Shadow Kingdom

by N. A. Oberheide

  “Well we might see some action tonight, you think she’s serious or just trying to keep us on our toes?”

  Tauny thought for a moment, then said “Well it would certainly be more exciting than sitting here and scrubbing the deck all damn day. And that prize money…that would be so nice. I could actually afford to put my grandparents somewhere nicer that a paupers house for one.”

  “That would be great indeed. I saw a ship that came back just before the Blood Moon Equinox festivities, it was full of sailors who took quite the beating! Somebody out there must really not like us for some reason. They keep saying it’s just corsairs and privateers. But we will see for ourselves I suppose.”

  “The lands and waters beyond are full of cruel and twisted people Naurus, don’t kid yourself. Some people just want to watch our kingdom burn. It’s not like we always treated everyone else with the utmost kindness in the past either. Don’t remember the forced labor and enslavement used to build the empire?”

  “Yeah, I suppose so. Maybe we can make it a better place. My Ma thinks I’ll be part of the movement to restore the empire apparently!” Naurus cracked, eliciting a laugh between the two of them.

  "Right, I'm sure that'll happen when the king croaks! I don't think he's immortal. Do you even know anyone who has seen him in person?"

  Naurus pondered for a moment, scratching his head and thinking about it. "No, I actually haven't. I guess he's a busy man...or whatever he is since men are merely mortal after all."

  "There is more than meets the eye in our kingdom, gunny. You are one of the only people I've met who doesn’t mindlessly regurgitate everything that was spouted in school. I mean look at us, we went through all the motions, all the training, all the basics of sailing and drilling and schooling through our entire childhood and here we are...just sitting on a boat watching a rock of an island hoping to get in a fight with some whoresons who can't help but to pillage and rape. Such I life I suppose. I'm going to find something to eat now." Tauny said as he walked away to head below decks.

  Naurus stayed where he was near the bowsprit. He watched as his crewmates walked all up and down the village, some entering the tavern and some leaving noticeably more roughed up and intoxicated by the looks of their gaits. He felt a presence just behind him to the left, and immediately knew who it was. How is a woman that large so damn quiet? I never hear her coming. He thought as he waited for her to say something, but several moments passed with nothing but the sounds of waves lapping against the hull and the ship creaking beneath their feet.

  "Enjoying the circus too, commodore?" Naurus sarcastically asked. Morra stepped forward to be shoulder to shoulder with him.

  "Yes, this is quite the rabble I have to manage. That was some mighty close to seditious talk you two were having. You aren't planning anything stupid, are you?" Her tone became serious.

  "You weren't even...but...how could you hear? You weren't on the deck!" Naurus was visibly flustered, causing Morra to crack a toothy grin.

  "I was in my quarters, where I usually am when I'm not wrangling you bums. You really don’t get it do you? I can hear far better than you common bloods can. I can throw my voice far longer and louder than you can too. It serves me rather well in this profession. I would advise you to throw more caution to the wind. Now answer my question." She said as she pointed to her elongated, ovoid ears.

  "Yes ma'am! No sedition here! He's a...well uh...skeptical fellow, but—"

  "But so are you! As so evidenced by the curse sigil burned into your hand. I'm no expert on those matters, but you seem like a good soul. I'm going to hazard a guess you went somewhere far removed from our civilization and did something you weren't supposed to do out of naivete. Hindsight is perfect I suppose. I certainly hope it won't give us any trouble on this voyage though."

  "Well if it does, ma'am, my medicine will stop it from becoming a problem. I promise!" Naurus replied.

  "Anti-magicka potion of some sort is it? Well that is technically contraband but I'm not that much of a witch. I wish you had told me about all this before we embarked, as you are not considered fit for duty with that sort of affliction. Oh well, I'll leave you be for now." She said as she made her way back to her cabin.

  Naurus fought off a sense of dread over the thought of what happened to him back at his house, and what might have been had his mother not come in to help him during the sigil's flare up. He took some deep breaths and reminded himself to take it one day at a time as there was no sense in worrying about the future may hold as much as he wanted to fret. Soon the sun was setting, and the crew that was onshore all made their way back. Naurus had to help hoist them up on the davits, some of them too intoxicated to make it back on deck without falling out of the jolly boat. Once everyone was back on board, the revelry didn’t stop there. The rum rations were broken out and everyone decided to indulge before settling in for the night. Naurus had never had rum before, it was spicier and burned more than he thought it would but the warmth in his belly was nice as he felt a strong buzz setting in.

