Within moments, all the Romans and Axumites were busily donning their armor and taking up their weapons. The priest was now practically gibbering.
“Anastasius,” commanded the general. “Do something impressively unfriendly.”
Anastasius immediately seized the priest by the scruff of the neck and his crotch and tossed him back toward the cluster of priests amidships. The priest managed to land on his feet, more or less, but he immediately stumbled out of control and hurtled into his cohorts, bowling two of them right over.
Venandakatra screeched with fury. A small crowd of Ye-tai warriors surged forward.
Without any orders from Belisarius, all three cataphracts immediately notched arrows and drew their bows. The two sarwen raised their javelins. Eon and Garmat hefted their stabbing spears. Belisarius drew his sword. Ousanas lounged against the rail.
“What are you playing at?” hissed Menander.
Ousanas gaped. “Me? Miserable slave! Not fit for noble type foolishness.”
“Ousanas!” commanded Eon.
The dawazz sighed. “Most unreasonable prince.” He lazed forward. “Play old game?” he asked.
Eon immediately gave Ousanas his great spear. The prince shed his baldric and sword and then began to walk, unarmed, toward the Malwa crowd. Behind him, Ousanas motioned the Ye-tai warriors to clear a lane. Puzzled, but hearing no countervailing orders from the priests, the Ye-tai did as the dawazz bade them.
Eon walked right through the silent Malwa crowd until he reached the cabin which was built around the base of the mainmast. As soon as he reached the cabin, the prince turned and backed up against it. He crossed his arms and spread his legs about a foot apart. He was standing about twenty yards from the Axumites and Romans in the bow.
Ousanas casually jabbed the stabbing spear into the deck of the ship. The huge blade sank a full inch into the hard wood and stood erect. Without a word, one of the sarwen handed him a javelin. The dawazz hefted the javelin lightly and then, with a motion whose speed and power stunned everyone watching, hurled the javelin across the length of the deck.
The weapon sank into the wall of the cabin almost the full length of the blade. The shaft of the weapon quivered like a tuning fork. About two inches from the prince’s left ear.
A moment later, another javelin was sailing across the deck. This one plunged into the wood about two inches from Eon’s right ear. Not seconds later, a third javelin thundered into the cabin wall right between the prince’s legs. About two inches below his crotch.
“Mary, Mother of God,” whispered Valentinian.
Anastasius drew a deep breath. “That’s incredible spear work. Amazing!”
“Fuck the spear work,” growled Valentinian. “The kid never even blinked! That’s amazing. I may never fuck again, just from watching.”
The prince suddenly laughed. He and his dawazz exchanged huge grins across the deck of the ship.
“Very foolish prince,” mused Ousanas, shaking his head. “But got elephant heart. Been that way since boy.”
Ousanas plucked the great stabbing spear out of the deck and sauntered toward Eon. The warriors and priests scuttled out of his way. The dawazz smiled upon them beatifically.
“Intelligent persons!” he exclaimed. “Very most sane and logical Indian people!” He bestowed a particularly engaging grin upon Venandakatra.
When Ousanas reached Eon, he and the prince assisted each other in withdrawing the javelins from the cabin walls. More than anything else, perhaps, it was the obvious effort being exerted by these two very strong men which drove home just how ferocious those javelin casts had been.
Belisarius sheathed his sword and strode over to Venandakatra.
“We are soldiers,” he told the Indian lord sternly, “not children. We will not be penned in the hold during an attack.”
He matched Venandakatra’s glare with one of his own. After a moment, the Vile One looked away.
“Besides,” added Belisarius, turning away and pointing to the approaching fleet of pirate vessels, “you may find you are glad to have us, soon enough.”
Venandakatra scowled, but said nothing. Belisarius returned to the bow of the ship and began giving directions to the Roman and Axumite warriors. After a few moments, it became clear that the Indians had decided to leave the defense of the bow in the hands of their unwanted guests.