by Simon Archer
The Hullbreaker picked up speed. She was as eager as the crew to take the fight to our ally-turned-enemy. Nature itself seemed to be on our side, as the wind picked up, blowing from the perfect angle to fill The Hullbreaker’s sails and send her dancing over the building waves.
Much to my disappointment, Mary remained below-decks, working her magic, I suspected. Unless her hexes required her to be out in the air, she’d likely stay out of the crew’s way. As fond as I had grown of the witch in the short time I’d known her, I’d prefer her working magic to keeping me company, at least when battle was about to be joined.
I adjusted our course a bit, turning The Hullbreaker’s prow a bit more out to sea so we could sweep around the last jut of Old Man’s Isle before we’d be in sight of the harbor and of the Commodore’s ships. Whether Ligeia did her part or not, we’d have at least some advantage of surprise, and if the Admiralty ships were following standard procedure, three of them would be riding at anchor while the other two patrolled.
If a fog were present, I’d hopefully be able to pick out the closest ships for our assault.
My thoughts kept me company as I stared ahead, holding our course through the night. Kargad and the watch officer emerged from below decks and began passing out clumps of soft wax to the men. Everyone set to plugging their ears. We’d be running silent and using hand signs, which meant that one seaman at each station would watch me and relay.
I nodded my approval, and when it was my turn, I took my wax, rolled it into earplugs, and squished it into my pointed ears. Silence enclosed me, and I flashed Kargad a grin. He tapped his nose with a thick finger and took his usual place beside me.
When we finally rounded the point, the harbor’s entrance lay before us. Three ships rode at anchor near the mouth of the sheltered cove, and two more sailed free. One was close to us, between The Hullbreaker and the rest of the fleet, while the second was on the far side but was making its way back towards the rest.
The furthest ship I recognized. It was The Indomitable, Commodore Arde’s massive frigate-built galleon, an enormous ship second only to the massive custom-built ship commanded by Admiral Layne, a floating fortress called The Pale Horse.
As we plunged on, the Commodore’s ship suddenly rose in the water and rolled, floundering on something massive. A few dark shapes fell from the rigging and deck into the water below, and a great head raised up from the churning sea to let out a near-silent bellow that sent a rolling fog among the anchored ships.
Of course, the ship before us was too close to be caught in either the Dragon Turtle’s breath and possibly even the siren’s song, if she meant to catch the other four with her magic.
That was fine by me. There was a reason my fine ship carried the moniker Hullbreaker. She had a reinforced keel and ribbing, and her prow was heavily reinforced. Below the waterline, though, was a spiked knife-edge of steel over wood that was meant to tear holes in enemy ships when she rammed them. Not a few vessels had been left in her wake either broken in two or sinking with a great tear in their hulls beneath the waterlines.
As we bore down on the hapless Admiralty ship before us, my crew all readied their weapons. The first blow was about to be struck in our fight against the Empire.
14
With a grind and shriek of timbers that I heard even through my earplugs and a thunderous crash, The Hullbreaker slammed into the Admiralty ship’s port side and sent her yawing and foundering, still attached to my ship’s prow for the moment. The perfect strike took our enemy about amidships and nearly capsized her.
Some of my men opened fire into the confusion aboard the ship as my oarsmen backed water, and others furled our sails. We wouldn’t need them for the next part of the plan.
True to her word, Ligeia and Tiny had created a bank of fog that consumed the three ships at anchor. Commodore Arde’s ship was listing badly and, for the moment, out of the fight, too. Tiny’s surprise attack from below had likely caved in at least a portion of The Indomitable’s hull.
We slid past out sinking victim, and I saw her men just milling about, confused. One or two collapsed, and that’s when I suddenly felt, rather than heard, evidence of the siren’s song. Even blocked by the earplugs, it carried a kind of hypnotic force, and a wave of lethargy washed over me for a moment before I shook it off.
Moments later, The Hullbreaker slid into the fog bank. Unlike Mary’s summoned fog, this was warm and cloying, with a slightly oily feel that smelled of rotten meat and fish.
