"Up, shields!" shouted Patrocles.  "Archers to the fore!"

 

I struggled to my feet, keeping the huge shield at shoulder height and locking with the shield of the neighbor to my left and Hippocrotes on my right.  Behind me the archers notched and drew their bows, releasing on command and firing into the enemy ship's densely packed soldiery, still trying to regain their footing in the unstable world of their new and wounded home.

 

"Prepare to withdraw!" I heard Miretus roar over the cacophony that had erupted all around me:  screams, shouts, cries for help, curses against the gods, the crashing of bronze upon wood, the moans of the stricken, the thrum of bows and the rat-a-tat of arrows against bronze-faced shields.  Immediately, the deck hands that worked the ship ran to the bow and added their weight to our own, while the rowers stood and pushed for all they were worth against their oars, driving their blades into the inert sea and bent on reversing our precipitous thrust into the enemy.

 

"Rock!  Rock!" shouted Miretus.

 

And rock we did, up and down as our archers drew and loosed and the enemy slowly recovered, unloading a hail of return fire from their own bowman, which we did our best to intercept and dismiss.  Our ram had driven far into the bowels of the unlucky Phoenician, and it seemed reluctant to leave its shattered prey.  Nevertheless, we rocked it loose, even as the dying barbarian vessel began to heel towards us, its hold filling with the sea, its frantic rowers clawing their way on deck.  Our own oarsmen had finally found purchase against the ocean and levered us back out, clearing the wreckage and bringing us once again into the relative clear of the raging battle.

 

I looked up and over my shield, my bronze helmet filled already with dirt and sweat but my body filled with fiery energy.  We were clear!  We'd done it!  Our first action with the enemy, and there they lay, the formidable barbarian, rolling about in the waters of the sea, frantic and drowning and looking for all the world like terrified rats.  I screamed with elation and raised my spear in a fierce shake.  Beside me, I could hear Hippocrotes do the same, even as a final few spent arrows whistled overhead.

 

"Quiet, you fools!" shouted Patrocles.  "Keep your discipline!"

 

I grinned despite myself and looked at Hippocrotes, who winked, a broad smile creasing his strong face. "See Lysis?" he said. "Nothing to it.  We'll drive these people back where they came from faster than Zeus can mount Aphrodite." He slapped me on the back of my helmet, laughing. "Then you can get back to my sister, eh?"