Raven Rebellion

by K Hanson

  Nereyda followed her instincts, with the map in her mind and the feel of the wind on her skin. On their own, her hands spun the wheel toward just the right direction and they picked up speed.

  After an hour of winding through the islands, watching for anything at the edge of the shadows and listening for the sound of men talking or singing on a ship, the snap of sails other than their own, or even the howls they had heard the fire demons send out, they saw an outline at the edge of the fog.

  “Is that a ship?” asked Jax.

  “I don’t think it’s an island,” said Photios. “It’s not on any of our charts.”

  “I believe you. It looks like it could be a ship as we get closer,” said Nereyda.

  She piloted the Morgiana and found a bit more wind so that they could catch up to the shape, though she didn’t apply too much speed. It wouldn’t do to barrel toward it if it was just a pile of rocks, or to alert the Stalstans to their presence. Upwind of the ship, the air didn’t hold the stench of burning and rotting flesh that followed the fire demons. The wind also carried away any sounds that might provide a clue to what they were pursuing.

  As they crossed the water and closed the distance with each minute, the shape in the fog became clearer. It held the vague shape of a Stalstan frigate, but the hull was larger and squatter than that of a typical ship.

  They drifted closer. A shot rang out from the ship, though Nereyda didn’t see where the shot hit or splashed. However, the ship ahead sped up as it dropped its sails.

  Nereyda and her crew had been spotted.

  “Give me more sail,” she ordered.

  Her crew dropped the sails a bit farther, letting Nereyda have more speed for the chase. She gripped the wheel and focused on their prey, remembering how she did this last time. At least this time she had the advantage of having seen a map before she tried a crazy ship chase through the islands. She remembered what she had seen on the map. Mostly, at least. Enough to get the job done, she assured herself.

  The ship ahead twisted down a passage, making a hard port turn. Nereyda gave chase, and she took it at a slightly better angle and shaved a few yards from the distance between the two ships.

  The passage narrowed as they kept going. Nereyda’s ship was narrower than the squatter ship ahead, so it didn’t really concern her. What do we do when we catch them? No time to worry about that now. From what she recalled of the map, another crossroads in the water lay ahead of them and the swirling current that Photios had pointed out sat in one of the passages that branched off. How do we get them to go where we want?

  “Full sail,” she ordered.

  Her crew paused briefly, wondering if she had given the wrong order or if they had misheard her.

  “Full sail, I said.”

  They hurried to comply. The sails snapped full of wind, and the frigate sprinted toward the Stalstan ship. Sea water sprayed into the air as the Morgiana rushed past jagged rocks and solid cliffs on either side.

  “What in the name of the gods are you doing?” asked Photios.

  “Catching that ship. That’s our job, isn’t it?”

  “It is, but it’s dangerous to sail full sail here.”

  “You watched me do it before.”

  “Yes, and I wasn’t on your ship then.”

  “I don’t have the advantage of another ship lurking ahead with a net to catch this guy. We have to do it ourselves. While I focus on not smashing us against these rocks and islands that we’re speeding past, perhaps you could tell me a little more about the current nearby.”

  “Are you going to try to ride through it?”

  “We’ll see if I can get our friends to cooperate.”

  “It is a big risk to go that way. Even our ships avoid that passage if they can help it. We’ve lost some people trying to take it.”

  “I note your concern,” she snapped. “Tell me about it.”

  “If you’re not careful, it can spin your ship right around or at least toss it sideways. The eastern edge is where you need to be if you don’t want to be turned and risk smashing against the islands on either side. It’s a narrow safe corridor, though. If you miss it, then you’d best hope you can swim or survive being tossed against stone.”

  “East side, got it. Don’t want to have our brains smashed out.”

  With the added sail, Nereyda closed the gap between the Morgiana and the ship ahead. The Stalstans had also dropped their full sail, but with their massive hull, they were still losing ground. I hope we catch them before that crossroad.

  “Ready guns,” she ordered, in case they needed them. “Portside only,” she added as she coaxed the boat toward the southern side of the channel they were in.

  She took a curve close, far too close for safety, really, and that shaved off some extra distance. They lurched up to the ship, their bow just next to the other ship’s stern. They only needed to gain a bit more. From where she was, she could see men in the gray Stalstan uniforms running around the ship, responding to the threat that presented itself.

  “Ready your firearms,” she ordered her crew. “When you’re ready, fire at will on the enemy crew.”

  Her people shot their rifles and pistols at the Stalstan crew. This caused the Stalstans to take cover rather than fire back, giving Nereyda time to maneuver around them. As she pulled her frigate along the starboard of the enemy ship, she noted that the ship had no gun ports. In fact, the hull appeared to be covered with iron. No, not iron. Steel.

  She had never seen a steel ship before. Dull light reflected off of the surface with a silvery tint. It did make sense that they wouldn’t use a ship of wood to carry the fire demons to, and possibly from, their raids. However, the steel plating could very well make the shots of Nereyda’s ship worthless. She’d still try, though.

  Nereyda held their position alongside the enemy ship, patiently waiting to arrive at the intersection. Once they arrived, she called, “Fire!”

