Fate of the Free Lands

by Jack Campbell

  “I take it the Storm Rider wasn’t in port,” Jules said.

  “Nah,” Erin said. “We came in the day after they left.”

  “What are they thinking?” Jules said. “The Mechanics have made it clear that they won’t accept the Empire expanding control to the west. They don’t want the Emperor gaining any more power.”

  “I don’t see any Mechanics about,” Erin said.

  Jules frowned, remembering something. “There were two of the Mechanic ships in Landfall. And the Mechanics we saw seemed to be…tense. Arguing. Maybe the Mechanics are engaged in some kind of debate that has their attention, and the Empire picked up on that and decided to make a move.”

  Dor sighed. “So there’s no hope for us there. At least no Mages have wandered by since your last visit.”

  “What were you planning?” Jules asked him.

  “That’s the question.” He looked toward one wall of the room as if seeing beyond it. “We’re not ready to fight. Not if legionaries show up.”

  “You said it was just one sloop.”

  “Yes, but…”

  Erin turned a speculative look on Jules. “Not a lot of people have fought the Empire. The idea scares them. Before I showed up, everyone here was getting ready to cave. What’re you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking we should kick that sloop in the teeth,” Jules said. “Tell the Emperor’s servants they’re not welcome here, and they’d better not come back.”

  “The wall isn’t done,” Dor insisted.

  “The wall won’t do you any good if you’re not ready to fight,” Jules said. “Erin and I have beaten legionaries. We captured Western Port.”

  “You had two of those Mechanic weapons,” Dor said. “What do you have now? One pirate ship.”

  “And the Prosper,” Jules said. “She’s a merchant ship with a regular crew, but there are…extra people aboard.” She felt embarrassed to say any more.

  But Erin pressed her. “Extra people?”

  “My, um, guards,” Jules said, taking a drink to cover her discomfort at discussing it. “Eleven.”

  “Guards?”

  “They have leather armor, and short swords.”

  “Do tell.” Erin raised her eyebrows.

  “They’re from the Evening Star,” Jules said. “The ship was captured by the Imperials and most of the crew killed. Ten were captured and were being taken to Marandur.”

  Erin took another drink. “And, what, you just decided to pick them up and bring them along when you escaped the Emperor’s hospitality?” She paused. “You said eleven, and then ten.”

  “The eleventh was one of the prisoner guards. He, um, chose our side. The point is,” Jules said, trying to change the subject a bit, “we have eleven extra swords. And there are probably other people in this town ready and able to fight. We bring them aboard Prosper as well. That gives us two ships able to fight if that sloop tries to force its way into the harbor.”

  “Can’t a sloop outsail either the Prosper or the Storm Rider?” Dor asked.

  Erin nodded, adding, “But that won’t matter if the sloop tries to enter the harbor. He’ll have to stick to the channel, so he couldn’t dodge us when we tried to close. He’ll know that, and see the odds against him.”

  Dor rested his chin on one hand, thinking. “Is this my castle or isn’t it?” he finally said.

  “Does that mean we’re going to meet that sloop and tell him to gaff off?” Erin said.

  “I can’t demand it of you, but I ask that you use your ships to defend Dor’s Castle,” he said.

  “I’m getting used to being free,” Erin said. “I’m willing to fight for it.”

  “Me, too,” Jules said. “Dor, find us some volunteers, and some weapons for them to use.”

  “We’ve got a lot of crossbows for hunting,” Dor said.

  “Good. Let’s start defending what we’re building out here.”

  * * *

  It seemed very unlikely the Imperial sloop would try entering the harbor at night, but just in case a lookout was posted on the edge of the harbor along with the materials to start a warning fire if needed.

  But the sun rose with no sign of Imperial sail on the horizon. It wasn’t until Jules was finishing breakfast on the Prosper with Captain Aravind when First Officer Daki stuck his head into the captain’s cabin. “The lookout is flashing signals.”

  Going out on deck, Jules shaded her eyes to see the bright flashes on the edge of the harbor where the lookout was using a mirror to reflect the light of the rising sun. “Looks like we didn’t have to wait long.”

