Duchy Unleashed

by Zack Finley

  “We are sleeping on board tonight, wake us if you spot anything suspicious,” I said, bidding him a good night. I wondered how much sleep captains got while their ships were at sea. I had no doubt if something happened he’d be wide awake and on-the-spot long before I would be.

  I dragged Argon to our small cabin and getting into the hammocks was a challenge for us both. Rolling into them seemed the best way. Waves so far on this water journey were minimal compared to my experience on Earth. I suspected the lack of tidal forces was the cause but didn’t know for sure. The ship tacked about once each hour, changing the rhythm of the hammock’s sway. I woke up a few times, forgetting at first where I was. The creaking of the ship was strangely soothing, lulling me back to sleep after a few moments. Argon awoke once, likely due to the same shifting tack. I reached out to her mentally and soothed her back into dreamland.

  I awoke for good at sunrise. The sounds aboard ship picked up as the dayshift crew assumed their duties. I’d slept in my armor and wasn’t surprised my back ached. The privy was at the stern of the ship and consisted of an open seat over the water. It had a small rigged curtain that I was sure was placed there only after they learned Argon was traveling on board ship. A bucket of seawater was sitting on deck for cleaning one’s hands. I rinsed my hands and face off in it, then dumped it and refilled it from over the side.

  Gera was waiting for me near the fo’c’sle with a cup of chee. “The night was quiet. We passed one of our contract ships going from Augun to Klee sometime this morning. I only spotted them with the app, no one could see them, even with the farseer. We notified the captain. He verified they were legit. I got some readings from the shore likely cabins or small villages, but probably not ships. What I did see about the villages reminded me a little of Omba. From the mind-reading app, several seem very much into the pirate lifestyle. I’d hate to leave a backdoor to the Keep open to pirates. They may only deal with the pirates because they are the only traders who visit. I’d hate to condemn them out of hand. I couldn’t tell if there were any slaves, but I didn’t have time to read everyone.”

  “Good idea about policing our backyard,” I said. “Where can I get Argon a chee, she’s just waking up?”

  “They have a chee station set up in the crew’s kitchen. I’ll get her a cup and then head to bed. This constant motion is tiring,” Gera said.

  Gera dropped off Argon’s chee before heading into the officer’s quarters to his hammock.

  I sent Argon a picture of the ship’s bathroom facilities, and she laughed. “You are the one who told me that chamber pots were primitive,” she sent, “I’m tempted to ‘port to our place at Klee HQ and forego this new experience.”

  “Where is your sense of adventure?” I replied. She punched me on here way to the stern of the ship.

  “I have a cup of chee for you when you get back,” I sent.

  We drank our chee, sitting against the ship’s hull with the sun warming our faces.

  “Capt. Malek, we are ‘porting back to Klee. Call us if there if you spot our pirates,” I sent as Argon dropped off our cups. “We will be back around sunset unless you call before.”

  “It should be quiet, passing the contract ship last night was a good sign that Augun is still open,” Capt. Malek sent. “My best guess is we will spot the sentry ship about mid-afternoon. If they use the tactics, I expect the sentry will rendezvous with her pack and they will then turn and hunt us.”

  “Give Cleon and me a head’s up when you spot the sentry,” I sent.

  “It will be hours after that before we see them again,” Capt. Malek sent.

  “I know, but that will let me know the combat timer has started,” I said.

  “Will do,” Capt. Malek said.

  Argon and I ‘ported to the Klee market for breakfast. She then left to meet the Augun orphanage head. I went to conduct interviews.

  We started with 50 applicants who had been at HQ for nearly an hour before I got there. Braka documented the five we lost through the ward effects. I spent the next hour reading their minds, looking for questionable ethics. Braka mostly answered their questions. I identified 10 more who didn’t meet my ethical standards. I was surprised all of the mages had leaking mind shields. I then took half the remaining group. Braka took the rest. I made sure half the mages were in Braka’s group.

  They agreed to meet at the Duchy’s warehouse in three days.

