Reavers of the Blood Sea

by Richard Knaak

  You must lead, Master.… There is no one else. The knights still keep your generals prisoner.…

  Aryx held the sword ready. “Regroup! We have to hold them, then push them back!”

  They cheered at his words and returned to the fray, joining their companions in an attempt to repulse the horrific invasion. Aryx only wished he felt the confidence he apparently displayed. The Chaos creature’s nearly successful attempt to kill him reminded the minotaur that even with the deadly artifact in his hand, he faced a force whose own master rivaled the gods.

  Another warrior went down, cut literally in two by a pair of the ghoulish attackers. Roaring in anger, Aryx threw himself at the duo, forcing one back and cleanly slicing off one of the claws of the other. The wounded reaver stumbled back, thick, burning fluid dripping from its wound. The other recovered, charging at him with its blade. Determined not to fall prey to the invader’s grasping claws, Aryx brought the wailing sword across, cutting through the creature’s own blade. His adversary now disarmed, the minotaur thrust once, then twice, into its squat throat just below the sinewy muzzle.

  The Chaos creature collapsed as Aryx leapt out of reach. He would have sent a third thrust into its head, but more of the crustaceans emerged through the fog. The docks and shoreline seemed to be filled with the horrific reavers, yet still more came. Aryx’s line held, but numbers alone threatened to overwhelm them. How could there be so many of the beasts? Did they assault the other regions of the two islands with equally astonishing swarms?

  At last he caught sight of a talon of knights, the first he had seen in the front lines. Not at all to his surprise, they were led by Carnelia. With the knights came a legion of minotaur warriors fighting side by side with the humans. In the murk, Carnelia failed to notice him, but Aryx saw that to her credit, she did not simply throw her minotaur troops forward, letting them take the brunt of the assault. Under Drejjen or many of the other subcommanders, Aryx had no doubt that his people would have been used more severely, wasted by officers who had no regard for them. Even Carnelia, though, failed to utilize the minotaurs as equals, causing her line to falter in places as almost contrary commands left holes here and packed together too many warriors there.

  Gritting his teeth, Aryx steered his group toward Carnelia’s band. If he could link up to her left side, then the minotaurs with him would be able to help those with her better organize … at least, so he hoped.

  The female knight barely noticed him. Assured that he did nothing to disrupt her lines, she ignored him thereafter, her concern now on a new wave of attackers pressing against the knights.

  If they had originally thought that they would fare better than the unarmored minotaurs, the knights had surely by now realized the truth of things. The pure physical power and weapons of the aquatic reavers made the armor of the knights only a partial defense. A scythe sword cleaved through the breastplate of one impetuous soldier, cutting halfway through his chest as well. Another knight attempting to slay the one who had killed his comrade instead ended up skewered at the end of one of the lances, his twitching body held high in the air before being tossed aside by the shelled attacker.

  A few of the humans realized quickly that the most vulnerable spots of the attackers were the throat and the eyes, but too many first attempted to find weak links in the harsh, plated scales of their foes. Many of those knights died swiftly but horribly, often without their heads or some limb.

  Aryx could do nothing to warn them, his concern for those with him most important. He kept Seph nearby, determined that nothing would happen to his young brother. So far, Seph had held his own, striking dead two of the crustaceans with his axe and receiving only minor acid burns in return.

  The minotaurs still held … and the reavers continued to swarm.

  “They keep coming!” Someone roared. “They keep coming!”

  “Then we keep fighting!” Aryx called in return, knowing from the Kraken’s Eye that the servants of Chaos would give no quarter, no mercy. “We keep fighting until they stop coming!”

  Not even in the epics he had heard as a child had Aryx ever recalled such a battle. At one time, he would have thought it glorious, but now he simply hoped that they could keep the enemy at bay. Their foe gave no indication that anything other than the complete extermination of the minotaur race would satisfy them. The minotaurs had to be equally determined if they wanted to survive.

