Chapter 7 - One-Eyed Clyde

It was finally time for the people of Heaven’s Isle and Arnest’s unusual group to head out towards the great trade city, Zanabo. Although Arnest had mostly perfected the forming of the spell, [Shadow Bow], he was by no means skilled in wielding it. He had never been trained in archery and had little to no experience handling a bow. Currently he could shoot a still deer from about 50 yards away. Whether or not that deer died to the first shot was uncertain.

Arnest woke up early and went to the starboard of the ship to stretch under the glow of the morning suns. His short, simple black hair bristled in the briny ocean wind. He saw Rogar and few other men finishing up packing the last fishing boat with herbs they would sell at the market. “We ready to head out?” Arnest called out, waving.

Rogar tied a knot, securing his precious cargo. “All good now!” he called back.

“Then let’s set sail!” Arnest shouted and his men started untying the sails and manning the oars.

The large ship slowly scuttled away from the peer and a dozen small fishing boats followed. The islanders of Heaven’s Isle waved at their departing brothers, husbands and fathers. A teary eyed Greta shouted, “May the gods protect you!”

Arnest watched over the men running around on the deck for a while but after skipping breakfast, he started to crave a burnt fish. He headed down under the deck towards the galley where all the food was stored. Picking through the various boxes which mostly had tropical fruits and vegetables, he heard a strange sound coming from behind.

“Hiccup!”

He neared the sound and pushed the cargo aside. Arnest mostly expected a stowaway rat. But instead, a tiny little girl with apple stained lips and a mound of fruit toppled out of a box to her side was revealed.

“Hiya brother Arnest! Hiccup.” she said with a huge grin that exposed bits of apple stuck in her teeth.

“Tanya, what are you doing here?” Arnest was surprised.

“I came to play with Halfy!” she said before taking another bite out of an applet.

“Halphas?” he thought outloud.

As he said that, out of the shadows, Halphas appeared. “Hello again, Arnest.” he whispered in an almost incomprehensible voice.

Arnest pulled Halphas to the side while Tanya continued to dine on his food supply. “What are you doing here?”

He was surprised when he saw Tanya, whose prescence could be an explainable occurrence. Perhaps she was hungry and wanted to eat some of his food. However Halphas’s presence confused Arnest. Didn’t Halphas already teach him [Shadow Bow]? Was he planning on still repaying more of an already repaid debt?

“I’m sorry for not asking before but I was afraid you might refuse.” Halphas looked dejected.

“If I stay on that island, perhaps the villagers will find me and chase me away one day. I thought if I followed you silently I could maybe find a place where I could live without this fear. The city of Zanabo sounds like it could be different from the smaller islands and might accept a half-breed like me.” he explained.

Arnest shook his head and then asked “That’s fine and all. But why did you let Tanya to follow you?”

“She saw me coming down the mountain and wouldn’t leave my side. I tried to tell her to go back home but she insisted. I…I couldn’t say no…” Halphas helplessly sighed. The both of them then stared at the gluttonous girl who continued to munch on apples without a care in the world. Seeing her so happily engrossed, the two deeply sighed together.

“Give us your valuables or die!” an unknown, harsh voice loudly shouted.

Arnest frowned and went up above to see what was going on while Halphas and Tanya followed. He saw in the distance, about three ship-lengths away was another ship. It was in between the size of Arnest’s ship and the smaller sized fishing boats. It’s shape was long and narrow, with an ornately crafted angel with a blindfold at the front tip. This nautical figurehead seemed to be alive and was leading them  with a divine sense, through the waters towards his direction.

Arnest’s ship was too large and moved quite slowly in comparison to the incoming boat. Within a few breaths, they were already close enough for their oars to touch. The men on Arnest’s side started to ready themselves, drawing their swords, ready for a fight. On the other boat their men had sinful eyes and wore various and seemingly random clothes, whose strange appearance matched the strange weapons a few held.. A few had bronze cutlasses while a majority had these unique weapons Arnest had never seen before.

“What is it that you want?” Arnest shouted.

“Didn’t you hear me? Terrible One-Eyed Clyde wants your belongings. Bow down or fight and die! Choose!” a tall, muscular man walked out of the disorderly crowd towards the boat’s edge nearest to Arnest. He had scars from hundreds of battles riddled over his exposed chest and most notably, a scar through his left eye.

“There’s no need to fight, Terrible One-Eyed Clyde. We are only poor travelers and can offer you some of our food if you would like.” Arnest calmly said. He folded his hands behind his back and signaled towards Halphas. Noticing the gestures, Halphas started chanting and melded into shadows.

“What about those smaller boats? Surely they must have something.” Rogar’s face immediately started to pale when Clyde pointed out towards him.

These small boats carried extremely precious cargo for the islanders. They could not live completely off of fish for an entire year. Each year they would trade their medicinal herbs for commodities like grain and clothes. Without it, at least a few villagers would starve while others wouldn’t be able to last through the next winter. Rogar, worried, looked towards Arnest.

“We couldn’t fit all the men on the ship so some are on those boats.” Arnest made up an excuse, while hinting at the number of men he had.

“I don’t like to be threatened, boy. Nor do I believe you don’t have a single valuable, considering your age and bodyguards. Despite your clothing, you look and act like a young lord of a noble house. Maybe I can ransom you for a hefty price.” Clyde pulled out a large steel cutlass that gleamed with a sunny splendor.

“Tie up the boy! Kill the men!” Clyde shouted with a husky, yet profound voice.

“Protect the young lord!” screamed Marcus, rallying all the hidden heavily armored soldiers which started to stream out from under the deck.

