Death Or Fortune (49 page)

    
As we were closing on two months at sea, I started to wonder if I would ever
feel dry land under my feet again.  I am not a sailor, this much I am sure
of.  I never quite got used to the rocking of the ship, the constant sound
of wood creaking as we were propelled through the water. I started to feel
confined and more than a little crazy.  I know I wasn't the only one who
was feeling it.  Tempers were short and a life of military discipline was
the only thing that kept the men from snapping.  More than anyone though,
it seemed to affect Eli the most. The Arcadian scout had already made this trip
once before.  As we drew closer to the island, his mood worsened.
 Not for the reason I knew though, as it turns out Eli wasn't who he
appeared to be.  I found him on the deck of the ship, gazing up at the
night sky.  When I first saw him it appeared he was talking to himself or
lost in prayer of some kind.  I was worried the man was having some kind
of mental break down.  I called out to him and waited.  He was
oblivious to my voice so I moved closer and called out again.  The second
time he seemed to jump a bit and turn towards me.

    
'I am sorry Captain I was someplace else for a moment.'
I asked him if
he was feeling ok, if anything was bothering him.
'Yes, I am fine. I just
feel like we are crawling, going so slow. No ship sails fast enough for me.'
I thought about it for a moment, a faster ship would have been nice.  I
then asked him the question that was on the mind of more than one person on the
ship. Why he was going back to the island.
'This is going to sound strange
but I am doing this because of my mother. My mother is a good woman. She told
me there is trouble on the island, she told me I had to help. I thought for
sure my part was done when I woke up in Arcadia yet my mother told me I had to
come back with you; to see it through to the end. To make sure the right thing
is done.
' Right at that moment I felt something, something that put me out
of sorts.  The question was on my tongue but my mind would not let me spit
the words out.  I wanted to ask him what the right thing was.  What
was it that his mother expected and why she had such a strong opinion on the
matter.  I never expected to learn the answer.  I then asked him how
old he was.
'I honestly don't remember. Mother is the only family I know;
she and I talk about everything.
'

    
The questions were there in my mind but nothing short of a miracle could get
them to be spoken. I was worried about the man.  He was an experienced
scout for the Arcadian army.  He had to be close to forty years old yet he
spoke as if he was younger than me.  I told him to get some rest and I
tried to return to my room.  Just before I went below deck, I looked back
at him. He was there, facing the stars, speaking to himself again. I
 started to wonder if I was the only one on the ship that wasn't insane.
 I love my mother but the way he carried on seemed to be a bit much.
 At the time I wondered if maybe going back to face his captors was taking
its toll on his mind.  I shook my head as I went down the steps to my
quarters.  I thought about getting some sleep before the sun came up and
heated up the cabin.  I looked down the narrow hall and saw a man standing
outside of my door.  He had what looked like a crate of tools at his feet
and a shining cutlass hanging from his hip.  As I walked down the hall he
turned towards me, he had an eye patch over his left eye.
'You Kromwell?
'
he asked me.  I told him yes and stopped short.  I wasn't sure what
he wanted and I wasn't going to get close enough for him to catch me with that
weapon.

    
'Name is Alexander, first mate. The Captain sent me down to find you. He
would like to see you in his quarters, now.'
I just nodded at the man and
made my way back up topside.  The captain’s quarters were at the rear of
the ship.  I could see the light under his door as I walked up to it.
 I knocked on the door and waited for him to call for me. The door opened
up slowly after a moment or two.  I walked in and was a little shocked to
see the captain on the far side of the room behind his massive desk.
'Please,
close that on your way in.'
I did as he asked and noticed something
strange. There were magical runes on the door frame.  I then looked around
the room; there were charts of the sea, charts of the stars and other things I
did not understand.  I then saw the book case, while I am no expert on the
matter I know spell books when I see them.
'Come this way sir, I have
something to show you.'
On his desk was a map that showed the location of
the island, it was perhaps the only map in the world that showed it.
'We are
currently here.'
he said pointing to a map, inches from anything else at
all.
'To the west here is a small island chain, very small. Pirates like to
hide there from time to time. We may pass close enough by them to draw unwanted
attention.  I wanted you to be aware of this should something come to
pass.  In another day or two we will be well beyond any of the normal routs
ships use, to put it in terms we can both understand, we are just to bloody far
away from the rest of the world.  The world that matters anyway.'

