Melcorka Of Alba

by Malcolm Archibald

  A second archer had joined the first, with both firing at Dhraji as she stood static on the spar. She laughed as the arrows zipped and plunged around her.

  'We're going to ram!' Bhim shouted. 'Up oars!' The Thiruzha oarsmen rapidly lifted their oars as the prow of the Thiruzha ship ripped along the side of the loola, snapping and splintering Chola oars. Chola oarsmen tumbled from their benches as both vessels came to a halt. The terrible jerk of contact sent Bradam sprawling. He grabbed the spar, with his feet kicking and scrabbling for purchase on the taut canvas of the sail. As the ships collided, he saw Dhraji overbalance and fall silently into the sea. She hit the water with barely a splash and vanished into the blue.

  'Dhraji!' Bradan held on for a moment more and then dived after her. He had no choice: Dhraji was his link to Melcorka.

  The water was warm and welcoming as Bradan entered, to surface, spluttering, a few yards away, searching desperately for Dhraji. He could not see her. He could only see a confusion of fighting ships littering the sea, with Dhraji's ship locked with the smaller Chola loola and men striving desperately with sword and spear. A Chola warrior screamed as an arrow sliced into his face, penetrating both cheeks. He plucked at it, and another bolt slammed into his belly, throwing him back onto the deck of the loola.

  'Dhraji!' Bradan ignored the carnage and searched desperately for Dhraji. He peered over the tops of the chopped waves for her long, black hair or a glimpse of her pearl headdress. Seeing neither, he took a deep breath and dived back below, searching. He surfaced again, gasping for breath. If Dhraji was dead, what chance had he of rescuing Melcorka? Virtually none.

  'Dhraji!' He dived under again, with the same result.

  Thiruzha warriors were running along the deck of the Chola loola, pushing back the Chola crew by force of numbers. However, the second Chola loola was approaching. Her master had the choice of running for safety through the minuscule gap, or steering to help her colleague. He chose the more gallant latter course. Bradan could see men massing in her bows, with the sun glinting on spear points and steel helmets – and then the impossible happened.

  The sea rose up beside the Chola ship, erupting like a miniature volcano. Bradan stared for a second and then swam away, hoping for safety as a multi-armed monster emerged from the depths. The creature wrapped its long tentacles around the loola's masts and dragged sideways, toppling the vessel into the water. Some of the loola crew tried to hack at the arms with their swords; others thrust spears at the enormous eyes, but most jumped into the sea. More tentacles appeared, grabbing at the men in the water, tearing off their heads and arms, lifting them out of the sea and dashing them against the hull of the loola, or throwing them bodily skyward.

  'Oh, dear God,' Bradan said, as the monster hauled at the Chola ship until it capsized and lay bottom-up on the waves. The creature pulled itself onto the hull and crouched there, with its shield-sized eyes glaring at the battle and its parrot-beak snapping at the Chola warriors who struggled to escape. Blood smeared the sea.

  Melcorka, hold on! Bradan pleaded. How can I get you back? I know where your body lies, but where is your mind?

  Bradan knew his world had ended. With Melcorka an empty shell of herself, and Dhraji drowned, or killed by this monster, he was stuck in this terrible land of slavery and cruelty. His wandering had brought them both to this end. The monster glared directly at him before sliding back under the waves.

  Bradan shook his head. I will not give up. There is always hope. Somehow, I must get Melcorka free. Somehow, I will get us back to Alba.

  'What are you doing in the water?'

  The voice was familiar, and Bradan looked up. Lost in his thoughts, he had not seen the monster disappear, and now he floated a few yards from Dhraji's ship. The Thiruzha leopard banner hung from the stern of the captured Chola loola and those few of her crew who survived sat in a frightened clump amidships, with their grinning captors tormenting them with jabbing spears and barbed insults. Dhraji leaned over the stern. 'Did you fall into the sea?'

  'No.' The shipmaster was drinking from a gold-embossed skull. He was a stocky, muscular man with a twisted turban on his head and a short sword at his belt. 'He roared your name and jumped in to try and save you.'

  Dhraji's laugh tinkled across the water. 'What a loyal little slave you are.' She threw a rope. 'I will reward you later. Up you come, slave.'

