“There’s about twenty left facing us,” Erin said, joining them.
“That’s better,” Jules said. “It’ll still be tough.”
She felt a surge of relief as Shin’s voice sounded nearby.
“Get into a line!” Shin shouted, gesturing with his sword. Under his direction, the pirates formed into a ragged line facing the now sharp, rigid line of legionaries.
For a moment, motion paused as the Imperial line faced the mob of pirates.
Jules, walking to the front center of the pirate group, felt a moment of strange displacement as she came to a halt facing the Imperial soldiers.
It hadn’t been all that long ago that she’d been one of those soldiers. She’d stood in such a line, calling out orders. For a weird instant it felt as if she were both here facing the legionaries and there as part of their line, two possible versions of herself facing off against each other, the Jules that was preparing to fight the Jules that might have been.
She shook herself out of the odd sensation. The situation didn’t allow any time for such nonsense. There were more than three times as many pirates as there were Imperial soldiers, but it didn’t take a military expert to know the pirates wouldn’t hold against an advance by the armored, disciplined legionaries.
Not without some help.
“Lars!” Jules called, reaching back to sheath her dagger. “Get up here with me!”
She brought out the Mechanic revolver, looking it over as its metal glinted dully in the light of moon, trying to control her breathing.
“Is it time?” Lars asked. His eyes seemed huge in his face as he gazed at her. “We need to use these things?”
“Yes,” Jules said. “You and me together. You have no practice with aiming yours, so wait until they’re close, point it at the center of a legionary, and pull that trigger slowly to shoot the weapon. Don’t jerk it, or the shot will go wild.”
“Wait until they’re close,” Lars repeated. “Don’t jerk the trigger.”
“Stand beside me, in the center of our line,” Jules said. She took up position, seeing how her presence cheered the nervous pirates on either side of her. About ten lances away, the legionary line faced her, a wall of shields lined up side by side. As long as the legionaries held their formation, their shields would protect them from crossbow bolts. Without the Mechanic weapons, this fight would have had to be resolved the hard way, hand to hand, a type of fight the pirates couldn’t hope to win against armored legionaries. In the center of the Imperial line stood the centurion, shield and sword in hand, ready to lead them and glaring at the pirates in a way that promised no mercy.
In the night, that centurion seemed to resemble one of those who’d given extra attention to Jules during her initial training, trying to force a girl from an orphan home to give up her chance at an officer’s commission.
She raised the Mechanic weapon over her head, brandishing it. “Legionaries! You can’t fight this! The man to my left has one as well! There is no shame in yielding!”
No answer came, but then she hadn’t expected one. Jules looked over at Lars to be sure he had his revolver out. Lars was holding his with both hands, the front still pointed toward the ground. “Steady,” she told him. “Like a crossbow. Stay steady, keep it pointed at the center of the target, and pull the trigger with a smooth motion. Got it?”
“Got it,” Lars said, licking his lips.
The pirates, heartened by Jules’ display of the Mechanic weapon, were yelling insults at the legionaries. The Imperial troops stood silently, maintaining their discipline.
“Advance!” the centurion called out, his voice booming through the night.
He sure sounded like that one centurion she’d hated because of his treatment of her.
Regardless, Jules decided, he’d do as a stand-in even if he wasn’t the same man.
The legionaries began advancing with a slow, steady gait, the wall of shields seeming to move like a fortress given legs to propel it.
“Hold on!” Jules shouted to her nervous pirates. “We’ll take them!”
“Hold our line!” Shin called out as well. He raised his sword, shaking it. “For freedom!”
Jules brought up her own revolver, steadying it with both hands as she aimed at the center of the centurion’s body.
The legionaries would charge when they got within three lances. Enough distance to build up speed for the impact with the imposing line, but not so far that they would tire themselves charging a long distance. That was how they trained. That was how they would fight. To change the routine was unthinkable.
When Jules estimated the legionary line was four lances distant, she began slowly squeezing the trigger of her weapon.
As always, the boom of the weapon surprised her, the jolt of it jerking her arms back.
The legionary on the centurion’s right staggered one step, then fell, his neighbor closing the gap in the shield wall. But the advance halted, even the Emperor’s soldiers momentarily unnerved by the crash of the Mechanic weapon.
The centurion had continued forward another step, scowling as he realized his soldiers had stopped. Turning, he yelled at them. “Advance!”
“Hey!” Jules shouted, her voice harsher and louder than even that of the centurion. “Look at me while I kill you!”
The centurion turned back to face her as her finger tightened again and the revolver boomed once more, the noise echoing from the buildings.
He jolted back, staring at her, then down at the hole in his chest armor.
Another boom startled everyone as Lars’ weapon shot. Probably more through luck than skill, another legionary in the line fell.
Jules aimed at the legionary wall and pulled the trigger again as the centurion swayed and dropped like a tree whose roots had given way.
She stepped forward as another legionary was hit and shouted with pain. Lars stayed beside her as Jules walked toward the legionary line, her Mechanic weapon aimed at them.
