the frothing, screaming water where crocodiles were already gathering to join the feast.
He slithered closer still, desperate for a way to escape his fate, his eyes wide. The soldier’s ankles struck the rail. Ulysan jerked back but the soldier’s grip was too strong. Auum heard a yell as Elyss’ blades hammered down one after the other, severing the soldier’s arms near the elbows. He plunged into the water, blood spewing from the stumps, too shocked to even scream as the water closed over his head.
Ulysan staggered back a pace before finding his balance again. He was vulnerable. Auum moved to his left, hacking both blades into the gut of a soldier who thought he’d seen an opportunity. Ulysan nodded his thanks. Elyss moved to his other side.
‘Quick,’ said Auum. ‘Let’s take one more.’
The TaiGethen cell turned and sprinted for the tiller deck, sheathing their blades. Arrows began to fly as soon as they were clear of the enemy, skipping off the deck and whistling past them as they ducked and jumped. Beside them, the water was alive with flesh-eating creatures. Screaming bodies thrashed and blood topped the foam.
Auum reached the tiller deck, leapt on to the rail and dived out as far as he could, his body entering the water with barely a ripple. He cleared the blood frenzy and trusted to the remains of the salve to shield him. He opened his eyes. Silvery bodies flashed past to either side of him; the river seemed choked with them. He could see the great shapes of crocodiles moving fast, their tails driving them through the water at stunning speed.
Auum swam hard, breaking the surface and powering towards the bow of the fifth barge. Ahead, he could see the last of the twelve barges drifting into midstream, its anchor lines detached. He saw men gathering on the shore, pointing and hollering advice and he could see chaos on another barge, presumably the one Merrat had attacked. A third barge had managed to raise minimal sail and was moving down the line to lend aid.
His target barge was crowded with men yelling out instruction, order and support. Almost all were armed but none even considered entering the river. Archers elbowed their way to the bow and took aim at the water. Elyss was driving on past Auum, Ulysan was a few strokes behind.
Auum dived below the surface once more, just in time. An arrow fizzed into the water, its fletchings brushing his forehead. Auum looked for and found the anchor rope. He swam towards it, seeing Elyss’ body flicking towards the stern of the craft, a dagger held in her teeth. He watched her angle her body and still her movement as a huge crocodile powered past her.
The beast loomed up on him, an evil black shadow in the gloomy moonlit water. Arrows criss-crossed in the water seeking targets, and one nicked the corner of the crocodile’s eye, bouncing off its scales. It turned its head and changed direction so fast Auum could barely track its movement. Auum’s blood chilled. He swept his legs hard, driving himself faster towards the barge, the reptile closing on him at a horrifying pace. Auum grabbed the anchor rope. He pulled himself towards it. His vision was full of dull green. He got his other hand on the anchor line, and then a foot, broke the surface and ran up the taut rope.
The crocodile surged out after him, propelled by speed and anger. Auum leapt high, past the gaping mouths and wide eyes of the soldiers crowding the deck. He twisted in the air, drawing his blades and executing a perfect back flip. The move gave him a brief view of the crocodile, anchor rope in its mouth, landing square on the deck, flattening some and scattering the rest into the water or across the deck. Timbers cracked. The beast hissed.
As he spun through the air Auum looked down, seeking clear deck. He landed four paces from the bow, his blades already slicing out and forward. Ahead, the crocodile thrashed and snapped its jaws. Men were pushing back, trying to get away from it. More fell into the river.
The crocodile rushed forward. Its huge tail thrashed left and right striking men clear off the barge and into the water. The reptile’s jaws opened wide and shut with appalling force. There was a scream, a fountain of blood and a body was flung into the air. Men turned to run, only to find a TaiGethen warrior waiting for them. Elyss and Ulysan climbed over the starboard rail. Their blades worked hard. Auum moved forward, adding to the confusion at the bow. The crocodile was heading back to the water, a wailing victim in its mouth.
