The Chronicles of Lumineia: Book 01 - Elseerian (10 page)

The first pirates had intentionally allowed themselves to be seen and had carefully driven their quarry towards the waiting trap. It was a good ploy, especially because it kept your attention focused on the one ship until it was too late.
It might already be too late
, he thought as he landed heavily on the deck.

Liris’ smile evaporated as she caught sight of his expression.

“What's wrong? Is the pirate ship moving towards us?” She asked.

“Worse,” he said, “there’s more than one ship.”

She blanched. “The captain just got up; he’s with the helmsman.”

“Fine, take my place in the nest, would you? They are all around us but mostly in front of us to the east. I figure the one ship kept us distracted and moving forward . . .”

“. . . and drove us into the others,” she finished the statement for him, her expression turning gray. “Smart plan on their part—not so good for us.” She caught the spyglass he tossed to her and leapt towards the rigging. “I’ll let you know the minute they make a move.”

Taryn nodded and hurried to the helm where he found the captain and Sabriel, the second mate. Without any preamble he said, “Captain, we have a problem. There are six more pirate ships. Most are to the east, where we are headed, but a couple are to the north. We’re sailing into an ambush.”

At first the captain didn’t respond, but his face turned to ash. Sabriel just kept staring forward, gripping the wheel so tight that his knuckles went white.

 The captain spoke sharply, “How much time do you think we have?”

“Not much, they could turn towards us at any moment.”

Taking the helm, the captain spoke to Sabriel, “Get the men up and armed. Load the ballista and get every bolt we have from below—”

Liri cut off the rest of the instructions, her tone rising as she called down, “They’re turning towards us!”

Sabriel looked at the captain. “Go. Now!” the captain said, at which the second mate raced to rouse the crew. Within minutes the boat was teeming with activity. Men rushed about with fear in their eyes, but the chaos had an order to it that rang of frequent training. How could they fight off
seven
ships?

As Liri, Trin, Mae, and Taryn gathered their weapons and readied themselves, Liri leaned close to Taryn. “There’s something strange about these pirates.”

“What is it?” Taryn asked, glancing at her.

She hesitated, which made Taryn finish ducking into his hard leather vest and look at her. “What?” he asked again.

“They turned towards us at the same time . . . at the
exact
same moment.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded with a frown. “Didn’t Daiki say that instant communication across distances was something very rare?”

“I think so.” He paused, trying to remember. “I think he told a story of two brothers that could talk mind to mind across any distance, but I thought he said it was just a legend.”

“Whatever it is, these pirates are communicating somehow, which means there is one clear leader.” Her brow furrowed before she continued, “If we find him, we might be able to stop this fight without getting killed.”

“Agreed, go tell the captain so we can be prepared,” Taryn said, tightening his belt.

She nodded and left Taryn to finish readying himself. Sinking his knives into their sheaths, he strapped on his twin curving scabbards and slipped his katsanas home. One last check and he hurried back up to the crow’s nest, doing his best not to think about the last time he’d fought pirates.

As soon as he was on top of the mast he made a quick count of the ships to make sure no more had shown up. There were still seven, which wasn’t good, but at least no more had appeared. Watching them for a minute, he gauged them to be coming faster than he would have expected. Even though they were still a good distance away, Taryn’s sharp eyes narrowed as he peered at one of the vessels. Something was moving on the side of the boat and he pulled the spyglass from its leather case mounted to the rail.

As he brought it to his eye, the ship he had been watching leapt into sharp detail. After a moment’s inspection he realized there were oars on both sides of the ship—two banks of oars. At two rowers per oar, that would mean at least a hundred pirates to the one ship. Turning to examine all the other ships, he could see that others had two banks of oars as well, and the few that only had one were even larger vessels. At best they were facing approximately
seven hundred pirates
. A shiver ran down his back . . .

There were only forty sailors on their ship.