  He mingled with some of the crew, which was made much easier with the infusion of liquid courage he had. Normally he wasn't a very sociable creature, but he was finally starting to feel at ease being a ship full of people that weren't much better than strangers for all he cared. Darkness had settled over the cloudy night. The inky blackness surrounding the ship was only broken up by the torchlights in the village on The Rock along with the small lighthouse on the far side that Naurus had failed to notice earlier. It was somewhat secluded next to the old fort and stood not much higher than it as well. His eyelids grew heavy, and he made his way to his hammock to relax and rest his eyes. He woke up some hours later to the sounds of gentle creaking and snoring. His bladder felt like it was about to burst so he clambered out of his hammock and made his way up to the main deck. After relieving himself overboard, he realized he still felt a bit intoxicated and that it was still dark although probably sometime in the early morning now.

  As he groggily made his way back to the ladder down to the crew quarters, he noticed an outline silhouetted against the village lights off the bow of the ship. It was definitely Morra standing there, looking out across the black and glassy expanse of sea. Why is she up at such a time? The night watch should be the only crew out here. He thought as he made his way back down to his hammock. He fell asleep once more and woke up just as dawn was breaking through the port holes. He still felt a bit groggy and dry, he decided to grab a mug of water and head up for some fresh air to try to kill off his hangover. The morning breeze was refreshing, and clouds were starting to break up to let a red glow through. He heard the bell ring twice from the crow's nest followed by the sailor crying out, "Friendly ship off the port side!"

  Naurus looked over and indeed saw the ship coming over the horizon, the square sails and royal colors coming into prominence soon enough. His stomach started growling, but before he could make his way down to the galley he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw the bosun standing there with a cheery look on his chubby face.

  "It's a great thing you're here, we need your help on the capstan! Come with me."

  Naurus nodded and begrudgingly followed the bosun down to the capstan and joined several other sailors in the laborious task of pulling the anchor up. After going around and around, the deed was finally done and he finally could find some food. It didn't take him long to find some nuts and fruits to snack on, which helped his stomach finally calm down. Soon enough the sails were unfurled and they set sail. Morra called everyone to the deck in front of the wheel and explained that they were going on a patrol of their territorial waters and to keep a sharp eye out for any strange looking vessels.

  "Remember, if you don't like the cut of their jib then say something! You can't be too cautious in this day and age." She reminded everyone as she finished her briefing.

  It was starting to dawn on Naurus that Tauny may have been onto something. There sure was a lot of 'hurry up and wait' that servin
g on this ship seemed to entail. Oh well, as long as I make it home in one piece it could be worse. Just need to hope this stupid curse doesn’t flare up again. He thought as looked out at Vidly slowly fading into the distance. Staving off boredom became a chore in and of itself, so he found random things to do to occupy his time. Washing his clothes, cleaning his dishes, making sure the bilge wasn’t flooding, cleaning bird droppings off the deck, and even trying to sketch out their journey thus far on a piece of paper, but he was basically guessing as he realized he didn't know where exactly he was in relation to Astrania. The day soon passed noon, and he decided to simply get comfortable on the deck as it was rather stuffy below decks.

  Three rings from the crow's nest rang out suddenly, startling Naurus from his daydreams.

  "Commodore, sloop spotted off the starboard side! It isn't flying colors either!"

  Morra jumped off the wheel, grabbed her spyglass and scanned the horizon off the starboard side. After several moments of intense contemplation, she shouted back up to the lookout.

  "Keep an eye on them, they seem to be on a parallel course but let me know if they turn in." She motioned for the bosun to take the wheel as she went to stand on the bow to try to get a better look with her spyglass. Naurus could only make out a faint blotch on the horizon, the shimmering waves made it hard to tell exactly how far it was to his naked eye. He didn’t think much of it, but Morra started pacing up and down the deck more frantically.

  "They seem to be bearing towards us, commodore! Unknown if hostile or not!" The lookout shouted.

  "Ship, make ready for contact!" Morra's voice boomed out, giving the signal for preparations to be made in the case of hostile actions.

