The Death of Mika

The long line of galleons began to fan out carefully into a growing Wedge, with first three, then six, twelve and finally twenty four of the great Biathon lining up.  Each of the Lancers pulled ahead of their mother ship, surging ahead. Sixty were soon moving, under sail, and with all oars pulling to meet the enemy head on. The forward Balista loaded and the forward slings aimed along side in straight forward fashion, the idea was to strike the first ships with missiles, and crash directly into them, and as the men unloaded onto the pirate vessels, the slings would continue to fire into other pirate vessels as they advanced, setting them aflame. The Biathons would form a wall and hold up the rest while they hurled everything they had at the enemy. Along the shore line the rangers could see advancing troops hurrying to posts set up everywhere in the shallows. All manner of weaponry was present. Ballista, catapults, and terraced ledges set into the cliffs where archers and spear throwers would hurl down their death onto the hordes as they came ashore. The intention was to hold out against the Kensen assault until they either gave up or there was simply no one left. Everyone knew the Kensen would be exhausting all they had in the fight and they wanted this to be the last battle.1

Through out the night the vessels continued, the oarsmen resting for the final charge while the sails were tacked into the wind. The winds were extremely swift this evening and it seemed a good thing. One thought bothered Bjorn however, as the sails cracked against the force of the wind, as he wondered to himself if these winds were forboders of a coming torrential rainstorm. This time of year squalls tore up the seas in the south and he was concerned the whole thing might turn into a duel battle between the pirates and nature herself. He sniffed at the air, his senses from his days on the fishing fleets on edge, wary of the first signs of a storm. By dawn there had been no more warnings however and he tried to catch a bit of sleep as the ships crashed through the water, hard on their way. 2

He had only drifted off when he heard the scream of the watchman in the focsil. "Alarm, Alarm" and all men scrambled to their feet. All thought of sleep and any weariness was chased away by the adrenaline of men preparing for battle. Bjorn's own stimulation, scenes of destruction from his childhood, visiting him soon has his angry energies surging. He gripped the rail and swung his mounted crossbow towards the coming battle ahead. As the dawn broke hazy and swimming in red across the horizon, he was unprepared for what he saw. Wave after wave of vessels, bigger than he had ever seen the Kensen use were cresting the horizon, and they simply kept coming. The Sudren had thought their fleet was large, but this one was seemed five times the size of theirs. The Kensen may not have had Eek oarsmen, but they were doing a magnificent job of crewing the ships, whoever they were. The choppy waters boiled as they came full speed on. The cannons already hurling the first rounds. These fell uselessly into the open water, far short of the Sudren vessels, but the Kensen were marking distance and rushing at the fleet, preparing for the real assault. Knowing the other fleet would crash into them soon, the commanders called to bring in sail and let the ships rest. Bjorn could see the Biathon preparing to cross the T behind them and he wondered if they would be sufficient to stop this onslaught. 3

The commanders waited now, the sails pulled hastily in and the men lined the rails. Each pulled up his shield and drew into himself saying last minute prayers and constructing his own battle plan. For himself, Bjorn had already decided he would fire off rounds until his cross bow ran out of bolts and continue with bow and arrow until his supply had exhausted itself. Then, he would board. Commander Maltac ran the length of the ship, checking defences and waving his men to different parts of the vessel where he thought they might be weak. He wanted no pirates getting on the decks of his ship. Other commanders were doing likewise everywhere and the shouting and hubbub was a din that kept thinking to a bare minimum. The heat rose in everyone as the last of the distance was eaten up by the pirates lead vessels. Now, at the last second came the command. "Men prepare to attack, all oarsman, ramming speed!"4

Like well trained racing horses, the lancers leaped ahead, with such force men on deck fell and staggered. They quickly scrambled into position again and the powerful explosive blast of the ballista shook the ship, with the fire igniting off the tail of each missile. Sixty flares tore into the first ships and the galleons crashed in right behind them, arrows flying like a mass of hornets into the those on the pirate vessels. The second wave came up fast and the men on deck began to launch the new explosive charges. The hoses sent out their streams of accelerator and the ships burst into flame. This brought about the hoped for result and the pirates began to dive overboard. arrows and bolts found them as they surfaced and bodies soon floated about thick as a bloody carpet between the fighting ships. His arrows gone, Bjorn pulled his war axe and rushed ahead. He saw Mike going over the side and he dived over directly behind him and onto the deck of the already crushed pirate ship, hanging on the hook shaped prow of their Lancer. 5

Aboard the pirate ship the battle was ruthless and blood ran in rivers. The pirates were slashing out with whips made of steel rods, slinging them around their heads. Men staggered and fell all about him as he dived for the deck. The appalling bloody mess made him sick, and slithering through the gore towards the feet of the pirates, he popped up at the last second, carving through the mass of flesh with his axe. Mika was driving the others back along side him and serenely working his customary fulchium and spear jabbing and slashing in a figure eight pattern, occasionally driving back an attacker with a well placed kick and catching him on the end of his spear using him as a shield. till the pirates blades had hacked their own comrade into ground flesh. He showed no emotion as he always did, deep in the flow of the web, drawing energy from around him and transferring it, he was a thing to behold. He seemed like a dancer on stage, simply weaving his way through attackers with abandon, leaving death all about him. Bjorn wished he had that ability. It was then, that he felt it for the first time. He seemed to be slipping outside himself and seeing the battle as though he was observing from above. He saw the pirates advancing on his body and willed the arms and legs into a style of defence he found strikingly close to Mika's. So, this was how it was done. From this vantage point, he could repel attacks with ease, seeing them coming before they could reach him and he saw himself cleaving the forces of the pirates, shedding them as though he was falling harvest grain in the fields of the North. He relaxed and advanced with assurance, feeling invincible.6

