The Questing Game

by James Galloway

  "Calm day. The long-water is like glass," she noted in an idle voice, looking out over the water. She spoke Selani, as she always did when addressing him or Keritanima. The Selani language had no word for sea or ocean, so she had to adjust it to best describe the vast expanse of uninterrupted blue before them.

  "The captain said that if the wind doesn't pick up soon, we'll be stuck here all day. Maybe even lose time," Tarrin replied.

  "How is that?"

  "The long-water has currents in it, like the flowing of a stream," he explained. "There's one right here that flows back to the north. We're moving slowly back the way we came. If the wind doesn't pick up to counter that, we'll be going backwards."

  "Strange. I never imagined something like this would flow. I thought it would just sit here."

  "There's alot of things we don't know, sister," Tarrin said.

  "Truly." She squinted a bit against the bright sunlight, then hooded those piercing azure eyes with her slim hands. "If we are moving backward, how are they moving towards us?"

  "Who?" he asked, shielding his eyes from the sun and peering in the same direction. It took his eyes a few seconds to see it, a tiny little smudge on the horizon. But he knew that to Allia's eyes, it would be as if it were half as far away.

  "It's that bandit woman," she said. "Sheba, wasn't it?"

  "It is?" he asked.

  She nodded. "The ship is moving. It's coming this way."

  "Maybe they have wind back there," Tarrin said. "Sometimes the wind moves differently across the same field."

  "Possible," she agreed. "But they've moving awfully fast. They'll be upon us in about an hour at that speed."

  "You spot something, lass?" Kern asked from near the wheel, where he was standing watch with his steersman.

  "Yes, captain," she replied respectfully. "It is that Wikuni pirate, Sheba. Her ship is on the horizon, and it is moving this way."

  "You're certain it's her?"

  "I can see her on deck, master Kern," she said. "It is her."

  "That's not something I want to hear," he grumbled in his rough voice. "Sheba coming this way only means that she's after someone. Probably us."

  "How would she know where we are?" Tarrin asked.

  "Because this is the fastest way to Dayisè," he replied calmly, pulling a spyglass from his vest and using it. After a moment, he swore. "It's about as far away as it can get before I'd miss that ship," he said gruffly. "I can't make anything out, but there's only one black clipper on the seas. That's Sheba, alright." He lowered the curious metal device. "All hands on deck!" he boomed. "Rig up! Rig up! We got a pirate coming from astern!"

  That created a wild cacophony of activity on the ship. Every sailor swarmed up from their duties and exploded into activity, working the rigging under the first's guidance to catch any breath of wind. Dolanna and the rest of their group came from belowdecks not long after that, and they quickly learned what was going on. They all gathered on the steerage deck, where Dolanna pressed Kern for information. "You are certain she is coming after us?" Dolanna asked for the third time.

  "There ain't nobody else around, mistress," Kern told her after booming an order in a voice that probably could have been heard by the Wikuni pirates some distance behind them. "Sheba is a pirate. She has only one reason to be out."

  Tarrin watched with the others for a moment, then Dar posed a simple question that Tarrin hadn't considered. "What will they do if they catch us?" he asked nervously.

  "They ain't," Kern said gruffly. "Mistress Dolanna, if you don't mind, I think we could use some of that wind you used to get us out of Roulet."

  "Dar, Keritanima," she said immediately. "Allia."

  "Me?" Allia asked in surprise.

  "I need all the help I can find, young one," she said calmly. "In a circle, your power will be of great use to me."

  "I can help," Tarrin said.

  "No, Tarrin," she said gently, patting his cheek and looking him in the eyes. "Your power would overwhelm us, and then we would not be able to move the ship."

  Tarrin's braid suddenly caught up in a breeze, and he turned to look astern in surprise. "Maybe you won't have to tire yourself out either," he said. "There's that wind that they're using."

  "Tack to the wind, mates!" Kern boomed immediately.

