by Ben Hale
“Why is everyone so concerned about sails?” he asked.
Liri, who appeared at his side, leaned in to hear the answer as well.
“We’re still a week out from the port at Keese. Too far out for a sailboat, only possibility is merchant or pirate.” He glanced at them. “There aren’t any normal shipping lanes to the south of us, and only a few inhabited islands, but nothing high traffic.”
“What about the color of the sails?” Liri asked.
“Pirates in this region like to use black sails so other pirates won’t needlessly follow them and attack them thinkin’ they’re a merchant vessel.”
“Honor among thieves, huh?” Taryn said skeptically.
Hun snorted at Taryn. “Yeah right.” Then his face grew serious again. “Pirates have been a little active of late—and they can be vicious. The last few ships have been found barely afloat, with either nothing left on board or dead sailors hanging from the mast as a warning to other ships.”
Then he caught sight of the grim expression on Liri’s face and his features softened. “Don’t worry. Pirates are notoriously greedy. You never see more than one or two ships. They just never seem to want to share, and our crew can easily handle one ship, maybe even two with the four of ya.”
“Black sails!” the captain called down.
The light humor evaporated in an instant, and most of the sailors left the rail grumbling before returning to their chores or finishing breakfast.
“Frey, I want you in the nest. You’ve got the best eyes. That ship moves a finger towards us, you let me know,” the captain said as he tossed the spyglass to Frey. “Sabriel, you’ve got the helm. Markham, Finn, grab some others, get the short sail ready to be raised at a moment’s notice and get the emergency canvas out of the hold and tied up, not open, just ready, in case we need it.”
Men jumped to follow instructions while the captain came down the stairs to Taryn and Liri.
“Would you mind coming into my cabin for a moment?” His eyes flicked to Trin and Mae. “You too, if you don’t mind.”
They all nodded and followed him into his cabin. Stepping through the door for the first time, Taryn saw that it was nicer than the crews’ quarters, but not by much. Knowing the captain, it wasn’t a surprise. For the last two weeks he’d been very organized and decisive, yet with a trace of humility, giving Taryn the impression he was more concerned about his men than himself. On the other side, his men obeyed his orders without hesitation or complaint, which always spoke highly of a leader.
The room they stood in was small and sparsely furnished. Dominating the center of the space, a wide desk sat surrounded by heavy chairs, maps strewn across its surface. On one side of the room, a bookshelf rested with a half dozen books on it while a cabinet sat against the other. Small windows on either side of the room had storm shutters opened to allow light in. In the back of the room was another door, which Taryn assumed led to the captain’s sleeping quarters.
“I know you have been trained to fight,” the captain said as he pulled a bottle out of the cabinet, “but I wanted to know if you four have ever been in a real fight.” When they all nodded their heads he continued, “Well, I don’t doubt that you are excellent, and if the display by Taryn this morning is any indication of your abilities we will be more than prepared in case of attack. I just need to make sure you won’t hesitate, because you had better believe that any pirates you encounter will not be merciful.”
The captain’s words reminded Taryn of what his uncle had said about justice and mercy, and wondered what he would do if killing a pirate meant saving a friend. A flash of worry washed over him as he realized he still didn’t know if he could take someone’s life. Then a darker thought wormed its way into his head. You will never know the cost of that decision—until it is too late, until you have lost someone you could have saved. Swallowing hard against the chilling thought, he forced it aside and returned his attention to the conversation.
“We will do what is necessary if the time comes. We have had attacks on Sri Rosen in the past and we know what to do,” Trin was saying. They all nodded in agreement; then straight-faced he added, “Although we may not be able to throw a knife as well as Taryn.”
The captain gave a slight grin but didn’t answer for several seconds. He just looked at each one of them, measuring each in turn before nodding and opening the bottle to pour five glasses. As he filled them with amber liquid Taryn took a moment to study the captain. He was of average build and height, with prominent human features— brown hair, brown eyes, and a round, tanned face from his time in the sun. Probably around forty, it was obvious he had been a sailor his entire life. Generally serious and not prone to joke with the crew, he carried himself in a manner that inspired respect.
Taryn smiled to himself as he guessed the real reason he had wanted to talk to the four of them. To the captain, they presented a variable in an upcoming battle and he wanted to be more prepared. Taryn nodded to himself, satisfied with what he’d seen. The captain would do whatever it took to get his crew home safely, and that included them.
The captain put away the bottle and sat down, pointing at the glasses. “Have a drink of ale.” After they grabbed the glasses he continued, “Now, I have a serious question for you . . .” He paused to lean back and put his feet up on his desk. “How much was the take off Taryn’s display this morning?” His face creased into a broad smile as he finished the question.
Trin and Liri laughed out loud.
“I made twenty-six silver and fourteen copper,” Liri said, glancing at Taryn with a twinkle in her eye. “I think I somehow knew to bet on Taryn.” She caught his expression and shrugged. “The odds were against you, at least in the beginning anyway.”