  I asked Braka what we could do to improve the process as we ate the lunch someone dropped off for us. The second batch of recruits had already started assembling in the lounge.

  “The mages were very surprised to have me interview them,” Braka said.

  “Hopefully they got over it,” I replied, stuffing the last part of a sandwich into my mouth. “It is possible you may have to interview everyone if things heat up on the Malan. We are expecting to see the first pirate sometime this afternoon. I’ll try to get through the mind reading stuff, but if I don’t, call Tobron for help.”

  “I’m heading up for a quick shower and change, by the time I get back anyone still here will have passed the ward test,” I said before ‘porting out. I grabbed clean under-armor, leggings, and liveried battle dress. Then a quick shower. Without distractions, it is amazing how quickly you can clean up. I even stuffed my dirty clothes in the laundry before porting out to the conference room.

  Braka was greeting our applicants. She left me the stack of applications. I did a quick mind scan for each application. If the person wasn’t there, I put it in the reject pile. Only five didn’t show, four left after the wards traumatized them and four had personal issues I didn’t think belonged in the Duchy.

  I sent Braka the names of the rejects, and then we split up the rest. I was about halfway through my group when Capt. Malek sent the alert. He’d spotted a pirate ship on the mind-reading app. It was zigzagging across the normal sailing lanes.

  Argon announced she would be there in moments to review the mind-reading app. Perhaps she could learn what the pirates were planning. Cleon said he’d be there momentarily. I just said to keep me posted. As much as I didn’t want to finish my interviews, it would be unfair to Braka to leave her with them.

  It took nearly an hour to answer their questions and arrange for them all to show up at the warehouse in three days. I thanked Braka and ‘ported to the Malan.

  As expected Argon was back in the crow’s nest. She’d placed a rudimentary invisibility cloak over the vessel.

  Cleon was pacing on the deck while Erik was looking relaxed. Erik didn’t fool me, especially when I saw he left deep claw marks in the ship’s rail where he was leaning so casually.

  “Pacing may make you feel better, but it makes your troops nervous,” I sent privately to Cleon.

  He stared at me for a moment and then nodded. I sat back on the deck and leaned against the hull, soaking up the sunshine. Cleon settled beside me and leaned back as well. We didn’t fool each other, but I hoped the men saw that we weren’t worried.

  Erik had the Duchy Guard hidden out of sight, to avoid giving the pirates any hint we weren’t a merchant ship just heading to Kavil for a load of fruit and nuts.

  Argon sent a message to the command team confirming the ship was a pirate. The plan was as Capt. Malek predicted. The only complication was the high number of slaves on the ship. The slaves would be locked below decks in the hold during any battle. The ship’s orders were to watch for any ships going north. If any were spotted to race back to the where the others were moored and then the pack would intercept the merchant. While the order was to ram and sink the merchant ship, the pirates were getting bored. They wanted to capture and loot any ship unlucky enough to stray into their area.

  I could tell Erik was telling his team the current battle plan, which was basically using the Malan as bait.

  Capt. Malek sent, “I expect it will spot us within the next few minutes. As soon as it turns to get help, the guard can return to the deck for some fresh air. If his reinforcements are moored
, it will take them some time to get moving. Everyone should have a meal and get some rest. It will probably be a very late night.”

  Cleon sat up straighter, “My son is bringing a hot meal for all of us as soon as we tell him we are ready. I’ll message him as soon as we get the all clear to bring our troop up on the deck.”

  “Good idea,” I said, leaning back against the hull. The next thing I knew was the sun was lower in the sky, and Argon was nudging my foot. “Jern is here with dinner, you’d better get in line, or it will all be gone,” Argon said. She reached down to help me up.

  “I take it we were spotted, and the pirate ran for help?” I asked.

  “I can’t say anything good about their watch, it took them forever to spot us. My cloak isn’t that good for a ship this size,” Argon sent. “Capt. Malek thinks we can catch that ship before it gets very far. I’ve renewed the invisibility cloak on the front of our ship. I’m hoping it will reduce the chances of them noticing we are chasing them. It will be so much better if we can catch this guy first and then the rest of the pirates moored and unprepared.”

