by T B Phillips
Eusari paused while the men stared. Normally she would have given an order, but this decision was tougher than most. She and Braen weren’t ready to reveal their use of emotancy, especially to the Esterling navy and the Falconers. If she outran them with this low of a draft, then she would give away a potentially effective tool in the fight to come. When she finally spoke, her voice carried determination, “Mr. Longshanks.”
“Aye Captain?”
“Prepare to strike colors when the ship is in range to see. Allow them to come alongside and board for inspection of goods.” She watched as Pete and the rest of the crew paled. Striking colors was a cowardly act at sea, and they had all sworn to The Cove that they would rather die in battle than be hanged by the Empire for piracy.
“Jacque.” She had given the order, but her quartermaster only stared at the deck, angrily grinding his teeth with dancing cheeks. “Jacque!” She yelled his name a second time, and he lifted his eyes to meet hers.
“Yes, My Captain?” He spoke through gritted teeth, a rumble of dissention in his tone.
“Place a couple of sharpshooters in the crow’s nest. Then go and prepare all three raiding teams. Place them in the longboats, out of sight and undercover until the enemy boards.”
A look of confusion crossed the quartermaster’s face, but then realization replaced his grimace with an understanding grin. “Aye Captain! Right away, Mum!”
“Pete, get Caroline below decks and safely hidden away. Lock her in my stateroom if you have to. Just make sure she isn’t topside when they board.” I want to shield her from witnessing the bloodshed, she thought.
“Aye!” Both men raced away and called the ship to order. They were careful not to appear like they had ordered battle stations.
The other vessel pulled alongside She Wolf in less than an hour. The galleon had thirty guns and could maintain a crew of nearly two hundred. Eusari commanded only thirty aboard the sleek two-masted sloop. Even if she had a bigger crew, she was limited to eighteen guns.
They soon learned that the larger ship was Desperation, a vessel captained by Bartholomew Cartwright. The ship of the line grappled alongside and Eusari awaited his arrival on the lee deck, wanting to avoid both wind and spray. Within minutes the enemy crew had sent seventy men aboard with swords drawn.
“This is the famed She Wolf?” The captain roared with laughter at the tiny woman dressed in black leathers, gloved arms crossed across her chest. “And you must be the famed phantom wolf, the she-devil and Lady Captain.” He casually strode forward and reached out his hand, stroking the fur of her cloak. As he reached to scratch the ears of the hood a low growl could be heard from behind a crate. He instantly stepped back and drew both of his swords. “What in the unholy hells is a wolf doing aboard a ship?”
“Easy Gelert,” when Eusari spoke the words seemed to purr out of her throat, “let’s not kill him until he’s had a chance to surrender.”
“Surrender?” Bartholomew and his men roared hysterically at her words, but she and her sailors stood fast on the deck.
Without flinching she responded, “You and your men will lay down your swords.”
The crew that hadn’t boarded manned the rails to watch the show. They shared the merriment and laughed along with their captain. He asked, “Just like that?”
“Actually,” Eusari purred, “you will also give over your vessel, Captain Cartwright.” She raised her gloved hand into the air and dropped a black silk handkerchief to the deck.
As soon as it left her hand two claps of thunder could be heard from atop the crow’s nest. With all eyes on the wolf, no one noticed her sharpshooters. Bartholomew sprang a red hole in the top of his head. Nearby another man fell with him in unison. On cue, three tarps flew back from the longboats and rifles ripped into the topside crew aboard Desperation.
Eusari’s men on deck drew their pistols and fired into the invaders, causing them to panic. With swords drawn her crew cut down man after man while those in the longboats finished off those on the other vessel. The battle ended in minutes, with Desperation losing more than one hundred men. Several of the survivors surrendered very quickly after realizing the awesome firepower of her weapons.
She Wolf did not lose a single sailor. She ordered the captives locked away below decks on the Galleon, intending to press many of the soldiers into service. Now, with a ship of the line at her disposal, she tied off her own and towed it back home to The Cove. With the help of Caroline, the winds favored the larger sails and she made the trip in a week.
