by Jamie Davis
She didn’t have to worry about that, though. The horsemen caught up to them and one of them raced ahead and grabbed the cart horse’s bridle, pulling the jostling cart to a stop. Cari stood up and drew her sword and dagger as did Helen, Francesca, and even Percy.
One of the men rode up next to her side of the cart and swung his cutlass at her head. Cari parried the slashing attack with her dagger and thrust forward with the point of her rapier, driving her sword through the man’s chest. She pierced his heart in one stroke. With a groan, he fell from the saddle to the hard-packed dirt of the road.
2,500 experience awarded
Cari turned to screams of alarm from the back of the cart. Percy was holding his own against one of the horsemen with his cutlass. She was glad to see their sword practices over the last few weeks had paid off.
Another of the men had reached down and grabbed Jaycee by the leg. He dragged her towards the back of the cart.
The little girl kicked at the hand that held her ankle, but she was unable to dislodge it.
Cari put a hand on the back of the wagon seat and vaulted over it into the rear of the cart. She slashed downward with her sword at the arm holding the little girl. “Let go of her, you bastard.”
The man saw her attack coming and let go of the princess before Cari’s sword was able to connect.
With his other hand, he swung an awkward blow down at her from the other side of his horse, trying to catch her at the extension of her lunge. Cari barely managed to pull back in time to avoid the attack.
“We have to finish them fast,” Cari called out. “They’re only going to draw others to us.”
Behind Cari, Helen and Francesca managed to each finish off one of the attackers.
Cari was particularly impressed with how good Francesca was with the blade. She’d learned a great deal since she’d first joined the crew of the Vengeance. She looked particularly fierce with the eyepatch she wore. It reminded Cari how she lost her eye fighting at Cari’s side last year.
With only two attackers left, Cari was confident they would finish them off. Cari turned to help Percy finish of his attacker. The boy had impressively been holding his own but the man he was fighting was bigger and stronger. It was only a matter of time before he overcame the boy’s defenses.
Cari reached out and slashed downward with her dagger, blocking a blow that might have killed the boy. She stepped over to interpose herself between the two and called over her shoulder at Percy. “Get Jaycee to safety over there in the alley. We’ll be right behind you. Francesca, go with him. Helen and I have these other two.”
Helen had jumped in the back to stand beside Cari and together they fought the two remaining horsemen. Cari finished hers off with a thrust to his throat though she took a hit to her side that drew blood.
Health damage — health -8
2,500 experience awarded
Helen was still fighting her opponent and Cari came over to assist.
She jumped down from the cart’s rear platform and reached up to pull the man down from his horse. He must’ve realized he was outnumbered because he wheeled his horse around and broke away. Cari started to give chase but stopped short as he raced off into the darkness.
“I managed to get a hit in as he turned about, Captain,” Helen said. “I’m not sure if it was enough to kill him, though.”
“It’ll have to do, Helen. Come on, let’s get to the others. If he does live, he’s going to bring help, and bring it fast.”
Together the two women headed towards the alley where Francesca guarded Percy and Jaycee.
“We’ll leave the cart here for now. We’re not that far from the harbor and we can proceed the rest of the way just as quickly on foot. Let’s stay to the back of this row of houses along the alley and see if we can avoid the main streets until we get closer to the docks.”
Cari took the lead followed by Helen, then Jaycee, and Percy. Francesca brought up the rear turning to watch their backs as she followed the others. They continued along the alleyway until they reached an intersection with the main thoroughfare. Cari heard loud, angry voices to the left towards the center of town.
Holding up her hand to halt the others, she moved to the edge of the alleyway and glanced around the corner to see who was there.
Cari saw the trouble right away. In the distance, there was a large crowd of people coming down the main street from up the hill in the direction of Captain Wheldon’s home. Just beyond them, she saw flames and smoke rising above the trees. She wasn’t sure, but it looked like they’d set Captain Wheldon’s home on fire. “Bastards.”
“What is it, ma’am,” Percy asked.
“Looks like Captain Wheldon wasn’t able to calm the crowd. I hope he’s all right. I think they set fire to his house when they didn’t find us there. This sucks. I wish we could go back and help them, but we have to get Jaycee to safety. Come on, the crowd is heading this way.” Cari turned and led them to the right down the harbor road. Gas lamps lit the way, but they were few and far between. There were plenty of shadows in which to hide.
Cari looked ahead at the masts of the ships jutting up over the roofs ahead of them. It wasn’t too far now. They only had to go a few more blocks.
They were about a block away from the harbor when they ran into trouble again. This time a group of four thugs stood in front of them guarding the intersection. Clearly, they were set in place to watch out for Cari and her crew.
The men pointed in her direction as soon as they appeared. “There they are, get them!”
“Percy, get Jaycee and head back down that alley we just passed. You should be able to cut around this intersection and get to the Sailfish from there. We’ll hold these attackers off and meet you there. Don’t let anything happened to her.”
“I won’t, ma’am. You can count on me.”
