by Morgan Rice
There arose strange noises all around them, like a bird’s song mixed with a wail, and Thor looked over and spotted flocks of enormous blackbirds perched on the branches. They resembled ravens but were four times the size, and they had eyes in their heads and on their chests. Instead of wings they had claws, and they shook these furiously as they leaned back and stuck out their chests, creating the strange noises.
They all watched the boat as it went, and Thor felt as if any moment the whole flock might pounce on them. In some ways, having their creepy eyes watch their every move was worse.
Beside him, Krohn snarled.
“And what of your map now?” Elden asked the three brothers derisively.
The three brothers all sat in the rear of the boat, and now they all look shell-shocked, unsure of themselves.
“I still have it,” Drake said, holding it up. “It’s wet, but it reads. I held onto it with my life.”
“Why did your map make no mention of the falls?” Reece pressed.
“It’s not a topographical map,” Drake sneered. “It’s drawn by a prisoner to point us to the Sword.”
“Or to our deaths,” O’Connor said.
“Did you ever consider it could be a trap?” Conven asked.
“I think someone is playing us all for a fool,” Conval added.
“So what do you propose we do now?” Durs said back. “Turn back and climb those falls and start again?”
They all glanced back, and knew that was an impossibility.
“We have no choice,” Dross said. “We stick to the map.”
The boat settled back into a gloomy silence.
“It seems everything you’ve said has been right so far,” Thor said to Indra. “Tell us more about this underworld we travel in.”
Indra looked about warily; she did not look happy to be here. She was silent for a long time before she spoke.
“It is fabled to be one of the seven realms of hell,” she said, staring out at the gloomy landscape. “Legend has it that when hell had no more room, the Devils were given six more realms. It was forged during the early days of the Empire. Before Andronicus—before even his ancestors. It is a place where even Empire troops will not go.
“This river that cuts through it connects two different Empire lands. It is a shortcut of sorts. Yet no one is foolish enough to actually use it. People will take the long way, however long it takes.”
They fell back into silence as they all paddled on the twisting, narrow river, as the sky fell into a deeper twilight. It was like paddling into somebody’s nightmare.
There came a sudden splashing, and Thor looked over and saw a set of glowing eyes surface from the water—then disappear.
“Did you see that?” O’Connor asked.
They all examined the water, as all around them it became filled with small splashing noises, and sets of glowing yellow eyes popped up everywhere.
As Thor leaned down to get a better look, suddenly a reptile jumped up from the water, the size of a large fish, with huge glowing eyes, and long, crocodile like jaws. The jaws must have been two feet long, and it snapped right at Thor.
Thor leaned back, at the last second, just before the jaws cut him in half.
Krohn snarled at the creature, but then pulled back himself as another one of these creatures leapt out of the air and snapped at him. Thor lifted his paddle and smashed the reptiles as they leapt out of the water all around them. The others did the same, beating them back, as they circled the boat.
One of them leapt into the air and managed to sink its teeth into Conval’s arm.
“Get it off!” he shrieked, clawing at it.
Conven hurried over, grabbed its jaws and managed to pry them off his twin brother’s arm, then threw the thing back into the water. Luckily he got it off quickly enough to leave his brother with only a minor wound.
“There’s thousands of these things!” O’Connor yelled out, as he dodged one which leapt through the air right past him. “We can’t hold them back forever!”
Thor realized he was right; they were overwhelmed by these creatures and it was only a matter of time until they did some serious damage; there was no way they could fend them all off. It was as if they had navigated into a den of piranhas.
But then all of the creatures suddenly turned and took off, submerging underwater and darting away at full speed.
“What are they doing?” Elden asked.
“It looks like they’re running from us,” O’Connor said.
“Or from something else,” Indra said ominously.
Thor realized, with a pit in his stomach, that she was right. All of those creatures wouldn’t dart away like that unless they were scared, unless they were running from something. Something much bigger than they.
Suddenly, there came a huge rush of water, and as Thor looked down, he saw the waters foaming, bubbling.
He knew something was about to attack them. Something big.
“Brace yourself!” he screamed.
Before them came an explosion of water, and bursting up from beneath the surface came a massive sea monster. It was unlike anything Thor had ever lain eyes upon. It was a huge, whale-like creature, its jaws twenty feet long, filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth. Its red eyes protruded from the side of its head, several feet wide, and its nose curved upward, several feet, with razors on the end of it.
Its open jaws came down for the boat, and Thor’s reflexes kicked in. Without thinking, he placed a stone in his sling, leaned back, and hurled it with all he had, aiming for the monster’s nose. Thor remembered hearing that the nose was the most sensitive place to wound a beast, and he prayed with all he had that it was true. If not, within seconds, they would all be inside the beast’s stomach.
It was a perfect strike, at full force, and as the rock hit, the beast suddenly stopped, halfway down, and leaned back and roared.
It was an earth-shattering roar, loud enough to shake the waters and rock their boat; Thor barely kept his footing as he reached up to grab his ears.