Chapter Two
Robert Esterling awoke with a start, heart racing and beating out rhythm with his anxiety. Drenched with sweat, he stared at the ceiling and willed his body to relax. He drew a breath into his tight and aching chest, feeling the passages of his lungs constrict. Of course, he thought, my breathing always suffers in the spring. He pulled himself up in his bed and practiced his breathing exercises.
Next to him a woman stirred. She rolled over and touched a hand to his chest. “Are you okay?”
“I will be. It’s always worse at night.”
“I love you, but I told you not to spend so much time outdoors today. This always happens when the wind blows pollen.”
“I love you more than I can put in words, Sarai.” Robert gazed upon his bride. Her radiant smile seemed to glow on its own, seemingly brighter than the moonlight spilling through the window. Her skin had fully healed, and her scars enhanced her natural beauty, especially when she smiled. Her hair had grown back where it could, once thickly flowing blonde rendered patchy where she had burned.
She pulled herself up beside him and kissed his cheek before nestling against his shoulder. “Have you done your thing yet?”
“No, not yet. I keep hoping that someday I won’t have to. I need to outgrow this and not rely on magic.” He breathed a few more times in through his nose and slowly out of his mouth before finally giving up. The air in front of him began to swirl slowly, building a current. He drew this into his lungs and felt the branches of his airways open, muscles relaxing. After exhaling he felt a remarkable change and his pattern resumed.
“You’re stubborn.”
“As stubborn as a Horslei? You shouldn’t throw rocks when your own house is glass, My Love.” He beamed at her reaction.
Her nose wrinkled in disgust. “Glass house?” She playfully smacked his shoulder. “My dear prince, I deserve a palace of gold. Don’t ever forget.”
A thought bothered Robert and he quickly turned somber. “I wish that you could see my palace in Eston. The roses will be in full bloom by now. Spring was always my mother’s favorite time of the year. That’s one of the promises my father made when he built up the city to span the river. He vowed that Loganshire would be protected from the northern aggressors and Crestal Esterling would have roses.”
“I wish I could have met him.” Nuzzling in she added, “We’ll get there soon enough.”
“We have to get out of Eskera and retake Weston first. The blockade is strangling the city and more troops are amassing in Soston. It won’t be long before they march on us, Max is sure of it.”
“He should know.” Sarai wrinkled her nose at mention of Robert’s mentor and friend, Maximus Reeves. “He’s a war-monger.”
Ignoring her disgust, he continued, “My brother placed ten thousand soldiers in Soston, so far. I’ve seen them, myself, through the eyes of Arne.”
“You can fly that far and hold the connection?” Her eyes marveled at how strong he had grown with his powers in such a short time. The bond with his eagle further amazed her.
He nodded. “We’ve been taking daily flights, pushing farther from Eskera each day. We reached Soston yesterday and I’m going back today.” He stopped talking. He did not want to alarm his love by describing what he had seen.
She recognized his sudden change and sat up, silk sheet sliding from her chest a
nd exposing her breasts to the night. Heedless of the cold she pressed, “What aren’t you telling me?”
Robert searched her eyes for quarter, but saw no way out of answering. “There are more ships arriving sometime today.”
A shiver down her spine made her suddenly aware of the chill, and Sarai lifted the covers to her neck. “He means business. Robert, we need to flee Eskera and take our chances in Weston.”
“I need to hold out a little longer. Max and General Lourdes believe that more soldiers will defect to our side, and I want them to find me.”
“How many have joined you so far?”
The Esterling prince allowed a quiet humility to pass through him. “Only about five hundred.”
“Then you have your answer. Robert, I love you, but we need to flee. Help isn’t coming. Not by sea, at least.” She snuggled back into his shoulder and closed her eyes. “Now go back to sleep.”
