Chapter 6

Sannan’s next training session was interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the captain’s first mate. Hallmas was in the midst of explaining to him how to use the environment to his advantage, including which weapons were less effective in close quarters.

“Remember, in a tight space you could have the walls do the work for you. Slamming a man’s head into a brick wall could be just as devastating as–"

Estaval swung open the door and strolled up to Hallmas. Her hair was noticeably more disheveled than usual, and the creases around her eyes meant she had not been getting enough sleep.

“Don’t think that you could simply shirk your duties to train this boy, Hallmas!” Estaval folded her arms and fixed the Kesani with a frosty stare. With sweat glistening on his forehead, Hallmas muttered an apology and bowed on his way out the door.

Sannan was about to open his mouth to say something, but Estaval spoke first.

“Just to warn you, this vessel will accelerate within another hour or so. We are closing in on the Armudan Quadrant, and the captain fears his quarry might have already long vanished. Now, go find something useful to do, or I can always have you scrubbing the deck alongside your fighting teacher.”

Estaval left just as quickly as she had come in, leaving Sannan all alone in the training room. He contemplated going to the engine room to see how the engine modules operated when boosting the speed of Tanzeel’s Spear, but he instead opted to get back up on the deck to gaze out at the ocean.

Little did he know just how bewildering the Bazzal Reef would be. His eyes were simply not prepared for the explosion of color they were about to be subjected to. The water was crystal clear, allowing him to see right down to the sea floor. Corals of all shapes and sizes formed an underwater jungle of sorts, teeming with tropical fish he could hardly recall from the old almanac from his childhood. Layers of upon layers of coral made up gigantic columns encircled by schools of pearlescent minnows, with some columns almost breaching the surface of the water. Fan shaped, dome shaped, or rod shaped; coral came in just as many variants as they did colors. Sannan found himself encircling the entire vessel just to see what new discoveries he might glimpse at other vantage points. A colossal manta ray with luminescent patterns dotting its back glided past the stern of the ship, with a pair of remora swimming right under its wings. Though he wished he had a Kamera with him, there was something special about observing such wildlife with his own two eyes.

It took Sannan a few moments to realize that Zari was likewise gazing out at the surrounding reef with her elbows planted on the ship’s railing. Even after giving Sannan a brief passing glance, she said nothing and continued inspecting the reef. Water too shallow for the ship to sail through bordered miniature islands composed of mostly sand and rock. One such island was large enough to support plant life, including a few palm trees that swayed in the wind.

Time seemed to fly by as Sannan spent a good majority of the hour taking in the majesty of the reef, while keeping his eyes peeled for any sharks. Once he came to terms with the fact he was not going to spot a reef shark, Sannan quickly made his way below deck to the engine room. Azala was just about finished fine tuning the left hand engine module by the time he arrived. After leaning against the wall to catch his breath, Sannan watched as the golden haired woman began rapidly rotating knobs on both modules simultaneously in a counterclockwise direction. Within seconds, the engines roared to life with veins illuminated by the pulsating glow of twin Lumix cores. Sannan instinctually grabbed onto a wall railing as the vessel sped forward. He hoped the ship would avoid ramming into a reef formation, but judging by the composed look on Azala’s face, that was not going to be an issue.

The initial burst of speed would have caught him off balance if it were not for the railing. He clung to it afraid of what might happen if he let go, then realized that the ship was gradually starting to slow down. It was still moving faster than normal, but slow enough that Sannan did not feel as if he would be swept off the floor.

“That initial burst of speed can only be maintained for so long,” Azala said. “Even Lumix cores have their limit when it comes to how much work they are able to perform.”

When Sannan strolled over to one of the engine modules, he noticed the glow of the veins had dimmed down.

“Azala, you did approve of me inspecting these engine modules when we first met, remember?”

“Right, but I am not sure how much information you would glean from that. There are a few advanced concepts involved with the making of this engine that I doubt you would understand. As an analogy, think of these as part of a higher level course you would take at the Academy.”

Sannan scratched his head in reply. “I mean, what makes this engine more difficult to put together than an automaton?”

“I don’t mean to offend, Sannan, but while I did praise your automaton, it is going to need more than just a conduit to be fully functional. Don’t think of yourself as some master of Artifice construction just because I praised… what was his name?”

“Khanrea.” At that moment, Sannan did feel a tinge of embarrassment at assuming he had already grasped all the specifics when it came to automaton design.

“Right, once the two of us get started, we can start with something simpler, such as a Kamera. Suffice it to say, it may take some time, say a couple of months, before we get to engines and automatons. And even that will depend on how quickly you internalize what you learn.”

Azala’s lessons were something Sannan looked forward to dearly, though he wondered how long the captain was willing to search the Armudan Quadrant before stopping by this aforementioned Induran city. Surely they had to make landing within the next week, as the crew’s salted rations were bound to run out soon. He also questioned how much lime juice the captain had on hand. For the rest of the afternoon up till nightfall, Sannan offered to sharpen Captain Olberan’s greatsword, which still looked as strange as the day he first laid eyes on it. It could have been no coincidence the weapon resembled a serpent’s spine, given the moniker of the man the captain was hunting.

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As the sun was painting the skies a rosy orange that following morning, Sannan was jerked awake by the sound of his cabin door being flung open. Though he had trouble keeping his eyes open, he could tell it was Zari who came into the room.

