The war had, in its way, diminished me. I could not fight forever. I was a better warrior, that was not the question, but every day my humanity slipped away. It is a short trip from looking upon Heacharids as worthy only of death to finding such loathsome logic creeping further into one's psyche.
Yet I needed a push. I think, had such not come, I would have continued to fight unto the bitter end. I would have been among those few holdouts in the highlands of Axichis, who continued to fight long after the war was judged over by the conquering Heacharids. Even though my own Mythseekers fled before that, I believe I would have stayed.
Were it not for the push.
Ironically, this came in one of the greatest victories the Axichans managed in the course of that damnable war. The battle has many names. The Siege of Kleogara, the Battle of the Bay, the Hubris of the Heacharids, but the name that sticks in my heart is the simplest. I will always think of it as the Wooden Bay.
We knew the Heacharids were massing to attack the city of Kleogara on the isle of Melisis. As the capital of the archipelago, sacking the city would deal a fatal blow to the war effort. When Heacharid ships began to muster on the horizon, the prize upon which they were set was no mystery. We on the Axichan side knew we would either win this battle or lose the war, and so we prepared.
My small fleet was brought in, among the rest of the Axichan navy. General Thaodora gave me my orders. We would be sent to harry the flanks of the Heacharid advance, to prey upon their troop transports. A wise decision, as I could convert whole barges into stormwights and use them to slaughter men still trapped aboard. Such carnage would have shocked me once. Here, I only relished the thought of it.
There was but one Heacharid I thought of. It had been several months since I returned Lysethe to her people. To my knowledge, she had not been seen again. This was a good sign. I believed she was doing what I had ordered, yet part of me feared the thought of seeing her aboard a Heacharid ship. If she appeared, I would slay her, but any amazon she killed would be a blight on my soul.
Axichan forces massed on Melisis most in the streets of Kleogara. We knew the bay defenses would take their toll, but we also knew that we could not prevent the Heacharids from landing. Their numbers were simply too great. The plan would be to hold them in the bay for as long as we could, keeping them from landing all at once as they wanted. Allow the navy to bleed them at sea while the defenders bled them on land.
This was what we were reduced to. Mass butchery. Thus, it was no surprise that, the night before we were to take to the waves, the city had one massive celebration. We would soak in joy before we soaked in blood.
I found myself on a house overlooking the bay, filled with my comrades in arms. The Mythseekers were there, as was Kucyone, admiral of my little fleet. Ulodice, the only other wizard on the Axichan side was there too, as was Ikapeia, the greatest warrior of the amazons. I saw Teidestra, the historian as well as the general's adjutant Eineira. A group of amazons played traditional instruments, their cheerful music fluttering through the night air. Some danced, the rest of us ate and drank. We laughed too loudly as we knew that after the horror coming, it would be a long while before we laughed again.
Ulodice and I sat on a couch together, talking. She was the closest thing to a colleague, though her powers went to far different places than mine. She was a seer, and been instrumental in planning the city's defense.
Ulodice was a fascinating woman. She was of middling height, and her lithe build had only grown more willowy with the deprivations of war. Her head was shaved, tattoos running over her scalp and down into her clothing. Her costume had once been halfway between a traveler's garb and a jester's motley, but pieces had been replaced with functional leather and padding. As we spoke, our familiars, my night eft and her sea bat, playfully chased one another through the garden outside.
"The two of us seem to be in great demand," I remarked.
"This surprises you? They have but two areteoi."
"When we met, you and Phaeliope told me they didn't trust our kind."
"They still do not, but they have not much choice. You've been cultivating your legend."
"Legend," I snorted. "I am but a pirate."
"No, you're not," she said simply. She frowned, and I watched her gather her thoughts with a sip of wine. "We are areteoi, and we are in essence serving two roles. There is what we do, what our magic enables of us. I with my divinations and you with your necromancy."
I did not correct her. The necromancy was a gift of the ring wrapped about the index finger of my left hand, a skeletal serpent biting its own tail. It still contained the whispering essence of a ghoul necromancer, an object of terrible power.
"And then," Ulodice continued, "we are what we mean. We give hope to our people and fill the enemy with terror. This is perhaps even more valuable than the magic itself, the subtle magic we work on the minds of friend and foe."
I think often of these words of Ulodice's. They have since shaped how I see my own role in the wars I would later fight. She was correct, we were most useful to inspire our own and demoralize our enemies.
"Wise words," I said.
"Your Akleona is much improved," she said.
"I've had a great deal of practice."
"I would have rather you would have a more pleasant time to learn."
"As would I."
Teidestra slid into the couch next to me. Her goblet was only half full, the wine thick and red. The historian was a small woman, with long, curly brown hair and the bright golden eyes of the amazons. She wore a chiton that did nothing to hide her shapely figure. Since we had been part of the diplomatic delegation, I had nurtured an attraction for her. She was beautiful and learned woman, and such a contrast physically to the chiseled warriors with whom I spent the bulk of my time.
"Your friend, the little one with the red hair, was doing her best to get me naked," she said.
"You should take her up on the offer. She's quite skilled in that regard."
Teidestra snorted. "This is revenge for the Heacharid, isn't it?"
"Heachard?" Ulodice asked.
"Oh yes. At the peace conference, there was one of them positively dripping for our areteos here. I told him to seduce her, perhaps we could turn her to our side. They spent the rest of the conference believing they were being secretive when they crept off to rut like pigs."
"Rut like pigs?" I raised an eyebrow.
"That was how I heard it," she said.
"I would be pleased to show you precisely how I rut."
"Ask me again later," she said, with a sparkle in her eyes. "I will get more wine."
She got up, swayed once, and set off resolutely. The sexual charge in the air wasn't her alone. More than a few couches were being taken up by amazons in the midst of loveplay or about to commence. I could hear the odd moan of passion, and the faint tang of sex on the air. Out in the courtyard, a nude and oiled Ikapeia was wrestling challengers two at a time. My hetairoi lingered with another pair I recognized as Eineira's, and I was not certain who was seducing whom.
"A Heacharid," Ulodice chuckled. "What did she have between her legs?"
"I imagine much the same as you."
