Sea of Dekatos

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“As the mind develops, so does the height of the cities it dreams of.” 

-- Sento of Yang

Fangshao flew about five hundred paces above the lower sea, looking down at the sinking ships. He wished the Arkhaios could carry a larger amount of weapons; he wanted to roam the skies, reigning terror upon the soft-skinned beasts below. The sensation of mastery was pleasing, flushing his body with a comfortable, confident glow. His silver mount had two claw-fulls of swords, but he did not want to waste them. They did little against the hull of a ship. Briefly he considered overflying one of the cities, but killing the denizens was relatively unproductive. His strategy was to cleanse the lower sea of sailing vessels. When the Tante were able to swim freely in it, he would lead an army of Benthics and conquer the cities, one at a time. He could continue to hunt from Arkhaios-back, flying over the soft skinned beasts and picking them off individually. Since he wanted to fire from out of range of hostile arrows, it was a difficult but not impossible task. The challenge made it more enjoyable. 

Below was a massive wood ship, at least a hundred paces long. It had a large deck with scores of armored soft-skins aboard. It was a tempting target and Fangshao looked about to see if other Arkhaios were swooping in, in order to avoid a possible head on collision while diving upon the target. There were more reptiles in the sky but they were striking other targets. As he flew closer Fangshao realized that the large ship would require a group of Arkhaios to sink it. Even then, they might have to make several trips over a period of days to destroy its hull. Left unsunk, such a great vessel might form a base from which the soft-skins could challenge the Tante invasion, when it occurred.

He surged forward, dropping lower, and handled the chains to get the Arkhaios to obey his commands. The beast nosed over into a sharper dive. The soft skins on deck had seen him and were pointing and readying weapons, while Fangshao accelerated. Arrows arced up at him but they lacked accuracy; he flew through the swarm of wood shafts without being touched. When the moment was right, Fangshao snapped the chain and the silver Arkhaios dropped both clutches of swords. As his mount pulled up and tilted to the side, he looked over his shoulder and saw the hurtling blades impaling the soft-skins, sending a group of them sprawling and pinning others to the deck. 

Battle lust overcame him. He felt himself laughing, a sucking sound as his lungs convulsed in the joy of battle. Banking his silver Arkhaios in a hard turn, he curved around and slowed. An idea came, and in the madness of battle it seemed reasonable. With yanks and pulls on the chains he brought the reptile lower and settled it down onto the great ship’s deck. Not thinking clearly, Fangshao slid down onto the deck and drew his curved sword, killing every soft-skin he found. The wood deck became slippery with blood as Fangshao roved back and forth, killing indiscriminately, slaying soft-skins as they emerged from the doorway leading to the lower levels of the ship. 

More soft-skins ran up to be killed, rushing him from the other side of the ship. He dispatched that group, using the same techniques that he had perfected against other Tante. One particular armored soft-skin towered over Fangshao, a sword in each hand. This was a trick that no Tante could do, the skillful wielding of two blades at once. Fangshao – still in the grip of his battle lust – blocked the attacks, deflecting the blades away, then spun around, decapitating his opponent. 

There were two doorways on the other side of the ship, both of which had armed soft-skins pouring out of them. His battle madness subsided, allowing him to see clearly for a moment. Realizing that he had overextended himself, he rushed headlong back to his Arkhaios. The soft-skins moved to intercept but were not quick enough. Fangshao scrambled back atop his silver mount and hauled on the chains while shouting for it to take off. The Arkhaios ran forward and hurled itself over the wood railing, falling for a few seconds until its wings were beating properly.