A sailor shook his head. "Saving our strength. Let 'em get closer."

That was wise. The Shark boats got close enough to reveal a man waving his hands and casting a spell to make light. No stealth. They had a pursuer, clear now when a break in the rainclouds dropped moonlight across its sail.

"Are they going to get to us safely?" asked Arlen.

The sailors judged it. "The chasers have a good wind caster on short notice. So, no. Go in?"

Arlen picked up an oar. "If you're willing."

They rowed, and then someone had the good idea to shout and wave in the direction of the enemy. Thoko's men could now see they were outnumbered three boats to two. They could rush into an uneven fight, or wait for backup while the renegades got a bigger lead. Arlen grinned with bared teeth as the distant ship seemed to hesitate, then to turn. A cheer went up from the Shark Team.

Together they sailed away to rejoin the rest of the little fleet. When they reached Guiding Reef after an exhausting ride, someone told the tale of how it'd been found and what was in each direction. It was broad daylight and nobody had slept much.

Arlen sprawled miserably in a boat that'd been moored to the reef platform. The wooden ledge itself was overcrowded with crew and refugees. "Why hasn't it been built bigger?" he said, laying under a blanket hardly big enough to shade half of him.

A sailor overheard. "Never have this many boats come by here at once."

So they never bothered expanding, so it was never practical to send whole fleets. "I want to expand it anyway. I hear some of the hulls scraping against coral; that can't be good for either."

"If we covered more of it, how would we see the water color and the currents?" He started quoting the navigation story.

"You know which direction is which! The blasted sun is south, and --"

"Huh? It's north."

Arlen had missed that detail. This was definitely a round planet, what with the sea horizon, but he'd assumed they were in the north hemisphere and apparently they weren't. Great. Fascinating. Arlen groaned and turned over to try shading his face better.

#

They didn't dare stay long, for fear of more pursuit. The fleet set out for Opaline and eventually reached a few fishing boats that'd made a point of being out in this direction to keep watch. The fishers waved and happily took the excuse to leave off work and head back to shore.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The islanders threw a party. Arlen smiled and waved but like everyone else who'd arrived, he wanted a bed more than anything. He was glad for the doghouse and heard most of the bunch had ended up sharing the floor of the chief's longhouse for now.

When he finally woke up again he asked the doctor, "I guess the hostages are finally going home."

"The Catacomb three are already gone with some of the borrowed warriors. The rest stayed to hear about your training."

"And the rest?"

"The chief's sending messengers to spread the good news to Gull Crater and Stormhowl, that we've got their family members safe and sound and will return them soon. And by the way, would they like to join forces?"

Arlen winced. "Should've predicted that."

"But he _will_ return them. I'll insist. Though in hindsight you should've grabbed some people from Decim, to play the same game."

"We were lucky to get away at all."

The doc let him sleep a little longer, then took it upon himself to bring lunch and lure Arlen outside with it. He was still dazed and tired, so he didn't immediately understand when a group of men said, "Train us."

"To do what?"

"The fighting methods. Decim's going to get serious, any day now."

Arlen found he'd gotten less hungry. He scarfed down his bread and fish anyway, then said, "I helped make this happen. I'll do what I can to fix it."

Over the next few days Arlen worked hard, explaining military drill and fortifications. At some point he used the term "Western culture", and his soldiers assumed he was talking about some forgotten island off to the west beyond the Roaring Storm. So the militia proclaimed they were learning "Western" tactics. Arlen's best martial arts instructor, the guy who called his techniques "Riptide Style", declared that this war method was the "Setting Sun Style". Arlen had no objection; they'd invented the Telephone Game before the telephone.

Regardless of the name, a few of Opaline's men now understood the basic concept. They'd been beaten down in a trial against Opaline's best, and went hope to preach. Observers showed up from Stormhowl and Gull Crater, too, to ask politely but firmly about their captured relatives. So the chief wined and dined the visitors, and had Arlen run a military demonstration.

The visitors exchanged a look and some quiet words. Finally they approached the chief in Arlen's presence and the Stormhowl man said, "We don't dare tell Thoko we're against him. Not to his face. But if a few of our men are young and headstrong, and decide to come here without permission... just to watch and train, mind you... and they happen to be here when trouble happens, he can't blame us."

The chief smiled.

#

Early one morning, a horn blew. Arlen struggled out of his hammock and hurried to the beach. "Which way?"

The island militia had blown the horn to answer another from a boat at sea. That ocean sentry was over a mile out in the direction of the Mire. As the news spread and more people woke up, panic built. "Hide everything! Run!" shouted several men.

Another guy yelled at them. "Shut up. Listen to the outsider. Chief, what do we do?"

The chief himself had come, and he said, "Get organized, as the outsider taught you. Now! Arlen, get them moving."

Arlen shivered in the morning breeze, but nodded. He forced himself into the same kind of training pattern he'd been imposing on everyone else. "Crown men, gather to the chief! Shell, stand here! Tricky-Teeth, prepare your surprises."

He had to shout and curse at people who'd forgotten everything, and send runners to fetch troops still in bed, but that was normal. The sentry boat came back with a guy who'd been out there for hours, exhausted. "A lot of them!"