The Voyage of the Minotaur

by Wesley Allison

  Without thinking, Terrence had stopped to stare at the magnificent sight. He didn’t say anything, but he hadn’t been aware that the reptilians were capable of anything along this line either. The other soldiers moved up and formed a group, rather than a line. All stared in rapt fascination and open astonishment at a city that might very well have rivaled Brech in size.

  “Dechantagne,” said Wizard Labrith, pointing.

  Terrence followed his gaze and saw spread out across the savannah, a line of lizardmen. They were so well camouflaged that they blended right into the rising landscape behind them. They stretched out to the left and the right so far that they created a half circle around the humans, and this at a distance of more than a mile. Many of the lizardmen were painted red and white and black, and most wore feathers. Most also carried the swords, made of wood and flint, that the men had seen before.

  “Kafira,” said one of the soldiers. “There must be a thousand of them.”

  “More like five thousand,” said Labrith.

  “Talk to them,” said Terrence to Augie, indicating the two lizardmen with them. “Find out if these are our friends or the enemies.”

  Augie hissed. Sarkkik hissed back. Augie translated.

  “We know of your people. Though it is far away, we know of your people living in Mallontah. We know how they have enslaved the natives there. We know you intend to do this here. We have shown you to Suusthek.”

  “What does that mean?” asked Terrence. “We have shown you to Suusthek.”

  “Oh, sorry. My mistake,” said Augie. “Not ‘show’. It’s ‘delivered’. ‘We have delivered you to Suusthek’. Oh, that doesn’t sound good.”

  “We have dealt with you in good faith,” said Terrence.

  “Your blood runs warm. You cannot be trusted. We have heard your talk. Szuss can hear your speech. He hears how you want to rule the land.”

  “Bugger!” shouted Terrence.

  Sarkkik hissed again.

  “He says ‘now you die’,” translated Augie.

  Terrence turned around and walked two steps then turned around again. Then he pulled out his .45 revolver and shot Sarkkik in the head. It seemed as if the reptilian would fall backwards for a moment, but this was prevented by his tail. He rocked back, then from one side to the other, and then collapsed in a heap. Before Sarkkik had hit the ground, Terrence had fired a second time, and Szuss had a hole through his skull as well. He fell forward onto his alligator-like face.

  More than a mile away, a deep rumbling sound rose up. It was a low gurgling, growling noise. It came from the massive army of lizardmen and it grew louder and louder as five thousand warriors joined in.

  “Formation!” shouted Augie. “Get into formation!”

  The soldiers rushed to form two lines, one behind the other, ninety men wide. The formation looked pathetically small compared to the line of reptilians that dominated the landscape.

  “First rank, kneeling positions!”

  The front row of soldiers knelt. The rear row stayed standing.

  “Fix bayonets!”

  Each soldier pulled a wicked looking dagger from a sheath on his belt and attached the six and three quarter inch blade to the end of his rifle.

  The throaty sound of the lizardmen continued for several minutes. Suddenly and seemingly without a signal, it stopped. Then like a wave moving from the ocean onto the beach, the lizards surged forward. They moved quickly, at a sort of slithering trot, brandishing their stone-encrusted swords as they came. And they were silent—eerily silent.

  “Ready!” called Augie. “Aim!”

  “Fire!”

  The one hundred eighty soldiers fired their rifles in unison and more than a hundred reptiles fell to the ground. The hole created in their moving line quickly filled in with others of their kind, and kept moving forward.

  “Ready! Aim! Fire!”

  The soldiers fired again, and another hundred reptile warriors fell. Running headlong into thundering death, the lizardmen directly in front of the humans began to falter, while to either side, they surged forward. Terrence had holstered his pistol and pulled the .30 caliber rifle from his shoulder.

  “Uuthanum rechthinov uluchaiia,” said Labrith, and a lightning bolt, beginning at his fingertip, spread out shooting through the bodies of a dozen reptile warriors.

  “Fire at will!” shouted Augie. The soldiers began to pick their own targets.

  “Watch your flanks!” he shouted. Fanning out slightly on either side, the humans began firing on the lizardmen coming in from the sides.

