The Sail Weaver (29 page)

Taminick looked around at the crew surrounding her. “I smell the stink of Vermin filth on some of you.” She leaned down so her head was on a level with the men. “I don’t like humans who smell of Vermin.”

Weapons began to drop. One or two of the more foolish still tried to fight. Thom dispatched one of Fuhrman’s men on the quarterdeck and Tristan saw three fall on the deck below. Taminick knocked another group down with one swipe of a massive
foreclaw
. One of the midshipmen tried to attack Tristan. Fenfyr laughed as he knocked the man down and put his foot on him.

“Can I crush him?” the dragon asked, sounding way too happy.

“That will make a mess, Master Fenfyr,” Riggan said. “Perhaps we should throw him overboard like he did the Captain and Master Tristan.”

“Hmm, or I could eat him…”

“No! Please, no! I’ll confess, I’ll sign anything, just please let me go!” the man shouted.

“Take him to the brig with the others,” Thom said, walking over.

“Not even a little taste?” Fenfyr said sadly.

“Well, maybe a small one.”

“No, please…” the man cried.

“I think he fainted,” Thom said mildly. “It will make him easier to transport. Take the ones who still want to serve the former captain
to the brig and lock them in!” He walked to the command area. “Med teams to the main deck.”

“On our way,” Rose Webber answered calmly.

“Where’s the key to these chains?” Thom asked Fuhrman, pointing to Muher.

“I’m not giving it to you.”

“Fenfyr, can you help?” Tristan asked. The dragon huffed and snapped the lock holding the chains in place.

“You’re going to pay for this when Davis hears about it,” Fuhrman said defiantly.

“This,” Thom wave his hands, “Was sanctioned by Admiral O’Brian. I am Captain of the
Winged Victory
now.”

“You’re lying!” Fuhrman said. “I am here by a direct order, this is not going to sit lightly at headquarters. I’m going to report on your treason as soon as I can.”

“It’s going to take you a little time to do that, we have to rendezvous with the fleet. The Vermin are heading in, and we need to be there to meet them. Which reminds me. Fenfyr? Taminick? Would you be so kind as to remove those sails?”

“With pleasure,” Fenfyr said, launching himself to the mizzenmast.

The two dragons made quick work of it, tearing the sails down, then shredding them so they could never be used again. Once the last piece was down, they dropped them overboard and let the Winds carry them away. Even though Tristan knew there was no dragon mind to mourn, he still whispered the spell of release as the last of the sails drifted away.

“Let’s get our sails up,” Thom said with a grin. He hit the ship-wide
comm
system. “This is Captain Barrett, we are going to raise the sails and head in to rendezvous with the fleet. The Vermin are coming! As you know, this ship was designed to be our best hope against a massed attack. It’s time to put that to the test. The Master Weaver is seating the Elemental Interface and we should be ready to sail in three hours.”

“You’re going to kill us all,” Fuhrman said, spitting at Thom.

“Well, then at least you’ll die too,” Thom said with a smile.

XXIX

The med team, led by Rose Webber, arrived on deck as Tristan was working to clean out the linkage for the Elemental Interface. She raced across the deck straight to where Chris Muher was, dropping to her knees beside him as she carefully inspected his wounds. Tristan couldn’t hear what she was saying, but the smile on the general’s face was gentle even though he was grimacing in pain. Thom was clearing the last of the mutineers off the deck and assigning security to escort them below. There were too many to fit in the brig, so he sent the officers, petty officers and other obvious leaders there and sent the rest to the second lowest deck to have them secured in one of the storage bays that quickly emptied of cargo.

Once they had been taken care of, Thom gave the order to stop the engines and lower the masts as far as they could so they could put the sails back on them. Tristan watched the masts going down, hoping that his assurances to Thom about the sails re-bonding with the ship were not misplaced. He had some doubts, the willowisps might sense the filth of the Vermin sails and refuse the crosstrees that had held them. He shoved those thoughts away and focused back on the Interface. The linkage was at last clean of the last vestiges of the “Interface” Fuhrman had tried to use. Tristan stood and gently picked up his Elemental Interface, placing it carefully over the linkage and softly intoned a cleansing spell that he hoped would help. He held his
breath until he felt the thing seat itself. Looking down, he saw the lights slowly coming on. Smiling, he bent down and clipped it into place, ready for the sails as soon as the masts were raised.

He walked over to where Thom was standing watching the activity on deck. Webber was still kneeling beside Muher, which made Tristan worry about what the man had suffered at Fuhrman’s hands. He knew that Thom would have preferred to kill the man, and Fenfyr had the same opinion, but he was one of the few that knew the details of the plan and who at Naval headquarters was involved. Stemmer knew, but the former captain had been whisked away by the med teams. Tristan was still dealing with how he felt about that. There was a very good chance that his shot would prove fatal, he’d never thought he’d take a human life, but Stemmer had thrown Thom overboard, taken the ship and possibly been involved in the bombing that had killed Miri. It was a lot to weigh, but guilt was not getting the upper hand.

