“Are you all right,young Master?” the froskman asked, holding out his webbed hand.
Cyrus grasped Fibianby the forearm and pulled himself to his feet.
“The klops bolteda steel mask to Gabriel’s face,” Cyrus said, recovering his composure, “It’s onlyhalf-finished, but it has to be removed.”
Fibian nodded hisagreement.
“And I want crewmenclearing the woods on both fortresses of all poisonous vines and creepers. They’remaking Gabriel sick. We need to ready the islands for the alveling’s arrival.”
“And what becomesof the klops, once the alvelings are here?” Fibian asked, soberly.
Cyrus did not reply.The truth was, he had not yet considered that eventual reality. His plans hadbeen hasty and haphazard. Events were moving swiftly, and they promised to growfaster. He would have to cross that bridge once he reached it.
“Promiseme you will kill them all…” Tier had said to him, dying within the klops dungeons, but Cyrus had yet to keep that grim oath.
Chapter19
HOME
FOR FOUR WEEKS the Battle Hune traveled south through rough waters and blusterywinds, destined for the crumbling island of Virkelot. Whenever a storm knockedthe giant off course, Cyrus would press his bare hand into the frigid earth andrelay to Gabriel Edward’s revised bearings. Always, Gabriel would probe Cyrus’mind at these opportunities. Cyrus wished he could better explain to the hune hisviolent actions, his choices, the path he had been forced to travel on hisunfortunate journey, but he was coming to realize that he himself could not fullygrasp the decisions he had made.
Cyrus tasked a detailof reluctant klops with the removal of Gabriel’s mask. The crewmen were forcedto dangle by rope down the cliff-like front of the creature’s visage and carefullyunscrew massive bolts from the giant’s scaled hide. The armor covered Gabriel’sforehead and the right side of his face. Along the cheek, the plating delvedseveral feet below sea level. Crashing waves claimed handfuls of klops as they laboredto remove the lowermost portion of the Battle Hune’s mask. Like dying scabs, theshielding fell away from Gabriel’s flesh and crashed unceremoniously into the cruelsea. The living island suffered much discomfort under the klops’ toil but also enjoyedmuch relief.
Cyrus knew heneeded the klops to fend off any opposition Rorroh and her minions might pose, buthe also knew murder and treachery surrounded him at every turn. To alleviate someof the threat and resentment, he kept Knavish close by and returned the admiralcontrol of his crew. Cyrus would never forget that it was Knavish who had shotVinter on the battlefield, but his reckoning would have to wait. Instead, Cyrustreated the oily batalha as an ally. Cyrus indulged Knavish’s misguided counseland let him command and discipline his crew as he saw fit. Cyrus also relayed allorders through Knavish so that it was always a familiar voice that the callous klopsobeyed.
The villains werenever fooled. They knew who their true master was, but the arrangement made theirpredicament more palatable, and tensions eased. Cyrus also allowed Knavish to retainhis private quarters and gave him first choice of the most desired foods. Cyrusconsidered the two-faced admiral a prize hog being fattened for the kill.
Rotating teams ofklops began to cull the head fortress’ forest of the thick, poisonous weeds. Thetail fortress reported similar work being undertaken, but Gabriel communicatedotherwise. Cyrus told Knavish that if Captain Oks did not follow his direct orders,he would send Fibian over to correct the oversight. This was a bluff of course.Cyrus would never let Fibian leave his side in a place so precarious, but thethreat was successful, and Gabriel eventually relayed visions of the landscapingunder way.
The weatherwarmed, snowfall melted to rainfall, and the hune’s forests of ice and snow becamedamp, dreary woods. Cyrus and his crew began to lessen their layers of fur.
It was on a brisk,windy afternoon, the sun low in the sky when Cyrus first saw evidence of a potentialhomecoming. He stood at the rail of the fore wall and stared out to sea.
“Land ho!” thespyglass klops shouted.
Cyrus searched thehorizon. He spotted something to the southeast.
“Do you recognizethat?” he asked Edward.
The spider crawledacross his broad shoulders and squinted into the distance. Beyond the curve ofthe ocean, like some lone fang rising from the mouth of an unseen serpent piercedforth a mighty and desolate mountain. Wayward trapped clouds ringed the mountain’stusk-like peak.
“The Himmel Horn…”Edward said bewildered.
Virkelot was near.
***
DAYS PASSED like heavy rain clouds. The hune pressed on, probing into thehostile territory of the perilous perimeter islands. Some of the islands boastedjagged peaks and densely forested valleys; others were little more than largereefs, barely able to pierce the ocean’s surface. The barnacled wrecks of ancientships lay submerged beneath several of the shoals’ shallow waters.
Along one coast,Cyrus spied the coarse shape of a giant beast lurking beyond its wooded shoreline.The hungry hellhound seemed to reach out to the Battle Hune’s crew, daring themto invade its territory.
From another island,strange hoots and blood-curdling cries echoed throughout hidden canyons and storm-scouredcliffs.
Reports from the tailfortress spoke of three strange women, adrift at sea, beckoning the onlooking aftbridge crew into the waiting waters. Two crewmen had reportedly stepped off thewall and broken their legs. The sentries had retaliated with rifle fire, andthe interfering sea hags had been seen no more.
“Just a few of theWarrior Witch’s sentinels,” Fibian had said, “put in place to ensnare escaping alvelingsseeking refuge on nearby land.”
On the fifth week oftheir journey, Cyrus finally found what he had been searching for.
Home…
To the southwest, hespied the silhouette of two decaying islands on the horizon, one larger thanthe other. He thought of Sarah, and of their sudden goodbye. He could still smellthe flowery bouquet of her fair hair. He thought of Llysa, and of Hoblkalf. He clenchedhis fists. He recalled his last days on Virkelot. He pictured the villager'stwisted faces as they demanded his death. An anger born of fear and shame boiledup in his chest.
Chapter20
JUDGEMENT
THE BATTLE HUNE continued on until finally Gabriel came face to face with thecrumbling remains of Myrkur Island. The afternoon sky was grey and bleak. Darkshowers
