Eye of Hel: Stories of the Nine Worlds (Ten Tears Chronicles - a dark fantasy action adventure Book 2)

by Alaric Longward

  ‘Yes, my son is there, hoping to find a high seat for himself. Desperate and foolish. Marriage to Shinna did not satisfy him, no. More and more, must have more. The chaos of the Safiroon household is going to be costly,’ Almheir said. ‘Look.’ South, beyond the huge statue of Freyr, there was something peculiar happening. It was a soundless event, as it was far, but on the walls, great bustle was taking place. Then I noticed smoke, white and dark, and that parts of the wall were missing.

  ‘What—’

  Ulrich appeared with the others. ‘The city is in chaos. Part obey Talien; others fight them. The gates and walls of the south fight fiercely. But they will get in. Daxamma and Coinar army, the ones not in Vautan or fighting our young friend in the south.’

  ‘How many are there of the Coinar?’ I asked the Regent, who turned and gave a wistful smile back at me.

  He nodded that way. ‘The army you fought in Lowpass, and fifty thousand more are currently attacking Vautan lands. The Daxamma main army is out there. They are trying to reach the city from the south harbor gate, and there are nearly one hundred thousand of them and Coinar troops. But we might buy some time to muster our army. The walls will hold, the crenellations and towers might burn and fall, but the wall is a creation of Gift. And a bit of Fury.’ He smiled. ‘It has surprises.’

  ‘How many do you have?’ I asked as I stared at the seven spires and the harbor walls. ‘How will we get out of here?’

  ‘I will be able to get thirty thousand elves in arms at short notice,’ he said grimly. ‘As for getting out … ’ He nodded towards the gate we had used.

  It was closed and guarded. It looked ominous, the sea lapping against the metal doors and the walls. Figures could be seen on top.

  ‘Why won’t they blast us dead in the water?’ Dana asked. ‘There are a thousand maa’dark out there. Because of her?’ She nodded at me.

  ‘Well, your sister is important,’ he said with a laugh and squeezed me, making the elven sailors and warriors chuckle, despite their dangerous situation. ‘But there is this as well.’ He pulled something from Kiera and showed us the Charm Breaker, and I laughed. ‘Lord of the Coinar had to run, and he fell. That is the Coinar house shield that negates magic and missiles. They have to take us by force because the lord does not wish to lose it. And they are still organizing, anyway.’

  ‘I know, Lord,’ I said wistfully. ‘I have seen it. Held it.’

  They would take us by force as ships were being filled with fighters.

  ‘Lord,’ Lex began, but the elf waved his hand.

  ‘Kiera, take us through the Gate of Sails,’ he said, and I waved weakly as I saw Dana leaning on the vale. She smiled back. The ship lurched as the oars splashed; the sails were released, and so we moved, a strange wind whipping across the sails, and I noticed a maa’dark holding a spell, wondering at the intricacies of the ice weave until I realized we were sailing for the gate. Almheir glanced at me and grinned impishly. ‘I loved my friend Talien like a brother, but one does not stay the Regent by trusting friends or indeed family. Especially if the city they command is the key to your heart.’ Across the harbor, the enemy was mocking us, jeering the flight that seemed impossible.

  Then, Kiera blew a horn. It was a deep, reverberating sound, blaring across the water, and the effect was fantastic.

  The gate shuddered and opened. Men were falling to the waters like tiny broken ants, some in flames. The same was taking place elsewhere. I ran to the vale next to Dana and stared far to the east. There, the gates were shuddering, breaking and falling, the huge towers toppling. A mound of rubble blocked that gate, and this happened in the south, where the battle was fiercest. I whirled to stare at the Regent. He had a wistful smile on his lips. ‘I always held loyal subject here in this city. Ljusalfheim and Freyr’s Seat is not to fall to treason. Not easily, anyway. If they want the city, they must scale the walls. It will slow them and make it hard to supply the army if they cannot easily sail where they will. It will cost us elves, and in the end we must fight, but we shall do better if they are slow.’

  Before us, the massive gates stayed open, and we passed under them. On top of the wall, faint screams of battle could be heard, and the Regent was mumbling prayers. ‘May the brave gods receive their souls at their tables, for they have truly served their master and the good of the realms this day.’

  ‘How many elves do you have up there?’ Lex asked, blanching as broken bodies and arms fell to the waters before us.

