“Set your course to sail towards the shipping lanes from Seafare now,” Kestrel told the captain. We’ll go slowly in that direction to see if we can find the messenger ship.”
Two hours later they spotted a black-hulled ship with green sails. “Let’s approach it easily,” Kestrel cautioned. “If it doesn’t carry the message from Probst, we can let it go.”
As they approached, Kestrel prepared three arrows with a heavy pitch coating on their heads and shafts, then took a small lantern and all his arrows up into the height of the mast with him.
“Halt and prepare to be boarded,” a loud voice called from the other ship with they were only fifty yards apart. “In the name of Uniontown you are to be searched and seized.”
“We are in open waters,” the captain of Galatea protested. “We only want to know if you’ve come from Seafare.”
“No, we haven’t, and it doesn’t matter,” the voice on the other ship shouted. “We’re going to board you and make you a subject of Uniontown no matter where you’re from,” he said as the two ships drew closer. Members of his crew lined up along the rail of the Uniontown ship, bows, knives, and swords in their hands.
Kestrel let his first arrow fly, a shot at the captain of the Uniontown ship that killed the man giving the orders. He immediately shot two more arrows at once at the leaders of the presumptive boarding crew, then shot another pair of simultaneous arrows, and another pair, killing a half dozen members of the boarding crew and frightening the others away from the railing as the two ships continued to approach one another.
Kestrel switched his target to shoot the man at the helm, and fired at the officer who seemed to have taken control after the death of the captain. The other ship began to drift away from the Galatea, and Kestrel sensed the relief felt by the men on the deck below, as he fired another arrow at an officer in charge of the sails.
And then his attention and the attention of everyone else on board the Galatea changed, as the sea on their left side began to boil and steam in a tumultuous eruption that preceded the sudden surge to the surface of a reptilian nightmare.
A monstrous creature, like a vastly over-sized Viathin without limbs exploded up out of the water, its body huge and bulky, then it sinuously arched and drove its head back down into the water as its long tail rose and fell behind it.
The men on the Galatea shouted in horror, while the captain began shouting orders at the crew to alter course to try to escape from the vicinity of the unthinkable creature. Kestrel frantically pulled out one of his pitch-coated arrows and lit the pitch as he put the arrow on the string of his bow and turned around, trying to guess where the animal would rise next.
As he turned to his left there was a loud crashing sound on the right, and he turned to see the monster come up once again, this time between the two ships. It raised its head high in the air, and Kestrel released his flaming arrow so that he hit it in the snout, his shaft traveling up a flaring nostril into the nose of the monster, who screamed a furious note of pain and anger as it slammed itself down into the water again.
Kestrel quickly grabbed another of the pitch arrows, and waited for the monster to return to view, as the crew members continued to shout and dash madly about the deck of the ship. The monster reappeared suddenly, rising immediately next to the ship; it thrust its head high, far out of the water, so that it’s great, dark eyes, large as dinner platters, were even with Kestrel, and then it lunged at him, its head and neck crashing into the spars and cables of the system that held the sails in place, while its grisly teeth snapped shut just feet away from Kestrel, before gravity took hold and overcame the monster’s effort, making it fall downward and back into the water before Kestrel even thought to release his arrow.
His heart was racing and his skin felt clammy with the sweat of fear as he thought of the malevolent intelligence he had seen in those vast eyes that had stared at him. This sea monster was another form of the Viathins! This monster had evolved differently, perhaps by design, perhaps by chance, but it was a member of the race that controlled Uniontown, and that sought to control the world.
He looked down and saw two crewmen lying on the deck, injured by falling debris. He reached for the lantern and lit the pitch-coated arrow he still held, then strung it and prepared to fire at the next expected attack on the ship.
As Kestrel turned from one side to the other, the monster rose again, in the same spot it had risen before, and Kestrel fired his arrow immediately, before the creature was even half way upward towards him. He aimed at the near eye, and watched with a mixture of elation and revulsion as the arrow hit the dark iris and sank deep into the orb of the socket, nearly disappearing as Kestrel’s powerful shot propelled it into the soft flesh.
The Viathin monster bellowed in pain and thrashed wildly, then fell downwards, half its body landing on the deck of the ship and resting there for a horrifying moment before it thrashed its way back into the water, leaving damage to the ship and death to members of the crew.
Kestrel immediately strung another arrow and crouched in place on the rigging, anxiously looking for any sign of the monster. He saw the water swirling in the middle of the gap between the Galatea and the Uniontown ship, then the head of the monster came up to the surface and floated limply. Kestrel drove himself down to the debris-littered deck, stripped off his bow and boots, and then astonished the crew members by leaping over the side of the ship and running on top of the water, his sword held in his hand.
The Viathin did not anticipate his approach, and only rolled over as it heard Kestrel’s near approach, then screamed its outrage just before he leapt astride it and stabbed his sword deep into the dark flesh of its neck. He came to a stop standing atop the spine of the monster, and repeatedly jabbed his blade down into the flesh of his enemy, wounding the animal that tried to twist itself around to attack him, but failed as his attack paralyzed it and created a vast bloody slick on top of the seawater.
