Someone Else's Kingdom, BOOK II - Scene LXXXII

Essen, on the very front of the frontline, pounced like a lion and slammed his sword into one of the invaders; the smell of Brynnyfirdian black powder desperate in the air. In the melee of battle he remembered how Acalee had once told him that port meant door, making a seaport a doorway to the sea. As the slurry of ships beached on his dear island, spilling their bloody-thirsty men, the image stood fast in his mind. A door had been opened that couldn't be closed. The ocean seemed to tower over the land, and here was the huge crack that brought it rushing in. The soldiers, the sea, the ships, swords and guns, all one body of the deluge.

The plan was to suck the enemy into the woodlands, where the odds would be better, but in the anger and tempo such plans felt pointless. The black thud of cannon against armour dulled Essen's ears as he fought on. The battle on the coastal edge a harvest of wriggling creatures. The island had been invaded before, but this incessant dirge of mainland force - now with black powder as well as numbers - made it feel wholly different this time. In the past the island had never been truly conquered. The forest trees, with the stealthy arrowshot they disguised, had always been a swampy puddle for any enemy that dared to trample it. Now, alas, such woody cover felt hollow against the industrial fire.

For a brief moment the wind picked up, blowing in Essen's favour. The huge, shrill gust seeming to charge him with electricity. The noise of the gale eclipsing the sound of battle: the heavy wind knocking men to the ground in their weighty metal garments. Perhaps the gods were watching over the island thought Essen, as he continued headlong toward another mainland soldier, though the sheer numbers that kept coming suggested otherwise.

Meanwhile, further inland, Box was sharpening her sword. It didn't have the fool on its hilt, but in her mind the tale played over as she looked despairingly at Liofia and Goola. They were preparing for the inevitable onslaught too, but their hearts were clearly elsewhere. Even Julen, who gripped his sword as tightly as Box did, was more of a mind to flight than fight.

As the brave island folks around them tended to their own weapons and preparations Colm came wandering over. The news from the front was not good. Julen looked at Liofia.