The Briny Deep

by Simon Archer

  Tabitha pursed her lips and nodded slowly. “Sounds reasonable to me,” she mused. “I want t’be part o’ the shore crew, but Jenny’d do the best by ye, so I’ll Cap’n me ship an’ show the rest o’ ye how to sail right proper.”

  Kargad let out a snort as Shrike chuckled and shook his head. “Ye’ll end up with Mocker wantin’ to be in the shore crew with Jenny there,” the thin man observed. “But that bastard’s still better with a musket than most.”

  “No, I’ll be needin’ him at the helm o’ The Hullbreaker,” I told them. “Methinks Arde be focused on me, so I need to be in the town quick as I can be. The best way to do that is for me to lead the assault over land.”

  “As ye will.” Kargad shrugged. “If ye wish me to lead the attack from the sea, I will.”

  “Good,” I said with a grin. “I was hopin’ ye’d volunteer.”

  “What about the witches?” Shrike asked.

  “Mary is a terror in close work,” I said. “I ain’t sure o’ Ember’s preference, but methinks Nagra and Adra would do best shipside.”

  “Ember might leave ye with a smokin’ ruin,” Tabitha said with a broad grin. “She’s hell on land or sea.”

  “She’s in, then.” I nodded and grinned. “How about ye, Shrike? Land or sea?”

  “I had enough o’ Insmere the last time I was there, Cap’n. I think I’ll be on The Wasp,” he replied. “Ye mean us to take the port if we can?”

  “Aye,” I said and rubbed my beard. “Once the cannons be silenced, dock an’ raid as ye will.”

  “How long before Arde comes?” Kargad spoke up as he cast his gaze up at the darkening clouds.

  “Hopefully, he takes long enough for us to carry out my plan,” I answered. “Truth be told, Kargad, I ain’t entirely sure. I just know we be racing against the wind, now.”

  “Why are we standin’ about jawin’, then?” Tabitha exclaimed. “Let us be off.”

  I smiled. None of my captains even hesitated at the thought of assaulting an Imperial town with four ships. Our plan was very dependent upon Ligeia and her magical voice, though. With her and a magical fog, we could disable a majority of the town’s defenders without the need to fire a shot. It was a desperate plan, but it was the best we had, for now.

  Mary raised a hand. “Before we go, I’ve a question,” she began after we all looked at her. “Specifically for Ember, and perhaps Adra.”

  “What do you need?” the red-haired witch asked expectantly.

  Adra remained silent but cocked her head in a curious pose.

  “Are any of you familiar with the Lambeth Hex?” my witch asked, her gaze going from one to the other of the two.

  “I’ve heard of it,” Ember answered slowly. The shamaness just shook her head. “I know none of your witchy works.”

  “I reckon neither of you know the damned thing, do you?” Mary sighed. “‘Twould be damned useful against the restless dead, but I ended up in the dungeon here before Rhianne could teach it to me.”

  “What does it do?” I asked, curious.

  Mary turned to me with a faint smile. “The Lambeth Hex is less a hex and more a prayer, really. It has roots in the same sorcery that Lack used to call up Arde and his ship, but it does the reverse. It invokes the death goddess to lay the dead to rest.”

  “We will send them off to hell,” Adra said with a shrug.

  “Aye,” I agreed.

  There was little to be said after that. We went our own ways and settled into the waiting dinghies that were meant to take us back to our ships. On the way, Ligeia swam up to my own little boat, and I signaled the oarsmen to pause so I could help her aboard.

  While the siren didn’t need a hand from me, she did give me an appreciative smile as I pulled her up onto the dinghy and settled back down with her in my lap.

  “I need to speak with ye,” I told her quietly, my voice barely audible over the dip and splash of oars and the sound of waves.

  “I have news as well,” she said solemnly, then leaned close and began to whisper in my ear. “The sea creatures bear news of the ghost ship. It bears close and moves fast. We must sail as fast as we can to keep it from overtaking us.”

  “I suspected as much,” I told her. “We are sailing for Insmere, and I mean to take the town.”

  “Ambitious,” she murmured. “What would you have me do?”