He stared at the ceiling for several minutes, even after the rhythm of slumber returned to her breathing. She’s right. If more were coming, then they’d have already arrived. The entire campaign against his usurper brother felt hopeless. He finally closed his eyes tight and willed himself to sleep, lulled to slumber by the warmth of Sarai at his side and the sweet scent of her hair.
Sleep brings dreams. For Robert Esterling these were as tiring as the awakened world. His consciousness drifted upward toward the heavens until he connected with Arne and drifted on the breeze. Flying south he focused sharp eyes on the Misting River delta as it flowed out to sea.
A line of twenty ships sat at anchor, forming a semi-circle around the mouth of the river. These were clearly war galleons instead of transports, with rows of guns staring down any ship that dared to enter or leave the harbor. Escape was not an option. Robert commanded the city of Eskera, but his brother controlled the ocean.
He turned east along the coast and drifted with the wind toward the city in the far distance. The sun was rising over Soston, making it a beautiful sight from the air. Tall pines and broad palms grew out of pure white sand against teal blue water. More ships lined the harbor, this time troop transports and heavy barques with three masts each. The city was well protected with natural sandbars channeling traffic into a single opening protected by two forts. Large guns loomed on short but wide parapets, ready to strafe any invader.
Beneath the pines Robert counted thousands of tents, each emblazoned with his family crest. Only, something had changed. He drifted as close as he dared and focused sharp eyes on the image. The flower was gone and only an eagle remained. Looking closer he could tell that the soldiers among the tents wore black armbands, each emblazoned with his mother’s rose.
Out of nowhere several hawks filled the air to meet him, scattering the flock of seagulls accompanying his flight. With a screech he flew higher into the sky. Eventually they turned away and circled, unable to follow at the higher altitude. Having seen enough, he turned westward to inspect the route the army would follow when they invaded Eskera.
The narrow road wound through tall pines and marshes. That’s good, the prince thought, the swamps and deep cover will slow them. Robert had many talents, and the foremost advantage over his brother was his military mind for battle. He had trained to lead armies since birth, schooled in tactics by his mentor and recently revealed biological father General Maximus Reeves. Max had been trained by the greatest tactician in the history of the Esterling Dynasty, Major General Merrimac Lourdes. Robert considered himself lucky to have both men fighting beside him during the early days of his civil war.
Of course, Marcus collected his own military minds. Although he had shunned training, choosing instead the pastime of bedding damsels, he was raised by his own mentor and true father, Captain General Matteas Brohn. That man was ruthless and cunning with a history of bold and sometimes dubious tactics. Brohn always struck without giving quarter and without regard to humanity.
Robert had recently survived an assassination attempt while in Weston, no doubt the calling card of Matteas. He shivered when he thought about the failed attempt. It had been the first day he had channeled his powers and used air as a weapon against the men. He killed them, and, by doing so, drew his first blood as a warrior.
His life had changed on that single day and thinking about it forced his mind to drift. He had experienced intense dreams for several weeks before that morning and had awakened with a strange feeling of prophesy. In his sleep he travelled more than a thousand miles in the air to witness an assault on the town of Diaph. He watched as several people manifested strange powers during the raid, working together to save captive children and steal weapons.
But that wasn’t the only disturbing scene he witnessed. The small force had entered a Rookery, a place of such secrecy that that not even the royal family was allowed admittance by the Falconers. There, through the eyes of another man as gifted as he, Robert saw the disturbing images of people laid out on stone slabs. Tubes ran from every orifice. I wish they could have saved the people, he thought. But they were ill-equipped to remove the tubing, and somehow knew that doing so could kill them all. What was the meaning of that place, he thought?
“It was a farm.”
Robert felt himself teeter in the air, losing control of his altitude and falling several dozens of feet before righting himself. Abruptly, a face entered his vision. He saw a smiling little girl of about thirteen summers with a face full of freckles. “Who… Who are you?”
“I’m Marita.”
