Fate of the Free Lands

by Jack Campbell

  “Ah.” Captain Hachi nodded in understanding. “And defeat is unacceptable. So the prince will strip his remaining ships of all legionaries to put maximum force against the wall and finally capture it.”

  Erin nodded as well, smiling. “And that’s when we sail in and hit them, while their crews are their weakest.”

  “Yes!” Jules said. “After we capture or drive off the Imperial ships, the legionaries ashore will be trapped, without any means of getting more food or other supplies. They’ll have to surrender. We’ll be able to avoid a fight to the death that could cost us very dearly.”

  Hachi pursed his lips as he thought, finally nodding. “It sounds easier than it will be to carry out, but that’s a plan as good as any I could have thought of. You’re to be congratulated.”

  “Thank you,” Jules said. “Sometimes you sound like a Mechanic, Hachi.”

  “There’s no call for insults.” Hachi rubbed his mouth. “Do we have enough ships to carry this off, though?”

  “I don’t know,” Jules said. “We’ve inflicted some losses on the Imperial fleet, but it depends on how much the Emperor sends.”

  “His advisors will want to hold plenty back to defend the Empire,” Kat observed.

  “I hear that his former advisors are dead,” Hachi said. “The new advisors may hesitate to contradict the Emperor’s wishes.”

  “He’s worried about the Mechanics,” Jules said. “They’ve made it clear they don’t want him to do this. The Emperor has to be scared that the Mechanics Guild will hit the Empire at home when they learn about this invasion. That might make him hold back both legions and ships.”

  “As if his legions and ships could do much against the Mechanics Guild,” Erin scoffed. “But I think he will be worried, and want the imaginary security those offer him.”

  “The Mechanics are worried about fighting the Empire,” Jules said, drawing surprised looks. “They’re sure that they’ll win, but they think the cost could be immense. That’s why they don’t want to directly confront the Empire and risk all-out war between the Empire and the Mechanics Guild. And that’s why they gave me these.”

  She brought out the extra revolvers, and then the four rifles, one by one, drawing looks of astonishment and glee from the other captains.

  “The Mechanics gave you these?” Hachi said. “That guarantees our victory, I think.”

  She had to tell them. “No,” Jules said. “They make victory possible. They give us a means to counteract the Mages.”

  Silence suddenly filled the cabin. “Mages?” Erin finally asked, her voice deathly calm in a way that spoke of emotions barely being held in check.

  “The Mechanics tell me that the Mages will assist the Imperial attack. There will be Mages with the legionaries.”

  Lars sat back, looking stunned. “Mages? How many?”

  “Limited numbers,” Jules said. “That’s what the Mechanics think.”

  “Exactly how many is limited numbers?” Lars demanded.

  “Does exactly how many matter?” Kat asked.

  “You just heard this?” Erin asked, giving Jules a hard look.

  “No,” Jules said. “The Mechanics gave me these weapons so we could deal with any Mages helping the legion attack.”

  “Jules, you had no right to withhold that from us until now!” Erin looked ready to get up and storm out of the cabin.

  “You’re right,” Jules said. “But I held off saying it until now because I know that we can stop them. I’ve faced Mages and I’ve killed them. With these rifles any common person can do the same.”

  “They have to believe they can do that,” Erin said, shaking her head. “And even I have trouble believing it. Just because you’ve taken on Mages one at a time—” “I killed three at Cape Astra. Fighting them by myself.”

  “If anyone else said that, I’d know they were lying,” Erin said. She sighed heavily, looking at the others. “We’re here, and committed to it, and that’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

  Hachi, who had either taken the news more calmly than the others, or had been much better at hiding his reaction, spoke in a pensive voice. “Captain Jules, I know you say there’s nothing special about you, no powers beyond that of other commons, but the rest of us see you as different. Other common folk think the same. We will follow if you lead us against Mages. And, if you’re there, sailors will rally about you and hold. But we have to hold the wall if we’re to win using your plan, and you can’t be on Dor’s wall and with our ships at the same time. The defenders on that wall will not hold against Mages without you there.”

