Wrapped up in thought, Pylos stood still as he watched Sela and her fellow Tamuans take to the sky.  He did not enjoy sending her on such a dangerous mission, but everything that day was dangerous and he had to stop the carnage the skies had dropped upon them.

          ‘Do whatever you can to take down those ships,’ he had said to her and then she was gone, along with ten of her bravest compatriots.  He watched them soar up into the sky until they vanished in the clouds that swirled around the hulls of the vast skyships.

          As the battle continued to unfold around him, he kept looking up to the skyships, daring to hope that she could do what he asked.  His face was grim.  They could not win the battle whilst the skyships owned the skies.

          As the ships began their earthbound descent, euphoric cheers broke out amongst the Myrran troops.  It was not until the first of the vessels slammed into Usnach, that Pylos let himself smile.  It was a grand sight to see so many ships brought down at once.  For a short time, the ships had hung in the air like crooked paintings on an invisible wall, but they did not stay there long.  The Myrrans looked up in wonder as each of the airborne behemoths fell ponderously to its end.  Those that fell into the ocean soon disappeared with only a temporary swell in the surrounding water to mark their passing.  The ships that hit the frozen land had a much more dramatic effect.  Timber and metal slammed down upon the island sending up a thick cloud of snow and ice.            

          Although most of the Ghul managed to get out of the path of the falling skyships, many lumbering Cabal were not so fortunate.  The fallen Caquikki fleet took out more of Caliban’s monsters than the Myrrans could hope to defeat.  

         Some of the skyships’ balloons were still intact and into these Tuirrenian archers fired volleys of flaming arrows.  The air still trapped inside the balloons was set alight and fantastic balls of flame erupted across the Ghul ranks incinerating hundreds of soldiers at once.

         ‘That’s the end of the Caquikki,’ said Jehenna as she sidled up to Pylos.

          ‘Yes.  It’s what the traitors deserved,’ he replied.

          Traitor.  The word hung heavily between them.  Although neither of them said anything, they both thought of Maeldune.  Both were relieved when Sela swooped down from above to report to Pylos.

          ‘General, all ships are accounted for but one,’ she said proudly, hovering in the air before him.

As appreciative as Pylos was, he had to ask the question on his mind.  ‘You could not take down the lead ship?’

          ‘The mariner is up there.  He’s still alive,’ she said quickly.  ‘He means to stopper the breach with the ship.’

          ‘Gerriod’s still alive?’

          ‘I can fly to him,’ Sela offered, ‘but I’m afraid I’m too weak to fight – there are Ghul aboard that ship.’

          ‘I will go,’ said Jehenna purposefully, but before she could take a step towards Sela, she was intercepted.

          ‘No Jehenna, you will not,’ Lara Brand said as she rose up on her tail so she could reach Sela’s sky snorse. ‘With all due respect, I have a better chance of bringing down that ship and saving the mariner.’

          To prove her point, Lara gave a wave of her hand and a roiling ball of fire came into existence immediately.  She threw the ball into the air and it grew as it flew out over the breach and slammed into a thick crowd of Ghul on the other side.  Sela, Pylos and Jehenna were all taken aback by the witch’s prowess.  As if to answer the question each one of them was thinking, Lara said, ‘I’ve been practising.’

          Without waiting for Jehenna’s approval, Lara carefully placed her hands around Sela’s waist and hoisted herself onto the sky snorse’s back. As they two of them were carried up into the sky, Jehenna said, ‘I don’t remember her being so tough, do you?’

          Pylos shook his head.  ‘No, but I wouldn’t want to argue with her now.’

 

 

As they stared at Lara’s attack on the great ship, Pylos could hardly contain his ebullience.  When the balloon over its bow exploded his right hand raised his sword up high to signal to his troops that victory was still within their grasp.  He clenched his left hand in triumph only to find that Jehenna’s fingers had entwined with his.

          ‘Ow!’ she said.  ‘You almost broke my fingers.’

          ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.  ‘I didn’t realise they were there.’

          ‘Well, I put them there,’ she retorted, rubbing her fingers.

