By: Bryant R. Haake, Honors College, Presidential Honors Student, English Major
“All hands!”
Heilyn shouted out orders to his crew. Jasper had agreed that each crew would take their own ship, sort of like a two-ship fleet. The lead would be Jasper and his crew. Their larger ship was heavily armored and had more weaponry, but would be slower. Therefore, the Forsaken could lag behind a little in order to head off any escape routes Riot tried to take.
The latest intel the Company had been able to gather was that Riot had set up a small fleet of ships in a cove where a small town was located. Reports were that he’d given all the adults of the island the choice to either join his crew or die, and had threatened those of them who were parents with the deaths of their children as well.
Disgusting use of force, thought Heilyn.
The cove was still a day’s travel away. They’d left Harrow two days ago, and aside from the occasional harpy or minor Lilû—wind spirits—the sailing had been smooth. Every day without more than a small incident made Heilyn more sure of his theory of powerful Goldbloods and Stonehearts attracting powerful monsters of the sea and sky. Jasper was a Goldblood of course, but his gift—Stormblade— wasn’t very powerful in comparison, and he was still inexperienced with it, too. It was ranked only at a Captain’s Treasure level according to the Company, about middle of the road and equal with others like Crimson’s Blacktip. If his theory was correct, it would make sense why they’d always attracted so much more trouble, having both Captain Vexx and Jacob on board. Vexx alone had a gift in the Corsair’s Wonder list, a full rank above Jasper’s, and Jacob’s gift had no registered name, meaning it was probably too rare to have been found yet.
Heilyn stood at the helm of the ship, the massive wheel held in both hands. He’d not changed his attire to match his new position—he was technically acting as Jasper’s first mate at the moment anyway—and he doubted he ever would. The hats many captains wore seemed too cumbersome, and Heilyn knew one of those would only get in the way of some of his wilder techniques with his bolo rope.
The sea split before them, waves crashing at their bow. Deighly was keeping an eye out for any dangers around them, but even up in his crow’s nest he was just barely equal to the top floor of the Stormsailer. Jasper’s entire crew was six times as large as Heilyn’s, and the ship showed it. From an aerial view, one might mistake the crew for ants, scurrying around the deck in an effort to make sure everything was right when they reached their destination.
“Captain Payday!” someone shouted over the deck of the Stormsailer. “Captain Jasper is asking for a word with you. He’d like you to meet him on board. Do we need to lower a ladder or a rope, or…”
“That won’t be necessary, sailor,” Heilyn shouted back. “Tell him I will meet him in his quarters within the next ten-min.”
With that command, Heilyn loosed his bolo rope and began to swing it, spinning one end in circles. He searched for a good hold on the edge of the boat and found a good perch, letting the rope loose. It sailed through the air like a bullet, soaring just past the designated point before Heilyn pulled back on it, causing the steel ball to get caught on a small metal clamp. He tugged on the rope a few times for good measure before running along the side of his ship and jumping off.
Heilyn began to fall, holding fast to the rope. It went taught and he made a downwards arc towards the sea, nearly touching the crystal water before swinging back up. As he neared the apex of the swing, he pulled himself up the rope by a few hands, increasing his speed enough to let him land aboard the Stormsailer. Heilyn stretched after he landed, hearing the sarcastic, slow clap behind him from his own ship he’d come to expect.
“Showoff!” Deighly called after him.
Heilyn rolled his eyes, paying the man no direct heed as he headed to meet with Captain Jasper. The privateers of this new ship stared at him as he passed by, temporarily halting their duties to marvel at the newcomer. Heilyn glanced about, stopping just short of the door to Jasper’s chambers.
Without turning around, he called to the men behind him, “Back to your duties! I’ll be working with you lot for the foreseeable future, so ye’ might as well get used to me.”
Heilyn pushed open the door as he heard the sounds of shipwork start once more behind him. Jasper’s quarters were lavish for a ship captain, more so than Captain Vexx’s ever had been. Everything seemed to be draped in blue, as if it weren’t enough to have that sort of view outside at all times. Jasper seemed to need to see the sea wherever he went, whether that be on the job or in his dreams.
Jasper himself was sitting back in a comfy chair reading a book. He had on an old pair of spectacles which he kept adjusting as they fell down his nose. He’d taken off the captain’s hat and his boots were thrown to the ground beside the ottoman he’d rested his feet on.
“Someone’s comfortable,” Heilyn said with a twinge of disgust.