Auum turned and ran towards the tiller deck, his Tai with him. Panicked men parted before them. TaiGethen blades licked out, slicing deep into flesh. Nimble feet tangled clumsy human legs. Bodies sprawled across the deck or fell into the frothing water.
‘Lanterns!’ called Auum.
He ran to the gunwale, sheathing his blades and pushing a frightened soldier over the side. He snatched up a lantern and hurled it at the cargo. The glass shattered under the rain hood and spread burning oil across the dry crates and barrels. Elyss and Ulysan followed his lead and soon six lanterns had been broken across the cargo, flames already licking up, heat building rapidly beneath the hood.
On the tiller deck, men stood with nowhere to go. The skipper was at the tiller, keeping the barge in midstream. Two others hefted long swords.
‘Elyss, tiller. Ulysan, drop kick.’
The Tai cell sprinted on. Ulysan took the left, Auum the right. Three paces from the guards, both TaiGethen leapt, legs straight, hammering into their targets’ faces before either could raise his blade high enough. Auum landed astride his enemy, dropped his knees onto his chest and smashed his windpipe with a single punch. Elyss rolled by overhead, landed in front of the skipper and roundhoused a perfectly placed kick into his temple. He fell stunned against the rail and lay there until Elyss helped him over the side.
‘Enough,’ said Auum. ‘The water’s getting too dangerous now. Let’s get to shore before the piranha and crocodiles begin to seek fresher meat than humans.’
The TaiGethen dived off the stern and swam hard for the shore opposite the enemy army, heading for the agreed meeting point with Merrat. Three barges were ablaze, their provisions lost, another two now carried poisoned food supplies. Two more were adrift. Auum paused at the bank to appreciate the chaos they had caused. The river was awash with blood and bones, although they had killed relatively few of their enemies. But that had not been the purpose of the night. Auum smiled.
‘A good night’s work,’ he said.
Chapter 17
A human will never understand the essential simplicity of the forest and he will die as a result.
Auum, Arch of the TaiGethen
‘ ‘‘Build more barges’’,’ said Hynd. ‘That was what you said, wsn’t it?’
Jeral tore his eyes from the river, the burning barges and the awful thrashing in the water. He glared at Hynd, assuming he was being ridiculed. But Hynd wasn’t even looking at him. He was staring at the garish scene, his face drawn and pale in the half-light.
‘Yeah.’ Jeral’s voice caught and he cleared his throat. ‘Yeah, that was me.’
The three burning barges had not been put out yet and Jeral didn’t blame anyone for not getting any closer to the river than they absolutely had to. All three still had crew and soldiers aboard. The fires were contained, at least for now, and it looked as if heavy rain was coming. They could hope to salvage the hulls if not the cargo they carried.
Jeral wasn’t sure what would happen now. He’d have brought all the barges to the bank and disembarked everyone for the time being. The trouble was, no one knew where would be safest — not now.
‘Did we know they could swim?’ asked Hynd. His head was shaking slightly and he gestured out at the water.
‘I think we all assumed they could swim, Hynd. Y’know, most of us can swim.’ Jeral stood up and moved another pace further from the bank and nearer his fire. ‘But there’s a difference between going for a dip and volunteering to swim through infested waters to get at a load of humans you could easily have killed on land.’
‘What surprises me most is that they didn’t launch a land attack too,’ said Hynd. ‘After all, none of us were watching our backs, were we?’
Jeral shrugged. ‘It’s all the same message. Like we didn’t know we weren’t safe out here.’
‘There’s got to be more to it than that,’ said Hynd, turning from the river at last.
‘Sure there is. They’re trying to wear us down, make us scared of closing our eyes to sleep, and it’s working, isn’t it? Now every man on those barges feels exposed and is shitting himself waiting for the next ripple to get close to their boat. Put a foot in there and you lose it, right? Can’t shoot an arrow across the deck. Can’t wash it with a
