Stemming the Tide

by Rosie Scott

  “Not yet,” Koby replied.

  “I love this crew,” Jaecar announced.

  After we laughed, I turned to Koby and asked, “Where's Hilly?”

  He smirked. “Snoring.”

  “I make women scream and you make them sleep,” I mused. “What a team we make.”

  Koby snickered and stood from his stool. He walked around the bar, grabbing mugs from the cabinets and filling them with ale from the barrel of it next to the counter. He served three of them as he replied, “I was thinking, Cal. We should move her from my bed to yours. See if she notices in the morning that the man she wakes up next to isn't the one she fell asleep next to.”

  “She won't,” I predicted.

  “When she doesn't, you could keep doing it,” Jaecar proposed. “Put her in beds she's never been in before.”

  Koby snorted a laugh and added, “We could put a bedroll next to the wheel and put her in that. When she wakes up, we could act like it was the most normal thing in the world. 'Good morning, Hilly! How was your sleep?'”

  I laughed. “You know, even after being the target of your pranks in the past, I'm not against any of this.”

  “Because my pranks are the best,” Koby replied matter-of-factly.

  “That's debatable depending on their target,” I retorted.

  “Sounds like Calder's still bitter about showing everyone in Killick his Wobblin' Woody,” Jaecar jested, serving the cooked food onto three plates.

  “Bitter? No,” I argued through my smirk as they chortled. “I should thank Koby for that. I had women showing up at my door based on rumor alone. Word spread as quickly as my seed!”

  After Koby regained his breath, he agreed, “That's true! See? You should be grateful!”

  I put my palms together and took a mocking bow. “I am forever indebted to you, my oldest and dearest friend.”

  “Ugh,” Koby blurted. “Never mind. I like you better as a cynic.”

  “Then fuck off.”

  Koby grinned. “Much better.”

  Jaecar shook his head in amusement at our banter as he set our plates before us. Braised ocean fish with mushrooms and onions sizzled over pewter. My sensorium lit up with excitement as Jaecar passed us silverware and said, “Let's eat!”

  Nineteen

  74th of New Moon, 360

  Mere days before reaching Killick's western shores, I made both the best and worst decision I'd ever made in my years of being a captain.

  The skies murmured with the promise of a storm. Choppy waves swayed toward the heavens like tractable incisors. The water looked black, hungry. Despite the warm season, the testy winds and timid sun dropped the temperature until the humans in our crew shivered. Energy spiced the air, not just from the impending storm but also with the promises of chaos.

  Intuition is a fickle bastard; mine promised trouble, but it left me cold on the details. Everyone was on edge and had been for days. Killick was close, but the danger zone seemed closer. After all, our first sea battle with the pirates had taken place in these same waters. Though we couldn't sail through Killick's strait with the barque, we'd taken that route before; the pirates knew to patrol the area. We traveled farther south this time; Hassan, Kali, Hilly, and Neliah took turns scouting the northern waters. It was Hassan's turn as the lookout when the apprehensive silence on deck was finally broken.

  “Uh...Captain?”

  A prick of anxiety sent shock waves through my gut. “What is it?”

  “Pirate activity,” Hassan announced, keeping the binoculars over his eyes as he surveyed the scene. His dark hair blew eastward with the wind.

  “Estimated time of arrival?”

  “See...that's the thing,” Hassan said vaguely. “I can't give one. They're not after us.”

  “Then what are they doing?” Kali asked, hurrying up to the taffrail beside him.

  “It looks like there's a mercenary ship headed for Killick,” he replied. “But they went the old route. Who knows if they're ignorant or just ornery?” After a hesitation, he went on, “The pirates are after them on a schooner with just one black flag. No cannons and has a smaller crew, but they're catching up quick—”

  “Wait,” Koby interrupted. “Did you say the pirates have a schooner?”

  “Yeah.” Hassan handed the binoculars to Kali and glanced back. “Why?”

  “According to Jeremoth, Cale stole a schooner in Silvi,” Koby reminded us.

  The apprehension in my gut didn't fade, but a driven excitement started to overpower it. “It makes sense,” I murmured. “Cale wanted to come back out here to raid. If the ship's only got one black flag, he hasn't even made it to harbor yet to fully outfit it.”

