Pirates and Wizards

by Jaxon Reed

  Cessic shrugged and said, “Last time out we almost burned up with Steck’s ship. You said nothing before we went for her. I’m not so sure your powers of foresight are the best, Melton.”

  “Begging the Captain’s pardon, but at least be sure and check for a trap before we board her. I’ve a bad feeling about this one.”

  “I always do, Melton. I always do.”

  Melton saluted half-heartedly and tromped away, his peg leg stomping a rhythm as he walked.

  Stin said, “Check for a trap? What did he mean by that?”

  Cessic grabbed the silver key hanging around his neck and said, “The Keys to Corsairs Cove give us certain capabilities. Each captain wears one. We can find the hidden ways back home with it, and cast gateways for our ships. We can also detect other doorways. And traps, after a fashion.”

  “After a fashion?”

  “Yes. It seems to work differently for each captain. For instance, I can detect the presence of hidden men. That’s usually the way the Coral Navy tries to catch us, when they bother. They’ll send a boat out that will wander through pirate waters for days. When we notice it, they wait until we close in to take it, and then a bunch of soldiers jump out of hiding.

  “It worked once, years ago. They still try on occasion. Melton is worried about this one having a trick up its sleeve, too.”

  Stin looked at the ship with renewed interest. It seemed to grow closer even as he looked. He said, “It doesn’t seem big enough to hide a lot of men.”

  Cessic said, “It’s not. It’s an express boat. If fortune favors us, she’ll be carrying a decent amount of gold and several important people to ransom.” He gave the smaller vessel another long look and said, “It certainly doesn’t have any soldiers hiding onboard.”

  -+-

  Late in the afternoon, the sun dropping down to the horizon, Cessic brought Waverider in for the capture. He ordered the flag of Coral taken down and the black flag of Corsairs Cove raised. The first few ropes snaked over, grappling hooks finding purchase on the smaller ship’s rails.

  Cessic stood on the top deck of the Waverider, looking out above his men preparing to board. Melton, Stin, and Quent stood with him. Melton gave Cessic a final nervous glance.

  The captain said, “Don’t worry, Melton. I can sense no hidden men onboard her. Everyone with a weapon is out on deck.”

  Melton nodded, reluctantly, and headed over to lead the boarding party. More ropes flew across. Pirates pulled on them while the defenders ran to cut the lines with axes. Arrows flew, taking some of them out before they could cut the ropes.

  The ships grew steadily closer. More ropes flew over and connected them. Pirates began crawling the lines. A few of the bolder ones made flying leaps, landing and rolling, only to come up fighting in a sea of axes.

  Whumpf!

  Everybody’s attention snapped to the water behind the two ships. A huge globe of hazy yellow light burst into existence over the sea.

  The defenders cheered.

  Cessic said, “What is that?”

  “Looks like a wizard’s transport globe,” Stin said. “Biggest one I’ve ever seen.”

  “I think you’re right. It’s similar to what we use to get back to Corsairs Cove.”

  “The same magic, I bet.”

  The prow of a huge Coral Navy ship slipped through the sphere, its battering ram speeding straight for the stern of Waverider. The cheer from the merchant defenders grew louder.

  Cessic’s face fell as realization dawned on him. He said, “It’s a trap. Melton! Call the men back!”

  But Melton had already jumped aboard the other ship, leading a pack of pirates.

  KUBRUNCH!

  Wavecrest lurched forward as the battering ram slammed into her stern, knocking everybody off their feet.

  Cessic, Quent and Stin scrambled up, trying to stand. The loud, high-pitched battle cries of the Coral Marines sent chills up their spines. They turned to the stern to see a huge wave of men, clad in orange-red leather vests and carrying shortswords jumping over to their boat.

  They could also see Wavecrest’s stern had crumpled in the impact, planks askew, splintered and broken. The sea rushed in, and already her prow shifted upward at a perceptible angle as water filled the rear hold.

  A hundred arrows whizzed through the air, clearing a path for the marines. Stin dove to one side as three chunked into the deck next to him. He scurried for cover, trying to find something that blocked their aim.

