Meanwhile at the other end of the city: The warrior’s under Victrix’ command had taken defensive positions inside the harbor. The ships beside them were burning and the flickering lights of their fires could be seen on the faces of the Aermorikan Men. They all had their arms down in resting positions, yet shields stood at the ground ready to be snatched up immediately. Spears were resting on the ground leaning at their bodies. Every warrior knew that combat would tire the arms really fast. It didn't matter how strong or well-trained you were. At some point the human body just can’t take it anymore. That’s why resting was even more important before battle. The Aermorikans had a saying that went: “Be ready but don't be tired!”

Sticking to those words they had moved into position and readied themselves physically and mentally and all that was left to do was to actually fight and hopefully win. Well, Victrix thought “hopefully” but of course in front of his men he was gleaming with confidence. True leadership was the ability to hide your panic from others- He had, after being a chieftain for a long time, become also quite proficient in that skill.

He could hear the noise of the enemies moving through the streets, moving closer to them. His forces had split in two groups. One blocked the path at the pier to the left, the other one the right side. He was in charge on the left. Bricius was in charge on the right side. Gurvan led the smaller group that would assault the sea-people warriors in the streets to take some heat of the warriors at the harbor. And Malo actually had a special task to do that had nothing to do with any of the other actions. One thing that would hopefully add to their chances of victory.

Slowly some warriors came into view. They stopped in their tracks, looking at the sturdy defense the Aermorikans had assembled. They seemingly rushed here to put the fires on the ships out but now facing enemies instead of fire surprised them. Suddenly some arrows flew towards the sea-people warriors. One or two went down. Someone yelled something and they put up their shields and got some distance between them. Of course, a dozen guys were hesitant to attack a foe outnumbering them, but slowly more and more sea-people warriors started to fill the pier. Victrix could see one or two which wore imposing armor and might be actually lords or chieftains. He was right. While some warriors went to put out some flames that were going over from burning ships to unscathed ships the rest of the warriors were assembling and forming a battle line. Soon things would heat up.

Victrix heard shouts and noise of battle from behind him. Bricius and his men were being engaged by the sea people and now they were making a move on his side. They were led by an old but fierce looking lord who wielded a huge bronze shield and a curved sword. "Javelin!" yelled victrix and a flurry of javelins and arrows was unleashed by the men standing behind him. Some enemies were injured, other outright killed. Many however blocked the incoming fire with their shields. Some javelins were thrown at them too. Beside him a warrior was hit in the shoulder and fell back. Another one took his place in the front line. Among the Aermorikans it was tradition that the best warriors were in the frontline so being able to replace someone who had fallen or retreated because of injuries was considered an honor. That tradition should help people to eagerly engage the foe.

The battle had been raging for some time. The sea-warriors had relentlessly pushed against them. The Aermorikans were maybe overall not as experienced as the enemies but they had decent armor and weapons and were well organized. Victrix himself had received some minor wounds but was still standing in the front row unyielding and strong like a rock. He knew that his men took great comfort in seeing him stand unwavering in the frontline. However, if he was honest, he was by now dead tired. His battle axe was not really heavy but know it felt like every swing was him trying to lift a big rock with a tired hand.

Suddenly something happened. The sea warrior retreated a little bit but kept their formation. Victrix was so grateful for being able to rest his arms. He was no youngster anymore. But his elation didn’t last long. A woman came into sight. She was without any doubt no Aermorikan. Yet her clothes looked too good to be one of the sea-people. The realization hit Victrix. She was a priestess, a shaman or something similar. A miracle caster most likely!

"Arrows!", he yelled. His men fired a salvo at her. But from behind her the tallest man victrix had ever seen jumped forward and held a huge shield in front of her. The arrows didn’t do any harm nothing. One hit the warrior, but he had a shining silver helmet that nearly covered his whole face which easily deflected the arrow.

"I wish to talk with your leader", said the women in a voice that sounded as calm and friendly as a lake on a summer day.

