He was seriously starting to wonder what else lay in store for them, and whether he could handle it. His stomach growled; last night he had been given tack, a small strip of salted beef, and a small flask of rum to wash it down. He had given half of it to Krohn, who chewed it in one bite then immediately whined for more. Thor felt terrible he had no more to give him. But he hadn’t had a good meal in days himself, and he was already starting to miss the comforts of home.
“How much longer will this go on?” Thor heard a boy, a couple of years older than he, call out to another boy.
“Long enough to kill us all,” another boy called out, breathing hard.
“You’ve been to the island before,” one boy called out to another, an older one, who sat there rowing, somber. “How long until we reach it? How far are we?”
The older boy, tall, muscle-bound, shrugged.
“Hard to say,” he said. “We haven’t even reached the rain wall yet.”
“Rain wall?” the other boy called out.
But the big boy, breathing hard, fell silent again, and the ship slipped back into silence. All Thor could hear, incessantly, was the sound of oars hitting water.
Thor looked down for the millionth time, squinting against the glare of the sun, and marveled at the yellow color of the water. It was clear in places, especially close to the surface, and as he looked, he saw several exotic sea creatures swimming alongside the boat, trailing them, as if trying to keep up. He saw a long, purple snake, nearly the length of the boat, with a dozen heads on it, spaced out all along its body. As they went, its heads extended from the body, up into the open air, razor-sharp teeth opening and closing. Thor could not imagine what it was doing. Was it breathing? Was it trying to catch some insects in the air? Or was it threatening them?
Thor could hardly imagine what sort of strange creatures lay in store where they were going. He tried not to think about it. It was a different part of the world, and anything was possible. Would that be part of the training? He had a sinking feeling that it would.
One of the boys, a tall, frail boy who Thor recognized from the playing fields, suddenly leaned over on his oar and collapsed, about ten feet away. He slumped sideways, then fell with a thud onto the wooden floor. It was the boy from the exercise with the shields, the one who had been afraid to do it, who had been made to run extra laps. Thor had felt bad for him; he still did.
Without thinking, Thor stopped rowing, jumped from his seat and rushed to his side. He was dimly aware that it was against the rules for him to leave his seat, but he just reacted, seeing his fellow Legion member in trouble. He turned him over, looked at his face. His face was too red, his skin burnt from the sun, and his lips too dry and chapped. He was alive, but his breathing was shallow.
“Get up!” Thor urged, shaking him.
The boy’s eyes fluttered.
“I can’t do it anymore,” he answered weakly.
“Get up!” Thor whispered urgently. “Get up quickly! Before they see you!”
“THORGRIN!” screamed Kolk.
Thor felt a hard boot kick in the small of his back, and went flying forward, face first, onto the floor of the boat. The wood stung his face and palms as he hit.
“WHAT DO YO THINK YOU’RE DOING!?”
Thor was indignant, red-faced with rage, but he held himself from doing anything rash. He turned and looked up.
“He collapsed!” Thor protested. “I was just helping—”
“You NEVER leave your seat! For ANY reason! We don’t baby each other here. If he falls, let him fall!” Kolk screamed, standing over Thor, hands on his hips. Thor felt a fresh hatred for the man. What stung more than the kick was being yelled at in front of the other boys. It hurt his pride, and Thor vowed revenge. Sometimes, as a commander, Kolk was just too harsh.
Krohn came running to his side, and snarled back at Kolk.
At the site of him, Kolk seemed to be wary of coming any closer. Instead, he pointed a shaking finger towards his seat.
“Now get back there!” he screamed, “Or I’ll throw you off this boat myself!”
Thor rose to one knee, when suddenly he spotted something over Kolk’s shoulder that made him freeze.
“LOOK OUT!” Thor screamed, pointing.
Kolk spun, but it was already too late. Thor had no choice: he dove forward, and tackled Kolk, knocking him down to the ground—and just in time.
A split second later there was a resounding boom, and a cannonball came flying through the air, right for them. It soared across the deck of the ship, just passing where Kolk had been standing; it nearly grazed his head as he hit the deck. It singed the top railing, and there was the sound of wood splintering; miraculously, it did not do serious damage to the ship, as the cannonball sailed by and landed with a huge splash in the water.
Because of Thor’s warning, all the other Legion members ducked just in time. As one, they, on the floor, raised their heads and looked out.
There, on the horizon, rowing towards them, was a huge black ship. It sailed with a yellow flag, with an emblem of a black shield in its center, two horns protruding from it.
“Empire ship!” Kolk screamed.
It was closing in fast, its large cannon pointed right at them, and manned with at least a hundred soldiers. The ships were unequally matched: theirs was larger, had a cannon, and was packed with more soldiers. Worse, their ship was manned with Empire savages—huge, overflowing with muscles, with red skin and horns sticking from their bald heads, large yellow eyes, a small triangle for noses, and impossibly wide jaws, with rows of razor-sharp teeth, and two large fangs sticking out on either end. They were formidable creatures, and they stood on the deck, wielding swords and salivating at the sight of their ship.
“MAN THE GALLEYS!” Kolk screamed, re-gaining his feet.
The boys broke into action. Thor hardly knew what was happening, or what he was supposed to do, but the older boys seemed to fall into place.
“ARCHERS TO THE FRONT!” Kolk screamed. “Prepare your arrows! All others set the arrows aflame!”
All around Thor, the older boys, more disciplined, hurried forward to the edge of the ship as they grabbed bows and arrows from racks off the side of the ship. The younger Legion members raced to their side, grabbing rags, dipping them in oil, wrapping them onto the end of the arrows, and lighting them on fire.
Thor wanted to help. He saw an archer kneeling, with no one helping him, and he rushed into action. He ran to his side, dipped a rag in oil, tied it to his arrow, and lit it as he placed it on the string. The boy immediately pulled back and fired, as did dozens of others around him.