  In some places, the shelled reavers pushed forward, a harvest of butchered bodies left in their wake. In others, especially where Aryx and his band fought, the warriors held and even pushed back the horde slightly. Yet still the armored leviathans continued to come, rising up, no doubt, from the depths of the harbor.

  “Is there no end to them?” gasped Delara. She had become more proficient than most in striking at the weak points of the monsters, but her efforts involved more risk than Aryx preferred. Delara would duck below the guard of her foe, then plunge her sword upward into its throat or maw. Unfortunately, twice Aryx had been forced to come to her aid.

  As if their swords, lances, and claws were not terrible enough, the Chaos creatures wielded still another deadly weapon. Aryx first noted it when a massive brown warrior to his left grappled with one of the crustaceans. At first the minotaur appeared to have the upper hand, but then suddenly he went limp, falling into the crushing arms of his adversary. His collapse made no sense until another who grappled with one of the horrors also fell … but not before Aryx noted the sinewy maw bite hard into the warrior’s throat. Even though the bite did not look fatal, its victim collapsed only a moment later.

  The creatures had a poisonous, fatal bite. Aryx swore. Yet another threat. All the minotaurs had were their strong arms, their willingness to fight for their home. Could they compete against creatures bred to kill?

  The battle raged on without pause, at one point taking them to the buildings on the very edge of the port. The servants of Chaos had spread everywhere, their numbers so great that none who fought them had even the slightest chance to pause for breath. The Sword of Tears wailed each time Aryx struck down a foe, yet there always seemed to be another enemy to take the previous one’s place. Carnelia’s talon continued to fight at the side of Aryx’s band, an impromptu alliance that, as time progressed, proved one of the strongest points of the city’s defense. Unfortunately, despite any success on their part, Aryx noted too many minotaur corpses already littering the streets and lying across the docks. Far too many in comparison to the number of dead knights he saw. Under the command of Lord Broedius’s unfeeling officers, the warriors of the empire were being wasted, slaughtered because those in charge saw them only as brutes or slaves.

  A warehouse ahead of them burst into flames, clearly an accident. Broedius would have brooked no wasting of the supplies he had been gathering for his grand expedition, and the aquatic reavers had no taste of their own for fire. Even now they shifted to avoid it just as they had aboard the Kraken’s Eye.

  “Torches!” the bedraggled warrior suddenly roared. “Bring torches! Seph! Get as many able bodies as you can to gather torches! The flames unsettle them!” Aryx did not know if the flames would actually drive the creatures away—they had stayed aboard his ship despite the fire—but if it unnerved them enough for the minotaurs to press the advantage, then the ploy would be well worth it.

  Seph vanished, a handful of others retreating with him. The loss of even a few minotaurs put extra strain on the remaining defenders, and two warriors quickly fell, one managing to cut open his adversary first. Seph’s departure actually benefited the dusky gray minotaur; Aryx no longer had to watch over his brother as he fought. He pressed forward, driving back a pair of the hideous beasts. Of Delara he could no longer see any sign. Aryx assumed that she had joined Seph in, the effort to gather torches.

  Then a surge of reinforcements enabled the underwater dwellers to counterattack, and Aryx suddenly found himself at the point, with only two other warriors beside him. One of the crustaceans brought its lan
ce down on Aryx, catching the demon sword by the blade. The barbs snagged the weapon, and it became all the minotaur could do just to hold on to the handle. He expected the enchanted weapon to do something, but the Sword of Tears remained oddly still, reacting no more than a mortal tool. The behemoth leaned forward, and for the first time, Aryx beheld the long, tapering snout and maw at such close range. The mouth, filled with rows of teeth, snapped at him like a striking serpent, yellow, acidic venom dripping from the upper fangs. He tried to swat the crustacean’s jaws aside, but only succeeded in nearly losing his remaining grip.

  Moving almost with a life of its own, the sinewy snout got around his groping hand. Teeth came within less than an inch of sinking into his upper shoulder just below the vein in his neck. Aryx seized the muzzle, trying to turn it.

  A shower of burning poison drenched his face, especially his left eye. Intense pain rocked the minotaur, and he cried out. Aryx’s eye felt as if someone had plunged a freshly forged dagger into it. Stunned by the agony, he at last lost his grip on his weapon.

