“The kind of power that book could give her will make for a very, very big problem.” Thud had debated adding another ‘very’ or two in there but felt that orcs generally appreciated brevity.
“Right, because the problems we have now are just an inconvenience. I’m not going to order my crew to give up their lives defending a damned book. We’re going to make the trade and I don’t expect there there to be any problems from your people in the process.”
“My people, right.” Thud said. “And are ye including my people in yer rescue bargain?”
“If I can. If not, well, I’m told there’s a half-built turtle boat. In the meantime, I’d suggest keeping your people clear of mine. I wouldn’t want there to be any misunderstandings.”
Thud lit a cigar after the orc stomped away. It was what he did to think things over. It was like an idea timer. Think to the end of the cigar and go with whatever you ended up with.
Ruby stepped into his view, arms crossed.
Thud raised an eyebrow at her then waved at the cloud of smoke in front of him so that she’d be able to see that he’d raised his eyebrow.
“The book contains instructions,” Ruby said. Thud liked that. She didn’t dance around with the proprieties of confessing she’d overheard the conversation. He knew she’d overheard and she knew he knew. “I have to think that’s why she wants it. She needs them.”
“Instructions for what?”
“I don’t know yet. I’m still working on translating that part of the book. The writer got a bit…metaphoric. The book is a key of sorts to a door, behind which is something very old and very bad. That’s as much as I’ve gotten. Oh, and it requires blood.”
“All them old magics seem to rely on that, eh?”
“But there’s good news too. A key does two things. Turn it one way, the door opens. Turn it the other and the door locks.”
Thud raised his other eyebrow. “You seriously suggesting that we try to countermagic an archon? That’s not really our style.”
“I’m aware. I’m simply offering it as an option. Think of it as a plan C.”
“Meaning I still need to dream up plan A and B.”
“I’ve already copied the information into my journal,” Ruby said. “And I’m close to having the passage I’ve not translated copied in.”
“That book’s a bit more than a pamphlet. You copied that much or is there a lot o' fluff?”
She shrugged. “I’m a scribe. I can write ninety words per minute. I think that the book being here is what stabilized the island.”
“Oh?”
“Some of these sailors have been down here a month. Stories of Blackfog have it appearing and disappearing more frequently than that. But now the book is here and the island has stayed. I don’t think that’s coincidence.”
“You think the island was actually moving around trying to find the book?”
“No, but I think that the book has anchored it. No use having a key to a door if the door wanders off.” She shrugged. “I could be wrong. Maybe the whole thing will vanish in five minutes.” She turned and headed back toward the ship.
Thud followed moments after. He still had a lot of cigar left and was still two plans short of happy but he had a growing list of orders to give and a dwindling amount of time to give them.
Chapter Seventeen
The Battle of the Water Slider started an hour later. The name may serve as a clue to how Korak’s rescue negotiations ultimately went. It is not, after all, called ‘The Treaty of the Water Slider’.
Torches appeared, down all three of the ocean chasms that met at the wreck. A couple score each, a hundred yards out. Clustered, waiting. An attack from three directions. Thud waved and Keezix darted across the clearing, lighting the zombies. They’d separated them and staked them out individually in an arc around the ship, tying a torch around each of their heads. The idea was to make their numbers look bigger. Thud suspected that the torches they could see down the water passages were a similar ruse. Likely the old ‘carry two torches’ trick, meaning there were only twenty or so pirates in each direction. Not that that was any indicator of a pirate shortage but it seemed a more manageable number.
Korak strode out past the zombies, staring straight ahead, ignoring them. His crew had taken no part in setting up defenses, at least on the exterior of the ship. It looked like Korak had sent most of them to the top decks. Thud hoped he’d at least taken the precaution of sending bows and crossbows with them. He’d sent Catchpenny, Durham, Skulk and Ween along with a few crossbow-toting dwarves to the top deck himself.