  Her gun crew unleashed a broadside against the Stalstan ship. The shots pinged off the side of the steel hull, leaving little more than dents in the metal. Its captain, however, was not immune to the effects of gunfire. In what Nereyda knew to be instinct, he took a hard port turn, away from the source of the cannon fire, taking him straight down the passage that contained the current.

  Nereyda took the hard turn as well. She ordered the crew to reduce sails, causing the Morgiana to lurch around the bend as she turned the helm hard to port. In the turn, especially with slowing down to take it hard, she lost a slight bit of ground, but she didn’t think it would matter.

  She held their ship along the eastern side of the passage, waiting for the current that Photios had said was so deadly. She kept her eye on the ship ahead, seeing what course it would take. Did its captain know about the current? If so, did he know how to handle it properly? Or would he take his crew straight into it in his panic?

  The other captain did not know about the current. The Stalstan ship hit it and flipped around completely, pointing straight back at the Morgiana as the force of the current pushed it past the whirlpool and up the passage. Its starboard side leaned way out and smashed into the rocks on the side. With the steel plating, the ship didn’t take significant damage from the crash. However, a crack sounded from below the deck of the Stalstan ship, followed by the unearthly shrieking that she knew to belong to the fire demons. The Stalstans had indeed learned how to transport them and were apparently testing them on the people of the Shattered Sea.

  Now past the danger from the whirlpool, Nereyda pulled the Morgiana alongside the enemy ship. “Prepare to board,” she commanded.

  Just then, the hatches of the Stalstan ship flew open, and a horde of humanoid shapes covered in fire poured out. They unleashed otherworldly shrieks that shook the soul and went into a frenzy. Rather than think to leap across to attack Nereyda and her crew, they raged against the Stalstan crew, burning them and throwing them into the treacherous current in the water below.

  “Hold,” she told her c
rew. “Don’t rush in there to get yourselves killed. Let those creatures do our job for us, at least for now.”

  Their weapons would be no good against opponents like those demons. She reached down into herself, finding the power that lurked in her gut. She held on to it, ready for the moment she would need it.

  The Stalstan crew had completely forgotten about their human enemies, focusing on trying anything they could do to subdue the fire creatures that had escaped. The man she figured was their captain stood at the helm, blowing a strange kind of whistle. He pulled it out of his mouth, looked it over with a frustrated grimace on his face, then tried blowing it again. Whatever it was supposed to do, it didn’t seem to be getting the job done.

  During the fire demons’ rampage, Nereyda pulled her ship away from the other, leaving several yards of a gap between them. As the demons ran out of targets on the deck of their own ship, they started turning their attention toward the other, far more flammable ship nearby.

  The creatures prowled the edge of the deck, examining the distance and staring and shrieking at them. An intelligence flickered in their eyes that Nereyda hadn’t seen before. They knew that it was a long distance and were judging how to cross it. They backed up to the other side of the ship and charged across, leaping into the air.

  There was no way they could make it. It was too far.

  However, they achieved a surprising height, enough that Nereyda changed her mind. She threw out her hand and swept a column of water up from the sea, creating a wall between them and her ship. The fire demons all crashed into the wall of water and dissolved into ashen dust. She let the wall fall back into the channel, then looked back at the Stalstan ship. All but one of the fire demons had been eliminated by her water summons.

  “How did you do that?” exclaimed Photios.

  “Never mind that. Let’s close the gap,” she said to her crew.

  They slung boarding lines across and pulled the ships together. They also set down an anchor, to keep them from drifting away or being pulled back into the dangerous current. When the ships were adjacent, Nereyda leaped across and her crew followed.

  The lone fire demon looked at the approaching boarders and didn’t seem to know what to do. It had embers for skin beneath the flame and had the same fear in its red eyes as she had seen when she had thrown water at the horde at the mines.

  Nereyda held a hand over her face to ward off the rank odor as she approached. “What are you thinking?” she asked.

  The creature simply shrieked back and took a lurching step toward her.

  Jax, Manu, and Photios joined her while the rest of the crew kept their distance. “What should we do with it?” asked Jax.

  “Do what you did to the others,” said Photios. “Get rid of it. Nothing good can come from letting it stick around.”

  “Is there some way we can study it?” asked Manu.

  “Study it?” Photios turned to Manu. “You must be mad. You can’t study something like that. You’ve seen what they can do. Even if you could force it to calm down and keep it from attacking you, you could never touch it, or trust that it won’t lose its mind again.”

  “It doesn’t need to be for long. We need to figure out what Stalsta is up to. Did they leave anyone alive?” asked Manu.

  “Search the ship,” Nereyda ordered Jax.

  “And leave you with it?” asked Jax.

  “I’ve got this.” She reached out and felt for the water on the side of the ship. She closed her hand and lifted a ball of water from the channel and hauled it over the deck. She spread her fingers, opening and hollowing the large drop, then closed it around the demon, leaving it encased in a bubble of water.

  Photios jumped back from the pocket of water. “How did you do that?”

  “Like I said, I have a few tricks.” Nereyda winked at the large Islander.