  “I can be on Dor’s wall,” Ian said, startling Jules.

  She stared at him, surprised and unhappy. “That’s not—”

  “And exactly who are you in relation to Jules?” Erin asked.

  “He’s my man,” she said. “My chosen partner.”

  “If I’m on that wall,” Ian said, “and the other defenders know who I am to Jules, they’ll know she believes we can win. Maybe they’ll think she’s given me some of her own luck. I can ensure that the wall holds while Jules wins the battle at sea.”

  The others had sat up, startled. “You’ve promised yourselves?” Kat said.

  “Not yet,” Jules said, realizing that Ian had seen what had to be done. “We will. After the battle is won.” Inside, her heart hammered at her in denial of her decision to do this. She’d sacrificed the twins for the prophecy, and now it seemed she might have to sacrifice Ian as well.

  Erin shook her head in wonderment at Ian. “Do you know what you’re committing to, man? The Mages there and every legionary will bend every effort to kill the chosen man of the woman of the prophecy. There’ll be so many spells and crossbow bolts and spears and daggers flying at you that it’ll seem like a hard rain.”

  “If they come at me,” Ian said, trying to look confident, “it’ll make it easier for me to kill them with those Mechanic weapons.”

  Hachi had sat back, his eyes on Ian as if measuring him. “If Prince Ostin hears that the chosen man of the Pirate Jules is on that wall, he’ll throw everything he can at it. That’s what we want.”

  “Are we going to paint a big target on him?” Kat asked, looking appalled. “Jules, you’re willing to do this?”

  “I have to do this,” Jules said. “Just like all of the other things I’ve had to do since that Mage looked at me and spoke the prophecy.” She tried to summon the cold inside her that would give her the strength to ignore her fears, but for the first time it wouldn’t come. “Ian is right. If he’s on that wall, and the defenders know who he is to me, we’ll be able to hold because it will show how confident we are that we’ll win, and how confident I am in him.”

  “If he dies on that wall, that same confidence could vanish in an instant,” Hachi warned. “We will have that risk.”

  Erin sighed again, her mouth a tight line. “We couldn’t ask this of you, but since you’ve volunteered it I will agree to it. What if he dies, though, Jules? Who else will father the children needed to carry on the prophecy?”

  Jules braced herself, looking at them with defiance. She needed these people to fight without hesitating. “Why are you so certain that hasn’t already happened?”

  That floored them, every captain gaping at Jules.

  “This can’t leave this room,” Jules said. “But, if I fall, if Ian and I both fall, the prophecy is already assured.”

  “Blazes, you’re a sneaky one,” Kat said. “How’d you manage that with the whole world watching?”

  “Where—?” Lars began, then sat back, shamefaced. “Of course you wouldn’t tell anyone that.”

  “So,” Erin said to Ian, “have you fought Mages before? Was that part of your courtship?”

  “Not exactly,” Ian said. “The courtship, I mean. I fought Mages in Landfall, including one of their troll monsters.”

  “At Landfall. Where that Imperial ship was destroyed?”

  “Yes,” Ian said. “I was on that ship.”
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br />   “Ah, so you’re a former Imperial officer as well?” Erin said. “How’d you stop the troll?”

  “It was very hard,” Ian said. “Very strong. Crossbow bolts mostly bounced off, swords only scratched it. Fire worked, though. That’s how we ultimately killed it, by confusing it and keeping it amid the ruins of the pier as fire consumed everything.”

  “How do we make that work here?” Hachi asked himself as much as the others. His eyes opened wider as an answer came to him. “Lamp oil.”

  “Lamp oil?” Lars asked.

  Jules got it. “If the Mages send trolls against the wall, pour lamp oil on them and set it afire. There must be barrels of lamp oil in town.”

  “That would harm a troll like the one I fought,” Ian said.

  “What about a dragon?” Lars asked Jules. “Do you think it’d work on a dragon?”

