Pirate of the Prophecy

by Jack Campbell

  Shin moved his head slightly in the faintest nod. “Please stay alive until I can join you, Lady Pirate.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Jules said. “Sneaky, unfair stuff. And you please get strong again. Are you and Beryl still a thing?”

  “That didn’t work out,” Shin said. “But there’s another.”

  “Good. For now, you shouldn’t seem too happy with me. When I get up, yell something threatening. Can you yell?”

  “I’ll try.”

  Jules straightened up.

  Shin yelled at her in a weak voice, but one strong enough to be heard by many of those on deck. “I will find you again! I’m not afraid of you and your weapon!”

  Jules smiled mockingly down at him. “Next time I’ll kill you.” She winked once, very quickly, before turning away, wishing that she had more time to speak with him. But appearing friendly to Shin wouldn’t be doing him any favors.

  The other prisoners were gathered on the fo’c’sle under guard. Liv was busy getting salt blocks swung over to the Queen, a usually simple procedure with the help of the tackle hung from a yardarm but complicated today by the rough seas that had the ships rolling and rubbing against each other. Ang saw her and walked up, holding out some keys. “We should search the captain’s cabin, Jeri. Look for any hidden boxes. These are all the keys he had on him.”

  The stern cabin was nice enough to seem luxurious to Jules. She and Ang went through it, searching for any concealed boxes or drawers, Ang finally spotting a slim case fastened under the table. One of the keys fit it, revealing not money or jewelry, but documents. “I’ll look these over to see if there’s anything important,” Jules told Ang, who headed back out of the cabin to check on things elsewhere on the ship.

  The top document proved to be the captain’s sailing orders from his company, consisting mostly of lists of places to stop at and the expected times for the ship to reach those destinations. As long as ships depended on wind, trip times could only be educated guesses. She didn’t see anything useful in those orders.

  The next paper down was different. Jules unfolded it to see a familiar drawing of herself staring back at her. Below the picture were several lines of text.

  Lieutenant-in-Training Jules of Landfall. So that was why the captain of this ship had called her Lieutenant. Apparently the Empire had yet to revoke her status as an officer. All efforts must be made to capture her ALIVE. That “alive” was reassuring in an all-capital-letters way. Avoid harming her unless necessary to achieve capture, ensuring that HER ABILITY TO CONCEIVE AND BEAR CHILDREN REMAINS UNDAMAGED.

  Jules sat staring at those words. There it was, laid out in black and white, the letters emphasizing her worst fears. As far as the Empire was concerned, she had only one purpose in this world.

  The page didn’t contain any reference to the Mage prophecy, though. Why was the Emperor trying to avoid telling his citizens about that? From what Shin had just told her the word was getting around inside the Empire anyway.

  But then Shin’s reaction had been to help her. Maybe that was why the Emperor didn’t want his people knowing about the prophecy.

  The rest of the write-up listed her height and weight as of the time of her physical when reporting for officer training, eye and hair color, build, complexion, and noted her “lower class” Landfall accent. Moderately skilled at sword. Minimal crossbow skills. Capable at basic tasks on ships. Rudimentary leadership skills. Average intellect. They certainly made her seem like a prize, didn’t they?

  Following that, a warning. ANY MAGE WHO SEES THIS WOMAN WILL SEEK TO KILL HER. SHE MUST REMAIN HIDDEN FROM ANY CONTACT WITH MAGES. IF MAGES ATTACK HER, ALL IMPERIAL CITIZENS ARE EXPECTED TO MAKE ANY SACRIFICE TO PREVENT HER DEATH.

  That would have been comforting, if not for the fact that even the most loyal Imperial citizens might balk at sacrificing themselves in hopeless fights against Mages, and that the only reason they were being called on to make that sacrifice was so that the Imperial police could haul her living self to Marandur in chains.

  At the bottom, another all-capital letters warning. ANY PHYSICAL VIOLATION OF THIS WOMAN WILL RESULT IN DEATH FOR ALL INVOLVED.

  That was sort of nice to see, in a very creepy way. The Emperor wanted to ensure that any of her offspring were his.

