by Simon Archer
I closed my eyes for a moment to read the winds and current between here and Tarrant, our next stop. We needed to purchase all the supplies we needed for this expedition into the ice. There’d be little chance to forage or resupply in the frozen sea, and though there was little chance of being stuck in the shifting floes with all the magical types I had aboard ship, I intended to take no chances. My crew was my clan, and I’d do everything in my power to give them the best chance of survival that I could.
A gentle turn and a few adjustments were all it took to slide us into the most advantageous course to the cliffside city of pirates. We were a couple of days away even at this speed, and there were no Imperials in sight. They were all still gathered to guard The Pale Horse, I supposed.
I felt a bit of satisfaction at that thought. As powerful as Admiral Justin Lane had become and as invincible as his city-sized white ship seemed to be, he still feared me enough to draw the entire fleet back to Avion to stand guard in anticipation of an attack. Who would dare such a thing?
Me.
A grin stole over my rough features as I gazed out over the deck and into the distance before us. I would give the Admiral his war, come hell or hurricane. The Archipelago would be free of him and Erdrath both, and the people here would plot a course to their own future as truly free towns.
For the first time since Tabitha had teasingly called me the Pirate King, I felt like the title fit me. A warm feeling spread out from my heart, and I let out a deep chuckle. It would be a long night, but morning wasn’t so far off, and the future looked bright.
4
We were under full sail, bearing for the free town of Tarrant when four ships suddenly materialized from under cover of magic. The sea had been empty, then, suddenly, we were under attack.
Cannons boomed, and The Hullbreaker rocked under the impacts of several balls. Chain shot whizzed overhead to tangle in the rigging, but with all the enchantments that Mary Night had woven into her timbers and masts, she held firm.
“Fire at will!” I bellowed out over the deck as my crew scrambled to adjust to the surprise attack.
The attacking ships all bore the same pirate flag, a pair of red swords crossed below a skull in profile, with the whole on the typical black field. I didn’t recognize the arms, but pirates were always coming and going in the Archipelago. Very few had more than one ship, which implied that our attacker was someone of wealth.
I spun the wheel and crashed us up against one of the enemy ships, this one a long, low barque. She’d just unleashed her broadside on us, to little effect, and now it was our turn. Bord’s crew unloaded our starboard guns into the pirate at point-blank range. Smoke billowed up, and crew scrambled to abandon ship as we sailed past.
Something exploded in the depths of the ship, and she heeled over and yawed, sinking and burning while more survivors headed for the water.
“Clear the lines!” I roared. The lines and spars of the mainsail were a hopeless tangle from the flying chain shot, which meant that even under a witchwind, we’d not be able to outrun the pirates, and we’d be limited in our ability to maneuver.
Just not much.
“Ready oars!” I commanded, and the officer of the watch relayed my wished below.
“Who are these people?” Mary joined me at the helm, followed by Ember Spark, Tabitha Binx’s witch.
We had a moment as ships turned and cannoneers reloaded, so I took a look over the other fleet. Aside from the barque, there were a pair of schooners, about half the size of my Hullbreaker, and another long, narrow ship with elegant, curved lines and a mass of triangular sails.
“That be a damned elven ship,” I snarled. “Since when do those bastards lean pirate?”
“I hope you aren’t asking me,” Mary said. Her evil eye flared as she wove a hex against a ship that got too close.
Ember joined her, plucking bits of flame from the very air to cast at the same ship, one of the schooners, as the enemy hurried to reach boarding distance before we reloaded. The ship turned off quickly as her rigging burst into flames, and her expected broadside failed to materialize.
Whoever these pirates were, they had made quite the mistake in attacking us.
The worry was how the hell had they remained unseen until we were among them, and how had they known our route? I had to answer these questions, but there was a fight to win first, and we needed to get to Tarrant quickly. There was a long journey ahead, and it was a race against time to see if we could achieve our objective and return with the dwarven Sea Hammer ship before Admiral Justin Layne completed his city-sized vessel, The Pale Horse.