Kargad spared me a look from where he was signing to the deck watch. I just nodded and grinned. Our enemy would be sick, blind, and asleep. The fight would hardly have been fair on a clear day, but I wasn’t about to give up the idea of stacking advantages. Pirates and orcs both liked to win, and I was an orc pirate. Winning was everything, by hook or by crook, and I meant to make the Admiralty pay.
With my uncanny sense of direction and distance, I steered us towards the nearer of the ships that rode at anchor. The white mist that surrounded gave the world a ghostly quality, and the silence imposed by the wax in my ears only added to the surrealness, as if we were sailing amongst the clouds.
The Admiralty ship, a three-masted barque, loomed suddenly ahead, and I spun the ship’s wheel with one hand and gave the ‘all-stop’ signal with the other. It wasn’t as fast as bellowing orders, but it worked, and we’d secured the element of surprise on many an occasion.
The ships came to together with a low, shuddering scrap that caused us all to stagger. My crew quickly recovered before tossing grappling hooks and swarming over the rail to disappear in the mist. It wouldn’t be much work to toss the sleeping crew overboard and capture or kill any who weren’t affected by Ligeia’s song. I could still feel the magic of it vibrating through my bones.
I strained my ears to listen for any indication of trouble, but only the occasional muffled shout or splash reached me. The siren had put the whole crew to sleep, it seemed, and they were easy pickings.
After a few long minutes passed, Dogar vaulted back aboard and signed up to me that the ship was ours. I nodded, tapped Kargad’s shoulder, and pointed. While I hated to give him up as first mate, the loyal bastard had earned his own command, and we’d fill out a crew for him as soon as we could.
It took him a moment, but a wide grin split his face, and he snapped straight and saluted me before taking off down the stairs from the aft castle and over onto our new ship. This would leave me with the dilemma of who to choose for the first mate of The Hullbreaker, but I had a bit of time for that decision.
A few more minutes passed, and the boarding party began to cast off the grapples, tossing them back to the waiting crew on my ship’s deck. I scanned the fog. Was it getting thinner already? We’d been at this no more than half a bell, and I hoped we’d have more time.
As I spun the ship’s wheel one-handed and signed the all-ahead to relay crew, a spray of water burst over the port rail and Ligeia landed in a crouch on the deck. Her eyes fixed on me, and she reached up and tapped her ears as she stood and strode forward, water sluicing from her naked form. I had removed my earplugs by the time she reached the aft castle.
“No more song?” I asked with an arched eyebrow.
The siren shook her head. “Tiny and I disabled the largest ship and another one riding at anchor,” she purred, pleased with herself. “The last we pushed into the harbor.”
Cannonfire began to echo through the thinning fog. The mighty roar of shore-based guns sounded like thunder. I grinned. That was a clever plan and would give the folks of Jetsam some satisfaction.
“We’ve captured one ship, sunk another. Looks like we’ve won the day.” Of course, I’d done little more than plan the attack and steer the ship, while I had really wanted to dive into the fight. Such was the peril of being captain, though... but I had a feeling in my gut that my time would come, and probably sooner than anyone expected.
The fog began to clear more quickly, and the sky grew light as dawn approached. I str
aightened and gazed out curiously, trying to see through the obscuring mist through sheer force of will. Oddly enough, with the siren beside me, I felt a strange contentment. Ligeia and Mary both attracted me more than any woman I’d yet met, and they seemed fond of me as well.
Although in the siren’s case, perhaps I just made her hungry.
More cannon fire rang out, from the harbor, and from the direction of Arde’s ship. What was he firing at? I looked questioningly at Ligeia, who returned a close-lipped smile.
“Tiny is still teasing them, I think,” she mused. “They would sink but for their witches’ magic and flee from us, now.”
The Commodore wouldn’t give up easily, but he was smart enough to retreat rather than sink with his ship. I’d have to deal with him, but unfortunately, it wouldn’t be today.
“Ahoy, Hullbreaker!” Kargad bellowed through the fog.