  “The schooner has no cannons,” Koby said to me, determination in his eyes. “If there was ever a time to defeat Cale, it's now.”

  “If it's him,” Kali reminded us from the taffrail, viewing the situation herself through Hassan's binoculars. “There are probably a hundred schooners on the seas at this very moment.”

  “Whether or not it's Cale,” Jaecar spoke up, “there's a lone mercenary vessel that could use our aid.”

  “And there are likely other pirate vessels within viewing distance of this one,” Neliah warned. “If we are to go into battle, we have to expect they'll outnumber us.”

  Sage stepped forward from my peripheral vision to speak. He'd been so quiet I hadn't even known he was on deck. “If you are looking to garner support, sir,” he began, “this is one way to do it. If we lend our support, this vessel may agree to help our cause later. If not, they will most certainly be grateful, and word spreads.”

  I thought of all the ferris in our storage and how Killick's western shores were mere days away. The last time we witnessed a battle on the open seas, it had allowed us to pass safely while it distracted the pirates. We could do the same today. But in the chance that the schooner was Cale's, we couldn't pass up this opportunity. Killing Cale and toppling his growing power would take the wind out of the gang's sails. Of course, the last time we faced Cale...

  I shook off flashbacks of the Wobblin' Woody's demise. “We could lose everything.”

  Koby walked up to face me with a look of total determination. “We could gain everything.”

  Rather than annoy me, his defiant optimism suddenly made me feel powerful and resolute. While still staring in his eyes, I announced, “Change of direction to the northeast. Prepare for battle.”

  Koby cursed with elation after hearing my determination. “Yes,” he hissed with excitement, turning toward the crew. “You heard the man! Let's go!”

  As the Cunning Linguist cut through the waters to the northeast, its sails whipped sharply in the wind as the heavens above darkened ever further like the gods warned against our impudence. The quarterdeck darkened with shadow under clouds that gathered ominously like a suicidal cult on the verge of an intentional catastrophe. The mercenary vessel came into view, its rounded hull and single sail reminiscent of the Wobblin' Woody. This mercenary cog was smaller, but just as slow. The pirate schooner sailed toward its left hull from the north while we neared its right from the south, both traveling at faster speeds.

  “Captain, we got company!” Hassan shouted, sweeping his binoculars over the northern sea. Multiple blurry spots marred the horizon as other pirate ships followed the schooner into battle like flies drawn to a corpse.

  “Of course we do,” Neliah commented, her voice tight with stress.

  “Throw everything you got at us, fuckers,” Koby taunted, situating his weapon's belt on his hips.

  “Ha! That's the spirit,” Kali said excitedly, grabbing Koby's arm for a quick friendly squeeze before meeting my gaze. “Are we shifting shapes, boss?”

  “I'll leave that up to your discretion,” I replied, nodding toward her and Jaecar as we sailed within hearing distance of the cog.

  Screamed orders and expletives of panic floated over the winds to our ears from the other vessel as we pulled alongside it. The mercenary crew comprised m
any humans and Vhiri, but a few dark-skinned elves scrambled around between them. By the looks of it, this crew was born and bred in the wildlands.

  A light-skinned human grasped onto the taffrail and called over, “Are you friendly?”

  “To you,” Hassan shouted back, before pointing north at the looming schooner. It was so close now that I could visually differentiate the individual sailors on its deck. “To them? Not so much.”

  I left Koby beside the wheel and walked to the edge of the barque, staring across the gap at the other crew. “Which of you is captain of this vessel?”

  “Captain?” the human glanced back at the group of his peers. “He's asking for you.”

  From the depths of the crowd, an Alderi man stepped forward. Piercing solid black eyes found my gaze and settled. Shoulder-length black hair rested over his shoulder in a lazy ponytail. His skin was the darkest shade of shadowed violet. As he walked up to the taffrail, he sheathed a kukri knife. Copper and silver rings adorned many of his fingers, indicating his magic use. A silver labret piercing shone from the shadow of his lower lip.

  “I'm Captain Ajax Dunn,” he introduced himself.