  The ship rocked slightly, and then the sails snapped taut as they were moved to catch the wind. Kern's sailors were efficient and experienced, and they had the old galleon moving ahead of that wind in mere moments. The black clipper was no longer racing towards them, it was now standing some distance off the stern, but it was obvious to Tarrin that the ship was getting closer. Tarrin and Allia watched it for a goodly amount of time in quiet anxiety, watching it inexorably advance on them, and making him more and more certain that it was indeed gaining on them.

  Allia confirmed that. "Captain, they are gaining," she told him, looking back at the ship.

  "She has more sail," he replied gruffly. "Give it everything ye got, lads, or we'll be swimmin' home!" he barked at his men, and their activity became even more frenzied.

  There was a tiny puff of smoke that rose from the clipper, and Tarrin's ears tracked on the most curious buzzing, whining sound. Then a spray of erupting water exploded from the sea some fifty paces behind the ship, sending a plume of white water very high. "What was that?" Allia asked suddenly.

  "That was a cannonball," Keritanima said in a calm voice. "It's a common technique to get range on a target."

  There was another blast of water, this one closer but off to the right, making Tarrin flinch. What power! He had never seen a device that could hurl steel balls such great distances! Keritanima's stories seemed plausible when she told them, but to see the reality of it was something that was nearly overwhelming. He realized that as the ship grew closer, it would come into range to hit the galleon with those steel balls, and they would get better and better at aiming them when the distance wasn't such a mitigating factor.

  It was a strange, frightening experience. This was a contest between ships, vessels, and he felt helpless to do anything about it. He knew that his Sorcery could probably do some damage, but with his lack of control, he couldn't tell who it would hurt more. That left him feeling powerless, and that feeling angered the animal instincts within him. That his life now hinged on the marksmanship of the man on the other side of that cannon was a very sharp realization to him, and it made him dig his claws into the railing in both fear and frustration.

  "Any ideas, Kern?" Dolanna asked.

  "I'm still thinkin', milady," he growled. "I ain't never been caught like this on the open sea before. I don't got many options."

  Allia put her hand over Tarrin's paw, and he looked at her. Her nervousness over a new, strange, and fearful situation was plain on her face, but she still managed to give him a slight smile. "Kern won't appreciate you tearing up his polished rail," she told him in Selani.

  Tarrin looked down, and saw that his claws had dug several very deep furrows in the highly polished wood. "I'll buy him a new rail," he replied, looking back to the clipper again.

  Another cannonball came crashing down into the sea, then another, and yet another, and each time they hit closer and closer to the ship. The last made Tarrin and Allia flinch away from the stern, and sprayed them with cool salt water. It had struck not ten paces from the stern.

  "Their shots are getting closer!" Allia called urgently.

  "Dolanna, if ye got a trick, now may be a good time to use it," Kern told her bluntly. "I don't have enough sail to outrun her, and her guns will chew us up if we turn around and try to engage."

  "Keritanima, do you know where they keep their gunpowder?" Dolanna asked immediately.

  "Unless they've refitted the ship, yes," she replied immediately.

  "Do you think a fire somewhere near that powder would persuade them to stop?" she asked.

  Keritanima chuckled, then flinched away as a spray of water from a cannonball sizzled across the sterncastle. She sucke
d in her breath in both surprise and shock as the cold water knifed into her fur, then she let out a growling cry of fury as she snapped both arms down. "This was a new dress!" she snapped in fury. "Just get me close enough to that ship, Dolanna, and I'll blow it out of the water!"

  "Never mess with Kerri's wardrobe," Faalken said with a wink to Azakar.

  "So it would seem," he replied sagely.

  "No, Keritanima, to try to get that close would be suicide. We will have to try to do this from a distance. Kern, would you be so kind as to have your men ready the port catapult?"

  "Sure, but it ain't got the range to reach--" His remark was interrupted by an ear-splitting boom that rocked the ship. Flying bits of wood screamed through the air as the entire ship shuddered and jerked under them, sending many people to the deck. Tarrin and Allia both were pitched backwards, struck the rail, and then tumbled over and found nothing but empty air beneath them. He dimly spotted the railing, and his claws caught it by the very tips, snapping him to a halt as something heavy struck him at the base of his tail.

