Mary and their medic checked it and pronounced the ankle sprained but not broken. The lad gasped as they wrapped it.
~~~^~~~
On the third week out, Mary had a near-death experience when she went to the river and a water-born predator attacked. She said she had only known of the danger when she saw bubbles and noticed everything had grown quiet.
That had been enough for her to back off and scramble up the beach. She'd heard something rushing in the water and had scrambled up the grass out of the slide area. Uri, one of the girls who had been with her, threw a rock that had apparently distracted the beast in order for Mary to get away.
Mary had not seen what had come after her, and Uri just said there was a boiling of water and flashes of something big and terrifying. She thought Nate would be annoyed by that but instead he was fearful for her safety, something that touched her.
"We have rules for a reason, Mary," he said, rounding on her. She stared at him, wide eyed. "Everyone is supposed to use a bucket and line to get water rather than go to the bank. No exceptions," he snarled. "You shouldn't be drinking that stuff anyway. Haven't you heard of Cholera and stuff?"
"Yes. I wasn't drinking it; I wanted to wash my clothes," she said, starting to feel heat as her own anger grew. It was ridiculous for him to take her to task over the near-death experience.
"Oh." Nate scowled still but looked away.
After a moment, he sighed. "Sorry," he said gruffly after an awkward moment. "I didn't mean to go off on you."
"Whatever," she said as she stormed off
They had ridden in silence in separate wagons for a day before he was eventually forgiven for going off on her like that.
Chapter 10
Cao heard his fellow pirates chatter when they saw the storm clouds and then saw a waterspout. They were dangerous, as dangerous as the rough seas in the crude vessels. The others considered the water spout a spirit snake and therefore a bad omen.
He just shook his head and pointed to the fishing trawler in the distance. The ship was oblivious to the presence of the three ships. "Yeah, for them," he said, pointing a blade with a gloating laugh.
That seemed to settle the crew for a while.
~~~^~~~
Captain Deco had a recently newly-built fishing trawler, the pride of his village. The ship was quite well balanced, able to heel and turn with magnificent rigging. She had outriggers that could be swung out to help balance the ship in a storm and could be used as boom arms to load and unload her cargo holds.
There were a lot of changes in the ship, too many to count. Things like better water, better food, triangular shaped sails that made her faster, better everything. She could stay out to sea longer, and the storm coming in was something they could endure if they had to. Not that he intended it; he had the crew pulling the nets and lines now.
He had spent the summer on her and he loved her dearly. If the ice didn't come in, he might be able to run her all winter. He hoped so.
He was considering what the Terrans would come up with next when his lookout called out a warning of more ships on the horizon.
He turned and used one of the new looking glasses to check the horizon in the indicated direction. What he saw made his blood run cold. There, off in the distance, were wraiths. They looked like wooden creatures but with great black sails like raven wings. He couldn't see the pennant on one, but he could imagine the message it had on it.
He shivered and called for the men to abandon the lines and rig to run. His first mate asked why just as the lookout pointed to the distant specks.
" Piratas !" the captain called out. That spurred the men to instant terrified action.
~~~^~~~
Cao swore when the trawler abandoned their lines and ran. She had a bit more sail than his square sailed ships did, and she had the uncanny ability to tack into the wind. It was irritating to know that the ship was going to get ahead of them to spread a warning.
Perhaps the others were right he thought as they changed course again, this time to avoid the storm. They needed to head inland, to port to weather the coming storm and to strike for supplies. They were low on fresh water and provisions.
The men seemed eager to give up the small prize in favor of the much larger one.
~~~^~~~
The fishing vessel managed to catch the wind and current in order to get enough of a head start to get to port. They raised flags warning of trouble following them. That sparked controversy on the docks.
The captain swung to the wharf on a line even before the ship had been tied up and called the elders together to warn them of what they'd seen. The berger argued, wanting to evacuate, but one of the elders, Janus, had his grandson run to the nearest town of Kent. It reportedly had a far talker that they could use to call in to the dominus and capital.
He wasn't sure if they would get forces to them in time, but he hoped and prayed they would.
He also hoped and prayed that the piratas would be belayed or drowned in a storm, but the likes of that happening were only slightly lower than help arriving in time.
~~~^~~~
Eugene received an updated contact report when he made the nightly HAM check in. He and Licinius poured over the maps by Eugene's LED lamp until they were sure how to properly redirect the Flying Legion to get ahead of the enemy.
They consulted the local lords by radio. The local dominus refused to send a draft of men; most of his men were out and about monitoring the harvest. That was fine for Licinius; he didn't want to work with someone he didn't know or trust anyway.