  'I was worried about you.' Bradan hauled himself on deck, shaking from reaction. 'Did you see that thing in the water? Did you see that monster with the many arms?'

  'No.' Dhraji shook her head. 'What was it?'

  'A monster,' Bradan said. 'It was a gigantic beast with ten long arms, that dragged a Chola ship under the water and killed the crew.'

  Dhraji shook her head again. 'I was trying too hard not to drown,' she said. 'There are lots of terrible things in the sea.' She pointed overboard, where a school of sharks were busy with the dead and dying from the battle. 'I rather like sharks,' she said absently.

  Bradan shook his head. 'This thing was worse than any shark.'

  'Oh?' Dhraji shrugged. 'Well, whatever it was, it's gone now. Let's see what Bhim's next plan is. He's calling all the ships together.'

  The Thiruzha ships gathered, some looking battered, with rents in their sails and arrows protruding from their hulls. One had lost her mizzen mast; another was smeared with blood, with the crew throwing their dead overboard.

  'We have disposed of their loolas,' Bhim shouted through his speaking-trumpet. 'Now, you outriders, here's your chance to show what you can do. Hit and run, sail to arrow-length, fire a few volleys and turn away. Lure some of their main fleet. We will wait beyond the horizon and destroy any Chola vessel foolish enough to follow you.'

  The scout captains and crews cheered and left at once, with their oars flailing the sea to white foam and the yellow leopard ensign streaming behind them.

  'Ten slaves to the fastest man!' Bhim shouted after them, and their speed increased even more.

  Dhraji quickly lost interest in watching the scouts race away. 'Bring me the prisoners,' she ordered and crowed in delight when she noticed the archer with the red-and-yellow turban, bleeding from a wound in his right arm.

  'Tie him to the mainmast,' she ordered, 'and bring me a bow and arrows. That man tried to kill me!'

  Bradan did not watch as Dhraji used the archer for target practice, firing arrow after arrow and puncturing her victim in his legs and trunk a dozen times, smiling as he writhed and groaned without the mercy of death. Eventually, growing tired of her game, Dhraji ordered all the prisoners thrown overboard and watched their struggles with interest. The sharks were busy that day.

  'Men are such frail things,' Dhraji said to Bradan. 'I don't know why they are so brave, knowing that they have only a short spell in this world.'

  'We all must die sometime.' Bradan felt sickened by her cruelty.

  'Not I,' Dhraji said. 'I will live forever. Death fascinates me, and the manner of death can be so amusing.'

  Bradan could not think of anything to say to that.

  'Go away now.' Dhraji pushed Bradan astern. 'Go away, I said! My sharks are more entertaining than you.'

  Bradan moved at once. If Dhraji decided he was no longer wanted, his life would be short. It was far better to get out of her way. He moved as far aft as he could.

  'Did you see the sea monster?' Bradan asked the helmsman, who shook his head, wordless.

  'Did anybody see the sea monster?' Bradan raised his voice. 'The many-armed thing that sunk the Chola loola?'

  Nobody spoke, although there were a few shaken heads and down-turned faces.

  'What do you think happened to the other loola? Do you think it just sunk by chance?'

  Again, there was no response. Bradan began to realise that something was seriously wrong. Is it because I am a slave? No. There is something else. What is it? They were scared, Bradan realised. They were scared to admit that they had seen the monster. Why?

  'Best keep quiet.' The
helmsman spoke from the corner of his mouth. 'If you value your life, for the sake of Shiva, say nothing and see nothing.'

  Bradan glanced at him, realised that Dhraji was watching, her eyes hooded, and shrugged. 'Maybe I imagined things.'

  'That would be it,' the helmsman said at once. 'It's the strain of the battle.'

  Bradan felt the atmosphere in the boat lift with his words and wondered again what was wrong. In the meantime, there was a battle to win. The Chola fleet was still full of fight.

  Chapter Eight

  The Thiruzha fleet had survived their fighting retreat back to Kollchi. They had lost seven ships to the Cholas and every vessel now carried the scars of battle. Sails were torn, oars broken, arrows stood out from each hull like the spines of hedgehogs and the decks were strewn with dead or dying men. In return, they had accounted for nine Chola ships as well as the loolas and had killed an unknown number of Chola warriors.

