Finally, he caught sight of Haylon, just a line of land on the horizon. It was a promise ahead, not of safety, because nothing could promise that right then, but at least of the chance of it. If they could make it in time, before the great sea walls closed, they might survive this.
More than that, they might be able to help. Lord West's former men might not be as numerous as they had been back in Delos, but the ones here had the look of men desperate to prove themselves. They'd been the ones left behind, or the ones who had chosen to stay. They were men who needed to show the world that they were not cowards, even if they knew the truth of what had happened for themselves. Now, they were the ones who might save Haylon.
It grew on the horizon, but Thanos was more concerned about the dark speck growing behind them, resolving itself into a long line of ships even as he watched. Felldust was coming, and the boats kept ahead of them only through men pushing themselves as hard as they could.
Thanos hoped that it would be enough.
He hoped more than that. He hoped that he wasn't leading the fleeing islanders with him to their deaths. He hoped that the men with him would be strong enough to hold back the tide of enemies. More than that, he hoped that this would finally be an end to it; that they would be able to finish this seemingly endless war once and for all. Since the beginning of the fight between the rebellion and the Empire, there had been no cease to this.
Right then, looking back at the enemies chasing them, it was hard to believe that it could ever be over that simply. There was so much violence coming, and the best Thanos could hope for was that they might somehow come through it.
The harbor gates were ahead now, open and inviting. Thanos just hoped that they could make it in time. Iakos had said that those gates would have to close when the enemy came. Well, they were coming racing quickly behind the fleet from the North.
"Make sure that your flags are up," Thanos called across the deck. He didn't want them mistaken for enemies. Sir Justin nodded, and Thanos could see Lord West's old colors going up on mast after mast.
Even so, as they got closer, Thanos could see the great sea gates starting to shift. Not knowing what else to do, he ran down into the rowing benches, grabbing an oar. He heaved, adding his strength to that of the other men there, and the ship shot forward.
If they were caught outside Haylon, they would be trapped there between the island and the advancing fleet. They would fight, but without the room to maneuver, they would also die. They had to make it.
Thanos rowed until his muscles ached with the effort. His hands chafed with the wood of the oar. Above him, he could see blue sky, which meant that his view of the great stone doors only came as they passed through them, towering above the ship as it scraped through the ever closing gap. Thanos thought that he could feel the oars scrape against the stone, but the ship came through. He just hoped that the others would too, and he rushed up to the deck to make sure.
They made it. One by one they made it, the smallest boats at the rear barely squeezing through the gap. The last boat got stuck there, and the few inhabitants looked at one another before throwing themselves into the harbor to swim for it. Their boat collapsed inward with the sound of splintering wood.
Thanos could see the defenders gathering in towers and on roofs. He could see Akila waving his sword-crutch, and Thanos put a hand on Sir Justin's shoulder.
"Come with me," he said. "They're waiting for us."
"They could have waited a fraction longer," Justin said, with a glance back at the wreckage of the boat that had been destroyed.
Still, he followed, going with Thanos up to the tower. Akila was there, and Iakos, both staring out at the approaching sight of the enemy fleet. Thanos had seen the great invasion fleet that had attacked Delos, and this wasn't on the same scale, but even so, it was impressive.
"They're coming," Iakos said. Thanos could hear the stony edge to it as he tried to keep from showing any fear.
Akila nodded. "But we're ready. This time, the First Stone will be the one with a sword put through him."
Thanos could hear the confidence there. Confidence in his island's strength. In the people who defended it. The truth was that they had made every preparation that could be made.
"I have brought more men," Justin said. "We will win this war here, or lose it."
"Let's hope it's the first," Akila said. "Iakos will show you the best places to put them."
They went off, leaving Thanos and Akila staring at the onslaught to come. The enemy ships were growing closer now, so many of them that they seemed to blot out the water.
"Are you ready?" Akila asked him.
"No, are you?"
"Who could be ready for such a thing?" He drew the blade that Irrien had used on him. "Still, we will fight, and we will win. We must win."
He signaled with the sword, the light catching on the blade, and with the ponderous strength that only truly massive things could manage, the catapults around the harbor started to swing forward.
They traveled through their arcs with a kind of grace as they launched rocks and flame pots, bundles of stones and whatever else the islanders had been able to find. Most of the first shots missed, some falling short to hit the sea outside the harbor, throwing up gouts of water, others barely scraping enemy oars or masts. Some struck home though. Thanos saw one ship start to list as a stone punched through its hull, while on another, men fought to put out the growing flames that licked at their mast.
The barrage continued, and the enemy fleet started to break up now, splitting to try to surround the island and swarm it. Haylon's own ships plunged into the gaps that created, coming around the headland like a dart, their archers firing as they flashed past.
Still, the main bulk of the fleet closed in on the island like a blanket. A blanket with holes punched through it, but still more than enough to smother and enfold. Thanos saw lines of ships break away, heading for either side of the island, while the main bulk came forward for the harbor.
They crashed against it, and the battle began in earnest. Arrows rained down on the ships there. Rocks and flaming oil followed, turning the water itself into a sea of flames as it spread. Ships and men burned, climbers fell, and the warriors of Haylon fought hard to push them back. The enemy ships pulled away, firing catapults from their decks so that stones slammed into Haylon's defenses.
A messenger came running up. "Akila, they've landed further up the beach. The Empire soldiers are trying to hold them back, but they're establishing a beach head."
"I'll go," Thanos said. "They need you here."
Akila nodded. "Take some of the new men. There will be less tension with the Empire soldiers."
It shouldn't have mattered, right then, given the desperate situation, but even so, Thanos ran down to a spot where two dozen of Lord West's men stood.