  Aryx fell to one knee, clutching his wounded face. He waited for the creature to drive the lance through his heart, knowing that at least the torture in his eye would also end. However, a sword suddenly darted past the injured warrior, coming under the crustacean’s defenses. The blade buried itself deep in the throat, and when the behemoth opened its maw to hiss, a steady hand pulled Aryx back out of reach. The crustacean collapsed, crushing the lance under its weight.

  “Take this! I can’t find the sword!” a familiar feminine voice shouted. A worn but still worthy battle-axe had been thrust into his hand. Aryx had just enough time to glance back through his remaining eye and recognize Delara. With her help, he rose, trying to turn his pain into strength.

  The undersea dwellers surged forward again, threatening to swarm over Aryx and Delara. He tried to push her away. “Get back to safety!”

  “I’m not leaving you!” She stood fast at his side, already prepared to meet the first creature, knowing it would be her last foe.

  A blaze of light from behind Aryx suddenly brought the shelled abominations up short. Delara used their sudden hesitation to pull Aryx back a step or two. He glanced behind her to see the cause of the crustaceans’ consternation and discovered that Seph had returned … with more than a few supporters. Dozens and dozens of minotaurs bearing fiery torches hurried through the back ranks of the fighters, spreading out as far as the eye could see.

  The flames flickered eerily in the bulbous orbs of the crustaceans. The behemoths hesitated but did not retreat. Several weaved uncertainly.

  “Bring the torches to the forefront!” Aryx called, better able to fight his pain in the face of growing hope.

  As one, the torchbearers thrust their brands forward. Aryx, Delara, and the other defenders shifted ranks to allow them gaps.

  The crustaceans had been fighting in good order, but now they stirred uneasily, beginning to lose some semblance of an organized force. Although they still had not retreated, they no longer moved with much determination.

  “Attack now!” Aryx ordered. He and Delara flanked Seph, who carried a huge torch, requiring both hands to hold it. “Now!”

  Fire and steel lunged at the first ranks of the crustaceans. A few backed away, while others froze. Some attempted to fight, but without a cohesive effort on the part of all, the reavers were at last forced back. Aryx cut down one foe so easily he almost felt ashamed, but the memories of his ship urged him onward.

  Raising his axe high and giving a loud war cry, Aryx plunged headfirst into the enemy. Those with him rallied to his cry. The minotaur line surged on, first where Aryx and his band stood, then farther and farther along each side.

  Far to his right, he noted that even Carnelia’s talon carried torches now, and the knights, utilizing a feint-and-lunge technique, had begun cutting their way through the enemy. Aryx tried to utilize the same technique, adjusting it for the use of his axe.

  “I passed word along to any runners or riders!” Seph yelled. “They’re gathering torches everywhere!”

  Aryx nodded, saving his breath. His arms felt as if iron shackles ending in lead weights had been attached to them, but still he somehow found the strength to fight on. The crustaceans continued to try to return to some semblance of order, but those in front proved reluctant to be first to face the flames. For the first time, Aryx caught sight of what might have been one of the leaders. Taller and wider than those around him, the massive creature stood impassively among the rest, eyeing the oncoming minotaurs. The snout bore a series of crimson streaks that the others did not have. Aryx tried to fight his way toward the creature, but, noticing him, the crustacean vanished among its fellows.

  Finally daunted, the monstrous reavers started an orderly retreat. One line kept the minotaurs at length, despite the flames. Aryx realized the fire did not disturb them as much as it initially had. A worrisome thought for the future. Tonight, though, it had proven enough.

  A long line began to establish itself as other warriors joined the fray, some of them from pockets of trapped defenders now rescued by Aryx’s band. Knights added their strength as well, although most formed new talons alongside Carnelia’s. Of Broedius or Rand, Aryx had yet to see a sign, and he began to wonder if they had survived this attack.

