by Jamie Davis
The effect was immediate as the sea rushed into the other ship’s lower decks. He began to list to port, causing more water to pour into the open holes in the side of the vessel.
A cheer went out from the entire crew on the Vengeance.
“Nice shooting, Mr. Claridge,” Cari called out.
“It was your call, ma’am,” Stefan replied, his eyes wide at what his captain had done.
Cari saw the expression on his face and grimaced. The awe and adoration she saw were only going to spur him on in his competition with Rodrigo. A glance to the side showed similar emotions playing across the other lieutenant’s face.
“Should I put on more sail and pull away, ma’am?” Helen asked, breaking into Cari’s thoughts. “Or did you want to stay and finish them off?”
Cari turned to scan the faltering Sultanate ship. They now listed so far to port, their guns could no longer fire at the Vengeance. She could break off contact now and they might manage to outrun the other pursuer.
“Yes, let’s get out of here. Hopefully, the other ship will stop and pick up their fellows. That ship is doomed.”
“Aye, ma’am,” Helen called out orders and more crew headed aloft to let out additional sail. Others, under the direction of Mr. Dawkins, cleared the rest of the wreckage caused by the other ship’s cannonballs.
Cari turned and judged the seas behind them and the distant triangular sails of the second ship. If they stopped to lend aid for any time at all, Cari would be able to slip away. She’d put enough distance between them that she could lose them in the darkness of the coming night.
They would make it to Tandon safely after all. She glanced to her side as two crewmen came and carried young Jordan’s body from the quarterdeck. Cari shook her head and corrected herself. Most of them would make it to Tandon, but not all. That would have to be good enough.
Quest completed — Sink the first Sultanate ship
12,500 experience
Aimed cannon shot +1 level
Chapter 18
The second Sultanate ship continued the chase into the evening, but it must have turned about in the darkness of the moonless night. When morning arrived, there was no sign of them.
Repairs were made over the next few days along with the burial at sea of the few crew members who died in the engagement. Cari presided over the ceremony as the canvas wrapped bodies were raised and each, in turn, slid over the rail to drop into the sea and disappear beneath the waves as the ship continued onward.
She wondered which of them was Jordan’s body. She stared over the rail as the last of the dead dropped into the sea. Cari’s emotions warred within her, and she barely managed not to show them on her face. It wouldn’t do for the crew to see their captain show weakness. They relied on her to be strong in the face of adversity and death.
“Miss Doolan, you should get some rest.”
“You could use a break, too, ma’am. We can leave the running of the ship to Mr. Dawkins, here.”
“I’d be happy to take command while you refresh yourself below,” the bosun said.
“You’re right,” Cari admitted. “I’ll be in my cabin. Mr. Dawkins, continue on course to Tandon. We should arrive by the end of the day.”
“Yes, ma’am. Can I have the cook send you something to eat? You haven’t had a hot meal since the battle yesterday.”
“That would be nice, but only if Miss Doolan joins me.” Cari had made sure everyone in the crew got a break to go below and eat something, but she had remained on deck, overseeing the damage repair crews with Helen all night.
Helen swiped a hand through her hair, wiping away sweat from her brow. “I’d like that. I think we both could use a good meal.”
The two women shared a smile and walked together down towards the cabins at the stern. It would be good to sit down.
Helen stopped by her cabin. “Let me slip into some fresh clothes, ma’am. I’ll be along to your cabin in a few minutes. It’ll take Cookie a little while to put a tray together for us.”
“Sounds good. That will give me a chance to change and freshen up as well. See you soon.”
Cari continued to her cabin, pulling the door closed behind her and letting her shoulders sag, feeling the weight of her exhaustion settle on them. Her thoughts turned to the mission that drove her to get to Tandon.
For what must be the hundredth time, Cari silently berated herself for missing the clues that might have told her who the little girl was when she was discovered aboard the raider ship. Part of her knew there was no way she could have known, but another side of her wished the Fantasma game notifications would have given her a hint as to the girl’s identity.
Luckily, she was in about the safest place she could be. Tandon was far from any assassins or threats to the Empress’s rule. No one but Cari and a few of her officers knew who Jane really was. Her foster family and everyone else in Tandon had no idea of who the girl was. Cari wanted to keep it that way as long as possible while she came up with a plan for what to do with the girl once she was retrieved.
Part of her wanted to return the girl to her great-grandmother, the Empress. The argument she had against that had to do with those arrayed against her ever taking her great-grandmother’s throne. Timron and the Duke of Charon would never allow it. Cari was sure both of them would stop at nothing to kill the child if they discovered who she was.
Helen arrived right after Cari had changed into a clean white blouse, followed soon after by Cookie with a tray of food including hot sandwiches with cured ham and cheese. Cari had introduced the grilled cheese sandwich to her crew and it had become a favorite in many variations.
The two women didn’t say much to each other during the meal, probably due to their exhaustion and what little they did talk about had to do with mundane day to day ship’s routine. Helen soon returned to her own cabin and a welcome and well-deserved rest.