  Jules rubbed her mouth as she thought, remembering the monster that had pursued her outside of Jacksport. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “The dragon that chased me moved a lot faster than the troll I encountered in Landfall. It had…scales. Like armor. They were shiny, so maybe lamp oil would just roll off them. But a wall as stout as Dor’s will stop a dragon. They seem more capable of killing people in the open and less capable of smashing than a troll does. I mean, I wouldn’t want to be in a wooden building with a dragon after me, but I think it’d have trouble getting through a wall like the one Dor has built.”

  “You’re the expert,” Lars said. “I doubt any other common has encountered a dragon and a troll and survived both.” He looked at Ian. “Although you may soon have that distinction as well.”

  “Hopefully the survival part, too,” Ian said.

  “How tall was the troll you fought?” Erin asked.

  Ian frowned as he thought. “About a lance and a half, about the height of a tall person with a child on their back. But it was about that wide as well. Massive, like a stone wall brought to life.”

  “The dragon that attacked Jules near Jacksport was, what, three lances tall?” Lars said.

  “About that,” Jules said. “But supposedly dragons come in different heights. You told me that.”

  “Right. No one knows why.”

  Ian nodded. “All right. We won’t have to worry about trolls reaching the top of the wall, but we’ll have to keep them from battering their way through the gate. Dragons we’ll just have to hope won’t be too tall. And, if they are, that these Mechanic rifles can harm them.”

  “We have a lot of cartridges for the weapons,” Jules said, wanting to keep the conversation centered on their ability to defeat Mages. “Ten each for the rifles, so forty total. And fifty-eight total for the four revolvers.”

  “Almost a hundred?” Erin asked in astonishment.

  “The Mechanics really do want us to win,” Hachi said. “You know, if you happened to misplace a few of those cartridges during the fight, I could probably get an emperor’s ransom for them on the black market.”

  “I’d rather save them all for killing Mages and legionaries,” Jules said. She tapped one of the rifles. “These can hit a target a lot farther off than the revolvers can. I wouldn’t be surprised if they can hit something at a longer range than crossbows manage.”

  “How do we find out?” Erin said.

  Jules sighed. “The only way is to shoot one, and if we don’t want to waste any cartridges, that means waiting until we have someone we want to kill to try it out on.”

  Kat scratched the side of her face. “I can think of a few people I dislike fairly intensely. How about trying it on one of them?”

  “You see why we only trust you in command,” Erin told Jules. “If these rifles are like crossbows, then we should find the best crossbow shooters we have and let them use the weapons, I think.”

  “Good idea,” Jules said. “I was going to send three of the rifles and two of the revolvers with Ian.” No, she wasn’t. She’d planned on sending those weapons to Dor, not to Ian standing on the wall facing an Imperial horde fixed on killing him. “The defenders on the wall are more likely to face Mages and their monsters, and the hardest push by the legionaries.”

  “That seems wise,” Lars said. “Strange. Part of me just thought that doesn’t leave much for us on the ships, but it leaves one rifle and two of the Mechanic revolvers, which is a mightier arsenal than any commons have ever wielded before.”

  “Aye,” Erin said. “Lars, Kat, you two have the sloops, so one of your ships will have to take sentry duty as Jules said.”

  “When do we want to start that?” Lars asked.

  “I’d say as soon as we can get one of you out there.”

  “Erin’s right,” Jules said. “Can one of you get resupplied and back out to sea? We should wait for dawn tomorrow, I think. We don’t want the Imperial fleet surrounding you in the night.”

  “I’ll take out Second Chance,” Kat said. “We’ll clear the harbor as the sun rises.”

  “If the Imperials don’t show up for a few more days, we’ll have Storm Queen take over sentry duty,” Jules said. “All right, Lars?”

  “Of course,” Lars said. He stood up, looking at the others, a small smile on his face. “Only a few years ago no one would’ve dreamed of doing what we’re about to try. I don’t know how many of us will survive, but I’m glad we can now dream together of greater things.”

  “Aye!” Erin said, grinning. “Have you got any rum, Jules? This is mighty poor hospitality, if you ask me.”