  I told her the plan that I had discussed with the other captains, then focused on her role in the assault. Tiny would belch a fog over the town ahead of the ships, she would enter the harbor with him and sing the folk to sleep.

  “‘Tis many more than I’ve ever tried to influence,” Ligeia warned, “but I do not think the town out of my grasp, especially with my comb returned.” She smiled against my skin. “We will not let you down, my Captain.”

  “I did not expect ye would,” I murmured back. “I will be part o’ the attack from the landward side, so ye’ll be the first in, and yer song’ll be the signal to attack.”

  Ligeia sat up a bit as we drew closer to my waiting ship. “If I learn more from the creatures below, I will inform you.”

  “Thank ye, lass,” I said.

  When we reached The Hullbreaker, I helped to take hold of the lines and attach them while Ligeia dove back overboard and vanished. It wasn’t long until I stepped out of the lightly swinging dinghy onto the ship’s deck and headed for the helm. As I went, I yelled for the crew to make ready to sail.

  “What have ye got, Cap’n?” Jimmy Mocker asked as I mounted the stairs to the aftcastle deck. “Be we in a hurry?”

  “Aye. The commodore comes,” I told him. “I've got a plan to face him, but we need to get underway now.”

  Mary wasn’t far behind when I boarded and came bounding up to join the pair of us at the helm. “We need a wind, lass,” I told her. “‘Tis a race, now.”

  My witch grinned at me, then bounced over to kiss me before padding off to sit cross-legged beneath the mizzenmast.

  “Raise sails!” I bellowed over the deck as she began to sing.

  “What be this plan?” Mocker asked me as I took the wheel amidst the bustle and the sound of the rising wind.

  “We sail to Insmere,” I told him matter-of-factly. “We take the town and wait for Arde to come to us.”

  The sudden drop of his jaw was worth it. “Ye ain’t serious, are ye?”

  “Quite serious,” I said with a firm nod. The Hullbreaker started to pick up speed as her anchor came up, and her sails filled. Ligeia and Tiny already had the lead, and the rest of the ships of my fleet were accelerating as well.

  “How do ye mean to do it?” Jimmy asked. “And what do ye need of me?”

  “We be coming in landside,” I told him. “Me, an’ about half the crews from all the ships. The rest o’ ye will sail about to the harbor where Ligeia and Tiny will start everything. The turtle will breathe his fog over the town, then she’ll sing.”

  “Ha!” he barked. “Ye mean for most o’ the folk to sleep whilst we move in, disarm ‘em, and settle in to wait for the Commodore to attack, aye?”

  “Aye,” I said with a nod. “So long as his damned ship won’t sail up into the middle o’ town, he’ll need to leave it behind to hunt me, which means he won’t be nearly as dangerous as he’d be on open water.”

  That was what I hoped, at least. It made perfect sense to draw Arde and his crew out of the safety of The Indomitable , but I don’t think any of us knew enough about ghost ships to be certain that tactic would work.

  “What do we do about the ship?” Mocker asked.

  “See if ye all, with Adra and Nagra, can sink her again,” I replied. “Though she may be linked with Arde. If that be the case, when we lay him to rest, ‘twill sink all on its own.”

  “I’ll be hoping for that, methinks,” the foppish man said with a wan grin. “I ain’t likin’ this, Cap’n, but I don’t have a better idea.” He shrugged and glanced back at Mary. “Lots o’ things not to like, but I reckon there’ll be things to shoot.”<
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  “Ye’ll have yer chance. I mean for ye to dock an’ join the fight in town once Ligeia’s done her bit. We need control o’ the cannons, or we need ‘em wrecked,” I said. “Think ye can handle that?”

  “Aye!” he chortled, perking up. “Ye don’t think Kargad or Shrike’ll have a problem takin’ my lead?”

  I shook my head. They might or they might not, but it was customary that the top Captain’s first mate spoke in his voice in his absence, so long as that mate didn’t do anything too stupid or throw that power around too much. Hells, even I had to step carefully to keep from insulting the loyalty of my captains. Also, while I’d miss having Tabitha with my party, she was likely the best to command The Black Cat in this situation. Jenny might be like to take commands from a male if she was told to, but without their captain, the rest of the all-female crew might mutiny.