          He nodded, unsure of what to say next.  After a long, embarrassed silence, he said, ‘Is it always going to be this awkward?’

          She grinned.  ‘Relax, Pylos.  In a few hours, it might not matter anyway.’

          He took her hand back and held it softly.  They said nothing as they watched the prow of the massive skyship pitch forward at a steep angle and begin its final voyage.  It was not long before the ship had slammed into the sides of breach, dragging with it countless Ghul who were clambering up to the surface.  The entire island shook and many troops lost their footing as the great vessel came to a halt halfway down the crevasse, like a lump of food caught in a giant’s throat.

 

 

The unexpected turn of events was not enough to distract the Pryderi coven from their relentless incantation.  They were safe in their cocoon of magick, ignorant of the ebb and flow of the battle.  The heavy clouds they summoned remained overhead, blotting out the distant sun.

 

 

Disguised as a Ghul soldier, Addison Cole had walked among Caliban’s troops all day but she did not fight with them.  

          She made her way into the coven at the eastern end of the island.  The witches did not even acknowledge her presence.

          ‘Where is Arinna Brine?’ she screamed, but they did not answer her.  Their full attention was upon the spell they had cast over the island.  Without their magick, the Ghul would burn, and they would pay.  Their children would pay.  And Arinna would be angry.  They continued to chant the incantation.

          But Addison Cole was in no mood to be ignored.  She took hold of the nearest witch and shook her.  ‘Tell me where Arinna is!’

         The witch slowly turned her eyes to the Morgai but did not focus upon her.  It was as if she had been woken from a heavy sleep.  She looked blankly at Addison but said nothing.  She then closed her eyes and resumed chanting.

         Addison was furious.  She extended a withered hand, lay it on the Moraen’s chest and drained the colour from her skin.  Just as she had done to Claudia Kallady back on Cephalonia, Addison had turned her victim into stone, trapping her mind within. 

          On the far side of the island, a ray of sunlight broke through the cloud and set fire to a group of Ghul grenadiers who had been picking their needleback spikes from their paralysed victims.

          Addison saw the sunlight appear and watched it fade as the clouds squeezed back together.  

          ‘I’ll find her myself,’ she muttered.  

 

 

‘Pylos, what is that?’ Pedaeus asked as he pointed to the east.

         ‘What is what?’

         ‘What is that?’

         In the sea beyond the island’s eastern coastline massive shapes appeared, slowly moving through the sea mists. 

          ‘I don’t believe it,’ he gasped.  ‘The Hulks.’

          ‘Do you think they’re on our side?’ Jehenna said even more apprehensively than before.

 

 

The massive prison boats slid up to the frozen shore.  At the bow of the first ship to make land appeared a thickset man whose forehead shone in the light of the lantern in his hand.

          ‘I don’t believe it!’ Jehenna gasped.

          ‘Please tell me it’s good news,’ Pedaeus pleaded.

          ‘Well that really depends,’ Jehenna quipped.

          ‘Who is it?’

          ‘It’s Gunther Ross.’

          ‘I thought you could use some help,’ Gunther said as he sauntered up to Pylos who stood amazed as thousands of prisoners disembarked from the boats.  They were some of the meanest-looking individuals Pylos had ever seen, but he didn’t care.  If they were willing to fight, they were welcome.

          ‘They’ll find plenty of weapons among the dead,’ Pylos said bluntly.  ‘They’re welcome to whatever they find, just as long as they use it on the Ghul.’

          Gunther chuckled.  He ran his hand up to his head and lovingly touched his new metal-work.  Instead of the slightly rusting steel he once wore across his forehead, he now had a thicker strip of dark metal, shaped in a spike.  Similar spikes stuck out of his shoulders, back and chest.

          ‘You’ve had some work done,’ Pylos said, trying to sound impressed.

          ‘Shatterstone, no less!’ Gunther said proudly.

          ‘You look like a cross between a Tamuan and a Kheperan,’ Pylos laughed.

          ‘You watch your tongue Pylos,’ Gunther smirked.

          ‘Shouldn’t you be dead?’