Though surprised by the sudden reinforcements, the enemy did not falter and continued to jump onto Arnest’s ship without worry. A few of them carried a khopesh, a sickle-like sword, proficient at hacking and slashing men dead. They raced towards the front of the charge and hacked into the heavily armored elf soldiers. Initially it only slightly dented their armor but within a few whacks their armor was eventually pinching into their skin or completely split, exposing their fleshy parts. Blood sprayed in every direction and the defensive line on Arnest’s ship was being broken by these skilled khopesh pirates.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Before the fight broke out, Arnest had already hurried towards the raised deck at the back of the boat. He chanted “Bend to my will.”, activating [Shadow Bow] and his hands started to turn black with shadow flames. The shadows formed into a curved ebony bow and an arrow. He took aim at One-Eyed Clyde, aiming for his left side which he assumed was a blind spot due to his scarred left eye.

Clyde was silently watching over his men cleave their way towards Arnest while also keeping an eye on him. He had already realized what Arnest was doing and was ready. When the shadow was loosed, heading straight for the left side of his head, he slashed upwards with his shining cutlass. The shadow arrow was split in two and dispersed into nothing.

But this did not worry Arnest. His mouth curved into an ominous smile. His smug face suggested that he had expected this outcome, that everything was within his plans. A cold shock ran throughout Clyde's entire body, warning him of an impending danger.

Behind Clyde, shadowy arms reached around Clyde and consumed him. Clyde became one with the darkness and disappeared from sight. A few moments later, Clyde was dragged down into the ocean. He fought with all his strength but the deathly arms seemed to be unbreakable and carried him further down into a blue abyss.

Clyde’s pirate crew did not seem to notice the missing commander and continued with their ferocity. The battle had only been started around thirty minutes ago however Arnest’s side was in bad shape. Marcus kept calling out to the men, trying to encourage them to hold the line but in the face of an unfamiliar weapon they could only defend themselves at most.

Now that Clyde was gone and they had lost their leader, Arnest turned his attention towards the advancing enemy. He nocked an arrow, released and it swiftly reached it’s target. A scream was heard as one of the khopesh fighters fell down. Another arrow whizzed through the air, taking out another one. And another.

Black arrows started to fly out from above until every single khopesh man was laying on the ground, writhing in pain. The other pirates were dazed by the flurry of arrows that incapacitated their elite. But the arrows did not stop there. The pirates regained their senses once they saw the second barrage and started to flee towards the underbelly of their ship to take cover. Arnest’s men sensed the turn of the tide and chased the pirates back to their ship and into their hull.

After an hour of sieging the quarters of the pirates, they eventually surrendered. All of them were tied up and thrown to one side of their ship. There were quite a number of wounded pirates, still bleeding from the one-sided fight. This included the drenched pirate, One-Eyed Clyde, who was unconscious due to almost drowning.

“Slap!”

The wet slap rang out into the sky. Another slap sounded out right after. And just like the barrages of arrows, it continued without giving anyone a reprieve. The other pirates cringed when they saw the little boy beating their captain. It didn’t stop until Clyde was woken up and felt the burning pain in his cheeks.

“Stop! Stop hitting me!” he screamed.

“Why should I? This is the least I could do to repay you for your kindness.” Arnest’s stark face showed no pity and he slapped him again.

“If you want to kill me, that’s fine. I deserve it.” Clyde stared daggers at Arnest but failed to affect the young lord.

“Don’t kill him, please!”

“Let him go!”

A handful of the pirates started begging for Clyde to be spared. Tears welled up in their eyes and many of them had snot dripping out of their noses as they cried. Arnest looked towards one of the calmer pirates who, although looking upset, was not bawling like a newborn.

The pirate noticed his gaze and said “We are not pirates because we want to be. Clyde is the son of the late village elder. We were attacked by a monster and barely escaped with these villagers. But life outside of a safe island is not without its perils. We met with other monsters, this time of man, who attacked and killed a number of us for amusement. After surviving a second tragedy, Clyde led us to become stronger so we could endure a third if needed.”

Arnest snorted, “You all have probably killed many. I doubt a single one of you is free of sin.”

“That’s true. However you can say the same of your men. If they were not hardened by killing others, how could they defend against us who have become skilled in killing?” the pirate replied.

Arnest’s confident resolve was shaken. What the pirate said made sense. Though it was not true for the men who came from Fox Village, the elven soldiers have most likely fought in many battles and wars. If he were to punish these pirates for their sin of killing, he should by the same logic kill his men as well!

“Enough. You can kill me. I just ask that you let my men go.” Clyde said while closing his eyes, awaiting judgement.

Arnest paused for a while, unsure of what to do. Was it wrong to kill these men? Marcus quietly asked, “Young lord, what should we do?” His face started to crease, frowning in frustration. And then, it suddenly came to him like heavenly insight.

“I will allow your men to live. So long as you promise to stop your thieving ways and follow me.” Arnest said.

Clyde opened his eyes, surprised. This boy was truly not simple. A normal young lord of a noble family would be expected to be ignorant of the world but this boy could fight, command men and make decisive decisions. Following someone of this caliber may not turn out so poorly for a desperate crew of pirates. However he is a proud man, no matter how low he had to go to survive.

“And if I refuse?”

“Then I’ll kill you and the rest of your men.”

Clyde looked to both of his sides, both had sobbing men. “I agree to follow you, my lord.” he said after being left with no other option.

“Good. Ready your men to follow us to Zanabo.” Arnest gave his first order to Clyde while cutting him free of his rope bindings.

“Yes, my lord.”

The small caravan started to organize themselves and sailed east towards Zanabo. The gods must have blessed them with good fortune because the wind was blowing in that direction. With a strong wind and invigorated men, they would arrive at the grand harbor in about three days and begin exploring the mysteries of the great city’s narrow streets.