  She wondered what the guys hitting on her would do if they knew success on their part would mean an Imperial death sentence. Maybe she ought to spread the word so they’d leave her alone.

  Jules imagined herself with someone, saying to him “oh, by the way, before we go any farther there’s something you ought to know.”

  She laughed as she put back the paper and looked through the remaining ones, finding only routine documents related to the ship’s license and inspections.

  “What’s so funny?” Ang asked as he came back in.

  “I’m not sure I want to explain it. Is something wrong?”

  “The cap’n wants to talk to you as soon as possible.”

  Jules replaced all of the papers in the case, working quickly. After returning the case to its hidden location, she ran out onto the deck and up to the quarterdeck. “Yes, Captain?” she called across to the Sun Queen, leaning across the railing.

  “We’ve got the Storm Rider in sight,” Mak called back. “Captain Erin is flying a flag and pennant that tell us the sloop is heading back our way. We’ll probably see their masts any moment now. Drop everything and get everyone back aboard.”

  “Yes, sir!” Jules turned to pass on the order, but paused as a wild thought came to her. A crazy thought, really. She spun about to face Mak again. “Captain? Captain, I have an idea.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s insane. It really is.”

  “Tell me.”

  “What if we captured that Imperial sloop?”

  Mak cupped one hand to his ear. “What did you say?”

  “We could capture the Imperial sloop, sir. Lure it in close and board it.”

  “That’s…” Mak paused, gazing downward. “Possible. Lure it in using the captured ship, you mean?”

  “Yes, sir! If we get enough people on his deck, it won’t matter how agile that ship is.”

  He hesitated. “It’s a big risk.”

  “But if we can capture an Imperial sloop,” Jules said, “we’ll be able to use it. With that sloop and the Sun Queen and the Storm Rider we could probably go into a fight with an Imperial galley!”

  “We’re not going to do that even if we take the sloop!” Mak called back. “I have to decide this now. There’s no time to think about it. Do you think it can work?”

  “Yes, sir, I do!”

  “All right. We’ll keep just enough crew aboard the Queen to handle her. If for some reason that sloop doesn’t get lured in, steer the ship you’re on south and run it ashore so you and the others can escape overland to a place where we can pick you up.”

  “Yes, sir! Ang, Liv! We’ve got another fight on the way!”

  Soon afterwards, the Sun Queen broke away from the captured ship. She veered off to the north, only a small portion of her usual crew handling the sails, Captain Mak himself steering at the helm. Not having worked out in advance any signal for trying to capture the Imperial sloop, the Queen was flying the flags indicating an attack on the sloop, hoping that Erin on the Storm Rider would be able to figure out what was happening.

  Jules stood on the quarterdeck of the captured ship, gazing to the west-northwest, where the masts of the Imperial war sloop were in sight. Barely visible to the north were the masts of the Storm Rider. “Get the emergency flag hoisted,” she told Ang. “How’s the outfit feel?”

  He tugged at the collar of the shirt, taken from one of the prisoners who closely matched Ang in size. “A little small. You should get down and hide before there’s any chance of them seeing you.”

  “All right. Let’s do this.” Jules went down the ladder to the main deck. The sails on the captured ship remained furled, the ship wallowing in the rough seas enough to str
ess her stomach even despite her sea legs. The prisoners had all been locked below deck.

  Huddled beneath the rail on the north side of the ship were a major portion of the crew of the Sun Queen, cutlasses in their hands as well as a few crossbows.

  Jules crouched down with them, keeping her head up just enough to watch the sloop again for a moment. The Imperial warship had all sails set, swooping closer on the wings of the wind. Small, fast, and agile, the sloop carried a single ballistae between its masts. In a fight with a ship like the Sun Queen, the sloop could out-maneuver any attempts to board it, while using that ballistae to hurl rocks at its opponent and slowly pound it to pieces.

  Which was why Jules had suggested they try this trick. If it didn’t work, they’d be in big trouble, having to run for the coast before the sloop crippled their ship by taking down one or more of the masts. But if it did work, that sloop would be a very nice capture. And the Emperor would be very unhappy.