"I am the leader here!", said Victrix after taking a breath making sure to not sound exhausted. He didn't know what to make of negotiating with the enemy but as long as they were talking, he could at least rest his arms. Victrix stepped a little bit forward as did the priestess.

"I am Alyonna. A Priestess of Godwana."

Victrix looked her straight in her beautiful colored eyes which seemed to be a mixture of purple and grey though it was hard to tell in the middle of the night somewhere between the light of the moon and some small remaining fire of the burning ships.

Some people believed that priests and warlocks can bewitch you when you look into their eyes. So Victrix showed this way that he was confident and not easy to intimidate. "Victrix. Chieftain Victrix."

"Let me get straight to the point venerable chieftain. you are outnumbered and outclassed and..."

"The men of Aermorik are never outclassed!", yelled Victrix.

"HURRAH!", yelled his men behind him. Victrix didn’t believe this negotiation would lead anywhere. So, he intended to at least gain something by using this talk to raise the morale of his men. Also by claiming them to be outclassed she had subtly tried to put the Aermorikans down. She was smart. Victrix had to give her that. But he was no fool either. Let’s see who comes out on top here!

Alyonna smiled. Victrix felt her opinion of him had gone up a notch. "You are outnumbered, and all your bravado can’t compensate for the fact that we are still in the better position here. Therefore, I wish to negotiate with you to put down your weapons and surrender."

"I don’t know", answered Victrix. "I feel like I can continue SLAYING INVADER SCUM ALL NIGHT LONG!"

"HURRAH!", yelled his man even louder and some banged their weapons on their shields.

"You truly believe that? Your allies fighting in the streets will soon be cut down and then your position here will become quite precarious."

"I don’t feel like I am in a bad position here. I am not the one in a hostile city surrounded by opposing warriors and people hating me alike. As we speak here a fellow chief named Malo is rallying the residents of the city to support us warriors from the countryside."

"You forget a small detail."

"Which one?"

"ME", said Alyonna with some kind of force in her voice. Something was in her voice that reduced Victrix down to his basic instincts to fight or to run. For a moment his hand clasped around the shaft of his battle axe as he merely by instinct felt the urge to step forward and cut her head off. But exactly at that moment another powerful gaze hit him. Not from the priestess but from the tall warrior standing behind her. He knew that the moment he attacked he would be intercepted and most likely killed. Maybe that was her plan all along. He needed to escape the pressure and stepped back from those two. Which made him look weak.

Alyonna put a kind smile on which didn’t feel genuine at all. Like a woman would put on a dress. Yes, she was "wearing" a smile.

"I can KILL HALF OF YOU COUNTRY BUMPKINS WITH THE POWER OF MY GOD! WHO DARES TO OPPOSE ME!", Alyonna suddenly yelled with a clear and powerful voice.

Victrix felt like a chicken must feel facing a wolf. He felt they couldn’t win against... Then his gaze fell on the palace. He laughed out loud and could feel some of his confidence returning.

"I think you are the one in a precarious position now", said Victrix smugly. Alyonna looked at the palace and saw high flames.

Victrix said smiling: "I think my allies have not been cut down but actually been successful."

A warrior came running and said something to the bodyguard. Alyonna’s huge guardian bowed down and whispered something into her ear. Her face whitened. "You slew our king! Hate! Revenge! I can still cut a lot of you down with the help of my god", she hissed but didn’t sound as confident as before. Her companion whispered again to her. She calmed down and obviously begin to think about a solution.

Victrix was happy as a little child that had gotten some sweets. They really had killed the king. Those mercenaries were really worth the gold! But he didn’t show his enthusiasm. "I know enough about the power of magic priests to know that at some point even you will run out of divine blessing. Are you confident you can kill us all with what you have?"

"Then how about a deal?"

"I am listening."

"As a chieftain of your people you surely want to bring back as many husbands and fathers as possible back to their families." She paused for a moment looking at Victrix who neither denied nor confirmed her assumption. "If we stop fighting and leave then many of your men will be saved."

"I am not sure", said Victrix probing if he could get something out of this deal.

"But I am sure you want to let us go." said Alyonna. "Because otherwise you would have burned all the ships instead of half of them, wouldn't you?"