  It was better to do things this way.

  Overhead, the clouds continued to darken slowly as night fell. Once again, we’d have no stars, only ship’s lanterns and the night vision of orcs to guide our way on the sunless sea. I scowled and adjusted course while Jimmy took a spot leaning on the railing nearby to watch the deck.

  Could Mary or Adra sense the ghost ship coming? I suspected that they could, and perhaps the other witches could, too. It never paid to assume a witch, shaman, or sorcerer incapable in any way, even if you were one of them yourself.

  That did remind me that I’d need to speak with Adra about further training. I seemed to have power in spades, but I didn’t know if I could have done what the tuskless shamaness did to raise The Golden Bull . She’d made it look nigh effortless, too, until you looked closely at her eyes and saw how tired she was.

  How old was she? She didn’t look much older than I was. Certainly, she didn’t have the grim and grizzled look of older orcs, and spiritual power sometimes set in at an early age. Her knowledge, though, had a depth and breadth that seemed to imply a great deal of life experience. Those dark eyes with their golden flecks contained all the age that her body refused to show.

  Perhaps I was even attracted to her. I couldn’t necessarily deny it. We had a few things in common, and she was even an orc! I chuckled to myself and looked up at the sky for a moment before setting my gaze back to the fore of my ship. I wasn’t that picky about who I’d share my bed with, apparently, but I was happy with the women in my life.

  Maybe Adra would become one of them, eventually. I didn’t want to strain our student-teacher relationship yet, though.

  Perhaps once she was satisfied enough with my progress to set me on my own path, or perhaps once I’d sent Layne to a watery grave, then I’d see if my current mates would welcome yet another.

  Somehow, I felt that they would.

  35

  W e reached Insmere Isle near morning. The ghost ship was somewhere behind us and closing fast, but we had a head start, and if all went well, a strategy that would give us victory. Rather than use the ship’s dinghies, Tiny ferried those of us attacking from landward to shore, and once we assembled and vanished into the hilly, forested land of the island, the ships turned ponderously and sailed for the town.

  I took the lead as we jogged through the woods, depending on my direction sense to keep us from getting lost in the confused tangle that was the land surrounding the town and fortress of Insmere.

  The island was a barely inhabited, lush wilderness, and the town depended upon regular shipments of food and other material from Avion. There were no farms, no lumber camps, and no hunters. Lord Broward had kept his land pristine, his own little paradise for the enjoyment of the wealthy members of Admiral Layne’s officer corps. That hadn’t changed with his death, apparently. Whoever had been appointed to replace him had kept going with business as usual.

  It wasn’t hard for us to sneak in and secret ourselves in the undergrowth, watching the landside gate. A single guard was lounging in the shadows beneath the arch, and he looked half-asleep. He didn’t even have a dog.

  I didn’t even know why the gate was kept open, but it was. In all truth, it wouldn’t make any real difference to the crew I’d brought. The witches alone could probably bring down the wall.

  We’d reached the edge of Insmere proper a lot quicker than I’d expected, and we settled in to wait. Overhead, the clouds thickened, and an oppressive pall fell over the region. Arde was close now.

  If the plan worked, we’d have time to take the town, but if it didn’t, there’d be one hell of a battle going on in the streets.

  Mary leaned against me and whispered in my ear. “I can go ahead and start things, my Captain, should you wish. I brought the elemental stones.”

  I’m sure my eyes lit up at that. “Do it,” I murmured back. “We do not have time to wait.”

  She nodded and slipped silently back from the rest of us while I whispered down the line. “Prepare for attack.”

  Shortly after my witch vanished back behind our position, a fog began to rise and roll slowly past, thickening as it went. The guard at the gate exclaimed and perked up, readying himself for whatever it was. His mistake, though, was not calling out for reinforcements.

  We moved with the fog. Daka and Dogar lunged out and subdued the man in relative silence as the rest of us snuck forward. Two-by-two, we passed through the gate, then took the guardhouse with little problem.