The orc started up the widest of the three chasms, Rend and Aldine behind him. Thud started after him, Dadger and Ginny falling in behind. He could tell by the set of Korak’s shoulders that he wasn’t happy about them tagging along. There wasn’t a chance Thud wasn’t going to be present, however, and he expected Korak knew that as well.
The woman and the pirate Dadger had described to him were standing halfway between the ship and the cluster of torches. The woman’s hands were clasped and her hood raised, leaving her face in shadow save the gleam of her eyes. She seemed intent on Rend. The pirate was more interested in the dwarves. He was studying them intently. He didn’t look the part but he dressed the part and kept showing up to negotiations. Thud was starting to suspect that Dadger was wrong and that the man might actually be the pirate captain. Laughing Larry himself. He didn’t appear to be laughing. The parrot on his shoulder, however, chuckled away. Maybe that was where the name came from.
Korak stopped ten yards away from the pair. Aldine next to him, the tip of her staff glowing. Rend towered behind them.
Thud stopped his diplomatic envoy ten yards back, close enough to listen but far enough to be respectful of Korak.
“I am Captain Korak of the Orng-Na,” the orc said. His arms were back, chest out and shoulders wide. The feather on his bard cap jauntily bobbed. “We have a book that you want. I’m told you offer rescue in trade.”
Laughing Larry smirked. “See?” he asked Obiya. “My way is quite effective. Plant the seed and it will grow. No need for blood.”
Obiya gestured and the pirate stopped speaking, his mouth gaping open and closed like a pontificating fish.
“You fail to understand,” she said. She lowered her hood. Her eyes glowed a pale silver. “I want there to be blood.”
Everything exploded into light and sound.
Thud found himself laying in the mud, ears ringing, an afterimage of a jagged column of light seared into his vision making all else dark and hazy. He struggled to his knees, blinking frantically to try and clear his sight. The ground was black and blasted where Korak had been standing. Whatever remained of Korak was nowhere to be seen. The bolt of lightning seemed to have blown him clean away. Rend was sitting on the ground, hands clasped to his ears. Aldine crawled nearby. Her staff was shattered around her and she grasped frantically at the pieces in the mud. Ginny was just to Thud’s side, helping Dadger to his feet.
Obiya was laughing. There was a distant bark of command from behind her and the torches began moving forward.
“Run!” Thud yelled. He staggered forward and tugged at Rend’s coat. “Grab Aldine!”
The giant struggled to his feet. He tucked Aldine under his arm, gave Obiya a reproachful look then started for the ship, the dwarves running after. Thud hoped that the lightning bolt trick wasn’t something Obiya could do anytime she wanted. They had a good thirty seconds of running to get back to the ship and lightning bolts moved pretty fast. Lightning or not there was an incoming pirate raid to worry about.
He heard a wordless roar behind him from the charging pirates. Seconds later came the hum of arrows, their feathers whispering as they whipped past. Thud considered running in a zig-zag but figured with the visibility being what it was the pirates weren’t aiming at anything. Zig-zagging was just as likely to run him into an incoming arrow as it was to avoid one.
He was nearing the flaming zombie curtain line whe
n the counter-volley came from the ship deck. Fire arrows. Clumsy things but useful for laying down spots of light so that the archers could see their targets. And not just the archers. Now that there was light to see by there came a different sound–the deep thunk of the ballista firing. They had the bloom-shot loaded. A bolt comprised of a bundle of spears lashed together. A hook caught the tie as the bolt was fired, loosing the spears into a cluster that bloomed out and made a lasting impression on a fairly large area of the battlefield. Typically they used the bloom-shots to clear dungeon chambers but they seemed just the thing for pirate attacks as well.
Thud reached the zombies. They were straining at their ropes, enthusiastic about the prospect of being involved in the activities. The torches bobbing on their heads made them look like a row of festival dancers. He dodged past one, giving it a little shove to keep clear of its clutching grasp.