The monster surfaced even higher, raising up another thirty feet, revealing rows of claws extending along the side of its body, tapering to a point, looking like a whale crossed with a sea snake.
All the Legion broke into action, inspired by Thor, hurling spears at the beast, all lodging into its body; Elden threw an axe, lodging into its head, and O’Connor managed to fire off three arrows, all landing with precision in one eye.
But, to Thor’s shock, the beast remained unfazed. It simply pulled them all out as if they were toothpicks using its various claws, then threw them into the water.
The beast, even angrier, threw back its head, opened its jaws twice as wide, and brought them down again, preparing to slice them all in half.
This time, there was nothing left to stop them.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
As Gwendolyn watched the Empire break down the gates below and pour into Silesia, she stood there frozen. She could hardly believe it had come to this so quickly. All of their carefully-laid plans for defense, washed away in a matter of hours.
“My lady, we must move!” Steffen yelled beside her, frantic, tugging on her arm.
She snapped out of it, her instincts kicking in. She saw Srog, Brom, Kolk, Kendrick, Godfrey and the others all retreating with the soldiers down the back steps of the parapets, and she remembered their contingency plan. She had gone over the plan endlessly with her generals, and now it was surreal to see it put into motion.
As the first Empire soldiers rushed through the gates, Srog turned to his men and screamed:
“NOW!”
Several soldiers pulled huge levers from up above, and as they did, a trap door opened up in the ground below, right past the gate, making all the soldiers fall, dozens of Empire men, screaming, into a deep and dark pit. The massive hole prevented the soldiers from getting any farther past the gates, into Silesia. It bought Gwen and the others precious time—but Gwen knew it wouldn’t hold them back for l
ong, and they all continued with their controlled retreat.
The Empire men were beginning to catch on, and they stopped racing into the city, stopping at the gates, right before the pit. Yet they were log jammed, with nowhere to go; unable to back up, their own men stampeded them, rushing to enter the city, and pushed more and more men, screaming, into the pit.
When the tide of men finally stopped, they began to turn back around, press their way out of the gates, and look for other ways into the city.
It bought Gwen and her people the time they needed to retreat. Gwen was pleased to see this plan working—it had been a finishing touch that she had added to the war plans. It allowed them time to marshal the citizens, to gather the old men and women, the children and usher them from their homes and through the arched gates leading down to the lower city. To save time in the descent, Gwen had had iron poles installed up and down the walls, and dozens of citizens at a time grabbed and slid their way down the mountain, landing on the lower levels in an orderly fashion.
The plan worked like clockwork, and within a matter of minutes, all of the Silesians of the upper city were safely past the second set of city gates, and descending down to the lower levels. Gwen stood outside the gates, waiting for the last person to exit, making sure no one was left behind, Steffen and Kendrick standing loyally by her side. Finally, assured everyone was gone, she passed through, and as she did, four rows of heavy iron spiked gates came down behind her, one after the other. It would not be easy to penetrate, especially as they were embedded in stone walls a dozen feet thick.
Gwen joined the soldiers on next line of defense, the upper parapets, behind the bars, at the Canyon’s edge. She took up a position beside Steffen, Kendrick, Godfrey, Srog and the others. Hundreds of Silesian archers knelt there, waiting to hold this final line of defense.
Down below, Gwen could already see the first of the Empire troops scaling the walls into the courtyard, lowering ropes and ladders for the others to follow. Within moments, dozens followed, already charging right for them, towards the second set of iron gates. But only so many men could filter through at a time, given that they could not charge through on foot, their way blocked by the huge pit before the gates.
Kendrick knelt beside her, holding his own bow, waiting.
“NOT YET!” he called to his men, all awaiting his command.
The men got closer and closer, and the air filled with tension.
“FIRE!” Kendrick screamed, standing with his bow.
Hundreds of Silesian soldiers stood with him, among them Godfrey, Steffen, Srog, Brom, Kolk—and even Gwendolyn—and a hail of arrows fell from the sky, stopping dozens of Empire soldiers in their tracks.
The archers immediately restrung and fired again. And again.
They managed to take out the first round of men, to keep the courtyard empty of them, filling the ground with their bodies. The Empire had been caught off guard, unprepared for a counterattack after they had breached the gates.
But no matter how many they killed, the Empire soldiers kept coming. Soon, on their heels, there arrived a discipline squad of archers, who took a knee, raised shields in unison to block the hail of arrows, then fired back.
Gwen ducked as the sky filled with arrows heading their way. One sailed by her head, just missing.
Some of the other Silesians were not as fast as she, and a few of them screamed out, wounded, and collapsed over the stone wall, hurling down, dead.
Gwen stood and fired again, and was surprised to see she actually hit one, in the throat. She felt a hand pull her down as an arrow flew by her ear. It was Steffen, beside her.
“There are advantages to being short, my lady,” he said. “You do not have these. Follow me and stay low.”
Steffen peaked over the edge, leaned over with his bow and fired three quick shots, taking out three soldiers nearing the gate.
“You do not need to be tall to kill a man,” he said to her. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, it is this.”