In the face of such odds, Taryn’s mind turned to his uncle’s words.
Do I have to kill to survive? Will I be
able
to?
The questions beat against his skull so hard he had to swallow and shake his head to bring himself back to the present. With all his might he tried to convince himself that the pirates they were going to fight were purely evil and forced himself to imagine sinking his blade into one—but he couldn’t even bring himself to slay one in his own head. In the back of his mind a sinister whisper ripped through him.
What if Liri dies because you couldn’t kill?

Abruptly the wood under his feet snapped backward and he snatched the rail to hold on. As if fate wanted to play a hand in the upcoming sea battle, a strong wind began billowing behind him, filling the sails to the point of breaking. Rocking and plowing forward, the prow of the boat began to buck as it crashed through the water.

A creak of wood behind him brought his attention to a person climbing over the rail. The normally grinning Hunrins’ face appeared white under his scruff as he worked himself into the small space. “The captain wants you in his quarters. I’ll take the watch.”

Taryn nodded and climbed over the rail, leaving the cramped space for the small man. When he arrived at the captain’s cabin, he found Liri, Trin, Maemi, and Sabriel already there. The captain indicated for Taryn to close the door.

“We have a problem,” the captain said. “We have forty-two sailors and you four fighters from Sri Rosen. We are going against seven ships with an estimated fifty sailors per ship—”

Taryn coughed and cut in, “Actually, four of the ships have two banks of oars. The others appear to be larger as well.” He paused, realizing there was no way to soften the blow. “I estimate at least a hundred per vessel.”

The captain’s face hardened. “Let me get straight to the point then. I know you four are trained to fight, and Sabriel and I have been in our fair share of sea battles. This is not a fight we can win. We need to come up with something in the next twenty minutes or we will be shark bait by nightfall. Any suggestions?”

The silence was deafening until Mae spoke. “I have an idea I think will work.”

The captain nodded, so she asked a few pointed questions about the ship. As she detailed her plan, the others’ tense expressions phased to incredulous.

When she finished, Trin asked, “Is that even
possible
?”

Sabriel’s brow knit together as he considered her suggestion, “I . . .
think
so, but I’ve never seen it done before.”

 The captain leaned in. “I think it’s our best shot, but it’s going to be risky. We will be betting our lives on Liri and Taryn.”

Uncertain about his role, Taryn’s eyes flickered to Liri. Smiling confidently, she said. “We can do it.”

The captain stood up. “We’re going to use Maemi’s plan. I don’t see any other option anyway. You all know your positions, so get to it. Sabriel, inform the rest of the crew and finish getting this ship prepared in any way possible.”

Mae leaned forward with an intense expression, drawing all eyes towards her. “Taryn and Liri will do their part. You can count on it.”

The captain nodded grimly. “Let’s hope so. Our lives depend on it.”

Resigned determination mingled with a glimmer of hope as the group hurried to prepare for the upcoming battle, but Taryn found that his heart was not in it. He’d trained his whole life for just such a battle, to defend those weaker than himself against individuals seeking to destroy, to fight the strong preying on the weak.

He just wished he wasn’t so afraid to end the life of another sentient being—a sentient being that might still have good within its soul.

Chapter 6: Outnumbered

Taryn looked down from the crow’s nest at the crew finishing their preparations. The plan that Mae had presented was going to be tricky, and counted on Liri’s and Taryn’s skills with a bow. After she’d suggested the plan, she’d explained that there were a limited number of options when faced up against a vastly superior opponent. Hit and run tactics was usually the best option—but they couldn’t use that in the current situation. When you are
forced
to face a much larger enemy, you could either take a superior defensive position—which they couldn’t do either—or attack at a weak spot that cripples your opponent. This is what they would attempt.  

Prior to explaining her idea, Mae had asked the captain what places on a ship could be hit by an arrow or two that might disable the entire vessel. The captain had answered by saying the rudder might be destroyed by a few well placed arrows. He’d also suggested that cutting the ropes holding the sail down might work as well, but that could easily be repaired.