    
I asked him if there was anything we could do to avoid it.
'Well if you want
to add a few days to your travel time I guess that would be alright but I don't
like it. We have the wind right now, if we go too wide we may lose it and it
could cost us a week or more'. 
I didn’t like the sound of that.
 I told him that he was the captain and I would trust his judgment.
 I then asked if there was anything he needed of us.
'Well, you did
bring more than a few trained fighters on board.  I would like some help
defending the ship should it come down to it.
' I told him that it wouldn't
be a problem and that I would put the men on standby.
'Very good, I would
however recommend that your men only use light to no armor. Anyone that falls
over in those tin suits you men wear, well let’s just say I think it would be
wise to avoid anything too heavy.
' I started to protest and thought about
being pulled under the water by my armor, death would be swift and unavoidable.
As I started to leave his office my eyes passed over his book case one more
time.  I turned and asked him if he was a magic user.
'Well, I have
been known to dabble in the arts but I wouldn’t say I am a wizard.'

     His answer
was good enough for me. Before I went to bed that night I tracked down Michaels
and Bryce so I could give them the good news.  Add what could be weeks to
our trip or risk an attack by pirates.  Bryce would only grumble about it
and Michaels did not seem worried at all.
'Solarth will watch over us'
was all he could say.  If nothing else, you could not question his faith
in his god.  As I lay down to sleep my mind drifted back to Eli and his
strange behavior.  Not in a million years could I have seen what was
coming.  In the end it was just another reminder that I am just a small
man in a larger world.  That I am not as important as I think I am
sometimes. While I do my best to make my part of the world, a better place.
 It doesn't begin to amount to much more than the pile of gold in my
vault.  While it has value, it doesn't change the world. True change comes
from the acts and deeds a man commits.

     I had a
dream that night.  I dreamed of being a child, back in Eystlund.  In
my dream I watched as other children my age were out flying kites.  I so
wanted to go out there and play with them.  I wanted to build my own kite
and fly it alongside of theirs.  My father always refused to let me as he
said it was a waste of time and materials.
'Parchment and cord cost money,
not only that you would waste your days out there in the fields when you could
be doing something productive.  Learning something to help propel you
towards your future.  I will not be here forever Darmot. When I am gone
you will have to take over and look after your mother.'
I remember that was
the summer I started to learn the elvish language.  Only in my dream I was
allowed to go out there and fly my kite.  It was plain, brown and ugly to
behold yet when it was up there in the sky, its beauty would make your heart
soar.  When I woke up that morning I was watching it fly away in the wind.
 That was the morning we found the burning ship.

     The call
came down from the crow’s nest, smoke on the horizon.  As we drew closer,
the smoke grew thicker.  The entire ship from the water line up was in
flames.  What was left of the main mast was leaning to the right, it had
started to sink.  Captain Giles had a looking glass much like the one I
had in my pack.  I was standing next to him when he saw the name on the
ship, The Waldrop.
'Strange name for a ship'
he said. Perhaps it was the
dream from the night before that brought my father and his business to mind but
it was a name I knew.  Merchant ship, I told him, it makes a run from
Eystlund to Manchrist three times a year.
'How do you know this
?' he
asked me.  I told him that my father was a merchant in Eystlund and they
had carried his cargo out before. That seemed good enough for him.
'Alexander,
take some lads out on the long boat. See if you can find anyone alive
.' I
watched as the man with one good eye started shouting out orders to the crew,
sending several of them running.  They were gone no more than thirty
minutes, they were only able to find one man still alive and he expired before
they returned to the ship.