Cari turned around, drawing her weapons again just in time to bat aside the first sweeping attack from one of the cutlasses.
It was three of her team against four of them and Cari set herself in position to take on two of them at one time. That left one each for Helen and Francesca.
Cari dodged the first attack by leaning to one side and then caught the second attack on the edge of her rapier blade while trying to follow up with an uppercut dagger thrust into the first attacker’s abdomen. It didn’t connect, but it forced him to dance backward to avoid the blade.
That gave Cari an opportunity to take on the second attacker one on one for a few seconds. She drove in with a flurry of attacks to try and get past his guard. She managed to strike home with her dagger. A quick thrust upward into his abdomen pierced his heart and the man fell backward with a groan.
2,500 experience awarded
Cari hadn’t been paying attention and lost track of the first attacker. He managed to get a blade in with a thrust at her back before she could counter.
She managed to turn aside just in time to avoid the worst of the blow, but she still felt the stabbing pain from the tip of the blade.
Health damage health -10
Helen had managed to dispatch her attacker. Unfortunately, she was also wounded in the process. She still managed to limp over and help Francesca finish off the final attacker leaving Cari facing her man one on one.
“Go after Percy and the princess. I’ve got this guy. Get the ship ready and I’ll meet you there.”
The other two women darted off down the alley following Percy and Jaycee leaving Cari and her attacker alone.
The attacker sneered at her. “You ain’t goin’ to git away. We know what your plan is. You’ll not leave the harbor alive. That girl is stayin’ with us.”
“Better men than you have tried to stop me when I have a plan. They’re all dead now.”
“You may have killed my friends, but you won’t kill me. All I have to do is keep you busy until help arrives.”
Cari knew the man was right. She had to finish this quickly. It was likely her friends were going to run into trouble before th
ey got to the Sailfish.
Cari feinted to the left and the man took the bait. Cari blocked his follow-up attack with her dagger using a sweeping swipe to the right. She then swung her rapier blade in from one side, cutting a broad slash across the man’s shoulder.
He dropped his cutlass as his arm went limp. He turned to run away, but Cari wasn’t going to let him get away that easily. She lunged forward and ran him through from behind before he took a full step.
2500 experience awarded
Cari turned and ran down the main street as she heard more shouts approaching from behind. She hoped to intercept her friends as they came out the alley farther down the road. She let out a sigh of relief as she saw them burst out of the alley just ahead.
Percy and Jaycee ran on towards the docks. Francesca and Helen ran along close behind them, though Helen was last and losing ground. Her pronounced limp led Cari to believe she was more injured than she had first appeared.
“Helen, are you all right?” Cari called out as she caught up to her first mate.
“I’ll be along, Captain. Catch up with the others. I’ll be there before you set sail.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“You don’t have a choice. I’ll make it. You catch up to Jaycee and the others, your responsibility lies with her.”
Cari knew what Helen said was right, but she’d lost so many friends, so many people that had counted on her to keep them safe in the last few months. She didn’t want to lose Helen, too. “I’m counting on you to get there before we sail, Helen. I’ll be very cross with you if you show up haunting me as a ghost.”
Helen laughed aloud at her captain’s words. “I promise, Captain. I’ll only haunt you in friendly ways. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, though. Keep going. I’m right behind you.”
Cari raced ahead and caught up with Percy, Jaycee, and Francesca just as they reached the dock beside the Sailfish.
They’d made it.
Cari directed Percy up the gangplank with the princess and turned to Francesca. ”Go back and help Helen. Make sure she gets here before we sail.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am.”
As the woman headed off to help the first mate, Cari turned and followed Percy and Jaycee up the gangplank onto the racing schooner. Sylvie already had things well in hand. The small crew had all the lines cast off except a single thick hawser linked to the pier. The sails were ready to drop and catch the wind coming off the shore.
This ship was small and very responsive. The coastal breeze off the island would pull them out and into the harbor.
“Excellent work, Sylvie. You’ve gotten a lot done in the time you’ve had.”
“It’s not that hard, ma’am. These sailors are all a good crew. We’ll have the ship ready to go in fifteen minutes.”
“We may not have that much time. Make it five.”
“Aye, ma’am. Five it is.”
“Percy, lend her a hand with everything and anything she needs. You know as much about what to do sailing this ship as most sailors do. It’s time you earn your keep again.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am.” Percy smiled at the compliment and ran off to catch up with Sylvie.
Jaycee stood by Cari’s side. Cari felt a small hand reach up and grasp hers. She gave Jaycee’s hand a gentle squeeze and glanced down at her ward. “It’ll be all right, Jaycee. We’ve almost made it out of here.
A shout from down the docks caught Cari’s attention. A crowd came around the corner a couple of blocks away and started towards the pier where the Sailfish sat. Just ahead of the group, Francesca had one of Helen’s arms pulled across her shoulders and together the two were half-limping, half-running towards the ship.
It was going to be close, too close.
Cari looked at the stern of the small vessel and spotted the swivel gun mounted on the rail. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but it was all she had. A small footlocker sat bolted to the deck next to it and Cari correctly guessed it held gunpowder and shot for the small, light anti-personnel weapon.