Eugene was a bit put out over the insult but for the moment set it aside. "It'd be nice to turn the tables on the bastards," Eugene said with a wicked grin to the men and women around him. They smiled grimly in return.
~~~^~~~
Two days later, using the tough Roman style roads and Eugene's map, the cavalry unit arrived at the village that they were expecting the next attack at. They were exhausted and sore, but Eugene and the decurion had them mapping the village and scouting it for good positions to fight in.
Licinius dealt with the village elders who were initially panicked over the unexpected arrival of the king. "If we'd only known he was coming!" the berger said, wringing his hands over and over again.
"It matters not; the king is here because there are piratas off the coast coming this way," the captain said, setting off loud moans and hand wringing from the berger and then shrieks of dismay and fear from the berger's wife and children. The fat berger clutched at his chest and sat down heavily, face pale, lips blue as he gasped for breath.
The decurion shook his head and let one of his seconds deal with the old fool while he issued orders for the village to be evacuated.
Meanwhile, Eugene set up camp overlooking the village and then used the radio to report in. Once that was done, he met and then oversaw the evacuation with the village elders. One of their medics was attending to the berger and his wife; the berger had apparently had a minor heart attack after receiving the news.
Some of the ships would go out to sea despite the storm; they'd try to get ahead of it. Others would remain tied to the wharf.
~~~^~~~
Once they had a general plan, Licinius returned to their camp and warned Eugene as the king was checking his armor out that he wasn't staying around for the fight. "You aren't? Why not?" Eugene asked, playing with words.
"I mean you are not, milord."
Eugene stopped what he was doing and turned to face the decurion squarely. "You want to run that one past me again? Because I don't remember coming all this way for nothing," he said in a tight voice. He knew what the decurion meant. He was tempted to overrule the order to sit out the fighting.
The decurion winced. He had not wanted to be put in that position, but his orders from the imperatrix were strict. "Sorry, milord, I have strict orders from Her Majesty to make sure you aren't here when the fighting starts."
Eugene stared at him for a long moment. He could see th
at Licinius was not happy about being put in the position between the two. He was tempted to countermand him, but he didn't want to bring Deidra's ire down on the man and his family.
Instead he decided to play along. "Spoil sport," he sighed. "Hogging all the fun." He had to admit, leaving the fighting to the professionals was the smart move. It might not sound like it politically, but he understood it.
Licinius smiled as if in relief. "If it is any consolation, you won't miss much. Pirates like to pick on the weak and helpless, not fight a battle."
Eugene nodded. "They are bullies. They have a saying, fight to run away."
The decurion nodded grimly. "Exactly. Murders and thieves, but they wilt when they face a true soldier's steel."
"Good. I'm looking forward to it." Eugene paused as the leader shot him a glower. He heaved a sigh again. "I mean hearing about the battle afterward. There, happy?"
Licinius snorted. "Better."
"Spoil sport," Eugene muttered again.
~~~^~~~
Just because he was banned from the melee fighting didn't mean Eugene was going to allow them to run him out of town. He watched from the cliffs overlooking the village with a fire team of guards, and two radios—one radio was the HAM radio and one was a walkie talkie.
Only the sergeants and officers had walkie talkies. They had been warned to use them minimally. Each was a hand-crank affair that allowed brief messages. He should have kept the radio gear that the Terran team had used, but instead, it had been scattered in the castle and capital.
Oh well, this would be the first true test of the gear and other gear.
When the lookouts spotted the pirate ships on the horizon, he hunkered down and crawled to a vantage point belly down, where he could see out to sea. He used his binoculars to spot the black sails approaching from the northwest. "Anytime now."
He turned when a village elder came over. The man was old and gnarled, a former ship's captain with a peg leg and hook for a hand. He was grizzled, with white whiskers and hair in a ponytail. The word was that he was in his fifties, which passed for old in these parts.
"It looks like they are planning to hit the docks when it is dark," the elder said nervously. "If they fire the docks …"
"They won't. Fire could spread but we can rebuild. You did invest in firefighting equipment, right?" Eugene asked.
"Well, ah, there was so much to do and …"
Eugene sighed. "Oh boy." He tried to search his memory to think if Licinius knew that and if he'd taken steps with buckets of water or sand placed near. He couldn't remember, and he didn't intend to jog the other man's elbow with the inane question at the moment.
No, all he could do was to wait and watch and hope it all worked out.
~~~^~~~
Cao had been annoyed when they'd been temporarily delayed by the storm, but it had shifted course away from them so they'd only lost a couple of days.
He expected the village to be empty. No doubt the blasted fishing trawler had warned them, and the peasants had fled into the night.
