“It’s the Foxnose ship,” confirmed Captain Rozad. “Do you want to attack now?”
“No,” said Hanna. “We keep between them and sail towards Grimsfell.”
Captain Rozad raised an eyebrow. “How close to Grimsfell are you planning to get before we attack?”
Hanna gave the captain a wicked grin. “I want them watching from Grimsfell. We sail until all of Grimsfell can see what happens when you attack and kill Stoneblood men.”
Captain Rozad sighed. “I was afraid you might say that.”
It took another day of sailing to reach Grimsfell. The far northern city was situated on a wide river inlet. Captain Rozad used his eyeglass to spy on the city’s docks.
“There are two Foxnose ships in port.”
“Good, a bigger audience,” said Hanna.
Captain Rozad kept scanning the city. “No movement or armed men on the docks. They aren’t expecting us.”
Hanna nodded. No one was supposed to know about the attack, but secrets always had a way of finding the wrong ears.
Captain Rozad turned and looked back to the Foxnose ship coming into port behind them. “They are still coming in at full speed. They don’t seem concerned by our presence either.”
“Perfect. Slow our speed so that we arrive at the same time they do. Just don’t get so close that archers from shore can attack us. I want Grimsfell to see the fight but not be able to help.”
The Foxnose ship continued to gain on the Lady of the Evening. The crew of the Lady pretended to have difficulty with a mainsail, allowing the Foxnose ship to gain on them.
Hanna watched the shore. A couple of dock workers were watching the ships, but no one else was paying attention. They were now almost within archer range of Grimsfell. She turned to Captain Rozad and gave him a nod. “Now.”
At the helm, Captain Rozad turned the ship wheel hard, bringing the Lady around. The Foxnose ship was slow to respond, not initially realizing that the Lady was turning to attack. The captain timed his turn perfectly and the Lady ended up aside the Foxnose ship.
The crew of the Lady grabbed their weapons, which had been hidden along the ship rail, with the grapple hooks. They threw the grapple hooks across the rail of the Foxnose ship and pulled hard.
For the first time in a long time, Hanna wasn’t among the first to jump onto the enemy’s ship deck. This time Hanna had to wait. She studied the enemy crew searching for the captain and his first mate. The Foxnose ship was a smaller caravan and its crew was smaller than that of the Lady of the Evening. Being so close to home, the crew was relaxed and totally unprepared for the swift attack.
Hanna watched as Rowan and the boarding crew engaged the Foxnose crew. Some of the Foxnoses drew swords while others scrabbled to find weapons. Rowan headed towards the captain and whipped the glaive around in a large circle sending men scrambling. Hanna smiled. Rowan was taller than her and his long arms gave him a ridiculous amount of reach when he whipped the weapon around like a club. Hanna pulled out her eagle’s claw daggers and waited for Rowan. As soon as he paused, Hanna exploded into action, leaping across onto the deck of the Foxnose ships. She then sprinted past the waiting Rowan. She easily made it to the captain before any of Foxnose men could respond.
The first one to react was the first mate, a burly and bald sailor with a wicked looking spiked club. He stepped in front of the captain and swung at Hanna. Hanna blocked the blow and pivoted on her front foot, spinning around the first mate. As she spun around her blade struck under the arm of the first mate. The blade slid in and out of the man’s heart before he could even attempt to block the swift blow.
As the first mate turned to face her again, he fell to his knees. Hanna turned to the captain. “The quicker you surrender the fewer of your men have to die.”
“You dirty mixed blood harlot, you’ll pay for this. Foxnoses never surrender.” The captain followed up his boast by raising his sword and giving out a loud war cry.
Hanna dropped to one knee. The glaive zipped over her head and struck the captain in the chest. His eyes went big as he looked at the weapon impaled in his chest and then back at Hanna.
Hanna ignored the dying captain. Instead she yelled loudly. “My offer still stands. Put down your weapons and live or follow the captain into the seven hells.”
The remaining crew didn’t share the late captain’s feelings on surrendering. They quickly dropped their weapons.
After picking up the weapons and herding the men together, the crew started their normal routine of inspecting the ship’s cargo holds to see if they had any loot worth taking.
