"Hmm?! The Eastern Totonac Alliance—where did so many big ships come from?"
The Totonac coast in January was a deep azure blue. Sea and sky seemed equally distant, merging soundlessly at the far horizon; the clouds, by contrast, felt almost close enough to touch. Yet at this moment, all that peace had been shattered by fierce slaughter upon the sea!
Black Wolf Toltec carried a great bow on his back and two baskets of Copper Arrows at his waist, leading a full six hundred Red-hair Hunters to the shore where the fighting raged. He stopped and looked out, and saw only two Water Fleets, east and west, each with two hundred Canoes, like dense schools of fish on the water, constantly tangling and killing each other across the sea!
"The Kingdom's Water Fleet... double-hulled Canoes constantly shooting arrows..."
The Kingdom Water Fleet in the west had slightly greater numbers. The double-hulled Canoes were side-by-side Mackerel, relying on their relatively stable hulls as they kept drawing close to loose rains of arrows. The single-hulled Canoes were small Cod, darting nimbly in to harry and entangle, stabbing out with sharp long spears and closing in to kill the enemy at close quarters.
But when Black Wolf's gaze turned toward the Eastern Totonac Water Fleet, his brows abruptly knitted, and his eyes sharpened.
"The Totonac Alliance's Water Fleet... big ships charging back and forth? One, two, three... eight, nine, ten! Damn it, a full ten big ships! Huh! That's? That's! Two Kingdom Longships?!..."
Under the astonished stares of the Red-hair Hunters, the Eastern Totonac Water Fleet came charging in like a school of Trout led by sharks, savage and frenzied! Of the ten leading "sharks," two were Kingdom Longships, fitted with sharp bronze rams. As for the remaining eight, they were Maya-style Maya