Pirate's Promise

by Chris A. Jackson

  "We'll know soon enough." Thillion pointed forward. "They're closing."

  The Gold Wing veered, and her catapult cracked. A huge ball soared toward the galley, but fell short. The Gray Corsair resumed her course directly at the fleeing slavers.

  "Two more ship-lengths and they'll have them." Torius raised his glass. With their diverging courses, he could see both ships now, and could make out several figures at the galley's taffrail. They gestured, one clapped the other on the back, and they shared a laugh. "Something's wrong, Thillion."

  "What?"

  "I don't know, but the officers on that galley are too casual about this."

  Gold Wing's catapult cracked again. The shot fell closer, but still short.

  "The next one will hit."

  But before Torius could comment, the foremast lookout sang out, "The galley's turning to port!"

  "Wear ship, Windy! Grogul, man the braces!"

  Stargazer jibed to port to cut off the galley as she fled south. Gold Wing altered course to intercept, spray flying from her bow as she bore down at a furious pace. The galleon's catapult crew belayed firing to avoid holing their own jibs.

  "Is Blaine trying to cut them off?"

  "At that pace, she might be able to." Torius was looking at the port sides of both ships now, and it was easy to see that Gold Wing was overtaking the slaver. As Gold Wing closed, he suddenly deduced Blaine's strategy. "Gozreh's guts, I think she's going to ram their stern!"

  "That's suicidal!"

  "It's certainly bold, but the galleon's a much heavier vessel. If Gold Wing strikes the galley's transom squarely, she'll give a lot worse than she gets." The heavy bow timbers of a galleon could withstand a huge pounding force, whereas the thin planking of a galley's transom could not. "Damn bold!"

  Gold Wing bore on, throwing a huge bow wave. When she was less than three ship-lengths away, the galley veered hard to port, bringing her broadside to bear.

  "This is going to—" Before Torius could voice his dire prophecy, a figure on the galley's quarterdeck pointed at the Andoren ship, and a bright green beam of magical energy shot forth. As the brilliant ray struck Gold Wing's bow at the waterline, a huge section of timbers vanished into dust.

  "Holy ..."

  Gold Wing plunged downward, the void of her bow swallowing the sea instead of parting it. With her breakneck speed, water surged into the huge hole with killing force. Deck hatches were blown right out of their coamings by torrents of air forced from below by the inrushing sea. The ship pitched forward, her bowsprit stabbing into the waves, her foredeck awash in an instant. The masts groaned, and stays parted with cracks like catapult shots. Her mainmast crashed down, a tangle of cordage and shattered timber that took the foremast with it in a storm of lethal falling debris. Before Torius could even think of a coherent order, Gold Wing's waist submerged, the screams of sailors silenced by the roaring sea.

  "Bear off!" Torius grabbed the wheel and helped Windy Kate haul the helm to port. "Braces hard over! We've got to stay out of range of those spells! Get the stuns'ls off her, Grogul! Cut them away if you have to!"

  Stargazer rounded up until she sailed as close to the wind as she could and keep the big square sails drawing. The stunsails, however, could not tolerate the increased wind force. A boom snapped, and canvas, wood, and rope tore away.

  "Slack sheets! Cut that away before it fouls the stays'ls!" As topmen scrambled like apes through the rigging to comply, Torius spared a glance at Gold Wing.

  The ship was gone.

  She'd sunk so fast that nobody belowdecks could have escaped, and many on deck would have been hopelessly tangled in her rigging and dragged down. Hundreds of sailors ...gone! A few survivors splashed about, struggling to grasp floating wreckage or the single overturned boat. "Thillion! Keep your eye on that Gozreh-damned wizard!"

  "I was trying to, sir, but the bastard vanished! Invisible or teleported, I don't know."

  Torius swore. If the wizard had teleported back to Katapesh, they were in trouble. The galley had been close enough to identify Stargazer in the company of a Gray Corsair. That was all the Pactmasters needed to brand Torius and his crew as Andoren collaborators. Torius mumbled a silent prayer to Gozreh that the slavers would consider such a powerful caster too valuable a weapon to use only once.

  But how the hell do I fight something like that? There was only one answer. "Thillion, we've got to kill that wizard before he kills us!"

  "Aye, sir, but how? We can't shoot him if we can't see him."

