Chapter 144 - Blockade

King Minos arrived at the edge of Heraklion where a platoon was stationed. Hopping off his horse he headed to the command tent where his general awaited him.

A man adorned in the finest iron armor money could buy, trimmed with gold around the edges to show his rank, greeted him with a bow.

"My King, we've gathered what men we could on such short notice with more arriving every day, none will be able to make it in or out unless we want them to."

King Minos- "Good job Cnaeus, make sure that you keep it that way, now tell me about the boat, has there been any sign of activity?"

"A red-headed woman was spotted frequenting the deck until the city guards took position, since then she's gone below and has yet to appear again."

King Minos- "And have we secured the waters, are our sh.i.p.s in place?"

"Yes sir, we have also enclosed the port so no boats can enter or leave either and Talus has been spotted nearby, he will arrive shortly."

King Minos grinned,- "Excellent, you've done well, continue gathering everyone we can and keep this place locked down, our enemies are dangerous and shouldn't be underestimated, I will personally lead a group once Talus arrives and take the boat, we'll need hostages in order to negotiate."

Cnaeus confused, asked,- "Negotiate? Why don't we just take them by force, regardless of how strong they are, they can't possibly withstand our full might."

King Minos sighed,- "I just told you don't underestimate them, what I'm about to tell you now stays within this tent, do you understand?"

Cnaeus didn't hesitate to deeply bow again showing his fealty,- "My king, I am here to serve you unto death, you can count on me."

King Minos pleased by his show told him,- "Rise, as I said you earlier they are dangerous, they not only have great strength but also have a pet monster that can change its size, it has already killed the Minotaur, expect a tough bloody battle, we can under no circ.u.mstances allow them to escape with the treasure that Zeus left."

Cnaeus eyes widened briefly before his training kicked in as he turned serious, giving a salute,- "Understood, I will personally see to it that we bring them down."

King Minos raised his hand for him to stand back down,- "Thank you Cnaeus, but as I said, first we'll try and negotiate for the treasure before we resort to force, I don't wish it to get damaged in the coming fight, and there will be a fight of that you can be sure, so now that you know what you're up against prepare accordingly."

"Don't worry sir we won't let them escape, I'll have the men start setting up ballistae around the area to shoot down the monster for when he turns big," Cnaeus said saluting once more before exiting to ready everything.

King Minos in his silver and gold-colored armor with a javelin on his back, exited shortly after, remounting his white horse.

Pulling his horse around he addressed his royal guard,- "Men, today we'll be going to an enemies boat to capture them alive, I need them alive, know that this could be more dangerous than it first appears, they could have strange powers, but know that Zeus is on our side, not theirs, trust in Zeus, trust in me! And Let's Ride!" He shouted as he turned around kicking his horse to run.

The silver armored men cheered as they followed closely behind, ready to die for their King if need be.

____________________________________________

Holland has been bored with nothing to do and Nina was too busy below practicing control so she wouldn't accidentally stone someone again.

She spent most of her time on the deck people watching and gazing out to sea, quietly humming to herself, being careful not to sing too loudly while trying to stay out of sight for the most part.

It was sometime later when she noticed guards clearing out the city streets and surrounding the docks. Having a bad feeling she went below deck to warn Nina of what was going on, knocking on the door,- "Nina, guards have appeared and they cleared the area and are now surrounding us."

Nina who was in the training room Theoric created for her was looking at a fish in a clear energy tank filled with water in front of her, trying to turn it into stone at will. Around her were statues of fishes she already turned as well as other alive hidden fishes in barrels of water made to hold and hide them until she was ready to take them out and try again.

Hearing Holland, she calmed herself making sure it was safe before opening the door,- "Tell me again what happened."

After Holland repeated what she saw, a now worried Nina headed to the deck to see for herself,- "I'll go take a peek and see what's going on."

"Do you think Theo is in trouble?" Holland asked thinking the two related.

Nina didn't even entertain such concerns,- "Theo is powerful, there is no way mere mortals can even hope to harm him, and if he knew what was going on he would be here, so the question is if they are here for us, how did they find out?"

Holland,- "Mn, you're right, maybe they saw him but he didn't see them."

Nina suddenly paused thinking of something,- "You're right! They likely wish to use us to threaten him, we did come here for a treasure that the locals would know about, probably after seeing his greatness they realized he would get the treasure and knew they couldn't hope to beat him so they looked for other means, mainly us." She said scowling at the implications,- "How dare they try and use me against my lord, I'll stone them all," she said as her eyes flashed back and forth from normal to her Medusa yellow slit snake eyes, it was a good thing Holland was behind her.

Sneaking back on deck Nina took control of her emotions so she wouldn't harm Holland as the two of them crawled to the ship edge to peek over. Where they saw groups of men patrolling the vicinity, setting up formations.

Holland looking around nudged Nina as she pointed out to sea where Sh.i.p.s were patrolling the waters.

Nina cursed,- "Evil bastards, I can't believe this happening, just my luck."

Fearing her loud remarks, Holland tried to hush her,- "Shh, they'll hear you."

Nina snorted,- "It's pretty obvious they're here for us, I suggest you ready whatever Siren skills you have."

Holland, having never really fought before except screaming that one time at Grani was visibly nervous,- "Are you sure we can? There are so many."

Nina put a hand on her shoulder,- "You can do this, they are just normal men, you can use your siren song to enthrall them and make them all drown themselves or something, and don't forget you also have that powerful scream, worst comes to worst I'll shout your name and that will be the signal for you to close your eyes and that's when I'll unleash all my hatred on them, turning them all to stone, okay?"

Holland gave a nod,- "Mn."

Peeking back over they spotted a group of elite-looking soldiers entering the scene, being led by a man on a white horse.

Holland,- "Who is that?"

Nina,- "Probably their general and his guards, get ready."