Duchy Unleashed

by Zack Finley

  We were going to be seriously outnumbered, hoping surprise, stealth, and magic would even the odds.

  We learned each ship had a complement of slaves. But they frequently were assigned tasks around the village. Sometimes they slept in the slave pens and sometimes aboard ship. We didn’t know how many would be on each ship. I got the impression that slaves were much scarcer than they had been.

  I was worried the dark sect might assign a mage to this outpost, just to keep an eye on it. The pirate captain’s modified memory made this a serious possibility.

  We decided to have Cleon and a Duchy Guard contingent take the long boat captured from Pirate One and put ashore down the coast from the harbor inlet. They would then make their way overland to the huts. The Malan would then move to block the channel and prevent any ships from escaping.

  Once Cleon was in position, Capt. Malek, Gera, Argon, and I would lead the four Malan longboats with a mixed bag of sailors and guard to capture the four moored pirate ships. The rules of engagement specified stun spells to limit the noise and avoid accidentally killing any slaves. Argon prepped invisibility spells for each boat and Cleon’s team. Cleon and the Duchy Guard would then stun all those ashore.

  Cleon and his guard wouldn’t break any records, but he eventually got his team rowing in synch. I was glad he set off a fair distance from the harbor entrance because even with the invisibility spell and its sound dampening effects the oars made some noise.

  We didn’t get into our boats until Cleon reported he was ashore.

  The moored ships each had several lanterns on deck, and on shore, there was a large bonfire. We could see moving shadows near the bonfire but not much action on board the ships.

  Capt. Malek, Argon, Gera, and I were all running mind reading scans on our assigned ships. My assigned ship only had one man on the poop deck. Everyone else seemed to be in quarters. I suspected nearly one-third of the crew and all the slaves were ashore. The others reported similar findings, although Argon reported she had some slaves being held in her target’s hold.

  We relayed the bad news to Cleon, he had an estimated 30 crewman ashore. Cleon located most of the slaves in pen near the center of the hut area. The missing pirates were scattered all over the small village. Cleon estimated there were about 10 full-time workers at the complex. Most workers were former pirates, either too old or crippled to continue a life at sea.

  When Cleon gave the signal, the four longboats began moving into the harbor.

  Within seconds of entering the harbor, I was struck, hard by something that sank its teeth into my upper arm. Grunts and aborted shrieks from within my boat told me I wasn’t alone. The pitch-black conditions made it impossible to see our attackers. I felt our boat being struck from below and realized something in the water was trying to flip over the boat. I alerted the rest of our teams and learned all the boats were under similar attack. I told the com hub to alert our hospital team as I expected casualties.

  I pulled a large toothsome fish from my arm, crushing its head and tossing it overboard. I risked a small light and saw my boat mates were in difficult straits. One guard was down, with the fish embedded in his neck. Despite having fish attached to their arms and legs, his neighbors were trying to staunch the blood spurting out of him.

  “Stun the fish in the water,” I sent to my boat crew. “That may give us a moment,” as I scrambled to the seriously injured man’s aid.

  “Remove the fish, I’ll stop the blood,” I told them, sending healing pulses into the unconscious guardsman. My “heal them” spell, slowed and then stopped the blood leakage. It also brought the man barely to consciousness. “Teleport away,” I said. “They will help you in the hospital.

  I was relieved when he braced himself and ‘ported away. The stuns were having some effect on the fish attacks. A lot of the fish were now attacking their stunned fellows. The boat was still filling with biting fish. Everyone’s legs were bleeding including mine. The footing was impossible, and efforts to reach stricken men threatened to capsize the boat.

  I sent two more seriously injured men to the hospital. Only then did I remember to put up force shields stopping the onslaught. The bottom of the boat was still being struck but less frequently. The constant stuns being directed at the water were reducing the numbers of attacking fish.

  With the element of surprise completely lost I sent up a series of light flares. Everyone in my boat was stricken to some extent. The men were killing the fish in the boat with us. Even in death the fishes’ teeth remained locked to whatever flesh they had reached.

