwhile, I had decided it would be best to strike the other eye, leaving it at least blind if not dead.

  I plunged in and could feel its screech echoing through my bones. I bore deeper, and it writhed in response, lying motionless moments later, mere feet below the surface and not much further away from my ship.

  I popped my head out of the water and held my arms high. The men cheered.

  Linos was still looking over the edge and said, “Well struck, Troy! My men wished to shoot arrows from here but we were too scared of hitting you.”

  “That’s all right,” I said. “It’s all taken care of now. Help me get this thing on board.”

  I climbed onto the deck to get some rope and had the massive hunk of bronze lashed and ready to pull in fifteen minutes. The men were not much help as they could not swim. They offered to assist me from one of the rafts, but I decided against it, thinking it would take too much time to lower them and hook them back up.

  “I’m sorry we lost one of your men,” I said to the remaining Thirians as I swam around the snake, tightening my rope.

  “As are we,” Linos agreed. “It is a shame that nothing is even left to feast upon.”

  I moved to the beast’s head and yanked the broken spear free. “This is the weapon that dealt the killing blow. It was the one he was using when the thing got to him. I would not have been able to kill it if it were not for this spear.” I tossed it to the deck and the men gathered around where it lay, studying it with solemn reflection.

  I climbed back on board, and they set to work, helping me heave the beast up. It must have weighed at least two tons. We were able to pull it close to the starboard side, but there was no way we were going to get it out of the water. I decided that we would simply drag it back to the island as it was and figure out what to do with it from there. Even that was an awkward course of action as our boat leaned at the added weight.

  It seemed as if the group of islanders had not left the shore since we departed, or if they had, they’d hurried back before we noticed them from sea. Horns blared as we approached; cheers erupted when they got a better look at our haul.

  I jumped to the sand and was greeted by the man who warned me of the serpent upon my departure.

  “This is magnificent!” He patted my back. “I must admit that I did not expect you to survive an attack by this foul beast. It is even bigger than I had imagined!”

  Everyone crowded around the monster, some of the men assisting me and my crew as we pulled it the rest of the way to shore. I was surprised that none of them asked for payment when the job was done.

  “So,” said the spokesman, “shall we discuss trade then?”

  I studied the thing some more before answering. My sword was still lodged deeply into the roof of its mouth, and I elicited help from my men to help me pry its jaw open and pull the blade out. Upon seeing how deeply my weapon had stuck itself in there, I was baffled that the snake did not drop dead right then. The only thing that saved it must have been the angle of entry.

  I used my reclaimed sword to slice away a section of skin above its mouth, curious to see what the inside of such a menace looked like. It was not what I expected, but I had already seen enough strangeness in my time in this land that it did not surprise me anymore. Among the ooze, beneath its fleshy exterior, was a mess of wires and circuits. There was no doubt in my mind where this creature had come from.

  I thought back to my battle with the Cyclops. The mindless giant was more magic than machine, but it rivaled this new foe of mine in power. They were both clearly sent here by the Egyptians, but for reasons I could not comprehend. I did not know what that mysterious nation stood to gain by terrorizing these islands full of defenseless people. Perhaps Helen would have some insight.

  I turned back to the spokesman and said, “All right, you can keep the hide, but I want the head and its innards. And it would be great if your men could help us get it on board.”

  I was hoping against hope that the thing would be light enough for transport once we removed its hide. I did not want to spare any more of it than I had to because every internal piece could prove to be invaluable once Helen and Zinni had a chance to study it.

  The hide turned out to hold the majority of its weight, leaving me wondering if it was infused with some kind of metal alloy. The creature’s skin was tough but not so tough to stop an arrow or blade from cutting through. I decided to keep the bit of skin I had cut away during my initial examination, hoping that the girls would be able to glean something useful out of that as well.

  Its belly was filled to the brim with the rotting carcasses of sea life, and our fallen companion was among them. It was anyone’s guess how the snake digestive system worked. I knew that Helen, prior to becoming a full human, was able to eat food, but I did not think it was necessary for her to. I wondered if this machine simply puked everything back out once it was filled to capacity. Linos had reservations about consuming his brother upon seeing him submerged in all the decay. He said the body was already defiled and likely would not keep for the journey home. The Thirians decided to burn him further down the shore from where we continued to gut the serpent, saying they would have to be satisfied with carrying his ashes back.

