Saints of the Sword

by John Marco

  Back on the Fearless, Nicabar delighted in the first signs of battle. The Lissen commander had decided to fight, to try to damage the frigate in hope of outrunning the dreadnoughts. It was a big gamble, but Nicabar knew the Lissens had no choice. He had calculated the move and prepared for it. His own ship would come alongside the schooner, sandwiching her between the Infamous and the Fearless. Once the flagship's big guns were in range, the schooner would have to surrender.

  "Captain Blasco," Nicabar called. "Try to bring us along the schooner's portside. Signal Black City to get ahead of her. I don't want her escaping."

  Captain L'Rago heard the shots from the schooner thunder into his ship's hull. But the Infamous was armored and could take fire from a distance, and he knew it was too late for the Lissens no matter how many blows they landed. Her only hope was to pull away now, to take up the wind again before the noose tightened. Sadly for them, they were already in range of the Infamous' flame cannons.

  "Dismast her," growled L'Rago, an order for the gunners to aim high at the Lissen's rigging. He waited for the inevitable concussion. It came a second later. Two jagged bolts of fire tore from the Infamous, racing across the sea and reaching up for the schooner's masts. One caught her mainmast, tearing into her topsail, which burst into flame. The other flew harmlessly past her stern, barely grazing her mizzenmast. The meager damage didn't slow the schooner at all. She returned fire with four batteries, parroting L'Rago's tactics and firing for the Infamous' rigging.

  "Continuous fire," ordered L'Rago. "Take her apart."

  Deafened by the endless blasts and half-blind from fire, Shii feverishly worked the mechanisms of the third cannon, punching powder down its hot muzzle as fast as she could. Already her arms ached from exertion, but she was quick and had drilled for this moment, and her movements were smooth and practiced. Any other time, she would have been proud of herself. Raan, the gunner's mate she had replaced, had lost both hands two rounds ago and was screaming on the deck. Auriel himself had dragged the man away from the cannon and was frantically calling for aid, his once-spotless uniform now mottled with Raan's blood.

  Shii could hardly breathe for the stench of spent powder. Her heart thundered and sweat trickled down her forehead. The powerful heat from the cannons had singed her hands and skin, raising a red welt on the left side of her face. All around her fire detonated, and suddenly it wasn't night any longer but a kind of hellish day. Even as she worked in a ceaseless stupor, Shii knew their cause was lost. Though she didn't spare a moment to check over her shoulder, she could feel the approach of the big dreadnoughts. The Firedrake heeled with each blast from her cannons, pitching violently to port then back again. Raan was still screaming and Auriel was cursing and shouting orders, his voice hoarse. Overhead, a spear-shaped funnel of flame tore into the mainmast and ignited its sails. Shii desperately tried to focus on her work but the sight of the burning sails was too much for her. Now they could never outrun the Narens. They were doomed. A sob welled up in her but she abruptly stifled it. "Damn you!" she roared.

  "Admiral? Should we signal for surrender?"

  Admiral Nicabar considered his captain's query. The Infamous was pummeling the schooner and had already set her mainmast aflame. And though the Lissens continued to pepper the frigate with cannon shots, she was no longer a threat to the dreadnoughts. The Fearless had almost come abreast of her and was well within range to fire her starboard guns. They were the biggest guns carried by any navy, capable of shattering a castle wall. But Nicabar didn't want to kill the Lissens. Their ship he cared nothing about, but the crew was more valuable to him than gold.

  Finally, Nicabar nodded. "Signal the Infamous to cease fire. The Lissens aren't going anywhere now. Give them my terms."

  Night returned to the deck of the Firedrake as quickly as it had vanished. The endless bombardment from the frigate had ceased. An eerie calm settled over the Lissens. One by one they looked at Auriel. Shii straightened, wondering if they should continue firing.

  "Halt fire," shouted Auriel. Then again as a zealous cannoneer launched another round, "Halt fire!"

  "What's happening?" Shii wondered. All around her, her crewmates shared her confusion, puzzled by the sudden calm. Then Shii noticed the gargantuan warship settling on their portside, and didn't have to wonder anymore.