  She didn’t have enough glasses, so Jules got out a bottle and took a slug from the neck before passing it to Ian. He took a drink, passing it to Erin, and so on around the group. “To victory!” Jules cried.

  * * *

  More ships came in the next morning, their crews swelled by volunteers ready to fight. Fair Dani, Gallant Mike, Bright Star, Moon Chaser, and Sky Dancer. Not the top of the line ships owned by wealthy merchants or princes or princesses in the Empire, but the ships that had gotten by on the wits and the labors of their crews and their captains. The ships that had eagerly fed the flow of people to the west and already traded between the new settlements. Having tasted the opportunities rising in the west, they were ready to fight to keep them.

  Kelsi’s Pride arrived about noon, the first ship built in the town increasingly known only as Kelsi.

  Another sloop showed up, the Western Pride, which had been taken at Western Port when that Imperial settlement was captured. Her captain, an older man named Rik, seemed to be as hard as a piece of salt pork and nearly as grizzled. “I’ve been waiting for the chance to bop the Emperor on the nose ever since I was a kid,” he told Jules. “I won’t miss the chance to do it, even if it’s my last fight.”

  And with every new ship that showed up, the spirits of the defenders rose higher. It felt less and less like a desperate struggle of isolated refugees and more and more like the joining of hands in a common fight.

  Late that afternoon the Bright Morning showed up, her new captain offering Jules a rigid salute. “Captain Ross of the Bright Morning,” he introduced himself.

  “I didn’t think the Bright Morning would come,” Jules said.

  “If Tora had still been in command we probably wouldn’t have. But we hear there’s a fight to be had, and we don’t want to miss it.”

  “It might be as early as tomorrow. Get your ship ready.”

  Late in the afternoon she walked ashore with Ian, through the rush of preparations as the defenders of Dor’s Castle hauled everything they could to the other side of the wall. By the time Jules reached the wall, the sun had dipped below the western bank of cliffs penning in the river valley that Dor’s Castle occupied. She went up onto one of the stone battlements beside the main gate, looking down at the defenders who came to see her. The pungent odor of lamp oil rose from barrels placed on the platform inside the wall where the defenders would stand. Torches were lit along the wall, giving her light as the day faded, and Ian came to stand by her.

  “This is my chosen man!�
�� Jules cried, grasping Ian’s hand in her own and raising them together. “He will be on this wall with you when the legionaries come! He is a sign of my trust in your bravery and your commitment to keep our lands free!”

  That brought an enthusiastic response that Jules had to let die down before she could speak again. “You may face Mages!” she cried. “And their monsters!” A ripple of fear ran through the crowd watching and listening to her, so she went on quickly before it could take root and grow bigger. “I’ve fought Mages, face to face, and their monsters, and I stand here before you. And those of you defending this wall will have weapons such as I have not had before!”

  Ian handed her a rifle and she held it high, the light of the torches reflecting off the metal of the weapon. “Mechanic weapons!” Jules shouted. “Three of these rifles! And two of their revolvers! Mages and legionaries cannot stand against them! If your hearts stay strong, you can hold this wall while I lead our ships to defeat the Imperial fleet! Will you do it? Will you stand firm so that these lands remain free of the Empire’s heavy hand?”

  Another eruption of shouts, merging into a mass of sound in which one word dominated. “YES!”

  Jules turned to Dor. “Let’s hope they stay firm when the legionaries come.”

  “We’re fighting for our homes,” Dor said. “I didn’t think you could do it, didn’t think so many would come. Thank you.”

  “Thank that prophecy. At least it helped one good thing happen in this world.” Jules clapped Dor on the shoulder. “I’ll see you after the battle is won.”

  “Yes. Remember your promise for my daughters.”

  “I will. And I’d like you to do something for me.” Jules handed him a thick envelope. “I wrote down some ideas. Ways for the free settlements to get along and support each other. If I’m not able to meet with representatives of everyone who came to help here, please discuss my ideas with them. They’re not meant to be take it or leave it. Just things to think about.”

  “You have my promise,” Dor said, taking the envelope.