Nino Baz came to Hanna. “Nothing worth taking in the hold.”
Hanna nodded. “Burn it.” She then turned to the Foxnose crew. “Do you know who I am?”
One man started to talk, but a grizzled man cut him off. “Shut yer pie eating mouth, you saw what happened to the captain when he mouthed off. Yes, we know who you are, Hanna Halfblood.”
“Good. What’s your name?” asked Hanna.
“They call me Hawk,” said the man.
Hanna smirked, it was an appropriate name. Hawk had dark eyes and a nose that reminded her of a beak. His face certainly had the right look for such a name. “Okay, Hawk. Do you know why we’re here?”
“I’ve been at sea for six months, I’ve no idea.”
“It is simple. Your fellow Foxnoses attacked me and my men at Ayrith mountain. Someone murdered my grandfather Thorodd Stoneblood at that same location. If you Foxnoses want a war, you will get one. I’ll burn and destroy every Foxnose ship and then sail into Grimsfell and start hunting.”
Hawk lowered his eyes. “Sorry to hear about your grandfather. I knew the man. He was a tough old goat but a fair man. I don’t speak for all of the Foxnoses, but if you let us go to shore we’ll make sure your concerns are heard loud and clear.”
“Nino put Hawk on a rowboat. Take the rest of the prisoners back to the Lady.”
“Ye have a message for me to relay?” asked Hawk. It was obvious the man understood Hanna’s intentions.
“Row to shore, and find me someone who does speak for the Foxnoses. The rest of the crew can return to shore after I’ve had a conversation with someone in authority. But if one of your ships leaves the dock…”
Hawk nodded and helped Nino lower a rowboat. The sailor jumped in and rowed to the docks. He was quickly met and a messenger was sent away.
While they waited for a representative of the Foxnoses, part of the crew started preparing the Foxnose ship while the rest guarded the prisoners. Hanna returned to Captain Rozad.
“That went smoothly. No injuries for our crew,” said the captain.
“Yes, very smooth, we’re fortunate they were so unprepared. A long battle would’ve been enough time to gather a crew of fighters from the city.”
“It looks like they are starting to gather now,” said Captain Rozad.
Hanna watched the men on shore as they pointed and stared at the two ships. A man strode down the dock and joined Hawk in the rowboat. “Lower one of our rowboats. I’m going for a chat.”
“Take Rowan,” said Captain Rozad.
Hanna nodded. Rowan had proved very capable during the attack and was now responsible for watching her back. The sooner they both got used to the idea the better. Hanna went down the rope ladder and jumped into the rowboat. Rowan said nothing and just started to row towards shore. Hanna let him get a good third of the way to shore before she stopped him.
Hawk rowed up. “Hanna Halfblood, this is Thomas Renkle.”
Thomas Renkle had an arrogant set to his face. He snarled at Hanna. “You’ve made a very bad decision, attacking one of our ships. You’ll pay for this.”
Hanna raised a hand and signaled the ship. Seconds later an explosion ripped open the haul of the Foxnose ship and it started to sink.
Thomas Renkle turned white. “Our ship! You’ve sunk our ship.”
“And I will sink the rest if you don’t start paying attention,” said Hann
a calmly. “Hawk, did you not inform Thomas of my grievances?”
“I tried, but I was told to mind my business,” replied Hawk.
“I see,” said Hanna. She turned to Thomas Renkle. “Since you didn’t listen to Hawk, perhaps you’ll listen to me?”
Thomas Renkle’s head swiveled back and forth between Hanna and the sinking ship in the harbor. “I’m listening, just stop destroying our ships.”
Hanna ignored Thomas. “Hawk. You are an experienced sailor. In your opinion is there a ship in Grimsfell that can compete with the Lady of the Evening, or will they all sink if I choose to make it happen?”
Hawk grimaced. “They’ll sink. It would take a Baltan warship to defeat that crew.”
“I think that is a fair assessment. Now I’ve already sunk one ship, and we all understand I can easily sink the rest of your fleet, agreed, Mr. Renkle?”
