by Simon Archer
Shrike raised a hand, and when I looked at him, he asked, “Not t’ question, Cap’n, but ye be sure he’s comin’ for us?”
“Considerin’ what we did,” Kargad spoke up, “I’d say ‘tis a fair assumption.”
“That be my thought, too,” I added. “But we’re a fair ways from the Straits, though I’ve no idea how fast a ghost ship sails.”
“Fast as The Black Cat under witch wind,” Tabitha said quietly. “I witnessed The Swift Sword o’ Edward Black when it rose against Lee Pollock an’ took The Waverunner to the grave with all hands.”
“Gods damn it,” Shrike muttered. “How much of a head start do we have, then?”
Mary spoke up at that. “Likely three or four days at most, and we’ll have to ride full sail before the strongest wind we can whip up.” She made a wry face.
“The good news, though,” I said before morale could grow too grim, “is that I’m sure we have a way to fight the damned thing. We just need to snatch Eustace Brill before the Empire gets him or steal him away. Apparently, they be after the old man, too.”
“So ye did get somethin’ from the captives?” Kargad mused. “Guess I lost that bet.”
I eyed him sourly. “Ye bet against me?”
“That he did,” Shrike chortled. “An’ I’ve got me an extra share o’ this next haul.”
“Serves ye right, ye git,” I said to Kargad, then looked around at my little crew of captains. “We sail as soon as the goods from Winemaker’s Run are loaded, an’ we head straight for Potter. Ligeia will meet us on the way an’ let us know if we’re ahead or behind the Admiralty ships. If we’re behind, an’ they’ve got Brill, we’ll need to run ‘em down an’ rescue him. If we’re ahead, we have to find the old bastard first.”
“Any questions or pressin’ concerns?” I asked after a moment.
“None here.” Kargad shook his head. He was used to following my orders and generally never questioned me unless I was about to do something stupid. Then, I’d remind him of the stupid things that he’d done, and he’d back down.
Shrike shook his head. “Sounds simple enough, aye.”
“I’d like a word in private, Cap’n, if I may?” Tabitha asked, fidgeting in her chair.
“Fine,” I told her and looked at Mary. “We’ll how ye plan to deal with the ghost ship, an’ I’ll see about gettin’ a haft made for that spearhead.”
“Ye mean to use it?” Kargad asked.
“Aye,” I replied. “It might be somethin’ that can hurt ol’ Arde. We can’t afford to skip any possible option, ye know.”
The others nodded, and I pointed to the door. “Alright, then. Off with ye. Start gettin’ yer barges shipshape so we can sail. Shrike, go ahead an’ prod the townsfolk. Tell ‘em we’ve got to sail quickly an’ to hurry up the loading.”
“Aye, Cap’n,” the thin human said and followed it up with an orcish salute.
He was the first one out the door, followed by Kargad. Mary lingered, eyeing Tabitha and me.
“Ye can stay,” the Ailur said. “Ye be the Cap’n’s witch, after all, so likely ye ain’t got many secrets.”
“What do ye need to say?” I asked, my gaze on the black-furred feline.
Tabitha let out a sigh. “I want to apologize, Cap’n. I’ve a few secrets o’ me own, but this whole business with Drammond and the mirror was nothin’ more than me bein’ a forgetful cat. I’m sorry ye had to hear about the thing from his lips an’ not mine.” Her tail drooped a bit, and she seemed very contrite to me.
It was Mary who smiled and leaned forward. “Captain Binx,” she said. “I think you are as honest as a pirate can be without being an orc, and I’m sure that my Captain can find it in his heart to forgive you.”
I had a sudden feeling that I was being set up. I frowned and looked between the both of them, then shrugged. “Aye, lass. I’ve no problem since ye came clean. I’d say ye be as much part o’ me extended crew as anyone else.”
“Thank ye, Cap’n Bardak,” Tabitha purred. “I’ll not let ye down.”
“I've got a question for ye both,” I continued. “What do ye know o’ this Black Mirror?”
“A little,” Tabitha reported.
“The same, my Captain. It has something of a long history,” Mary added.