  The others were bleeding, and I healed them enough to stop the leakage. Everyone would need further healing from the venom in the bites.

  In the background, I heard Cleon alerting us the pirates on shore were running for their boats. His troops were stunning those they could while he sought out the mage behind the fish attack.

  Gera’s boat had capsized. I hoped they had ‘ported to safety. Capt. Malek was returning to the Malan. He reported more than half of his boat crew had serious wounds, and they had barely kept it from being swamped. Argon’s boat was slightly better off, and she was continuing her attack. She had already saturated her target ship with stuns. Her boat crew was stunning as many fish as it could.

  “Can you stun the ship Gera was targeting?” I asked Argon.

  “We are headed there now, are you okay?” Argon responded.

  “My crew is hurt but still viable. I’ll stun the two ships on my side of the harbor. Cleon is hunting the mage, but the mage may be on board one of the ships. Be careful,” I sent.

  “You, too. Are you going to board your ships?” asked Argon.

  “Not unless I find the mage, after I stun everyone on the ships, I’m heading in to help Cleon,” I sent.

  “I’ll do the same,” said Argon.

  I let Cleon know the plans as I flooded my target ship with stuns. I searched for a mage but didn’t spot one aboard the target.

  Our stuns blunted the ferocity of the fish attacks, in part because I suspected the supply of hungry fish was running out. I stunned the second ship but still didn’t spot the mage.

  We intercepted and stunned three boats of pirates attempting to reach their ships. The fourth never left the shore, due to Cleon’s work.

  “Cleon, what is your status?” I asked over the open channel.

  “None of my team is injured, and we have stunned everyone, including the slaves I could see on shore. I never spotted your mage. I hope he is down, too. Any sign he is still active?”

  “The fish frenzy has subsided,” I said. “Whether because the mage is stunned or the fish are no longer agitated, I don’t know.”

  “Gera, what is your status?” I sent, hoping for good news but fearing the worst.

  “We are gearing back up to ‘port to the Malan,” Gera sent. “No fatalities, although it was close. The sigils saved my boat crew. As it was we ‘ported a bunch of fish to the hospital. Alba isn’t eager to let us go, but she understands the need. Most of the crew still has fish venom affecting us. It’s painful but not debilitating. Have you got the mage?”

  “We don’t know if the mage ‘ported out or is still here,” I sent.

  I sent up a new set of light flares and looked around. The harbor’s surface was nearly wall to wall stunned, dead, or feeding fish. I was worried when they got over being stunned, they might continue their attacks.

  Argon and I beached our boats. I joined the crews on the beach to do whatever healing I could. Argon helped crack open the fish jaws. I stopped the bleeding and closed the wounds, but didn’t know how to cleanse the blood of the fishes’ venom.

  Once the crews were semi-healed, I used one of our longboats to run down and snag the three pirate longboats. I brought them to shore where our boat crews dragged the pirates into the beach. Argon took her boat and pulled Gera’s capsized boat to shore.

  Cleon’s crew joined forces with our boat crews. They dragged all the stunned pirates into the enclosu
re where the slaves had been held. They carefully separated the pirates from a remarkable collection of knives and cudgels before leaving them.

  Argon used water magic to begin pushing the fish toward the beach.

  Cleon had left Argon and me a clear path to beach the fish and then push them directly to the fields of crops. Once the fish stacked up on the beach, I used force magic as a bulldozer to push the fish inland toward the farm fields. I had considered just burying the fish but, thought we might want to turn this into a Duchy outpost. Perga had convinced me to avoid waste.

  When it became clear we had many more fish than fields, I eventually banished a series of holes, and we pushed the fish into them. Each got covered with conjured soil.

  Once the fish were disposed of I righted Gera’s longboat. We also gave Capt. Malek the okay for the Malan and Pirate One to join us.

  I was happy to see Gera and his crew had already returned to duty. By the time we emptied the four newly captured pirate ships, it was finally morning.