  "My God," she moaned. It was enormous. Bits of burning silk drizzled down on her from the mainmast, stinging her face, but she ignored the pain.

  The Fearless.

  It had to be. Only the Fearless was so large. Only she had such armor. Shii studied her black decks and spiked hull and the flame cannons poking out from her gun deck. From this range a single blast could wipe the schooner's deck clean, leaving only smudges where the crew now stood. Shii dropped her hands to her side, certain that her end had come. She was only twenty-one.

  "Lissen vessel!" called a voice from the blackness. "Surrender and prepare to be boarded. Or be destroyed!"

  Stupefied, the crew turned to Auriel. Splashed with Raan's blood, the young commander looked unspeakably tired. His skin was a ghostly white and his eyes were leaden.

  "Surrender," he said to his lieutenants. "Or she'll sink us where we stand."

  Nicabar grinned when he heard the Lissen's reply. They would surrender unconditionally, obviously hoping to find mercy. But Nicabar wasn't a man of mercy. He was a man on a mission and he would reward any Lissen who helped him reach his goal. Anyone who opposed him would be dealt with. Severely.

  Nicabar dispatched two launches to the burning schooner to help ferry the defeated crew aboard. This time, one of them would crack. He hoped it would be the commander. All he needed was one scrap of useful information, one Lissen traitorous enough to help him.

  "Who will it be?" he murmured. "Who?"

  The Narens came aboard with sabers bared, emboldened by the guns of their flagship. Commander Auriel had assembled his entire crew above deck. Seventy-three men and women crowded around him, frightened, wounded, and more than a little apprehensive about their fate. Shii stood next to Gigis, who had abandoned his position at the whipstaff when the anchor had been dropped. The Firedrake bobbed uselessly on the waves, a Naren warship blocking starboard, port, and bow. The only movement aboard her was from the hastily assembled bucket brigades that tossed water onto her burning sails. Shii put her arms around her shoulders, trembling and trying to glean courage from Auriel, who stood perfectly erect as the Narens boarded his vessel.

  "I'm Lieutenant Varin of the Black Fleet flagship Fearless," called the leader. His saber was drawn and pointed at Auriel. Backed up by his comrades still climbing up the rope ladders, Varin showed no fear. "If you have weapons, drop them. Anyone found with a weapon will be killed."

  The crew of the Firedrake waited for Auriel's order. The commander gave a sullen nod and one by one his sailors dropped their weapons to the deck.

  "My ship is aflame and I have wounded," he said brusquely. "I need to get them to safety."

  Lieutenant Varin smiled. "You are the commander?"

  "I am."

  "Then you will come with me. Pick twenty of your officers and crew to accompany you." Varin swished his saber back and forth. "Quickly."

  "What about the others?" pressed Auriel. "I have over seventy crewmen on board."

  "There will be launches coming from the other ships once you are aboard the Fearless," replied Varin impatiently. "Your wounded will be attended to. Now move."

  Auriel quickly assembled his five top officers, then counted out fifteen more crewmen. Shii was the last to be chosen. She stepped forward with the others and let the Narens herd them down the rope ladder and into the waiting launches. As she descended the ladder, a lump of emotion sprang into her throat. The Firedrake had been a fine ship.

  A Naren sailor in the rowboat grabbed her leg and pulled her into the launch. The boat was already overcrowded and wobbled as she fell into it. The sailor, obviously unaccustomed to female shipmates, leered at her. Shii looked away, not wanting a
confrontation, and sat down before the little boat capsized. The sea was choppy and the boat pitched violently. As the last of the captives came aboard, Varin shouted the order to depart and the rowboat shoved off, leaving the ruined Firedrake behind.

  "We'll be all right," she heard Gigis whisper behind her. The young man leaned closer. "They won't kill us. If they wanted to, we'd be dead by now."

  "But why--"

  "No talking!" hissed Varin. "The next Lissen devil who speaks goes overboard, understand?"

