Clash of Men

by Damon Glatz

  “The Water Mythic has never been challenged before,” answered Red. “It has become accustomed to weak sacrifices, perhaps the Mythic is the one who does not know what it’s getting into.” He looked at the men bustling around him, swords being sharpened, and armor being dressed. Men were shaking hands and embracing one another. “I think the Vatnics know exactly what they are getting into, and that is why they are so excited. The full strength of the Vatnic armada against the Great Serpent of the Seas, two incredibly powerful forces. This could turn out in either parties’ favor, and they are looking forward to it.”

  “But… Most of them could get killed,” Ohitekah asked hesitantly.

  “Good for them.” Lance said coldly. Ohitekah shot him a glace. “No really. That’s good for them.” He continued, “Dying in combat is what gets them to the Overworld. Grants them a seat at the table of their ancestors, where, according to their legends, they eat and prepare for their ‘final battle’ against evil. They don’t want any old Vatnic at their side in that final battle, they want a battle tried veteran who has already given his life for their glory.”

  “What’s their final battle?” Ohitekah asked after thinking that over.

  Lance shrugged “I don’t know. It’s their legend. That’s why they’re all so eager to fight.”

  “Will you help?” Ohitekah asked Red. “Use your powers against the water Mythic?”

  “I do not think so, no. That would dishonor these men who want to slay the Mythical beast that has slaughtered them for years or die trying. This is their fight, they do not want some northerner interfering.”

  “For once, I agree with you,” Lance added. “This is Nicholas’ fight. He wants the kill. We did our part in getting him this far, the rest is up to him.” He chuckled “I don’t have any final battle in my afterlife. They can die for all the glory they want to.”

  Ohitekah wasn’t so sure about just spectating.

  “All hands! On deck! Setting sail.” The captains started to shout, bells started ringing on the ships. As Lance and Red stepped onto one of the smaller ships, Ohitekah wondered if he should join Nicholas’ ship.

  “Lad!” Nicholas shouted from his large vessel before Ohitekah could make his own decision. “Stay with Red, use yer arrows from a distance, I don’t want ya getting’ into trouble.” Ohitekah nodded and joined their boat. “Red, only defend your boat if you need to. Do not join the battle for any other reason. If I die, let me, it would be my honor. Just get the boy home safely.” Red gave a small nod. “Lance...” he gave a smile. Let me show you how it’s really done” Nicholas drew his sword and pointed out to the sea. “Full sail to Black Island!” The large white sail fell in front of him and the wind blowing off the cliffs took them out. The rest of the ships followed behind.

  The boat was just as hard to stand on as it was yesterday. Ohitekah gripped the side to keep his footing. Lance seemed to be more comfortable this time. As King’s Rock drifted out of sight, they began to sail southwest. They traveled further and further to the edge of the maps.

  Ohitekah became increasingly more uncomfortable the closer and closer to the lair of the Sea Serpent of legend they got. The breeze began to fall still freezing the air in place. Ohitekah began to see his breath.

  Nicholas’ ship rolled up its sail for a moment and stopped. Ohitekah was confused at the sudden halt. They lowered one boat capable of a single man into the sea. Other small boats followed. They began to drift away.

  “That is Ivan, and the rest of the men killed yesterday,” Red spoke quietly. “This is a Vatnic burial at sea. For them not to do this would be bad luck.” For a while, the small boat drifted away, then a man on Nicholas’ ship let loose a flaming arrow and hit Ivan’s boat, setting it ablaze. Other men launched arrows and burned the rest of the boats. Another moment of silence passed by before Nicholas gave the order to hoist their sail again to continue again south.

  They sailed for a few hours, the men on Ohitekah’s ship taking up the rear. They sailed in relative silence, no one comfortable breaking the stillness of the sea, just the gentle rocking of the ship and the steady knocking of the ropes on the mast.