“We’re ready to drop the mainsail,” Shearer called from the deck.

“Go ahead, Shearer,” Thom said.

“Aye, Captain.”

Tristan noticed that even though Thom was nervously tapping his fingers behind his back, he still smiled when he heard the boatswain call him captain. “It’s make or break, Tristan.”

“I know.
Fenfyr’s
helping.” Tristan muttered the same spell he had when they had first dropped the sails, hoping it would help them bond this time, too.

“Drop the sail!” Shearer shouted. Everything on deck stopped, it felt like everyone was holding their breath—maybe they were. “It caught!” The triumphant call echoed around the deck moments later.

Thom let out a long slow breath. “You were right.”

“I’m glad,” Tristan said with a relieved grin. “I was hoping.”

“You didn’t think it was going to work?”

“I had some doubts about the willowisps bonding where the Vermin sails had been.” He watched as the men with the help of Taminick put the topgallants and royals in place on the mizzenmast. “Once they’re all up, I will check them over carefully before we set out, there’s still the question of whether they will fly.”

“Sir, we have three ships on the long range sensor,” the
communications officer, Brown, said. “They’re hailing us.”

“Pipe it through, please.”

“Yes, sir.”

“This is Captain Graham of the frigate
Surprise
in the company of the frigate
Leopard
and the privateer
Noble Lady,
” the voice crackled over the system.

“You’re late, Bill,” Thom said with a laugh.

“Sorry, we ran into a little trouble on the way in, Captain Barrett. Permission to approach?”

“Of course, we’re dropping the sails now and should be ready to sail in the next hour or two,” Thom said.

“Good, we’ve heard reports that the fleet is already engaging advanced scouts, we need to get the
Winged Victory
there before the main taskforce arrives.”

“We’re working on it, Bill, I assure you,” Thom answered.

The three ships came into view a few moments later. As the ships approached it really became apparent how big the
Winged Victory
truly was. He knew the
Surprise
well—he’d been the one to make her sails—and she’d seemed large the first time he saw her. The
Constellation
had been bigger than either of the frigates, but hadn’t dwarfed them the way
Victory
did. Next to the
Victory
the frigates looked like toys bobbing alongside the massive ship.

“I didn’t believe it,” Graham’s voice came over the
comm
line. “I knew she was big, but by all that’s holy…”

“I am in complete agreement,” a female voice said. “And I served on the
Constellation.
”

“Mercy Allen? Is that you?” Thom asked.

“Yes, sir, Captain Barrett, I was promoted to the
Leopard.
”

“Congratulations!” Thom said, grinning.

“And to you, too, sir, about time!” she replied.

“Thank you,” Thom said. “What trouble did you run into on the way here?”

“Pirates with Vermin vessels,” Graham said. “They were heading out of sector nineteen in this direction. We dissuaded them, thanks to the help from the
Noble Lady.
”

“We intercepted some communications that indicated they were trying to find out where the fleet would be engaging the Vermin,” Cook said, joining the conversation. “We’re not sure if they were
planning to head out that way or not. The dragons didn’t leave enough for us to question. Not that they would answer anyway.”

“We know that they were intending to take the
Winged Victory
into sector nineteen, but that was when she had the Vermin sails.”

“We still can’t believe that!” Allen said. “Vermin tech on our ships. No matter how you feel about the Guild, that’s unacceptable.”

“She’s not a really a Guild sympathizer,” Thom told Tristan quietly.

“Fun,” Tristan said grimly. “I feel sorry for her Warrior.”

“I do, too, but she’s not as bad as some.” Thom frowned. “Shearer, how goes it?”

“Mainmast is ready, we’re just finishing up the mizzen and the fore, sir!”

“Good, the sooner we’re out of here the better, I have a bad feeling about this spot for some reason,” Thom said, keeping his voice low.

“I heard them talking about ships heading in to help them with their Interface problem,” Muher said, limping up to them.

“I said you need to be in sickbay,” Webber scolded.

“I told you, I’ll go when I’m done making my report,” he said, scowling at her. “Fuhrman said ‘they’, whoever ‘they’ are, would be reaching us soon. As I understand it, they were bringing a new Interface that would function with the sails.”

“Did you hear that?” Thom asked the other captains.

“Yes, I’m pretty sure that’s who we ran into,” Cook said.

