Bannon turned back toward the city. “I bought Sturdy here in Tanimura after those thugs nearly killed me. I’m not so destitute anymore. I can’t believe Nicci rescued me instead of just leaving me to my fate. It was my own foolishness!”
Nathan mused, “The sorceress likes others to think she has an icy heart, but Richard taught her to help those in need. She can see the value of an investment. She made the effort to save you, and how many enemies have you slain to repay her for that one kindness?”
“Not enough,” Lila said. “But we will make up for it as soon as King Grieve arrives.”
Pounding drums and ringing bells set up a racket across the ships. Farther out to sea, patrol boats lit their smoky signals.
“Norukai are coming!” shouted Captain Jared. His grin showed the gap between his front teeth. “Set the sails! What are we waiting for?”
Bannon braced himself, and Lila stood beside him, wearing a satisfied smile. “Maybe the stink of this ship will kill the first line of attackers,” she said.
Jared brushed aside the teasing insult and stared ahead at the oncoming ships.
*
King Grieve stood behind the carved serpent figurehead and stared at the great city as it came into view. He let out a hissing roar when he saw the countless armored ships arrayed in a defensive line, blocking the harbor.
But they couldn’t stop him. Grieve was the serpent god. Every fighter in his fleet also carried the blood of the serpent god. His warriors had the energy and soul of their deity surging through their veins.
In the previous day, as they sailed with all possible speed toward Tanimura in pursuit of their prey, his warriors had seen a great omen that added fire to their veins. One of the lookouts had shouted, pointing off to the horizon where another huge snakelike form curled in the waves. Grieve had felt his heart swell to see another manifestation of the serpent god, and he let out a bellow that echoed across the choppy sea. The other Norukai joined in a resounding roar as the new serpent god swam off.
Grieve and his people would engage in this battle themselves, but they all carried its presence inside them. Their victory was now assured.
Grieve didn’t know where General Utros’s army was, nor did he care. Though they were supposedly allies, the pompous commander was worthless, and the Norukai would do what they already did so well. His raiders would smash Tanimura and claim all the surrounding lands by the time Utros and his exhausted army marched up the imperial road. By then, the Norukai might be ready for another fight and wipe them out.
The raider ships cut through the water like sea serpents. Warriors strained at the oars, pulling in perfect unison. The oar masters pounded their drums as hard and fast as the heartbeat of an angry fighter. Grieve’s fleet raced headlong toward the Tanimuran ships lined up to block him. They would all sink. He would smash them. Burn them.
Atta strode up behind him. “I fight at your side, Grieve. They will all grieve, while we laugh and feast. Afterward, we will make love like two animals in heat.”
Grieve let out a low rumble in his chest. Atta was a vigorous and exhausting lover, just what he needed to burn off the bloodlust from a good battle. Right now, he had to concentrate on killing instead of lust.
A sullen mood crossed him. He missed Chalk’s amusing antics and his chatter. The shaman could have foretold how this battle would end. Then again, Grieve often could not understand the albino’s confusing pronouncements. “The axe cleaves the wood, the sword cleaves the bone.”
As she looked toward the defensive ships braced outside of Tanimura, Atta snorted, “It is a trap. They lured us here.”
“We see their trap, but we will not be deterred.” Grieve’s raiders would careen like a battering ram into those warships. “The sharks will feed well tonight.”
“We all will,” Atta replied. Other crew members added their cheers.
As the ships approached, Grieve recognized a small gray vessel pulling ahead of the other Tanimuran ships. The krakener. “There, that ship! We will destroy every vessel that stands against us, but first?.?.?.” He ground his teeth together, rippling his scarred jaws. “That ship is first. That ship is mine.”
CHAPTER 75
The widely dispersed Tanimuran navy was a motley collection of large and small ships, some heavily armored and riding low in the water, others more nimble. Hardened fishermen and veteran traders knew how to combat storms and big fish on the high seas, but they had never battled anything like the Norukai.
More than a hundred serpent ships sailed toward them. Nathan stood at the bow of the Chaser, feeling his pulse race. He found that he quite looked forward to the encounter.
The foremost Norukai ship pressed directly toward the krakener, oars churning the water. “Sweet Sea Mother, here they come!” Bannon said.
Across the defensive line, the fighters prepared for the clash, soldiers, sailors, and archers. There were also gifted men and women, including Oron, Perri, several Sisters of the Light, trained scholars from Cliffwall, and other gifted Tanimura residents who offered their abilities.
Captain Jared grew more serious than Nathan had seen him before. “I didn’t know the Norukai had so many ships!”
Impressed, Nathan smiled. “King Grieve likes to prey upon helpless villages. Today, he will learn we are different.”
Nicci had stayed on land along with Zimmer and Linden, joining the D’Haran troops that patrolled the waterfront. They were ready to fight in the streets if the Norukai broke through the naval blockade and tried to pillage the city. Nathan knew the sorceress could stop them, but he didn’t intend to let any of the serpent ships break through.
As the attackers approached, the scarred warriors crowded the decks, raising swords and axes. Clutching the serpent figurehead, King Grieve thundered out his primal challenge.
Bannon roared back at the top of his lungs, “We will kill you, Grieve! Come and get us, you ugly bastard!”
Looking at him, Lila cocked an eyebrow. “Impressive, boy.”
Nathan directed his sharp focus toward the Norukai king, who was the most hideous of them all. A repulsive blocky woman beside him pumped a fist into the air with a meaty arm.
Nathan felt the dangerous magic build inside him. “Come and meet your fate.”
He had first seen the Norukai after he,
Nicci, and Bannon had been shipwrecked near Renda Bay. During the attack on that town, the Norukai had mowed down so many helpless people.?.?.?.
As if Bannon was recalling that same night, his expression hardened. He held his sword in a death grip, and sweat prickled his forehead. “There’ll be a big fight ahead. I may go into my blood rage and I won’t know what’s happening.” He looked at Lila. “So many of them to kill.”
The pounding of Norukai drums echoed across the harbor, and the shouts of challenge grew louder. Inside his chest, Nathan felt his heart twist with anger, not entirely caused by the lingering shadow of Chief Handler Ivan. He whispered to the dark presence inside him, “You will soon have as much violence as you desire. Make yourself useful.”
The serpent ships came closer and closer. The raiders pulled on their oars in a final charge.
At the Chaser’s bow, Nathan raised his hands, spread his fingers. “It’s about time.” As a crackle of magic infused the air, the breezes picked up, and his cape snapped about like a flag in the wind. On other nearby ships he saw Sisters of the Light standing at the bow, and they all summoned their magic as well.
All along the defensive line, the gifted fighters stirred the water, tugged on the waves, stretched the sea. Froth swirled in front of the Chaser, and Nathan drew upon his gift to fashion new waves like a baker stretching dough. Exhaling with the effort, he pushed his hands down, using the unseen force to create a trough in the water. The blow sent successive ripples, each one building upon the last, and waves began to coalesce into whitecaps that rolled toward the Norukai fleet.
Nathan shoved more power into the water, churning bigger waves and pushing a storm into the sea. His fellow gifted fighters on other ships used similar magic to form waves and unleash surging currents into the normally placid harbor. As the enemy fleet advanced, high waves rocked the vessels from side to side like flotsam in a squall, throwing several Norukai overboard. One man slipped down into the sweeping oars, which battered him under the water.
