by Skyler Grant
Ashley looked up from her work. “See why I like him?”
How exasperating. “A romance for the ages. I’m sure you’ll loot many battlefields together. What happened here?”
Walt was inspecting several of the bodies as well. “Sword and pistol. No signs of claws or of magic.”
“So it was probably Cobalt and I’m not sleeping with a werewolf.”
“If being covered in spiders won’t stop you I don’t see why being covered in fur would. However I do pride myself in not being current on the details of your love life. I do believe that this was Cobalt and there is no sign that she transformed into anything else.”
I studied the slaughter on the deck. I did a quick count. Seventeen. There were seventeen bodies here. “Leave the looting for later. We’ll come back, I want to find out if anyone is still alive.”
Ashley and John Bull reluctantly gave up on a corpse they were picking clean and followed me towards the stairs leading below deck.
Magical lanterns along the walls provided a faint illumination and reflected two other bodies at the foot of the stairs.
Walt kneeled down to inspect them. “Stabbed and shot in the back. They were running away.”
“Stupid. You don’t run into an enclosed space. They should have dived overboard,” Ashley said.
“Or charged,” John Bull said.
“Charging isn’t a solution for every problem,” Walt said.
“Works for me.”
I found myself coming down on John Bull’s side of the argument here, which was a bit unsettling given I was pretty sure it was the dumb one. Moving further down the hall we found only a few more corpses, two in a kitchen and one in what looked to be the crew quarters.
“Can’t say she wasn’t thorough,” I said.
John Bull shook his head disbelievingly. “You’re telling me one person did all this?”
“I tried to solo a ship, too. I only got four though before I had to flee,” Ashley said.
Only four. I was again reminded that I was surrounded by interesting and murderous friends. Well, they were probably the best kind to have.
The side rooms held nothing but corpses until we finally made our way to the Captain’s cabin. The doorway was open and within moved a lithe, dark-haired woman I didn’t recognize. The cabin and nearby hall were more or less in ruins, dark scars from magical blasts and splintered wood suggesting something major had gone down here.
The sounds of our none-too-stealthy approach drew the woman’s attention and she lifted her hands. “I’m not looking for a fight. I’m Captain Dara Riel, Bull there can confirm that.”
“That’s her alright.”
“Captain, your ship is a mess,” I said.
The glare I got in response was venomous, “Of course it is. I had a murderous, scantily clad sociopath make her way through my crew. I assume you are Admiral Flame?”
I really should have picked a better name. It sounded kind of stupid now that I’d met so many pirates going under their real names. Still, it was a bit soon to try to assume a new one.
“That’s me. This is Ash and Ember. You know Bull.”
“Are those the best names you could come up with? What are you, twelve?”
“I like them,” John Bull said.
“You would. Well, Admiral, you do seem to be a lot better at murder and wanton destruction than you are at names, which speaks in your favor.”
The ship showed plenty of evidence Cobalt had been here but we hadn’t yet run into her. “So where is Cobalt?”
“The scantily clad sociopath? Gone, after stealing my charts and giving me a message to pass on to you.”
“Which is?”
“She has gone in search of something to breach the barrier. In the meantime, in exchange for my life, I and my crew are to sail under your command for the foreseeable future. She suggests you take us as your flagship and build a fleet.”
I could hear the loathing in Dara’s words. She hated this. In a way I found that a comfort, you don’t hate something that you can easily get out of. I also wanted to trust Cobalt despite (or perhaps because of) her murderous rampage. She had decided to leave Dara in place for me to work with, I could deal with that.
“I’m happy to have your help, but your crew won’t be of service to anyone from the looks of them.”
Dara sniffed with disdain. “I’m a necromancer. That won’t be a problem.”
“Then why were they alive to start with?”
“Do you have any idea how fast sea air corrodes the undead? I’m not saying we won’t eventually have a mess on our hands, but for the time being the ship will have a crew.”
“John Bull, can I trust her?”
“No, absolutely not. She is a trickster and a manipulator, and thoroughly and completely vile.”
“Fuck. That means the Admiral is going to sleep with her,” Ashley said.
“I am not,” I said.
“Disgusting,” Dara said.
Hmph. I mean, it certainly wouldn’t be that, “Well, I wouldn’t go that far.”
Dara gave a shiver of revulsion.
Ashley was watching this intently. “Okay, good. He is just going to want to sleep with her. Sorry lady, he has a thing for creepy chicks.”
“Too bad. I don’t have a thing for hormonal idiots.”
“We’re all good then,” Ashley said.
Dara said, “Could we stop talking about this? I must go gather entrails for the reanimation ritual and I’d rather not have my stomach turning while I’m doing so.”
