Chapter 12

PROSPERITY

PART 2

Above deck, the trio remaining had taken up their respective posts, Kali in the crows nest, bundled tight against the night-chill that had set in mid-morning, while Mara was at the wheel and Jackle up front, ready to cast any number of spells they might need in the blackened sea.

Behind them, the enormous thermal updraft from the explosion had pushed the cool air around it down, overfilling the sails as the down-draft pushed them away from the coastline with a chilly haste.

Tucking a small golden timepiece back into her pocket, Mara eyed her solar sails- Pulled taught from wind, but only serving half their function, as the ash above their heads continued to thicken in preparation to fall.

They’d been at sea for a good few hours, and judging by the clip, they were probably making excellent time, but it was impossible to know without landmarks, but they were due for one any time now.

Unknowingly on cue, two concise whistles chirped out from the crows nest, followed by three ‘in reply’- The signal for a ship, ahead on their right.

Keeping her volume low, Mara whistled twice in reply, paused, then whistled once more- Code they’d memorized together that let them communicate when unwelcome ears were near, this time asking what flag the ship was flying, if any.

Only one chirp came back. Pirates.

Lacking a similar method of communication for her apprentice, Mara kept her voice to a whisper as she called out to Jackle.

“Jackle- You ready?”

Holding a thumb up, the raven-haired monk signaled back to his captain, tome ready and open in his other hand.

“No spells right now- Instead, I want you to practice channeling mana, but outside yourself. Focus off to your right, as far as you can, and pour mana into the water there.”

Twisting to look back at Mara with a confused expression, Jackle hesitantly closed his book of spells and turned back towards where Mara had been pointing.

Out upon the distant sea, Mara spotted the ship Kali had sighted, still a ways out and unmoving- Likely waiting in ambush for them… The fools.

It took a moment, but as she had no intention of reducing their speed, Mara saw the signs they’d been sighted- Canvas dropping and lanterns lighting, just before the large brown craft creaked into motion.

However, they had an appointment with a… Different guest.

Between them and the pirate craft, there was a line of bubbling water, trailing through the sea at the same clip they were, bisecting the path of the enemy ship.

Looking at it constructively, Mara was rather proud of her pupil- He was able to shift a lot more mana than when she’d met him, but for all the fuel she had him dumping in the water, she had no intentions of lighting it herself.

As the remnants and associates of Anvi’s old crew approached, so did something else. The clamor of vulgar men and pointy instruments was met in kind with the inclusion of a low, deep rumble, masked almost entirely by the sounds of the sea, but felt right down to the bones.

Following the trail of mana Jackle had been leaving was a bulge in the water, fast approaching and growing larger by the second- Several ship lengths behind it, a small tip of a fin could be seen cutting through the water with violent precision.

Seeing the pirate ship was close enough to be heard, Mara took the opportunity to call out to them before they could spit their threats.

“Ahoy! I presume your boss is up ahead with the other two ships?”

Her voice, magically enhanced, boomed out across a quickly-silenced ship, the entire crew left bewildered until what seemed to be the captain regained enough sense to even try and reply.

However, all he managed to get out was half a ‘What?’ before the lump of water hit the side of their ship- The razer sharp fin lacerating a deep gash through the center of their hull with a massive crash as it dragged the ship several meters to its right in the blink of an eye, sending the entire crew tumbling and a good number found their way overboard in the process.

Spicing the dish up, Mara dumped a good bit more mana on the ship for good measure, send paint curling and hair falling at the sudden dosing, causing even more confusion and panic in the rapidly deteriorating ship.

Ahead, the large swell of water dispersed as the bladed fin descended beneath the waves, indicating the sea monster was turning about.

Seizing the wheel, Mara steered towards the path of the beast, just barely dodging the fin as it whirled around and came up for a second strike on its tasty bit of prey.

Yet, this time, the water swelled ever larger, and more and more fin seemed to arise from the depths until it was at least half the height of their tallest mast and the scales of the fish crested above the waves, revealing a mouth large enough to swallow half a ship whole.

Screams of rugged and burly men cried out across the waves behind them just before another crash boomed out over the quiet seas, this one much louder than the last as the barn-sized monster devoured a good chunk of ship, water, and crew in a single instant, blasting apart what little integrity their craft had left.

“I’m sorry- What the frack was that?! Does that live out here?”

Figuring they were in the clear for a moment, Jackle had stood up from his post to yell across the ship to Mara, who absolutely feigned ignorance as she replied.

“I thought you knew- Being an archeologist and all, I assumed you knew about Leviathans.”

Taking a step back, startled, Jackle looked at Mara like he didn’t want to believe her, but it had nothing to do with her gas lighting him about telling him already, but more what she was telling him.

“Leviathans?… Plural? You mean there’s more of those?!”

“Oh those? Sure, they’re basically just giant carp, but they’re really just the small fry. The deep dark beneath us is home to many things that prefer to stay there, which we should be thankful for.”

Casting a glance to the inky depths that surrounded their ship, Jackle shuddered- Making a mental note not to draw any more attention to himself than his mana already did, monsters had quite the nose for it as it was.