The proposed plan involved an attempt to disable ships before they could surround the
Sea Dancer
. The oars were the complicating factor. They couldn’t really take out the oars, which made hitting the rudder the best option since cutting the sails would only slow the ship. Everything would depend on Liri’s and Taryn’s ability to hit specific locations on the rudder at the correct angle while both ships bobbed up and down—at unknown distances. But a single vessel disabled might balance the scales for their survival.

“Are you ready?” the captain called up to Taryn.

He leaned over the rail and raised his arm to show his readiness. Liri, positioned at the front of the ship, did the same. The pirates were closing in on them, with the first one only a minute or two from getting within range of bow and ballista. At the moment there were three ships right in front of them. Two of them were in the process of turning to block their way forward. Other vessels were gliding in on the right and left of them, cutting off any escape.
This was going to be close
, Taryn thought.

“Fire as soon as you think you can hit them,” the captain called to Taryn and Liri.

Taryn waved in acknowledgement and drew Ianna. In a flash of light it changed to the bow. “I’ll take the big one on the left,” he yelled to Liri as he raised the bow. Sighting on the ship he’d designated as his target, he waited for the right moment to shoot. He’d picked this particular ship because it was one of the ships that was in the process of turning broadside towards them, which would present the rudder in a couple of seconds.

There! The vessel had finished its turn, bringing the rudder into view. With his elven vision enhanced by the far viewer, he focused on the tail end of the ship. Locating the spot he wanted to hit, he carefully put the far-viewer back into its case without taking his eyes from his target. Taking a deep breath, he brought the bow up and drew back an arrow of solid green light.
This is just target practice
, he told himself—then he released.

It took a few seconds for the arrow to strike, even though it flew so fast it was a blur of green. Hitting hard, it sunk into the wood at the highest spot visible—right next to where the cord that turned the rudder was connected. With a snap that could be heard from their own ship, the arrow went clean through the rudder . . . breaking it completely off! Not only did the rope tear, but also the top wooden pin that hinged it. Now the pirates’ rudder hung to the side, barely connected by the second wooden pin at the bottom.

Not a moment later, a second arrow flew from the front of their ship. It didn’t travel as fast as Taryn’s had, but Liri’s arrow still hit its target, and even more accurately, Taryn noted as he looked through the distance viewer. Liri’s arrow hit the rope square on, snapping it and embedding into the wood behind it.

A cheer went up from their ship and sailors began calling to Liri and Taryn, but the captain’s deep voice cut through their exuberance: “Save the celebration for later mates, we’re not out of hot water yet. Taryn, Liri, nice shooting; now do it again if you can.”

Taryn waved his arm and prepared to target another ship, but as he began looking for a rudder to target he noticed something strange—and not good for their plan. Even though several other ships had been in the process of turning broadside before, now they were straightening out and coming directly at them—keeping their rudders out of view.

Liri must have noticed it too. “I don’t have anything, do you see an opening?” she yelled up to him.

“No, they’ve all turned towards us,” he said, then hesitated, choosing his words carefully. “They responded pretty quickly to our shots; maybe they are watching their own ships.”

Her sharp look was still visible to him despite the distance separating them, and he nodded to her. She tilted her head in acknowledgement and left her post, heading for the captain at the helm. He hadn’t wanted to alert the crew, but the pirates almost certainly had some form of communication, and whatever it was, it was fast. There was no way all the ships could have seen them hit the rudders, so he’d hoped Liri would catch on and go tell the captain. He was glad to see her hurrying because they didn’t have much time. A couple of pirates were already trying to shoot some arrows—which splashed down a hundred feet short of the
Sea Dancer
.

The captain suddenly shouted, “It looks like they’re on to us. Taryn get down here. The rest of you lot, prepare to repel boarders.” Seeing the fear returning to their faces, he added, “And take courage, they will learn to fear us before this day is out!”

Taryn dropped to the deck and raced to the captain. As he skidded to a stop, the captain said, “Liri explained your theory and it sounds right, so what’s our new plan?”

Liri looked at Taryn and he nodded to her. She said, “Normally the only option left would be to try to take the leader…”