  “Uuthanum beithbechnoth,” said Labrith, and a missile of magical energy darted from his fingertip, striking one of the lizards square in the chest, killing him. A half second later a second magical dart shot forth, and then a third.

  Seconds later similar magic missiles shot from the lizardmen’s lines, hitting two of the soldiers. Terrence aimed his rifle in the direction from which they had come. The reptiles had their own magic user. He was easy to spot too. Unlike the others whose greenish skin was painted black or red, he was covered in blue. Terrence shot him through the throat.

  Suddenly the lizardmen stopped coming and dropped down into the tall grass. So sudden and so well coordinated was the move that it seemed that they had just vanished into thin air.

  “Hold your fire!” shouted Augie. “Are they crawling? Watch the grass!”

  The men kept watch where the lizardmen had disappeared, but it was as though they had never been there at all. Suddenly on either side of the humans, dozens of reptilian warriors stood up. Still more than fifty yards away, they heaved short spears using spear-throwers. These devices were shafts with a handle at one end and a spur at the other against which the butt of the spears rested. The spears flew high into the air and then down onto the human soldiers. Six men were hit in the chest or the head and fell to the ground silently. One was hit in the shoulder and one in the stomach, and both of these fell to the ground screaming. Several of the humans fired in return, but the lizardmen had dropped to the ground immediately after launching their missiles.

  “Steady!” cried Augie. “Shoot when they show their heads!”

  “Prestus Uuthanum,” said Labrith.

  Several dozen more reptile warriors on either side of the humans and eight or ten in front of them stood up and launched their spears. This time almost half of them were killed either before or after they were able to cast their projectiles. Half a dozen of the spears that were thrown bounced off an invisible shield in the air above the soldiers, but five more men were hit. This savage and deadly game continued as again and again, lizardmen stood to launch spears on their clever little spear throwing sticks and the humans attempted to shoot them with their rifles before they could do so, though sometimes settling for shooting them afterwards.

  Terrence heard Labrith casting other spells, though he didn’t see what effect they had. He was busy dealing death with his rifle and was inwardly pleased with the knowledge that so far at least, every bullet he had fired, had met its mark. Though they were causing far more casualties than they were taking, it was a nerve-wracking business, and some of the men were beginning to grouse and swear.

  “Steady men,” said Augie. “If we break, they’ll pick us off. Stand fast.”

  The lizardmen to the right jumped up—not a few dozen spear throwers, but hundreds rushing forward with swords. The humans began rapidly picking them off, their rifles pumping new shells into the chambers as fast as they could fire. The lizardmen advanced, but at a cost of several hundred. Suddenly they dropped back into the grass.

  “Watch your other side!” called Augie.

  “That was a test,” said Labrith. “They’re testing our firepower.”

  “Kafira. We must have killed nearly a thousand already,” said Augie.

  “That only leaves four thousand to go,” said Terrence, looking at the bodies of more than forty of his men, dead or dying.

  The spears flew into the air again, this time in
even greater number than before. Ten more men fell. Next to him, Terrence heard Labrith scream and saw him fall to the ground. One of the spears had pierced his right kneecap and was sticking about sixteen inches out the backside of his leg.

  The lizardmen to the left jumped up and ran forward, just as those on the opposite side had done before. This time fewer were shot as there were both fewer humans left to fire and they were less ready than before, despite having experienced the previous rush. And just as before, the reptiles dropped back down into the tall grass.

  “Ready men!” shouted Augie. “Watch for the spear throwers!”

  The spear-throwing reptiles popped up just as predicted on three sides. Rifle shots rang out. Terrence shot three. Suddenly he felt a weight on his back and turned around, jerking it off him. He looked directly into his brother’s face. Augie had a surprised look in his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak and thick red blood ran down his chin and onto his chest. One of the spears had hit him in his left shoulder, driving down through his chest, and poking out of his right side near his hip. It had pierced his heart and at least one of his lungs. The light left his eyes and his body took two steps backwards as if it was attempting to continue on even without a soul in it, then it crumpled to the ground.