  We settled on a price of 200 drachmas and assistance to lug the thing on deck. The islanders were more than happy to accept, not hiding the fact that they thought of the price I named as a steal. Truly, I was mostly unconcerned with the money, already having a powerful nation backing me. I planned to give most of the silver to the Thirians when I returned home anyway; it was the least I could do to help ease the pain of their loss.

  When all was said and done, the snake’s metal skeleton was curled up into a nice pile in the center of my ship. As it turned out, its core was mostly hollow, with metal segments of vertebrae fashioned in a honeycomb pattern. Each segment was connected by some translucent plastic material that reminded me of IV bags. These were filled with some kind of amber liquid, which accounted for some of the ooze that seeped out when the creature suffered its deepest wounds. All of us were careful not to puncture more of these puss sacks while we carved away at it.

  With everything finally in place and the bag of silver in my hands, we set sail once again, in search of an Egyptian ship that might give us some answers.

  9

  We sailed east and met nothing but open ocean until the sun was almost below the horizon. It was then that we spotted a small fleet of three ships in the direction we were heading. I had never seen an Egyptian ship before. I did not know what to look for, but these ships were foreign to me. I could tell even from such a distance that their sails bore no resemblance to any of the nations I had come into direct contact with in the past year.

  As we approached them, I spotted a bay not too far off in the distance and wondered if there was a trading post there that these sailors were either coming from or going to. I hailed the ship at the head of the fleet, and a dark-skinned man, who I assumed was its captain, called out to me.

  “Greetings,” he shouted.

  His crew of eight gathered around, all carrying swords at their sides. One of the other boats sailed in on my opposite side, flanking me. I would have been in a bad position if they decided to attack. The third ship stayed back, preventing my immediate forward escape. They could have only been taking precautious measures because of my unusual craft and its unusual crew, but their actions alarmed me right from the start.

  The lead man continued, “I am Laxos of the Tursha. Many know us only as the Sea People. Where do you come from, stranger? Where are you going? And where, I am most interested to hear, did that massive pile of bones come from?”

  “I am Troy,” I said, keeping my voice firm and authoritative. “I am also from Troy. We are sailing these parts hoping to come across an Egyptian vessel because we wish to seek counsel with their people. These bones”—I gesture
d behind me to the skinned beast—“are from a leviathan we slayed earlier today. It was terrorizing a small village of islanders not far west of here.”

  “That is very commendable of you, Troy,” Laxos said. He smiled at me, but it was hard to tell if it was not intended as a sneer. I did not like this guy; he seemed slimy. “And why do you seek guidance from the Egyptians, may I ask?”

  I wanted to tell him that no, he may not ask. It was none of his business, and I did not want to share potentially compromising information. In an effort to keep things civil, though, I gave him a watered-down version, saying, “I wish to learn about their magic.”

  “Ah . . . Egyptian magic. Powerful stuff, I have heard, but I have never had the pleasure . . . or misfortune . . . of seeing it firsthand.”

  “It is pressing business, so if you will kindly excuse us, we will be on our way.” I headed back to the wheel.

  “Not so fast, Troy of Troy,” he said.

  I did not stop walking until I was in front of the console.

  He raised his voice. “Perhaps you have never heard of us?” He asked this with an eyebrow raised.

  “Can’t say that I have.” I had a bad feeling about where this was going, so I cut the engine on—the first time I had done so since the storm that brought me from my world to this one.

  “This is most surprising,” Laxos said, “but it is no matter. You shall soon learn how we earn our bread.”

  He raised an arm, and his crew sprung into action, jumping into position at the sails, readying arrows. The men on the opposite boat did the same, and I assumed those on the third did as well, but I could not see them very clearly.

  The Thirians hurried below deck and reappeared seconds later with bows slung around their backs, carrying body-sized shields to defend against the ranged fire. All three of them huddled around me, protecting us all in a metal shell. I could hear Laxos laughing.