"HA! YOU THINK YOU CAN HURT LORD SILURUS WITH A LITTLE SMOKE – "
Lord Silurus' taunt cut off as Den's wind blew the smoke into his gills and coated them with sickly yellow pollen.
"UGH! UGH! UUUUUUUGH!"
The catfish demon flapped his gills, then rolled onto his side and smacked his tail on the ice, writhing and trying to scrape the pollen off. The hail of weapons stopped.
"Lord Magnissimus! Try again now!" shouted Den.
The boar snorted. "You doooo not need to tell meeee."
He reared up on his hind legs and huffed at the set of gills that weren't covered in pollen. Again, Den's wind caught up the icy fog and swept it across Lord Silurus. Crystals of ice formed, growing bigger and bigger until they formed a white crust over the gills.
"RAAAAAARGH!"
Lord Silurus' tail struck the frozen river so hard that his body flew into the air. When he crashed back down, the impact cracked the ice.
"Captain Rock, you're up!" called Den.
"CHAAAAAARGE!"
Captain Rock pumped his fist in the air, and howling, his soldiers rushed down the riverbank. At the edge of the ice field, they formed into ranks and hurled smoke crocks at the catfish demon, trying to knock him out. One nearly hit Lord Magnissimus.
"Waaaatch it, you useless monkeeeey!"
Furious, the wild boar barreled at his own allies, seized the soldier who'd nearly hit him (by accident? By command? Who knew?), bit off his arm, and swallowed it. The rock macaque fell to the ground, clutching the stump and shrieking, while his comrades scattered.
That section of the line was collapsing.
"We have to do something!"
Yulus griped the armrests of his throne and leaned forward, as if by getting six inches closer to the vision on the wall he could will it to show something different. Densissimus Imber's army was fighting further upriver than they'd negotiated! They were killing the denizens of Black Sand Creek!
After the squad of fleeing rock macaques had crashed through Captain Carpa's lines with Lord Silurus on their heels, the shrimp guards had regrouped and begun to help the spectators to safety. But then the river had frozen solid! Its surface had turned opaque, and then icicles had grown down and out, glowing blue-cold. Yulus' vassals had been trapped. Now bulging eyes and distorted, screaming faces stared out of the ice, accusing their king of failing to save them.
"We have to melt the ice! We have to get them out!"
Yulus jumped off his throne and swam for the door, but Nagi was faster. She planted herself in his path so he nearly crashed into her, and hissed.
"No! Your Majesty, if you melt the ice, you'll help Lord Silurus escape! We can't let them say that the Black Sand Creek Water Court betrayed them!"
"But our people!"
Yulus cast a helpless glance at the terrified, pleading eyes of shrimp guards and frogs, catfish and water snakes and crabs. Even Nacre the freshwater pearl oyster spirit was there, suspended upside down. Why had the superintendent abandoned his duties at the Pearl Farm to spectate in a war zone?
"A little cold won't kill them!" Nagi urged. "They'll be fine as long as the battle doesn't drag out too long! Your Majesty, you cannot melt that ice!"
Yulus clenched and unclenched his claws, then sagged. Nagi was right. He couldn't interfere. In the negotiations, he had been explicit that the Black Sand Creek Water Court would stay neutral.
YOU ARE READING
The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox
FantasyAfter Piri the nine-tailed fox follows an order from Heaven to destroy a dynasty, she finds herself on trial in Heaven for that very act. Executed by the gods for the "crime," she is cast into the cycle of reincarnation, starting at the very bottom...