Moments later Kestrel leapt off the Viathin and ran back to the Galatea, where he grabbed hold of a trailing piece of wreckage and climbed the rope back up to the deck. He turned and looked out over the water at the monster, and saw the carcass give a slight shudder as death made its systems shut down, and it slowly sank beneath the surface of the water.
“Good news about killing the monster, my lord, but the bad news is that we’re badly damaged,” an officer came up to him and spoke hastily.
“Can you stay afloat?” Kestrel asked.
“I doubt it sir,” the officer reported.
“What does the captain say?” Kestrel asked.
“He’s dead sir, killed by the sea monster,” the man answered.
“What’s our solution?” Kestrel asked.
“We can either try to get to shore quickly, and I think we’re too far out to do that, or we can try to go take that ship over there to save ourselves,” the man gestured towards the nearby Uniontown vessel.
“Can you maneuver towards it?” Kestrel asked.
“Somewhat, but slowly. If we get close enough to throw a rope on it and snag it, and if we can keep the other crew from cutting the rope, we could pull our vessel against theirs and lash them together,” the officer looked longingly towards the ship.
“Start moving our ship over towards it, and when you get close I’ll run a rope to their ship and tie it on,” Kestrel told the acting captain.
“How close do you think you need to get?” the captain asked, looking across the watery gap, as the sun started to set in the western sky.
“Half the distance we have right now,” Kestrel judged.
“We can do that, but it’ll take time, and we won’t have a lot of extra time beyond that,” the man replied, and he turned to give orders to try to move the ship and its crew towards survival.
Kestrel took a turn helping to man the pumps, buying time by slowing the amount of water that was filling the hull of the wounded vessel, while watching to see how close they were getting to the other ship. When he judg
ed the time was right, he left the pumps and went up into the sail rigging with his bow again, then started sending arrows sailing through the twilight air, shrinking the number of men remaining on the other ship who were able to potentially fight when the boarding battle came later.
At last, when he thought the distance was close enough, as the sun’s disk fell more than halfway below the horizon, Kestrel took hold of the end of a long, heavy rope cable that was coiled on the deck of the ship. He grabbed it with both hands to maintain a firm grip, then leapt to the surface of the water and started to run with all his might. The rope was heavy, and he traveled only a few feet before he felt water already rising up to his ankles.
With a groan he shifted the rope to one hand and vigorously pumped his other arm to help increase his pace and extend the range of his run. He felt better about his speed, and he watched the dark hulk of the enemy ship draw closer as he continued to run.
The rope seemed to grow heavier as he got closer to the Uniontown ship, and by the time Kestrel reached the hull of the destination ship his legs were churning slowly, and the water rose to his thighs. He grabbed hold of a rung built into the ship, and listened for any sounds that indicated he had been detected by the men on board the Uniontown ship. There were no shouts, no noises, nothing to indicate that the crew knew what was unfolding at the waterline of their hull.
Kestrel took several deep breaths, then began to climb up the series of rungs, looping the rope through each one, until he came to the space in the hull where an indentation provided access to the dark interior of the hull. He stopped and looked cautiously within, his head just above the bottom of the door way. There was no movement, no awareness, even now, that Kestrel had crept on board, and he slowly entered the ship’s hull, where he looped the rope repeatedly around a large support timber inside the ship’s structure, then dove out of the ship, hit the water cleanly, and started swimming back to the Galatea, following the floating light-colored rope cable in the murky water as a roadway home.
When he reached the hull his arms were tired. He clung to the rope to rest, and shouted up to the deck, “Start hauling; the rope’s connected.”
He immediately saw the rope begin to rise from the water as the crew methodically hauled on it, taking up the slack. After moments of rest, Kestrel slowly climbed back up to the deck, dripping wet as the air began to cool down. He grabbed hold of a railing as the ship gave a sudden jerk.
“That’s the first sign of us moving closer to them,” the acting captain said as he came up beside Kestrel. “Now we just need time to make contact before this ship sinks under us.”
“Stillwater,” Kestrel called, “Stillwater, Stillwater.”
“Over across the water is another ship, a ship from Uniontown. Would you and the others go over there and attack the members of the crew? Don’t get yourselves injured, but use the cover of darkness to distract them and try to cut down their numbers for when we attack them.”
“We will serve your needs, Kestrel friend. There are not many days left for us to move back and forth before the start of winter’s shortest day,” the imp informed him.
“How soon will it be?” Kestrel asked.
“One week. Seven days. If you wish us to remain with you for the winter, to assist you and accompany you, we shall,” Stillwater said. “And if not, we will spend the winter at home, and expect to find you on the first day of spring, ready to carry out new adventures.”
And with that, the imp was gone.
“You talk to them all the time?” the officer on the ship asked in wonder.
“As often as I can; as often as I need. They’re valuable friends and allies,” Kestrel informed the man, as he resumed using the human language again. “They’re going to go over to the Uniontown ship and start attacking the crew members now, so we’ll have fewer to face when we get there.”
“Anything will be helpful,” the officer responded. “We’re settling lower in the water as we speak, especially now that the crew is working on the tow rope instead of the pumps.”