I waved my hand in a circle. “Continue.”
Mary looked over at the feline woman who huffed softly and said, “‘Twas taken from the lands south o’ Milnest during the explorations under Emperor Corso. The Cap’n what brought it back met an untimely end soon after, an’ the thing passed from hand to hand ‘til it ended up in the royal treasury.”
“Corso had quite an interest in artifacts and magic,” Mary jumped in. “Many things ended up in Sisterhood hands after Blackburn took the throne, and most of them were locked away or destroyed. His fascination with necromancy and demonology became a thing of legend.”
“Aye,” Tabitha said as she took up the tale. “The Mirror, though, was sent to the Admiralty aboard a treasure ship, along with a large amount o’ gold an’ gems and such, right before Ol’ Corso was dethroned. I ain’t got any idea what it does, though.” She shrugged.
“Might be useful for remote viewing,” Mary mused, “or it could serve as a gateway into the spirit world. Maybe it captures souls. All I know is that the history of the thing seems fraught with death. ‘Twas even in Emperor Corso’s treasury when Blackburn marched on the capital. Perhaps it was being sent away in an effort to avoid the curse?”
“Is it something we really want, then?” I asked. “The idea o’ bringin’ a cursed mirror aboard does not sit well with me.”
“Can ye an’ the other witches handle it?” Tabitha asked Mary. “At least ‘til we can offload it on some unsuspectin’ buyer.”
I chuckled and shook my head, and Mary shrugged. “I’d have to study it, Captain Binx. ‘Tis not like I can sense it’s dweomer from here, or even manipulate it at this kind of distance in an unknown location.”
“Right, sorry,” the Ailur drooped. “Maybe Eustace knows more of it… or maybe ‘tis what led his ship to the bottom o’ the sea.”
“All we be doin’ now is gettin’ ourselves worried without cause,” I said. “We’ve got a ghost ship sailin’ after us, an’ we’ve got to find Mister Brill, then convince him to share The Golden Bull’s location with us before we even need to worry about the Black Mirror. Perhaps all the tales surrounding it are nothing but tall tales made taller in the retellin’. The point is, we’ve other things to worry about an’ a long way to go before we even lay eyes on the mirror.”
“Aye, I guess we shall deal with it then,” Mary glanced over at me, and I could see concern in her mismatched eyes.
Tabitha just smiled. “As ye say, Cap’n Bardak. I’ll see The Black Cat be ready to sail when ye give the word.”
“Do that, Cap’n Binx. Won’t be long, now.” I gave her a salute and saw it returned, then the black-furred cat woman slipped out the door of the War Room.
I turned to Mary. “What do ye think?”
“I like her,” my witch said. “She means well, and I believe she meant it when she gave her loyalty to you. As for the mirror and this whole damned quest for Imperial booty, while a resurrected Commodore Arde seeks to drag us to hell along with him? Sounds like bloody fun, my Captain! When do we sail?”
17
W e sailed on the night tide, rowing to the mouth of the harbor and out to sea before we raised our sails to catch the witch winds called up by Mary, Adra, Nagra, and Ember Spark. They called up enough wind to set the guylines a-humming, and the masts themselves creaked under the strain. Only the fact that our timbers and masts were reinforced with magic and blood sacrifice kept them from cracking or snapping off entirely.
I braced myself at the helm of The Hullbreaker, the magical tempest howling around me while I held our course straight. We’d reach Potter in two days at most, but I’d have to steel myself against sleep and hold the helm. Kargad could do it, as could Shrike
, and I suspected that Tabitha Binx was also more than capable of keeping her sloop on course despite the ferocity of the witchwinds propelling us.
The smaller vessels, The Wasp and The Black Cat , didn’t require the same strength of wind as either The Hullbreaker or Sirensong, so they could keep pace with us with less effort on the part of their witches.
With little else to do but hold course, I pondered what I’d seen during the short vision quest that Adra had led me on. Though, I supposed the truth was that she hardly led me. It was more like she set me up and guided me to do what I needed to do to peer into the world of the spirits and elementals.