  Photios stared at it as he drifted close. “This is amazing.”

  The creature turned within the space she had left on the inside, peering through the water, which distorted its features. Its glow shimmered through the slow waves that pulsed around the exterior of the bubble. It tried poking a finger into the water, unable to contain its curiosity, but instantly pulled the hand back, part of its finger having dissolved in the water.

  Manu paced around the bubble encasing the creature. “This is fascinating. Have you ever done something like this before?”

  “I haven’t. Not sure how long I can keep it up. It doesn’t take too much energy, but I can feel it draining me slowly.”

  “Then I don’t want to tax you too much. Let me take some notes while you hold it there.”

  Manu pulled his notebook and pencil from his cloak and studiously circled the creature, taking notes and making sketches of its features.

  “Reyda,” said Jax, as he rushed back.

  Nereyda turned toward him. “Yes?”

  “I found the whistle that the captain was trying to use.” He handed it over to her. “Do you know what this could do?”

  She turned it over as the effort of maintaining the bubble tugged on her mind. “Is it supposed to control them or calm them somehow?” Nereyda wondered aloud. “Manu, do you want to look at this?”

  He took the whistle from her, then twisted it and looked over each side, running his fingers over the holes. He lifted it to his lips and played some notes. The creature in the bubble reacted to it, shifting its stance and tilting its head at the sound. It didn’t seem to calm down, though.

  “Maybe you need the right tune,” Nereyda said.

  “Perhaps,” said Manu. “But who knows if we’ll find that information here. And without some way of reliably taming it, I don’t think there is much else we can do with the creature.”

  “Are you done taking notes?”

  “I think so. I was able to fill some gaps in my understanding of these creatures that remained after what you told me. It’s been a productive observation, I think.”

  “Good,” Nereyda said. She clenched her fist and collapsed the bubble of water around the fire demon, destroying it into a puddle of ashen goo.

  “What now?” asked Jax.

  “We search the whole ship for anything that could tell us why they were here,” she said. “Search the hold, the cabin, everywhere. Also look for anything to tell us how they handled these creatures.”

  Her crew dispersed across the ship, searching in every corner for clues. Nereyda wanted to see how the Stalstans transported such dangerous enemies. As she descended into the hold, the lingering smell of the creatures hit her like a wave. Her hand sprang to her face and her nose crinkled in an effort to stave off the stench. She kept her eyes alert, in case any remaining creatures lurked around the ship.

  A large cage occupied the hold, with a single door that appeared to have been busted off of its hinges. She couldn’t tell if the crash into the rocks had broken it or if the crash had simply knocked it loose enough for the fire demons to do the rest. The material that the cage was made of didn’t appear to be regular steel.

  She ran her hand over it. It almost felt as if the steel hummed under her hand, just out of hearing range. I’ve never seen double-forged steel before, but this must be it. Something strong enough and heat resistant enough to contain such dangerous things.

  Within the cage, scorch marks covered the walls and floor. They even reached the ceiling in some places. Had the creatures climbed up or did they throw fireballs up there? Hard to tell. No chains lay around the cage, suggesting that the creatures had roamed free. However, while the double-forged steel was a good clue about how they could be contained, it didn’t offer much about how they could be controlled.

  Since it was double-forged steel, she was curious about how the door had been broken off the cage. The metal was supposed to be nearly indestructible. A mere crash, at least one like this that was pretty mild, shouldn’t have been able to break it free. She knelt down to look at the door and found that the hinges had been made of regular steel and that they had been bent
and even torn. The Stalstans’ whole system for keeping the creatures contained was undone by a single oversight.

  “Photios,” she called up the stairs.

  He came down. “What is it?”

  “Do you think we could take this ship back to the harbor?”

  She ran her hands over the hull itself and felt a similar humming feeling. The whole ship was made out of double-forged steel.

  “Why would we want to take it back? You saw how unwieldy the ship was in these waters, especially in the current.”

  “I don’t want it for the ship itself. Have you seen what it’s made of?”

  “Steel, yes. But we have steel.”

  “It’s made of double-forged steel. We could melt it down and use it for weapons, or anything else we wanted.”

  “What is this double-forged steel?”

  “It’s the strongest substance we know of. The Stalstans make it and have never shared how to make it with the outside world. I once tried to seize a shipment, but that didn’t go so well. The Imperials managed to get ahold of it somehow, and they protected it fiercely.”

  “I suppose we could get someone to tow this ship back to port. Want me to send up a flare?”

  “Couldn’t we do it?”

  “We could, but after what happened here, I think Sibylla will want to receive news as soon as possible. Towing a ship like this will take a long time.”

  “Okay, send up a flare then. We’ll get someone to take it back, and we can perhaps examine it further in port.”

  Nereyda climbed out of the hold. Jax and Manu were looking over some documents on deck.

  “What did you find?”

  “We found these in the captain’s quarters,” said Jax.

  “They seem to be notes about their mission, including the villages they attacked . . . and the results of those attacks. It is rather grim reading. Notes about deaths, how long it took to destroy a village, that sort of thing.”