Alright, there are bound to be a load of spelling errors, and I, a simple Ammy-fearing writer cringe as I start to imagine how he'll scorn me for the most elementary mistakes I'll doubtlessly have overlooked...
![Sad [:(]](/Emoticons/depressed.gif)
But nonetheless, I think I should really post this now and stop putting it off for later. Especially since my exams are quickly approaching, and I won't have a lot of time to do this later on.
As always, critism will be welcomed with open arms, since it will only improve my writing skills.
![Classic [:classic:]](/Emoticons/classic.gif)
And now, enjoy chapter 30!
Chapter 30: The Battle of the Bloody Sea
The ships which sailed beneath our banner didn’t slow down in the least, but instead rushed onwards towards their new targets. The Norse Armada stretched out before us, outnumbering us greatly. But we had one advantage: we were the ones with the most gods on our side. I could feel there were gods present amongst the Norsemen too, but their influence was spread out and faint. Without a trace of doubt I knew Lethys had sent others to do his dirty work, too cowardly to come himself. A mistake he would come to regret.
As the distance between the two opposing sides became smaller, so did tensions rise. Many men were nervously checking their equipment or the siege weapons. I and the other gods were back in our human forms, each on our own ship. I was on the Leviathan, while Khazar was on a Battleship of his own. Both Irlana and Ciryatan had their own frigate, which calmly but determinedly braved the waves. After a deep breath, I turned back to the crew of my ship, and gave the last orders before the battle would commence.
Navalus stood alone on the upper deck of his ship, idly fingering the rudder. His creature had brought him ill tidings indeed. Oceanus’ creature was dead, much to the dismay of the god. His own creature, the Kraken, had been badly wounded. It had been a very close call indeed. After removing the javelin and healing the Kraken, he had sent him back to find and recover Oceanus’ creature. If they had the corpse, they could resurrect the creature.
Oceanus arrived on board carrying his two war hooks, as he called them. Basically they were two enchanted grappling hooks connected by a chain, made for battle as well as climbing on board of enemy ships. They were no doubt deadly when he wielded them, but he lacked defence. Navalus was about to make a comment on his unusual choice of weaponry like he always did, but decided against it when seeing the god’s face. It was grim and determined, but above all there was the burning hatred for the loss of his creature. The god was worried about his companion, but he didn’t have the time to dwell on anything. The sound of a rock coming down to meet the wood of one of their ships quickly ripped him away from his musings, as he cast a wind miracle to deflect it.
‘And so it begins.’ He heard his companion.
‘Load up another rock!’
‘Load up another one!’ Achack repeated after me.
‘Prepare the ballistae! Aim those catapults! The next time we let our catapults do what they do best, it’ll be all of them! We got a few gods at the opposite side, so we had better pressurize them! Get to it!’
‘Aye sir!’ My men shouted in unison. I beckoned to Achack, who hurried towards me.
‘Well, know we know there’s at least one god there,’ He said.
‘Aye, but we don’t know whether there are more. I think there will be, but we’ll see soon enough. Signal to the other ships that they have to unleash their load of death the moment we do.’
‘Aye sir!’ Achack said, before rushing off.
I signalled to the other gods to follow my lead, and they in turn passed the orders down to their men. As the distance between the two fleets became smaller, I began to feel more pressure weighing down upon my shoulders. I did not give the order just yet though. I wanted to do as much damage as possible with our first barrage, and it would be no good if most of our ammunition fell short of our enemies. I felt the pressure weighing down on me, as I prepared a first fireball. I squinted at the Norse ships in front of us, and I saw that they too were preparing the catapults.
Twenty seconds more…
The Norse sailors were still busy loading the catapults with both large and smaller rocks.
Ten seconds more…
The fastest of the sailors began aiming their siege weapons.
Five seconds more…
Nearly every Norse catapult had been loaded by now.
Just one more second…
I saw a man as he took up an axe and held it above his head, ready to cut through the rope of a catapult.