  We didn’t find the mage. Cleon suspected the mage launched the attack and ‘ported away. We couldn’t decide whether that meant he would ‘port back to see how well his counterattack worked or whether he’d bring reinforcements. We were thwarted in learning more since everyone we captured was now stunned. We had already determined no one on Pirate One knew about any mage.

  Interrogating stunned people was seldom effective, the results were much better if they had a chance to recover. Most people when stunned were mentally stuck in that moment. It took a lot of skill and perseverance to learn anything from them. We had so many to scan, it just wasn’t worth it.

  I assigned Capt. Malek to head up the trials for the pirates on Pirate One as they were the only pirates not currently stunned. I told Malek that I would review any he recommended for leniency. Cleon offered to assist with the executions and to recheck whether they knew anything about an animal mage.

  I checked with Alba on our wounded. She had three on light duty in the hospital, but all the rest were aboard the Malan awaiting assignments.

  “What is the best way to remove the venom?” I sent.

  “Why don’t I come to show you?” Alba asked.

  “Okay, here is the best ‘port site.” I sent in reply.

  I called everyone still suffering from fish venom to join me on shore as I awaited Alba’s arrival.

  The venom made my blood feel that it was on fire. The longer the night wore on, the harder it was to ignore. I suspected everyone else felt as bad or worse than I did because within moments I had a group of Duchy Guards and sailors around me.

  Alba fixed me first so Argon, and I could monitor what was done. She then had me treat Argon next, while Alba watched on. It was a quick two-step procedure, and the relief was palpable.

  Argon and I turned to our crews and by the time Capt. Malek’s boat arrived the injured men had already dispersed. Capt. Malek was the last person treated.

  Alba checked in with Cleon and then ‘ported back to Klee HQ.

  Capt. Malek returned to Pirate One in a powered longboat to pick up the first group of pirates for execution.

  We were all exhausted. So many of the pirates captured last night had been stunned multiple times. All the pirates and slaves we’d captured during the night were still unconscious. We had no idea when they would begin recovering.

  Jern brought much-appreciated chee and breakfast from the Keep for us all.

  Argon helped Cleon with the Pirate One executions by removing the oxygen in the area around them. They slid into unconsciousness and then died. Cleon banished the dirt under them and then conjured stone to bury them. From Pirate One, Capt. Malek had three men he proposed for clemency.

  I built a holding cell with stout iron bars large enough to hold them and any others that might surface.

  Argon spoke with the Pirate One slaves and brought the 10 we didn’t intend to offer Duchy citizenship to ashore. The remainder of the Pirate One slaves were eager to accept Duchy citizenship. They remained on the Malan. Most had sailing experience, and we expected Capt. Malek would assign them to one of the newly acquired ships.

  We expected to offer passage to Augun for all the slaves and any of the pardoned pirates who agreed to help sail the ships there. New Duchy citizens would be assigned the better ships and sent to the Keep. Capt. Malek hadn’t picked the best ships yet.

  Cleon and Argon spent nearly an hour inside the combined tavern-brothel. They were convinced the man in charge of it was the mage. They also were sure he hadn’t been apprehended. They found numerous charms and other paraphernalia in his palatial rooms.

  They found similar charms dangling into the water for each of the pirate longboats. Argon theorized the fish were trained to leave longboats with the charm alone and to attack any without a charm. That meant the animage might not have even been nearby when the fish attacked.

  Inoa brought Maude to the outpost to soothe the fish and stop them from making future unnatural attacks. Argon had already reported there were very few fish left in the lagoon. While she was normally attuned to fish and birds, the fish in the lagoon were acting strangely. Even for fish.

  Maude immediately began soothing the crops in the fields at the outpost. While she worked the mounds of fish began disappearing rapidly underground. Once Maude was satisfied the plants were doing alright, she turned her focus to the fish.

  Within moments Argon began shooting fire at the charms dangling from the pirate boats.

  “Maude wants us to incinerate these charms. Be careful not to touch them with your hands or clothing,” Argon broadcast to the group on the beach. “Anyone who touched them will need to scrub that part of you.”