  “Captain Calder Cerberius,” I replied in kind. “Where are you headed?”

  “Killick,” Ajax answered. “You?”

  “Same, but not to its harbor. It's suicide to risk the danger zone.”

  “Yet, you've delved into it,” Ajax pointed out, sweeping his arm to the northeast, where the schooner etched ever closer.

  “You're one ship against three and counting,” I replied, scanning the vessels to the north. “We offer you our aid.”

  “For what gain?”

  “Their loss,” I answered, nodding toward the pirate ships. “I will see them gone.”

  Ajax laughed. “Will you? Then we'll both be buried by sea this day, and it'll no longer be our problem.” He glanced at the approaching schooner. “If you'll excuse me, I have to execute my last stand.” He turned away.

  “When we emerge victorious together, follow our lead to Killick,” I called after him.

  Ajax turned, his stare incredulous but curious. “Why? What do you offer?”

  “Partnerships,” I replied. “For survival and gold.”

  Ajax did not respond, but I noticed a flash of interest pass through his eyes.

  “How long have you been free?” I asked.

  The question was vague, but Ajax's gaze softened with rapport and understanding. “Going on twenty years.”

  “We didn't escape oppression underground just to submit to it here,” I reasoned.

  “You are our brother,” Koby called over from the wheel. “We will fight for you. Simply lend us an ear.”

  Ajax nodded once. “Very well. If we survive, we'll follow you.” He turned again, shouting orders to prepare his men for battle.

  In the time it took us to have our conversation, the pirates closed in and reevaluated their approach. Rather than pull up alongside Ajax's vessel, they veered wide, circling our barque to pin us between their schooner and the cog. Two galleons with black flags headed straight for the cog from the north, tailed by even more pirate vessels. Neliah was correct; we would soon be hopelessly outnumbered. Any bravado I'd had quickly dissipated, handing the reins over to panic. At once, Jaecar and Kali fell to the deck, their bodies convulsing with transformations. It was almost as if they noticed something I hadn't.

  “Gorgeous ship!” came an eerily familiar call from the south, where the ruffians on the schooner prepared their grappling hooks. After a reminiscent cackle, the captain asked, “Mind if I borrow it?”

  I turned to the south, hiding my anxious doubts under a mask of indifference so I didn't lower the morale of allies. Under rumbling broody skies, Cale Woodburn leaned on the taffrail of his stolen schooner on anemic forearms. Silver eyes met mine before squinting multiple times in a row like a tic. A wide grin slowly grew over his pale trembling face; one of his remaining teeth slumped loosely between two gaps, unsupported with his mouth open. In a flash of pink, his tongue jabbed at the tooth with impatience. He turned his gaunt face to the side and spit. A fleck of white enamel shot out to the quarterdeck, clattering over hardwood. Cale gave me his full attention again, summoning a grin with one fewer tooth.

  “Well, well,” Cale blurted with the utmost excitement, “either I'm high and mixing up memories or I'm clairvoyant, because suddenly I'm seeing ghosts!”

  I tugged my shirt off over my head and threw the garment to the deck. “Next time Vruyk sends you to do a job, do it right.”

  Cale's grin grew wider. “He speaks! I'd recognize those crazy blood-red eyes anywhere. Maybe the wyvern half of me is just in heat, but I have to say, you're a lot prettier as a lizard.”

  “Wish I could echo the sentiment.” I pulled off my trousers next as Koby laughed shortly at the insult behind me.

  Cale's eyes flicked to my groin and back to my face. “I see the rumors about Alderi men are true.” A few women in his crew snickered. “Even without seeing you nude I'd compliment you for having the balls to show your face out here again. What's this about? The old cog?”

  “It's about you and your plans,” I retorted. “Until we're powerful enough to kill all the idiots who follow your lead, I figured killing you will stem the tide. In the meantime, we found where you took the ferris. We stole it back. ”

  Cale's grin sobered at the mention of his ferris operation. “Sounds to me like you could stand to lose it.” His long pale fingers grazed by the knapsack at his waist in anticipation of getting high before a transformation. “That ruined voice is a hint to stop smoking. Save what little voice you have left.”