  No, something heavy was holding onto his tail. He became aware of Allia's hands gripping his tail in a vise-like grip, and her screams managed to drown out the cracking and groaning of wood and the reverberations of the horrid sound that still bounced around inside the ship. The weight of both him and Allia weren't even a challenge to his superhuman strength, but his very precarious position, the very tips of his claws caught on the very edge of the railing, made any sudden moves or attempts to use leverage very dangerous.

  Raising his feet, he drove them into the planking of the ship claws first, getting a very solid purchase. Using that, he grabbed hold of the railing with both paws, then lifted Allia up by snaking his tail over and up, literally lifting her to where she could get hold of the deck. "What was that?" Allia demanded over the ringing in his ears.

  "I think one of the cannonballs hit us!" Tarrin replied as he helped her up, then someone grabbed her and pulled her back over the rail. He froze when another loud bang shocked his ears, and he felt the concussion of another strike on the water slam into him like some kind of gigantic hand trying to flatten him against the wooden planking into which his footclaws were driven. His claws were too deeply embedded to jar him loose, and he held that perch with trembling muscles as he was literally soaked with flying seawater. That was too close! Adrenalin began surging through him even as the fear and uncertainty of the dangerous situation began sinking into his mind, and he felt the Cat begin to stir, to rise up from its corner in his mind and see if it was important enough to attempt to take control to ensure survival.

  "No, no, no," he said through gritted teeth, frantically trying to maintain his control over his own mind. Hanging on the stern with eyes closed, he barely felt or registered another stinging spray of seawater slam into his back as he struggled to keep control of himself. He only dimly heard the shouts of people over him, then felt large, powerful hands grab hold of his paws. He opened his eyes to see Binter and Sisska, each with a paw, pulling him back on deck by main force, tearing his claws out of the wood and pulling him over the rail.

  The scene above was one of chaos. A huge hole cratered the steerage deck where the steering helm had once been, and a splatter of gore was all that was left of the steersman. Kern lay near that hole, his left arm laying on the deck some paces away from him and his body almost totally covered in blood, being tended by a grim-looking Dolanna. The hole widened until it reached the edge of the steering deck, and debris and blood were littered all over the deck below. Sailors rushed about almost mindlessly, trying to tack to the wind as the ship began to list and turn to the starbord as others attempted to control the damage done by the cannonball strike. The ship immediately began to turn against the wind, only to be pushed back by the blowing air. The device that turned the ship had moved, and it was fighting against the blowing winds, and that was slowing the ship.

  Tarrin's mind was cloudy, befuddled, from the loud noises, the shock, and his attempts to retain control, but he fixated on Kern. He pulled out of Binter's grasp and rushed over to the horribly injured captain, his eyes almost glowing as he reached out and put a paw on his mangled shoulder. He touched the Weave, but in his mental state, he felt something more, something expansive. He touched the Weave, and it responded to him gently, smoothly, with no sudden tidal wave of power that always wrested control away from him. Weaving together flows of Fire, Earth, Divine energy, and Water, he laid his paw on Kern and released it, watching as the mangled stump of his shoulder quickly and effortlessly began to grow. Bone and muscle raced away from the shoulder, more and more of it, filling in with sinew, tendon, and tissue, until it ended at the many bones of the wrist. It feathered out from there, into fingers, and the grayish-red color of the muscle suddenly flushed with blood, then covered over with skin. The sight was somewhat gruesome to behold, but the end result was a new arm to replace the one that was laying some paces away from Kern. The grizzled old captain's gray eyes opened curiously, clear and lucid, and they stared up into the Were-cat's eyes in confusion.

  "Tarrin," Dolanna said quietly, her voice reverent.

  Another shockwave snapped him out of his reverie, and the Weave vanished from him like smoke. He closed his eyes and put a paw to his head, trying to figure out what just happened, as Kern suddenly jumped up from the deck and put a hand on his new left arm, moving it and shaking it, then using it to point. "Lock down that hatch! Trim that sail, man! Someone get below and try to turn the rudder with the rudder rope! Everyone else take cover, and prepare to repel boarders!"