‘Fire!’ I boomed, my voice echoing out all over the fleet. Immediately, a barrage of rocks flew towards the Norsemen, followed closely by a large number of fireballs tossed by me and the other gods. In mid-air, shields made of wind sprang up, created by the enemy gods. Many of the rocks hit the walls of wind and were reflected. Others smashed through them, but had lost too much speed and fell harmlessly into the deep waters below them. A number of them however smashed into the ships of our foes, occasionally causing damage to the masts or the hulls of the ships. Most of the fireballs were stopped, but some made it past the shields and set some of the vessels ablaze. The progress of the Norse was slowed down for a moment, but then their answer came.
As their shields disappeared, we shaped the winds to protect us instead. Their own ammunition was now being put to good use, although most of it was stopped by our own shields. Due to the fact we had more gods and a smaller fleet, it was easier to protect it, but some still got through. ‘Brace yourselves!’ I shouted, warning the people on another ship to prepare to be hit. The stone smashed right through the deck and crushed a ballista, but there was no critical damage. Another ship was not so lucky however, judging from the creaking of the wood.
‘Reload the catapults! Wait with firing until I give the signal! All smaller vessels prepare to move forward on my command! Let our enemies feel our righteous fury!’
‘Aye sir!’ The sailors replied again, as they set to work again.
‘Sir, Khazar is trying to say something!’ I heard Khazar say. Turning to his ship, I saw him gesturing at the Norse and then holding up two fingers.
‘Two… Gods? Well, that’s an advantage, I suppose.’ I said to myself. However, Khazar wasn’t done yet. Again, he gestured at our foes, held up two fingers, but then he moved his finger across his throat. What was he trying to tell me, I wondered. He couldn’t possibly mean they were dead already.
‘Perhaps he means that you have to kill them?’ Achack said.
‘Perhaps,’ I answered, ‘but how do I go about doing that?’
‘Don’t ask me,’ Achack said with a wry smile. ‘I’m just a mortal.’
Seeing my confusion, Khazar said something to his men, and then nimbly jumped from his ship to another. Quickly, he hopped towards the Leviathan, even as we unleashed yet another hail of death. You got to love godly powers.
‘What I meant,’ Khazar said before he had even landed properly, ‘is that we should kill the two gods leading the Norsemen as fast as possible.’
‘I understood that much. I’m not completely – shields up!’ I interrupted my own sentence as I noticed the enemy catapults launching their own heavy loads. For a while, we focussed on the defence only, then Khazar spoke again.
‘If the two gods fall, then their defences will weaken, and we’ll stand a bigger chance. Not to mention that our foes will be without a leader then.’
‘And we’d have two enemies less.’ I added thoughtfully.
‘For now, perhaps,’ Khazar said gravely, ‘but it’s but a matter of time before they’d return, unless we’d convert all their followers. As long as there are those who believe in them, they’ll be able to return. You see if a god gets killed while he’s in human form, it tends to be a heavy blow to the faith of those nearby, but as long as there are enough believers left the god can return. It takes a long time perhaps, and the god will be weaker for a long time after returning, but they can return. The defeat of those two here however would keep them from our backs for a long time; long enough for you to establish yourself on the Northern continent. Ff all goes as planned, that is.’
‘That was a long explanation.’ I said. ‘However, how do you intend to kill them? We’re a long way from our opponents.’
‘True, but if you can get on the ship they’re on…’
‘Alone?’ I asked sceptically. ‘Oh, and before you answer: Fire!’
‘Perhaps Irlana or Ciryatan will join you.’ He answered as yet another hail of rocks made their way to our enemy. ‘I’d come with you, but I have too many men under my command.’
‘Well, go back to your men then.’ I shot at him while giving him a wink. ‘I’ll do the dirty work for you.’
‘
![Good [Good]](/Emoticons/good.gif)
luck, my friend.’ He said as he hopped back towards his flagship.
‘We’ll need it.’ I heard my evil conscience mutter in the back of my mind.
Raising the barriers in the sky once more, I looked around. Closest to me was Ciryatan’s frigate. That ship would probably be the best method of transportation to get close to my targets.
‘Achack?’
‘Yes, my lord?’
‘I’m going to take a walk and have a talk with our enemies. I’d like it if you took over the command of the Leviathan.’