  Captain Aravind nodded. “Take good care of my ship, please.”

  “You’ll be aboard, won’t you?” Jules asked, looking at him in surprise.

  “Yes. But in a fight, you’ll be giving the orders. I’ll help with the helm.”

  “Thank you, Captain Aravind. Artem! Get the volunteers! We need them aboard.” She called across the pier. “Ahoy the Storm Rider! We’ll be ready to sail when we get our extra fighters aboard.”

  “We’ll be taking in lines pretty quick,” Captain Erin yelled back. “See you just outside the harbor!”

  Jules waited impatiently for Artem to return with the group of volunteers from Dor’s town, or Dor’s Castle as he now called it. Over thirty had stepped forward when asked, twenty of them hunters with crossbows, the others armed with an assortment of swords and axes. They’d slept ashore due to lack of space on the Prosper, but came jogging down the pier in Artem’s wake without any signs of misgiving or second thoughts.

  Jules watched them come, hoping all of them would make it safely back home.

  The Storm Rider got underway, her sails filling with a brisk morning breeze, as the volunteers were boarding the Prosper. By the time Captain Aravind ordered the last lines let go and the Prosper also swung away from the pier, the Storm Rider was halfway across the harbor.

  “The ship is yours, Captain Jules,” Aravind said.

  “Thank you,” Jules said. “If we’re lucky, the Imperials are trying a bluff and will shear off when they see we’re willing to fight.”

  “Sloop in sight just off the port bow!” the lookout in the maintop shouted. “He’s standing in toward us!”

  Prosper came out of the harbor with nearly every sail set, her bow bursting through a swell with a spray of white foam, momentary rainbows appearing in the mist before it blew away in the wind. Storm Rider was already sailing east along the coast, so Jules brought Prosper over to head east as well, trimming sail when they got close to Storm Rider. “We want to make it obvious to that sloop that we’re sailing together,” she said to Aravind.

  By now the sloop’s sails were in sight from the quarterdeck. Jules walked to the front rail, calling to the volunteers. “Arm yourselves! He’s still coming in toward the harbor.”

  “Your guards are ready, Captain!” Artem cried. He, Mad, Nico, and the other eight guards were already in their leather armor, swords at their sides. Jules had to admit they looked impressive on the deck of the Prosper.

  “Storm Rider is coming about,” Daki called.

  “Bring us about, matching course with Storm Rider,” Jules ordered.

  The helm spun, Prosper swinging to port as Storm Rider sailed past on that side, sailors hastening to shift the sails to catch the wind on the new tack.

  Captain Erin had timed her maneuver well. The sloop’s hull appeared over the horizon as the Prosper and the Storm Rider sailed back toward the entrance to the harbor. If all three ships held to their current courses and speeds, they’d meet up in the tight waters at the harbor entrance, where the sloop’s superior ability to turn would be of no use.

  The sloop didn’t seem to be impressed, continuing on steadily. He was well off the starboard bow of both the Prosper and the Storm Rider, growing in size as the distance between the three ships increased, but holding the same relative position. “If he has any bearing drift at all,” Captain Aravind said, “it’s very small. It looks like he’l
l collide with us if no one changes course.”

  “It looks like that,” Jules agreed. “On deck! Line the starboard rail and wave your weapons where those servants of the Emperor can see! Let them know what they’re going to face if they keep on!”

  Forward of Prosper, Jules saw Storm Rider doing the same, the pirates aboard her lined up along the starboard rail brandishing cutlasses. Some of the crew were up in the rigging though. “Storm Rider’s taking in some sail,” Jules said. “Captain Erin’s going to reduce speed enough for the gap between our two ships to lessen.”

  “Could the sloop have been thinking of trying to slip between our bow and Storm Rider’s stern?” Aravind asked.

  “Possibly,” Jules said.

  “He’s not fast enough. If he keeps on, we’ll collide.”

  “Stand by!” Jules shouted to the crew on deck. “Ready your weapons!”

  A line of swords stood ready at the rail, behind them a line of crossbows that had been tensioned and loaded with bolts.

