Titans of Chaos

Colin got his hands on the commander of the squad, or, at least, an Atlantean with nicer lookingblue-and-green scale mail than the rest, and was holding him up in midair, shaking him by thethroat, shouting at him.

Storm-winds and thunder crashed all around him as he paced the reeling, rain-washed deck,hauling the struggling man toward the rail. Then Colin mounted the prow, dangling the man overthe water, shouting again at him.

This time, the thunder was less, and I heard what the shouts were about. Was it something like,Call off your men? No. Nothing so sensible.

"WHO IS THE PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD? SAY IT! SAY IT! SAY THE NAME I TOLD

YOU TO SAY!"

"A-Amelia! Amelia Windrose!"

"PRETTIER THAN YOUR GIRL?"

"Ye-yes sir! Much prettier!"

"GOD BLESS YOU FOR AN HONEST MAN!" roared Colin over the storm. "YOU GET TO

LIVE!" And he threw the man headlong into the raging sea, a hundred yards if it was an inch.

How sweet. I mean, really. It was sweet.

If you are wondering why, during all this, the Atlanteans and Laestrygonians did not unleashhorrific magic upon us all, or blast us with space-age weapons from some futuristic paralleldimension, or even unlimber their deck-guns and blow a hole into our ship, the reason (as far as Ican tell) is that Vanity saved us.

The Silvery Ship was skipping like a wild dolphin from wave-crest to wave-crest, and the sleekblack ships were darting like dark sharks in her wake. But the moment we crossed the invisibleline (invisible to all but me) separating the waters of the other sphere from the waters of Earth,the ward blocking our powers was crossed, and the green stone hanging around Vanity's neckbegan to glow. It was beneath her shirt, and only I saw it, I, whose vision was not stopped bymerely three-dimensional surfaces.

It was glowing when she and I, wrapped in Colin's arms, fell through her secret trapdoor andlanded on that mattress. It was glowing when Colin tried to molest her and she slapped him, andhe went bounding like a super ninja movie hero on wires up out of the hold to battle theAtlanteans.

Before another word was spoken, Vanity, without bothering to stir from the mattress, claspedboth hands to her bosom and bent her head, concentrating. The Silvery Ship skipped back acrossthe ward, shutting down my powers; I went blind. I could hear the noise of rushing waters, andfelt the bucking and leaping of the deck beneath me, and that was all.