“Do you know how they come off? How we can remove these chains?”
Sargoth sighed. “The only way to remove these chains is to use an amulet forged in the Abyss. It resembles an eight-pointed star in a ring, made of black iron. Like this.“ He tapped the emblem on his forehead with one talon, before laying his clawed hand back down on the glass floor. “They are rather common on the mainland, especially if the Felle are nearby, but out here on the islands, not as much.“ He inclined his forehead to Elias, letting him get a closer look at the emblem that was held onto his forehead with fine chains. “Press the amulet here, and chains will fall off.“ He lifted his head back up to look at Elias again. “I'd imagine that the only place you'd find a medallion like that is either on the mainland or on the island that they refer to as the Fortress.“
Elias furrowed his brow. “The Fortress?”
One of the elves, who had retreated around the corner when the dragon showed himself, called forward. “The Hollow Island, Kaiwhakaora.”
Elias considered the situation for a moment. “We do have three of those amulets. They were borne by assassins that tried to kill me a year ago... I kept one of them. It is with my things on my ship, the Leviathan. The other two are on Greenreef.”
Sargoth leaned back, his serpentine neck coiling into an 's' shape. “Your ship is nearby?”
Elias nodded. “It is.”
The dragon narrowed his eyes. “Why would you release me?”
“Because nobody deserves to live their lives in chains.”
“Even though I could swallow you whole and not even have to chew?”
“You could have done so already. You haven't.”
Sargoth moved his head down closer, right in front of Elias. “If you release me, what do you ask in return?”
Elias shook his head. “Nothing in return for releasing you. But if you help me destroy the pirates, and rid the island of their influence, then I will sail you back to the mainland.”
Sargoth settled back, considering. “Done. I agree. Go, then, and fetch your medallion. I'll wait here.” The dragon let a shadow of a smirk cross his features at the little joke, and sank back into the lava. As Elias and his companions left the cave, all that could be seen of the dragon were his bright blue eyes, watching them disappear around the bend in the cavern.
~ ~ ~
The light of the day hurt his eyes as Elias stepped out of the cavern. He had been underground for maybe half an hour, but his eyes had already accustomed to the torchlight. The sun was well over the horizon, and he knew that he had overstayed his time limit. He should have been sailing back to Port Greenreef and the friendly islands well before now.
There was a shout from up ahead, and one of the warriors pointed to the north. A small fleet of ships, perhaps nine or ten of them, were sailing fast towards the Leviathan and the Iron Oar. Three were ahead of the pack, bearing down on the anchored ships.
As he ran down the hill towards the beach, he saw the two ships draw anchor and turn towards the attackers. Delain meant to attack!
The three leading ships veered hard to port, cutting around and away from the Leviathan, which was ahead of the Iron Oar. As they turned, he could see blue skinned mariners on the deck. Those three ships were sailed by Jonas and his men!
His heart was in his throat as he turned towards the path that led from the cliffs to the beach. There was no way he could get there in time, and the landing boat would be destroyed as soon as it came within range of the warring ships. This was a naval battle he would have to observe from the shore, as much as it killed him to do it.
The captured ships ran abreast of the pursuing pirate vessels, and though they were nearly a mile distant, Elias could swear he saw arrows flying back and forth between the ships. Jonas must have those ships packed to the brim with warriors!
The Leviathan was turning towards the rising sun, making to flee, while the Iron Oar was entering the fight. As it drew close to the nearest ship, there was a flash, and splintered wood flew from the Oar; a sound like thunder was audible immediately thereafter.
The main mast of the Iron Oar fell to the side, crashing into the ship they had been engaging. Elias ran into the waves, dragging a landing boat with him. He could no longer sit on the shore and watch as his comrades were killed. He had to get out there and do something. He was vaguely aware of many hands grabbing his shoulders and armor, hauling him back towards the shore.
“Elias! No! You'll be killed!”
He shook them off like birds from a tree branch. “Our warriors are being killed right now! I have to help them!”