"You are as sharp as you are beautiful", said Victrix.

"I am not intending to offer myself as collateral in this negotiation."

"Heavens!", exclaimed Victrix. "If my wife was to know that I called you ‘beautiful’ I would become a quite unhappy man for some time, until she would calm down eventually."

Alyonna smiled and this time it seemed to be a genuine smile. "Then I shall take my leave." she said.

"Who are you", asked Victrix suddenly.

Alyonna gave him a questioning glance.

"You and your guard are no average sea-people."

Alyonna thought for a moment whether to answer or not. Then she said: "We are indeed no average sea-people. We are descendants of those that escaped the sinking of the greatest kingdom ever to exist in this world. We are children of GREAT ATLANTIS! "

Her guard turned to the battleline of the sea-warriors and yelled something incomprehensible. The warriors took down their weapons and began to embark the ships in order. The gigantic warrior led the priestess to the most splendid ship. It had a mighty warrior with a mermaid’s tail as figurehead and was name “Prince of the Great Sea”. Some minutes later the first ships set out. Alyonna nodded to Victrix and took place on a throne directly behind the ship’s wheel. The captain of the “Prince of the Great Sea” was a swarthy man with dark skin who with great composure navigated the ship out of the harbor as if nothing unusual had happened.

Victrix shook his head. He had to admit: The sea-warriors had balls of steel. But so had they! He turned to his battle formation: "Men, we are victorious! We have expelled the foe from our country. A triple HURRAH! " "HURRAH! HURRAH! HURRAH!", yelled his men behind him. The other warriors led by the chieftains arrived and closed the line. Men embraced each other; the chieftains exchanged words of respect. Now they had to wait for the commando from the palace and Malo’s force.

They decided to use the time to loot the bodies of the fallen and check the warehouses in the harbor. It was fully equipped with local and exotic products. It didn’t seem to them the sea-people had intended to leave voluntarily. Victrix breathed heavily and thought: "That was high time. They would have become stronger and stronger!" They took everything useful the sea-people left behind but didn’t touch stuff that obviously belonged originally to the city. The exhausted warriors sat down, drank foreign wine and ate fruit they had never seen before. They tasted superbly.

Maybe half an hour later Malo, Coran and Laban arrived with their soldiers. The commando was stained with blood, for it had run into a large bunch of foes after they had fled the palace over the rooftop. Suddenly they had seen from a shelter in the dark almost four dozen of heavily armed sea-warrior dragging screaming women and children through the streets. In blind fury Laban and Coran had ordered to kill them all, and so they ambushed them. Even Brendan who was still trembling from his vertigo took part in the most brutal killing. The commando went through the lines of the foes like a warm knife through butter. They even had slain those in cold blood who had surrendered to them after seeing that there couldn’t be victory. Only Mabon and Dil-Shad had turned away. They couldn’t stand the cries for mercy of the sea-men on the ground facing death. Grinning in killing frenzy, the local warriors and their own comrades had cut their throats, one after another. At least Coran could prevent ugly deeds of torture by his men. They suggested to kill the foes slowly and most brutally. The freed women and children had fled screaming from the massacre in the meantime.

After that they had made their way to the harbor, killing every sea-warrior they could possibly find. There they met up with Malo who had organized some of the city dwelling citizens of Alessina into an additional fighting force who had helped ambush sea-people warriors in the streets and created more chaos and bloodshed. Especially Coran’s men were up to this killing. Their built-up hatred was erupting like a volcano that even Brendan had shaken his head. Mabon and Dil-Shad were disgusted and didn’t take place in the fights anymore. Should the soldiers do their dirty work alone! Now there was nothing more to do, so Malo and Coran ordered the locals to comb every single house and slay every sea-man they could find in hiding.

Malo, Coran and Laban exchanged warrior’s greetings with the chieftains and congratulated to the victorious battle. But Victrix said: "No, my friends Laban and Coran, the pleasure of thanking is ours. You raided the palace successfully and killed the king. That brought us victory! Hail the victorious king-slayers!"