  "No, we can't." Torius gauged the two ships' courses and grimaced. The galley, lateen sails close hauled and oars beating hard, was outpacing the brigantine to windward. The slaver closed on their starboard quarter, barely a quarter mile away. "But we can't just wait for them to creep up on us and blast a hole in our stern, either."

  "If we turn to attack, he'll cast that spell as soon as we're in range."

  In range ... "How close were they to Gold Wing when he cast it?"

  "Close! Less than two ship lengths."

  "So, we'll stay outside that range, and rake her with everything we've got. Maybe we can provoke him into becoming visible." He gestured at the elf's bow. "Do you think you can kill that wizard before he can kill us?"

  Thillion grinned. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a large vial of pearly white liquid. "With this gift from Celeste, and some very good arrows I bought in Katapesh, I think I can do that!"

  Torius's arm itched at the sight of the venom. Swallowing hard to dispel the craving, he focused on the situation at hand. "Excellent! Get to the foretop and put a shaft in that wizard!"

  "Aye, sir!" Thillion dashed forward and swarmed up the ratlines.

  "Snick! Ready both broadsides with incendiaries. We'll tack to port and rake her deck as she comes to bear, then tack back and hit her again. It'll be long-range, so give them some elevation!"

  "You got it, sir!"

  "Grogul! If we can't keep our distance, we need to be ready to repel boarders if they grapple us. A galley that size probably has three times our numbers."

  "We'll cut 'em down like grass, sir!"

  Torius didn't share the bosun's optimism, but appreciated his enthusiasm. He gauged the angles of the ships' courses once again. If he tacked too soon, the galley would be outside the range of Stargazer's ballistae. If he tacked too late, the slavers' wizard might get a spell off before Stargazer could fire a broadside. He considered the range of Snick's babies, and gave the order to tack the ship.

  "Helm's alee!" Windy called out, hauling on the wheel.

  "Haul sheets and braces!" Grogul bellowed. Stargazer cut an arc in the sea like the stroke of a farmer's scythe. The galley immediately turned to follow.

  "Snick, fire as she bears!"

  "No shot, Captain! Can't aim that far aft."

  "Damn!" Their distance was good, but he had misjudged the angle of fire. The only way to attack was to continue their turn, but that would allow the galley to close. He had to give Snick a shot, however. Or two, he thought, considering a quick jibe. They could fire both broadsides, but the maneuver chanced breakage, and would bring them even closer to the galley. No choice. "We'll wear ship! Snick, fire as we come about, then be ready with the other side as we come off on the starboard tack!"

  "Aye, sir!"

  "Ready, Grogul?"

  "Ready, sir!"

  Hang on, Thillion, he thought with a glance aloft. The elf stood at the foretop, one leg wrapped around a topmast shroud. "Hard to port!"

  Windy hauled the wheel hard over, and Stargazer fell off the wind. As they came abeam of their target, Snick's shrill command rose from below, and six ballistae bolts shot from Stargazer's side. One sailed over the galley's deck to splash beyond, but two struck her hull, and three her deck. The warheads ruptured, and flames blossomed. Slavers scrambled away from the fire and threw buckets of water to quench the blazes.

  "Good shooting, Snick! Ready the starboard broadside!"

  As Stargazer came around, the
main boom swept over Torius's head, sheets and preventer lines burning through blocks to retard the force. Sails billowed full with a crack, heeling the ship over. Snick called out again as Stargazer rolled upright, and six more incendiary bolts soared toward the galley. Much closer now, all six struck true, and the galley's waist blazed in flames. Her mainsail caught and started to burn.

  Then, out of nowhere, a familiar figure appeared on the galley's foredeck, arms raised.

  "The wizard, Thillion!" Torius looked aloft to see the elf's bow bending, but it was already too late.

  "Look out forward!"

  Grogul's bellow drew Torius's eyes just as a torrent of ice slammed down, smashing Stargazers to the deck and shredding the forestaysail. A storm of sleet swept aft, and Torius bent against its fury.

  Wiping the slushy mess from his eyes, Torius looked forward. The tattered forestaysail flapped uselessly. Stargazers skittered across the ice-coated deck trying to man their stations and tend to the damaged rigging. Those caught by the full force of the spell lay in bloody ruin. Torius tore his eyes away to look for the wizard, and his heart lifted. The robed figure lay on the deck with three long shafts stuck in his chest. Thillion had hit his mark.

