"Demon Journey" by Poul Anderson (1951)
Originally appeared in Planet Stories as "Witch of the Demon Seas" (January 1951).
Corun fighting Perias the Erinye Plot: Corun the Conahurian (Celt) is blackmailed into leading an Acheronian (Greek) expedition to the land of the Xanthi, the xenophobic fish-people by the wizard Shorzon and the witch Chryseis. After crossing the dangerous Demon Seas, the ship of humans fights the Xanthi then are taken to their capital. There, Shorzon schemes while Corun works to defeat the Xanthi and blow up their palace. At the end, Corun must fight Perias the Erinye if he is to get to Chryseis. Monsters: Perias the Erinye - Chryseis the witch has a winged demon protector - based on the Greek mythological creature. Xanthi - a race of fish people who have a superior magic and an empire above and below the sea. Cetarea - the aquatic horses of the Xanthi.
The Battle with the Xanthi History: This story reads like a Sword & Sorcery epic but poul Anderson hedges his bets by giving nmagic a Science Fictional explanation so that it could appear in Planet Stories, which specialized in Sword & Planet stories. This is a small price to pay for this story is excellent and getting it published anywhere in 1951 was not easy as the Pulps were dying out. The by-line was A. A. Craig because Poul had one of his Flandry stories in the same issue under his own name.
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