Now, though, we had to get free of these bloody ambushers. Tiny would have been bloody useful to have around, but we’d only brought the one ship, mine. The Dragon Turtle was back at Insmere along with those of my crew that weren’t on this mission. Ligeia, though…
The siren dove overboard moments after we were attacked. Hopefully, she was alright and was well on her way to disabling an enemy ship. In the meantime, though…
“Hard port!” I yelled to the rowers and spun the wheel to the left, bringing our broadside in line with the elven vessel.
Bord was a sharp-eyed old bastard of a dwarf and the best damn cannonmaster I’d ever worked with. He didn’t need me to call out the shots, which is why I would call out, “Fire at will,” at the beginning of any engagement. The Hullbreaker’s portside cannons opened up, and more than a few struck home on the elegant ship, sending shards of her flying. The captain veered off, and I spun the wheel to bring us back to our heading.
Overhead, my sailors rushed to cut the chains from the rigging and re-run the lines. “Any more tricks up yer sleeves?” I asked the two witches. Both of them faced the stern now and kept watch on the pirates as we pulled ahead.
“Wait, I think,” Ember mused.
“Wait and watch,” Mary added.
Very faintly, over the distance, I heard the strains of a softly sung melody that tugged on my heartstrings. It called to me, inviting and promising delights beyond even my wildest of dreams. At this distance, though, it could easily be resisted.
My siren had entered the fray, and she was pulling no punches. I spared a look back and watched men diving into the water from the schooner, lured by Ligeia’s voice away from their posts and the safety of their ship.
She was terrifying when she did things like this. Death by drowning or in the jaws of a shark were ingrained fears that shook the hearts of most sailors. I’d seen a man on dry land step from a high place and fall to his death at her call. Perhaps, in this, she was being merciful. Unlike times before, the water below the ship did not teem with sharks and other predators.
The poor bastards would have a hell of a time getting back aboard, though, which left the elven ship.
Once again, I wondered what had led an elf to turn pirate, especially here in the Archipelago, where they were feared and hated by most due to the war between Erdrath and Milnest. Perhaps I was wrong, though, and it was just another scum from the isles who’d lucked into capturing one of the fast, magical elf-ships used by the Wavelords.
“Orc!” The voice that rang out across the sea was clear and sharp. “This is not over!”
I’d heard voices like that before. It was an elf and a female to boot.
“For now, it be!” I roared back.
“Aye! But ye have not heard the last of the Crimson Blade!”
The voice faded as we pulled further away under oar. We wouldn’t pick up much more speed until Ligeia returned, but our opponent wasn’t giving chase. Instead, she guided her ship around and went to the aid of the men in the water. The fourth ship of her little fleet hung back, too. They’d put out the fires in their rigging and doubtless weren’t anxious to engage us again.
Good for them that we didn’t have the time to waste finishing them off.
I scowled and glanced up at the rigging where my crew was just about done straightening the sails. We were ready, just as soon as my siren was back
aboard.
That didn’t take long, either. A clawed hand grabbed the top of the railing, and the lithe, naked form of Ligeia swung nimbly aboard. Water dripped from her shining skin and plastered her black hair to her scalp and around her shoulders. She looked up at the helm and caught my eye with a closed-lipped smile and a nod of satisfaction before she hurried over.
The only ones who hadn’t made an appearance during that fight were Adra and Rhianne. The tuskless shamaness often only joined battles at the last moment, and the merciless sun above, even shrouded by clouds, burned the dead flesh of the undead witch.
Tabitha Binx, black-furred, feline captain of The Black Cat and adventurer extraordinaire, was down with the deck crew, proving her worth yet again, while Jimmy Mocker, my first mate, and Jenny Nettles, hers, played their own parts.
Our fight with The Crimson Blade had been a short one, but it had eaten into our resources. We’d need more powder and shot on top of cold-weather gear, oil, food, and water. At least I had a few chests of Imperial gold stashed below, part of The Hullbreaker’s share of the treasure of The Golden Bull, a sunken treasure ship that had been lost before Asmond Blackburn took the throne of Erdrath in a bloody coup.