  'You fought well,' Bhim shouted through his speaking-trumpet. 'Now it is time to stand behind our defences and watch the Cholas' attack splinter against the stone walls. Withdraw to the harbour!'

  Like the excellent commander he was, Bhim waited until the last of his fleet had entered the harbour before he followed with his flagship. Once again, Bradan could only admire the Raja's tactics as his fleet slid past the defending island into the magnificent harbour of Kollchi and onto the horseshoe-shaped beach. The warriors filed out, to enter the Seagate of the city and take their places with the other defenders.

  'Now we will see how skilled the Chola warriors are,' Dhraji said. 'Now we will see the breaking of bones and the ripping of intestines, the crushing of skulls and the spilling of blood.' Her eyes were bright with anticipation. 'Come with me, Bradan.' She led the way to the tower that topped the gatehouse, giving them a view over the harbour and the fortified island that was their outer defences.

  'What is the island called?' Bradan asked.

  'Kalipuram.' Dhraji seemed to have rekindled her liking for Bradan as she took hold of his arm. 'It will give the Cholas some surprises.' Her laugh contained genuine humour.

  The Chola fleet, no doubt eager for revenge after their losses on the voyage north, formed two lines so they could pass on either side of the Island of Kalipuram. The island's defenders greeted them with volleys of archery that forced the Cholas further away from the fort and perilously close to the rocks on either entrance of the bay. The Chola archers fired back, standing on deck in positions that made them even more vulnerable to the defenders' arrows. Bradan saw Chola warriors drop under the arrow hail, and then the smoke started.

  'Fire-arrows,' Dhraji said, with satisfaction. 'I told you Kalipuram held some surprises.'

  Bradan could only watch as the archers in the fort fired volleys of fire-arrows that arched through the air to land on and around the Chola ships. The sails of one ship immediately caught fire, to flare up, dropping burning shreds onto the deck. When the crew fought the flames with buckets of water, they exposed themselves to the archery from the fort, with more men falling as the fire spread.

  Dhraji watched, smiling, with her hands gripping the parapet.

  The burning vessel veered to port, upsetting the tight Chola formation and forcing all the ships astern to steer to starboard. With the burning vessel now closer to the fort, the defenders' archers concentrated on this easy target. The sheer volume of missiles in the air and the smoky trails of the fire-arrows combined to darken the sky.

  'I've never seen anything like this before,' Bradan said.

  'My warriors know how to fight.' Dhraji's eyes seemed to glow.

  The captain of the burning vessel tried to steer her away from the fort, with the result that the oars on the port side clacked and crashed against the rocks, making her course even more erratic.

  Bhim had anticipated the Chola ships trying to avoid Kalipuram and had stationed a company of mixed archers and spearmen among the rocks. They opened up on the vulnerable burning ship, so in minutes, it was a charnel house of screaming men. At the blare of a horn, Thiruzha warriors emerged from their positions, thrusting their long spears into the survivors who staggered ashore, pleading for mercy that the Thiruzhas would never grant.

  Another Chola ship was on fire now, with men leaping into the water rather than face the flames. As the island's defenders used them as targets, one of the Chola vessels eased out of line to pick up survivors.

  'The day goes well,' Dhraji was still smiling, 'and the Cholas have not met our main defences yet.'

  As Dhraji spoke, Kalipuram's catapults opened up, launching their rocks against the Chola fleet. The first salvo failed to hit anything, but the immense splashes must have caused consternation among the battered seamen. The second salvo was more effective, crashing onto one of the Chola ships. Bradan saw the rock hurtle down amidships, heard the resulting chorus of screams and yells and saw splinters of wood rise high in the air. The ship immediately began to sink, with the Kalipuram archers ignoring it to concentrate on the more dangerous vessels.

  'This is a slaughter,' Dhraji said. 'I thought the Cholans were skilled warriors. They have no imagination at all.'

  As if they had heard her speak, the Cholans changed tactics. Four of their ships landed on Kalipuram Island and the crews poured out with spears and swords, to try an immediate assault on the fort.

  The defenders responded at once, sending a third of their archers to the threatened wall. That movement weakened the defences of the other walls, so the remainder of the Chola fleet was under less threat as it tried to squeeze past the island.

