When we reached the beach, I instructed five of my warriors to cover the right flank, five to go around the left side toward the valley and the rest to continue straight up the middle. I chose to join the warriors in the center, the place of greatest danger.
As we passed the dead men tied to stakes and the deceased warriors from my ship sprawled across the sand, my heart rate picked up considerably. I envisioned my death with every step we took.
Only a handful of men remained with the ship at the dock, five in total. I’d instructed them that if we didn’t return to the vessel, those five would navigate the ship back home to Dwarkaa Farrin.
Tilly was also on board waiting for my return. Whether that was true or not, I wasn’t sure. Maybe she was simply anticipating my death and her imminent release. The thought that I’d brought her all this way to have her return to her former clan angered me. She was mine, my coverling. But I hadn’t anticipated the turn of events and Akoni Farrin getting the upper hand.
The constant furious wind whipped at us as we approached the first rise of the hills. Sand-laced wind stung my eyes and my skin felt battered by the relentless debris. The harsh conditions made it difficult to see and concentrate.
A sound erupted from above, a strange noise I’d never heard before. I looked up but the thick sand-infested air was impossible to see through. The bellow was animal-like and one that I couldn’t place, louder and more ferocious than any animal I was familiar with and it clearly came from above me. The men with me ducked and stared into the filthy sky.
Screams came from behind me. I turned toward the shore and I saw a dark shadow above my ship through the sand-cloaked air. The Apolake warriors left on board began to shout out in warning and I heard the ship’s bell ring out three times to signal danger.
After I’d stilled my raging heart, I stood and gestured for my men to advance. We gradually made headway. Suddenly, something dark dropped from the sky and landed on a rock before us with a sickening crunch of broken bones. I recognized the man immediately. He was one of my men from the ship, one of the deck hands I’d left behind.
The man was dead as soon as he hit the rock. His head lolled unnaturally to the side, blood seeped from his mouth and nose, his back clearly broken, his stomach ripped open and his intestines spilling out onto the ground.
One of the warriors turned to me, terror in his eyes and said, “We’re dead! We don’t stand a chance!”
Another man said, “What was that? What kind of creature is capable of doing that?” He pointed to his dead comrade.
“I don’t know.” I felt impotent in protecting my men and I could feel their confidence in me had significantly declined. I had a keen knowing that their trust in my leadership had taken flight permanently.
“We need the Tonrar!” said another man.
I declared, “I’ve summoned them. They refuse to come.”
“Shouldn’t that be warning enough?” said the first warrior.
His blatant disrespect of my position and voiced doubt in my decision infuriated me. I knew I had failed my men and understood his terror but a man beneath me speaking it so honestly was not permitted. I was tempted to kill him for his lack of protocol but I needed every man I had left.
That the creature from above had chosen to drop the warrior in front of my group told me something. The leader from this clan was sending a clear message; they were in a position to completely destroy us. I knew I needed to diffuse the destruction of my entire crew and fast.
I said, “I’ll go on alone. They are obviously intent on destroying us all. Perhaps I can bring some reason.”
The men looked relieved and eager for me to do something to divert their deaths. I instructed the man with the ram’s horn to give the warning. He removed it from his waist and blew hard three times. This would instruct the rest of my advancing men to hold up and wait for further instruction.
I readied my heart and headed on alone. I descended down the first hill and began my ascent on the next rise. At the top I stopped, caught my breath and yelled out, “I’m here alone. What do you want with us?”
From my right I heard a voice, soft but firm. I estimated that the voice came from a youth, a young man.
“Why are you here?”
I turned toward it but saw nothing. “Where are you?”
“Tell me, why are you here?”
“We’re here to enforce Casimer’s rule.”
“Casimer no longer rules here.”
“Casimer rules everywhere. To defy him is to suffer annihilation.”
“And tell me, who is suffering right now?”
The question shook me. This couldn’t be happening. “When Casimer hears of this he will come with all his power and make an end of this farrin and your clan. Akoni Clan will cease to exist!”
“And how will he hear if no one tells him?”
I attempted to still the fear rising in my gut. “So you plan on killing us all?”
“None of your crew will return to Dwarkaa.”
“If you plan to kill us then do it! Get it over with!”
“Is that what you want?”
“No! I want my men to live!”
“Then you’ll have to surrender. It’s the only way.”
War raged inside as I contemplated what my surrender would mean. Would my remaining men despise my weakness? Would they be relieved for a chance at life? An Apolake Ship Captain never surrenders but I had no ideals of dying that day. And my men had looked as terrified as I felt.
“If I surrender, what will become of my men?”
“Most are already dead. The rest will need to choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Whether they will pledge allegiance to Akoni Farrin and our leader, work with us in our revolt.”
I actually chuckled at the outlandish idea. Refuting Casimer was in itself a death wish. Anger overwhelmed me and I screamed, “Never!” I pulled out my revolver and began to shoot at where I assumed the young man was hiding. The bullets pinged off the rock, sending bits of stone and dust flinging into the air.
The sound of a volley of arrows filled the air around me and flew over my head. Screams from my warriors echoed through the atmosphere and I knew they were hit. I wasn’t sure whether they were dead. Hopefully they were only injured and could possibly recover. A sound came from up above and a horrible screech descended to my ears.
I looked up and saw a net fall from the clouds. I tried to side step it and dove to the right. I wasn’t fast enough and the net was too large to avoid. Standing, I tried to untangle myself from the thick cords. The more I tried to escape the more entangled I became.
I remembered my knife and reached for it in my belt. As I did, a sharp pain hit my side. Looking down, I noticed a thin, sliver of wood protruding from my thigh, its appearance that of a miniature arrow. My sight quickly grew foggy and my comprehension dimmed, the world around me slowly going dark. I began to stumble and wondered what they’d laced the tip with. I assumed the weapon was coated with a poison to kill me quickly. The last thought I had before crumbling to the ground was that I had completely failed my men, my mission and Lord Casimer and a raging desire rushed through me. I wanted to live.