I wondered if I could do it on my own.
Without pausing to consider the risk, I cast out my senses to the winds lashing my body and quickly found that we were surrounded by frolicking elementals of air. I watched them for a time, then finally called out with my spirit-voice and asked them to dance around me, to give me some space instead of buffeting me with their passage.
Just around me, the winds died off, and I grinned triumphantly. What else would they do for me? For a brief moment, I wondered if they could lift the ship into the air as well, and just for a moment, I felt The Hullbreaker raise a bit from the water before I blanked that thought from my head and she dropped back to the waves.
Were the elementals I could call upon that powerful, or was it just because the witches had called up some of the mightiest and compelled them to focus on moving my ship? I hadn’t called these beings, but I could certainly speak with them, and they seemed more than inclined to listen. I would definitely have to remember this.
When I glanced back at where Mary sat in the shadow of the mizzenmast, her eyes were wide and focused on me as she sang to the winds. I winked at her, then turned my attention back to the fore. It wouldn’t do for us to miss Ligeia, should we either overtake her going or meet her returning.
Keeping this watch required all my focus, but I did petition the wind spirits to open a path of relatively still air between the crow’s nest and me, so I’d not miss anything that Gol called down in the howl of the wind.
We sailed through the night and into the morning, as the sun rose and painted the clouds and sky in various shades of rose and blood. Once again, the red sky in the morning seemed to warn us off our current course, but we held straight and true.
Near midday, the watcher above called down, “Tiny ho!”
I signaled Mary, who hexed the word on to the other wind-workers. Almost immediately after, the gale-force winds receded, leaving us running before a moderate natural breeze.
A few long minutes passed before Tiny surfaced to the starboard side of The Hullbreaker and launched Ligeia into the air with a sudden jerk of his head. She somersaulted in the air and landed in a crouch a few feet from me before she straightened and gave me a salute that sent interesting jiggles through her small, bare breasts.
“My Captain,” she began. “The Imperial ships were in the port of Potter when we arrived and set sail but a handful of hours later. I could not be certain because I was unable to get very close, but I believe they escorted someone from the town onto the largest of the ships.”
I nodded and shot my siren a smile. “Good work, lass. Can ye lead us to them?”
“I can,” she said brightly, then her expression grew dark. “There is a complication, however.”
What now? Just the mere fact that Eustace was aboard an Imperial vessel that we’d have to stop without sinking and board for a rescue was complication enough. I didn’t want to deal with more if I didn’t need to.
“Merfolk escort the ships,” Ligeia reported. “We avoided them at Red Cliff Isle, but they were why I was unable to get close to the other ships.”
“Hells,” I grumbled. “Were they sailing under witchwind or natural?”
“Natural, I believe. They did not seem to have a witch that I could detect.”
“You can detect witches?” I blurted. This was something I hadn’t known.
Ligeia nodded. “How do you think I found the pair of you rutting near my lagoon?” she asked with a coy smile.
“Fine.” I sighed. “We’ll deal with the merfolk if we have to, but you and Tiny should be able to warn them off, aye?”
“We can do better than that, my Captain.” The siren’s eyes glittered dangerously. “Remember the battle in the Straits? I will call upon the hunters of the seas to aid me, and we will distract the merfolk while you and yours call upon the ships.”
That was a more than acceptable plan and one that had worked before. Without witches aboard ship, the Imperial vessels would be unable to sail near as fast as my little fleet, and we’d be upon them well before they got too far from Potter.
“Good idea, lass,” I said. “Go to it. Once we’re within cannon range, see what havoc ye can raise beneath the waves, and we’ll do our part to scatter the fleet an’ recover the old man.”
“Of course, my Captain!” The siren slid close, and our lips met in a brief kiss before she darted away and dove overboard to rendezvous with her companion Dragon Turtle.
“That one is bloody excitable,” Jimmy Mocker observed, who’d been waiting a respectful distance from the helm while I spoke with Ligeia.
“Aye, but she’s on our side,” I told him.
Mary padded up to join us. “What’s our plan of attack?”