Above them, two more chirps whistled out, followed by one, then two, then one more. Jackle looked up, still baffled by their code, then towards Mara, who seemed to understand- Her gaze already affixed on the horizon dead-ahead.

“Jackle, we’ve got two ships in front of us. I need to have a word with their ‘pirate king’ so I want you to either join Kali up in the crows nest, or Anvi down in the cargo hold, but stay as quiet as possible.”

Looking up the multiple rungs of rope that wound up to the towering heights Kali was so comfortable with, Jackle looked towards the cargo hold and gave Mara a reluctant nod. Forced to choose, he’d take the stinky ‘pet’ over a windy and wobbly perch any day.

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Knowing Kali had overheard her comments and needed no further instructions, Mara watched Jackle head beneath the decks out of the corner of her eye while she kept her focus on the anchored ships they were approaching, one parked broadside, cannons drawn.

“Oh… You don’t even want to talk first? So brutish. Not that that’s surprising.”

If they were going to be confrontational about it, she’d serve in kind, but not knowing which ship had the man in charge left her at a bit of a dilemma. Chain of command was a rickety thing in these groups, and information was seldom shared more than needed, so an undue death or two in this case would be… Annoying.

Seeing the small sparks flicker across the many cannons mounted on the port side of the ship, Mara knew they’d been called to fire, and brought an open palm up into the air, then lightly flicked her fingers upwards for the briefest of moments.

In the distance, just before the cannons boomed their symphony, a small wave crested beneath the keel of their ship, tilting it back several degrees just at the right moment, and smokey metal exploded from the many barrels, but every round flew up and over the solar sails, crashing into the waves behind Mara’s ship.

Sailing on unimpeded, Mara flicked her hand once more as another volley launched, ensuring it too did nothing more than whistle overhead before slamming into the depths of their wake.

Finally noticing Mara was failing to yield in any manner, the second ship unfurled its sails and began to move to flank, doubling the number of cannons trained upon their vessel- Still far too few to matter.

Zipping down one of the ropes laced up to the crows nest, Kali dropped to the deck of the ship like a panther descending a tree and made eye contact with Mara.

“Do you have any idea how close those things were to my head?”

Snorting and cracking a smile, Mara kept it light as she retorted, not willing to break her focus on the ships ahead.

“Aye, but they missed, didn’t they?”

“That’s beside the point.”

“Exactly.”

Blinking twice, Kali stared at Mara as she re-ran the confusing exchange through her head once more, only then realizing what she’d meant.

“Funny. Should I join Jackle downstairs?”

“No no, you should probably stay up here with me- Snipe anyone pointing more than a sword our direction.”

Flicking her hand up once more, Mara nearly tipped the boat in front of them before pulling her ship to the right, swinging wide to skirt the firing angle of the second ship, which proceeded to slow and sharpen its turn to try and match.

Racing between the two, Mara used their ships momentum to demolish the distance between the bow of her ship and the aft of theirs, releasing the wheel as she lined up, and proceeded to hop over the banister to drop to the main deck of the ship.

“I’m going to go knock on some doors- Pull the ship to the left once I leave, circle the other one, then loop back here to pick me up. I should be done by then.”

Nodding, Kali took her post next to the wheel, bow drawn and ready as her captain proceeded to walk to the front of the ship and stepped out onto the protruding perch affixed to the front.

Little distance remained until their speed caught up with theirs, collision seemed inevitable, but Kali trusted her friend and only placed a hand upon the wheel with the intent to turn it after Mara disembarked.

Standing at the front her own ship, Mara flexed her fist as the rear paneling of the pirate ship sped towards her, leaned back, then swung forward, just at the point of collision.

With a loud crack, an explosion of saw dust and wooden shrapnel blasted out from the front of the ship, but Kali couldn’t feel even the slightest lurch from the impact.

Instead, as the dust cleared, Kali saw the pirate ship had gained speed, now moving away from them with a gaping hole in its rear where Mara had ‘disembarked’.

Inside the rear-cabin, Mara had found three very stunned people, one bound and gagged, another who looked like he’d seen more pints than fights, and another who could wrestle a bear. All of which appeared equally surprised to see her standing there.

“You know, I didn’t think it would be this easy, but you are rather simple after all- I assume that’s the empire’s new plant you’ve got tied up? Which would make ‘the ooze’ over here the forger, leaving ‘the monkey’ as the big man on deck, huh?”

Already leaping up from his chair, the grizzly pirate lifted the entire table by one leg and chucked it at her, full bore and without warning.

“The Monkey?! Who the frack do you think you are?!”

Not even flinching, Mara stood stock-still as the wooden furniture slammed into her and proceeded to shattered upon her like particle board upon stone.

Looking down at her fingernails, Mara flicked away some debris from beneath them, then ran her thumb over a couple, ensuring they were still smooth to the touch.

“The woman you intended to steal from of course. Did you even question what kind of person would have that much gold on a ship without cannons?”

Seeing the table disintegrate upon her unblinking gaze robbed ‘the monkey’ of any remaining rage he might have had, like a puppy realizing it just picked a fight with the wrong dog in the pound.

“Uh. No?”