“How… How are you communicating with me?” But inside Robert knew the answer. He had stumbled upon the same thought-sharing with the man in the Rookery, bound by air and at the mercy of the looming Falconer.
“Just like that.”
“Like how?”
The girl laughed. “Just like you talked to Samani in the Rookery. He told us about that, said you have the same powers as us. He’s the one who told me to find you. We’ve been trying for weeks.”
“I found him first!” Another face appeared before him, this time of a round-faced boy of about nine summers.
“Yes, Sebastian, but I figured out how to talk to him, so I win the prize.”
Robert was amazed by the childhood innocence of his visitors, listening intently as they argued in his mind. Like me? Robert’s thoughts turned to Taros, the Pescari boy who had wielded fire and burned down the gates of Weston. It was his inability to control emotion that had burned Sarai.
“Oh no! She was so pretty! I hope that he didn’t kill her. Is she…? Is she ok?” The girl named Marita looked genuinely concerned and shocked. “He’s lucky you didn’t kill him.”
“How did you know about her?”
“You just showed me, when you thought about her.”
“She’s fine.”
The boy interrupted. “She looks different now. Uglier.”
“Sebastian! How dare you! That was an awful thing to say. Can’t you tell that he loves her no matter what she looks like? You need to go. Wake up!”
Robert worried that the girl could read his thoughts so easily. “I must admit that it’s a little scary with you reading my mind.”
The girl answered honestly. “I’m sorry, communicating like this is hard to control if you aren’t fully in our dream world.”
“Dream world?” The conversation did not make any sense to the prince.
“Oh yes! It’s wonderful!” The girl’s lips turned up at the corners as she giggled. “Let go of your bird and let me take you there.”
Robert considered her offer, curious to know more about the strange children, but politely declined. “No, I will not. Maybe another time.”
“That’s okay! We’re still working on the trees and mountains, anyway. But when you come, you can help us with the rivers and lakes.” Her smiling face dropped, and she took on a serious expression. “Before I forget, I was supposed to pass you a message.”
“A message? From whom?”
“From Samani, silly. He said to come to Pirate’s Cove and join us. We have a lot of work to do and need your help.”
“What kind of work?”
“The rebellion! Braen and Eusari are leading a rebellion!”
Robert’s heart fell from his stomach, plummeting three hundred feet in the sky. Careful to control his thoughts he answered, “I’ll think about it.”
“Don’t think too long. There’s an army about to march on you.” For a moment she again looked serious as she tried to remember something important. “Oh yeah! And Samani wants to know your name.”
Robert. He tried to send his name, but the word was lost in his mind. Somehow, the connection had been lost and the prince sat upright in bed, drenched in sweat and again wheezing.
Anger gripped him as he thought about his mother and her killer. Marcus had blamed him for that conspiracy and poisoned the people against him. Robert had never met the outlaw, the man quickly becoming a legend. They call him the Kraken, the King of the Deep. Tales of his exploits had already reached Eskera and the child had unwittingly confirmed that Braen Braston, the scourge of his family, was mounting a rebellion and recruiting an army with magical powers. I’ll never lend aid to a pirate.
Chapter Three
Market day filled Logan city. The favorite holiday brought people to celebrate spring and prepare for planting season. Their buckboards lined the streets as farmers loaded seed and supplies. Sounds of merriment competed with merchants shouting their wares, and puppet shows acted out brazen political satires. Whether shopping or pausing for entertainment, the festival goers felt the warm sun as they laughed and rekindled friendships.
One young girl watched a troupe of actors perform the crowds’ newest favorite, The Kraken King. Men, women, and children booed as the evil pirate Braen Braston lopped off the Queen Regent’s puppet head. It rolled off the stage onto the ground and pig’s blood spewed from an apparatus in the neck of the doll. The girl watched the audience blanche at the brazen display of violence. Kali smirked at their naivety, her entire life having been exposed to senseless and excessive pain and bloodshed. She had seen it all in her fourteen summers, starting with the loss of her mother when she was only five.