  Terrence made a sound not unlike a man punched in the stomach. He watched dumbly as eleven or twelve more men fell from thrown spears. He saw another spear hit Labrith in the neck, pinning the already prone wizard to the earth, like an insect pinned to a mat. Terrence felt himself beginning to shake uncontrollably. It was at that moment the lizzies on every side made their final charge.

  The lizardmen raced across the last fifty yards separating them from the humans. Though dozens more of the reptile warriors were shot, the massive wave crashed into the soldiers. A few of the humans attempted to run, but to their credit, most met the overwhelming cold-blooded enemy head on. The hand to hand combat that ensued was terrible to behold. The Brech soldiers had been trained to stab the bayonet, slash, and smash with the rifle butt, and this they did with the skill of trained soldiers. The lizardmen swung their swords, flat blades of wood, encrusted all around with chips of flint or more often of volcanic glass. When these weapons hit their targets, they sliced huge gouges in their victims. More than a few humans and lizardmen slipped in the thick red blood that covered the ground, matting down the tall grass trampled in the fight.

  Terrence turned to see several hissing reptiles rushing forward at him. He smashed the face of one with the butt of his rifle. Continuing the same motion, he blocked the downward swipe of a primitive sword. Another cold-blooded warrior tackled him, knocking him to the ground. Using the momentum of his attacker against him, he kicked the lizardman over him and jumped back to his feet, losing his rifle in the process. He pulled out one of his revolvers and fired at one painted savage after another until the hammer clicked on an empty chamber. He dropped the pistol and pulled out its twin. Before he could fire it, a great mouth clamped shut on his wrist.

  As quickly as it had bitten him, the reptile dropped to the ground dead. Terrence turned his head to see that one of his own soldiers had shot his attacker. The lizardman’s teeth had ripped two long gashes in his wrist as it had fallen off of him. He tried to lift his right arm, but couldn’t. He looked around on the ground for his pistol, but he couldn’t see it. Two soldiers stepped past him on either side, for a moment blocking the reptiles coming at him. He couldn’t tell who the soldiers were, but they killed at least four lizards before being killed themselves.

  Grabbing a rifle from the ground with his left hand, Terrence attempted to point it at one of the reptiles, but at that moment he was hit it the back. The impact of one of the native swords left a gash across his back, but did not sliced in deep enough to cause internal damage. It knocked all the air from his lungs though, and sent him slipping on the bloody ground. He landed on his side. He looked in the direction of his men and saw only three soldiers still fighting among the swarm of the enemy. Then a large reptilian foot stomped down on the side of his head and everything went black.

  Terrence passed in and out of half consciousness. He felt motion, but he didn’t know if he was being carried or being dragged. He didn’t even know if he was facing upwards or downwards. In those few moments when he was awake enough to have a thought; it was centered on the dull aching pain across his back and the sharp stabbing pains in his right wrist.

  His face was doused with water and his mind swam up into awareness. He was on his knees, being supported on either side by the rough, clawed fingers of two lizardmen. His arms were tied behind his back at both the wrists and elbows. He was scarcely aware of it, but his knees and ankles were also tied together. His clothes were stained red and dried blood was caked to the side of his head.

  He looked around. He was inside a stone building surrounded by a score of the most highly ornamented and decorated lizardmen he had yet seen. The room was festooned with colorful feathers and brightly died animal skins. The only open door was directly ahead, and as Terrence’s eyes adjusted to the light streaming in, he could see the tops of a multitude of buildings in a strange and inhuman city, and he realized that he must be in the top of one of the great white pyramids that he had viewed from so far away.

  A flood of unanticipated memories flowed into his brain. Gunfire. Battle. Spears. Blood. Death. Augie.

  “Bastards,” he said. “Bloody bastards.”

  The reptile men all around him began hissing. One of the brutes, a monster more than seven feet tall, stepped forward. Terrence immediately recognized him. It was Ssithtsutsu, the chief who had visited the colony many weeks before. With dark mottled scales and the foot long scar across his face, passing through one white eye, even a human with little experience among the local peoples could identify him. He had on far more ornamentation than he had when visiting the colony, including a huge cape of bright red and blue feathers.

  “I know you, you bastard,” said Terrence. “So you’re not just a village chief.”