"Come with me," he said, and he was surprised by how quickly they responded to his instruction. They followed as he led the way from the town, heading for the next beach along. Thanos loped there, not daring to risk his strength running flat out, but not wanting to arrive too late either.
Soon, the sounds of battle came to him, and he hurried more.
There were ships pulled into a narrow cove there, warriors pouring out of them to try to make their way up onto the island. Some of the Empire's former soldiers stood with their shields locked in perfect formation, creating a wall to hold back the invaders. The soldiers there stabbed with mechanical efficiency, and Thanos found himself admiring the discipline of their training even as he charged in to help them.
He leapt past their lines with his men, striking out at the invading forces, cutting and thrusting without trying to stop. A man came at him with an overhand swing and Thanos brushed it aside, cut at him, and then shoved him away. Another thrust a spear at him. Thanos parried it and held it, letting the soldier next to him strike in the gap it left.
"Forward!" Thanos shouted. "Push forward. Push them back into the water!"
He led by example, hoping that the others would go with him. Thanos saw men fall around him, cut down by the assorted weapons of the men from Felldust. He snatched up a shield from a dead soldier and used it to push back the next man to come at him.
There was a point where battles became less about the individual blows than about pressure, intent, and the will to win. Thanos forced himself to shove enemies back, stabbing from behind the shield he held, ignoring the blows that rained on it. An arrow punched partway through. Thanos kept his head low and stabbed at another enemy.
Slowly, step by step, they pushed their enemies back toward the water line. Felldust's men started to scramble for their boats, pulling back into the sea, obviously seeking easier pickings.
"Stay here," Thanos said to the Empire's soldiers. "They might come back."
They probably would. That, or they would land at one of a dozen other spots. The island had seemed so secure when Thanos and Ceres had been touring it, but the truth was that it was riddled with small coves and spots where a force might land. They might not manage it all at once, but if enough got through, they would be like a net of violence falling on the defenders.
Thanos felt exhausted now, the strength that came with battle starting to fade. Even so, he pushed forward, running for the main city, wanting to get back to deal with the next threat. The men who'd gone with him followed. Most did, anyway. Two had died in the attack, while one more could only move slowly, thanks to a wound to his leg.
They were losing men already, and there were still far more enemies to come. Thanos found himself thinking of the way things had been in Delos, where there had simply been too many foes to defeat, and whatever the people there had done, there had always been more.
Thanos pushed that thought aside. This wasn't Delos.
They made it to the city to find it in the midst of a fresh assault by the fleet beyond its walls. Thanos could see the rocks landing on the buildings within the city, and he was grateful that the population had already been evacuated. He saw men fighting on the hills around the city, and archers firing down at the enemies beyond the harbor wall.
He saw the ships using their ballistae to fire grappling hooks up onto the wall, and he started to run for them.
"Iakos!" he yelled, getting closer to the tower where Akila's deputy was giving orders. "They're going to pull open the gates!"
Iakos looked round, and that was when a stone struck the patch of dock where he was standing, the boom of it ringing out as it shattered. The fragments must have killed him instantly.
Thanos stood there in shock for a moment. It was as brief and as meaningless as that. No storybook ending, no chance to say goodbye. Certainly no chance to try to save him. That was the truly terrifying thing about battles: they didn't respect rank, or heart, or even skill. The greatest of swordsmen, the most effective of leaders, could be killed almost by accident. In a duel, the day usually went to the most skilled warrior. In a battle, a blade or an arrow could always come out of nowhere.
He ran forward, knowing he had to act, yet already feeling the cold dread that he might be too late.
"The gates!" he yelled. "Defend the gates!"
Some of the men there rushed to obey, but they either weren't expecting to have to take orders from Thanos, or they were still staring at the spot where Iakos had been standing just moments before. Some of them ran with him, up the stone steps that led to the top of the harbor wall. Some of them hacked at the ropes there with Thanos, but not enough, and there were more chains than ropes in any case.
Arrows fell amongst them like rain spat up from the decks of the attacking boats, killing the men who tried to disengage the chains. Thanos saw one man go down with an arrow in his guts, and another charge forward in his place. They knew how important this was. He held up his shield while another man cut at the nearest ropes, but there was only so fast they could go, and the galleys out beyond the gates were already taking the strain, their rowers driven on by the lashes of their slave captains.
One boat couldn't have done it. A dozen couldn't have done it, but this was far more than that. This was like a giant hand tearing at the fabric of the sea wall. Thanos heard the bars that held the gate closed creak, and then felt the jolt as they gave way. It was too much to hope to keep his balance. He teetered on the edge of the gate for a moment, and then dropped.
Thanos tumbled, and he threw his shield clear as he fell so that it wouldn't drag him down. He flung his sword clear too, and turned the fall into a dive that drove the breath from him as he hit the water. He tumbled through it in slow motion for a moment or two while he scrambled to draw a dagger and cut the straps on his armor. Then he came up, swimming for the shore while the gates swung still wider.
Akila was there to meet him, helping to pull him from the water.
"Iakos?" Akila asked.
Thanos shook his head. "What now?"
He already knew the answer. There was only one thing they could do with the sea gates open. It was the thing they'd been hoping to avoid, but also the thing they'd been planning for. Thanos just hoped they'd planned well enough.
"Now we pull back," Akila said, "and we show them that the rest of this island is a lot more difficult to take than the city."
Thanos nodded. He couldn't see any other way. They would fight, and they would keep fighting. The only problem was, looking at the number of ships starting to creep through the opening gates, he wasn't sure if it would be enough.
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