We also bore several magical artifacts of unknown power and function, also stolen from the wreck. Without time and resources to research them, they were pretty useless to us, but I knew they were powerful, and that Admiral Layne wanted them, so I kept them close.
I also kept Mary close, because while the Admiral might have designs upon her for some unknown reason, she, along with Ligeia and Tabitha, also shared my bed. Only rarely did this occur at the same time, which I thought was unfortunate, but each of them was incredible just by themselves.
The Hullbreaker picked up speed as I adjusted course to make the best use of the winds and currents. Her sails billowed, and her lines snapped taut when the wind filled them.
“I think you barely need me anymore, my Captain,” Mary teased.
Ember snorted and shook her head, then took a few steps away as Ligeia joined us. She ended up at the aft rail and gazed back pensively at the enemy ships as they fell further and further behind.
“I called nothing and took none of the sailors for myself,” my siren reported. “They did as I suspected and went for rescue rather than pursuit.”
That was an interesting insight. Pirates normally were a bit more freewheeling and would leave a ship behind to catch a fat target. Knowing that, I suspected that this Crimson Blade and her crew were more loyal to each other than to the pursuit of gold. That made her dangerous in a way that a typical pirate could never be.
“Ye did good,” I told her. “Everybody did yer duties well. Hell, ye did better than that. Keep it up an’ we’ll deal with the Admiral just as easy.”
Ember snorted. “I rather think that Layne may be a shade more difficult than these strange pirates.”
“Speaking of strange,” Mary added. “Did my eyes deceive me? Did they just appear from thin air?”
“I be at a bloody loss to explain that, but aye,” I replied. “‘Tis something that I’ve not seen elves do with their ships before.”
“Sorcery, maybe?” Ember speculated. She had returned her attention to the group of us as Mary waved her over.
“Could be some powerful hex, but I sensed no resistance against us when we disabled the one ship,” my witch said. “Perhaps ‘tis elven magic none of us were aware of.”
“I hope that’s all it be,” I grumbled. I didn’t like not knowing, but now, there was no way of finding out. At least not until we met The Crimson Blade once more, and I had a feeling that we would. An elven pirate plying her trade in the Archipelago was unlikely to be a coincidence.
“Rhianne might know,” Ember suggested.
Tabitha, Jenny, and Jimmy all had joined us on the aftcastle deck at this point, and things were getting a bit too bloody crowded for me.
“Maybe some o’ ye could go ask her,” I said.
“Right.” Mary let out a sigh. “She talks best with me for some godsdamned reason, so I’ll go have words with her.”
There was little love lost between the two. Rhianne had sold Mary out to Commodore Arde, but Mary had beaten and killed Rhianne during our first battle aboard The Indomitable. My witch, at least, seemed to accept that the other, her coven leader, was under the influence of the sorcerer Lack when she did those things. I suspected the pair had forgiven each other on some level, but it would take a while before they settled their issues fully.
The sooner the bloody better, I thought. I’d brought more than enough magic on this journey to hopefully make it easy, but it came at the cost of leaving Insmere woefully under-protected by witches or others.
Still, all signs pointed to the Admiral being unwilling to move against the Archipelago until his ship was done, and he’d pulled his entire fleet back to protect her. I suspected that word of my success had not only reached the man but that it had shaken him, and he was taking up a defensive posture.
This pleased me. I wanted Admiral Layne to shake in his boots whenever my name was spoken, because I was Bardak Skullsplitter, the orc pirate of the Archipelago, and I would be the one to end his tyranny.
5
As we drew closer to Tarrant, we saw more and more ships of various sorts, from long, low, wave-cutting vessels to big, wallowing coastal tubs. Trade had picked up in just the past few months, and it did look to me like smugglers were taking advantage of the lack of Imperial presence. Not that I blamed them one bit.
Everyone with half a grain of sense could see that war was brewing, and I was, at least in part, at the heart of it. Frankly, I was surprised that most of the ships we passed gave us a wave and a cheer from the deck. I couldn’t help but grin.