  Naurus darted down below decks with the rest of the crew where they strapped on brigandines and their swords. They also loaded up their rifles and brought those back up to the main deck too. Naurus noticed that the blotch on the horizon did indeed seem to be drawing closer, becoming larger and he could make out the rough outline of the sails and masts after some time. As the ship drew even closer, he noticed the twin masts were triangular rigged and there indeed were no colors flying from this ship. Morra didn't seem to be concerned with trying to steer away from this vessel, in fact she seemed to be keeping a steady course and seeing if they would simply catch up. It wasn't long before the sloop did indeed catch up and pulled parallel off the starboard side.

  "Contact on the starboard side, assemble defensive positions!" Morra barked.

  Naurus lined up against the gunwale with the rest of the crew, rifles resting on the notches cut out especially for this purpose. The pair of swivel guns mounted at the aft and bow were manned as well. The ship was so close Naurus could see their crew milling about the deck rather casually. They only appeared to be lightly armed, and no firearms were to be seen. They were rather swarthy looking, and some didn’t even have a shirt on. The ship drew so close you could practically throw rocks onto it. Naurus then noticed a rather dressed up man with an ornate cane walk out to the port side of their ship and hold his hands up, as if to signal he had no weapons.

  "May we speak to your commander?" The man yelled with an odd lilt. Morra shoved a few of the crew away from the gunwale and leaned over.

  "State your business with the Kingdom of Astrania." She calmly replied. He pulled a letter out of his coat pocket and unfolded it.

  "I have no business with Astrania, only with you. See, we have a letter stating that we are to bring your ship and crew in on behalf of the Principality of Ostragan as per the dispute clause laid out in the Ostragan Code of Maritime Law section—"

  "A letter of marque?" She cut him off angrily, "You are in Astranian territorial waters, and you have no business being here. Identify yourself!"

  The man folded the letter up and put it back in his pocket. He was silent for a few moments staring intently at Morra who gladly returned the favor.

  "My identity is of no concern, I am simply the captain of this vessel. I have my papers in order and you are to come with us. I will ask you one more time to parley under conditional terms, madame." Their captain said as his voice grew more strained.

  "If you do not leave our territorial waters at once, the only parley you will be having is at the gallows for your pathetic attempt at piracy. Turn around and leave now!" She yelled with venom.

  Their captain stood there seemingly dumbstruck for a few seconds. He then slammed his cane into his deck thrice, followed shortly by the all the portholes on the deck below him starting to open and the few dozen men on deck producing pistols tucked behind various hiding spots.

  "ALL STARBOARD GUNNERY SECTIONS BELOW DECKS IMMEDIATELY TO LOAD, AIM, AND FIRE ON COMMAND! ALL DECK CREW, AIM AND FIRE ON COMMAND!" She roared, drawing her pistol as well.

  Naurus scrambled to get below deck but ended up at the back of the line to do so. He heard another shouting match between Morra and their captain, but he couldn’t discern what was being said over the ruckus of the crew. No sooner did he get to the ladder to go down to the gun deck than did a number of bullets go howling over his head in unison with a crescendo of gunfire reports. He placed his rifle back on the rack and bolted over to his cannon, yanking open the gunport and helping Tauny to load the ball and charge to make ready to fire. He glanced out his gun port to see the other ships cannons already sticking out in ready position.

  A booming roar erupted followed by cracking and splintering all around Naurus. Something slammed hard into this shoulder, knocking him prone and disorienting him for several seconds. When he regained his composure, he realized that there was a ragged hole where the staple used to be, and in fact there were several new portholes throughout the hull. The staple was now on the ground next to Naurus, and he figured that’s what must have hit him. Through the smoke now between the two ships, he realized they were pulling their cannons back for reloading after their initial volley.

  “ALL STARBOARD CANNONS OPEN FIRE!” Came a startlingly loud shout from behind Naurus. He wheeled around thinking Morra was right behind him, but saw nothing except for dust and smoke. He dutifully followed her orders, and in an almost perfect unison all twenty guns on the deck fired in a volley that deafened Naurus. Thick smoke started blowing back into the deck, but he made out visible damage to their ship and spotted several holes that they punched in and around their gun deck as he scrambled to reload the gun with Tauny.