‘Aye, sir!’ He said, before turning around and rushing to the upper deck. With a smile on my face, I turned around and jumped to another vessel nearby. Reaching it was no problem, although landing was a different case. I recovered quickly from my slightly embarrassing failure to stay upright, and continued to the next ship before anybody could make a comment. All in all, I had some practice while going to Ciryatan.
After a short while, I was standing next to the young god and was raising shields in the sky once more. It was starting to become a habit. By now the enemy was getting in range for our ballistae however, so it’d soon be time for some more chaotic naval combat. I flashed a smile at Ciryatan, before asking a single question:
‘Do you feel like paying a visit to our two counterparts on the other side?’
Oceanus surveyed the damage done by the last barrage of the allied fleet of the
gods. In overall, they had been far more successful in both defending their ships and damaging those of the Norse. But that didn’t matter, for his side still held the advantage of greater numbers.
He signalled to Navalus that it was time to turn the ship. The ballistae were at the sides of the ships, after all, and even their enemies had few frontal ballistae. Then he heard the sound of an projectile hurtling through the air, and felt the wind as a javelin passed less than a metre away from him. It crashed into and through the door of his cabin. Infuriated, he turned to glare at the enemy, when his jaw dropped in surprise. The bigger ships of the enemy were indeed turning to show numerous ballistae eagerly awaiting the moment they could launch their deadly projectiles, but the smaller ships and most of the frigates clove through the seas like a hot knife through butter, coming straight at them. Even though nearly all the Norse ships were turning as well, to be able to launch their javelins, these kept coming. Did they want to die, or were they just plain mad? Shaking his head in disbelief, he turned to his companion, who shrugged. ‘The closer they come, the easier we’ll destroy them. They won’t be able to turn in time this way to do any damage.’
‘Perhaps,’ Oceanus said, ‘but perhaps not…’
This was indeed not a conventional naval tactic, but it looked like it was going to work. There was no doubt they expected the smaller vessels to turn as well, but that’s where they were wrong. The plan was simple actually: The battleships stay behind and launch their loads over the heads of those in the smaller ships. In the meantime, those smaller ships and the smaller frigates keep moving forward, not ever turning. The ships were smaller targets to the Norse now, and would later be able to sail past the ships, damaging both the front and the backside of these ships instead of the heavily reinforced sides.
Once again, the catapults slung away their loads, but this time the ballistae also launched their javelins. Most passed over our ships, although some did a little damage to them. The enemy gods put up shields, but most javelins passed through them. The ships that were moving forward didn’t launch as much projectiles and thus did little damage, but their turn would come soon enough.
The enemies reaction came, with mostly javelins being launched. In overall however, it did little damage. Some hit the ships coming towards them, and some of those sunk, but most were unscathed, much to the delight of those within them. Several another exchanges of projectiles followed as we closed the distance, with the Norse becoming more confused and desperate as we came closer. I laughed out loud when I tried to imagine what they were thinking. Not known to me at time, most Norsemen were amusingly enough doing the same thing: wondering what the hell we were thinking.
Finally, we came close enough to start doing some damage. Our men began firing arrows, but quickly had to take cover when the Norse started firing back. Slowly we passed the ships, while arrows hit the deck above us. I gave a grin and gestured at Ciryatan. He grinned back at me, and took a horn from another person. Opening up a door to the outside, he held his horn outside and then blew a clear note.
The following seconds were filled with the sounds of shattering wood as our ballistae set to work, trashing both the fronts and backsides of the ships of the Norse. Cries of alarm followed as the bewildered Norsemen wondered what the hell was going on. Suddenly the battle erupted fully again, with a mix of javelins, spears, rocks and arrows flying everywhere.
Many of the Norsemen didn’t fully realise their ships were sinking until they heard the alarmed cries of others, or the cheers of their enemies. The confusion turned into chaos as many of the ships at the front began sinking slowly but steadily. And onwards the ships of the good gods went, unleashing hell upon those they passed.
Unsheathing my sword, I looked questioningly at Ciryatan. He gave a reassuring nod, and we were off, jumping to a ship of the Norsemen, while throwing a couple of fireballs at other ships. Quickly, we worked our way past the surprised sailors and moved on to the next ship, making our way to the enemy gods.