Once he had sight of the village, he kept the trio of ships off the horizon until near evening, and then they sailed in as if they belonged there. "We do this quick," he growled, waving to the others as they geared up. "We leave the beasts behind. Get in, gather supplies, and get out." He heard a bit of grumbling and smiled coldly. "We'll be here all night, so check in regularly or you'll be left behind. All hands back to the boats by morning."
There was a muffled growl of anticipation.
"Let's do this," he growled as he detailed a security detail to remain with the ship. They would take care of tying the ships up and overseeing the loading. No doubt they'd take a tithe of the booty from the others as payment for being left out. He didn't care.
The hunt was on; for the moment, that was all that mattered.
~~~^~~~
The first buildings that the pirates found were the fishing warehouses. A handful of pirates went within but then left once they found no opposition. They could get fish at sea; they were after other things.
Barrels were sampled on the port, and some were wrestled over to the ships. One intrepid pirate knocked a barrel over and then used his hands and knees to get it moving. He was held up by a rope though; the legion had deliberately left ropes and things on the docks as tripping points.
When someone more senior found him, the man checked the stopper and then cuffed the lad to get something other than whatever was in the barrel. The disgusted young man stomped off sheepishly to find something of more value to bring back.
The villagers had been given time to evacuate so they'd taken anything they could carry of value away. That forced the pirates to move further and deeper into the village as the sun set and darkness fell.
When the pirates fanned out and began to break down doors and enter homes hoping for the scream of a woman or child, they instead found the soldiers quietly waiting for them.
"Surprise," a soldier said grimly, brandishing an ax in one hand and a pistol in the other.
~~~^~~~
Cao's head snapped up when he heard the telltale sound of a gunshot. It was followed by another, then another. He turned, trying to localize it, wondering what the hell was going on when something hit him in the side and he went down.
He clutched at his side, groaning and then stuffed a rag into the wound. He screamed to get back to the ships.
~~~^~~~
Some of the pirates fell to their knees and surrendered when they realized they couldn't fight. Others tried to fight the soldiers and some managed to get clear and warn others who were lagging behind them. They in turn raced to the wharf to escape in their ships.
Eugene watched as one guy tripped, falling over a coil of lines while others stepped over him. One guy fell in the water; he had no idea if he could swim or not. They were in full retreat, falling all over themselves to get to ships. "Get to the ships!" a man screamed and then a horn blared a tooting call.
~~~^~~~
Licinius heard the call and nodded once. "Snipers cut off those trying to retreat. Let no sails be raised, no oars be placed in the water."
It looked like most of the storm was going to pass them, which was good. He wanted the battle done by the time the edge hit shore.
~~~^~~~
Eugene heard the radio report and refocused his night vision goggles on the fishing ship that had snipers hidden on her deck and in her rigging. They came alive, sparks and shots flared out, momentarily blinding him. He pulled back to wipe at his eyes and then refocused on the docks.
The snipers began to methodically take out anyone on the deck of a pirate ship or trying to get into the rigging to set sail. One guy was killed while trying to leap to a ship from the wharf. His body hit the side of the boat and then slid into the water bonelessly.
The distant most vessel managed to get clear of the docks and make a run for it. They couldn't get the sails up but they did manage to drift out of range of the snipers. Only then did they risk coming out from below deck to set sail.
How many people were left on the ship and whether or not they'd survive to get home was anyone's guess. Eugene was of two minds about it. One, he didn't want anyone to get home to warn the enemy, but two, in a way it was good because it would let the enemy know not to prey upon the Imperium ever again.
It was out of his hands either way so he returned his attention to the docks.
~~~^~~~
Licinius checked on one of the wounded even while the occasional pop of sniper fire announced that at least one or more pirates were still alive and trying to get to their ships. He patted the wounded soldier on his good soldier gently and then turned to check on the battle.
It wasn't much of a battle, more a cluster of melee fights and the sniper fire at the docks. Those were something of a slaughter, for the first time the old wood decking was slick with blood not from the local fish.
The handful of snipers he had were methodical and cold blooded; they swept the wharf a
s remaining pirates continued to try to flee to their ships. Some fell into the water, some turned and tried to run inland or up the beach, but they were caught by the legion.
One group tried to use barrels for cover but the sniper rounds tore right through them. He ordered two fire teams to sweep behind the pirates, picking them off or capturing them. Once the port was cleared, he had the snipers work on the fool trying to shoot at his men with a crossbow from the lead pirate ship and then organized his troops to attack and captures the vessels themselves.
~~~^~~~
Cao was stunned by the attack. He had purposely not released the beasts, wanting to achieve surprise. Now he regretted that decision, not that it would have done much in the end.
Hostage Rescue (Princess Rescue Inc Book 2) Page 14