The fighting went on for round after round, arrows flying incessantly, screaming erupting from both sides as bodies mounted. Empire bodies piled up in the courtyard as hours passed.
Still, more and more Empire troops scaled the walls like ants. The only saving grace for the Silesians was that the Empire was trickling in, unable to charge over the pit at the gate.
And then, everything changed. Gwen watched with horror as a squadron of Empire soldiers appeared with long wooden planks and laid them down over the pit at the entrance. One by one they covered it up, and soon, they managed to cover it completely, building a bridge. They didn’t try to rescue their soldiers trapped below; instead, to save time, they smothered them, building a bridge over their heads.
With the makeshift bridge laid, hundreds of Empire soldiers rushed into the inner courtyard, at a dizzying pace. They all let out a battle cry, charging for the gates.
Gwendolyn’s heart dropped. Her men were running out of arrows, their ranks dwindling, and she knew their time was numbered. They couldn’t continue to hold the line, to hold back this many men for long.
The Empire soldiers parted ways as a huge iron battering ram was wheeled forward by two dozen men. They charged forward and slammed it into the iron gate with a crash. The ground shook beneath Gwen as the metal bent.
These four iron gates, which seemed indefensible, were already proving vulnerable.
“CAULDRONS!” Kendrick screamed.
Silesian soldiers rushed forward, and as one they poured huge cauldrons of molten tar over the edge.
Screams arose from below as dozens of Empire soldiers were doused in the thick liquid.
“ARCHERS!” Kendrick screamed.
The archers stepped forward, this time armed with flaming arrows, and fired down at the soldiers doused in tar, setting them on fire.
Screams filled the courtyard as the flames spread, and dozens more died. Bodies piled high at the gates. It would have been enough to stop any other army.
But not Andronicus.
The Empire troops kept coming. And coming. There was no end to them.
Gwen watched in horror as the battering ram was taken up by others, who rammed the first gate so hard that they knocked it off its hinges. The Empire troops erupted in a cheer. Only three gates to go.
“My lady, we’re nearly out of tar and—” Srog reported urgently.
Before he could finish there came another crash, so strong it sent Gwendolyn stumbling back; she peered down to see they took out the second iron gate.
“It’s time to retreat to the lower city!” Srog said.
Gwen realized he was right. She nodded, and without hesitation Srog called out: “RETREAT!”
Gwen’s soldiers turned and gave up their posts, sprinting down the back staircases from the rear wall.
Gwen joined the others in hurrying down the stone steps, descending flight after flight, passing dozens of soldiers standing guard on her way down, all taking positions at every level. There came another great crash, and Gwen looked over her shoulder, and with a pit in her stomach, watched the third iron gate give way.
As soon as Gwen and the others cleared the lower levels, they reached up and turned huge cranks; as they did, it raised a minefield of iron spikes, shooting straight up into the air, covering the lower city like a shield. As the Empire crashed through the fourth and final gate with a cheer, they raced forward through the arched gate, expecting to attack.
But there was nowhere for them to go. The lower city was protected from above by a field of iron spikes. A few soldiers could not stop in time, and they kept charging, and fell through the air, impaling themselves on the spikes, dangling in the air, their blood dripping down.
Finally, the Empire troops stopped, and stood at the very edge of the Canyon, looking down at the spikes below and realizing there was no way down to the lower city without going through them.
Gwendolyn looked up, and saw that finally, the Empire could not proceed. Finally, t
hey were safe.
As Gwen reached the lower levels of the city, she was greeted by dozens of her generals, all anxiously awaiting her. The citizens milled about, an agitated buzz in the air.
“We are safe down here, my lady,” Srog said. “There is no way for them to get through.”
“Yes but for how long?” Kendrick asked, as they all convened, surrounded by their troops.
“As long as we need to,” he replied.
“As long as we don’t run out of food and supplies,” Brom added ominously.
“How long can we survive done here, without provisions?” Kolk asked.
Srog shook his head.
“It has never been tested. Maybe a week. Maybe two.”
“And then what?” asked Kendrick.
Slowly, Srog shook his head.
“At least we are safe from their reach,” he said.
“But we are not safe from hunger,” Gwendolyn added.
Gwendolyn looked up with the others, saw the faces of the Empire soldiers, looking down, and knew that, sooner or later, they would find a way to get down here. And now, backed into a corner, they had nowhere left to run.
Eventually, they would have to face them—or die.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Thor stood on the boat with the others, the sea monster looming over them, and braced himself to die.
He closed his eyes and prayed to God with all he had.
Please God, give me the power to stop this beast.
Thor thought of Argon’s words.
Do not try to overpower nature. Become one with it. Harness nature’s power. After all, you, too, are a part of nature.
Thor felt a tremendous heat overwhelm his body, rise up from his feet through his legs, through his torso, through his hands, and into the palms of his hand.
He opened his eyes and raised his palms, aiming them at the beast as it descended with open jaws, about to kill them all.
To Thor’s shock, an orb of light emanated from his palms and shot up through the air, landing inside the beast’s mouth.