“No one wants to see a nervous captain, Heilyn,” Jasper replied, flipping a page before setting the book aside, marking the new page with a fold that would throw a librarian into violent rage. “I find that the happier and calmer I am, the happier and calmer my crew is.”
Jasper stood, setting his feet into his boots and giving each strap a good tug. He left the hat.
“What did you call me here for, Jasper?” Heilyn sighed. “Surely you have something useful to discuss?”
“Must your attitude always be so negative, friend? Calm down for once.” Jasper leaned backwards, spine popping with the motion. “Yes, I’ve something to discuss with you other than the simple matter of captain-crew relations and ordinance. However, I don’t sit in my own chair while guests are in my room. Please, sit.”
Heilyn stared at the chair, not moving. Jasper rolled his eyes and set a gentle but firm hand on Heilyn’s shoulder. “I would do as you say on your ship; I ask you show me the same respect.”
Heilyn glanced at Jasper, then walked to the chair, sitting gently. It seemed like an antique, but if it was, it was in very good condition. No cracks or squeaks sounded as he sat, and it was very comfortable. Against his will, Heilyn could feel his lungs releasing a deep sigh.
“See? You’re relaxing already.” Jasper went over to his desk and pulled the wooden chair from over there to sit directly in front of Heilyn, only the ottoman separating them. “Now we can get on to business. Tomorrow we shall arrive at the cove and face Riot head-on.”
“Is this a strategy meeting, then?”
“Aye, friend. I invited you and your crew in case we need your strength and talents, but I would still like to get this done with as few men as possible. I would like to ask that you stay out at sea while we fight them at port. There is but a single naval way out or into the cove, meaning if they try to make a run for it you can head them off. The bounty is for Riot alive, but the Company will take him dead if it’s the only way. I’d rather it not come to that.”
“You seem to have quite a few restrictions for this mission. Less men, less violence. What’s your real plan?”
Jasper grinned. “We’ll be taking a man from his crew captive in order to have Riot surrender himself. For his gift to work, his crew has to genuinely believe him to be their captain. If there is no connection, there’s no power; at least not for them. If there is a connection however, then I would be willing to be he won’t needlessly sacrifice them. Even ruthless pirates often love their crew. Isn’t that right, Heilyn?”
Heilyn gave a curt nod. “Not bad, Jasper, except for one flaw. If they really are that devoted to him, what’s to stop such a man from sacrificing himself for his captain? I know I would… woulda done it in a heartbeat. Rivers, I’d’ve done it in half a beat fer half a coral.”
“Well, not everyone can be the greatest first mate across the seas, right?” Jasper joked. His expression went hard. “In all seriousness, I know that to be a possibility. That’s the main reason I want you and your crew along. You’re my backup in case the plan fails. Savvy?”
“Aye.” Heilyn stared at the younger man for a moment. “Is that all, Jasper?”
“Aye, you’re free to go. Just make sure you stay closeby. If all goes well, we’ll be celebrating a job well-done by next sundown.”
Heilyn nodded and stood, offering the seat back to Jasper.
“No,” Jasper shook his head, “I think I will join my crew in some chores. I look forward to our victory, friend.”
That’s when an explosion shook the ship.
Heilyn ignored the pain in his knees from jumping back to his boat. Deighly was shouting to him from above, but it was evident what they were facing. A fleet of three ships was busy encircling them. How neither lookout had spotted any of them was beyond Heilyn, but that wasn’t the issue now.
“All hands! Man the cannons! Ready to fire on my command!”
Heilyn ran to the forecastle deck and leaned against the side of his ship. All three opposing ships were of different sizes, but the largest was easy to recognize. It was a stolen ship from the Company, usually meant to carry some higher-ups or politicians.
Men scurried around the decks of each ship, yelling loud enough for Heilyn to hear them over their cannon fire. One man stood a head taller than the rest. He was shirtless but wore two scabbards across his back, each with a scimitar. His skin was dark as the sea under a new moon, making his toothy yellow grin stand out as the main bit of color on his face. They’d found Riot.
Or, more accurately, he’d found them.
Heilyn could hear Jasper shouting orders to his own crew. They were already firing back, their longer cannons able to just barely reach the fleet from their distance, but they were inaccurate due to such distance. Heilyn surveyed the battlefield and looked up to Deighly.
“What’s the play, Captain Payday?” the older man yelled down.
“We need to get closer, but if we get too close they’ll blow us into splinters.” Heilyn yelled back. “Jasper wants us to stay back, but there’s a ship coming ‘round to meet any stragglers. They look to have a ship ‘bout our size.” Heilyn yelled louder, giving command to his whole crew. “Fall back! We’ll meet the interloper behind us before rejoining the Stormsailers in battle!”