“Have you ever heard of knocking?” Sannan’s roommate got up from his sleeping blanket and scowled irritably before realizing his anger was directed towards the captain’s daughter. At that point, his scowl was immediately replaced with a sullen expression.

“Come up on deck, Sannan,” Zari called. “The watcher on the crow’s nest spotted something interesting.”

Sannan barely had any time to change out of his smallclothes into a tight fitting waistcoat before hurrying up on deck. Hushed voices and whispers were heard all throughout the crew, and as Sannan made his way up towards the ship’s bow, he immediately understood what all the commotion was about. Directly next to a nearby reef was an abandoned pirate ship, judging from the burnt, tattered flag that still hung loosely from its mast. The hull was charred and damaged beyond repair, but it appeared to be a Induran vessel based on the faded gold trim running below its railing. Upon closer inspection of the flag, Sannan’s breath caught in his throat. It clearly depicted intertwining twin serpents.

Captain Olberan ordered the rhustra to be lowered, and boarded the ruined ship with a grim expression on his face. His first mate followed not far behind, with Zari bringing up the rear. Once it was confirmed no enemies were on the ship, Estaval made a gesture for more crew members to board. Sannan followed closely behind Ammad, who seemed deep in thought with that faraway stare. Close to what was the steering column of the burnt ship lay a corpse of a pirate no older than Captain Olberan himself. When the captain bent down to inspect the body, his eyes burned with hatred.

Swollen blue veins ran all throughout the body, and clear puncture marks were visible just below the victim’s neck. It was the only corpse present on the entirety of the ship.

“Damn it all!” Captain Olberan slammed his fist onto a broken railing. “We were too late. I don’t understand how the bastard can get around so quickly. Must have some highly advanced engine installed on his ship.”

He prodded the corpse’s wounds with the pommel of his greatsword.

“Now what kind of weapon makes puncture marks like that? If I recall, the Sea Snake used a rapier back in the day.”

“Most peculiar,” Estaval murmured. “Might we suggest to the Pirate Empress to put out the order for every division of the Iron Serpent Fleet to be on high alert? I’m sure the Sea Snake and his lackeys won’t be able to take on two or more crews at once.”

“Sure, either that or we convince her to procure us a faster ship.”

“Faster ship?” Estaval said incredulously. “The only other ships faster than ours would be the first division captain’s ship, not counting the Pirate Empress’s own ship, of course.”

“This has gone on long enough, Estaval. So far he has only been targeting Iron Serpent Fleet ships. It won’t be long before the other two pirate lords begin sensing Erbosa’s weakness. She is still the youngest of the three in tenure, after all.”

Captain Olberan was visibly tense, idly fingering that shark’s tooth as he contemplated.

“Here’s the plan. After we restock on supplies at Esenbal, we sail to Isle Durna to request a faster ship from Erbosa. Perhaps ally ourselves with the first division.”

“Understood.” The corpse was wrapped up with silk cloth in preparation for cremation. Sannan hardly got the chance to explore the ruined ship before it was time for the crew to sail east towards the Induran coast. As Olberan’s crew unfurled the ribbed sails, the burning body bag was set adrift to be carried off by the ocean current. Captain Olberan and Estaval whispered a prayer to the Water Goddess as the current swept the body bag towards the horizon, now a brilliant reddish orange from the light of the rising sun.

The further east the crew sailed, the fewer reefs were present. Although Sannan felt a pang of regret at leaving the Bazzal Reef behind, he made a promise to himself to return there one day. During the next day, Sannan practiced aiming with his gilded crossbow at Zari’s suggestion. Wooden targets were set up towards the stern of the ship, and though the gentle rocking of the ship made it slightly harder to aim, he directed all his concentration towards ensuring the shots ran home. In his mind, he pretended he was aiming his cannon, telling himself a missed cannon shot could always spell disaster for his own allies. By the end he had landed five shots out of fifteen.

“You know how this works, Sannan. Practice makes perfect.” Zari nocked an arrow and fired it through one of the targets with ease.

“Show off,” Sannan muttered under his breath. Although he had run out of bolts, he felt he had something to prove. Sannan had to run down the length of the ship to retrieve one of his bolts from a target, wrenching it free from the wood. Once he was back within the shooting range, Sannan loaded the bolt into his crossbow and let loose another shot. To his surprise, the bolt landed on the target close to where Zari’s arrow had struck.

The girl’s eyebrows rose slightly, then she smirked. “It is not just about accuracy. Being able to hit the target consistently is also important.”

Later that evening, Sannan had to make do with those salty biscuits as a consequence of the ration shortage. He sighed as he chewed on one of them while inspecting his crossbow. It was a fine weapon, but no weapon felt better in his hands than the cannon. Subconsciously, he wondered whether it was feasible for him to steal it from under the captain’s nose, then shot down the idea immediately. There was nothing more foolish than attempting to steal from a pirate, and a trusted affiliate of the Pirate Empress at that. Perhaps it was motivation enough to get good with the crossbow such that he could earn back the right to wield the cannon again. Once the sun had set, Sannan did not expect to see anything of note from the view of his window hole. Hence, it came as quite a shock when dozens of luminescent bodies under the surface of the darkened water began illuminating the ocean with a vibrant turquoise hue. He suspected they were lamp jellies, based on the little he remembered from that old almanac book. Not as diverse in their color palette as their moon jelly relatives, but still beautiful nonetheless. They reminded him of the veins that lit up the engine modules when the lancer accelerated; the same veins that would bring his automaton to life someday.