He hoped that the ballista was a bit of a surprise to the pirates. As far as secret weapons went it was a choice that had paid off many times. They had a line of makeshift cover in front of the bow of the wreck. Bits of other shipwrecks they’d dragged into place. Thud could see the round helmet-tops of dwarves crouched behind it. Now he began to zig-zag as he ran, the other runners following suit. Hopefully the pirates would think it was to avoid the arrows that still chased after them and not realize that their targets were taking the only safe routes through the clearing. An hour to prepare had not been much but, when given the opportunity to create traps rather than deactivate them, Ginny, Mungo and Cardamon had lit up like dwarflings on Nugget Day.
Thud reached the line of barriers and dove over in what he hoped looked to be a dramatic fashion rather than a panicked dive to get out of the way of the arrows. He’d felt at least one ping off of his helmet and another was caught in his kilt. He wasn’t sure if Dadger or Ginny had been hit but they’d both made it to the barriers as well. Rend just stepped over it without breaking stride, making for the interior of the ship to get Aldine somewhere safer.
The pirates streamed into the clearing, three groups from three directions. The zombies didn’t provide a significant obstacle-they were far outnumbered and slightly outbrained. They did cause a brief delay in the advance, enough time for the dwarves to send another volley of bolts, arrows and ballista spears. At least a dozen pirates were already down by the time they pushed past the zombie line. But pirates are experienced in assaulting a ship, even if that ship happened to be laying in the sand. Even being under ballista fire was nothing new to most of them, though usually it was bolts near the size of logs that were aimed to punch holes in the hull.
The pirates charged past the zombies as the dwarves reloaded their crossbows. Straight into trap team’s preparations. A chorus of surprised yelps came from all across the clearing as the pirates encountered the spike-rakes, rip-snares, swarm-darts and Mungo’s Mark II ‘Jolly Jumping Jester’.
What the pirate charge lacked in finesse it made up for in numbers. The dwarves’ preparations took their toll but the oncoming pirates still numbered enough to constitute a crowd.
“Fall back!” Thud yelled.
The dwarves began retreating through the entryway into the ship, two by two, each pair firing their crossbows as they went to provide cover. The retreat was Mungo’s cue. He and Gryngo had spent their hour well. They each ignited their end of the fuse.
The sparks raced their way down the length of the barricades, igniting their packages one by one. Gryngo had used his fastest fuse and the charges began to fire just as the pirates closed on the barrier.
Billowing smoke and brilliant flashes of sparks, popping in a deafening staccato as each charge ignited. Mortar shells, some buried in the sand, some launching to arc overhead, flaring into drifting motes of brilliance. It was far more flash than thunder. After some lengthy debate it had been decided that laying a line of blasting charges along their defenses wasn’t the best plan from an occupational safety standpoint. Blinding flares had been the reluctant compromise.
They served their purpose, however, the front lines of the pirates staggering back, those behind them stumbling against them and doing some staggering back of their own. As they shifted backward a few of the pirates in back managed to find some spike-rakes that hadn’t been stepped on yet.
The momentum of the charge was broken and the dwarves were all positioned within, the door serving as a chokepoint. Human sized attackers would be hard pressed to come through in pairs and, whether in a duo or alone, any pirate through the doorway had a ring of armored dwarves with tower shields to contend with. Vanguard was in position and ready to demonstrate the meaning of shield-wall.
The ambitious pirate that went through the effort of discovering all of this went back out the door very quickly, half of his own volition, half propelled by a number of impacts. There was another attempt, two pirates bursting in one after the other, two more trying to struggle in behind to press the defenders back. The vanguard was having none of it. The pirates were met by a wall of shields blocking passage, pushing back, pressing them into each other. Dwarven legs could out-push an ox team.
Another barrage of bolts from above and the pirates fell back, once again braving the trap field. Obiya and Laughing Larry appeared behind them, coming forward out of the center chasm, Obiya in the lead, advancing with effortless strides, Larry just behind struggling to keep up. The parrot on his shoulder was shrieking with laughter.