  “How soon does the captain think we can reach the first pirate?” I asked.

  “He thinks we will be within boarding distance in about an hour. The pirate captain estimates he is two to three hours from his friends,” Argon said. “I’m monitoring the pirate closely, they have no clue we are chasing them. The rest of the pirates are in a small inlet. Capt. Malek thinks he knows the site. It has a fresh water source and had a few old huts the last time he was there.”

  Argon and I got our grub and sat on the deck in the place I’d found so comfortable. We finished quickly and handed our dishes to Jern. We were gaining on the target vessel, and our sailor in the crow’s nest had him in sight with the farseer.

  We weren’t sure what the pirate captain could do once he noticed we were chasing him. I was pretty sure he couldn’t speed up. Argon had confirmed this pirate had no way to communicate with his fellows. Capt. Malek invited us into the cabin for a battle conference.

  Cleon, Erik, Gera, Argon, and I joined the captain and his officers in the cabin. Capt. Malek had charts showing the coast open on the large table.

  “We should be within magic range of the pirate vessel in about half an hour. It will be nice if your invisibility cloak hides us until we get close enough to board, but he can’t get away from us even if he spots us. He sealed his fate when failed to spot us until we were too close,” said Malek. “I don’t know whether he will have time to secure the slaves in the hold but no matter what, we can’t indiscriminately lob rocks and fireballs at the ship.”

  “What will happen if we just stun everyone on deck?” I asked. “Will the sails lose wind and the ship slow to a crawl?”

  Unlike sailing ships I’d seen before, Jaloan ships were steered with a simple tiller. No ship’s wheel. I assumed if the helmsman was stunned he would collapse and the tiller would return to a neutral position.

  “That should work,” Capt. Malek said. “If no one is controlling the tiller, the sails will lose air, slowing the pirate. We should be able to board using a ship’s boat. With your magic propulsion unit, the ship’s boat could probably catch up with it even at the pirate’s full speed. That would make for a difficult boarding, but still doable.”

  “Let’s man up two ship’s boats with Cleon in one and Gera in the other. Drop the boats off before we get close enough to stun the pirate deck. They should plan to board the pirate from the off side. We will then close with the pirate and stun everyone on her decks. If you get us close enough to levitate over to the other ship, Argon and I can jump over to the pirate. We’ll make sure they stay stunned and take control of the ship. If we need the firepower we can have Gera and Cleon teleport to our side,” I said.

  “I’ll put an invisibility cloak on the two ship’s boats, and on Steve and me before we jump,” Argon said.

  No one looked happy with the plan, but no one had a better one. Cleon, Gera, and Erik left to prep the boat crews.

  I turned to Capt. Malek. “I suspect we will have a new ship to add to our fleet. Some of the slaves are sailors, but I’ll look to your crew to sail this ship to our rendezvous.”

  “We will be ready,” Capt. Malek said, looking to his first mate who nodded.

  “We can probably stun anyone within two ship lengths of us, but we will need to get within a ship’s length or less to use force magic to help jump us over. Getting a running jump can’t hurt. Have someone rig up a gangplank for us,” I said. “I’ll jump then ‘port you over,” I sent to Argon.

  “Not happening, I’m jumping, too,” she sent.

  Argon climbed back up to the crow’s nest to monitor the pirate ship. I couldn’t think of anything more I could do, so sat down in the cozy spot against the hull to wait.

  “We should release the boats,” Argon sent to the command team. “They still don’t know we are here, but they won’t be able to ignore us for much longer.”

  Part of Argon’s invisibility spell muffled the sounds of the boats being lowered. The sun setting behind us didn’t hurt either. We hadn’t practiced dropping the boats while underway but the boat captains handled this with ease.