Navalus was white with shock and silent rage, silently cursing himself with his foolishness. How could he have not thought about such a simple plan? Already, he could see the whole armada crashing down around his ears. He wildly threw a fireball at a ship which was rapidly approaching and felt some satisfaction as it hit its target. Then he heard somebody land beside him, and the hissing of a blade cleaving through air. Jumping away and making a pirouette while in the process, he narrowly saved his life. Looking upon a grinning opponent, he exclaimed:
‘Who the hell are you?’
The god opposite to him grinned and said: ‘Oh, just your average exterminator.’
Oceanus, who had been busy with tossing quite a few fireballs spent a moment looking behind him, when he spotted another god assaulting his ally. With a roar of fury, he charged at the attacker, when another god landed in front of him and brought his sword down. Oceanus blocked it with the chain connecting his two hooks, before starting a counter-attack. His opponent nimbly stepped back, evading it, before trying to deliver another blow. It was blocked too, after which Oceanus jumped backwards, swinging one of his hooks to create some space between the two gods.
‘Who are you to stand between my and my brother?!’ He asked, his jaw aggressively jutted forwards.
‘Brother, eh?’ The god said, apparently amused. ‘Interesting. And here I was, thinking gods had no siblings.’
‘Out of the way, jester, unless you want to die a cruel death!’
‘Jester?’ The god said in a surprised tone. ‘I’ve been called a lot of things, but not that yet. I guess there’s a first time for everything, eh?’
Oceanus answered with an upward blow which the god dodged without batting as much as an eyelash. ‘Stand still, damn it!’
‘Why? In order to let you stand a chance to defeat me?’ The god mocked him.
With yet another roar, the god of the sea charged at the god opposing him. This time, he took another approach. He started out with an upward blow, which the god once again evaded, but then he lashed out with the other end, coming awfully close to the god’s neck. His opponent’s reflexes were faster than his weapon though, which he proved as he ducked below the hook, swung his sword and sliced through the chest of his opponent. Oceanus stumbled backwards while his opponent pressed the attack. It had been a shallow cut and definitely not lethal, but now he was being assaulted by continuous attacks and pressed into the defence. Soon, he was covered in shallow cuts and bruises, unable to make a counter-attack. He was being pushed back, helpless to stop it. He didn’t even get the chance to sidestep, and when he stepped backwards, his opponent followed him swiftly. Then he felt the gentle nudging of wood behind him. He had been pressed towards the side of the ship!
He tried a desperate attack to break the deadlock, but was rewarded with a fist smashing against his face. Then the constant pressure halted for a moment. Looking upon his opponent with a mix of respect and hatred, Oceanus asked once more who the god was. His answer was a mysterious smile, followed by a sudden blow of his sword. Oceanus blocked it, but then his opponent gave him a shove, and he lost balance. As he began to fall over the balustrade he felt his enemy’s sword slice through his chest, ripping out both his lungs and his heart. As he fell into the cold ocean, his opponent finally answered his question.
‘Call me Solar.’
Ciryatan had more trouble dealing with his opponent. Although Navalus had been unarmed, he had also been more skilled. He kept dodging and sidestepping, occasionally punching or kicking the
god out of his range. After about a minute of even combat, the
![Evil [Evil]](/Emoticons/evil.gif)
god managed to get rid of Ciryatan for a moment with a roundhouse kick which hit the face. Quickly grabbing the weapon closest to him, which was a solid staff, he ran towards his cabin. The young
god came charging after him, just like he had expected. When he finally reached the door to his cabin, he didn’t stop, but instead walked right up the wooden wall, made a summersault and used his staff to land properly. Then he used it to block the other god’s sword, which came towards him from the side. While his left hand held the staff which blocked the blow, his right hand shot forward and hit the
god’s face with dazzling force.
As the god fell to the floor, Navalus charged into his cabin and towards his bed. He grasped his trusty weapon, which lay on top of it: his trident. He twirled it around expertly, before turning back to his opponent., who had just appeared in the doorway, his eyes burning with rage. The elder of the two smiled, before saying: ‘Well… Welcome to my humble cabin. I’ve been dying to pain the walls red. Would you like to help?’