  There rose a speck in the distance, an island black as coal. It had dramatic angles and rocks jutting out of it. Nicholas recognized it. He had been here before. This is where he battled the Mythic on his own. Nicholas signaled for half-mast on the main sails. There was a dark cave at the opening of the island, its entrance extended into the depths of the sea. This is where the Mythic called home. His men moved into position around the mouth of the cave, creating a crescent shape perimeter. The breeze froze in place, and not a soul dared to make a sound. There must have been a hundred ships, each filled with men ready to die for their new king. At any moment, the beast could come erupting from the dark depths and destroy any of them. Who would be first?

  Nicholas looked at each of his men. He nodded and grabbed his sword. He knocked its hilt on the side of his ship in a steady rhythm, breaking the silence.

  Bum bum bum.... bum bum bum...

  A few of his men drew their weapons and matched his beat. Soon it grew in volume. Each ship was banging the beat louder and louder.

  Bum bum bum... bum bum bum...

  The banging spread to each ship, it was contagious. Ohitekah found himself joining in with his foot. The rhythm began to increase in tempo, and eventually it was lost entirely, every man banging as fast as they could and shouting. Each warrior was getting more and more anxious, wishing the beast would appear to finally start the battle, each ship making noise as loud as it could, daring the beast to come forth and accept the challenge. Ohitekah’s ship moved its way to the back of the formation, away from the rest of the ships. Ohitekah began to get more nervous. From this position he could see straight into the dark heart of the cave. It was in there, the horrible ancient monster whispered of in legend called its lair. At any moment it could come roaring out from below a ship and snap it in half like a twig. What if it attacked his ship? What good could Red be in the water?

  A few apprehensive moments passed, nothing stirring from the water. The chanting died down as the energy level dropped. Maybe the monster would not come out. There was no way they could force it out of the cave. Each man had their eyes focused on the dark entrance, no one dared to blink.

  “Lance is right," Red spoke quietly. “This has been too easy.”

  There was a horrifyingly loud crash from their left. Everyone spun around to get a glimpse of the source. The great monster erupted out of the calm sea in a blue blur, obliterating a ship on its way up. What was left of the men on the ship were sent flying into the sky and crashed into the ocean below.

  There it was, the Mythic of Water. Finally seeing it now, Ohitekah gave up all hope. Its mouth opened wide and it let out a terrible scream that almost shook the ships apart. Its size was far more terrifying then he could have imagined. Its sapphire body snaked into the sea, what was visible above the surface was only a small portion of the horror that hid beneath. Its spiked scales that linked its armored skin covered its entire body. The men looked to Nicholas to lead.

  “Attack!” he raised his sword to the monster.

  The ships let out another battle cry and moved to the beast. The head of the monster looked at the ships as it towered above them. Ohitekah’s boat stayed where it was. Nicholas had given specific orders to the captain to only watch the battle, not to join.

  The great tail rose out of the deep behind the ships and whipped down on one of them, sending men and wood flying. The boats that were closest began to throw spears. Most of the spears bounced off the plated natural armor of the beast.

  Red analyzed the battle from their position, not saying a word.

  “It’s impossible,” Lance shouted. “They will all perish.”

  Ohitekah was in shock. So many men were dying at once. Even though the monster was unimaginably large, they continued to fight. None of the men held anything back.

  Nicholas let loose a spear hitt
ing the beast in the gills at its neck. The Mythic recoiled and let out a scream, flaring its gaping mouth and a long red forked tongue.

  “Aim high, lads. Aim for its face. We got it now!” Nicholas bellowed across the sea for all to hear.

  Olaf steered the ship out of range of its mouth, just close enough for the spears to be thrown. Nicholas was proud to have his friend, a master navigator, at the helm of his ship in this decisive battle.

  “We got it now, Nicholas.” Olaf smiled. Nicholas let loose another spear.

  There was suddenly a new sound. The Mythic raised its open mouth to the sky and its call grew louder and louder. As the Mythic’s pitch increased, its cry shook each man to his core.

  “Now it’s actually fighting,” Red spoke. “This is the true power of a Mythic.”

  It lashed its head forward and out of its mouth fired a spiraling beam of concentrated water. It reminded Red of the fire of a dragon. The beast fired its beam of water down toward a group of ships. The one it was aiming for was destroyed instantly by the fierce blast. Nicholas’ ship was close by and was tossed to its side from the wave caused by the attack.