Running over to the position on the rail Cari opened up the locker and began loading the miniature cannon. There was a small tin can, about the size of a can of soup, the same diameter of the little gun’s barrel. After putting the small bagged powder charge in, Cari rammed the small canister of pellets down inside the barrel and turned it back around to face the docks adding a bit of powder to the touch hole at the top of the gun.
Cari took ahold of the handle of the swivel gun and suddenly realized she didn’t have anything to light it with. Someone tugged on her shirt sleeve and she looked down to see Jaycee standing there.
“Here, Cari. I think this will make a flame.” The little girl held up a small brass cylinder with a knurled wheel set on the top.
“Good girl,” Cari said taking the object from her. Jaycee was right about the device. It was a spark lighter. If she spun the wheel, the friction would light the lamp oil wick next to it. The problem was, these things were kind of persnickety. They didn’t always work when you wanted them to.
Cari didn’t have time to worry about bad luck, though. Helen and Francesca had almost made it to the Sailfish, but the crowd of angry Raiders was gaining on them. Cari spun the wheel with her thumb feeling it ratchet under her grip as the flint and steel caused a spark to jump towards the wick.
Cari worked it again and again with her thumb. Spark after spark flew towards the tiny wick just a few millimeters away. Finally, the wick caught and a small flame appeared. Aiming the swivel gun in the direction of the onrushing crowd, Cari touched the fire to the top of the small cannon. There was a loud flash and a bang, followed by a cloud of thick grey smoke.
When the smoke cleared, the first ranks of the mob chasing Helen and Francesca were down. Many of them writhing in pain on the stone pier. Four of them would never rise again. The others who weren’t injured backed away to take cover.
2500 experience awarded
2500 experience awarded
2500 experience awarded
2500 experience awarded
Helen and Francesca hobbled up the gangplank together and onto the Sailfish’s deck. They’d made it.
“It’s about time, Helen. I was about to have to come out and get you myself.”
Helen laughed. “No need for that, ma’am. Francesca here was able to fetch me just fine.”
“Sylvie, let’s get this ship out into the harbor and away before any more people think about crewing another ship to come after us.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am.”
The crew dropped the sails and they immediately caught the breeze coming off the island. The small racing schooner slid out into the harbor. It handled much more quickly than the Vengeance had. Soon they were racing through the waves towards the harbor mouth and the open ocean of the Western Sea beyond. They’d made it. They were free of the Cairn Islands. Now it was time to find a place to put ashore near Tandon.
Quest accepted — Land on the Empire’s Western Coast
Quest completed — Escape to the Harbor
26,000 experience
Level up!
Chapter 4
Standing at the ship’s wheel, Cari looked out at the blue sky on the horizon way out where it touched the sea. The weather had been excellent and the last four days had been beyond pleasant for her. She had missed sailing the sea with a good crew. There had been no trouble once they cleared the harbor at Cairn Island. No one had been able to get a ship clear of the port in time to follow them before they were out of sight.
After leaving the Cairn Islands behind them, Cari forgot she’d leveled up as they left the harbor and she decided to allocate the two attribute points and one skill point she’d received upon reaching level thirteen as a duelist.
Cari decided she could’ve used some additional luck getting out of the Raider town and added her two attribute points to her luck attribute. This increased her luck modifier to plus two. She also improved her acrobatic dodge skill to level three.
> When she was finished, Cari looked over her stats menu for the first time in a long time and was happy to see she had completely healed from her injuries.
Name: Cari Dix
Class: Duelist
Level: 13
Attributes:
Brawn: 12 - +2 to hit/damage
Wisdom: 10 - +1
Luck: 12 - +2 to all saving throws
Speed: 22 - +7 defense
Charm: 18 - +5 personal reaction
Health: 130/130
Skills: Two-Weapon Combat, Acrobatic Dodge — 3, Multi-Foe Tactics — 2, Feint — 2, Bladesmith — Master, Prescience — 3, Ambidexterity, Seamanship — Master, Navigation — Master, Aimed Cannon Shot — 2
Master Duelist Bonus – Projectile Dodge (55% Chance of Activation)
Regeneration – 1hp/sec (max 60 seconds) 1/day
Experience: 600,000/850,000
Satisfied with the changes she made, Cari saved them and closed the menu in her visual field and returned her attention to the task at hand. The Sailfish was a fast ship. She was small and sleek and quick to react to any adjustment made by the crew to her course. It was a pure joy to sail this vessel.
After leaving the harbor on that hectic first night, the crew had fallen into a routine of sorts with Helen as the first mate, Sylvie as second mate and Francesca as bosun. Percy had joined the rest of the crew as a full-fledged seaman after Cari held a small ceremony promoting him. He swelled with pride, popping his chest up when Cari announced his promotion. He was getting too big to be a cabin boy anymore anyway.
Cari was so wrapped up in thinking about the last four days, she didn’t notice the first mate approach.