  Quent hid behind a mast, turning sideways so the archers couldn’t see him as another round of arrows flew over. One of their own up in Wavecrest’s riggings fell screaming down to the deck, landing with a bloody thud, half a dozen arrows sticking out of his chest and legs.

  “Steck . . .”

  Stin turned and spied Cessic, raising a bloody arm. He crawled on his belly as another round of arrows whizzed over. When he reached the captain, he pulled him to an open hatch, seeking cover from the murderous archers.

  Three arrows stuck out of Cessic, one in in his neck and two in his chest. Blood covered his front. He opened pain-filled eyes and looked at Stin while the thief held his head. He moved his lips, trying to speak around the arrow in his throat.

  “You’re . . . you’re . . .”

  “Don’t talk, Captain. We’ll find a healer.”

  Cessic shook his head, and grimaced in pain at the movement.

  He said, “You’re Captain . . . now.”

  His eyes rolled up into the back of his head. Stin set him down gently on the blood-slicked deck.

  The screams of the marines grew closer as they swarmed aboard Wavecrest. On impulse, Stin reached down and pulled the chain with the silver key over Cessic’s head and around the arrow sticking out of his neck. He placed it over his own head. As soon as the key touched his chest, he felt the world shift around him.

  Everything seem to glow in a different light, along with the sun. He could see a small group of pirates hiding in the rear hold, the water creeping steadily higher. He could see Veeroy hiding behind Wavecrest’s shore launch, his back to the water. He could see, sense, or feel every person on all three boats.

  He had no more chance to take it in as the first marine rounded a corner.

  Stin jumped up and yelled, “Abandon ship! Abandon ship!”

  The marine charged him, the point of his shortsword aimed for Stin’s belly.

  The prow lurched further into the air suddenly as the stern completely filled with water. The screaming marines fell back a bit, including the one focused on Stin.

  In the confusion, Stin saw Quent. He motioned toward Quent to follow and ran for the side, leaping over the rail and into the water. Stin surfaced in time to hear Quent’s splash as he jumped in nearby.

  About thirty paces away they found a large chunk of Wavecrest’s deck that had broken off in the collision. They swam over and grabbed hold of it. They floated some ways from the scene, slowly drifting away from the ship, and watched the battle unfold. The pirates were a rough lot, but more used to fighting nervous merchants armed with axes rather than trained marines with swords. Most who had not been struck down by arrows elected to surrender rather than go down fighting.

  One small group managed to get Wavecrest’s launch into the water before she sank. By that time, Stin and Quent had floated too far away to be seen and rescued. He watched Plinny jump into the boat, followed quickly by Veeroy and half a dozen other men. The pirates began to pull away from the wreck by oar. The marines saw them and called for archers. Two rushed up to the edge and began loosing arrows after them.

  Plinny and Veeroy struggled with the little craft’s sail, but as soon as they got it up Plinny sat in the back of the boat and drew a deep breath. He held it for a moment as he conjured his spell, then blew it out in a gust. The little sail snapped taught, and the tiny launch skimmed over the water, away from the battle and the sinking ship.

  Stin and Quent shared a smile as the boat sped toward the horizon and the setting su
n.

  They floated through a larger debris field now, as most of the remaining pirates were marched back to the navy ship. The last of the marines and pirates made their way over as Wavecrest’s prow slid below the waves. A loud gurgling sound came out as water rushed into the remaining air pockets on the submerged ship, and debris and bodies popped up to the surface. They soon mixed with other bodies, including a few marines and merchants.

  A cry of anguish shot out from the naval ship, attracting their attention. They watched as a dozen ropes were strung up from a large boom. At the point of a blade, several pirates were strung up by the neck. Then the boom was swung out over the water.

  Stin watched in horror as twelve pairs of legs dangled and twitched. He said, “What are they doing? Why bother saving them if they’re just going to kill them?”

  Quent said, “Looks like the Coralians are still upset over the Lightfish.”

  The marines pulled the boom back in, cut the ropes, and let the dead men drop unceremoniously into the water. They quickly strung up a dozen more pirates and swung the boom out over the side again.

