“No trick,” Cyrussaid, knocking the butt end of his rifle against the hune’s shell. “This giant ismeant for us, and we for him.”
He led his unlikelyrecruits up the tiled beach and towards the armored wall. He halted before theexterior of the aft bridge and looked up towards the bridge deck. A broad batalhaglared down at him. Knavish stepped to Cyrus’ side.
“Captain Oks,” theadmiral said, “The Child Eater stands before you. Open the gates.”
The klops atop thewall did not move. Instead, he stroked his long, braided mustaches. Cyrus’ anxietyrose. Was this a double-cross? He fought to hide his trepidation. He began to formulatethe most likely source of an ambush. Finally, Oks nodded his head ever so slightly.Grinding, clanging noises came from behind the wall. Then a thick hatch door creakedopen. Cyrus studied the low passage.
“What are you waitingfor?” Knavish asked.
Quietly, Edward’s tinyguard passed through the hatchway. The three arachnids signaled their king.
“A small ambushawaits within the gate,” Edward whispered, huddled within Cyrus’ collar.
“Were you aware ofthis?” Cyrus asked Knavish.
The hunch-backed klopslooked frightened but also confused.
“Of what?”
“I guess these klopsmust learn the hard way,” Cyrus growled.
He raised his rifle one-handed.
Bang!
Captain Oks’ headsnapped back in a cloud of purple mist. Then the big klops fell dead onto the bridgedeck.
“Bahh!”
“Gahhh!”
Bang!
Two klops yelped fromwithin the gates. Someone discharged a weapon. Then two charred statues, armedwith pistols, fell across the passage’s threshold.
Cyrus looked to Knavish.The admiral appeared frightened and bewildered.
“I had no part inthis foolishness,” he pleaded.
Cyrus turned to hisbeleaguered alvelings. They stared back terrified and confused. He reloaded hisrifle.
“Follow me,” he demanded.“Your new home awaits.”
He ducked through thehatchway with Knavish on his heels. The air smelled of mud and tar. Edward’sguard leaped onto the cuffs of his fur britches and returned to their post atophis shoulders. His skin crawled with disgust.
He peered aboutthe wall’s interior. From the top-mounted twin cannons to the steel-roofed bridge,the aft defenses were a rough copy of the head fortress’ fore bridge, only broaderin scale.
Before the darkwoods, among the tall grey grass, awaited a platoon of thirty frightened klopsand four nervous batalha. The fifty or so alvelings slowly filed in through thehatchway and stood apprehensively behind Cyrus’ back.
“Where is your ChiefMate?” Cyrus demanded.
Several anxiousklops looked towards the aft bridge. Cyrus followed their gaze. Atop the battlementsstood several lookouts. On the bridge deck, two small officers stepped back froma fat batalha.
“You, get downhere,” Cyrus ordered.
The chubby, Chief Matestared at his dead captain, strewn across the parapet. Then he glanced down atthe two would-be assassins crumbling on the ground.
“Now!” Cyrus shouted.
The klops slowly descendedthe stairs and approached the Child Eater, bent and shaking.
“Why did Captain Oksprepare such an ambush?” Cyrus asked, his rifle resting over his shoulder. “Heknew the consequences. Did you not receive our warning? Was Oks given otherorders?”
Cyrus glanced atKnavish. The Chief Mate wavered.
“Answer me!” Cyrusdemanded.
“He- he receivedyour communication,” the Chief Mate replied, “but he thought he could outwit you.He thought that once others of your kind were aboard the hune, the giant wouldnot dare submerge. He planned to take your corpse, and these new prisoners, anddeliver them as peace offerings to the Warrior Witch. I told him it was foolish,but-”
Bang!
Cyrus swung hisrifle off of his shoulder and shot the Chief Mate through the chest. The fat batalhaflew back, dead, sprawling across the hard ground. Klops and alvelings alike recoiled,horrified. The villagers stared at Cyrus as if he were a demon. The klops quiveredwith raw terror. Good.
“This is the bestyou could do?” Cyrus shouted, “This is the plan you came up with? You klops areadequate fighters when well led, but without a true leader you are helpless. Youneed a savior, a Dragon Eater, a Queen Slayer, one who fought the Sea Zombie andsurvived.”
An audible gasp passedthrough the crowd.
“Look how under-crewedyou are,” Cyrus continued, “You barely have enough men to defend your wall, letalone reload and re-supply your weapons, and the Warrior Witch knows this.”
Cyrus gestured to hishaggard alvelings.
“I have broughtyou reinforcements. Under my command, we will hunt down the Sea Zombie and defeather once and for all, but we must do this together.”
The klops grunted.The alvelings gasped, appalled.
“The Sea Zombie,you say?” Mayor Hoblkalf asked, looking like a large shriveled potato in his son’sarms.
“That is right,”Cyrus replied, turning on the old fool. “I never believed her to be real until youordered my death. I learned shortly afterward how real she truly is.”
He looked towardsthe villagers.
“We were once a tall,proud people, but the Sea Zombie changed all of that. She poisoned our islandand left us for dead, withering in the middle of the sea.
“You must understand,she wants us lonely. She wants us miserable. She wants us to fight amongstourselves, but I have faced the Warrior Witch, and I have prevailed. I cut offher head and both hands. Yet still she lives, and she is coming for us. She iscoming for all of us!”
Cyrus pointed athick finger at klops and alves alike.
“We can no longer hide.We can no longer bury our eyes. We must join together and fight. We must usepowder and steel, alve and batalha, and we must blast the Sea Zombie’s wretchedbody from the bloody seas, for a fate far worse than death awaits us otherwise.”
Cyrus stared sternlyat his kin. He could see by their stunned expressions that they had understoodlittle of his warning. Maybe that did not matter. Maybe what they had to learncould not be taught, but one way or the other they would grasp the truth oftheir circumstances, or they would die…
A familiar click andpop came from the dark woods beyond. The klops platoon parted way. A brood ofblodbad four times larger than Edward’s tribe emerged onto the grass. The largestof the arachnids pushed through the horde and scrabbled out onto the barren shell.
“I’ll handle this,”Edward said.
The white spider spindleddown Cyrus’ body, then skittered out onto the middle of the tiled earth. The bigqueen advanced, charging Edward like a mad crab. Edward extended his forelegs. Thegiant halted inches from the small, furry blodbad. The halfbreed reared up on herhind legs and bared her