  ‘A few hundred elves,’ he said softly. ‘My nephew is with them. They are serving their lord.’

  ‘Callous bastard,’ Lex muttered, and I waved at him softly, trying to keep him silent. We didn’t need another elven enemy, especially Almheir.

  ‘We are free,’ Kiera yelled, her hair whipping in the air, and I could not help but grin at her, despite the fact many elves were going to die on the walls.

  ‘She is my favored one,’ the Regent told me. ‘She cannot Embrace the Glory, but she is a very talented girl.’

  ‘How many children do you have?’ I asked him as he gazed up to the wall, his eyes haunted. He was not callous enough to ignore the deaths of those who served him. The ships cleared the gates, and there was a rumbling, grinding noise, and the gates fell with timber and stone and metal, and the city was blocked.

  ‘Six,’ was the answer, but it was not from the Regent, but Kiera, whose mirth had evaporated. We turned to stare at ships racing up from the south, hoisting black and silver etched pennants and sails. They were smaller than ours and fast, and steel was glinting on their decks.

  ‘Seems Danar was not entirely a fool, after all,’ the Regent spat. ‘Race for the north! Arm the artillery and get ready to fight! It will be tight, but we might be able to pass the Spur of the Rock before them,’ he said and nodded at a fragile looking, tall crag that marked the route to the north, ‘and then take for home. But we might not be able to. Keep Shinna and my wife below!’

  And so we raced.

  The deck of the ship, which was called the Wave Song, filled with elves, and on aft and foredecks, catapult and ballista-like contraptions were being readied with cool efficiency. The maa’dark supplying us with wind was gesturing at some sailors, and more and more sails were pulled up until the masts groaned with exertion. Two enemy ships were cutting a swift path across the water, and balls of fire rose from their decks, hitting the water around us.

  ‘They are too near, Father!’ Kiera screamed. ‘We will be hit!’

  ‘Bring all the maa’dark to the forward decks, and prepare to burn them!’ Almheir screamed and climbed, pulling me after. ‘Our ships are protected, but eventually, they will ignite.’

  The ships were drawing closer and closer, cutting a brilliant, azure path through the sea, and the wind favored them. The maa’dark on the decks of the ships waved fiery spells, and these smashed to the sea, except for one that roared for us. It ripped past our two central masts and pulled an elf to the sea with it.

  ‘Answer them!’ Almheir screamed. ‘We must burn them up before they block the route!’

  Five maa’dark elves grasped at the fire spells. They pushed to the vales, wove together simmering, molten powers and burning embers and launched thick, smoking balls of magical fire at the leading ship, and three hit. The first one splashed over the decks, spilling elves to the sea. Another ignited small fires in the sails and on the deck. The third exploded in the middle of the afterdeck. The officers were torn apart. Bits of wood and metal flew in an arch to the sea. Something exploded under the deck, and an inferno spread to the top of the sails in an instant. Men were jumping overboard.

  The other ship fired its weapons, cutting a swift turn to dodge the now burning ship. The missiles went up and came down, one of them tearing through a mast of the ship behind us. It fell behind immediately.

  ‘Damn!’ Lex screamed as we fell on the decks as maa’dark on the enemy ship let go of lightning that did not hit but cracked and sizzled near our wane.

  The m
aa’dark were struggling up, and Dana was with them. The enemy ships’ weapons were turning our way. Dana was nodding; she held onto the mast, and I felt her gathering huge amounts of fiery powers, sucking in so much it seemed there could be no more. A fire missile struck our ships aft but didn’t do much damage. The ship was close; our ballista fired, tore holes in the sails and rigging, but the ship would hit us, cripple us, and the rest of the enemy would destroy us. Dana concentrated and with a shout of rage, she released a swirling wave of fire that hurtled across the bay, raining fire on everything in its path, igniting even those few survivors struggling in the sea. She sweated with the effort, cursing softly as she made it much stronger and more terrible, and I heard the enemy shout in terror. The wave reached up at them and then folded over the hapless ship that sailed right into it. There was a strange, sucking sound, a wind-like whoosh and then the fires exploded high, vomiting burning timber and flesh all over the place. The fire died off quickly, leaving a charred keel slowly sinking to the sea.

  Kiera whooped in joy and clapped her hands though the other maa’dark stared at Dana with trepidation. The Regent clapped a hand over her shoulder. ‘It seems there are talents unique to humans in this business.’