Nodding, Mara walked over to bulbous forger, who was staring at her with wide eyes of terrified silence, and leaned down to pickup several stamped documents.

“You really should have, but I think everyone here deserves a chance to learn from their mistakes… Ah- There it is. ‘Rhuban’ right?”

Directing her question towards the gagged man, Mara received a series of frantic nods as he tried to speak.

“Perfect. I need you to pay a toll.”

Not bothering to unbind him from the chair, or ungag him, Mara grabbed the back panel of his seat and began to drag him towards the door leading to the deck of the ship.

Behind her, the pirate captain scrambled to understand what was happening, and what he could possibly do to salvage his pride.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going with him?”

Striding over with legs nearly twice as long as Mara’s, ‘the monkey’ proceeded to make the second mistake in just as many minutes. As he reached out to grab his captive, Mara simply stopped and turned to face the pirate lord.

“This way.”

Reaching out, Mara grabbed ahold of the extensively hairy arm outstretched towards Rhuban, pivoted, and swung the monkey of a man overhead and straight out upon the deck of his own ship, slamming him into the main mast with a deafening crack of both bone and wood before he dropped like a sack of spuds into an unmoving mass of silent stares.

Grabbing ahold of Rhuban’s chair once more, Mara proceeded to drag him out through the middle of the entire pirate crew, wooden legs squeaking as they scraped upon the deck, but no one dared make a move after seeing what just happened to their captain.

Approaching the port-side of the ship, Mara kicked open the docking banister just as Kali slid up with her own ship.

Giving Kali a thumbs up, Mara chucked Rhuban across the gap, then jumped across herself before picking him back up, the middle-aged human groaning and wincing from the impact, but without the chair, now in too many pieces to be of any sort of restraint.

Turning towards the upper deck, Mara saw Kali had come to see the newcomer and called out to her to satiate her curiosity.

“He’s fine, I’ll fill you in later- For now, get us back on course.”

“At your command, captain!”

Raising her eyebrows and rolling her eyes, Mara turned back to the very disgruntled man she’d just rescued. Where were the manners?

“Alright. So, first, I know you’re a Feather, and I know you’ve been captured for a little while now. Your strout’s been ‘wildin out’, dunno why your handlers didn’t think that was odd. Second, I’ve got no quarrel with you, but I do need you for a bit of leverage, so… Let’s call you a hostage, and there’s no sense in hurting a hostage, right?”

Blinking, then shaking his head fervently, Rhuban attempted to agree. Whoever this woman was, she was far more dangerous than her prior captors and survival was paramount.

“Good! Agreeing on things is the first step towards being friends. I’m gunna ungag you now, that thing looks gross, so please don’t scream or anything.”

Hesitantly nodding once, Rhuban felt the rancid sweat-soaked undergarment dislodge from his cheeks with a feeling that was both moist and dry at the same time, causing him to gag on the sensation alone.

“Ewwww… Reductive and revolting. What a combo that man was.”

Tossing the pair of ‘shorts’ overboard, Mara saw her new captive was in much need of anything to wash the taste out of his mouth and whisked a glass cup of clean water out of thin air, then made a motion with her other hand, severing the ropes that bound his hands.

“Here, drink- Then we’ll find you some food downstairs.”

Practically choking on the cold liquid splashing against the back of his throat, Rhuban pounded on his chest and managed to gulp down the feeling as he felt the cracks on his lips burn from the sudden moisture, but all were minor inconveniences to the relief that fresh water brought to his body.

“Oh thank Somni- You might be terrifying, but I will never be more thankful for a glass of water than I am now.”

“Me? Terrifying? Kali! Am I scary?”

Calling out to her impromptu helmsman, Mara heard her soft voice echo back, a little more deadpan than usual.

“Yes boss.”

“Oh. Hm. That’s a new tone from her.”

Glancing up towards the deck above the cabin, then back to Mara, Rhuban wasn’t sure what to make of the woman in front of him. One moment, she was a force of nature, the next, joking with her friends like a cadet. ‘Terrifying’ did not do her justice in the slightest. Manic? Maniacal?… Monstrous? At least one of those was valid.

“How’d you know where to find me? Do you work for the emperor?”

“Hangon- What part of ‘leverage’ did you miss? Why would I need a feather for a bargaining chip if I worked for your boss? Everyone else would just want you dead, and the only other people who could exploit your position just lost their golden goose.”

Realizing he actually was a hostage of some kind, even without the bindings or the torture, Rhuban looked to his feet, then back towards his new captor.

“So… What then? You’re just gunna let me sit around until you can trade me?”

“Sort-of. I got someone you might want to meet- Does the name ‘Anvi’ ring a bell?”

At just the mention of his name, all the pieces clicked together, and Rhuban’s eyes shot wide. The woman who’d just rescued him was the very same woman who’d ‘abducted’ the former assignee, leading to his uphill assignment, integrating into a exceedingly paranoid pirate league.

“Anvi’s here?…”

“Yeah, let’s head downstairs, he can introduce you to Fran.”

Whoever, or whatever, ‘Fran’ was, Rhuban wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but it didn’t look like his captor was going to give him much of a choice, even if she was being polite about it.