  Ohitekah screamed for Nicholas. The sea raged and swallowed his ship whole, Ohitekah could see its mast breaking as it was tossed into the depths. “Red, do something,” Ohitekah shouted in a panic “That was Nicholas’ ship, he needs us.”

  “He told us not to join, this is his fight,” Lance said grimly.

  The rest of the men did not halt the attack. More spears were becoming lodged in the beast’s mouth, face, and gills. Spears were being thrown from every ship, from every direction.

  The Mythic was fighting just as fiercely, using its tail as a whip to strike unsuspecting boats from behind. With every successful spear hit, the Mythic grew more intense with its attacks.

  It reared its head again as it charged another elemental attack. Ohitekah expected a similar strike. This time, however, no water was fired. Instead, it launched a massive ice spear from its mouth. The ice pierced a larger ship and split it in two.

  “Ice?” Lance asked.

  “Of course,” Red answered. “The Water Mythic controls all forms of water.”

  “All forms? What else does that mean?” Lance’s question went unanswered.

  Ohitekah was scanning the water, praying that Nicholas would re-emerge. He had to. The Vatnics were powerful swimmers, even with armor. He kept repeating that in his head.

  Powerful swimmers even with armor.

  He became fixated with an area under the water.

  There. He’s there.

  He could see nothing to prove this, but that’s where Nicholas was, he was sure of it.

  Ohitekah dove into the water without thinking twice.

  “No!” Red shouted. He leaned forward to catch him but he was too late. The boy was gone.

  “Why? Where did he go?” Lance looked over the side.

  The sea was crystal clear below the surface. Ohitekah could see the entire body of the Mythic under the water. It snaked and coiled around itself. Its body covered most of the area under the battle. He could see the sunken ships and defeated soldiers falling in slow motion.

  He scanned the seafloor and saw Nicholas’s ship. Nicholas was alive, he seemed to be trying to pull Olaf out of the wreckage. Ohitekah moved his arms through the water to try to reach him and help but found himself unable to influence his movements like the Vatnic’s could. He was sinking, unable to return to the surface rising above him.

  What was I thinking? I’ve never swam in the ocean before!

  Ohitekah began to panic, surrounded by nothing but death and the infinite deep sea, his body naturally tried to take a breath and inhaled nothing but water. His vision grew cloudy. He let out a scream with what air he had left.

  Nicholas fought to lift a mast that was crushing his friend to the deck of the ship. Olaf was unconscious and was unable to help. Nicholas refused to leave him behind, but he had to keep trying.

  Nicholas thought he felt a familiar presence in the water with him, he turned around and saw Ohitekah, slowly sinking down into the deep. He wasn’t moving. He looked back to Olaf, pinned to the ship he once captained. Nicholas shook his head.

  I’m sorry old friend…

  Nicholas kicked off the deck of the ship and swam to Ohitekah. He grabbed him and made his way to the surface.

  Nicholas burst out of the water a second later, he was coughing up water. A nearby ship threw a rope over, Nicholas grabbed it and the crew pulled them aboard.

  “Lad!” Nicholas yelled while he rolled Ohitekah over onto his back. Nicholas pumped the water out by putting pressure on his chest and blowing into his mouth.

  After a moment Ohitekah’s eyes opened and he threw up a lungful of sea water.

  “Oh, thank the gods…” Nicholas stood up.

  Ohitekah blinked for a minute or two as he tried to figure out where he was. He looked to Nicholas.

  “You saved me?”

  Nicholas shook his head. “No… I think I would have died trying to pull Olaf out of there…” He reached out to Ohitekah and helped him onto his feet. “It looks like you saved me again, lad.”

  Ohitekah looked into the water. “But Olaf…”

  Nicholas didn’t answer. His friend was gone. The King of the Vatnics looked at the battle. More than half the ships were destroyed. His men were screaming in the water, bodies floated on pieces of ship everywhere. The clear seas were turning red. The Mythic seemed wounded, but its attacks were not slowing down.