After the first mate left, Cari climbed into her bunk. She lay down fully dressed, only taking her boots off first. It had been a long time since she’d slept. She wanted to be rested when she and Helen went into the city to retrieve the child.
———
Percy’s hand on her shoulder startled her, and she bolted upright in her bunk, taking a few seconds to get her bearings. She’d been dreaming of home again, sleeping in her own bed with her parents just down the hall.
“Sorry to wake you, ma’am. The first mate asked me to fetch you. There’s something strange going on in Tandon.”
“Strange how?”
“I think you should see for yourself, Cap’n.”
Cari swung her legs over the side of the bunk and pulled on her boots. Standing, she glanced at the mirror. Her braid needed redoing and she reached up to untie the leather thong wrapped around her hair to fix it.
“Tell Miss Doolan I’ll be right there, Percy.”
“Aye, ma’am.” The boy turned and left her cabin, pulling the door shut behind him.
Cari finished her hair and decided she’d change her clothes later. Curiosity got the best of her, and she headed for the door.
Up on deck, she noticed the ship had dropped anchor and sat just outside the entrance to the harbor of Tandon.
“What is it you wanted me to see, Helen?”
“That, Cap’n.”
Helen pointed at the harbor mouth and Cari stared at it for a long time before she realized what it was she saw. A thick iron chain stretched across the harbor’s opening. Each link in the massive chain must be three or four feet across.
“What the hell is that?”
“It’s the harbor chain,” Helen replied.
“I can see that. I mean why is it blocking our way into the harbor?”
“We’re not sure,” Helen said, gesturing to the bosun who also shrugged. “I have to confess I didn’t know the old harbor chain even existed anymore. The last time it was used was over a century ago when Kang the Usurper besieged the city. I’d always assumed it had been dropped then and left to rust on t
he floor of the harbor.”
“Clearly that was not the case. Lower a boat, let’s row closer. I see a group of people on the battlements of that small fortification on the headland at the harbor mouth.”
“Aye, ma’am,” the bosun said. He headed off shouting orders at the crew. They had all gathered at the rail, gawking at the strange barrier across the harbor entrance.
“Perhaps I should go,” Helen said. “If there’s some sort of trouble, you’ll be exposed out there in the small boat.”
“We’ll both go. You know the city better than I do, maybe you can help me reason with the guards in that fort to lower the chain and let us in.”
Once the longboat was lowered into the water and the crew selected to man the oars, Cari and Helen climbed over the side and settled onto the bench at the stern where the bosun himself manned the tiller. It didn’t pass her notice that all the men and women on the oars were armed not just with cutlasses but also with pistols shoved into their belts.
“Expecting trouble Mr. Dawkins?” Cari asked the bosun.
“This is mighty strange, ma’am. Better to be ready for trouble than getting caught by surprise.”
“True. Very well, let’s get underway.”
“Shove off,” the bosun called out to the boat’s crew and a few of the oarsmen used their oars to push the small craft away from the Vengeance.
Once they were clear, the oars were lowered into the water and the crew began to pull on them, propelling them towards the harbor.
Cari put the spyglass to her eye and scanned the group of people on the low battlements. Most were in the uniforms of the Duke’s guard, though a few appeared to be civilians, perhaps noblemen acting as officers. She’d learn soon enough. They were making good time. The longboat cut smoothly through the water.
They were about a hundred yards away from the headland and the small harbor fort when a crackle of musket fire sounded from the battlements. Cari looked up in alarm, then breathed a sigh of relief. All the soldiers on the battlements pointed their weapons at the sky.
“I think they’re trying to warn us off, ma’am,” Helen said.
“Why? We aren’t a threat. Keep going, Mr. Dawkins. Let’s get close enough to talk over the sound of the wind and waves. I want an answer to what is going on here. We have to get into that city.”
“Aye, ma’am. You heard her. Bend those oars. Put your backs into it.”
Cari stood, steadying herself against the swells of the sea with a hand on Helen’s shoulder. They’d almost reached the small wooden dock at the base of the fort’s walls when she heard a voice from above call down to her.
“Turn about. We cannot let you land or step ashore.”
A man in a black cloak and tricorn hat leaned over the battlements to shout down at them.
“What is going on?” Cari asked. “We have pressing business in the city.”
“The Duke has ordered the city closed. No one is allowed to enter or leave.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Plague.”
The man’s words set the crew to murmuring back and forth until a sharp word from the bosun quieted them.
Cari’s mind spun with questions. She didn’t know anything about medicine, but she’d studied enough history to know what that meant to a city like Tandon without modern public health resources. It could wipe out a third of the population or more. It could also be cured and future illness prevented if the source of the infection could be discovered.
“What is being done to find the source of the disease?” Cari asked the man in black.
“At first we thought it was caused by rats or other vermin. Now we aren’t sure. I am one of the city’s physicians set here to warn off travelers. I believe it is something to do with the city’s wells. The mysterious illness shows signs similar to what happens when someone drinks contaminated water and the water levels in the wells have dropped to a point lower than ever seen before.”