  ‘Business of killing,’ I mumbled, shook my head and noticed the other three ships racing hard, their decks tilting dangerously as they picked up speed. The rest of the Bardagoon ships were being engaged by one larger Coinar ship, and perhaps they would escape, but our situation was precarious. ‘Look!’ I yelled and pointed at the enemy. Several maa’dark were holding hands and weaving a spell. It was ice and water, and a thrumming sound could be heard as the sea ahead of us lurched and rose, and a wave crashed forward.

  ‘Hold!’ Kiera yelled, ‘Grab something! Quickly!’

  And we did. The wave rose over us; the ship fought uphill for a moment, and then we could only see blue and green and azure as the wave slapped over us. There were faint screams; the ship seemed to be going down, but it was powerful enough to stay afloat, for suddenly it pushed through the waters, lurching up and down, groaning, the water washing off the deck, leaving the ship slow, the sails wet, and the whole hull tilted to the side. A deadly ammo flew by as I got up to my knees, clutching at a rope, confused.

  ‘Stay down!’ Lex sputtered and tackled me down as a ball of fire smashed into the side of the ship, and the Wave Song turned to the side, then back, throwing elves and gear to the sea.

  ‘God’s help!’ Dana screamed, and the ship rumbled. Elves were picking themselves up, many were lost in the sea, a veritable trail of bodies and debris was left behind. The Regent was there, sodden and his hair tangled. He pulled Dana up.

  ‘Can you,’ he asked slowly, ‘still push that spell out?’

  ‘Perhaps once?’ Dana said uncertainly. ‘It drains me greatly.’

  ‘Then kill that ship!’ he said, pointing at the ship where maa’dark were again holding their hands, weaving another wave spell. ‘The rest, prepare to be boarded!’

  A hundred elves scrambled up as three enemy ships approached, and there were sounds of horn blasts from them. The decks were bristling with sailing men and Coinar House elves, and every imaginable weapon. ‘Sharks might take us,’ Lex said. ‘But I think we should take our chances in the sea.’

  ‘I won’t run,’ I told him as I pulled myself fully to my feet. Ulrich stumbled by.

  ‘Three to one?’ he sneered and pushed his sleeves up. ‘Fine.’

  ‘Stay together, Lex!’ I said, ‘Please stay together. Guard each other’s backs. Keep the Regent alive.’

  ‘I don’t trust him,’ he complained and joined the milling ranks of elves. ‘But no doubt you do, better than your faulty friends.’

  ‘I do trust him, but I am sorry for what I said in Trad,’ I whispered. Dana was clutching at the ropes, pulling, sucking in energy, so much fiery power she actually glowed, and everything around her dried up uncannily. Then she released the spell and again, the vortex of fire spun forth. The maa’dark controlling the water visibly blanched as they realized they had made their ship a target. The vortex whipped out, turned to a fiery wave and clamped around the ship. Burning wood flew around wildly, starting some secondary fires in the nearest Coinar ship and then, nothing was left save for smoking ruins of flesh and wood. Dana fell, groaning and was dragged below decks by elves in armor.

  ‘Take them!’ yelled an elf on the decks of one ship, wearing a high, bronzed helmet resembling a serpent, and he pointed a spear our way. The ships picked up speed. Our elves pointed a bristling wall of spears against the approaching ships; swords and axes were hefted and the maa’dark began to launch spells of destruction against the overwhelming number of enemies. I harnessed Fury and called forth ice spikes, and they lanced across the ship’s decks, spilling screaming men to the sea, and Lex brought forth the familiar firewall, which left some of the enemy archers burning husks of flesh. A dozen others hurled spears, and our ship fired missiles of all kinds. Fire and ice mixed crazily across the enemy ships’ paths, some cutting across the decks and sails, and men and elves died by dozens. Arrows and lightning smashed across our foredeck, spilling ten or more elves to the sea, some noble maa’dark with them. Enemies chanted, grimly, their eyes filled with anticipation of a kill and dread. I pulled forth the spell of ice stakes again, and one pierced an enemy maa’dark before snapping off. Ulrich was next to me, and he was grinning wildly as his firewall spell hurled true and went across the elven commander’s personal guard, leaving them roasted and in dying agony.