Ciryatan’s thunderous roar was understandable enough as an answer.
As I saw Oceanus’ corpse sinking to the depths of the ocean, I couldn’t help but smile. He had not been very experienced, although he had been rather eager. He reminded me of Ciryatan. Thinking of Ciryatan, I wondered how his fight was going. Turning around, I noticed the distinct lack of other gods. There were more than enough heavily armed mortals to make up for it though, each of them looking quite eager to rip off my head.
‘Well, my dearest heretics,’ I addressed them, ‘who would like to go first?’
The fight in Navalus’ cabin had only just begun, but it proved to be a hard battle for both of them. The god of the sea had the advantage of being more experienced and more controlled, but Ciryatan had a weapon which was preferable over a trident, due to the simple fact there isn’t a lot of space to swing a trident in a location with limited space to move in.
Navalus had little trouble blocking most of Ciryatan’s blows, but unlike the good god, he could not deliver attack after attack. But he was biding his time, and slowly circling around his foe. Ciryatan was spending all his energy on attacking, and that would be his downfall. In the end, Navalus’ back was to the door, while Ciryatan had nowhere to go. He noticed this the moment it was too late, and realised the battle couldn’t continue for long if he kept attacking like this. Realising the time was right, Navalus started to attack the good god. Feeling drained, Ciryatan had a lot of trouble blocking all the attacks, and the evil god managed to break through his defence several times.
Then came the moment the good god blocked yet another attack and forced his opponent backwards. Believing he now held the advantage, he stepped forward and brought down his sword. Navalus blocked the sword, catching it between the teeth of his weapon, before giving it a twist and forcing the sword out of Ciryatan’s weakened grip. It landed uselessly on the floor, outside of the good god’s reach. Immediately, the evil god aimed his trident at the good gods heart, ready to strike. With poorly concealed malice in his voice, Navalus sneered: ‘There’s a morale to be found in this whole fight. Can you think of what it is?’
The sneer on his face was immediately replaced by an expression of shock as he felt a sword pierce through his heart and saw the blade of the weapon emerge from his chest.
‘Yes, indeed I can.’ A voice behind him said lightly. ‘Always watch your back.’
As the divine presence within the body of the god left for a temporary visit to the Void, I removed the Varscona from the newly created corpse. ‘Well, that was educative. He’s an excellent teacher, don’t you think?’ I said with a broad smile.
Ciryatan mumbled something inaudible and picked up his sword. Then the ship shook and creaked dangerously.
‘Ah, it appears this ship is about to sink soon.’ I said to an alarmed Ciryatan. ‘Shall we leave before we are lying in the water amongst the dead?’
Without waiting for an answer, I left the cabin. Ciryatan followed hastily while hearing me say something like: ‘Make sure you don’t trip!’ For a moment, the young god wondered what the hell I was talking about, but that all changed when he saw the corpses spread out over the deck. ‘Hurry up a little!’ I cried as I jumped off the ship.
In the back of Ciryatan’s mind, his evil conscience stirred and said: ‘For a good god, he sure is vicious.’
Thus ended the Battle of the Bloody Sea. Only a small number of Norse ships managed to flee, and the water was littered with shipwrecks sinking to the depths of the ocean. Corpses floated all over the area, and of the ships that had sunk, there had only been a few survivors, of whom all were quite willing to surrender unconditionally. Although there had been grave losses for the
gods and their men as well, the damage was relatively limited, and most of my followers were still alive.
Afterwards, our journey was slower due to the damage to many of our ships. Our hope was that the shipwrights of the neutral god we were going to meet would be able to repair most of the damage done, in order to make it possible for them to return home. For several days, we made slow but steady progress. Then, on the fourth dawn since the naval battle, we saw the shape of an island on the horizon. It should have been a happy sight, but our luck didn’t allow that. We were many miles away from the island, but there was no doubt that there was something terrible happening over there. The billowing black clouds being spewed forth from behind the mountain which obscured our sight left little doubt about that.
It appeared that there would be no peace just yet…