  "Bear upwind, Windy! Grogul, cut down that stays'l and tend the wounded!"

  "Aye, sir."

  The shredded canvas fluttered into the sea as Torius raised his spyglass and trained it on their pursuers. The slavers had managed to put out all the fires, but charred bodies lay strewn upon the deck. Scanning the foredeck, he saw several crewmen tending to the fallen wizard. If they have a cleric ...

  "Thillion!" Torius looked aloft.

  The elf scurried precariously along the stay from the foretop to the maintop, bow in hand. Before the captain could shout an order, Thillion reached his new perch, drew his bow, and rained arrows down on the galley's foredeck. The crewmen attending the wizard scattered, and two more arrows struck the fallen form. Heartened with the wizard's demise, Torius revised his strategy.

  "Tack ship! Bring us alongside a ship-length off her beam! I've had enough of these bastards!" Torius dashed forward, his mind snapping onto a new strategy. They could continue to fire ballistae, and maybe even burn the ship to the waterline, but if they did, the slaves in the hold would perish. He leaned over the rail to bellow orders. "Glue bombs on her deck as we pass, Snick, then quick reload and fire grappling shots into her transom as we round her stern! Grogul, when we round her, let fly all sheets and throw grapples. We'll board over her taffrail where they can't overwhelm us with numbers!"

  Savage cries rose from the crew, and once again Torius's heart lifted. He turned back to find Thillion standing beside the helm, his bow slung over his shoulder.

  "Damn fine shooting! You heard my orders?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Good. As I board with Grogul and the deck crew, you and Snick's crew follow and rake them with arrows from their own quarterdeck. If we can take their quarterdeck, we'll take the ship."

  "Very good, sir." Thillion sprinted forward, calling down orders to Snick and her crew.

  The plan sounded simple, but bringing two ships together was always dangerous, not to mention boarding outnumbered three to one. Maybe only two to one now, with the devastating effect of the alchemical fire.

  Windy Kate brought Stargazer about until they were headed directly at the galley. The two ships closed at an amazing speed. Too fast! At this speed, they'd never be able to grapple, but if they made an obvious effort to slow the ship, the slavers might smoke his plan.

  "Grogul, cut the forecourse sheet! We need to check her way!"

  "Aye!" Grogul followed the order without hesitation, and the big square sail flapped and fluttered.

  Stargazer slowed. Snick's shrill voice rose out of the main hatch as they came into firing position. Unfortunately, a shot for Stargazer also meant a shot for the galley. Torius stood firm as the slavers shipped oars, and the ballistae bolts nosed out of the ports.

  The two ships fired simultaneous broadsides. Snick's shots arced high, trailing triggering lines, and the glue bombs detonated amidships, dousing the galley's deck with sticky resin. The galley's shots were aimed low and trailed thicker lines—grappling shots. Stargazer shuddered as the shafts struck. The heavy ropes came taut, and both ships staggered, slewing to port. Two of the lines snapped, and one ripped free, tearing a piece of planking from Stargazer's side. The rest held, however, drawing the two ships together. If they pulled the ships rail to rail, the slavers could board in force the full length of the ship, and the Stargazers would be overwhelmed.

  "Cut those lines!" Stargazers swung daringly down between the ships to slash at the grappling lines. A few archers fired from the galley's forecastle, but not one Stargazer fell. Steel met hemp, and the taut lines parted. Stargazer was free. "Bring her around and slack sheets!"

  Stargazer wheeled to port, all sails flapping free, and grappling shots slammed into the galley's transom. The thick lines came taut with another horrendous jerk, knocking people to the deck on both ships. Stargazers hauled madly at the capstan, pulling in the grappling lines, and Grogul's boarders threw hand grapples onto the galley taffrail. Slavers tried to cut the lines, but when Thillion's arrows felled two of them, the others took cover. The galley's transom crashed into Stargazer's side at the main shrouds, showering both crews with splinters. Drawing his sword, Torius grabbed Windy Kate by the arm.

  "Stargazers! With me!"

  Torius and Windy ran and leapt across onto the galley's quarterdeck as Grogul and the rest of the boarders clambered up from the lower mid-deck. An arrow creased Torius's shoulder, but he recovered to meet the charge of the galley's officers with a laugh and a slash.