  It felt a little odd to be going into a fight without a revolver. Jules didn’t feel happy about that. She shouldn’t have become dependent on having a Mechanic weapon to feel confident.

  Aravind didn’t seem confident at all. “If he doesn’t turn soon-“

  Just then Jules saw the helm on the Imperial sloop of war being spun, the sloop’s bowsprit swinging to starboard.

  The sloop steadied out on a course matching that of the Storm Rider and the Prosper, only about twenty lances away, close enough for Jules to make out details on the Imperial ship. The dark red uniforms of the officers, the armor of the legionaries aboard, the ballista mounted amidships, loaded and pointed to port, toward the Prosper, the ballista crew standing ready at their stations.

  The captain of the sloop was a tall, thin man who yelled across the gap between the sloop and the other two ships in a surprisingly robust voice. “You are hindering the work of the Emperor’s servants. Both of your ships are to proceed into port, tie up, and await inspection.”

  Captain Erin called a reply. “Say again all after you are.”

  “You are hindering the work of the Emperor’s servants! Both of your ships are to proceed into port, tie up, and await inspection!”

  “No, still didn’t get it,” Erin cried. “Your ship is not authorized to enter this port. Stand off and leave the waters of the independent town of Dor’s Castle.”

  Jules saw the captain conferring with his officers, doubtless trying to find out what “independent” meant. She wouldn’t have known, wouldn’t have been able to tell pirates like Erin about the word, if the Mechanics hadn’t told her. Before now, there hadn’t been any need for the word “independent” on the world of Dematr.

  But that would never be true again.

  “Why aren’t you also warning him off?” Aravind asked Jules.

  “Because if he knows I’m here he might attack immediately to try to get me,” Jules said. “We want him to go away.”

  “This is your final warning!” the captain of the Imperial sloop shouted. “If you do not follow my orders I will take your ships and hang the captains of both for treason against the Emperor.”

  “He doesn’t really think we’ll fight, does he?” Captain Aravind said.

  Erin must have decided the same thing. “We freed the town of Western Port from Imperial rule, defeating the legionaries in the garrison. We’ll defeat you as well if we must. Break off and go back to Imperial waters!”

  “All waters are Imperial waters!” the sloop’s captain cried.

  Jules saw orders being called on the sloop, and the ballista being swung to target the Storm Rider. “It’s a fight they want,” she said. “Helm! Come hard to starboard! On deck! Ready your weapons!”

  Chapter Six

  The Prosper yawed to starboard, suddenly closing the distance to the sloop.

  The sloop, wanting to avoid coming to grips with either of the two ships, had to also swing hard to starboard, turning more quickly than the fairly ponderous Prosper could. The quick turn threw off the aim of the ballista, the crew of the weapon trying to pivot it around to bear on the Storm Rider.

  Knowing her chance at coming alongside the sloop was gone, Jules kept the Prosper turning all the way around and onto a new tack angling southwest. The maneuver cost a lot of speed, but left the sloop charging north, opening the distance beyond effective range of the ballista.

  Erin had adjusted the course of the Storm Rider only slightly, angling a little north of west.

  “Where’s she going?” Aravind asked Jules.

  “She’s getting into position upwind of us,” Jules said. “If the sloop comes after us, Storm Rider can come after them. If the sloop comes after Storm Rider, we can try to close on the sloop again.”

  The sloop, realizing that neither of the slower ships would be fooled into chasing it, came about again, heading for Storm Rider.

  Storm Rider tacked, swinging to pass south of Prosper.

  Jules brought Prosper a little closer to the wind, losing some speed but angling to get north of the sloop as it pursued Storm Rider.

  The morning wore on that way, the sloop making repeated attempts to close on one of the other ships, usually the Storm Rider, only to be frustrated by the remaining ship positioning to put the sloop in peril. Neither Storm Rider nor Prosper could catch the sloop, but the sloop couldn’t engage either of them without risking the other trapping it in a dangerous position. Occasionally the sloop’s ballista tried a shot, but without any hits, though Storm Rider did get a hole through one of her foresails.