“Our sensors did show an abnormal blip on one of their ships,” Graham said. “The dragons went after that ship first, and spent more time with it than the others. I did wonder about that at the time, but it’s not like dragons talk to us to let us know, so who knows what they were thinking.”

“Idiots,” Muher muttered under his breath.

Thom glared at him before replying. “Thank you. We’ll let you know as soon as we are ready to set sail. Set up a patrol until we’re ready to move out.”

“Yes, sir,” Graham and Allen answered and broke the connection with a small snap.

“Do you need anyone over there?” Cook asked.

“Not right now, we have the mutineers in lockdown, but it’s
good to know you’re back there.”

“We’ll be behind the
Victory
all the way, Captain Barrett,” Cook said.

“Can’t let you have all the fun, Tommy Boy,” Harkins added with a laugh. “Our Warrior would like a word with the Master Weaver.”

“What is it, Alden?” Tristan asked, stepping closer to Thom and the communications board.

“I’ve been trying to duplicate what you did to the sails. I’ve managed to get the willowisps to move a little, but it’s not enough. I’m not sure it’s a Warrior’s skill.”

“I was wondering about that already,” Tristan said.

“We don’t have enough Weavers, and even if we did, we don’t have the time to train them before this battle,” Alden said desperately.

“I know.” Tristan sighed, wishing there was something more he could do.

“On the upside,” Alden added, “I am a lot faster at repairs now. It helped that, at least.” He laughed. “That might come in handy.”

“It might,” Tristan agreed. The connection broke with a snap and he looked over at Thom. “It would have made a huge difference if he could manage the spell.”

“It might, but…” Thom smiled at him. “You already did it once. If you can manage it with this ship, you could turn the tide of battle, Tristan.”

“Sir, excuse me, you are not properly dressed.” Riggan appeared with a jacket in his hands.

“What?” Thom frowned at him.

“I cleaned out the Captain’s cabin and moved your things. I thought you should be wearing a proper uniform, though, sir,” he said, holding out the jacket.

Thom looked at it, a soft smile playing on his lips. He reached out and touched the braid on the jacket, then nodded. “You’re right, of course, Riggan.” He discarded the coat he’d been wearing and put on the Captain’s coat.

“That’s better, sir. I’ll just nip off and finish what I was doing,” Riggan said, leaving the quarterdeck.

“He didn’t waste any time,” Muher said. “Good. The sooner the
crew knows you are in command, the better.” He swayed on his feet.

“Okay, you have made your report, you are going to sickbay
right now
,” Webber said. “You can walk or I will sedate you and have you carried there, your choice.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ll be back before the battle.”

Tristan watched as Muher walked carefully across the deck. He knew that the doctor had already pumped a considerable amount of pain killers into the general before he even got up, Tristan could see it in the way the man’s eyes hadn’t quite focused. The fact that he was walking amazed him, Tristan had no doubt that Fuhrman had gone out of his way to make sure things were not easy for Muher. Once the general stepped into the lift, Tristan turned his attention back to the sails. They were sparkling softly on the exposed masts. Everything looked okay, but he wouldn’t know for sure until they moved into the Winds.

Fenfyr slipped onto deck from the open panels leading to the mainmast. The dragon looked up at the masts, sizing them up, then leaped up towards the top of the mainmast. Tristan wondered what he was doing. A moment later he got his answer when a long pennant unfurled from the top of the mast. Fenfyr perched on the Dragon’s Roost and looked down at the red pennant bearing the figure of a dragon. Tristan glanced at Thom, wondering what he would think about the addition to his ship.

“It looks good, and it makes it very clear whose side we’re fighting on, doesn’t it?” Thom said.

“It does.”

“Masts are ready to raise!” Shearer called.

“Raise the masts!” Thom ordered.

Fenfyr hopped off the Dragon’s Roost and settled on deck as the masts began to climb slowly out of the bowels of the ship. As each set of crosstrees cleared the deck, Tristan checked the sails. The willowisps all seemed okay, sparkling gently, waiting to be unfurled. The mizzenmast locked into place first, followed by the foremast, then with a huge
boom
the mainmast settled into place, soaring hundreds of feet over their heads. Tristan smiled, he never would get tired of seeing the sails on the ship. He was glad that Stemmer and Fuhrman hadn’t destroyed them when they had replaced them with
the Vermin sails.

“Prepare to sail!” Thom called.

“All stations prepare to get underway!” Shearer ordered.

“It will go well, Tris,” Fenfyr said softly, then leaped up to soar over the ship.

Tristan stepped to the Elemental Interface and put his hand on it, feeling the hum as the sails and the ship connected. “Ready,” he said.

“Loose the sails!” Thom’s order stopped all activity on the ship as everyone looked up as the men on the crosstrees released the ropes and the sparkling sails rolled down, fluttering softly in the breezes.