  It was close work as he and Windy faced more blades than they could handle. Torius took a nasty cut from temple to chin, but Windy opened the man's stomach with her cutlass. Torius reciprocated by parrying a swipe that would have caught her in the neck. He sliced the man's throat on the backslash, and blood sprayed them both. Then Grogul and his boarding party swarmed over the transom onto the narrow quarterdeck, bellowing for blood. With slaver reinforcements slowed by the resin bombs, the Stargazers suddenly had the slavers outnumbered.

  "Forward!" Torius ordered, parrying a boarding pike and lunging in to slash through the slaver's wrist. She screamed, clutching the gushing stump before Grogul's axe cut her down. Torius recognized the captain's insignia on her collar as he stepped over her corpse.

  Torius and his crew worked their way forward in tight formation, leaping down to the flame-scarred mid-deck to continue the battle. Behind them, Thillion led Snick's crossbowmen onto the galley's quarterdeck. Volley after volley flew over their heads into the enemy. Torius's blade rose and fell, slashed and parried, until his arm ached with the effort. Yet onward he fought, sustained by his loathing for these peddlers in human suffering.

  "Forward, Stargazers! No quarter!"

  The slavers fought grimly, but with their officers dead, their discipline dissolved. There was no way they could hold against the coordinated force of Stargazers. When the last slaver fell, the galley's deck looked like a slaughterhouse floor.

  Torius stood for a moment, breathing heavily. Dead slavers lay all around him, but not one ounce of pity did he feel. "Snick, tend our wounded and send your crew below to free the slaves. Thillion, take Stargazer's boats to look for survivors from Gold Wing. Grogul, search this ship from stem to stern and kill anyone who doesn't wear a slave collar!"

  "Consider 'em dead!" Grogul strode off, gore dripping from his axe.

  "Here, Captain!" Snick hurried up, pulling a vial from the satchel. Swallowing hard, she turned her pale face away from the carnage and held out the potion. "You're bleedin' a lot!"

  "We won't have enough for all the wounded, Snick." He hadn't planned on going into battle on this trip, though he did have a reasonable store of potions. He pushed her toward the nearest Stargazer, curled around a bad belly wound. "I'll live. See to the worst off first. You can st
itch me up later."

  "Aye, sir." She didn't sound happy about it, but went to work.

  Torius reached up to his jaw, and his fingers came away bloody. He tore a scarf from a dead slaver and pressed it to the wound as he worked his way aft. Windy Kate stayed at his side, miraculously unhurt, her cutlass bloody to the hilt. The door to the captain's cabin was locked, but Torius's adrenaline was still running high, and his foot worked better than a key. To his astonishment, a low wooden tub filled with murky water stood in the center of the spacious cabin.

  "What the ..."

  He and Windy Kate both jumped back as the water in the tub roiled. Two heads broke the surface—a man's and a woman's. Their eyes widened at the sight of their blood-spattered visitors, and they scrambled out of the tub and into a far corner. Their sparse clothing hung in tatters, gray with filth, and both wore iron slave collars.

  Windy Kate lowered her sword. "Captain! They've got gills!"

  The woman ducked her head as if to ward off a blow as she stammered, "We're gillmen."

  "They're gillmen, Windy." Torius grinned. He winced as the movement painfully stretched his wound, but it was worth it. "And they're free."

  Chapter Fifteen

  Hard Questions

  More wine, Urfin?" Vreva trailed her fingers along her guest's pallid chest, and eased up from the tub, water and scented oils running down her skin. Her client was Urfin Bishalla, a slave merchant locally famous for selling Okeno's governor, Morio Midasi, a charmed gug bodyguard. More importantly, Urfin was also deep into the governor's pockets. Vreva felt his eyes appraise her as she stepped out of the tub, suppressing her revulsion.

  "Please." He smiled up at her with a languid expression, his voice slurred.

  Physically spent, and mentally softened by the single grain of devil's breath she'd put in his wine, he was ready for a little covert interrogation. Vreva took their glasses to the sideboard without bothering to don a robe or towel. She knew he liked to watch her, and gave him what he wanted. Fortunately, without knowing it, he also gave her what she wanted: the latest secrets from Midasi.