Sea of Dekatos

Chapter 9

Climbing through a swarm of whistling arrows, Fangshao looked down upon the corpse-laden deck. He circled a few more times, examining the scene, and thought to himself that after the soft-skins were wiped out he would personally roam the skies above the endless desert, searching for other seas. If he found one, he would tell no one, keeping it for his own personal hunting ground.

A glance over his mount showed that the silver Arkhaios had taken several arrow strikes during the battle, nothing fatal, but wounds which had to be attended to. He flew to the Arkhaios base to the west, keeping his mount high to survey the scene below. As he neared the base, he saw an overturned vehicle on the ground. It was easily recognizable, as Fangshao had seen countless soft-skins riding around in them outside one of the cities during the attacks, but this one had been tipped over and had two dead animals harnessed to it. Fangshao flew lower, glancing at the dead body of a Tante and an Arkhaios a short distance away. Footprints in the sand indicated that a soft skin had been there, and may have seen everything before fleeing.

Fangshao flew toward the Arkhaios base, skimming just above the ground and dropping his mount down in the midst of the milling Nobles. This war against the soft-skins was the most important event in the memory of the reigning Tante, and all the powerful ones were here. Fangshao dismissed the idea of returning to the crystal pyramid and complaining; there were only minor Nobles left in the upper sea. Koushao was here, a powerful Noble who was in charge of the forward base. 

Koushao – devious and intelligent – had risen to power by luring Tante Nobles into traps. He had bent his intellect to the task of developing various ways of killing other Nobles after luring them into the sunless depths. He had cultivated stories of great gem veins undersea, and had his hunting groups massacre those Nobles that had gone to investigate. He had paid Benthics handsomely to assault his rivals, then retreat into the depths, leading their Noble pursuers into a trap. Over the years he had slain most of his rivals and had risen to a position of prominence. As far as Fangshao knew, Koushao was the only Tante Noble who had murdered so often. He had violated their own laws, but in the sunless depths such action was usually overlooked. As a greater Noble and one with several key allies, Koushao was now in complete command of the Arkhaios base.

“You fool,” said Fangshao. “We have been discovered. A dead Noble lies nearby, killed while intercepting soft-skin spies.”

Koushao sent riders out to investigate. “Regardless, young Fangshao, we are winning this war. Ride openly from now on, for the soft-skins in their thin armor are no match for us. I hunt them at will.”

“They will be hunting us because of your incompetence. They sent one of their wheeled vehicles to spy on us, and the rider escaped. Soon thousands of them will be here. The soft-skins are like maggots in rotten fruit, breeding profusely.” 

Koushao became visibly angry, fondling his sword hilt with his blue-scaled hand. “If we must, we can relocate to another area. We can move swiftly on Arkhaios back, and they cannot.”

“Your ancestors were clearly muck-dwelling fools. They will send out armies to strike us before we are ready. We cannot haul all this water to new locations and still use the Arkhaios to strike with. They would be exhausted, unable to enter the air.” The riders came back and announced that they had found an overturned vehicle belonging to the soft-skins.

“You planned poorly,” said Fangshao. “You should have had guards hidden in the rocks and a defensive ring of archers to kill any soft-skins who approached. Now we face attack before we are ready. You will not be able to ambush that many soft-skins, Koushao.”

The powerful Noble could take no more insults. Koushao pulled out his blade and rushed. Instead of drawing his blade, Fangshao withdrew one of his gemstones and held it before him. Lightning arced in jagged forks from the gem to the body of Koushao. Koushao remained on his feet, his body jerking from uncontrolled muscular movements as the electricity continued to pour into him.