The legionaries could fight swords and daggers and spears. They could withstand a hail of crossbow fire. But they’d never faced weapons which seemed able to slay easily despite their shields and armor. There were no better troops in the world than the Emperor’s legionaries, but even if there had been, those troops would’ve been shaken as well.
Lars’s weapon thundered once more. Jules didn’t see if he hit anything, instead swinging her weapon slowly across the front of the Imperial line. “You’re next!” she cried, knowing that every legionary facing her would think that her weapon was aimed at him or her.
The legionaries broke, scrambling backwards as the pirates roared and charged. The shield wall fell apart, some soldiers dropping their shields in panic, and legionaries trained to fight with comrades standing steady beside them found themselves facing enemies alone.
Shin led a large group of pirates toward the Star Seeker to hit the legionaries there in the rear.
Jules let the other pirates stream past her as they swamped the isolated, individual Imperial soldiers. “Give them quarter if they try to surrender!” she shouted.
Walking steadily, the sounds of fighting already fading as the last legionaries either died or threw down their swords and held out empty hands, Jules reached the spot where the fallen centurion lay. She knelt next to him, using the flat of her cutlass blade to turn his head so she could see his face clearly.
Oh, yes. She knew him.
He was still alive, but clearly not for much longer, glaring at her with the last remnants of his strength. Remembering the humiliations he’d heaped upon her, Jules leaned closer and smiled at him. “Remember me, Centurion Rasel? You failed then, and you failed tonight. Take that with you into the dark.”
She stood up as the centurion’s face went soft with death, seeing Lars watching her.
“Blazes, Jules, you’re a cold one,” he said.
“The world made me this way,” Jules said. “People like him made me this way. I don’t waste mercy on those who never gave it to ot
hers.”
Lars grimaced, nodding. “It’s not my place to say you’re wrong. There’ll be a healer in the town, right?”
“Right,” Jules said. “We need to find that healer. Did you or Erin bring the healers from your ships?”
“We both did. Gabral! Where’s Chati? Tell her to get to work on these injured.” Lars grimaced as he looked at the blood pooling on the ground. “The fights are exciting, but I’ve never liked what comes after. What about the commander of the settlement, Jules? Were you able to capture him?”
Her momentary satisfaction vanished into a dark pit inside her. Jules looked toward the building where Dar’n’s body still lay. “He’s dead,” she said, wondering why the taste of victory felt like ashes in her mouth.
Erin, also nearby, turn to some of her sailors. “Take a couple lanterns to the end of the pier and signal to let the Storm Runner and the Storm Queen know it’s safe to come into port. They should be close enough by now to see the lights.”
“Speaking of ships,” Lars said. “We’ve still got an Imperial sloop to worry about.”
Jules spotted one of her sailors. “Gord! Get to the Star Seeker and make sure Captain Hachi has a lookout watching for the return of that Imperial sloop!” She rubbed her face, trying to shake the renewed sick feeling inside at knowing her hand had killed Ian’s father. “We need to get this town nailed down. Get any legionaries who surrendered under guard somewhere they can’t make trouble. Make sure the citizens don’t try anything and that the laborers know to stay in their tents.”
“And do all that before that sloop returns,” Erin said. She raised her head slightly and bellowed loudly enough to be heard clearly streets away. “Listen up! We will loot this town properly! No free-lancing! If any sailor attacks, assaults, or steals from a citizen or laborer, or destroys any property, I will personally slice your neck so deep your head’ll flop back as you die!”
“The same goes for me!” Jules shouted.
“And for the sailors from the Storm Queen!” Lars added.
“We should have thought of all that before we took the town,” Jules grumbled.
“It’s not like any of us have done this before,” Lars said.
“We need to divide it up,” Captain Erin said. “I’ll take care of making sure the citizens and property are locked down.”
“I’ll handle the legionary prisoners,” Jules said.
“That leaves making sure the laborers stay quiet to me,” Lars said. “What should we tell Hachi to do?”
“Make sure he’s got control of the waterfront,” Erin said. “Let’s move. We’ve only got until that sloop comes back, and we’ve no idea how long that might be.”
Jules told off a group of sailors from her ship to haul the bodies of dead legionaries somewhere out of sight, strip them of their armor and weapons, and then guard the weapons and armor. That done, she went in search of the legionary prisoners, hoping that no one had done anything stupid or needlessly cruel to them.
Taking over a town, she realized, was a lot more complicated than seizing a ship for a brief period. Neither she nor any of the other pirate captains had really thought beyond gaining control, or even past defeating the legionaries. And, assuming they maintained control, who would run this town once the four pirate ships and their captains departed?
It couldn’t be her, Jules knew as she walked rapidly among the half-built structures. Even if she didn’t lack experience at such things, even if her temperament was suited to such a job, her presence in one town for an extended period would be like casting bread crumbs onto the water to draw a lot of fish, only in her case it would be drawing Mages with murder on their minds.
She passed by the finished home of the former town commander, seeing a sailor already posted at the door to prevent looting.
Among her other priorities, she’d have to ensure that Colonel Dar’n’s body was prepared properly for a respectful burial.
Ian would hate her for what had happened this night. He had every right to.
