An Ocean of Fire- Supercorp AU

42- A Battle of Perspectives

Drumming.

Everything now was drumming.

The pounding, drumming slam of hooves on damp soil.

The wracking, drumming way Lena's heart beat against her ribs.

The muted, tireless, drumming fall of rain as it struck the leaves of the trees above them.

Everything now was drumming.

They were cresting the hill for Urvish, and the tall, thick trees were thinning away, exposing them to the open air of the field.

The knight lieutenant in command held up a hand, and they halted in their tracks. Their horses huffed and stamped anxiously at the ground, their breath misting in the fog. Crows flapped and soared and cried overhead. Lena pulled Leia up beside him and he glanced over at her, before nodding to two knights on his left flank. They took off down the hill, and he turned back to her with concern written on his features.

"Once I'm certain we're not about to fall into a trap, Princess, we will go."

She nodded quietly, but the dread that filled her was drumming, drumming through her veins.

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Yellow teeth bared and black eyes narrowed as they took in the grey sky. The ships creaked over the rolling waves, the sails snapping in the wind. It was an unusual rhythm, an ominous and melancholy cadence.

Leon did not enjoy sailing in this weather, but they had been waiting for the fog for some time.

It was the only way to take the eagle-eyed Kryptonians by any measure of surprise.

Deep horns bellowed across the water, announcing their presence- which he had expected. His salt-stiffened leather boots remained planted and steadfast on either side of the wheel, swollen knuckles gripping the smooth, worn wood.

His hair was yanked back and tied with a cord, his face newly bronzed from the days at sea. He gestured over for his first officer, who quickly took the helm.

Leon stomped to the bow, gripping a taught line and bending his knees to ride the rocking ship steadily. He squinted out at the shores, the cliff face, the glinting palace that shone even in the damp, colorless morning. He snarled and turned back to the men congregating around the deck of his ship.

"Hear me!!"

They all paused in their duties, turning to regard the angry, glaring man above them.

"We are here in the name of Cogo! We will take these shores, as we have taken so many before us - for they have taken your promised Queen!!" A swell of cheers echoed across the water, and his burnt lips cracked into a wide grin. "These abominations will not see another day as free creatures!"

A roar rose up from his ship, and then the ship next to his, and the ship next to that one. He looked up, taking in the majesty of his fleet. It swelled up on the horizon, hundreds of sails dotting the roiling black seas. The ships on the front lines were overflowing with Luthorian soldiers and Cogorian sailors. They had been slowly arriving from the middle and rear fleet since late in the night, all anxiously awaiting their signals.

He turned glittering eyes back to the cliff faces and pointed at the sailors manning the large guns on the ship decks.

"READY!!"

Arrows clicked into place.

"AIM!!"

Thousands of lungs were filled at once and held tightly.