  She ducked down below the port railing, nodding to the others from the Sun Queen. Gord gave her a tight grin in reply. Liv seemed lost in thought. Old Ferd wore a pensive look, but nodded back. “Ferd, I thought you were going to stay on the Sun Queen.”

  Ferd smiled at her. “I’m not too old to take part in the fun. Not yet.”

  Should she order him to stay on this ship? Ferd looked even older than he usually did. But he held his cutlass with a firm grip, and his gaze on her almost pleaded with Jules to not object to his presence. “All right.”

  The wait seemed interminable as the ship rocked in the waves. Jules, unable to look at the fixed horizon to fight her looming seasickness, tried staring up toward the sun as clouds swept majestically past above.

  Finally, she saw Ang, alone on the quarterdeck, waving off to port. “What is your emergency?” Jules heard, the hail from the sloop hard to make out as the words were battered and tossed by the wind.

  Ang cupped his hands around his mouth to yell back. “We were attacked while you were away. We managed to fight off the pirates, but we lost a lot of crew dead and wounded. Including our healer. We have a lot of people that need medical help. Can you come alongside and send over your healer?”

  The reply sounded a little louder. The sloop must be veering closer. “We only have a healer assistant on board, but we’ll send him. Do you need crew to handle your sails?”

  “Yes,” Ang called back. “If you could send some after you send the healer assistant.”

  “Hang on,” Jules said, feeling her heart racing. Her grip on her cutlass tightened, the hilt of the sword slick with sweat from her palms.

  Three cartridges left in her revolver. Hopefully she wouldn’t have need of them. They were supposed to be saved for Mages. She’d tied the revolver’s sheath closed, not wanting to risk losing the weapon.

  Jules saw the tips of the sloop’s yardarms come into sight above as the warship came in close. She heard and felt the bump as the two ships came together.

  “Now!” Jules shouted, jumping up and onto the railing. Less than a lance below her, the deck of the sloop was crowded with Imperial sailors, some of them already starting to climb up to board this ship. They had just begun to stare upwards in shock at the sailors from the Sun Queen who had suddenly appeared along the railing.

  Jules leaped down and out, crossing the small gap made as the hulls of the two ships had rebounded, her cutlass guard advanced so that as her boots landed on the deck of the Imperial sloop the guard crashed into the skull of an Imperial officer.

  Other sailors from the Sun Queen dropped down, falling on the surprised Imperials.

  Jules almost lost her balance as the sloop swerved wildly away from the other ship. She cursed as she saw that about a third of her own sailors hadn’t made it to the sloop’s deck by the time the two ships were too far apart. The sloop’s commander had been smart enough and quick enough to do the right thing almost immediately, leaving her with fewer sailors to attack the sloop’s crew. Now they were rapidly recovering from their surprise, grabbing marlinspikes and cutlasses of their own and fighting back. Even worse, the pirates with crossbows were still back on the captured ship, leaving the boarding party with only cutlasses.

  “Take them! Before they can rally!” Jules shouted over the clanging of metal on metal and the horrible crunching of bones hit by marlinspikes or sword guards. She beat aside the blade of an Imperial sailor who’d just managed to grab a cutlass, swinging a cut that felled her opponent. Jules led the other pirates in a rush to clear the foredeck of the sloop.

  But the Imperials were trained fighters, whereas her pirates were a slapdash collection of men and women with varied skills and experience. Despite her efforts to keep the attack going, the pirates faltered in their rush as the defenders armed themselves and fell back together toward the stern. Jules saw the Imperial crew forming a line across the deck even with the sloop’s mainmast, sailors shoulder to shoulder facing her pirates with bared weapons and grim resolve. The ballista stood between the two groups, where neither side could hope to reach and tension it before the other side hit them.

  She had to break that Imperial line before it firmed up. Raising her cutlass, Jules ran at the Imperial sailors. “Come on!” she called to the pirates.

  Many of the pirates followed, but Jules had to fall back as multiple cutlasses slashed at her. The other pirates recoiled from the defenders as well. Despite having taken down many of the crew, the boarding partly was only roughly even in numbers with the defenders, and the defenders had the advantage of being disciplined and well-trained.

