Guild Wars: Sea of Sorrows (55 page)

Amid the shouts and panic of their crew, Cobiah noted a third ship approaching. For a moment he thought it was one of the Lion’s Arch fleet, but something about the vessel bothered him. Taking a second look, he realized the ship was Yomm’s, the brigantine the merchant had purchased to qualify for a spot on the Captain’s Council. “I can’t believe it!” Cobiah exclaimed. “That cowardly old coot used the asura gates to get to his ship in Rata Sum—and then sailed all the way back alone? Has he gone completely mad?”

The asuran brig was no war vessel. Cobiah doubted she had enough guns to spearfish along the coast. Despite her blue-glowing, enchanted masts and her alchemically reinforced hull, the sturdy little caravel was a cargo ship, with an expanded hold and a study hall. “Yomm could have at least brought a few more ships. Or a bunch of asuran elementalists,” groused the commodore, trying to catch a glimpse of the asura on the
Nadir Shill
’s deck. “I can’t imagine what a little dinghy like that is going to do against Dead Ships—or the Maw.” He saw only one robed figure on the deck; the rest were obviously frightened sailors, scurrying about the ship as they prepared to enter the battle zone.

“My lord prince.” One of the sailors approached them. “Bad news. The explosion below reached our ammunition stores. Elementalist Doralyn was forced to flood the area with water spells to be sure it didn’t catch fire and destroy the ship. We saved most of the munitions, but Doralyn . . . well, sir, she gave her life for the
Trident
.”

“Bad news, indeed.” Edair frowned. “And the gunpowder?”

The sailor shook his head. “Not in good order, sir. Between the wind stoppering our cannons, the explosion in our stern, and the flooding of the deck, it’s all we can do to load the carronades.”

“Damn it.” The prince stared sullenly toward the second xebec. “We’ve got one more of those gods-cursed vessels left, not to mention the monster below. By Balthazar’s hounds, what are we going to do?”

Looks like you’re in trouble again, bookah.
The whisper came out of thin air, nearly making Cobiah jump out of his skin. It was high-pitched, snarky . . . and wholly familiar.
I have no idea how you managed to get along without me.

C
obiah blinked. “Macha?”

Yomm snuck through the asura gate to Rata Sum,
the voice said blithely.
You should have seen him begging the Arcane Council for assistance! But his request was rejected. None of the colleges were willing to send help. Who knew they’d be so mad over a little counter-appropriation almost twenty years ago? It’s not like they didn’t make their money back when they double-charged us to build gates in Lion’s Arch.

“Macha, what are you doing here?”

In the last few years, I’ve spent a lot of time considering the Eternal Alchemy, and I’ve come to the conclusion that my formula of diverse interaction was flawed. I redid the calculations and found my initial error
.

“What?”

An audible sigh.
I said, I came to make things right.

The
Nadir Shill
pushed its way past the others, cresting the whitecapped waves. As it cut in front of the
Trident
, Cobiah saw four more phantom ships materialize around it. Scarlet spread through the water, and he smelled the overwhelming reek of blood. Apparently the Maw smelled it, too, because the monster broke off its attack on the
Balthazar’s Trident
and gave chase. Macha’s illusionary ships began to limp and wobble in the water
like injured birds pretending to have broken a wing. The Maw eagerly focused its attention on them, teeth snapping through hulls that didn’t exist, tail lashing the water as it was drawn away.

That left the
Pride
and the
Balthazar’s Trident
to deal with the second xebec.

“I’ve got an idea.” Cobiah brightened. “Helmsman, sail to the west—back where you picked me up. The
Pride
will follow us.” He signaled toward the
Pride
, and Sykox waved back. Cobiah gestured for them to unfurl the sails. “Put ours down, too.”

“They’re burned,” Livia protested smoothly. “They’ll do us no good.”

“Put them down! All of them! Even the ones that aren’t catching wind. We need to block their line of sight.”