  "What is going on, Kern?" Dolanna asked urgently.

  "That ball shot took out our rudder," he replied, looking at the shattered place where the helm had been. "We can't maneuver, and we're listing. We're dead in the water. Now it comes down to repelling boarders."

  "I think we can handle that, captain," Faalken said grimly. "Zak, go get our shields!"

  "Yes, Faalken," the huge Mahuut man replied calmly, then he scuttled down the steep steps leading to the deck.

  "Why can you not shoot back?" Allia asked.

  "Our catapults and ballista don't have their range," he replied. "They're too far away."

  Another loud splash erupted from the side of the ship, sending spray over the deck. "They're going to pound us to pieces like this," Keritanima said. "Sheba must have some serious gunners to hit us from this range."

  "Keritanima, Dar, Allia, with me," Dolanna said. "We must protect the ship from any more strikes. Link with me now!"

  The three students quickly joined their teacher, and Dolanna reached out to them. Tarrin felt their union, felt them reach out and join their power into a united effort, which Dolanna directed. She wove together a very impressive weave of air, forming a solid, invisible barrier that extended from the waterline to the highest mast, and just wide enough to cover the ship. It was a wall of solid air, and the first cannonball to strike it proved that it was more than effective. It exploded against the invisible wall, sending fiery shrapnel back in the other direction and sending a plume of white smoke into the air. A shockwave rippled through the wall of air, but it held easily.

  "Alright men, prepare to repel boarders!" Kern called in his booming voice. "Dolanna, can we shoot back through that?"

  "No, Kern, it is a solid mass," she replied in a calm, tightly focused voice. It was obviously an effort for all of them, judging by the looks on their faces. "You must keep the stern to them, Kern. This is hard to maintain, and if I have to increase its size, it will not be strong enough to hold."

  "Aye, Dolanna, I'll do my best to keep them astern," he assured her.

  Two more cannonballs struck the wall or went wide in rapid succession, and Tarrin realized that they only had two or three weapons firing at them. He remembered Keritanima's descriptions of a clipper, how most of the guns were along its flanks. That getting broadside to a clipper was the same as falling on one's own sword. They couldn't have more than five or six cannons that were sh
ooting at them from the bow, and they were reloading them and firing again as quickly as they could.

  He wanted to do something. He wanted to join with his friends and strengthen the wall, but his power was unpredictable, and it was very possible that he would destroy their attempts just by his presence. He wanted to protect the ship, but the enemy was too far away. He was helpless, unable to do anything. All he could do was stand on the stern and look back, watch the black ship approach, and wait for them.

  "Son, I wanted to thank you for what you did for me," Kern said to him in a quiet voice. "I didn't realize I lost my arm til I saw it laying on the deck."

  "It's nothing, Kern," he replied in a grim voice. "I'm just glad I could help you after everything you've done for us."

  He cleared his throat. "Yes, well, no offense or nothing, but I did that for Dolanna. If it was anyone but her, I would've said no."

  "None taken, Kern," he said calmly. "I don't expect much generosity from humans anyway."

  "Dolanna said that you were human yourself."

  Tarrin looked at him, his slitted eyes penetrating and direct. "I was," he said in a blunt voice.

  Kern flinched slightly. "Yes, well, I guess you're right. You're what you are now. If you'll excuse me, I have a fight to prepare for."

  "Just give the signal when you're ready. I'll fight." He extended the claws on his paw meaningfully.

  "I almost feel sorry for Sheba," Kern said in a grim chuckle, scurrying away.

  Yes, he was what he was now. He just didn't know what it meant, or where it would take him.

  But there were more pressing and immediate matters. The clipper had stopped shooting at them, obviously realizing that magic was defending their prey, but they were still coming. Sheba knew that Kern had magical defense, but she seemed unconcered about it. That meant that she had to have some kind of contingency for dealing with--

  The priest. He remembered that priest from when they were in Roulet. No doubt he would use his own magic in support of Sheba. Tarrin had no idea what kind of magical powers a priest had, but Sheba's willingness to pit her priest against the magic Kern commanded was obvious. That meant that he had to be a good priest.