  Jules looked past the heads of the line of Imperial sailors, seeing the sloop’s captain standing by the helm. Could she hit him from this distance with the revolver? It seemed very unlikely. The way the weapon kicked had been a surprise, and she’d barely hit Shin when he was right next to her.

  “Pirates, throw down your weapons!” the sloop’s commander ordered. “Only your leaders will be executed!”

  The pirates with Jules looked at her, anxious, hoping for orders.

  Blazes. She’d gotten them into this. How would she get them out?

  Jules took a step forward from the gaggle of pirates facing the firm line of Imperial soldiers. “Throw down your weapons!” she called. “I promise mercy to all!”

  She saw the mocking grins that answered her demand. The Imperials weren’t having any of it. She’d been one of them. She knew why. Their pride and resolve wouldn’t crumble so easily.

  “Line advance!” the sloop commander ordered his sailors.

  The Imperial line began moving forward, a wall of cutlasses facing the pirates who fell back before it. But there was only so far to fall back. Jules glanced behind her, seeing the bow not far off, knowing that if they got packed into the bow they’d be unable to fight effectively against the Imperials.

  She reached down to untie the straps holding her revolver. Only three shots, but maybe these Imperials would crumble in the face of that threat.

  She got the revolver free as the pirates retreated past the foremast, holding it up to point at the Imperials. “Line hold!” she shouted, just as if she was in command of the sloop’s crew.

  The Imperial sailors halted their advance, immediately obedient as they’d been trained and momentarily confused at hearing the order called out in proper form by their opponent.

  “Who dies first?” Jules demanded, slowly swinging the Mechanic weapon from side to side so that it pointed at the faces of all the Imperial sailors facing her.

  “It’s a bluff!” the sloop’s commander shouted. “Line advance!”

  Chapter Eight

  The Imperial sailors hesitated, their fear of the Mechanic weapon momentarily countering their obedience to orders.

  What would have happened next, Jules never found out.

  She suddenly saw the bow of another ship coming up behind the stern of the sloop, very close, felt the thump of the two ships coming together, and saw pirates leaping down onto the sloop’s quarterdeck, led by Captain
Erin.

  The Storm Rider had ridden the winds back quickly enough to lend a hand.

  Jules saw the sloop’s captain cut down as he turned to face the new threat. Erin’s pirates cleared the Imperial quarterdeck in a sweep, rushing forward to hit the rear of the line of Imperial sailors as they belatedly tried to shift their formation from facing only Jules and her pirates.

  As the Imperials wavered in confusion, trapped between two forces, Jules shouted again. “Drop your weapons and mercy will be shown!”

  “Hold-!” an Imperial centurion began to yell before she fell to one of Erin’s crew.

  Cutlasses began hitting the deck as Imperials dropped them and raised their empty hands in surrender.

  Jules stood watching the pirates cheer as they rounded up the Imperial sailors, feeling oddly detached from it all, as if this was a dream that would soon shatter into reality. Someone bumped her, and as she regained her balance Jules felt the world becoming real again. She carefully put the revolver back into its sheath before walking toward Captain Erin, weaving her way between the pirates and the captured Imperials.

  “There she is!” Captain Erin called down from the quarterdeck, grinning. “The dangerous one! Give her a hand, everyone!”

  Cheers and applause erupted around Jules, but she didn’t feel elated. Or deserving. “Thank you for arriving when you did,” she told Erin as the tumult subsided.

  Erin leaned on the front rail of the quarterdeck, smiling down at Jules. “What’s the matter? An Imperial sloop of war isn’t a big enough prize for you?” What was wrong with her? Jules looked about at everyone else celebrating.

  This didn’t feel like a victory that she’d earned. It had nearly been a disaster. She’d been over-confident and reckless. She’d nearly led the pirates from the Sun Queen to their deaths.

  But before she could try to form those feelings into words, Liv touched her arm. Looking over, Jules saw a somber look on Liv’s face.

  “It’s Ferd,” Liv said.