“Fools,” she snarled and swung her hand as if throwing something. Electricity arced from her hand to the upper decks. Were there screams? Thud couldn’t tell for sure. His own ears were ringing and battles were a hot and noisy place.
The missile fire from the top ceased and the pirates followed up the jolt with a new tactic. Ropes with grappling hooks. They swung them round and sent them clattering across the top deck. At least some defense remained above. A few of the grappling lines were thrown back but not enough. The pirates went up the ropes with practiced speed. Even the ropes that were thrown off before their climbers arrived allowed them purchase on the side of the ship, holding onto the encrusted surface, hands gripping portholes and arrow slits. The pirates had gained a foothold along the side of the Water Slider. Thud now found himself at the back of the battle instead of the front.
He waved his hand at the dwarves near him. “With me to reinforce the top! Ginny, Vanguard, hold here then flank when the timin' looks right!”
He awkwardly climbed the steep stairs to the midships deck. Vanguard with their shields and armor would have taken far too long to move to the top to face the new front. The sound of boots thumping on wood came from above as the pirates gained the deck and began fighting for control. Thud ran across the midship deck toward the top-deck stairway next to where the sea wall bisected the ship. The swirling dark wall of water cut off the rest of the stern.
Just as he reached the stairs something emerged from the wall of water in a burst of spray. Several somethings. His first thought was merfolk, but the wrong way round. Fish tops with human legs. Then he amended that. Frog legs, and they were in possession of arms as well which gave them an advantage over merfolk in the limbs department. Were these a mer mix of frog and fish? Their heads were elongated and scaled, fish-eyes bulging, thick frog-lipped mouths gaping to show rows of needle thin teeth. There were four of them, long jagged weapons clutched in their webbed fingers. Spears made from coral and shells. They looked both pretty and sharp.
They ran forward, croaking, a deep guttural sound, vocal sacs on either side of their neck inflating and deflating grotesquely. They hunched over low as if their backs didn’t quite work right out of water, or as if they had a bit of extra frog skeletal structure mixed in. Magic didn’t always account for complete practicality when it started sticking species together.
Thud heard yells and croaking from both above and below and chanced a glance over the rail as he backed away from the newcomers. The fishfrogs were below too, their muscles slithering weirdly beneath their skin as they charged into the roo
m. There were sounds of battle from outside as well. Were the fish attacking the pirates too? Or frogs? Thud hadn’t quite decided what to think of them as.
He moved into position, dwarves falling into formation around him, hammers held ready. He wasn’t a fan of facing a spear charge without a shield. He reached down and hit the trigger-peg with his hammer. A cargo net dropped from the ceiling, the fishing weights at the edge clattering against the planks as it draped neatly across the oncoming fishogs. It was a preparation they’d set up to defend against pirates coming from the stairs rather than an attack from the wall of water but it served. And no, fishogs wasn’t a good name at all.
The merfish staggered and struggled beneath it, promptly tangling themselves into a knot. Genetic predisposition to not being able to figure out how to escape a net, Thud guessed. It wasn’t going to hold them for long, though. Already they were sawing at the ropes with their coral spears, chewing at it with their teeth. More were coming through the sea wall behind them with gurgling croaks. They all croaked constantly. As they fought, as they ran, croaking. All in rhythm with each other. It was starting to put Thud’s nerves on edge. It was leaning him more toward the frog side of the argument.
“To the top deck, quick!” he yelled.
Some of the new arrivals were trying to help with the net but others were already moving past and advancing, the torchlight flickering in their bulging eyes. Thud waited at the ladder, providing guard for the other dwarves as they climbed, waving his mace back and forth at the frogmen as they drew near. Either their coral spears weren’t meant for throwing or they didn’t feel they had the room but it made Thud’s life easier, having only to knock back pokes and prods rather than ducking things flying at his head. He realized that if these things usually fought underwater it might not even have occurred to them that spears were throwable. Their land movement was ungainly enough to make it obvious that they were more at home in the water.
The Dungeoneers: Blackfog Island Page 20