  Within minutes they were alongside the dreadnought Fearless. High above, Naren sailors with victorious grins stared down at them, laughing. Shii felt her face flush. As the rope ladders dropped down for them, she thought of diving into the waves and drowning herself. Suddenly, anything seemed better than submitting to these beasts. But, like her commander and crewmates, she climbed up the shaky ladder, urged on by Varin's saber, and soon found herself being pulled onto the dreadnought's deck. She fell into the arms of two waiting sailors who shoved her into line with the others. Auriel came aboard last. Despite his rank, the Narens treated him no better than the rest. They tossed him like a sack of grain into his crewmates. Shii caught him in mid-stumble. Auriel quickly propped himself up, straightened his bloodied shirt, and faced his captors. He was the picture of composure, proud and full of confidence, and seeing him gave Shii new strength. Like their commander, the Lissens straightened themselves, standing in a line along the vast deck of the dreadnought.

  Then, out of the lantern light a figure emerged, a giant with close-cropped hair and an immaculate uniform festooned with ribbons. His gait carried him quickly toward the Lissens. Beside him were two other men, one a captain, the other a lieutenant, their rank obvious from the gold bars on their sleeves. But the one who walked between them was higher ranking still and Shii knew that this was Admiral Danar Nicabar, the infamous commander of the Fearless. Her heart went cold. Even Auriel lost some of his color.

  "I am Admiral Danar Nicabar," he confirmed, his voice not unlike the guns of his ship. "Who commands here?"

  "I do. Commander Auriel is my name," replied the Lissen simply. "I respectfully ask that you convey us to a nearby detention camp for prisoners of war. There are also wounded aboard my ship. If you could--"

  Nicabar waved off the comments distractedly. "Commander Auriel, you are my prisoner and I will do what I wish with you and your crew. If you cooperate, you will live. If not, you will die."

  "Cooperate?"

  With a nod of his head Nicabar sent a silent order across the deck, then folded his hands over his chest and turned to look at the still-burning Firedrake. To Shii's shock, the launches that were supposed to convey her crewmates were nowhere to be seen.

  "What's going on?" demanded Auriel. He chanced a step toward Nicabar. "What about the rest of my crew? They were supposed to be taken off the ship."

  Nicabar didn't reply, but Varin did, slapping Auriel across the face and shoving him back in line. Shii felt a shudder from the deck below and knew with dreadful clairvoyance that the dreadnought's flame cannons were moving.

  "Oh, my God," she whispered. "No . . ."

  An ear-splitting boom shattered the night, lighting the world in a dazzle of fire. Shii screamed and put her hands over her ears. Lightning spewed out from the dreadnought, blazing across the sea and strafing the defenseless Firedrake. In all her life Shii had never heard anything so loud. Her knees buckled and she sank to the deck trying desperately to stave off the painful noise. Even Auriel held his ears. The commander was still on his feet shouting incomprehensibly at Nicabar with Varin's saber at his throat. Another deafening volley detonated. Through her tears, Shii could see the Firedrake blasting apart, until what burned on the water now was barely a husk of a ship, a skeleton ripped clean of flesh. A rain of timbers and body fragments fell from the sky splashing into the fiery water. Bile rushed into Shii's throat.

  Then, blessedly, the noise ceased. The dreadnought's guns retracted with a vibrating hum and Admiral Nicabar nodded at the flaming wreck of the Firedrake. Without a smile he turned to Auriel, pulling wax earplugs from his ears.

  "You see? I am a man of small patience, Commander Auriel. Now you may answer me. Will you cooperate or not?"

  Auriel looked stricken. "What do you want?"

  "What I've always wanted," said Nicabar. "Liss."

  Shii and her crewmates understood. For years the Narens had been trying to conquer their homeland, to find a weakness in their snaking, defensive waterways. So far, the Narens had failed.

  "Tell me what I want to know and I will spare the rest of you," Nicabar promised. "If you help me--

  "We will never help you," spat Auriel.

  Admiral Nicabar grinned. "Captain Blasco," he said over his shoulder. "Get us underway. Not too fast."

  The officer acknowledged the order and soon the dreadnought was moving again, buzzing with activity as her crew sprang to work. Nicabar waited, his blue eyes blazing with inhuman fire. When they had left the burning wreck of the Firedrake behind, the admiral shifted thoughtfully.

  "I'm not a man of great patience, Lissen, so I will speak plainly. I need your knowledge of the Hundred Isles to help me find a way inside. I intend to convince you to help me, using any means necessary."

