With dozens of ships moving towards each other on three different fronts around the island, the naval battle began in earnest. Boulders were flying through the air, shot by each fleet’s catapults, crashing against the enemy ships, denting their hulls and bending their masts.

In this battle, the pirate ships were trying to ram the House ones and move the battle onto the decks, while the White House was trying to outmaneuver the pirate ships and maintain the ranged aspects of the battle, where they reigned supreme. They were succeeding; the two fleets were currently arrayed in two loose frontiers, using their catapults to shoot at each other, while the pirates kept looking for a chance to get up-close and personal.

Of course, some pirates were more aggressive - and luckier - than others. Already there was some close-range fighting on all three fronts, even if the bulk of the battle was still fought at range.

But not all House ships tried to maintain the distance. Exploiting the element of surprise, four House ships broke through the loose lines of the pirates, easily fending off all who tried to board them. These ships were filled with elites, and they were responsible for seizing control of the pirate base while the battle raged outside.

Exactly as planned, the four ships broke through the pirates and landed right on the port before disembarking.

The pirates’ base was built like a small castle, with its own walls and trenches. Because its port was inside the walls, however, the attackers were able to bypass these poor obstacles and force the remaining defenders to back off inside the base. The elite crews of these four ships rushed in after the pirates and, soon, smoke started rising from various spots inside the base.

The pirates weren’t discouraged, but the navy soldiers got a huge boost of morale and were now fighting even more ferociously. Vreil, Milos, Nigel, and Arthur were watching the battle in shock, but that was neither due to the cheering they could hear coming from the ships nor because of the vice-admirals’ tactics and strategy.

The most ship-crowded parts of the sea had been painted a reddish color, and the wind that was blowing from there to the flagship carried horrible smells, as well as the sound of screaming. By now, the four young men were beginning to understand what Fred had been talking about. If they were on the battlefield, it is unlikely they would be able to fight under those conditions. And yet, the sailors seemed able to stand it, causing feelings of red-hot shame to flush through the boys, along with the battle terror.

During the trip, because of their own strength, the four couldn’t help but feel a sense of superiority compared to the average sailors. Now, however, that sense was thoroughly washed away. There is more to this world than strength.

“It’s not that they are not affected”, explained Fred, as if reading their thoughts. “The frenzy of the battle has taken over now. Their thoughts have been pushed to the back of their minds, so they are not driven crazy by what is going on around them. They are fighting on pure instinct now, like animals. To have these soldiers follow your orders is the toughest part of being a commander.”

He smiled, a forced, exhausted grin. “Don’t worry. This battle is nearly over and, after a short while, those who are still alive will be humans again.”

“Not yet”, said Velros in a quiet voice. He alone, of all the men that belonged to the White House, had understood that the smoke coming from the pirates’ base was not a sign of the fire and destruction inside, but a smoke signal. Now it was the pirates that were cheering, while the White House soldiers looked on in disbelief. On top of a small hill behind the pirate’s base, three enormous catapults were slowly making an appearance on the crest of the hill, pushed there by tens of men.

The side of the hill that was visible from the sea was wild, full of trees and bushes, but the other side had apparently been thoroughly cleaned by the pirates to facilitate their movements.

Now, three catapults were standing on top of the hill, but they were nothing like the ones on the ships. The ship-bound ones had to be light, so their size, strength, and range were greatly reduced. The ones on top of the hill were even bigger than the ones used in castle sieges, and they were on high ground. Based on his previous experience with siege machinery, Velros estimated that their maximum range reached many hundreds of meters, about as far as where the main battle was taking place.

Because of the difficulty in aiming over such large distances, it would only be possible to efficiently hit the House’s ships without hitting the pirates’ ships if the House’s ships were right where the maximum range of the catapults was. Velros’ instinct told him that was exactly the case.

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If the lines of the House’s central force were at the maximum range of the big catapults, they would be an easy target for the pirates, with no danger of hitting their own ships. Velros became as pale as a sheet when he figured out the situation. They had been played.