  I took one of the speedboats and zapped the charms on the moored ships and their boats. Each of the moored ships had a charm tied off to the stern. I pulled them out of the water with an oar and zapped them. Pirate One also had a charm.

  Inoa warned me there was a concentration of bad vibes in the water just off the harbor inlet. I knew I had no interest in swimming with the bad fishes but wasn’t sure what else to do.

  Inoa helped me sense the badness, and when I had a good handle on its location, I conjured a large stone box around it. I banished the water from inside the box. I then banished the water from the goop on the lagoon bottom. I poured plasma into the bottom and incinerated whatever was left.

  “That did it,” sent Inoa. “Now we will see if Maude can convince these crazy fish to let it go. If she can’t, we will have to kill them to avoid spreading the contagion.” Inoa and Argon were both concerned about that possibility.

  Inoa left Argon and Maude to work with the fish. She ran brief mind scans on our unconscious pirate captains. “I’ll take these guys back to Klee with me to question when they wake up. I don’t find any hidden mages either. Your mage either took off during the assault or more likely he only visits this outpost occasionally.”

  “I see why Capt. Malek couldn’t recommend death for three of the pirates,” Inoa sent me privately. “He identifies with them. The cabin boy especially. Most of the pirates deserve death, but these three had little choice. I wouldn’t accept them today into the Duchy, but if they turn their lives around, I will consider it sometime in the future.”

  I took her advice to heart. I already knew executing the rest of the pirates who deserved it would be hard enough. It had to be done, but it weighed heavily on everyone involved. It was one thing to kill men in battle, executing more than 100 people in cold blood was another story.

  ◆◆◆

  Chapter 15

  Maude stayed for several hours, communing alternatively with the crops and then the local wildlife. She confirmed the pirate animage limited his magical intervention to the local fish populous, which we had nearly wiped out. Before she could convince the fish to stand down, Maude needed to find out what the animage did to set them off.

  Inoa had never heard of fish being used in this way, but they were an awesome deterrent. With the anima
ge still in the wind, she urged us not to let our guard down. She feared we might see a land-based animal or insect attack until he was stopped. Inoa was surprised any animage could send creatures they bonded with to their deaths.

  Maude gave up trying to reason directly with the few fish that remained in the harbor. She told Inoa she had never met any group of animals so consumed with mindless rage. Animals could be provoked but they usually had a limited attention span. Maude stayed behind after Inoa left, reluctant for us to kill the remaining fish. She finally gave up trying to influence the fish directly and began studying the charms left behind in the animage’s room.

  I finally debriefed Gera about last night’s close call. He was avoiding me, and I didn’t know why.

  “I’m so sorry, your grace,” Gera said when I inevitably cornered him. “I was slow to understand we were under attack. By the time I responded my boat overturned and all my men were in the water being savaged.”

  “We were all caught by surprise,” I said. “Of all of us Argon was the fastest to understand the problem, and she still had several badly injured crewmen. You got your crew through this without anybody dying. That is a definite win in my book.” I had noticed a subtle change in how the guard reacted to him. He was no longer just my aide. They considered Gera one of them. That change in attitude told me what I needed to know, his troops thought he did right by them.

  “Tell me what happened when your boat overturned?” I asked.

  “It was dark, and the water was filled with teeth, biting gnawing teeth,” Gera said with a shudder. “I didn’t know how I stayed afloat. Several of the men were being dragged under. I sent them all a message to use their emergency teleports. Some of the men refused because they were holding up two unconscious crewmen. I reached the unconscious men and told the others to leave immediately. Then a huge fish grabbed my leg and began dragging me under.”

  Gera shuddered but continued, “I don’t know how I did it but I held onto the two unconscious men. It was terrible. I should have been stunning the fish or casting forcefields. I hadn’t realized how much worse it would get. More and more fish latched onto us with their teeth. All that time, they were ramming us over and over again. It was so dark. I couldn’t remember a single spell. Even light spells I first cast as a child. I kept going over the teleport spell in my head. But it was so hard to focus. I was worried the sigil teleport would only take me so I couldn’t use it. Finally, I had the spell in my mind, and I teleported us to Alba.”