Jules spotted the tall shape of Shin and headed toward him. “Do you know where the legionary prisoners are?”
“They’ve been taken care of, Captain,” he said, saluting her. Shin gestured toward the partially-completed building next to them. “The lower walls are finished here. I have some sailors blocking the stairs up to the unfinished second story and partially blocking the window openings. With your permission, I was going to set up a guard schedule.”
“You have my permission,” Jules said, relieved. “How are the prisoners? Do they seem likely to cause trouble?”
“I do not think so,” Shin said, his brow furrowed as he considered the question. “The defeat has shocked them. They have lost their weapons and armor, and their leaders. They know we greatly outnumber them. And they know they’re alone. Any help for them is far off to the east.”
“Not yet,” Jules said. “We still have to deal with that sloop which is hopefully still chasing the Sun Queen. It’ll come back eventually, though. Maybe pretty soon.” She heard hammering and saw another window opening being blocked by boards. “You did a great job setting this up. Are you sure all you did in the legions was stand in the line of battle?”
“A veteran learns many skills,” Shin said. “I’m not exceptional.”
“You look exceptional from where I stand,” Jules said. “Do any of these captured legionaries seem interested in joining with us? We can tell the Empire that any who join us were killed in the fight so they wouldn’t have to worry about retaliation against their families.”
“I can speak with them,” Shin said.
“Do that later.” Jules pointed toward the waterfront. “We may well need you when that sloop gets back.”
Leaving Shin to oversee the work on the impromptu prison, Jules went in search of problems that no one might have dealt with yet. She soon came across Erin at the rows of tents where Imperial citizens were still living.
A group of citizens was listening as a man in an Imperial suit that bore signs of being hastily donned spoke to Erin. “What are you saying?”
Erin, looking and sounding as if her last thread of patience was about to snap, spoke in the manner of someone addressing a toddler. “The Empire no longer owns or controls this town. We have taken it. You will take orders from us.”
“That’s…inconceivable,” the Imperial official said. “I must speak with Colonel Dar’n. He is in charge here, by order of the Emperor.”
Understanding why Erin was about to explode at the man, Jules stepped in. “This town is now independent.”
The official blinked at her in confusion. “In…da…?”
“Independent. It means this town is no longer part of the Empire.”
“What? You can’t just make up a word that means…something ridiculous! Every town is part of the Empire. Every person in the world is a citizen of the Empire. Except the Great Guilds, of course.”
“Not any more,” Jules said. “This town is now free. Which means you do as you’re told.” She no sooner said it than she realized how absurd the two statements were together, but the Imperial citizens didn’t notice. The Empire might not encourage imagination, but it taught its citizens to do what they were told to do. Faced with confident authority, the officials and citizens backed down.
After posting some more pirates to make sure no citizens thought things through and tried doing anything, Jules and Erin headed back toward the town’s sole pier, where the Star Seeker was tied up.
“Is that a real word?” Erin asked her.
“Independent? Yes,” Jules said. “That’s what we pirates are. We don’t answer to anyone unless we want to. We’re independent.”
“I never realized it,” Erin said. “So it’s just a word for what we already are?”
“And for what this town will be, and what places like Marida’s and Jacksport already are.”
“We didn’t have a word for it, did we?” Erin looked about her in surprise. “We didn’t have a w
ay to describe a place that wasn’t part of the Empire unless it was part of one of the Great Guilds. Is it strange that things seem to have changed just because we now have a word?”
“Words help us form ideas,” Jules said. “And this idea is bigger than most, isn’t it?”
“Where’d you get it from?”
“Some Mechanics used it. I don’t think they realized how important that idea is in a world that’s never had it before.”
“Where’d the Mechanics get, though?”
“Where’d they get any of their ideas and devices?” Jules asked. She looked out over the water as they reached the pier. The night had almost run its course, the sky brightening with morning twilight. The Star Seeker was still tied up, but both the Storm Queen and the Storm Runner had anchored in the river away from the pier. “Do you think that Imperial sloop is still chasing the Sun Queen?”
Her answer came not from Erin, but from a lookout high on the Star Seeker’s mast.
“Masts in sight! It looks like that Imperial sloop coming back!”
Chapter Nine
“Are you certain?” Captain Hachi called up loudly enough to be heard along the waterfront.
“Aye, Captain!”
Erin ran one hand down her face, glaring out to sea. “If that sloop is close enough to see then it’s too close for my ship and the Storm Queen to get underway without being seen.”
“Maybe we can catch him just outside the harbor,” Captain Lars said as he ran up.
“That’s not good odds if he’s at all alert. A lucky shot from that ballista of his and it’d be the remaining ship one on one against a crew of angry legionaries.”
“We still have the Mechanic weapons,” Jules said. “And surprise.”
“Yes, but—”
Captain Hachi came striding up, looking thoughtful. “I was just looking at the Storm Queen at anchor and thinking how it was a twin to the Imperial sloop,” he said.
“She was an Imperial sloop,” Lars said. “Until the Sun Queen and Storm Runner captured her.”
“Do you think she could still pass as an Imperial warship?”
Explorer of the Endless Sea Page 16