  “Take my advice,” I countered, glaring at the syringe of rempka he brought out of his bag. “Shoot up with everything you got. It'll make my job a lot easier when you overdose before I have to strain myself.”

  Cale's crazed grin returned as he found himself impressed by my jab. He bowed with an over-dramatic twirling motion of his right arm. “As you wish.”

  Tranferra sel ti kin a blud.

  I collapsed to the deck. Bright lights spotted my vision in response to breaking bones and stings of hot agony. Blood splattered over previously unblemished polished wood. As I transformed, so many noises echoed in my head like they were far away: Cale's crazed cackles after injecting rempka, followed by his own mutated screams. Koby's shouted directions. The clinging of metal on wood as grappling hooks took hold of our ship and reeled it in one inch at a time. Splashes as Jaecar and Kali stole pirates straight from their ship and dropped them overboard from the skies. The clash of metal as pirates jumped to our deck from the schooner. Through my blurry pained gaze, I watched Koby's boots scramble around nearby as he fought to protect me while I was vulnerable to attack.

  My transformation completed in the midst of a deck brawl. Through the crowds I noticed Cale's transformation hadn't yet ended; he trembled as a mass halfway between Celd and wyvern, mostly defenseless. Because I'd been the one to show Cale the most hostility, however, his men tried to swarm me. Outnumbered but determined, Koby kept them back. I wanted to attack Cale right away, but first I stepped forward to aid Koby.

  The pirate before me parried Koby's next hit. As it distracted him, I curled my fingers and swung at his head with an open-palmed uppercut. Four claws tore through the thin flesh under his chin and into his mouth, shredding his tongue. Clenching my hand, I gripped him by the chin of his lower jawbone as a mixture of blood and saliva drained from the wound and down my arm. The pirate gurgled with panic as I dragged him along with me to the railing, where the barque swayed beside the schooner in spirited waters. Understanding the danger, his arms flailed until making contact with the taffrail and pressing against it to put off his demise. I overpowered him, hauling him up onto the railing before releasing my grip of his jaw and shoving him over. The pirate fell between the two parallel ships, cracking his skull against the hull on the way down.

  I glanced back to ensure Koby's safety. Multiple bodies
were at his feet, impeding his mobility. His periwinkle face was spotted with blood splatter and creased with the wrinkles of determination as he swung his dark sword in a wide arc at his current contender's neck. After combating the resistance of flesh and muscle, the blade swept through with such strength the pirate spun in his fall from the killing hit's momentum. Koby flicked his sword quickly to free it of its harvested tissue and scrambled after his next target.

  A hoarse battle cry alerted me to the approach of a ruffian wielding an ax. He hoisted the weapon back in preparation of a hit; in reaction, I spread my fingers, ready to maul. Both our actions were unnecessary. Unbeknownst to the pirate, Neliah chased him, and she was much faster. In mid-run, she threw one twin hook forward. The blade hooked around the ruffian's ankle, halting him abruptly while cutting flesh through to the shin. He fell forward to collapse in a hyperventilating heap and turned to his back to see his pursuer. Neliah kicked his fallen ax across the deck with a clatter and jumped on the man's torso, one boot digging into his groin. He grasped futilely at his injured manhood between sobs as Neliah took one more step forward. With one foot beside his head and the other on his chest, she hooked the pirate under the chin like a caught fish before stepping off him, turning, and hooking the second blade beside the other. With a terrifying hoarse scream of entranced bloodlust, Neliah ripped the twin hooks back, tearing his mandible off its hinges toward the cranium before the sharpened points of her blades pierced his brain. The man finally went still, defaced and lying next to his own jawbone.

  Assured that the others could handle the flood of pirates, I set my sights upon Cale. His transformation neared completion as blood vessels rapidly grew through the fleshy membranes of his wings. I dodged melee battles as I hurried down the length of the barque's wide open deck. When I was directly across from Cale, I pivoted, leapt up on the taffrail, and launched myself over the gap between our ships.

  Wind whistled in my ears before tiny pin pricks assaulted my scales as the moody skies finally released their burden. Inside the red-tinged borders of my vision, silver scales loomed.