  Cleon and Gera reported their boats deployed without a problem. After a few minutes, they reported they were gaining on the pirate ship. Capt. Malek responded to that news by ordering his helm to close in on the pirate. Argon and I were on the fo’cs’le ready to cast our area of effect stun when the pirates finally noticed us. We didn’t wait to cast the spell, hitting the stern first and sweeping the deck to the bow. One pirate, who had been climbing the rigging dropped to the deck with a loud thud. The sails began to luff, and the pirate ship slowed quickly.

  We dashed to the main deck and lined up ready to run toward the ship beside us. I ran across the deck and onto the gangplank. I boosted off with my force magic and sailed through the open space. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked. I landed harder on the other ship’s deck than I wanted to but I didn’t even need any healing. I immediately looked around. Everyone on the deck had collapsed where they were. I was using my mind-reading app to check for anyone who was awake when Argon descended slowly and gracefully beside me.

  Clearly, she could teach me a lot about levitation.

  “We have a few of the crew still awake, they weren’t on deck. They are wondering what is happening, I’ll get them, you take care of the helm,” sent Argon. “Our boats are pulling up alongside, so we’ll have help in a few minutes.”

  I ran to the stern and pulled the helmsman away from the tiller and let it float freely. The ship was slowing even more. The four sailors from the Malan who arrived on the longboats joined me a few minutes later, and I left the pirate ship in their hands. I told them if they needed grunt help to recruit a guard. I went to find Argon. She and Cleon were in the ship’s cabin questioning the captain. Gera and Erik were leading the search for the remaining crew. We wanted all of them in custody before freeing the slaves locked in the hold.

  Cleon and Argon had everything in order. Argon was mentally probing the pirate while Cleon searched the cabin for anything that might be helpful. I left them to it.

  Capt. Malek wanted to check out the captured ship and he ‘ported over with his second officer and a sailor. I figured the sailor was the equivalent of a master chief. The ship wasn’t a pigsty, but it wasn’t in the same class as the Malan.

  Gera then let everyone know all the pirates were in custody. Erik had the guards dragging them up on deck. They’d already tossed the body of the pirate that fell from the rigging into the ocean. Gera was concerned some pirates might be hiding amongst the slaves. I agreed to read the slaves as we released them. There were 20 slaves. Of those five were women. All had been mistreated. Only half would be welcome to join the Duchy. The others we would drop off on the Augun docks.

  Capt. Malek interviewed them to determine who could help his crew sail the ship. The women were sex slaves and had no sailing experience. He brought over se
veral of his own crew and sent several of the rescued slaves to the Malan. The five female ex-slaves were given the captain’s cabin on the new ship. All the pirates were dumped into the hold. Argon and I wanted to drop them overboard but Capt. Malek was more squeamish. He felt a few might have been coerced into becoming pirates. I told him that no pirate who had committed murder, rape, or slavery could be allowed to live. He agreed with that standard, so I let him lead the tribunals.

  Argon agreed not to execute the captain right away, just in case he had more information. She stunned him and dropped him in the hold with his crew.

  By the time we got back underway, the sun had set, and the sea was very dark. Capt. Malek estimated we were about two hours away from the pirate rendezvous. We dubbed our newly acquired ship Pirate One. Pirate One would remain close by but hang off the coast while the Malan sneaked into the harbor. The actual attack would depend on the situation in the pirate camp.

  Our initial approach would be to assess the situation from afar. Capt. Malek expected the four remaining ships to be moored in the harbor. From Argon’s probing of the pirate captain, she expected a number of each ship’s crew would be ashore at the tavern and brothel.

  Instead of pay and plunder, each pirate received credits for the tavern combo. The pirate fleet received their weekly credits just before Pirate One left on patrol. This was why the brothel sent five sex slaves on this voyage. It was all part of an effort to keep the pirates happy and on patrol.

  The pirate captain claimed he didn’t know who hired them. Argon suspected he had his memory modified. Since we suspected the dark sect was involved that was no real surprise. She hoped Inoa could resurrect the suppressed memories.

  Cleon had his troops rest until we got nearer the pirate base. The boat propulsion system had worked well. The only problem was it didn’t have a reverse, so they seriously overshot Pirate One when the ship slowed.