Trin shook his head in real chagrin. “Of all the days to get up late, I just had to sleep in today. I could have made some coin, too.”
To Taryn’s surprise, even Mae spoke up. “I made twelve silver and twenty-two copper.” She cast Taryn an apologetic look.
“A fine bunch of friends you are,” he said with more heat than he intended. “I was just trying to learn how to throw a knife, you know. I didn’t mean for it to look like I was showing off.”
Liri’s shoulder suddenly bumped into his, as if it were an accident. When he caught her eye, she shook her head slightly and flashed him a soft look.
He realized right then that it was too late for him to do anything about it, so he might as well deal with it. At least he’d learned how to throw his knives, and how to catch them, too, which was an added bonus. That had been his goal and he’d accomplished that, no matter how many people had been watching. Besides, it could have been worse. He could have thrown all his knives into the ocean by accident. Smiling at that thought he let his frustration go and added, “I get half of everything you made.”
Liri snorted, “You think, huh? That’s not likely to happen anytime soon.”
Taryn joined in the laughter and allowed it to wash away any lingering bad feelings from the morning’s training.
Trin drained his glass and set it down on the desk. “Thanks for the drink, captain, but we had better finish our breakfast.” Taryn and the others were quick to add their thanks as well.
“No problem,” the captain said as he stood up and raised his glass to Taryn, “Oh, and nice throwing Taryn.”
Taryn could see he was being sincere, so he said “Thank you, but I’m sure you’ve seen people do that before.”
“Not even close,” he replied readily, but he changed the subject before anyone could say anything else. “Before I forget, switch with Frey in a few hours would you? I know you like the high watch, so you can give him a break around noon.”
“No problem,” Taryn said as he walked out the door behind the girls. Liri stopped and turned, allowing the others to pass her.
“Seriously, you really are amazing, you know that?”
“Thanks, and thanks for letting me know I was being . . ., well you know.”
; She raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, “but you now have a great challenge.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“You have to teach me,” she exclaimed with a smile before turning on her heel and walking away before he could respond. Taryn grinned and followed her, shaking his head. Before he walked into the door leading below, he stopped and took one last look at the sails on the horizon. At some point he would have to make the decision, should he kill or not?
He hoped he’d be ready when the time came.
Chapter 5: Pirates
Tensions had steadily grown on board the Sea Dancer in the two days since the pirates had been sighted, despite the crew’s efforts to outrun them. The pirates had managed to follow behind them and to their right, or starboard as the sailors said. It didn’t help matters that sometime during the night the wind had died down. They were drifting at the moment—just bobbing in the ocean waiting for occasional gusts to fill the sails.
Taryn glanced at the dark sails in the distance in the predawn light. They were just visible, but still there. Shaking his head, he turned and whipped a knife across the short span to the target—straight into one of the grooves formed from his repeated strikes. He’d begun waking up early and practicing before the rest of the crew were up and about. He didn’t want a repeat of the first day.
With a flip of the wrist he tossed the next knife into the air and caught it deftly by the blade, then threw it overhand into the target next to the first, but his mind wandered elsewhere. Since the knife training with Hun, he’d had quite a bit attention from the other crew members. To his own chagrin, he found he shied away from such a social welcome. He still hadn’t decided if his unease came from his lifetime of solitude, or a lack of social ability.
Frustrated with himself, he whipped another knife into the target. Hun had told him it was harder to throw overhand but might be worth learning, so he’d taken to practicing both ways. For some reason, throwing overhand felt different, and Taryn had been having more difficulty mastering it.
A quick spin and another knife quivered in the target as the door behind Taryn opened. Turning, he saw Liri’s trim figure step out and stretch before she caught sight of him and stifled a yawn into a smile.
“Good morning,” she said, strolling towards him. “I can see you are doing your morning routine.” She glanced around the deck to ensure no one was about except the man at the helm. “Are you ready to keep teaching me or do you want to throw a few more first?”
“No, that’s fine, I was done anyway,” he sighed, striding to the target and pulling out his knives. “I still can’t quite throw it overhand.”
“You will get it soon enough I am sure,” she replied before her smile became rueful. “At least you can get it close to where you want it.”
Taryn handed her a few knives. “Don’t say that, you’ve hit it before.” He scrunched his face, thinking hard. “Although I can’t remember when . . .”
She opened her mouth in mock outrage and hit him in the shoulder, then with a nimble snap of her wrist threw the knife towards the target. It hit about halfway between the center and the side.
He laughed, “All right, you’ve hit it once, good job.”
Her eyes narrowed and she threw another two in quick order. Both of them hit the target, although neither found the center.
Without warning, brilliant light exploded all around them as the sun came up, causing both of them to squint and flinch away. It always surprised Taryn how quickly the sun rose over the water, and they paused while the pre-dawn light changed to bright daylight in a matter of minutes.
“I would love to continue with you down here, but it’s my turn in the nest.” He handed her the other two knives from his belt. “You can practice while I am gone though.”
She nodded and took the blades. “Don’t fall off. I still need a teacher, you know.”