  “I gno yew too,” said Ssithtsutsu. “I gno yew. I gno yew want. Yew want slave the lizzies. Slave us for yew copper bits.”

  “Bastard.”

  Another lizardman appeared next to Ssithtsutsu. He was a shrunken, shriveled reptile, whose skin had faded away with tremendous age or maybe disease. He wore a necklace of human hands held together with woven grass. In his own hand he carried a small lizard, its four legs sticking straight out, mounted on a stick like some strange lizard lollypop. He moved in close to Terrence and shook the lizard at him. He shook it all around the bound man’s face.

  “Get away from me, you cold-blooded freak.”

  “He gno freak,” said Ssithtsutsu. “He strong witch-doctor. He take away yew power. Then we take away all suuwasuu. We take away all yew tools. We wipe you off the land.”

  Terrence began to laugh mirthlessly.

  “You have no idea what you’re dealing with. You don’t know what we are. My people bring death and destruction wherever we go. It doesn’t matter what you do now. Within a year, they’ll be nothing left of this city but a dark stain on the top of a hill.”

  “Yew gno see it.” Ssithtsutsu stepped forward and grabbed the man across the top of the head with his huge, clawed left hand. Terrence tried to turn his head one way or the other, but the lizardman’s grip was like an iron vice and the claws dug into the flesh of his temples. All that he could do was scream, as the lizard king gouged the claws of his right hand into Terrence’s left eye, scraping out his eyeball. Then he did it again, gouging out Terrence’s right eye.

  Chapter Twenty: The Assault on the Town

  The mood was light in Iolanthe Dechantagne’s tent. It was a bright, sunny day outside, though not too hot. A cool breeze was blowing in off the ocean. The colony had enjoyed a huge mid-day feast, and if eating the last of the fresh vegetables taken on at Enclep was not exactly a cause for celebration, at least everyone knew that they were safe from starvation. The canned food stored at the colon
y would last a long time, and there was still the promise of trade with the natives.

  Yuah Korlann, Merced Calliere, and Phillida Marjoram sat around the desk counting ballots for the election of the Colonial Council. The paper slips upon which all adult members of the colony had written the name of their choice were divided up into piles. Though there were more than two dozen piles, one for each candidate, it was soon obvious which four piles would end up being the tallest. Calliere’s final pronouncement was a mere formality. The winners of the election and the chosen members of the Colonial Council were, in order of votes received: Zeah Korlann, Padgett Kelloran, Dudley Labrith, and in a surprise, a young Freedonian woman named Honor Hertling.

  “Lovely,” said Iolanthe. “I was sure that Zeah and Dr. Kelloran would be elected, but I’m surprised at the wizard. Does anyone know this Hertling person?”

  Yuah and Calliere both shook their heads.

  “I believe I know of her,” said Mrs. Marjoram. “A dark-haired young woman, if I’m not mistaken. Pretty, in that Zaeri sort of way. I believe she’s known for her work helping the sick on that ship of theirs. No doubt that’s why she was chosen.”

  “So she’s from the Acorn?” asked Iolanthe, ignoring Yuah’s look of shock at Mrs. Marjoram.

  “Yes, if she’s whom I’m thinking of.” The woman seemed oblivious of the effect of her words.

  “Excellent. One more chance to get the Freedonians integrated into our society. Before long, nobody will know they weren’t born Brechs.”

  “Hmph,” said Mrs. Marjoram, but didn’t openly correct her.

  “So it will be myself, Terrence and Augie, whoever replaces Father Ian, Zurfina, and these four. I think we can work with that.

  “Yuah, why don’t you go bring your father in here? Mrs. Marjoram, would you be so kind to see if you can locate this Miss Hertling? And Mercy, perhaps I can persuade you to bring Dr. Kelloran.”

  Twenty minutes later the three of them had returned with the three newly elected leaders of the colony, Wizard Labrith, of course being on the military mission with the Iolanthe’s two brothers, was not present. Zeah looked every bit the senior statesman, tall and straight in his charcoal suit. Dr. Kelloran on the other hand looked tired and drawn. Though still nicely dressed and stylishly coifed, she had lost weight since arriving in Birmisia and had dark circles under her eyes.