  “The crew’s getting tired,” Aravind warned Jules. “We’ve been shifting tacks fairly often all morning. They’re willing, but if they keep on at this pace they’ll start making mistakes.”

  Jules nodded, her eyes staying on the sloop. “I noticed they’re beginning to drag a bit. I can’t blame them. The crew on that sloop should be getting worn out, too, but I’m not seeing it yet.”

  “They’ve got some legionaries aboard to help haul on the braces.”

  “Yes, but he can’t afford to wear out the legionaries. Right now we’re in a battle of endurance. Sooner or later he’s going to have to haul off, or he’s going to make a mistake.”

  As it turned out, neither happened. As the three ships danced around each other and the sun rose toward noon, the wind dropped, turning the dance into a crawl as the speed of every ship fell toward bare steerageway.

  That allowed Jules to rest her crew, because it took much longer between maneuvers. But it also increased the danger, because the sloop could move faster with the light wind than the other two ships.

  The crew and the armed fighters on deck ate a lunch of bread, cheese, and watered wine as they stood watching the sloop glide toward Storm Rider once more. By the time Jules could tack again, they’d finished eating and were ready to keep going.

  The day might have ended that way if not for a sudden call from the lookout. “Sail in sight off the starboard quarter!”

  “Someone coming from the northeast,” Aravind said, gazing that way. “Another Imperial ship of war?”

  “Let’s hope not,” Jules said. “If it is, we’ll head into harbor along with Storm Rider and make them come in after us.”

  But as the other ship drew closer it became obvious it wasn’t a war galley or a sloop of war. Three-masted, it was similar to the Storm Rider and the Prosper. While continuing to maneuver around the sloop, Jules had the lookout keep track of the new arrival as it drew closer. If he was a merchant ship bound for Dor’s, he’d veer off once he realized there was a confrontation going outside the harbor. There wouldn’t be any profit in getting involved in a fight. But if he was another pirate…

  “He’s tacking to stay north of us,” Aravind told Jules. “Either he’s going to stay out of the fight up there, or he’s positioning to run down on us.”

  “Can we tell who he is yet?” Jules asked, her eyes staying on the distant shape of the sloop’s captain to provide
some warning of when he began to shout another order.

  “No. Definitely not an Imperial warship, though.”

  “Why hasn’t the sloop done anything?” Jules wondered. “He keeps trying to trap one of us. He should be worried about that third ship.”

  “Should he?” Aravind said. “How many times have Imperial warships been attacked by pirates?”

  “We captured the Storm Queen,” Jules said. “And the sloop at Western Port. That’s it. Otherwise we’ve just defended ourselves. You’re thinking that sloop captain is overconfident, right? He’s encountered two ships willing to defy Imperial authority. He can’t conceive of running into a third, even though he’s this far west of the Empire.”

  As the middle of the afternoon approached, Jules could see the sails of the third ship to the north. She saw them swing about, and the ship begin sailing toward the three combatants on a swift beam reach.

  “He’s coming in!” the lookout called. “I can see crew in his decks! He’s got too many for a merchant ship.”

  “Another pirate,” Jules said, grinning.

  As the third ship came in, Jules tacked Prosper to block the sloop from running toward the east, while Erin bore down with Storm Rider, turning away from the wind and gaining speed as the sloop made another attempt to close on her.

  The sloop finally realized his peril, coming around to try to sprint north past the third ship. But that ship swung across the path of the sloop, forcing it to turn back east, where Jules had Prosper coming in. “All on deck to the port bow!” Jules shouted. “Use the grapnels!”

  The spang of the sloop’s ballista shooting sounded just before the port bow of the Prosper rammed into the starboard bow of the sloop. The projectile tore through the air past Prosper’s quarterdeck as metal grapnels were thrown to lock Prosper and the sloop together.

  Legionaries on the sloop ran forward, hacking at the lines holding the grapnels. The men and women wielding crossbows on the Prosper began shooting, applying the skills learned in hunting deer to hitting Imperial soldiers. Jules saw officers on the sloop gathering crew and legionaries for a charge at the Prosper, which she knew her defenders would have a hard time stopping.