Thomas Renkle stared at the mast of the ship as it went underwater. “Agreed.”
“Good. Perhaps you now understand the seriousness of this situation. Are ayrithstones really worth losing the rest of your ships?”
Thomas Renkle whined, “The Ayrith valley was our trading route. You stole it.”
“No. The Nordviks chose not to trade with you anymore and approached us. After that happened, my grandfather was murdered and I was attacked. By all rights, I should burn your entire city down in retaliation for my grandfather’s death.”
Renkle went pale. “We had nothing to do with your grandfather dying. My men did attack you, but we didn’t kill Thorodd Stoneblood.”
“Why should I believe you?” asked Hanna.
Renkle’s back stiffened. “Believe what you want, but we don’t have any men who’d dare attack Thorodd Stoneblood. We didn’t want war with the Stonebloods. We just wanted those damn gems. We’ll leave the Ayrith valley to you. Just stop attacking our ships.”
“Why are the gems so important to you?” asked Hanna. “Who wanted the gems?”
“I don’t know his name, but a man came to us months ago, after we started sending the first samples of ayrithstone out with our ships. He offered a king’s ransom for the gems. But we only had a few samples, and when we went back for more the Nordviks told us they wouldn’t trade with us anymore.”
Hanna frowned; a name would’ve been helpful. “What did this stranger look like?”
“Foreign. He was no northerner, but I couldn’t tell you where he was from. He always wore a cloak and we met in dark places. He was secretive, but his gold was real. Now, are you done destroying our company?”
“If you cause any more problems for the Nordviks I will be back,” warned Hanna.
“We’re done with them. They’re not worth the hassle, nor are those damn stones. Truce?”
Hanna nodded. “Truce it is. Hawk, after you take Mr. Renkle back to the shore come back and collect your men. They’ll be swimming to shore.”
“Let them swim. Teach them right for not paying attention to an unknown ship even in our own harbor,” said Hawk.
Hanna gave them a curt nod and Rowan started rowing back to the ship.
“How did it go?” asked Captain Rozad as Hanna boarded the Lady.
“We officially have a truce with Grimsfell. The Foxnoses will avoid Ayrith and Irontide,” said Hanna.
“Well done,” said Captain Rozad.
Hanna frowned. “It went well, but Renkle couldn’t provide any real news about Grandfather. Whoever wanted the gems was not a northerner, but the Foxnoses were showing the gems everywhere so the man who wanted them could be from anywhere.”
“Yes, but we can eliminate the Foxnoses as suspects,” said Captain Rozad. “They knew nothing of Thorodd’s death, and it was a man who tried to buy the gems, not a woman. Therefore, the Foxnoses knew nothing about the connection.”
Hanna rubbed her temple. She was starting to get a headache. “You think there are two different groups trying to get the stones?”
“I think we don’t know enough to come to any conclusions. Where do you want to go now? The sooner we leave Grimsfell harbor the better, before they change their minds about a truce.”
Hanna nodded. “Send the prisoners swimming and set sails.”
“Irontide?” asked the captain.
“No. Creyta. We need to learn about the gems, and now that there is a truce with the Foxnoses we can focus on the gems and finding out who is behind Grandfather’s death.”
That night Hanna had the strangest dream she had ever had. She was walking in the woods and it started getting misty and foggy. The fog rolled in like knee-high tidal waves until the entire forest floor was covered. Then a young warrior walked into the clearing, coming right up to her. The warrior started to speak to her. But she couldn’t understand what he was saying. It was like her head was underwater, the sound muffled and distorted until she had no idea what the mysterious warrior was saying. When she stopped trying to listen to him, she noticed his sword and shield. They were the same as her grandfather’s. She looked again at his face. He had no beard and had a small mole on his chin that she’d never seen before, but the eyes and chin were the same. It was a young Thorodd standing before her. She strained to hear what he was saying but then woke up.
The next night Hanna had the exact same dream. She walked into the fog filled meadow and there stood the younger version of her grandfather. Again, he tried to speak to her but she had no idea what he was saying. She tried to talk to him, but her words were as garbled as his.
