Sea of Dekatos

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“When a man learns skill with the sword, his courage can only be strengthened.”

--Sento of Yang

Wentai rested in his chair, slouching a little, listening to the talk of the elders. Even with his eyes closed, he could evaluate their mental states from their voices. Master Dunham was tense, nervous, but in control. Master Alard was far too calm, deliberately reigning in his emotions. Master Teobald, his voice rising and falling, conjured with his words many threats that had not yet materialized, indicating a return of his paranoia. Wentai shook his head; the ruling council was agitated, unsure of themselves in the face of this new threat. 

A citizen of Char stood and spoke at length of the need to open dialog with the enemy. The man spoke more of his desire to understand what the enemy wanted, and perhaps give it to them to placate the attackers. Slowly, as the man talked, he revealed that he wanted to surrender. 

A woman rose and suggested that they fortify Char. “Our city has never fallen to invaders,” she said. “But we have only prepared for attacks from land or sea. We must fortify our city against assaults from the air. We can build domes out of rock, or flat roofs supported by pillars. When the city is no longer open and vulnerable, they would not be able to root us out so easily.” 

Master Teobald spoke, but as a member of the ruling council, remained seated. “By clustering together under stone roofs we make ourselves a tempting target. Eventually they will come with fleets of reptiles and drop their metal spheres from extremely high up and crack our roofs, killing us all. Can you imagine the speed of those spheres falling from the clouds? Roofs, or any such passive defenses, will not save us.” 

The woman stood to argue. “Then we dig trenches, and outfit every citizen with a bow. If they attack from very high they will miss us, but if they come within range, our archers can decimate them. Through a combination of defensive works and stronger bows, we can fight them.” 

“No,” said a male citizen. “We must do more. An alliance between each of the five cities, pooling our forces, bringing our ships together to provide covering fire for each other. Our land armies must work together, defending any city that is attacked. The enemy will come. Those beasts would not be sinking our ships and dropping so much expensive metal upon us unless it was invasion they planned. It would take us days of labor to produce just one of those spheres. It is a prelude to an invasion, and we need the five cities to align with each other to stop it.” 

“But,” argued another man, “the Treaty of Sento has brought us peace. We risk everything by violating it.”

Wentai listened as arguments and ideas moved back and forth. The people were frightened, and when that happened, even foolish ideas seemed reasonable. 

“I have seen the enemy,” said Wentai, forcing his tired body to its feet. “From my examination of the enemy rider that was killed, I’ve found that each piece of armor was individually fitted, expensive and ornate. Each item was filed and polished to mate perfectly with the others. The work required to cast and fit that single suit of armor would be easily ten times what we dedicate to a set of armor. This indicates great wealth and access to labor on the part of the enemy. Who knows how many soldiers they have, how many weapons they can bring to bear against us? Hunkering down beneath stone roofs or in trenches is not the answer.

“Second, I have fired arrows at the enemy suit of armor, and at thirty paces, even our copper arrows glance away. Only when I landed a shaft in the gap between plates could I penetrate it. Archers alone will not be enough to defend us if the enemy attacks in force, as their metal is nothing short of miraculous. We have only copper and bronze, while they have discovered some harder, darker metal.