          ‘Probably.  I had a bit of luck and they didn’t execute me.’

          ‘Luck?’

          ‘Yes.  Do you remember the Magistrate called the Stretcher?’

          ‘I do.’

          ‘Well, he’s the one who took me in.  It’s true what they say.  He does have a rack and he does cut off people’s legs!’

          ‘But you’re here now!  What happened?’

          ‘I’m six foot.  I was strapped to his table but failing to be longer or shorter than the rack, I escaped torture and execution.  They just dropped me in the dankest, darkest cell on the Hulks and forgot about me.  But I have friends.  I demanded to see the Warden.’

          ‘Of course!’ exclaimed Pylos.  Barbarossa.  He had taken over the wardenship of the Hulks.  

          ‘I managed to talk him into letting me assume command of the prisons.  I brought them here.’

          ‘I’m glad you came.’

          ‘Don’t get sentimental on me Pylos.  I didn’t come here for you.  I’ve got some unfinished business to attend to.  These monsters must pay for what they have done.’

          

 

Gunther did not stay to watch the rest of the prisoners disembark.  He looked over the bloody field and ran to where the fighting was at its thickest.  When he got to the breach, he dropped his head and sprinted across one of the bridges, impaling Ghul on the shatterstone spike he bore on his head.

 

 

Arinna, Lucetious and Lokasenna could see the battle wasn’t going as planned.  Caliban had underestimated his opponents’ resourcefulness and guile.  The Myrrans were well-equipped with shatterstone, the Caquikki ships were all brought down, the Cabal had all but been defeated, and the recent arrival of the Hulks had bolstered the Myrran forces in such a way that it looked as though they had a chance of winning.

         ‘This would be a shameful defeat,’ Lokasenna said.  ‘I will enter the fray and do what I can, but I fear our end is at hand.’

         ‘No,’ said Lucetious.  ‘We still have more to throw at the overworlders!  We have not used–’

          ‘Then it is time to use them!’ Lokasenna snapped.  ‘They should have been here from the start.’

          Lucetious tried to smile but he could not achieve the effect he was hoping for.  ‘Your father does not believe in using all his pieces at once.’

          ‘That might be wise when you’re playing games,’ Lokasenna barked, ‘but we’re about to die out here.  We’re about to die for him!’

          Arinna shrugged.  ‘Perhaps you lack the mettle needed for this conflict, Lokasenna.  Our end is not at hand.  The Caquikki ship is simply blocking the breach and has delayed their arrival.  I will move it.’  

          She looked down at a Ghul grenadier by Lucetious’ side.  ‘You – come with me.  Whilst I am conducting the spell to remove the ship, I may need some protection.  You will watch over me.’

          The grenadier snuck a look at Lucetious who nodded to approve of the arrangement: ‘Go with her.  Do what she asks.  We need that ship out of the breach.’

          As the witch slithered off followed by the Ghul soldier, Lokasenna’s eyes narrowed and her burnt lips curled up in a snarl.  It seemed her hatred of all Myrrans extended to Arinna as well.

 

 

Semiramus was in charge of the Helyan troops and he had led them flawlessly all day.  They had killed all the Cabal but one and it was proving to be a most difficult foe to vanquish.  It was the clawed creature that had burst through the ice behind the Kompirans and Susanese.  

         With the support of the Black Shields, Semiramus had attacked it with just about every weapon they had brought to Usnach.  Swords bounced of its thick hide, as did spears, scimitars and lances.  Arrows, crossbows bolts and throwing stars were similarly impotent against it.  Anyone who got close to the creature was quickly mutilated in a flurry of snapping claws.  Semiramus had tried to catch the creature in ropes but these were shredded like cobwebs.

         All he could do was retreat.  He was tired of retreating

          Despite the fury with which Pylos wielded his shatterstone sword, the Ghul kept coming.  He hacked away at them, revelling in the acrid smell of their burning bodies, but he knew he couldn’t maintain his effort.  Sooner or later, he would collapse and the Ghul would tear him apart.

         That is, if the approaching beast didn’t get him first.