  One of the many bodies floating nearby gasped and thrashed around a bit, ripping their attention away from the hangings.

  Stin said, “This one’s alive. Easy there! I’ll get you.”

  He pushed off and swam over to the fellow. He decided the survivor was from the merchant ship, based on his clothing. The man wore a brown cassock. Stin wrapped an arm around the fellow and paddled with his free arm back toward Quent. He lifted the man from the water while Quent dragged him up onto their makeshift raft, sprawling him out on his back.

  Quent said, “Quarl!”

  Stin pulled up onto the raft and looked down at the man. Sure enough, Quent’s twin stared back with weak eyes. He was a near perfect duplicate of Quent, down to the same length of beard and hair.

  Quarl said, “Brother. I shoulda known . . . you’d be onboard . . .”

  “What is this, Quarl? What have you done? This was a deliberate trap.”

  Quarl smiled, and coughed. Some blood and phlegm came up, smearing his sandy blond beard. He said, “You and your pirate friends angered the King. Stole too much gold from his brother-in-law. They decided to . . . get revenge.”

  He stopped to cough again and more blood came up.

  A launch splashed down from the naval ship, attracting Quent and Stin’s attention for a moment. A group of marines paddled out into the debris field. A couple of them reached over and pulled a survivor out of the water and into the small boat.

  “Rest easy, Quarl. We’ll get you to a healer.”

  “I am a healer, brother. I’ve lost too much blood.”

  Quent looked up. The launch slowly paddled forward, the men onboard searching the water. When he looked back down at Quarl, his brother had closed his eyes.

  He shook Quarl gently. “No. Don’t leave. Don’t leave me Quarl.”

  Quarl’s breaths grew shallow. His lips moved before he spoke. He said, “I’ll see you . . . after Judgment, brother.”

  Quent’s eyes teared up and he reached down to hug his brother.

  “Quarl!”

  “Don’t waste . . . don’t waste what time you have left . . . You’ll be judged too . . . like all of us.”

  Quarl stopped breathing. As his life left him, a look of peace took over his face.

  The men on the launch grew closer. Stin and Quent could hear them talk among themselves, now, a few hundred paces across the water. Stin could see an older man standing in the middle of the boat with the marines. One of the bodies thrashed in the water as the boat passed by, trying to reach it.

  “Help! Help! Can’t swim.”

  One of the marines said, “Recognize him, Denn?”

  The old man peered over the side and said, “Not one of ours.”

  The marine reached over and stabbed the pirate in the water with his shortsword. They heard him scream until he slipped under.

  Stin turned his attention back to the twins. He said, “Quent, I know that fellow, the old man. He was with us on Dream of the Isles. He’s going to recognize me, and he needs to recognize you, too. As Quarl. Otherwise you’re going to end up stabbed or on the end of a rope. Come on, help me get your brother’s clothes off.”

  Quent frowned, watching Stin struggle with his dead brother’s cassock.

  “What are you doing? This isn’t right.”

  “Do as I say or you’re a dead men. Take off your tunic and breeches and put this on. Quick, before they see us.”

  Reluctantly, Quarl took his own clothes off and pulled his brother’s cassock over his head.

  He said, “There’s blood and holes in it.”

  “Don’t worry. Nobody will notice. Now hold still, I need to bop you on the head.”

  “What?”

  “You’re about to suffer a memory loss. Otherwise, nobody will ever believe you’re Quarl. You may look like him, but once they start talking to you they’ll wise up quick.”

  Stin grabbed a floating plank from Wavecrest’s deck out of the water. He said, “Try not to scream.”

  He swung it up alongside Quent’s head, making a lout splat! Quent grimaced in pain, but didn’t cry out.

  Stin said, “Let’s get your brother back in the water. Face down.”

  Together they flipped Quarl’s body over and eased him back into the sea. Stin kicked the corpse, separating their makeshift raft from the body. It floated off in undergarments, face down.

  Stin looked back at Quent, still holding his head where the plank hit him. He said, “Who are you?”

  “I’m . . . Quarl?”

