Chaos Descending

by Toby Neighbors

  “And we shouldn’t lose any more daylight,” Zollin said. “It’s good to see you, father.”

  “And you, son. Take care of my grandbaby.”

  “We will,” Brianna said.

  “We’ll be here waiting when you return,” Quinn said, and he saw a look cross Brianna’s face that he didn’t recognize, but it was gone in an instant and Zollin was embracing him. He stood back and watched the two of them hurry to the dragons who were waiting patiently nearby. Brianna jumped into the air, her body spinning in a summersault that was higher than any person should have been able to leap. She landed lightly on the big black dragon’s back, settling herself quickly as the huge creature’s wings unfurled.

  Zollin rose up into the air magically, a sight that still made Quinn’s jaw drop. Zollin was slower to get settled on the huge muscular shoulders of the green behemoth. Quinn wasn’t certain, but he thought perhaps Ferno had grown even larger since the last time he’d seen the dragon. That had been over a year before when Zollin and Brianna had returned in triumph to Orrock. He waved as his son took to the air, and then watched the dragons fly out of sight. The small farm was quiet with everyone gone. Quinn looked over to his horse, which was still tied to the post near the back of Zollin’s house. It looked at Quinn nervously and then dropped its head to munch on more grass.

  Quinn yawned and thought about going back inside and getting some more sleep, but then decided against it. Instead he saddled the horse and led it away from the house. There would be plenty of time for sleep, he decided, once he had checked on Mansel and learned more about Brynar’s missing cow.

  Chapter 7

  Roleena loved mornings at sea. She made it a habit to rise before dawn each day, partly because she didn’t trust her crew not to kill her in her sleep, and partly because she loved to watch the sunrise from the command deck of her ship.

  The Crest Dancer was truly her ship. She had taken control of it, faced down the mutinous crew and then won their allegiance. The ship’s former captain had been a weak man. Roleena knew that when he allowed the wizard Zollin to leave the ship without consequence. Roleena’s blood boiled whenever she thought of the wizard. He was hardly more than a boy, just barely into manhood, and probably more to blame for the chaos in the Five Kingdoms than people thought. Some were calling him a savior; others knew the truth. He was an instigator. Trouble seemed to follow him wherever he went. At sea, men would call a man like that a jinx and be rid of him forever by casting him overboard, but the captain had done nothing. Not when the huge black dragon had attacked them and ruined her leg. And not when Zollin summoned a sea creature to their ship, further endangering the entire crew.

  Roleena had looked the captain in the eye when she killed him. She had been close enough to smell the oil he used to keep his thinning hair slicked back and out of his eyes when on deck. She had gone into his cabin, lured him close, then slipped a long, thin dagger between his ribs. The fat fool had soiled himself before dying, and Roleena had been forced to air her new cabin out for two whole days before she could stand the smell.

  All Roleena had needed to take the ship was the help of one small group of disgruntled sailors. Slice, the ringleader with the horrid scar across his cheek, had thrown in his support when she announced what she had done. The other passengers on board had been set adrift in the ship’s longboat or given to the crew as playthings. The crew had taken to the pirate life quickly and quite happily. She had known they would. They were men, after all, separated from their families and any real sense of morality. They were like sheep in that regard. They would follow a strong leader, and Roleena ruled her crew with a quiet rage. None dared cross her openly, and once Slice’s band vocalized their support, the others were quick to follow. Then it only took a successful raid and the spoils that followed to convince them that serving Lady Roleena of Shupor was a much more appealing offer than crewing a trade ship.

  “Sail!” came a shout from the lookout on the crow’s nest at the top of the tall main mast.

  Roleena didn’t bother looking. She knew she wouldn’t be able to see the ship, at least not in any detail, and besides, she had crew members who would do that for her.

  “Hewy, go and see what we’ve found,” she called down to a man on the main deck.