  Shii's knees turned to water. She watched Auriel shake his head defiantly.

  "I know what you want, dog," he replied. "Don't waste your breath. I will never tell you what you want to know, and neither will any of my crew."

  Varin's saber swept in front of Auriel's nose. "Tell us, you devil, or I swear you will suffer."

  "Call off your mongrel, Nicabar," said Auriel. "His words are meaningless and I do not hear them."

  "No?" said Nicabar. "Then perhaps I can clear your ears a little." He shouldered past Auriel, examining the captive Lissens standing on the deck. One by one he inspected them, his cold eyes calculating their value, and when he reached Shii his eyes flared curiously. "A woman," he observed. His hand reached out and brushed across her cheek. "How pretty."

  Shii clamped her jaw shut to keep from reacting. Nicabar's touch was deathly cold. She looked straight ahead, avoiding eye contact, letting him stroke her skin. He leaned in closer and put his ears to her lips.

  "Tell me what I want to know," he whispered. "Or I will make the next few minutes of your life unbearable."

  "Burn in hell, Nicabar," she hissed. Her voice was wobbly but determined. "You won't break me."

  "You don't think so?" He stepped aside for her to see. "Look."

  A group of sailors was approaching with a long chain of manacles. They were slaver chains, the kind the Narens used on the conquered folk of Bisenna. It took five crewmen to carry the heavy length of metal links, looped at even intervals with neck collars and wrist bracelets, and the sight sent a tremor through the captive Lissens. Varin and his men kept their blades drawn as the sailors set to work. The Naren lieutenant put the point of his saber to Auriel's throat.

  "There's time to change your mind, Auriel," said Nicabar. "Does my offer look more tempting now?"

  Auriel said nothing as he watched the Narens shackle his crew, fixing their necks in collars and their wrists in manacles. Shii and her mates did not resist. They were lost and they knew it. A cold metal collar closed around Shii's neck, linking her inexorably to Gigis. Manacles followed, locking around her wrists. Immobilized, terrified, she looked over at Auriel and saw that the young commander was weeping. Tears ran from his eyes as he fought to maintain his defiant expression. The point of Varin's saber had drawn a pinprick of blood from his neck. Shii knew he would let them all die and that he himself would die soon after, but she also knew that his tears were not for himself but for the crew he had delivered to such disaster.

  When they had finished tethering the twenty captives, the Naren sailors took the far end of the chain and secured it to the starboard railing. Shii, at the other end, watched with horrible certainty, sure she had guessed Nicabar's plan. Nineteen men and women were tied
to her but she would be the first into the water. A feeling of smothering panic set in. Desperate for courage, she focused her mind on the only thing of comfort she could find.

  Lian, she thought silently. I'm coming to you.

  "Last chance before they go overboard, Auriel," growled Nicabar. His whole body was shaking with rage. "Cooperate and I'll spare them. You have my word."

  Auriel laughed, choking back tears. "The word of a serpent is no word at all."

  "It's a terrible death," countered Nicabar. "They'll dangle out there until they drown, or until a shark takes a chunk out of them. We're not sailing quickly enough for them to die fast."

  It was true. The dreadnought was barely making three knots. Shii thought about the cold waters and how long it would take before the sharks found them. At this speed they would tread water until exhaustion dragged them down, one by one. But Auriel, who could clearly imagine their awful fate, remained resolute. He turned away from Nicabar and looked at his crew, and even in his silence his meaning was plain. He was proud of them. And sorry. Each of them in turn nodded their forgiveness. That made Nicabar boil.

  "Die then!" he roared. "Watch them twist, Auriel, and maybe that will loosen your tongue!" The admiral turned to his sailors. "Do it."

  Four Narens rushed for Shii, grabbing up her arms and lifting her off the deck. She shouted curses and kicked at them as they manhandled her toward the rail. Gigis pulled against the chain, yelling as he tried to keep her from going overboard, but more of the sailors were on him, dragging him forward. Shii's anger became terror, turning her curses into a tortured scream. She was on the edge now trying desperately to hook her legs around the rail. Below her churned the black ocean.