“Ahoy, Kargad!” I yelled back with a laugh. “Fog’s lifting so we can see what sort of prize ye managed to land us!”
“She ain’t The Hullbreaker, but she’s got cannon’s an’ she floats!” my mate’s voice drifted back through the fog. “Think we’ll call her Sirensong for now, in honor of our new ally!”
I glanced sidelong at Ligeia. Her eyes were wide, and there was a bright smile on her face as she blushed.
“Good name!” I roared back, and she snapped her head around to gaze at me.
“I am pleased, Captain,” the siren said quietly.
Off in the distance, Tiny let out a bellow that was answered by a smattering of cannon and small arms fire. So The Indomitable still had a bit of fight left in her. I growled softly to myself. While I wanted to pursue and sink the damned Commodore, we really needed to wrap things up in Jetsam, supply the second ship, and take on a few more crew. It would be stupid to overextend ourselves chasing the Commodore, only for the Admiral to sweep in and cut off our heads.
“Thank ye, Ligeia,” I said. “Soon as we take care o’ business here in Jetsam, we’ll set about findin’ yer comb.”
She nodded. “I trust your word, Captain.”
Around us, the fog continued to clear, and eventually, Mary and Nagra joined the siren and me on the aft castle deck.
“I suppose ye won,” I said to the witch. She looked drained, her hair lank and her eyes hollow, but there was a faint hint of satisfaction on her face.
“Aye, my Captain,” she murmured. “Though ‘twas as much Tiny’s doing as mine. He forced yon witches to choose between their storm or keeping their ships afloat and their lives intact. That allowed me and my apprentice to work an unweaving.” With that, Mary leaned heavily against my side, a bit of a surprising gesture for me.
Still, I simply shrugged and put an arm around her shoulders. She seemed even more tiny and frail than before, and a desire to protect the little witch surged in my chest. For a moment, all of my attention was on her as she nestled in against me, and when I raised my head, both Nagra and Ligeia were studying me.
“What?” I growled.
Kargad’s daughter quickly turned her eyes away with a muttered invective. Clearly, she hadn’t expected me to notice. Ligeia, though, met my eyes with her own.
“You are a complex man, Captain Bardak,” the siren observed. “I think that I look forward to knowing you.”
There was a weight behind her words that caught me by surprise along with the faint, knowing smile she gave me.
“Ye’ll have the time, lass,” was what I said in return.
She nodded and smiled again. “Aye. I will return to Tiny and see what I can learn. The fog will be gone by the full break of dawn, and I have no desire to walk the town. When you leave the harbor, we will rejoin you.”
I nodded, most of my attention on the witch that pressed against my side. “As ye will, lass. I doubt we’ll be long.”
Ligeia looked me in the eyes for a long moment, then turned, padded to the starboard rail and leaped over it, vanishing into the dark water with nary a splash. My hands itched. I rather missed being just a crew-orc sometimes, but there were rewards to being Captain.
Hullbreaker, Sirensong. What would be the next ship in our fleet? Hells, who was the pirate responsible for the theft of Ligeia’s comb, and how had they managed to do that?
I brooded over these questions as dawn came. The sun burned off the rest of the fog and revealed the spectacle of our victory at last. Kargad’s new ship rode the waves at anchor about ten yards to The Hullbreaker’s port. She was a smaller ship, a schooner by the looks of her.
The former crew of the Admiralty ship was trussed up on deck, and there looked to be surprisingly little bloodshed. Kargad himself saw me looking and waved cheerfully.
“What do we do with these, Captain?” he called.
“Ransom if ye want, Captain!” I yelled back with a grin. He had a ship, so by damn, he was a captain now.
I think it finally hit my first mate that he’d been promoted as his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped, but he recovered quickly enough “Raise anchor and sail on into port!” he bellowed to his crew before nodding to me. “We’ll be right behind ye!”