The pirates had managed their ships to such a degree that they placed the fight exactly where they wanted it to be. If they had missed the spot by fifty meters, the situation would be different. But if his assumptions were correct, now Velros could do nothing. If he ordered the central force to back away from the big catapults, the pirates would turn on the sides and annihilate the forty ships of the House that were there. If he ordered them to move forward so the catapults would have to risk hitting their own ships, the pirates would jump on his ships and force the battle into close-quarters, where they possibly held the advantage.

Not to mention that the catapults would probably shoot anyway, since the chance of hitting an enemy ship was larger than hitting one of their own. The pirates were, after all, ship-wise outnumbered.

If, on the other hand, Velros didn’t order anything, the catapults would slowly grind down his fleet. The best option would be to have his sides attack the pirates’ central force from the flanks but, if they tried that, then these flanks would be vulnerable to the pirate ships opposing them.

Velros, being an old and experienced captain, regained his composure and reconsidered the situation. They still had an overwhelming advantage in numbers, so he should just continue as he was and hope that the pirate ships at the central battlefield would sink before his own, and that the sides would hold out against an almost equal number of ships.

“Velros!” Fred shouted in agony. “The flanks!”

Velros turned to look at the side battlefields and saw that suddenly, elven ships had appeared behind his ships, ten at each side. They had just emerged out of the sea and looked very different than his own, although he didn't have the time or the peace of mind to inspect them carefully.

Even as a vice-admiral and a fleet commander, he wasn’t familiar with the elven way of sea-fighting, but this couldn’t be good. The odds were now against them at every front. The famous Black Beard had completely manipulated his every action, even predicting his ship lineup.

In this battle between commanders, he had been defeated, and now his fleet would suffer defeat because of that. His only hope was the ambush force inside the pirate base. Could they force a surrender? He asked himself.

Only if Black Beard himself was waiting inside the base, and he was successfully captured. As the big catapults started throwing rocks and the ships at the sides were ambushed by the elves behind them, two big elven ships surfaced right behind his flagship. The only thing he could do now was have faith in his men, in his commanders, and to fight his own battle. He would be damned if he let himself get captured.

Vice-admirals Akai, Aoki and Kiza had all just been promoted to vice-admirals a few months ago. They were the most inexperienced of all the vice-admirals, and that was why they had been entrusted with an easy battle, where their number was double that of their enemy. Eventually, however, the tables were turned and now the weight of this battle had all been shifted to their shoulders. They were not weak men, however; they had all been through more difficult situations before.

As they observed the new situation that had formed around them, they didn’t lose their ability to think rationally. They counted the enemy ships that had appeared and concluded that even with twenty-two more elven ships as their opponents, they still had hopes of victory. Those hopes, however, were concentrated on the central battlefield.

Although it was usually the overall commander’s job to tell them, they all knew that the flanks had to hold out until the center had dealt with its opponents.

Since their situations were almost identical, vice-admirals Aoki and Kiza made the exact same decision. Things were getting rough, and it was time to take some risks.

They each had many capable fighters in their ship so they charged the pirates, ordering the ships surrounding them to not allow too much interference. They were confident that, as long as they didn’t touch a ship that was carrying someone important, they could take control of two or three ships using just their own. They also each sent half of the fleet that had been assigned to them to the back, to deal with the new opponents of unknown strength, the elves.

Admiral Akai, on the central battlefield, knew he had to win his own battle as fast as possible. He had made sure, before the battle had begun, that three of the ships with the highest potential in man-to-man fights were very close to his own ship. Along with his own, he ordered those three ships to charge at the pirates and reverse the flow of the battle. That way, he himself would be safe from the deadly danger of the big catapults. Not that he was afraid of death, but he was needed to command.

He also ordered ten more ships to follow his charge, planning to use them to slow down any pirate ships that approached, and so have each of his four, strong ships take over the pirate ships one by one. It would be a problem if he himself was targeted by many people at once though, since his strength with the sword was not that great.

“Hey, you”, he shouted to a sailor that happened to pass by him. “Give me your clothes. Fast.”