The battle lasted only a short time and the rangers rushed to the side and into the next ship, which had come up along side this one trying to help. Bjorn leaped aboard, ready to renew the fight. Mika came up behind him and they started forward, cutting down the enemy like a sythe. Nothing could stop them as the poetry of the battle was unfolding. He had never felt so one with the flow and he decided this would be the day he finally broke free from his bonds and Mika would be able to show him how to slip into the fire and the wind. He would be free at last, when the battle was over and the two of them would fly on the web. He broke out laughing and Mika turned with a smile on his face, as though he knew exactly what Bjorn was thinking, which he probably did. They returned to the business of war with a determination to end it all once and for all. It was working well, too, as the pirates knowing they were losing their vessel ran for the rails and began to dive overboard. The rangers cheered as they ran after the fleeing foes and Mika and Bjorn went along, carried on the tide. It was this happiness and feeling of vitory which kept anyone from seeing the next ship swing up along side. 7

Before anyone knew what had happened, the pirate vessel let loose a broadside. All over the deck the cannon balls crashed into the rangers ranks. Bjorn was hurled, by the explosion, into a masthead. He pulled himself up and cast about him. Then he saw it. Mika had been beside him and had been victims to an explosive shell. He lay crumpled up along the rail. Bjorn dashed over to his friend, but knew there was no way he could have survived that explosion. He pulled Mika over to him and the body, ripped practically in two at the waist was nothing more than a patch of tattered flesh. He felt all the energy fall from him and for a minute he was lost. His friend was dead. There was nothing left of him. He began to sob bitterly, wishing he had been killed instead. Mika was far more important than he. How would he live without him. He wanted to kill everyone of the pirates now, and gripped his axe and began to rise unsteadily to his feet.8

He started blindly forward, when he heard a voice. "No, Bjorn, slowly. Go forward and watch the battle from outside, as you have been doing. Go slowly man, and be of good heart. You will be victorious, if you keep your wits." He nodded, thinking, for a second it was Commander Maltac talking. Then, he realised, the voice was Mika's. He began to turn, but the voice continued to sooth and urge him on. "Yes, Bjorn, it's Mika. I will be waiting for you when you are done." I won't be able to stay long, already the energy is abating, but I will only return to the web. I will be with you whenever you come into the web and we'll find each other then. Now, don't mourn, for I will be back, in one form or many. Remember, the energy will never die. I will be with you always." 9

Bjorn knew. He couldn't describe it in any other way, but he simply knew. He tore ahead, now filled with anger and direction. He slashed and parried and cut through the enemy for hours boarding one pirate vessel after another, in a daze, going with the flow and never stopping to think. All day he continued. Men fell all through the day but he was on his own course now, allowing the web to carry him, leaving his body and powering it along as he viewed the battle from above. He could see the pirate ships numbers dwindling as the battle progressed, and the lancers racing from one to the next, setting them ablaze. The Biathon were stopping the others effectively, but the crashing force of the waves began to take their toll and it looked as though, even with the shore defences they were not going to stop this onslaught. Then came the final secret of the Sudren.10

Out of the crags came three enormous craft. Two came directly to the flanks of the line while one headed into the middle of the ships fighting. The lancers raced away, buth the pirate vessels intend on their forward advance didn't see until to late the monster closing on them. This one was twice the size of the other Biathons, as were it's sister ships. Bjorn's own lancer had drawn up and he climbed aboard with his comrades. The lancer oarsmen turned their craft and headed back to the protection of the ships of the line while these gargantuan monsters did their work. They carried slings all along their edges and whirling catapults, hurling off bags of explosives. They too had the hoses, but hundred of steams went out from all over the craft as the explosives blasted all about the water. The water itself was set ablaze and those swimming for shore were being cooked like meat in a stew pot. Horrified the pirates attempted to flee, but few ships could get underway fast enough. Soon the bulk of the armada was ablaze. The men on the monster biathons were pouring something down the sides of their own vessels which kep the fire abated and they sat in the middle of their own inferno, dealing death like demigods. 11

Bjorn looked to his commander. "Where did they keep those?" he asked. 12

"We only just finished them, before the battle began. We held them back until the full armada of Kensen vessels was engaged and the commanders knew, when they saw them come into view that they were to disengage battle and get away fast." 13

It was a successful plan, indeed. The remaining ship, those which didn't flee were burning out of control, exploding with their own powder, their crews incinerated as they sunk. Before long ruin was all that remained. The rest of the Sudren fleet pulled away further and headed for shore. The battle was over, the Kensen fleet was smashed and the day was won. But, Bjorn, now that he had time to think, slumped on the deck, exhausted and prayed. 14

"Mika, if you can hear me. I thank you for saving my life so many times. I will miss you friend. I will seek you in the web and I will always be with you." And, again, he cried.