The ship we’d rammed wasn’t quite on the bottom, yet, and a few survivors clung to the listing, broken timbers. Beyond them, though, rode the ridged back of the Dragon Turtle, just barely breaking the water. Ligeia and Tiny were coming to claim their due. On some level, it bothered me a little now that I was seeing proof of my deal with the siren and her ally. No sailor relished the idea of being trapped on a sinking hulk while a sea monster bore down on them. Even orc pirates could have a bit of sympathy.
A word given, though, was bond, and a death at sea was all most sailors risked. They were the enemy, and there was little difference between dying under the teeth and claws of our ally or being cleaved from skull to navel by my axe. This was war, and I could ill afford to ignore that.
I glanced down at Mary. Her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be sleeping on her feet.
“Nagra?” I said quietly.
The young apprentice witch looked up at me. “Aye, sir?”
“Go find Shrike and tell him to get his arse up to the helm.”
She nodded vigorously, saluted me, and bounded off. Mary muttered something unintelligible, and I just shook my head. Silly witch. I smiled fondly as I looked down at her. She wanted to please me and exhausted herself doing it. It was a bit endearing, really. The woman was as eager to please as any apprentice sailor I’d ever known.
Shrike was quick once Nagra found him, and reported for duty with a salute and a smartly spoken, “Aye Captain? Ye called for me.” From the time I gave the order to find him to his appearance at my side was less than ten minutes, not bad, considering.
“I did, Mister Shrike,” I gazed thoughtfully down at the thin, muscular human. “Ye said ye were Bill’s first mate, aye?”
“Aye, sir,” he replied. “Three years on The Fallen Angel.”
“Good. My old first mate just got promoted, an’ he took the most promising o’ my crew with him. Since ye’ve the experience, ye get the job.” I reached out and clapped him on the shoulder. “Sail us into port, first mate Shrike.”
“What about Jimmy, Captain?” he protested. “He’s been with ye longer, an’ the men know him.”
“Are ye questioning me orders?” I demanded with a growl.
He backed down immediately. “No, Captain!” The man lifted his chin. “Thank ye, Captain!”
“Good,” I grunted. “I’m goin’ below. Nagra, spread the word that Shrike’ll be actin’ first mate now that yer da is captain of his own ship. If anyone gives ye lip, send ‘em to me.”
“Aye, Captain!” The young orc woman nodded and saluted again.
I needed to remember to get her to stop doing that. Respect was good, but the constantly repeated salutes just irritated me. Sure, I was the one that insisted on them, but not nearly so damn frequently.
With that, I scooped the witch up in my arms and stomped down the stairs and into the aft castle cabins
. Instead of taking Mary to her own, though, I walked through the dark, narrow hall to the door at the end and maneuvered it open before taking my witch into my own cabin.
Of course, it was the largest on the ship, with a large, multi-paned window making up most of one wall. Off to the port was the pile of furs, pillows, and blankets that made up my bed, while the walls were decorated with even more trophies. Here were things of a more personal nature to me: old weapons from the time before I became captain, a few broken skulls hanging in a net from one of the ceiling crossbeams, my small collection of books and paintings, and no few nautical touches. I had cloth hangings, nets and floaters, and a rack of usable weapons as well.
I set Mary down gently in my bed before I went to the battered desk that rested in front of the cabin window. We’d certainly won our first engagement and with barely any shots fired.
It was almost disappointing, but at the same time, I felt a touch of pride. It was no mean feat to pull off such a strategic victory, and with so little of a cost of blood and plunder.
The Hullbreaker lurched and yawed a bit as she got underway, starting a slow turn to head into the Jetsam harbor. I glanced off towards where the helm was and wondered about my new first mate. Was Shrike a good choice? Only time would tell. Until then, I’d keep him close, and give him plenty of rope to either pull himself up or hang himself.
Commodore Arde was still out there, and Admiral Layne was coming. If there would be any better test of my new mate than the fires of the battles yet to come, I couldn’t think of one.
15
Ligeia
The water was cold around me, dark, and full of sound. I paused and took a deep breath to get my gills started, feeling the familiar chill heaviness in my chest. Above, the orcish captain’s ship dropped oars and began to move, turning ponderously towards the shallow harbor of Jetsam.