          Semiramus looked over at Pylos who was clearly unaware of the monster behind him.  Its many claws hummed as they drove it forward over a thick carpet of flesh.

          ‘Gen… gen… gen…’ Semiramus tried to say but he couldn’t get the word out.  He had to try something else.   ‘P... p… p…’  He had as much chance of getting out the word Pylos as he had with the word General.

          The clawed juggernaut was almost upon Pylos who continued to fight on oblivious to what approached him from behind.

          Semiramus had no choice.  He picked up a chunk of ice and threw it at his general.  His aim was true and the missile smacked into Pylos’ skull.  

         Despite all his grave wounds, and the press of the Ghul around him, Pylos spun around and glared at Semiramus.  ‘Why did you do that?’

         Semiramus pointed at the massive beast behind them.

         Pylos quickly reached down and pulled a knife from his belt and threw it at the creature.  The blade spun in the air and sliced through the small pair of eyes that poked out the top of its shell.

          The creature died instantly but its highly charged nervous system continued to operate.  It kept coming.  Pylos leapt up onto the creature’s back and watched it cut through the Ghul he had been fighting.

         When the clawed behemoth finally stopped moving, Pylos walked up to Semiramus and said, ‘Lieutenant, if we live through this, I want you to promise me that you’ll have that stutter seen to.’

          ‘I pr… pr…pr… ’

         ‘Promise?’

         Semiramus nodded his head vigorously.  Semiramus nodded his head vigorously.  ‘That was am…amazing General!  How did you manage to slice both its eyes off with one throw?'

          Pylos grinned as he recollected Gerriod Blake laughing at his poor aim many months ago in the Stone Forest, when he had tried to kill a single swiggu and missed the entire flock.  ‘Actually Semiramus, I was aiming at its head.’

 

 

Arinna stood at the edge of the breach and gazed at the wreckage below.  When she was a child she dreamed of great magick but never imagined she would be able to perform it.  She breathed deeply and let the mystical energies surge through her veins.  She felt it in every pore.  From the ends of her hair to the tip of her tail, she could taste the raw, dark power the Incanto had given her.  She let it take her and she became the magick.

          The metal screamed and the timbers groaned as Arinna Brine lifted the massive vessel from its grave.  It rose as if suspended by its balloons.  Once it had cleared the breach she gave a nonchalant wave of her hand and threw it out to sea.

          When the magick was done she became acutely aware of movement behind her.  She spun around to find Lokasenna Hagen standing behind her with a knife in her hand.  At her feet lay the Ghul grenadier who did not even get the chance to use the needleback spine he carried.

Lokasenna thrust the blade forward until her fist rested against Arinna’s stomach.

          Arinna raised an eyebrow and smiled.  ‘You hope to kill me… with that?’

          Lokasenna looked down to find she was holding a feather, not a knife.

          ‘Stupid Morgai!’ Arinna laughed.  ‘I have become so much more than you now.  You thought to disguise yourself as Caliban’s daughter so you could approach me.  I have been aware of you and your murderous thoughts all day.’

          Arinna gave a flourish of her fingers and Lokasenna’s burnt features faded from Addison’s body.  Arinna sneered to see such a small, frail-looking old woman standing in front of her.  

          ‘What?’ Addison gasped.  ‘Have you grown so powerful?’

          ‘Yes Addison – I have.’

          ‘You arrogant pup!  I brought you the Incanto.  I gave you this power.’

          ‘Then you should appreciate the irony of your death.  You should have listened to Lilith Cortese.  She warned you about coming here, but foolishly you thought you were powerful enough to thwart destiny.  You’re not.’

          Arinna didn’t even give Addison a chance to respond.  She held out her hand and Addison fell to the frozen ground, writhing in agony.  Her shape kept shifting through all the guises she had worn in her lifetime.  Arinna recognised Bormanus and Jehenna, but was intrigued by the number of forms the old woman had taken.  Addison rolled about, trying to shake the pain that consumed her.  She felt every change, felt the skin ripping and her bones warping.  When she finally died, her skin just faded to white and peeled from her body like a leper’s.