Now that just seemed mean. Giving her another look, she really was kind of attractive. She had some Queen of the Undead thing going on that I guessed was wholly appropriate. Wait. What was I thinking? I was not going to prove Ashley right.
Ashley gave me a smug look as if being aware of my thoughts. Sometimes her cutting through people’s crap cut through a bit too much of my own.
“That’s weird,” John Bull said.
Ashley took his arm. “No kidding. I think we’re done here, right Admiral? Bull can take me back and thank me for saving his life and his ship?”
“Not going to loot first?”
“I never forget the foreplay.”
“Go. Ember, can you meet with the captains of the other ships we just seized and give them terms?”
“No problem,” Walt said. “Same as I worked out with Bull?”
“Keep it simple. If they don’t agree…”
I paused, trying to think of the next step, but Walt seemed more than happy to continue the thought.
“I know. I know. Kill them and offer it to the next avaricious and compliant soul.”
Ashley wasn’t the only bloodthirsty one. I didn’t have any better ideas immediately spring to mind.
“Good man.”
Ashley, Bull, and Walt all made their way out leaving me along with Dara.
“Well Admiral, since we have established that you are thoroughly loathsome and disgusting in all ways and I am most definitely not going to be sleeping with you, and you clearly lack the mental capacity to have anything else on your mind, you should leave me to my long day of raising the dead.”
“I don’t really have anywhere else to go.”
Dara looked startled for just a moment and then chuckled, a less irate expression of emotion than any I’d gotten from her so far. “Right out the door, two doors down. It’s nice enough and not in use. By rights you should have this room, but it’s rather destroyed.”
“Is she really that dangerous?”
“The scantily clad sociopath? Your lover, if I read things correctly? My crew were nothing special, but were competent and numerous. I am a fully trained practitioner of the dark arts. You should not need me to tell you.”
“She said she was dangerous, but I just thought she was boasting.”
“She wasn’t. Leave me, vile thing, I have a lot to do.”
The quarters were surprisingly nice although with a layer of dust over everything
. A mystery for another day. My level notification was blinking and I took the opportunity of a little quiet to pull up the alert.
Congratulations!
You have reached level 10
You have one stat point to assign. As a Paladin of Yvera you have gained a further 15% skill to Seduction. As the Chosen of Yvera you have further gained 1 point of Charisma. Due to your attunement you have an increased presence in the physical world and have gained 1 point in both Power and Endurance. You have further gained enhancements to the following abilities…
Lay on Hands: You have gained a third charge and the ability now has a chance of healing negative status conditions based on your Charisma.
You have gained the following innate ability…
Aura of Kings: Kings surround themselves with greatness and are opposed by it. All social adjustments both negative and positive are magnified based on the power of the other party.
I got a skill from being a king, I hadn’t done that before.
I assigned my point this level to Intelligence and studied my new sheet.
Name: Liam Ottani
Class: Paladin of Yvera
Deity: Yvera
Titles: Chosen of Yvera, King of Genea, Admiral Flame
Level: 10
HP: 380/380
Stamina: 160/160
Mana: 80/80
XP: 225 of 1000 to next level
Alignment: -1000
Stats
Power: 16 (+6) Endurance: 16 Dexterity: 2
Intelligence: 8 Awareness: 5
Charisma: 13 Luck: 7
Skills
Long Blades: 84
Blunt Weapons: 16
Hand to Hand: 12
Mounted Combat: 15
Light Armor: 15
Medium Armor: 26
Heavy Armor: 17
Persuasion: 34
Seduction: 65
Meditation: 4
Barter: 15
Shield Use: 12
Arson: 8
Double Attack: 2
Blademaster: 1
Spells
Smite
Sense Virtue
Lay on Hands (3 uses per 4 hours)
Bless Water
Bless
Divine Steed
Divine Power
Zealous Blow
Holy Object
Innates
Blessed Nature
Fire Resistance: 50%
Sense Alignment
Fire Within
Fueling the Flame
Aura of Destruction
Aura of Kings
It was looking good. Putting together a fleet was likely to require a lot of fighting. I went over my abilities a few times before falling asleep. I needed rest to help prepare myself for the struggles ahead.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Madrosa was a ramshackle port town that managed to turn a better than average harbor into a business opportunity from the local pirates. I think half the town may have been grimy taverns and the other half warehouses holding stolen cargo. They were realists enough that when my tiny fleet sailed in someone soon enough raised the flag of Genea just above the flag depicting a woman on fire.
If it was to their advantage, those flags would come down just as quickly. For the time being, it was simple practicality. They assured me my cut of the fleet’s take would make it to Castle Sardonis. While I had no idea how they would manage that, I supposed it needed faith in the ability of smugglers to smuggle.
I had a fleet status window now and I pulled it up to go over the data.