  The sailor didn’t salute or even call back that he had heard her command. He simply hurried toward a wide section of taut rigging and started climbing. Hewy was a young sailor with exceptional eyesight. Unlike the previous captain, Roleena knew her crew and had a firm grasp of their strongest skills. She had procured a very good spyglass for Hewy and given it to him. He was the only crew member aside from Roleena’s officers to have a spyglass, and he carried it like a badge of honor. He was also agile and fast up the rigging, looking almost like a spider dancing across its web as he scampered up the ropes that held the sails in place.

  A few moments later the sailor was hurrying down again. Slice had appeared on the command deck. It was a trait Roleena admired. Her devious first officer always seemed to know when something was afoot. He had a knack for understanding the pulse of the ship, much like Roleena herself. And while she didn’t trust Slice, she did appreciate his eagerness when it came to piracy.

  “Trade vessel, my lady,” Hewy said, panting a little as he spoke. “She’s flying Yelsian colors.”

  “How many masts?” Roleena asked.

  “Two.”

  Most of the trade ships still plying the waters around Yelsia were smaller vessels. Since the war, there was very little trade from the other kingdoms. Rumors of ships from Ortis had been circulating, but there was no confirmation that Ortis had even survived the war. Falxis and Osla were lost, which wasn’t to say there weren’t treasures to be found in those kingdoms, but they weren't actively trading. And a ship from Ortis would have to sail around the entire continent just to reach Yelsia. They wouldn’t see those ships for a while, Roleena guessed, and probably not so far north.

  Their position was just south of Tragoon Bay, which was the central harbor of the kingdom. Ships could sail up the Sheamook river to deliver goods to Orrock, the capital of Yelsia, so while most trade between kingdoms had disappeared, there were still plenty of ships sailing along the northern coast. But there weren’t many galleons with several decks and massive cargo capacity, which would be difficult for her crew to subdue and almost impossible to man—if they managed to take one. The brig they were chasing was smaller than Crest Dancer, which was considered a barque since she had three masts instead of two. She was wider and slower than a clipper ship, but more suited to the rough sea conditions around the points near Winsome and Skattle Point.

  “Hoist the Yelsian flag,” Roleena ordered. “Make sure it's upside down this time, Hewy!”

  “Aye, Captain,” the young man shouted.

  Roleena turned to Slice, “Get everyone you can down below and shift the ballast. I want her listing to starboard.”

  “That will give the grappling hook you built more range,” Slice said.

  “And the crew an easier target. We'll only get one shot at her, and I don't want to destroy the rigging.”

  “You have plans for the ship?”

  “I always have plans,” Roleena said. “Now move!”

  Orders were being shouted around the ship. Sails were dropped in a haphazard fashion. Down in the ship's main hold, large wooden carts were being shifted. Roleena had used their time in port wisely. She had devised a system of ballast weights that could be shifted in the hold to make Crest Dancer lean to one side, as if the ship were in distress. It was a ploy to draw in target vessels so that the pirates under her command could board and steal the cargo from other ships.

  She felt Crest Dancer begin to shift beneath her, and she adjusted her weight over the wooden peg she used for a leg. Learning to walk with a fake leg was difficult for anyone, but Roleena had been forced to learn to walk on a moving deck that shifted with the sea. Despite being born into a noble household and having a promising future in Sh
upor, Roleena had been drawn to the sea. She loved the sense of freedom and excitement that being a sailor offered. Of course, Ladies weren't supposed to go to sea. They certainly weren't expected to command ships or lead men in combat, but Roleena had never been content to simply sit back and be a spectator in life. She wanted to live, to embrace every opportunity that came her way. She didn't respect the laws that were crafted by men in the high halls who thought of women as property, so she had no qualms about breaking those laws.

  “Is everyone armed and ready?” she called down to her first officer when he reappeared on the main deck from down below.

  Slice wasn’t what many would consider officer material. His nose was crooked from being broken and he had a cruel look that would make most people nervous. Roleena knew she had a wild animal in a position of power on her ship, but as long as she kept Slice and his band of ruffians well fed with a steady diet of ill-gotten goods, she could trust him. If that ever changed, she wouldn’t hesitate to cut his throat and toss his filthy body overboard.