     When
Alexander reported back to the ship he was out of breath and more than a little
frightened.
'The poor swab we found floating out there said they were
attacked by The Redd Kraken.  They took half the crew and most of the
cargo.'
 The look on Giles face made me wonder what it was that we
were dealing with.  I was about to ask when he spit over the rail of the
ship and said
'dirty slavers
.'  I have people that work for me.
 I have servants in my home.  By all rights they are all paid well.
 I know there are people out there who own and use slaves and there is
nothing I can do about it, even if I do not agree with it.
'Sir, I don’t
understand. I thought that fat bastard retired.
' Giles just shook his head.
'He did retire.  Then he gave the ship over to one of his bastard sons.
Rhett still gets his cut of the action until he is paid in full for the ship.
Rhett was a slaver but never took things this far. If you kill the sheep, you
can only shear it once. It is clear the new owner doesn't feel this way
.'
Giles watched as the ship was slowly pulled underwater. Taking only the gods
know how many men to a watery grave.
'Captain Kromwell, you might want to
tell your men to be ready. It has only been a few hours since this ship was
attacked. Pray they do not catch sight of us.
' In the end I did just that,
not that it did any good.

     We caught
sight of a ship not three hours later.  When the man in the crow’s nest
called down what the standard the ship was flying looked like, Giles looked to
me.
'My men can fight but these men are savage. If Marcus and Thom are still
serving on Rhett's ship, they will cut my men down without mercy. I would
rather avoid that.
' I told him that those names didn't mean anything to me
but that we would be ready.
'They’re Black Rhett's hired killers, Marcus is
a smooth one, has a good head. Thom is a brute and has little regard for human
life. If you have no worth to him, he would rather gut you than let you live.'
I asked Giles how he knew so much about these men.  He looked at me for a
moment and said
'In my youth, I took what jobs I could get. I am not proud
of my past but I do my best to earn an honest living now.'
I watched with
him as the ship drew closer. I looked over my shoulder at the sails, wishing we
could go faster somehow, wishing we had a magic wind carry us far away from the
trouble that was getting closer by the minute.  The dream of my kite and
seeing the sails like that made me think.

     I did not
have time to think after that point.  I called for Bryce not even thinking
he was right behind me.  I told him to go open the crates we had brought
along, we needed a long bow in every hand that could hold one as many arrows as
we could spare. Giles looked at me with one eyebrow raised.
'You can't kill
them all before they board this ship. You don’t have that many men.'
I
looked at him and placed a hand on his shoulder.  I told him we wouldn't
have to kill any of them if we could slow them down, steal their wind from
them.  The idea I had jumped from my mind to his, the light of
understanding dawned on his face.
'That would only slow them down, any good
captain will have two or three sails in reserve at all times. It would buy us
at hour or two at the most.'
That is when I asked him how long a fire would
slow them down.
'Sir, I assure you I am not that kind of wizard.'
I
laughed at him and told him arrows, flaming arrows. I told him to bring me
three or four fire pots and to set them on the deck of the ship.  By the
time the pirate ship was in range, we were there waiting on the desk of the
ship, each of us with a bow in hand.  Thirty men in all were waiting.

     Pare and
Miri were in charge of the water buckets.  They were to make sure that we
did not have any fire problems of our own.  We were lined up near the rail
of the ship, when the signal was given Giles was going to turn the ship so that
we were facing the pirate vessel.  While I said nothing to them, I heard
Windfall and Ebbit making bets over who would hit the sailor in the enemy
crow’s nest, Windfall won the bet.  I could see men milling about the
other ship and all of them had weapons in hand. At the bow of the ship I saw
one man standing near the rail, a sword in each hand.  I raised my hand to
Giles and he started to turn the ship.  Calls went out of hard to port as
I commanded the archers to be ready.  As the ship turned, the Redd Kraken
came into full view. When I gave the command to fire, I watched in awe as the
flaming arrows flew through the air.  All but two of the first arrows hit
part of the enemy sails.  Ebbit's shot hit the main mast of the ship, Windfall
struck the pirate dead center in his chest. We could hear the pirate’s cries as
their sails started to burn, after a second and third volley weapons were
dropped and they went about the task of putting the fires out.