“You an’ the others will have to stir up the winds again for us to catch them,” I began. “Ligeia will guide us in and handle certain underwater problems while we grapple and board the largest of the ships. We will be outnumbered, so relay to the others that they’ll need to disable or sink the rest o’ the ships. I intend to ram one, an’ likely Tiny’ll upset another. Boardin’ will be the biggest challenge, I think.”
“I’ll get word to the others, then,” Jimmy said before he saluted and walked off.
“Why don’t you give the winds a call, my Captain?” Mary suggested. “I can teach ye the song if you’d like.”
I arched a curious eyebrow. “Ye saw what I did, aye?”
She nodded and grinned. “One day, we should see if we can get this ship airborne. Then we can really surprise the bastards.”
I laughed and gazed back out to the fore. The other ships were starting to pick up speed as their respective witches or shamans called upon the elementals of the air. As we started to fall behind, Mary began to sing, but I didn’t feel any power behind it. No, she was teaching me.
Now I wasn’t the best singer, but orcs do have a tradition of chanting and drumming, so I pitched my voice a bit and followed along with her tone, just in my own tradition. Shapes began to flit at the edge of my vision, gathering in surprising numbers as I chanted along.
Mary’s eyes grew wide with wonder, and she grinned broadly. “You have it, my Captain!” she cried. “Now, command them!”
I gripped the ship’s wheel tightly in my left hand, raised my right, and pointed forward, willing the swirling mass of air creatures to fill the sails and set us moving.
They did. The lines snapped tight as the canvas filled with a sudden gale-force wind, and The Hullbreaker leaped forward as if shot from a cannon. Several men on deck lost their footing and tumbled, and I almost went down myself, saved by my iron grip on the wheel.
It was hard to keep up the chant and hold the wheel steady, though, but I fought through. The wind howled and roared deafeningly, and my ship slowly began to overtake and pull ahead of the rest of the little fleet.
Mary put a hand on my shoulder, and her voice rose to mingle with mine. The pressure on me eased, and I was able to slow my chant and finally drop it as she took over for me. Still, I had done it! The wind elementals had come to my call and obeyed me. I had to force myself not to dance with the sheer joy of it, the sense of power and majesty that had answered me, Bardak Skullsplitter.
It was only my second lesson. What would the third or fourth be like? What wonders would I learn to wield as I walked this path?
What sacrifices would I
have to make?
That last thought sobered me a bit, and I recalled Adra’s tuskless face as well as the scars and tattoos of other shamans that I’d hired and met, including one old orc who’d given both hands and an eye for power.
I didn’t intend to go that far. It was nice to just scratch the surface and be able to manipulate the winds. I needed to try calling upon water next, though, but I was a bit nervous about the idea of reaching out to the spirits of the dead. I’d heard as a child that they granted the greatest power to a shaman, but that they also demanded the highest costs.
How far down the spirit road did I need to walk, anyway?
We kept pace with the dark ridge of Tiny’s shell that slipped through the water just ahead of the magic-borne ships.
Time edged on as the sun crept across the cloud-heavy sky. Off in the distance, the dark shape of Red Cliff Isle rose on the horizon and grew nearer at an incredible rate. At these speeds, we’d pass the island and likely overtake the Imperial ships near dusk, if Ligeia had accounted properly for the distances involved. Considering that Tiny was able to keep pace with the ships even under full sail and witchwind, I rather suspected that her estimates were accurate.
In fact, a few hours later, as the sun dipped towards the far horizon and lightning began playing in the darkening clouds, the faint call of “Sails ho!” reached my ears from the crow’s nest above.
We had them in sight, now. All we needed to do was overtake and board, but it wouldn’t be easy, especially with the storm gathering overhead. The light faded as we charged on across the waves with the rise and fall of the hull growing more and more pronounced.
Rain began to beat against my skin and grew heavier with every passing moment. I could barely see the sails ahead and the dark shape of the Dragon Turtle by the time we crept up into cannon range. I was certain that they knew we were here and coming up fast, a thought that was confirmed with the muzzles of several rear-mounted cannons flashed in the growing darkness.