“OK, thanks for being so concerned about me,” he said as he moved towards the rigging. With a quick smile and an encouraging nod he leapt up and grabbed a rope. Scaling the ropes he reached the nest and smoothly slid over the rail. Glancing down, he caught a glimpse of Liri’s eyes lingering on him as he ascended. Her odd expression occupied his thoughts until he reached the top.
When he slipped into the crow’s nest he was greeted sourly by Frey, who had been up all night with his eyes glued to the distance viewer. Yawning and rubbing his eyes, the sailor handed him the spyglass.
“It hasn’t moved closer or further. I just don’t know what they’re doing, but I have a bad feeling from my boots to my bald head.” He rubbed his bare scalp to emphasize his point. “I’ll go get some sleep and relieve you after noon.”
Before Taryn could speak a word of agreement, Frey had climbed out of the nest and begun working his thin frame back down to the deck—considerably slower than Taryn had come up.
Taryn shrugged and settled into a comfortable sitting position where he could watch the pirates off to the south. After a quick look to assure himself that they hadn’t moved, he relaxed and let his mind wander.
What am I going to do when I get to the mainland? The question that had been bothering him since the voyage began forced itself to the forefront of his thoughts. Try as he might he could not devise a more efficient way to find out more about his heritage. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to just go around asking people if they had heard the names Ianna or Mazer.
The only real hope he had was if there were records kept of people . . . perhaps in the elven city? He was part elf and part human, so maybe he should look for records in the human cities as well? Realizing his shoulders had tightened up, he forced himself to relax and tried to think of another solution to the daunting task.
After an hour of trying in vain, he sighed in frustration. How was he really supposed to find information on his parents when he didn’t know anything about them except their names? Then the thought came to mind that the names on the swords weren’t the names of his parents. A moment of panic engulfed him, but the same assurance that he’d felt when he’d first seen the names slowly washed away his concern and replaced it with confidence. Ianna and Mazer were his parents’ names, he was sure of it. He had no reason to believe it, but he still knew it.
Taryn sighed again and let the gentle swaying of the boat lull him as he began think about the pirates. Their behavior seemed odd, and he spent the next few minutes mulling it over. Then an idea sprang to mind that sent a shiver down his spine. But there’s no way the pirates would do that . . ., he thought. He tried to convince himself it wasn’t possible for there to be more than one pirate ship, but the thought kept coming to his mind, pushing against his attempts to quash it. Unable to resist, he stood and, with the spyglass, looked out to sea—not to the south, where the pirate ship was, but to the north.
It took him a few minutes, but after some searching of the horizon he spotted more black sails. “It’s not possible,” he said aloud, Hun said that pirates don’t work together . . . But in his heart he knew what was happening, and what was about to happen. Hoping not to find what he expected, he scanned the rest of the horizon to the east, where they were headed. Starting from the first pirate ship, to the south, he rotated a full circle, feeling his heart plummet as he counted. Not including the original one or the one he’d just spotted, he counted five more ships, almost out of sight and all to their east—directly in their path.
Unable to believe his eyes, he did the sweep again, but there was no question. They would be facing seven full crews. Shaking his head, he tucked the spyglass into his belt and dropped out of the nest. Descending fast, he put it together.
The first pirates had intentionally allowed themselves to be seen and had carefully driven their quarry towards the waiting trap. It was a good ploy, especially because it kept your attention focused on the one ship until it was too late. It might already be too late, he thought as he landed heavily on the deck.
Liris’ smile evaporated as sh
e caught sight of his expression.
“What's wrong? Is the pirate ship moving towards us?” She asked.
“Worse,” he said, “there’s more than one ship.”
She blanched. “The captain just got up; he’s with the helmsman.”
“Fine, take my place in the nest, would you? They are all around us but mostly in front of us to the east. I figure the one ship kept us distracted and moving forward . . .”
“. . . and drove us into the others,” she finished the statement for him, her expression turning gray. “Smart plan on their part—not so good for us.” She caught the spyglass he tossed to her and leapt towards the rigging. “I’ll let you know the minute they make a move.”
Taryn nodded and hurried to the helm where he found the captain and Sabriel, the second mate. Without any preamble he said, “Captain, we have a problem. There are six more pirate ships. Most are to the east, where we are headed, but a couple are to the north. We’re sailing into an ambush.”
At first the captain didn’t respond, but his face turned to ash. Sabriel just kept staring forward, gripping the wheel so tight that his knuckles went white.
The captain spoke sharply, “How much time do you think we have?”
“Not much, they could turn towards us at any moment.”
Taking the helm, the captain spoke to Sabriel, “Get the men up and armed. Load the ballista and get every bolt we have from below—”
Liri cut off the rest of the instructions, her tone rising as she called down, “They’re turning towards us!”
Sabriel looked at the captain. “Go. Now!” the captain said, at which the second mate raced to rouse the crew. Within minutes the boat was teeming with activity. Men rushed about with fear in their eyes, but the chaos had an order to it that rang of frequent training. How could they fight off seven ships?