  “Aye, and hungry for blood,” he called back.

  “Good, get to your ballista and await my order. Make sure you've got plenty of cable.”

  Slice nodded and then hurried to the bow of the ship. The ballista was essentially a large crossbow that was mounted on a pivoting platform. The bowstring was as thick as a grown man’s first two fingers and took four men to pull back. It fired long bolts that had various tips. One was a penetration point that was honed razor sharp and used to puncture a ship’s hull. Another looked more like a grappling hook and could be used to tangle up in the rigging of a ship. Both had long cables that were made of leather, not hempen rope. The leather was more difficult to cut away, even with sea axes, giving Crest Dancer time to pull the other ship close enough to board.

  “Everything is ready, Captain,” called a tall, stoop-shouldered sailor named Daak. He was in charge of connecting the ships with a ladder that had hooks on either end to catch on a ship's railing. Most of Roleena's crew waited just below the main deck and would come pouring up to cross over onto the merchant ship. Her sailors were tough men, well armed and eager for plunder. She had delivered it to them before, first by taking control of Crest Dancer, but also by overtaking a smaller ship that had been full of goods which she was able to sell in the northern ports. She had kept the lion’s share of the profits, of course, but she had used the money wisely, buying weapons for her crew and building the ballista.

  Slice had asked if she had plans, and the truth was she had many. She had no desire to be a queen locked away in a castle, or even to rule a kingdom herself. She wanted not only the freedom and adventure of the high seas, but she wanted to be the master of every vessel that ventured into her domain. And she wanted to kill the wizard Zollin, but that would come in time. First, she needed more ships, more men, and most of all, more gold.

  The merchant ship was signaling to them. Roleena could see the vessel had changed tack and was sailing toward Crest Dancer.

  “They want to know what's wrong,” said the man at the large ship's wheel.

  Roleena knew the seafaring language of colored flags and the signals they conveyed, but no one on her ship knew that. She liked the idea of knowing more than her crew, and she wasn't quick to share her own secrets, so she let them go on believing she didn’t know what the signals meant. Hewy was waiting for his next order. He would take her message up to the crow’s nest and ensure it was sent with his own set of flags.

  “Tell them we're taking on water and need assistance,” she ordered.

  Waiting as the two ships moved closer and closer was the most difficult part of the attack. Crest Dancer seemed to fly over the waves most of the time, but when her prey was in sight, the vessel seemed to almost crawl. It was taxing, but if they could keep up the ruse long enough, she would spring her trap and draw the merchant ship in.

  She could see movement on the merchant ship, then shortly thereafter heard the sound of orders being shouted on board the other vessel. She needed the other ship to be close enough that the ballista would not only reach them, but the two ships could be pulled together before the cable was cut in two and the merchant ship could make its escape.

  When she could make out what was being shouted on the other ship, she gave the signal. Slice sprang into action, firing the ballista almost immediately. The bolt flew in a lazy arc, then dropped onto the merchant ship, ripping sails and shocking the surprised crew before getting tangled in the other ship's rigging.

  “Now! Now! Now!” Roleena shouted to the men awaiting her orders.

  Two dozen men heaved on the leathery cable, which was made from thick strips of leather each two inches wide and braided expertly together by a blind leather worker in Skattle Point. The stiff leather had been checked every day and oiled regularly to keep the salt from drying out the thick hide and making it brittle.

  Roleena felt the ship turn as the men pulled the rope. The shouting on the merchant ship grew louder and more panic-stricken. She felt a smile pulling on the corners of her mouth, but she clamped down on any outward expression that betrayed how she felt. The ships were almost close enough for the ladder to be dropped and her men sent across. Hewy had returned from his trip to the crow’s nest.

  “Remind our men that I want that ship taken, not destroyed,” she ordered him. “And that means sparing enough of her crew to man the vessel.”