  As I stood and listened, more cries of surprise spread through the city with the fog. Mary and Ember slipped up beside me to wait while the crew spread out. We were in, and our goal was the keep itself, so I gave each of the witches a nod and slipped off through the streets towards Insmere Keep near the town center.

  Other crewmen fell in with us as we passed by. So far, so good.

  Out in the distance, from the harbor, the distinct bellow of a Dragon Turtle rose over the muffled quiet of the foggy streets. That was our sign. I stopped and plugged my ears with the wax earplugs we’d prepared to help in any situation where Ligeia had to sing.

  I could still hear her through the wax, a lovely, clear voice that rose and demanded attention. I’d heard it once without such protection, and it had even taken me down into unconsciousness. With my newfound shamanic abilities and senses, the sheer power evoked by the siren was beautiful in both its might and purity.

  After the brief pause to protect ourselves, we set on to head for the keep and quickly encountered the first of the fallen. A pair of guardsmen snored by the side of the cobblestone street. Two of my sailors set to stripping them of their weapons and binding them with their own belts to a lamp-post before they had to hurry and catch up with the rest of.

  All too soon, we reached the gates of Insmere Keep, the last bastion of defense if the city were ever attacked. Unsurprisingly, the gates were shut tight. No guards challenged our approach, though. Ligeia’s song seemed to have done its work. We’d meet resistance on the interior, where the power of the siren’s song couldn’t reach, but for now, all we had to do was pass this gate.

  Mary and Ember stepped up and placed their hands on the ironbound wood, the changeling careful to just touch the wood while the wild-haired redhead touched the metal. Between the two of them, it took only a few moments before the gate seemed to ripple in its reinforced frame then swung open on a courtyard filled with fallen, snoring guardsmen.

  My crew moved quickly among them to strip away their weapons and bind them with whatever was at hand while the witches and I made for the manor. I carried the gun-axe I’d gotten from Commodore Potts and the Huntsman’s Spear along with my customary brace of pistols. I’d commission a new greataxe from Bord and his crew when we had the time and access to a full forge.

  For now, though, the weapons I had would suffice.

  That was when shots rang out in the fog. Finally, the resistance I’d expected. The witches and I took cover and hurried towards the manor in a random zig-zag across the foggy, open courtyard. A few of my men returned fire, but it wasn’t clear where the initial shots had come from in the thick, preternatural mist.
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  We made it to the door in short order, and once more, the witches worked their hexes. I kicked open the door and charged in, right into a firing line of surprised guards. In that instant, Mary worked her hex on their powder, and none of the falling flints triggered a shot.

  Before the guards even realized what had happened, I was among them. I ran a man through with the spear, shot another with the gun-axe, and kicked a third clean across the room to crash against the stone wall. More fell as Mary and Ember joined the fray, and we cleared the antechamber in short order.

  Behind us, more pirates poured in, and we spread out to secure the building. It went slowly. The new lord of Insmere kept his office in the dungeons, as Broward had, and he’d stacked layers of men between him and us almost as soon as the fog hit, and the thickness of the walls and doors had protected them from Ligeia’s song. This slowed the fight to a room-by-room clear of the keep itself, with guardsman retreating before us until only a handful remained.

  Within an hour, we’d driven them all back to the spaces below. The seaborn crews landed and joined the invasion force, including all of the command crews; Tabitha, Kargad, Shrike, and Jimmy. I really hadn’t expected them to join me in Insmere proper, but I wasn’t about to complain about having my closest friends and allies alongside me.

  Except for the dungeons beneath the keep, Insmere was ours. Rather than waste more time to dig them out, I opted for the simple solution of barricading the dungeon entrance. I didn’t like leaving a job undone, but we had a much bigger concern than a cowering noble and his bodyguard. Commodore Arde and The Indomitable were almost upon us. Ligeia let her song fade as my men swarmed into the city from the docks, and those of us in command gathered in the main hall of the keep.

  “We’ve got the cannon emplacement, aye?” I asked.

  “We do,” Kargad said with a nod. “Bord took command of them and awaits sight of The Indomitable.

  “Like as not, he’ll see it soon as it enters the harbor,” Mary said. “Arde will want you to see him coming for you.”