One of the warriors leapt out in front of him, holding his arms out wide. “No! Our warriors are slaying pirates! Our warriors are battling for their lives right now! If they fall, what honor do you do them in joining them before you avenge them?“ He placed his hands on the landing ship and hauled it back towards the shore. “You must live to rally against those who would destroy our brothers!“
The waves shoved at Elias as he fought a battle with himself. The Iron Oar was settling lower in the waves as blue-skinned warriors swarmed over onto the other ship. The three ships that Jonas had captured were veering about to make another pass at the other five pirate vessels.
“What can we do? Those are our warriors out there!”
The warrior that had stopped him in the waves turned towards the mounting battle at sea. “Now we trust in the gods, Elias. Now we trust in our brothers.”
~ ~ ~
The sun was high in the sky, beating down on Elias and the ten elves who sat n the beach with him in silence. There was no trace of the Leviathan; she had sailed east while the battle had raged between the pirates and the ships captured by Jonas and his elves. The Iron Oar had sunk, having been blasted by the cannons mounted on one of the pursuing ships from the Hollow Island.
Of the three ships that had turned to fight the oncoming pirates, two had been scuttled and sank. The other one had turned and fled around the north end of Ahi Maunga, due northeast. Three of the pirate ships chased it, while the other two turned around and sailed back northwest, around the Cursed Island. They hadn't even brought one ship down.
As far as he knew, Delain had gone down with the Iron Oar. Geoff would have taken command of the Leviathan in his absence. Jonas would have been on one of the ships that engaged the pirates... whether or not he was on the ship that escaped, Elias did not know.
There was no hope for a rescue; the Leviathan was too slow, and a single ship would be far too easy to pick off while they boarded. Their only hope at this point was to wait until nightfall, row towards Ahi Maunga, the Fire Mountain, and try to capture a proper sailing vessel. This is the haphazard plan that he had come up with, and he didn't like it at all.
The sky was turning red as the sun settled behind the low mountain on the Cursed Island, and it had been at least half a day since they had seen a ship. They hauled the landing boat into the surf, and started the arduous task of rowing for the nearest island. Nearly twenty miles over rough water, it would not be an easy task, but it was their only chance.
No sooner had they broken past the waves of the surf than a ship rounded the southern point of the island, then another, and another, and another. They redoubled their efforts, until one of the warriors stood up, peering towards the ships.
“Those are our ships! From the south village!”
Elias himself stood, setting the ship to rocking. In the light of the setting sun, identifying the ships by design was difficult, and neither he nor the pirates flew any standard. It wasn't until he saw the blue skinned passengers gathered at the rail of the forecastle that he allowed himself to believe they were friendly.
As the ships came closer, Elias and his warriors started shouting and waving their arms. One of the vessels came closer, and circled around towards them, while the other three continued on east. Refugees crowded the rail, along with a fair number of painted warriors. Among them, one face Elias recognized immediately.
&nb
sp; “Martin! Martin, thank the gods! Hurry, throw a rope down!”
Martin started shouting orders, directing the freed slaves back from the rail, while the warriors and sailors went about helping Elias and his men board the ship.
As soon as he was aboard, Martin pulled him to the side. “Elias! What happened? Why aren't you on your way back to Greenreef?”
Elias sat on a barrel, and started stripping off his armor. He had been in it for most of a day, and it was starting to wear on him. “That great power that Marl told us about, the sea elves confirmed it was still here. We searched for it and found it... it was a dragon under the mountain of the Cursed Island.”
Martin passed him a waterskin, and he drank deeply. “When we came out of the cave, after striking a deal with the dragon, the Leviathan and the Oar were under attack. We couldn't row out to fight them, we'd have been destroyed before we ever got there. The Iron Oar... she was...“
He lowered his head, for a moment, seeing the splintered wood being blasted off of the oldest ship in their fleet, hearing the thunderous explosions that marked her death. “She was destroyed. Sank by one of the pirate ships. Two of the ships that Jonas captured were sunk as well. One other fled north around Ahi Maunga. We haven't seen her since.“
Martin sank down, sitting on a crate. “By all the gods and all the hells... What of Jonas? What of Delain and Geoff?”