There was the sound of shouts from the ship across the way, an indication that the imps were on the attack.
“Let’s douse these lights on the deck so they don’t see us approaching,” an officer said, and one by one the lanterns on board the Galatea were extinguished. Kestrel watched as the dark shadow of the other ship, and the small constellation of lights on board it, drew closer, while shouts and curses continued to float across the water.
The minutes continued to pass, and suddenly it seemed like the two ships were leaping towards one another. The distance between them was only a few scant feet before the remnant of the Uniontown crew at last became aware of the Galatea and shouted, as the crew of the Graylee ship stopped working on the tow rope, and instead picked up the clubs and swords that were lying in piles ready for them, then threw down a plank and began to run across to the deck of the other ship as the gap narrowed.
Kestrel moved apart from the others and used his elven legs to leap across, then threw his knife, and began hacking with his sword.
In just a few moments the battle was over, the members of the depleted crew of the Uniontown ship were either dead or taken prisoner. Kestrel and the Graylee crewmen hurriedly transferred over the belongings they most wanted to take with them, before the tow rope was cut, and the Galatea slowly drifted away, its deck sinking lower and lower into the water before it disappeared into the darkness.
Chapter 5 - Swallowed
When the morning sun rose, the crew was exhausted. They had spent the entire night examining their new ship, learning where the supplies were, and securing their prisoners in a stout hold.
Kestrel and the officers looked up when the lookout who was high in the mast reported that a ship was on the western horizon, headed towards them. Kestrel quickly climbed up the mast and joined the lookout, his elven vision allowing him to discern more details about the ship. “It’s a Uniontown ship,” he called down.
“Intercept it and find out if it’s come from Seafare,” he told the captain. “If it’s not, we just let it go, but if it is, we need to get that messenger from the ambassador.”
They floated serenely in their location, allowing the other ship to sail towards them, then moved towards it when the distance was at a minimum.
“Halt! In the name of Uniontown, haul your sails down,” the captain of Kestrel’s ship called out to the approaching vessel.
The other ship obediently slowed down and glided near the Graylee crew.
“Do you come from Seafare?” Kestrel’s acting captain called. “Do you have a messenger aboard from ambassador Probst?”
“We do; that’s right. How do you know, and what’s it to you?” the officer on the deck of the far ship called.
“We’re under orders to take the messenger and all his luggage aboard immediately,” the Graylee officer said. Kestrel was proud of how well the man was playing his role. Kestrel tried to stay out of sight, high up the mast, a dirty hat pulled over his ears, his bow hidden close by, ready to go into service if things went badly. “We know because the masters told us to wait here for him,” the officer added.
The Uniontown captain turned and spoke in a low voice to a junior officer, who left for a moment, then came right back. “He’ll be up directly; push a gangway over for him, will you?”
The Graylee crew pushed the flimsy, narrow plank walk with the rope railings between the two ships, and moments later a man who was not in naval uniform came onto the deck and crossed over to Kestrel’s ship, as a pair of crew members carried over trunks of luggage, then returned to their own ship.
“So I merit a special escort, do I?” the messenger asked jovially.
“We’re on our way to launching a glorious new war based on my message, but I suppose you already know that if you knew to be here to meet me,” he said.
The Graylee crew hurriedly withdrew the gang plank.
“Thank you for you cooperation, and have a pleasant journey,”
the Graylee captain of the captured ship told the other; he was astonished at how easily things were going according to plan. He was anxious to move on before anything went wrong. He ordered the crew to raise the sails, and his ship started to pull away from the other, as he looked up into the sails to catch sight of Kestrel, wanting to see if the elf had any instructions to give from the height, or was ready to come down and give commands directly.
Kestrel remained high up at the top reaches of the mast, remaining hidden as he waited for them to pull away from the other Uniontown ship. He was pleased they had successfully acquired the messenger, for that meant they had helped thwart the immediate launch of a new attack on Seafare. With winter coming on and the slowdown in commerce and activity the season would bring, it meant Seafare had time on its side to use the skin of water from Decimindion to inoculate its population against the Viathin influence. It meant that all of the kingdoms on the northern shores of the Inner Seas were free of Uniontown’s control. And though that was good, Kestrel realized that it meant Uniontown still controlled the forces of four or five kingdoms in the south, enough firepower for the Viathin threat to still endanger the freedom of the independent kingdoms of Kestrel’s friends.
The other Uniontown ship was growing smaller on the horizon, Kestrel realized as he looked up. It was raising its own sails and preparing to go on to Uniontown, minus its deadly messenger. It seemed to be time for Kestrel to descend and talk to the captain of the ship.
Just as he prepared to drop down, he saw a patch of the sea’s surface turn dark. The water started to roil at the spot fifty yards off the side of the ship, and Kestrel realized that another of the deadly oversized Viathin monsters was rising up from the depths of the sea. He notched an arrow on the string of his bow and aimed at the spot where the monster appeared ready to erupt upward, waiting for the horrible head to erupt from the water, again revealing the eyes, the vulnerable target that Kestrel intended to aim for.
The Inner Seas Kingdoms: 05 - Journey to Uniontown Page 7