  “Aye, Captain,” the young sailor said before racing down into Crest Dancer's hold.

  The merchant ship's captain was screaming orders to his men, who were frantically trying to untangle the leather cable from their rigging. Pirates on the high seas were the harbingers of death, and most sailors feared them more than storms or even sea monsters. Sailors were superstitious individuals; most had little or no education and even less training with arms. Roleena could see the panic setting in on the merchant vessel and she was certain they would pose no real threat.

  “Daak!” Roleena shouted the next order and the big man hefted the boarding ladder.

  “Attack!” she screamed.

  The sailors from Crest Dancer came running onto the main deck like rabid demons. They brandished their weapons and screamed blood-curdling war cries as they dashed across the ladder and jumped aboard the merchant ship. They were met by a feeble resistance, which quickly folded after three of the smaller ship’s crew were cut down by savage blows. Blood ran across the deck and the merchant sailors’ courage vanished. The captain of the ship surrendered his vessel before Roleena’s crew of bloodthirsty pirates could all cross the boarding ladder.

  “Stand down!” Roleena shouted. “Slice, get control of those men.”

  The first officer didn’t reply, but instead started shouting at the crew. It took several minutes before he could cross the boarding ladder and take control of the situation. A dozen of the merchant sailors were slain in the attack, but most had thrown down their makeshift weapons and surrendered. Slice threatened the lives of his own men if they didn’t behave, then sent the merchant ship’s captain over to Crest Dancer.

  “What’s your name?” Roleen asked. She had come stumping down from the command deck, somehow managing to look graceful despite the thump of her wooden leg on the ship’s deck.

  “Yorgi, Captain of Eagle’s Cry out of Selphon City,” he managed to say.

  “Your cargo?” Roleena demanded.

  “We’ve got red cedar from the Wahleta Mountains, furs, Rejee wine, some tobacco and coffee from the mountain growers.”

  “A rich haul, no doubt.”

  “Yes, my lady,” the merchant captain said, but his eyes kept shifting around as if he were looking for someone else.

  “And do you carry news as well?” she asked.

  “There’s very little news from Falxis. Almost no one traveling through the mountains.”

  “I have a feeling you know more than you are sharing. Perhaps it is because I am a woman?”

  “No, my lady.”

  “You think I
am not fit to command this ship?”

  “No… I mean, yes, of course you are. I meant no disrespect.”

  “I am the captain here, Yorgi of Selphon City. I became the commander of this vessel and these fine men when I killed the previous captain. And I killed him,” she said leaning close to the pudgy merchant sailor who was trembling before her, “because I wanted his ship. I want your ship as well, and all the treasure it carries.”

  The men around her cheered, calling for treasure and asserting their claims. She ignored them all and continued speaking to Yorgi.

  “He had no value to me,” she went on. “But you, perhaps you can be useful, if you loosen that tongue and tell me what I want to know.”

  “I will, I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” he said.

  “Good! Take him below,” she ordered Hewy. “Slice, clear that rigging. I want Daughton and Baynes in charge of Eagle’s Cry.”

  Roleena walked over the railing and shouted to the other ship.

  “You men are now under my command,” she called. “Do your duty and follow my orders and you shall not only live, but share in the spoils of our great adventure. Why should some fat merchant in Selphon City grow rich on our labor? We shall take this ship and all its cargo for ourselves and when we’ve spent it all, we’ll take more. We’ll take whatever we find until every sailor on the eastern sea knows the name of Roleena of Shupor and quakes with fear at the thought of our ships sailing into view.”

  The pirates cheered, but it was the looks of hope on the faces of the merchant sailors that she looked for. Most of them were relieved not to be dead, but some of them looked as if her words had struck a chord. She would have to watch them carefully. Many would not survive the voyage before them, but she needed loyal men who were strong and determined. She could always find more men who were hungry for gold. And there would always be more ships sailing the coasts of Yelsia to supply it.