All around floated the deserted, destroyed husks of ships either lacking the protection of the gods or bearing the fate of their condemnation. The closest vessel they passed had clearly arrived not long before Kratos and his quarry. A dozen or so sailors were pinned to the mast-impaled by a single immense spear. Harpies had picked at the bodies. Most of the sailors were mere shreds of flesh hanging on bloody skeletons-but the one closest to the mast was still alive. The sailor caught sight of Kratos and began to kick feebly, stretching out his hands in a silent plea for mercy.

Kratos was more interested in that immense spear-its presence hinted that a Cyclops might be nearby. He stepped to block the steersman’s view of the death ship. “Pay heed to your course.”

“Lord Ares opposes us,” the sailor said in a choked voice. “The harpies-the Hydra-these are now his own creatures! All of them. Would you defy the God of War?”

Kratos cuffed the steersman hard enough to knock him to the deck. “That merchantman has fresh water. We have to take her before she sinks, or we’ll all die swilling the sea. Forget Ares. Worry about Poseidon.” He hauled the man back to his feet and set him at the tiller. “And if Poseidon doesn’t worry you, there is always me.”

For two days they had been without water. His mouth was drier than the Desert of Lost Souls, and his tongue had swollen. Kratos would gladly have traded for the water, but before the deal could be made, the captain of the merchantman had caught a glimpse of him and had decided a wiser course was to flee as though all the hounds of Hades bayed at his heels. Kratos would teach this captain the consequences of such wisdom.

He tugged at his short, pointed beard, combing from it thick clots of blood-harpy or human, he neither knew nor cared. He checked himself for wounds; in the heat of battle, one can be mortally injured without even noticing. Finding none, his fingers unconsciously traced the red tattoo that swept up across his face and shaved head before descending along his back. The red contrasted sharply with the bone white of his skin.