          So rapturous was Arinna in her victory over the Morgai, she failed to notice the needleback spine lying on the ground next to the fallen Ghul.  She did not even feel its scratch.  But when her body began to stiffen, consumed by the paralysis the spine induced, there was nothing her magick could do to stop it.

 

 

The breach no longer marked the separation of the opposing sides.  The fighting had spread out to all corners of the island.  With no more Cabal to combat, the battle shifted back to the Myrrans.  Armed with shatterstone swords they ploughed through lines of Ghul, whittling away the numbers opposing them.

          ‘Could it be?’ Jehenna panted as she cut her way through to Pylos.  ‘Could it be we might just win?’

          ‘We are almost spent.  But we still live.’

          Jehenna glanced back towards the east and her face dropped.  ‘Wait.  It’s not over.’

          From out of the breach came the Kobolds.  They were armed.

          ‘By the gods, no,’ Pylos said falling to his knees.  He rested his head upon the pommel of his sword.  ‘No.’

          And in the moments to follow, Pylos’ fears were shown to be well-founded.  A Sapphyrran standing at the western edge of the breach extended his long arms towards one of the Kobolds in a gesture of fellowship.  In one fluid motion the Kobold pulled the double-headed axe up from his side, swung it around in a wide arc and took off the Sapphyrran’s head.

          Jehenna dropped her sword in disbelief.  ‘We cannot survive this.’

 

 

The Kobolds marched through the remaining Sapphyrran ranks without pause.  They were met with no resistance but that did not stop them from killing every single one of them.  There was no malice in their blows, there was no passion and there was no mercy.

          There were thousands of them.  Every Kobold living marched across the Empty Isle, slaughtering any Myrran foolish enough to stand in their way.  They were not vulnerable to shatterstone.  They were not vulnerable to the sun.  The only thing they were vulnerable to was the goodness in their souls but that had been taken from their bodies by Succellos and she would not be giving it back.

          

 

Pylos couldn’t kill them.  Jehenna couldn’t kill them.  The criminals who had been brought in on the Hulks thought nothing of slaying the Kobolds, but they did not have the numbers to oppose them.

          Pylos looked around.  His ranks were broken.  All was lost.  Most of his friends were dead.  Most of his countrymen were dead.  No more than a hundred Myrrans still breathed on Usnach.  Pedaeus still breathed.  Jehenna still breathed.  Sela still breathed.  And that was it.  He didn’t know anyone else still alive.

          As the Kobolds closed in, watched closely by the Ghul behind them, one soldier – a Helyan – threw down his sword in surrender.  He dropped to his knees before the Kobolds and begged them to let him live.

          Pylos burst forward crying, ‘No!  We will not ask for mercy!  We will not ask for mercy!’

He ran to the soldier and picked him up.  He was just a boy.  ‘I’m sorry son,’ he said sadly to the youth who was staring fearfully and the Kobolds and Ghul closing in.  ‘We can not ask for mercy.  They have none to give.’

          Pylos didn’t even see the flat of the axe blade that was brought down upon his head.

 

 

Lucetious stepped forward.  ‘Do you remember me Pylos Castalia?’

         Pylos sneered, ‘You all look the same to me.’

          ‘Your wit is wasted upon me General,’ Lucetious said as he divested Pylos of his shatterstone sword and tossed it away.  ‘You are beaten.  It is over.  Your lands are Caliban’s now.’

          Pylos sneered.  ‘It is not over whilst I breathe.’

          ‘Then breathe your last.  None of you will be shown any mercy.  You will all suffer the humiliation of dying at the hands of your own.’

          The Myrrans were made to kneel on the frozen ground.  Their hands and legs were bound with strips of clothing torn from the dead.  The Kobolds stepped forward, their axes dripping with the Myrran blood they had already spilled.

          Pylos refused to die so submissively.  It had taken four Kobolds to pin him to the ground.  He had struggled to the end.  He could do nothing more but lie on his back and wait for death.  A Kobold, perhaps a little older than the rest, planted a foot on Pylos’ chest and raised his axe for the killing blow.