When morning came, Hanna found Koyo. “I had the strangest dream last night. It felt so real and yet impossible at the same time.”
“What did you dream?” asked Koyo.
Hanna told him of the forest and her grandfather. She described the man to Koyo just to make sure it truly was her grandfather.
“I met your grandfather years ago, even before your father met your mother. He came to Creyta when he was first opening his trade routes. The man in your dream certainly is a young Thorodd Stoneblood.”
“But how would I know what he looked like? How would I know he was clean shaven and had a mole? I’ve never seen him without a beard in my life.”
“You’ll have to ask Anso when we get to Creyta, but I suspect that you’ll be seeing a lot of young Thorodd.”
Hanna wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that.
7
Centa, Creyta
Centa, the capital of Creyta, was a large old city. Stone walls and open markets were what always came to Hanna’s mind when she thought of Centa.
As they landed at the docks, Hanna took Azad and Rowan and started walking through the city. Hanna ignored the stares she garnered as they walked. Her blood red outfit, blonde hair and northern size all stood out like sore thumbs.
Anso Sengaw lived in a small cottage on the northern end of the city. In fact, his cottage was a mile outside of the city, across a river and in a small forest. Hanna had visited the place once as a child when her father had taken her to Anso to convince him to train her.
When they arrived at his cottage, they found Anso working in his garden. His back turned to them; Anso kept working until they were right behind them.
“You still favor Baltan wines, Azad?” asked Anso without turning around.
Azad grunted. “Better than that Creytan crap we grew up on.”
Anso turned and stood. “Hanna. It is good to see you. You’ve grown. You’re as tall as your father ever was, perhaps taller.”
Hanna gave her old teacher a hug. “Anso, it’s good to see you. Your garden looks lovely.” Her mentor hadn’t changed at all since she last saw him. His short grey hair cut close to the scalp, and short, well-groomed goatee, hadn’t changed at all. He might have had a few more wrinkles, but his eyes still had the vitality and spark she remembered.
“It is a good hobby for an old man. It keeps me fed. What brings you to Creyta?”
“My grandfather was murdered, by a Mykoznian King’s Guard. We think it is because of these gems.” Hanna pulled of
f her necklace and handed it to Anso.
Anso sighed. “I’m sorry for your loss. Mykoznian King’s Guard? What makes you say that?”
“I met her. She brought me this gem. My grandfather gave it to her to give to me. It was his dying request.”
“And he covered it in his blood?” asked Anso.
“How did you know?” asked Hanna
“Thorodd Stoneblood wouldn’t use a dying request to give you an ordinary gem. That is a spirit gem, and combined with Thorodd’s blood it makes a bloodstone.”
“Koyo Tomar called it that as well. But he couldn’t tell us what it did,” said Hanna.
“In the wrong hands, it does nothing. The bloodstone will reject a connection with most people. In the right hands, it is a magical connection to the spirit world. Does the gem feel cold or warm when you touch it?”
“Warm. What do you mean by the spirit world?” asked Hanna.
“The places where the Gods live. The seven hells. The places where our spirits go when we die. These are all parts of the spirit world. A spirit stone, or bloodstone as your grandfather’s people call them, creates a bond between a person in this realm and the spirit of whoever’s blood the stone is infused with.”
“So, you are saying this gemstone is a magical connection to my grandfather?” said Hanna.
“Yes. Tell me, Hanna, have you had any strange dreams lately?”
“Several. Very strange and surreal, some are more like nightmares though.”
“I see. Do you have anything of your grandfather's? Any of his weapons perhaps?” asked Anso Sengaw.
Hanna furrowed her brow. “His axe and shield are on the ship. Koyo Tomar made me bring them.”
“Did he now? I suppose that shouldn’t surprise me, Koyo has been to enough places and seen enough things to understand what he doesn’t understand.”
Hanna had no idea what Anso was talking about. It wasn’t the first time her old weapons master had baffled her with his words. Nor would it be the last. She’d long ago learned to just move on. Often things he said that seemed confusing at the time would eventually make sense.
Hanna Halfblood: A YA fantasy tale Page 7