  “No. You don’t know who you are. You don’t remember anything. And you’re not going to remember anything until you come to a port and get far away from anyone on either one of those two ships. You understand?”

  Quent nodded, then flinched as the motion of his head brought a fresh wave of pain.

  Stin looked back to the launch, now a mere hundred paces away. He said, “Ready? I’ll call them over.”

  Quarl made a much smaller nod this time. Stin raised a hand and hollered at the men on the boat. “Over here! Over here!”

  Everybody on the little boat looked his way and the marines paddled in their direction. Within minutes the launch pulled up alongside their raft. Old Denn looked out over the side at them, along with the marines.

  One of the marines said, “Recognize these, Denn?”

  “Aye. That un’s our ship’s healer. This un’s Stin of Coral.”

  The marines reached down and grabbed them, helping them up into the boat. Somebody gave them each a blanket and they dried themselves off and bundled up.

  Denn said, “How are ye, Quarl?”

  Quent looked at him and squinted. He said, “Do I know you?”

  Denn and one of the marines discussed his injuries. The marine swore he knew a soldier who had suffered a head injury while fighting and couldn’t remember anything afterwards.

  The marine said, “Truth to tell it was a pub brawl, and he got walloped behind the eye right here with a pewter mug. He was never quite the same after that.”

  While they talked, another three marines approached Stin. Their leader looked him up and down and said, “Are you Stin of Coral?”

  At that moment the boom from the navy ship swung out over the water again. Stin watched. In the distance he could make out Melton’s peg leg as it jerked at the end of a rope. One of the bodies jerking around was smaller than all the others, the legs shorter. Stin realized it had to be Cuppers. He struggled to keep waves of guilt and horror from showing on his face.

  He turned his attention back to the marine and said, “I am he.”

  The marine nodded at his two men. They lifted Stin up to his feet, then pulled his arms behind him and began binding him with a length of rope.

  Stin said, “What is this?”

  The marine said, “I have orders that if you were found, I am to deliver you unharmed to the Royal Dungeon in Coral.”


  “Now look, we can discuss—”

  The leader pulled out a piece of cheesecloth from a pocket and squeezed Stin’s cheeks. When his mouth opened, the marine stuffed the cheesecloth into it. Then he wrapped another piece of cloth around Stin’s head, holding the cheesecloth in place so Stin couldn’t spit it out.

  He said, “I also have orders to gag you until you are safely in the ship’s holding pen. Nobody is to talk with you or have anything to do with you. Apparently, you’ve got a potent magical tongue.”

  The other two, now finished tying his hands, chuckled at this statement and one of them made a crude suggestion. Everyone on the boat laughed except Stin and Quent.

  They all sat down as the rowers paddled the boat back toward the navy ship. Stin watched helplessly, bound and gagged, as King Keel grew steadily closer.

  16

  Greystone and Trant stood on the deck of King Keel next to the towering Archemon. Below them, out over the water, flotsam and corpses floated. The boom swung out over the side one more time, and the last of the pirates were chopped from their ropes, splashing down to join the dead. In the distance they could see the launch rowing back, evidently carrying a few merchants who had been swept overboard in the fighting.

  “I think that went rather well, don’t you, Trant?”

  Trant nodded at the wizard. He said, “A sunken pirate ship. Very few losses on our side. I’d say it went well. What is your opinion, Captain?”

  Archemon smiled, the corners of his mustache rising with his mouth. He said, “I think it may be a while before the pirates stir up enough courage to attack again.”

  The three turned back to the tableau of death and destruction on the water below. The launch paddled steadily toward them, but looked to be several minutes out.

  Greystone said, “Pity we couldn’t capture their captain alive. I would dearly love to know more about their secret island.”

  “I thought wizards knew all about such things,” Archemon said.

  “Oh no, not at all. And we keep secrets even among ourselves. I’m afraid it was my predecessor, the original Greystone, who set Gloomis up with his base of operations. Unfortunately, he was killed before anyone could learn much about the arrangement. The secrets to Corsairs Cove died with him, at least as far as wizards are concerned.”