  Although the defenders now had the advantage, the thick fog made for much continued danger. From time to time, out of the mists there came horrific missiles, lances tossed by strong, accurate arms. That the crustaceans could see quite well, despite the thick fog, came as no surprise to Aryx. He recalled all too well the precision with which they had moved aboard the Kraken’s Eye. He shouted out warnings, trying to keep the defenders low, but many paid no heed, often standing straight in an attempt to see farther ahead. A veteran female warrior clutched her throat as a barbed spear sank through it. A husky brown male carrying a massive torch grunted in pain as the edge of another lance tore away the flesh on the side of his leg. He staggered but held on to the torch long enough for someone else to take it from him.

  The defenders had to divide up as they neared the docks. Aryx and a handful of others, including his brother and Delara, wended their way down to the end of one dock, trying to keep an eye out for stragglers. Already a few careless searchers, believing the abominations all ahead of them, had fallen prey to a few defiant invaders, who attacked from inside buildings, beneath platforms, and, where the ground proved most moist, under the very feet of their adversaries. Aryx quickly passed word along that any soft ground had to be watched, but he knew the warning would not spread fast enough to save some.

  The lapping of the waves as the tide shifted created a sense of peace that masked the still-present danger of attack. Four of Aryx’s party made their way across another dock, while Aryx and Delara, with Seph right behind, led three others along the shoreline. The going was slow, since every bit of ground had to be studied. Even the docks required inch-by-inch searching. The shallow water beneath provided perfect cover for lingering crustaceans.

  Aryx’s head throbbed, and pain coursed through his damaged eye, but he didn’t let anyone know just how much it hurt. Unable to see anything on his left, the wounded minotaur constantly turned his head from side to side as he searched.

  Those who did not know him paid his actions little mind, but Delara especially watched him, an expression of concern occasionally crossing her features. She said nothing, but he noted that she often stayed to his left, possibly to make up for his impairment.

  The search for the enemy grew more treacherous as they treaded the shoreline. Some of the warriors who had joined them earlier began to grow careless, perhaps thinking the region was secure. Aryx, however, knew better.

  “Be careful about that sandy region there!” he called to one of the newcomers. “They can pull you down in seconds! Watch for shifting sand!”

  “Aye!”

  “I wish this fog would lift,” grumbled Delara. “I can barely see the pair of you, much less Ne
ru back on the dock.”

  “The mists faded a bit in the city,” Seph pointed out, “but here it seems even thicker than before!”

  “Which is why we’ve got to be careful.” Aryx took another step and found himself standing ankle deep in water. “We go no farther! If they’ve retreated into the sea, we can’t do much about that.”

  “Will they come back?” asked a warrior unfamiliar to him. The tall, black-furred male, a silver stripe running across his shoulder, had the same look of trust that so many of the others who had joined Aryx wore. They eyed him as they would have someone like General Geryl, which made the weary young mariner not at all happy. Aryx claimed to be no Kaz or Geryl. They were known champions of the realm; he had done only what duty demanded of him. Unfortunately, no one else appeared to see it that way.

  “I don’t know. Probably. Until this fog breaks, we’re likely going to—”

  A shout from the direction where he had sent the other minotaurs silenced him.

  “That was Neru!” Delara tried to peer through the fog. “I can’t see him, but I think I hear weapons clashing!”

  “Go, then!” The entire band started toward the mist-enshrouded docks, but Aryx managed only a few steps before the throbbing grew so intense that he nearly fell to his knees. The others, caught up in trying to reach those in trouble, vanished ahead of him into the fog.

  For the first time, Aryx wished that he still had the Sword of Tears. He wondered where the sinister blade had fallen. At least the blade could have reassured him a little, perhaps even muted the throbbing in his head and the intense pain coursing through what remained of his burned eye. Still, Aryx should have known better than to trust the demon blade. Hadn’t it been Sargonnas’s weapon? Like the god, it had not proven up to the promises it had conveyed.

  Blinking away the tears clouding his good eye, the exhausted warrior stumbled toward the others. He still couldn’t make them out, but he could hear the cries and clangs of combat. Axe held tight, Aryx hoped he would not be too late to help.