Cheers rang out from his crew. They were all seasoned fighters, and one does not chase the occupation of piracy or privateering without first learning a joy for battle. The only exception was their previous Captain, who was the best at it, but detested it more than any Heilyn had ever met.
Life is sacred, Heiyln, he used to say. Do not end it without purpose.
Heilyn’s own philosophy had been built from that same line of thinking, never to take a life without first mastering the weapon with which you take it.
Bandy, the man behind the helm of the ship, pulled on the wheel, whirling them around. The small size of their ship made turning quick for them, less than a minute. In that period, Deighly climbed down from his crow’s nest and scurried down into the crew’s quarters.
“Be quick about it, Odin,” Heilyn called after him, receiving a nod in return.
Heilyn turned his attention back to their target ahead. Three men stood at the helm of the ship. One of them was manning the helm while the other two flanked him. All three stared dead ahead as the Forsaken approached them. Heilyn couldn’t make out any specific details of the men other than that one was taller than the others, maybe as tall as Riot.
A shot rang out from the opposing ship. The sea exploded next to them, only a couple dozen feet away from their starboard side. Heilyn cursed. Most smaller ships were meant for speed, such as their Forsaken, and so tried to pack lighter in terms of artillery. It seemed their enemies weren’t one for such tactics.
No, Heilyn thought, look again.
They’d gotten close enough for him to see the specific make of each cannon. The only long-range cannon they had was directly on the front, which meant they had no rigging there to block it. Sure enough, there were fewer sails than his own ship had. Their opponent’s ship wasn’t built for speed; it was built for deceit.
“Deighly Odin Nightingale, get yer arse on deck this instant!” Heilyn yelled.
“Right here, Cap’n.”
The older man had appeared out of nowhere. He was holding a much longer gun than his typical flintlock. Its barrel was a little over two feet in length, and had a bracing block in the back to help with knockback.
“You see that man right ‘ere?”
Deighly squinted his one good eye and raised a finger to point.
“You mean ‘at one at the bow manning the big cannon? Aye, I see him.”
Heilyn nodded, needing no more words. He backed up as Deighly settled onto the bowsprit, inching forward every now and then as the boat rocked. He got nearly five feet from the deck, handily over open water, hugging the sprit with his legs.
Heilyn could see the cannon man loading another shot, taking aim, and lighting the lintstock. Just as he was about to bring it down on the fuse, Deighly fired.
The cannon man fell.
Heilyn was just close enough to see all three men at the helm frown.
They were only a hundred yards away now. Heilyn gave the command,
“FIRE”
Four explosions rang out behind him, smoke pluming from their swivel cannons. They used larger swivel cannons than most would consider normal, making their range more than twice that of a normal swivel gun, but even still their strategy had never been to use the cannons.
One of the shots was able to knock over one of the other ship’s cannons, while two of them blew small holes and a third just barely missed altogether. If Jacob were still with them, they would use him to help pull themselves closer to the other ship; just another advantage of having a lighter, smaller ship.
With Jacob gone, Heilyn had to use their old tricks.
“HARPOONS!”
They had four cannons, two on each side, and beside each cannon sat a harpoon cannon, specifically designed for them to fire larger harpoons capable of pulling them closer to larger ships. Luckily for them, they were also more accurate than normal cannons.
Two harpoons struck the starboard side of their attackers. At once the other crew began hacking away at the ropes, but they were already too late. The Forsaken had strong pulleys meant to retract the harpoons—and whatever they were attached to—quickly. Within a minute, they were within boarding distance.
Both crews drew flintlocks on each other. Heilyn spun his bolo rope around quickly, looking for signs of movement. Two of the men from the helm walked down the stairs to greet them. The smaller man had on a lot of green and seemed young, somewhere between Heilyn’s and Jasper’s age. The other man looked like he could be Riot’s brother, perhaps even his twin. Rivers, that’s probably exactly who he was.
“Where is Captain Vexx of the Forsaken?” the man asked with a level, loud voice. When no one spoke up, he sighed. “I was afraid of such a thing. An honorable man such as himself would not dare stay quiet. I take it the man is dead then? Shame; I woulda loved the chance to bite out his neck myself.”
Heilyn’s gaze hardened, but he held his position.
“I am captain here, brother to Riot, and so any questions you may address to me-”
“Brother?” The man let out a bellowing laugh. “You think me to be his brother? No, no, no, I am not his brother. I am him!”