“We have no guns to the rear,” Edair reminded him. “We won’t be able to fire at the Orrians when they give chase.”

“We won’t need our guns. Just unfurl the sails and head west—and keep them on the
Trident
’s stern!”

Together, the
Pride
and the
Balthazar’s Trident
sailed side by side, sails wide and grasping at the ocean wind as the Orrian ship followed them. The xebec continued to fire, and the remaining elementalists on the Krytan galleon did everything they could to turn the blasts aside. Twice, Cobiah thought they would be blown apart by the Orrian attacks, only to see one of the four Krytan guardians lunge forward, shielding the rear of the ship with a protective blue hemisphere of magic. When the Orrian spells impacted upon their magical protection, the guardian’s enchanted shield crumpled, and the protector fell, their life force expended to prevent the blast from reaching the ship—giving their lives to save their fellows.

Cobiah signaled to Sykox. Using charr hand signals designed to coordinate a silent attack, he initiated a countdown. They were almost there . . . almost . . .

“Now! Hard to port!” Yelling, he followed the command with, “Sykox! Hard to starboard!” The charr aboard the
Pride
were ready, and both crews pulled their rudders hard and twisted their sails to draw them away. The two ships parted like a leaf cut in two by the keen blade of a sword. Their unfurled sails had hidden the sea ahead from their pursuer, keeping the Orrians from recognizing the territory into which they sailed. And as the two ships broke to the sides, they slowed, allowing the Orrian ship to rush between them—and onto a massive, rocky outcropping that jutted up above the waves.

The xebec slammed into the promontory, wood shrieking as moss-covered stone pierced through her fire shield and into the hull itself. The entire ship crashed upward, masts giving way with a terrible cracking sound. They fell forward, snapping the rigging and causing the scarlet sails to founder and unfurl across her deck. The undead crew, caught off guard, flew forward, crashing into her forecastle and tumbling across the ship’s deck. And as her spellcasters lost their concentration, the xebec’s magical protections failed.

“Fire!” Cobiah pounded his fist on the railing. “Now, now,
now
!”

Cannons fired from both ships, taking advantage of the xebec’s crumpling prow and her lack of magical defenses. Free of the winds that had been enchanted to shroud the portholes and lower decks, the
Balthazar’s Trident
’s massive cannons could fire at last. By the time the smoke cleared, there was nothing left on the rock except a keel, weathered shards of wood, and a wide scrap of singed red sail.

Edair stood in the center of the deck, commanding the Seraph response to the damage that had been done to his ship. The Krytans obeyed his commands earnestly, doing their best to repair the injuries done to the massive ship’s hull and sails. “Commodore,” the prince called to him. “Looks like the
Nomad
’s full foundered. We should sail by and offer aid while we can—that asuran friend seems to have lost the beast. It could resurface anywhere.”

Fully aware that the Maw was still out there, Cobiah nodded. The monstrous creature would see a still ship as a target, and it would take little effort for it to destroy a craft that couldn’t move. Across the rippling plain of the bay, Cobiah could see limping Krytan vessels taking aboard rafts of sailors from crushed ships of Lion’s Arch and a flurry of small ships taking on a black-sailed clipper that was trying to take advantage of a Krytan ship on fire. The
Pride
was headed to meet with the
Nadir Shill,
pulling alongside the asuran craft to exchange greetings.

Cobiah’s breath came in short gasps, his lungs laboring. The damage he’d taken aboard the
Indomitable
was significant, but he ignored it. The leviathan was still out there, and at any moment, it could strike. He scanned the sea, trying to catch a glimpse of the creature’s fin or wake, but the waves were so choppy, the number of wrecked and ruined ships so great, that Cobiah could not find any sign of the massive beast.

Battered and weary, the
Balthazar’s Trident
pulled alongside the
Nomad II
, its massive bulk making the clipper’s small body look like a delicate koi resting against the bulk of a fat sunfish. “Isaye!” Cobiah called to her.