Fleet Status
1. The Raven - Flagship - Captain Dara Riel
2. Bull’s Charger - Captain John Bull
3. Eleanor - Captain Marcus Tibeau
4. Furious Roar - Captain Catherine Strong
The Raven had a crew now, Dara proved to be an adept necromancer and gotten her crew back in quick order. The undead she raised were different from the ones I had known back at Castle Sardonis. There, they were driven by duty to repeat their tasks in life, but these were altogether different and seemed instead to be very much the same men and women they were apart from the creepy new forms.
My captains sat around a table in the Dead Man’s Drink, I’d ordered them to come together so that we could discuss plans.
“Thank you all for coming. I know this is not where many of you expected to be.”
“We’re not what you might call men and women of strong loyalty, Admiral. We’ve all been here before,” John Bull said.
The others at the table nodded in agreement. Right, this was stranger for me than them.
“We need to expand the fleet. Ideas?”
An athletic blonde woman spoke up, she must be Catherine Strong, “You kicked the ass out of the Ebon Star, you sailed to the rescue of one of your captains and helped him to kick ass against overwhelming odds. When the word gets out some ships will just start showing up.”
A suave and well-groomed man with dark hair, Marcus Tibeau, replied, “Every malcontent not happy with the boss they have now.”
“Every ship counts,” I said.
Marcus shrugged at that. Clearly he didn’t think much of such ships.
“We can spread the word. Split up, head to different ports, get the word out,” John Bull said.
“If, at first, your idiotic charging does not succeed, charge harder? That is how you wound up with three ships fighting you last time,” Dara Riel said.
John Bull pulled a face. “That worked out last time.”
“Because the Admiral came to save you.”
She had a point. I said, “We’ll go in pairs. Hit ports and spread the word, and if we meet any ships alone not willing to fly a new flag we forcibly change their mind.”
John Bull shot a hopeful look in Ashley’s direction. “The Charger can go with you, Admiral.”
It would make Ashley and Bull happy, but these other two captains were complete unknowns.
“You are wondering if you can trust us,” Marcus said.
“It’s the sort of thing I seem to wonder a lot about my friends and allies.”
“For all that I have taken up with pirates, Admiral, I am a man of honor. Any here will attest to that.”
There were nods around the table.
Catherine said, “You kicked my ass. I liked it. I want in. Keep kicking other asses and you and me, we’re good.”
No answering nods this time, but I believed in violent tendencies. The desire to punch people was one that I could get behind and understand.
“The Eleanor and the Furious Roar will travel together then, add anyone who wishes to join up to our fleet, and we’ll meet back here in two weeks.”
“You know we’ll be picking a fight? The other admirals will see an upstart stealing their ships. It will be what happened with Bull, but even larger,” Marcus said.
“Way I see it we go big and hope we win the fight, or we go small and scrape along just hoping to get bigger. I like the big wagers. Let’s get this out of the way,” I said.
It was only partly true, of course. I was feeling guilty for how badly the water was affecting Yvera. I didn’t want to stay around a moment more than necessary.
*****
Two weeks and my fleet screen was looking a lot more crowded. The Bull’s Charger and The Raven had managed to add another seven ships to the fleet during our adventures. Four of those had joined up right away. The word had started to spread and the Theysians now had a bounty on my head for the destruction of the Ebon Star. While it surely inspired greed in many a pirate heart, it was also credibility on a grand scale.
The other ships were more effort, a chase where our mix of ships came in useful and then a token fight. The captains seemed to be operating under the theory that when I eventually was defeated, putting up a good fight before changing flags would go down well with their previous Admiral. They were probably right, it would make me more forgiving.
The others had been even more successful and adde
d ten ships between them. When we sailed back into Madrosa harbor they had arrived first and a few of their flags already bore a flame in the top right corner indicating their allegiance. The local seamstress was making a profit at least.
“When we dock, get word to the other captains to meet at the bar,” I said.
Dara gave me a frosty nod. Despite my best efforts the two weeks aboard the ship together hadn’t resulted in us falling into bed together. Perhaps I’d had some sort of critical failure on my seduction or I was just not what she was looking for. It was unfortunate. The rest of the crew were zombies and skeletons—revealing that much to my surprise I had some sort of sexual standards after all.
Several zombies began readying a longboat to take us to shore. The sky began to get dark, storm clouds rolling in. Dara made a gesture and the zombies stopped at their task.
“Problem?”
“Magic. Strong and growing.”
“Do you think it’s the storm?”
Dara gave me a long-suffering look. “We combine with the rest of our fleet and suddenly a storm rolls in with the scent of magic on the air? Of course, it’s the damned storm.”
The sky continued to darken and a rumble of thunder shook the air.
“We need to warn the fleet.”
“They’re not stupid. There isn’t a sailor alive who isn’t aware of a storm rolling in.”