Elias shook his head and looked up. “I do not know. The Leviathan escaped, as far as I can tell, and if Geoff captained it, then he lived. I don't know which ship Jonas captained. He may have lived, he may have died.” He looked up at Martin. “How was it that you were still here? Why weren't you already half a day's sailing away?”
Martin rested his elbows on his knees. “We ran into some trouble after Jonas had left. Nothing we couldn't handle, but a ship sailed south down the western coast. We had moored our ships in the hollow of a dead volcano just offshore. With our forces, we could have taken it, but we would have lost too many men. We had all of the slaves loaded onto our ships, but we had to wait until after the pirates made landfall, searched the village, and sailed back north. I wanted to make sure they weren't going to come back around the island, and I wanted to accompany Jonas when he sailed through with the supply ships.”
Martin was silent again. “When he never came, by late afternoon, I made the decision to sail back. We came up from the north and saw debris in the water, then spotted you.” With that, he stood and marched towards the helm. Pushing the helmsman off of it, he brought the ship about and turned it east. Elias climbed up the ladder to the helm on top of the aftcastle.
“Where are you taking us, Martin?”
“Greenreef. Our mission is not complete until we get these elves home.” He set his jaw. “It's what Jonas would have done. Complete the mission.”
Elias watched the man for a moment, then nodded. “I agree. Let's bring these elves home. We can regroup at the Port.”
~ ~ ~
They sailed east, the four ships ranging out in a line, single file. On the second day, they caught up to the Leviathan. The enormous ship had a much deeper draft than the smaller ships, and sailed much slower.
Elias boarded a landing boat and transferred to the Leviathan, his armor in tow. Geoff was captaining it, as he had assumed, and was overjoyed to see him. He rushed up to Elias and took his giant hand in both of his own.
“Elias! Thank the gods, I thought you were slain!”
Elias shook his hand. “No... not me. Have you seen any of the other ships?”
Geoff led the way to Elias's chambers. “Not since nightfall last night. They were sailing fast, and rightly so. After the attack in front of the Cursed Island, I was afraid that they would come after us. We've got enough warriors to defend ourselves if we were boarded by one ship, but not two or three, and if they turned their cannons on us, then we'd all be on the bottom of the sea right now.”
“But nobody followed?”
Geoff shook his head. “Nobody but you.” He opened the door for Elias, and followed him in. Three blue skinned elves, refugees from the slave villages, followed them in, carrying Elias's armor. They set it on the floor in front of his armor stand, and left, closing the door behind them.
Awkwardly, Geoff stood near the table. “Elias... I have to ask... Delain?”
“He was on the Iron Oar?”
Geoff looked down at the man, nodding.
“Then he is dead. The Iron Oar was sank covering the retreat of the Leviathan.”
Geoff nodded again. “And Jonas?”
“I would expect the same. Two of the captured supply ships were sunk. I don't know which one he sailed on, but one of them escaped. It was being pursued by two other vessels when we last saw it disappear north around Ahi Maunga, the Fire Mountain.“
Geoff sat down in one of the chairs, his face pale. “So Jonas and Delain are lost. Many warriors are lost. Most of the supplies are lost.” He looked up at Elias. “How can we win this war?”
Elias drew back his chair and sat down himself. “We must regroup at the Port. We've more than enough ships to sail immediately upon the Hollow Island, and the Cursed Island no longer produces supplies for the pirates. Within two weeks, they'll be eating each other behind their walls. It will take that long to resupply and recover from this strike. Within a month, this war will be over.”
Geoff clasped his hands together, looking at the marks on the map, where their plan had been laid out. “How can you be sure?”
“Because now, we have a dragon on our side.”