Heilyn wanted to hit himself for not figuring that out. A ship of deceit indeed.
“Well then, how about-”
“I have no words for you, second captain,” Riot interrupted. “Fire.”
With that single word, all tension snapped. Both sides began firing on one another, neither seeming to take hold aside from the first shot of Deighly, who brought down another man before ducking behind cover.
Heilyn took no such precautions. He immediately began running, throwing one end of his rope towards Riot’s head.
The larger man ducked and tried to catch the rope, but Heilyn pulled back, retracting his shot before his weapon could be taken. He tried again, closer this time. Both crews seemed to be ignoring the captains.
Another miss. Another grab. Another pullback.
One more time he tried, this time missing just a little on purpose and letting Riot catch the rope. He knew it was risky since he was sure to be stronger than most opponents Heilyn had faced, but it was a deceptive play.
As soon as he felt the rope go taught, seeing the smirk on Riot’s face, Heilyn pulled back hard on the rope, launching himself through the remaining seven feet to land a knee in Riot’s face. He could feel blood on his knee, but he kept going.
Stronger opponent, don’t let him get an opening, he kept thinking.
Elbow to the gut.
Stronger opponent, no openings.
Knee to the crotch.
Stronger, no open.
Headbutt.
Strong, none.
Every now and then he could feel a swing come his way. Often he’d dodge, but most of the time he knew the man would be too off-balance to land a solid hit. He let those hit him, granting him new bruises, but nothing he couldn’t shake off easily.
It’s like fighting Crimson. Just don’t give him an opening and he can’t do anything to you.
Punch, kick, knee, bolo, elbow, kick, kick, elbow, knee, knee, knee, balled fists, headbutt.
Heilyn was still fighting when the sounds of battle died around him. More accurately, he was still wailing on the larger man just in case he was still conscious.
He wasn’t.
The man known as Riot—real name Bolton Tattersall—was laying on the floor of his own ship, bloodied and broken, bruised and wounded, but still alive.
Heilyn could feel the blood on his hands.
“Survey the bodies,” he heard himself say. “Treat the wounded. Throw the dead to the sea.” Then as an afterthought, “Look for any alcohol.”
Heilyn stood there for another moment, surveying the unconscious body of Bolton Tattersall. There was no amount of strength a human could possess that Heilyn thought he couldn’t overpower. Jasper thought it would’ve been a problem, and it might’ve been for him, but for Heilyn it wasn’t those with strength greater than his that’d always troubled him. It was people with greater durability.
He looked up and out over the ocean, surveying the far-off battlefield. Even from such a distance he could tell the pirates of the remaining two enemy ships were panicking, likely either from a loss of their superhuman strength, or from a skill imbalance between them and Jasper’s crew. It was moments like these that made Heilyn doubt the strength of Goldbloods and Stonehearts. All that power, just to be beaten by a crew of mostly-human pirates. Of course there was Jasper himself, but he was young, and his Goldblood gift didn’t give him as much of an edge as some may think.
“Cap’n.” Hacksmith’s voice drew Heilyn from his thoughts and observations. “I think there’s something you need to see.”
Heilyn blinked and nodded to the hunched-over man. Hacksmith led him over to a section of the floor that didn’t look any different to Heilyn as the rest of the ship did. Hacksmith stomped his feet a couple times, making echoes below deck but not much else. He spotted Heilyn’s confused glance and rolled his eyes.
“I swear, da’ only one of you which ain’t blind as a sea cucumber is Deighly, and he’s missing an eye!” Hacksmith sighed. “Since you can’t see it, I’ll tell ya. This section of the floor right here is elevated slightly. I thought it might’ve been just some warping on the wood from all the water, but that ain’t it. Look closely and feel around, and you can tell this is bein’ pressed up by something that ain’t actually there below deck.”
“What do you mean by not there?”
“I mean,” Hacksmith explained, drawing himself up to stand a bit straighter, “that the section of the space below deck right here is just a wall. I thought it seemed a bit thick of a wall, but there’s something inside the wall.” He got an evil gleam in his eyes. “Permission to whack it open?”
“Aye, get to it. But be careful,” Heilyn hurriedly added as he saw Hacksmith immediately grab for the crowbar and hammer slung across his back.
It was a big crowbar and hammer.
“We don’t know what’s in there, and I don’t want it broken before we find out.”
Hacksmith nodded, taking his tools and positioning them to knock the crowbar into the slits between the wood. He made a single, heavy blow on the crowbar with the hammer.
In response, something behind the wood yelped.