  'Now!' The speaking-trumpet altered Bhim's voice to a metallic rasp.

  There was a scurry of activity on the walls of the fort and Bradan saw the water between the first and second half of the Chola fleet rise. 'That's the boom,' he said, as the huge chain rose from the bed of the sea to block the passage of the Chola ships.

  'Their fleet is split,' Dhraji said. 'The ships behind the boom can either run or remain, for the Kalipuram garrison to destroy at will.'

  The remainder of the Chola fleet formed up, out of arrow range, in front of Kollchi. They were battered and bloodied, but they had passed the outer defences and now hoisted giant flags in defiance. The red tiger of Chola sprung from a yellow background.

  'Now watch,' Dhraji said quietly, licking her lips.

  The single word, 'Fire!' sounded as Bhim gave the order and a score of catapults loosed from the walls of Kollchi. Heavy rocks soared high in the air, hovered for a few seconds and then plunged down with ever-increasing speed. The water splashes were huge, higher than the Chola masts and before the water fountains subsided, the next volley of rocks was on its way.

  'Now the Chola admiral has a difficult choice,' Dhraji said. 'He can try to scale the walls of Kollchi, try to capture Kalipuram to rescue his doomed ships, remain anchored and lose his ships, or run with his tail between his legs.' Her smile broadened. 'He had better choose quickly. Things are about to get worse for him.'

  The catapults fired again, with large bundles of oil-fuelled flaming rags rising up and falling among the Chola ships. Only one landed on target, and the Chola seamen ran to douse the flames as a new sound echoed around the harbour.

  It was like nothing Bradan had heard before; an echoing crash, as if a hundred archers had fired at once, followed by a heavy scream as a massive bolt shot from the city walls. Bradan watched its progress as it soared across the harbour, to pass between two of the anchored ships and smash against the rocks near the harbour entrance.

  'Missed,' Dhraji said. 'That should cost somebody his skin.'

  'What was that?' Bradan asked.

  'That was our new weapon.' Dhraji said. 'It is a bow that fires an arrow as long as two men and as broad as a man's thigh. Bhim has three more of these weapons under construction.'

  Bradan could sense the thrill of horror that passed through the Chola fleet. Rather than the aggressors, they were floating targets for the fire-catapults and the giant arrows of the Thiruzha
defenders.

  'Things are going well,' Dhraji said. 'I wonder what the admiral of the Chola fleet plans to do now?'

  'He'll have to try and take the city,' Bradan said. 'If he sits there, your defences will shoot his ships to pieces.'

  'Good, good.' Dhraji clapped her hands together. 'Oh, I do hope so. I don't want him to run away until we have given him a proper drubbing. I want to weaken Chola so much that they never try again and we can rule the seas from here to the Andaman Islands and over to Java.'

  Bradan had never heard of these places. 'You will have to take me there sometime.'

  Dhraji laughed, pressing against him. 'Are you not tired of me yet, Bradan, the slave?'

  'I will never tire of you, my Queen.' Bradan thought of Melcorka suffering in her dungeon and swallowed his pride. He allowed his left hand to touch Dhraji's arm. 'You are unlike any woman I have ever met before.'

  Dhraji laughed again. 'Oh, my sycophantic little foreign slave! When I conquer the Cholas, I will undoubtedly take a fleet to your Alba and find out if all the men of Alba are like you. How would that be, Bradan? You can be my guide.'

  Bradan thought of the mists and coolness of Alba again… the feel of winter sleet against his skin, the sweet scent of a peat-fire flame, the sound of harpers drifting across a western loch and the sight of the sun rising above the grey granite peaks of Drum Alba. 'My people would make you most welcome.'

  With sword and steel and fire and blood, they would.

  The warriors of Donald of the Isles, the Picts of Fidach and the stubborn spearmen of the Lowlands would not bow before any piratical potentate. Bradan stilled the sudden surge of passion within him. He started as something flew past – something black-and-white. He did not know what it was. It had not been a bird; it was shapeless, formless and sad. That thing was back, that vague mist that had appeared on the island where Melcorka had thrown away her sword. What was it? Somehow, Bradan knew it was not unfriendly. That black-and-white mist had put the leopard to sleep.

  'What is in your mind, my slave?' Dhraji had caught his mood.