  Then the ships arrived, so fast. They hit us squarely, one after another. Timber groaned and cracked. Everyone fell on their backs and bellies. After just a moment of silence, grappling hooks flew over by the hundred.

  ‘Brace,’ Lex said angrily, tripping on a spear of a dead elf. ‘We can’t use spells other than the whips! If it’s silver and black and ugly, kill the bright-eyed turd!’ He was terrified and excited at the same time, and Ulrich slapped his back, swallowing his fear.

  I nodded and watched the Regent come for me. He held the Charm Breaker in his hand and a long saber, which he gave me. ‘Know how to use it?’

  ‘Yes, Father taught me how to fight, and I have already used such a thing in Aldheim,’ I told him while feeling terrified enough to weep. ‘Can we beat them?’

  ‘You have anything up your sleeve to fish us out of this one?’ he asked me ruefully.

  ‘Only prayers,’ I mumbled as hands reached up to the railings from the enemy ships, hundreds of them.

  ‘Oh, that’s all I have as well. I am sorry I could not know you better,’ he grinned valiantly. ‘Let us fight then.’

  ‘Let us,’ I agreed, and so we did.

  Hundreds of humans and silver and black-garbed elves rushed over. Many fell to the sea over the precarious railing; dozens impaled themselves among the bristling wall of spears, but the enemy commander skillfully killed three elves in the middle of our line with a huge two-hander, and then the enemy poured into the breach, spearing two exhausted maa’dark near the mast. Soon, it was a hopeless mad scramble on our deck. I slashed with a saber, and Ulrich was whipping back a multitude of enemies who eyed the fiery whip with reluctance and fear. The Regent bellowed challenges as he, Kiera, and his men retreated for the afterdeck, taking us along. Lex was nearby, his whip parting flesh from the enemy milling around him. He was winded and gray, bleeding from a temple. There was a strange rhythm to the battle, where practiced warriors brutally and effortlessly killed each other in turn until the other side would run out of fighters.

  We were running out.

  The commander of the enemy yelled at his men, and he was bleeding from the jaw. ‘Take her alive!’ his finger pointed at me. ‘But kill him!’ He pointed at Almheir.

  ‘Come and kill me yourself, dog!’ Almheir screamed while his saber slashed open a man’s throat. ‘Filth of a coward.’

  ‘I am Silathar Coinar, and no coward,’ the enemy yelled with wild laughter. ‘I am the nephew of the lord Dan
ar! I have no desire to be the last victim of a battle! Die, Lord!’

  And so, on the embattled deck, fifty men turned our way while our survivors elsewhere on the ship were furiously trying to reach their lord.

  We would have fallen. Surely, we would have. We would have died, and that would have been the end of us, and I thought of jumping into the sea.

  But then a shark flew in the air. It was a familiar shark.

  I saw a huge thing with rows of teeth, and the battle stopped for just a moment as all eyes followed it, mouths open. It flew high up, turned in the air, and began to come down onto the deck, but while it did, it began to change, and I whimpered as it seemed to give me a toothy grin. It blurred, hit the deck amidst the enemy, smashing many. It bulged, changed, stretched and a huge, dark, muscle-bound creature got up, swiping his claws across a pair of human enemies.

  ‘Hello, young mistress!’ Thak yelled. ‘I was tired of the fish anyway.’ It licked its bloody claw.

  ‘Thak!’ I yelled. ‘Thak!’ Everyone was staring at the dark-skinned ball of muscle; a giant of twelve feet, rivaling a small mast, its fiery, smoking red mane steaming and eyes burning as it looked around.

  ‘Whom shall I kill? That?’ he asked with confusion as he pointed at the backpedaling Coinar. ‘Or that lot?’ he nodded at the Bardagoon survivors. ‘They are all ugly.’

  ‘Kill the ones in silver and black, and I don’t mind if you eat them!’ I screamed and laughed with joy. I had not laughed since Ompar died, and tears wetted my cheeks. He was alive.

  ‘Very well,’ he said happily. ‘Don’t run now! Fly, instead!’ he added, and then a wave of broken men flew as high as the crow’s nest as he kicked through the enemy rank. He wiped his claws across the mass of elves and men, spotted the relative of Danar and impaled him with his finger, leaving behind a mass of red, gasping ruin. Then he ripped apart anyone trying to stand against him and gleefully jumped to the nearest ship, which he began to dismantle while singing lustily.