“Cobiah! Thank the goddess Lyssa, you’re safe. We thought you’d gone down with the
Indomitable
!” she shouted back from the
Nomad II.
“Is it over? Is Dane . . .?”

“Your son’s fine. The Maw—it’s still out there. We need
to get your crew aboard the
Trident
. Without sails to move you, your vessel’s a sitting duck.” He heard his own voice shaking and struggled to regain his composure. Sailors on the Seraph vessel hurried to extend planks between the ships so the sailors on the
Nomad II
could evacuate. “It’s all right. Edair’s made a promise; we need to work together. Hurry.” He reached to take her hand, helping her across the wooden board.

“And you trust him?” she asked skeptically. Still, she couldn’t hide the relief in her eyes as she took his hand. As the rest of the
Nomad II
’s crew came aboard, Isaye made her way across the plank to Cobiah’s side.

“No. But when we have a choice”—he pulled her toward him—“I’ll let you know.”

“What is Sykox doing?” Isaye asked as she stepped across to the
Trident.
Leaning against Cobiah, she raised one hand to shield her eyes and squinted out to sea. “Is that Yomm’s ship? Why are the charr going aboard?” Nearby, Rahli helped Tenzin across one of the walkways; he leaned heavily on the bosun. Confused, Cobiah turned to follow Isaye’s gaze, spying the
Pride
and the
Nadir Shill
floating side by side. Several of the charr were leaping onto the asuran ship, their weapons at the ready, though there were no undead anywhere that Cobiah could see. Before he could venture an opinion, the
Balthazar’s Trident
’s bell began to ring. One of the crew nearby shouted, “I see the beast! To starboard, ahoy!”

Indeed, the Maw was rising once more, tearing one of the patchwork ships of Lion’s Arch between its teeth as the monster lifted its massive bulk above the waves. Cobiah heard sailors screaming and wood rending, and saw the vessel’s mangled deck shatter in the monster’s mouth. The leviathan slammed down into the water, scattering dead bodies and ruined canvas in its wake. Huge
waves rolled in all directions from the impact, swelling so high that they knocked the
Nomad II
violently against the
Balthazar’s Trident
as if she’d been buffeted by a giant’s fist. Cobiah heard boards smash and crack as their hulls crashed against one another.

“Your Highness!” a sailor called out from the far end of the ship. “We’re stuck!”

“Stuck?”

“The boards, sir!”

Pulling Isaye away from the edge of the ship, Cobiah looked past the railing. Indeed, jagged boards in the
Nomad II
’s hull had impaled the
Balthazar’s Trident
, twisting their boards together where the clipper’s broken ones jutted out at an angle from the ship. “Get the boat hooks!” commanded Prince Edair. “Tear them apart. We’ll fix the damage after . . .”

Even as he yelled, the Maw rose again, this time on the far side of the
Nomad II
. Its teeth grazed the hull of the clipper, ripping through boards, tearing apart her lifeboats, and catching in her rigging. The blow hadn’t been dead-on but rather askew, and the Maw continued on past the two ships, expelling water in a wide arc where it crashed back into the sea.

The galleon and the clipper rolled in the waves, pushed gently by the wind and the tossing of the creature’s wake. “We’ve got to get away from the
Nomad.
We have to keep moving,” Cobiah called to the prince. “As long as we’re moving, it’s harder for the Maw to catch us.”

A nearby sailor shook his head. “Those boards are caught together too well for us to lever them apart without proper tools, sir. We’re trapped.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Grymm Svaard, grasping a long boat hook in either hand. As he wedged them down between the two vessels, Cobiah heard the sound
of small-arms fire. He looked back over his shoulder and saw the faint smoke of pistols rising from the deck of the
Nadir Shill
.

The
Pride
was pulling away from the asuran vessel, her engines chugging full bore. But Cobiah could see charr on the
Nadir Shill,
and he heard Fassur cursing even this far away across the waves. “What’s going on?”