  "Should I order a retreat, sire?" the captain asked.

  Nicholas looked to his men. They wanted to fight, but they could not win. The Mythic was too strong. The water blasts were too much for them. He knew this now. “Yes, not another man is to die by the hands of this Mythic ever again.”

  Ohitekah was shocked. Nicholas signaled the retreat, and the men on his ship began to argue.

  “If we leave now, Your Majesty… those men die for nothing!” one man yelled at his king. “We need to finish this.”

  He was right. But retreat was never in Nicholas’ plan for himself.

  Nicholas, without saying a word, turned to one of his men who had a bow. He ripped it out of his hands and gave it to Ohitekah. “You know what to do, it’s up to us now.” Nicholas reached out his hand locking wrists with Ohitekah.

  The Vatnic king dove into the water alone.

  “What is he doing?” The men on the ship reacted. The boats closest to the beast were beginning to pull back. The Mythic reared its head once again to fire another blast of water. The beast had one more move to show these mortals. Never again shall it be challenged. The Mythic took aim and fired a beam of red boiling water onto the ships that were retreating. The men unfortunate enough to receive the blast suffered the most painful of fates.

  Ohitekah readied his shot. This Vatnic bow was thicker than he was used to; harder to pull back. He took aim and fired at the Mythic’s eye. The arrow missed and scraped off the scaled armor. The monster stopped its attack and raised its head to charge another blast, this time directly at Ohitekah.

  What would it be? Boiling water? A pillar of ice? Ohitekah had no plans to find out. He corrected his aim and fired once again, this time piercing the beast’s eye, blinding it on one side. It let out a painful scream and the men had to cover their ears. The Mythic dove back into the water and vanished completely. This was it, it was going to burst out of the deep and destroy everything. The attack would be so fast they wouldn’t even know they were dead.

  Suddenly the monster came out of the sea right in front of the ship. It had missed the strike, surely due to its wounded eye.

  Ohitekah was startled as he was within mere yards of the creature now. He could see the individual scales trailing down its body, the large white and blue spikes that lined its spine. The teeth in its horrible mouth were the length of swords, drenched in the blood of its feast. Any man that thought this beast could be beaten was a fool. This was an immortal foe.
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br />   Then Ohitekah saw him. Nicholas, the man that dwarfed other men, was now the size of a flea compared to this monster. He had his sword lodged into the gills of the serpent. He rode him out of the sea and was hanging in the air, holding on with all his strength. The Mythic could feel the man holding onto his neck, but could not find where he was. It began to fire ice spears blindly. It was panicking, unable to shake the pain lodged in its neck. One of its own ice pillars was accidentally fired into its own body under the water. The head of the beast began to thrash around and scream. Nicholas’ sword became dislodged and he was sent crashing into the rocky shores of the black island. The Mythic was bleeding badly from its self-inflicted wound. Red blood flooded the blue sea, mixing with the blood of men lost. With its good eye it watched Nicholas fall onto its island. The foolish king was beaten now.

  Ohitekah watched the beast trace Nicholas’ fall. The Mythic could have fired boiling water over the island, killing him easily. That approach seemed too simple for the beast. It wanted something more personal.

  The Mythic used the last of its energy to charge the island. It crashed under the red sea and reemerged over the black cliffs. It eclipsed the sun, its might displayed for all to see, towering over his foe. Nicholas was lying still on the ground, badly hurt from his fall. It seemed as if the beast smiled, proud of its victory. The Mythic slithered over the rocks with a deliberate pace, savoring the moment. The monster came face to face with Nicholas. It opened its mouth wide to engulf and swallow the king of the Vatnics.

  Nicholas could smell the death coming from the monster’s mouth, the thousands of good men that died trying to kill this ungodly force, the women and children that were sacrificed to keep it pleased, to keep men in check. This needed to end.

  Nicholas sprang off his feet and sliced the throat of the Mythic, spilling its blood all over the ground. It collapsed on the rocks, gasping for air. Nicholas had to move quickly to avoid being crushed by the enormous head.