“What’re ye lookin’ so smug about, Cap’n?” Jimmy Mocker asked as he sauntered up to the aftcastle deck from below.
I gestured vaguely off at some of the other ships. “Them,” I said. “They be cheering us.”
“Mayhap.” He grimaced and put his hands on his hips to stretch, his back arched. “Ye sure ‘tis a good idea to pass through Tarrant? Loose lips an’ all.”
“‘Tis the only place to acquire some o’ the things on Bord’s bloody list, an’ unless we can get that bloody hulk moving, this whole quest’ll be for naught,” I replied. “I don’t like it, but I don’t see any other bloody choice.”
“Aye, I understand that.” Jimmy scratched his head and gazed out at the crowded harbor as we sailed in. Tarrant itself rose along the cliff overlooking the bay, businesses and houses spreading from the docks to the cliff base, then up to topside, where the wealthiest villains in the Archipelago dwelled.
“I can’t say I’ve ever seen this port so damned full,” I observed then yelled to the crew. “Drop sails! Out oars!”
A few moments later, we began making our way towards an empty pier near the shallow end of the port under the power of mighty orc backs. It wasn’t the best place for us, but it was all there was for now. We would have to move in order to load up unless someone had dredged out around the half-secluded, creaky old dock.
As I guided The Hullbreaker in, I didn’t notice the keel scraping, so perhaps we’d gotten lucky, and someone in Tarrant had actually done the work of dredging around the piers.
Sailors rushed to tie us up and lower the gangplank as those of my command crew who weren’t already on deck emerged from below. Mary, as expected, was first, and sported a sour look on her lovely face. She’d been cloistered with Rhianne Corvus this whole time.
“Well, I’d fair like to complain,” Mary said to me, “but she proved helpful. ‘Twas a glamour that elves have used upon occasion, though a costly one.”
“How do you mean, costly?” I asked.
“For something the size of a ship, it requires the willing sacrifice of a man’s or woman’s sight,” she replied. “Though the spell is an enchantment that can be later invoked upon that ship at need.”
“Like what ye did
to reinforce our boards, aye?”
Mary nodded. “A ship enchantment, my Captain.”
I grunted. Sometimes I felt there were too many kinds of magic for my liking: fae glamors, hexcraft, sorcery, shamanic spiritualism, and whatever else was out there. I definitely did not like the idea of invisible ships, though.
“How do we keep from falling into this trap again?” I asked.
“We’re working on it,” she replied.
“Right,” I said, then motioned to Tabitha and Ember. Jimmy had gone off to huddle with Jenny Nettles, which brought a faint smirk to my lips.
Tabitha Binx sauntered over with her red-haired witch, Ember Spark, trailing along in her wake.
“Have ye told these?” I asked Mary.
My witch shook her head. “Only you, my captain.”
“Ah, secrets,” Tabitha purred, then grinned. “Ones we are about to learn, aye?”
Bord interrupted at that point as he stomped over. “Permission to go ashore, Cap’n? I’ll handle my orders while ye dawdle.”
“Aye, cannonmaster,” I answered. “Gather Mocker, Nettles, an’ the brothers to go with ye, an’ try not to leave us paupers.”
The dwarf snorted. “I’ve more an idea o’ the value o’ gold than ye, ye spendthrift.” He turned and bellowed at Jimmy and Jenny, then gathered them and the orc brothers, Daka and Dogar, before heading off into Tarrant.
The rest of us watched them go, and I folded my arms across my chest and stared out at the city beyond the docks. I wanted to get on with this adventure, but as always, there were things that needed to be done.
“Right,” I grumbled. “Since Bord’ll be takin’ care o’ the more mechanical an’ explosive supplies we be needin’, ‘tis up to the rest o’ us to see to food, water, an’ cold-weather gear.” My eyes swept over the remaining members of my command before I motioned to them and headed for the gangplank. “Explain what ye learned whilst we walk, Mary, lass.”