“Have you tried boiling it?”
“The Duke is trying to implement a plan to clean the cisterns and central wells. I’m not sure it will work.”
Helen laid her hand on Cari’s arm. “I think he’s right, ma’am. I don’t think you can clean the wells here. The problem has to be treated at the source. I had an uncle once who said an underground river flowing from the east fed the wells and springs in Tandon. He worked in the eastern mines as a child. I remember he once said he’d seen the river for himself.”
“Where? Which mines?” Cari asked.
“I think there’s an old silver mine along the coast to the east of here. It’s been closed for longer than I’ve been alive but that is where I think he used to work. It borders a section of the mountains governed by a tribe of hill trolls. He told us the mine fell to an attack by the trolls a few years after he left to work elsewhere.”
Cari turned her attention back to the physician on the battlements above.
“Doctor, can you get word to the Duke?”
“I can. Why?”
“Tell the Duke that I will look into the source of the city’s water supply.”
“And you are?”
“I’m Captain Cari Dix of the Vengeance. Tell him I will try to find out what is causing the problems with the water. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Quest accepted — investigate the silver mine
If Cari had any doubts about her instincts on the source of the problem in Tandon, her game notification put them to rest. It confirmed for her that something unusual and probably sinister was happening here otherwise the quest message wouldn’t have appeared.
“Take us back to the Vengeance Mr. Dawkins. Helen, tell me everything your uncle told you about this mine and the underground river.”
Chapter 19
Helen and Cari scanned the shoreline on the chart. This was a navigational map and didn’t show things on shore that didn’t pertain to travel by sea.
Helen stabbed a finger down on a cove about a day’s travel east along the coast from Tandon.
“This has to be the place. Look how this spine of the mountains extends down towards the coast. That would be a good place to put a mine. Plus, my uncle talked once of how they would fish in a sheltered cove for extra meat to supplement their supplies beyond what the overseers fed them.”
“We’ll find out if you’re right soon enough. We can be there tomorrow soon after sunrise. Let’s get underway. The faster we get there, the faster we can fix whatever’s wrong if this is the source of the problem. We have to get back and fetch Jane from her foster parents.”
“Do you really think she’s a princess?”
“I do, for a lot of reasons. Mostly because I don’t believe in chance. She was kept on this ship by the raiders for a reason. There weren’t any other prisoners aboard. That and the information I got back in Cairn Island all adds up. It’s got to be Princess Jaycee.”
“Maybe if we tell the crew what we’re about,” Helen proposed, “they’ll understand the risks we’re taking by going ashore and investigating this mine.”
Cari shook her head. “No. Right now, the only people who know about the girl’s identity are Stefan, Rodrigo, Percy, and the two of us. Let’s keep it that way. We’ll tell the crew of a great cache of silver hidden in the old mine along with the underground river. That should give them enough motivation to follow along willingly and help us fight anything we run up against.”
“What happens when they get there and there’s no silver?”
“I’ll make sure everyone is rewarded. I’m sure the Duke will have a reward for us if we cure the plague.”
Helen shrugged. “You’re the captain.”
“Yes, I am. Go and select a shore party to join us on this little adventure. Make sure you include Rodrigo and Stefan. They’ll only follow us on their own if we go ashore without them and they’re both useful if it comes to a fight.”
Helen nodded and left as Cari returned her attention to the chart. She made a few calculations
and memorized the course she plotted before she rolled up the map returning it to the cabinet beside her desk.
It was time to find that mine.
———
The cove was right where it was supposed to be. Cari effortlessly guided the Vengeance into the sheltered anchorage quickly spotting the cluster of ramshackle buildings set on the cliffs above them. At first, she thought they were deserted, but then she saw a wisp of smoke from one of the stone chimneys. Someone was up there. Maybe whoever it was could help them by answering some questions.
“Gather the shore party, Miss Doolan. Let’s go find out what’s for dinner.”
“Aye, ma’am.”
Shouts and orders were relayed, and once more one of the longboats was lowered over the side. Cari was already armed and ready with a sword, dagger, and two pistols, but the bosun had ordered a chest of weapons bought up on deck and was personally handing out a cutlass and pistol to each person who would accompany Cari and the others ashore.
There would be six crew members in all, plus Cari, Helen, Rodrigo, and Stefan. The ten of them made for a tight fit in the small longboat, but they’d make it work.
The water in the cove rippled in the gentle breeze sweeping down from the cliff and out over the water. They didn’t have to go far to shore and the trip was almost pleasant in the secluded spot. Gulls flew overhead and the sunlight on the cliffs made them sparkle and shine.
“This is a good fishing spot, Cap’n,” Rodrigo remarked.
One of the sailors spat over the side and growled. “It would be if there weren’t trolls around waiting to put you on a spit instead of your fish.”
Cari had to tell them what they might face up there. They all needed to know who or what they might be asked to fight.