  “FIRE AT WILL!” Another order came thundering down. Before Naurus could pull the firing cord, another salvo of iron shot slammed into their ship. As their shots tore through the deck, the rope connecting his cannon to the other staple was severed, making them much harder to keep in place. He looked down the row, realizing that some of the other guns had been knocked out entirely with their crews little more than bloody heaps on the floor. Naurus turned his attention back to his cannon and heaved it back into position with Tauny’s help. He yanked on the firing cord, sending another reply back to the enemy’s ship. Their cannon recoiled back wildly, careening into the central bulkhead. Naurus realized the situation was going sour rather quickly, but he and Tauny did their best to attempt to roll the cannon back into its rightful spot.

  “ALL CREW PREPARE FOR BOARDING!” Morra’s voice echoed through the deck. Naurus and the rest of the crew that were still in fighting condition started making their way back up to the main deck. Another salvo erupted from the enemy ship, smashing through the deck causing some debris to hit Naurus in the head. Next thing he knew, he woke up flat on his back having no idea how he got there. He shook it off and slowly made his way to his feet as he felt somewhat disoriented.

  Naurus set foot on the ladder and looked up, only to see a silhouette of a man holding a curved sword standing near the top. Not only was his blade strange, but his lack of a shirt and striped pants was a dead giveaway he wasn’t going to be someone Naurus knew. The man started stomping his way down the ladder, cracking a crooked grin at Naurus.

  “I’m gonna gut you like a fish!” The privateer yelled as he swung
his sword above his head and chopped down toward Naurus, who responded by throwing his blade up in a high block. Their swords collided and locked on to each other, promptly followed by Naurus getting a stiff boot straight into his sternum, sending him tumbling back down and knocking the wind out of him. He scrambled backwards on the floor struggling to regain his breath and composure as the bald, scarred, shirtless man barreled down on him and quickly caught up.

  The privateer raised his sword once more and Naurus braced for another blow, throwing his sword up for another block. Another violent collision of blades forced Naurus to wince, then there was a purple flash and when he opened his eyes the privateer’s head was no longer there, being replaced with air full of bloody spurts. The headless body collapsed in a heap, revealing a flaming purple blade lighting up almost as bright as the bloodlust in Morra’s eyes. Naurus breathed a sigh of relief. She stepped over the corpse and grabbed Naurus by his bardic, yanking him up.

  “Time to stand and fight! Get up there, we’ve been boarded and are taking losses. Move it before I throw you up myself!” She yelled hoarsely.

  Naurus scampered up the ladder as fast as he could, following Morra into the fray. Once he was up there, he became disoriented at the chaotic scenes around him as the din of battle filled the air. Bodies and pieces thereof were strewn about, both friend and foe alike. Naurus looked around to see various sword fights and even fistfights by those who had lost their weapons raging around him. There was a boarding ramp hooked onto his ship, wherein quite the brawl had developed on and around it. He just looked around, frozen by fear and indecision on whether to fight or help the wounded men writhing around on the deck. The adrenaline burned hot in his veins and his focus became tunnel like. A rapid series of clangs and clatters caught his attention, and he turned around to find Morra engaged in a wild fracas with two privateers that were ganging up on her.

  Her blade danced around like a whirlwind, her spins and pirouettes were like poetry in motion, very violent poetry at that. In a moment, all of that changed as she took a cut across her shoulder and she momentarily dropped her guard. A punch landed on her face and she staggered backwards in response. The two privateers smelled blood and backed her into a corner. Naurus started quickly after them but slipped and almost fell. He looked down to see that he slipped on someone’s blood and then looked back up only to notice the out of place look on Morra’s face. She looked like she was having fun. She cracked a bloody smile and her eyes filled with nothing short of excitement as blood ran down the front of her jacket. Naurus started seeing red and didn’t know what the best course of action was. Then heard Morra’s voice ringing through his head: ‘Remember cadets, if ever in doubt there is never a substitute for violence of action!’. He settled that there was nothing else to do but level his blade and charge into the back of the privateer nearest to him. It was a sickening feeling, the entirety of his sword easily tearing through to the hilt as his momentum rammed his body into his opponent. The both careened into the wall of the deckhouse next to Morra, essentially pinning the privateer to the wall by the sword with Naurus behind him.