~ ~ ~
1st Waning Summer Moon, Year 4369
The choppy water of the straight between the western islands and Greenreef herself was a welcome sight. After four days of sailing, Elias was ready to set his feet on the sands of the Seagate and put the fighting behind himself for a moment. He needed to see if Jonas had survived; a part of him refused to believe he wasn't on the third ship. He would either be at Seagate, waiting for him, at the northern village being set up for the refugees, or in Port Greenreef, overseeing the aftermath of the voyage.
The four ships had accompanied the Leviathan since they had met up two days ago, but they had made good time despite the slower speed of the giant ship. It took them four hours to sail across the straight, but they were at Greenreef at last. The familiar sight of the western coast was a relief to Elias. Soon, he would be home, and would see Coral again.
Home, he thought to himself. His heart ached from the last time he had seen her. He hoped that she could forgive him for his actions that night, when his hurt overcame his heart.
The ridge that protected Seagate from the brunt of the sea came into view, and his heart seemed to stop in his chest. Black plumes of smoke rose over the arm of the volcanic mountain. While he had been away fighting the pirates, Greenreef had been attacked.
Chapter Twenty-Two
1st Waning Summer Moon, Year 4369
Wreckage floated in the sheltered lagoon at Seagate, and around the steep stone cliffs that dropped into the sea. The tide had pushed it in through the archway, and the stone ridges had kept it there, floating and bobbing about until it found the shore. The landing boat Elias was on rocked and bumped about as splintered wood and debris were pushed out of the way. He recognized it as fragments of the ship that had been set outside of the Seagate to guard it while he was away.
Whatever had happened here had been explosive, violent, and no more than a day ago. Most of the huts on the beach were reduced to rubble, burned to ashes or torn down. The carefully spaced and cared for palm trees that had once offered shade now lay on the ground, either charred or hacked down. The entire village was reduced to wreckage.
Farther up the beach, the lodge was a smoking, gutted ruin. The front half had collapsed, leaving only most of the rear section standing, it's skeletal support beams like blackened ribs standing high above the sand. Fires still burned on the slope of the mountain behind the village, pushing the jungle back even farther and leaving nothing
but ashes in its wake.
The shore was littered with bodies as Elias and his crew ran the boat into the sand. He jumped out at a full run, leaving the other elves to pull the boat out of the waves. Seawater splashed up to his waist unheeded as he forged towards the scene of the battle.
Warriors and villagers lay slain on the sand and in the surf, some of the bodies floating in the waves. Elias could see no survivors.
“Coral!“ he cried, running towards the lodge. “Coral!“ As he approached, one of the supporting timbers collapsed, dropping a significant portion of the rear of the building. Ash, smoke, and sparks billowed upwards as the flames crackled back to life. He reached the front steps to find an elf collapsed, face down on the stone, blood pooling in front of him. Gently, he rolled the elf over, to find that it was Marl.
The older elf was breathing shallowly, his eyes closed, when Elias moved him. He winced in pain, catching his breath, and his eyes flickered open.
“Elias... Thank the gods you're here!”
Elias picked the elf up, causing him to cry out, and carried him away from the burning ruins of the lodge. When they were safely away, he set him down under one of the few palm trees still standing.
“What happened here?”
Marl struggled into a different position, gasping from the pain. He had a rather large wound on his stomach, and a broad cut along his face, running from his forehead, across his nose, and onto his cheek. “It wasn't the pirates. They were men, from the mainland. These were dressed entirely in black, like the assassins you killed last year.“
Marl paused, catching his breath. “Orcs and men, and an ogre. They landed just northwest of here in the night, and struck while the village slept.“
Elias did his best to remain calm, but panic was gripping him. “Marl, where's Coral? Where did Coral go?”
“I sent Jayd to get her from your hut. The attackers were closing on the lodge, and they needed to escape. I haven't seen her since. They were supposed to go to the temple on the mountain...“ He looked up the slope. The fires that had burned the jungle were almost two-thirds of the way up the mountain. If they hadn't made it to the temple, they would have been burned over.
Rising Thunder (Dynasty of Storms Book 1) Page 27
