TNL 50 – Pirate Isles Part One
Like Ryker promised, the warship departed three days later.
During these three days, Raidon and Brandon supervise the new recruits. That is certainly necessary, since both men still know how hard they had it in the beginning.
One of the things Raidon still laughs about when he thinks back on it is a conversation he and Brandon had with one of the recruits. The recruit in question, after he had walked his first lap around the training field with his armor on, was kneeling on the ground. Around him were his fellow recruits. With a huge moan, he asked, "How did you do it, Captain, Sergeant? Or are those harnesses of yours just a lot less heavy?"
"Rest assured soldier," Brandon replied, "within a few weeks you don't even think about it anymore. Just a little while longer and you’ll have to think about sitting in a chair, because it feels so natural to wear your harness that you forget you're wearing it. That's one of the things that the training is good for."
Chuckling, Raidon walks on to the rudder of the ship. Since the warship is much larger than the merchant ship, it takes some getting used to. Ryker has asked a bunch of new men to help during the voyage and they need to learn even more about these large ships than the crew of the merchant ship.
Despite everything, the departure goes perfectly. Without any problems they manage to sail out of the harbor and hoist the sails.
For Raidon it is no problem to sail on the warship. Lately, thanks to all the trips between the island and Aran, and the long trip to Estera, he has become accustomed to the heaving of ships. Also, these large ships lie much quieter in the water than those small fishing boats where he was seasick every single moment of the journey.
Just before leaving left, Gareth urged him not to take too many risks.
"Don't forget what happened to James. Even if you are such a good soldier, anything can happen."
For Raidon, this brought back the memories of James. Since the New Legion was set up, they have lost several men, but James had been on Raidon's squad from day one. As a result, he had known him very well.
Two days later, Raidon is startled by the lookout.
"Land in sight!"
"It looks like those are the pirate islands, captain." When Raidon arrives on the aft deck, Ryker notifies him.
"So this is where the pirates who ravaged Aran came from. I understand that they wanted a base on the island. It's a lot easier to sail from the island to the province than all the way from here."
"Certainly, and you have to remember that what you see here is only the first island. The pirate islands consist of dozens of islands, some large and some so small that there are only sandbanks. I think it will take almost a day before we have left the last island behind us."
"And until then, we should definitely beware of an attack by pirates. Behind such an island you can hide several ships, I think."
"Fortunately, you took three squads of soldiers with you. That should be enough for one or two pirate ships. I don't know if we can stay ahead of those fast ships if they really want to catch us."
"Let's hope they're not prepared for the fact that we have ships too. On the way back we will probably have a lot more men, if Morris' mission is successful."
Luck is with the ship of the New Legion. A little less than a day later, they leave the pirate islands behind without having seen a single pirate. The relief is noticeable, because the pirates still instill fear in the people who live on the coast. The sailors do their work a lot happier now that they have left the islands behind, and they even occasionally sing embarrassing songs.
On the third day of the trip they arrive in Peredur. The city is ill-prepared for the arrival of such a large ship. As in all other cities on the coast, there are at most small jetties for the fishing boats. A ship like the one Raidon is now arriving with can't dock there. Therefore, everything has to be moved with a bunch of smaller boats. Fortunately, Ryker knows how to talk to the fishermen here and after only a few minutes he has gotten a captain to take care of the transport. The captain also tells them that Morris has not yet arrived in Peredur. Raidon decides that everyone will stay on board, so as not to offend the local commander. The rest of the day is used for replenishing supplies, especially drinking water.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a beautiful autumn day, Empress Alyena sits in her palace garden enjoying the weather. With all the obligations that the young empress has, there is also occasionally time needed to relax. The palace garden is a perfect retreat for her at times like this. The garden was designed by her mother in the last year before Alyena's birth. Her mother died at that birth, and had therefore hardly been able to enjoy the garden. For her daughter, it has become the place to relax.
The only one who is allowed to disturb Alyena in the garden is Captain Cervik. As captain of the palace guard, he must have access to the empress at any time of the day. That is why he is now also near her.
"Slept badly, Cervik?" asks Alyena as she looks at him.
"That's right, your majesty. I'm afraid I couldn't lie on my back all night. As a result, I was up almost all night."
"Not on your back? Why is that?"
"I'd rather not talk about that, your majesty."
Alyena now has a mean smile on her face, when she sees that the captain is starting to look a bit uncomfortable.
"Come on, Cervik, it can't be that bad."
The captain is now actually starting to blush. Just as Alyena begins to think that he suffered a defeat during a training session, and is therefore so shy, the captain starts talking anyway.
"It's not something I would normally tell you, your majesty, but because you command me..." For a moment, the captain keeps quiet, hoping that this time the empress will not get her way. If, after a few awkward moments, it doesn't look like she's going to let it go, he says, "I'm afraid I have an ailment that pops up from time to time. According to the healers, it has to do with the food and there are some things I shouldn't take. What the things are that I have to stay away from, however, they can not tell me."
"Come on, man, what do you have?" Alyena is now starting to get really curious.
"If my ailment flares up, I suffer from a kind of pustules. Last night I had a very painful one, which unfortunately was on my backside."
Alyena looks at her captain in amazement. She absolutely did not expect this. But then she can't resist. Even though she tries to hold back, she bursts out in laughter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next morning Morris arrives with a huge crowd in the port of Peredur. Raidon is called by a soldier on deck and when he comes out of his cabin, his mouth almost falls open in amazement. The group Morris brought with him is more than twice the size of the hundred men he had to find. The captain of the fishing boat takes Morris to the ship as one of the first.
"Captain! I've found a few recruits," Morris reports.
"Yes, I see, Morris. Why so much?"
"Thank my brother for that. The commander didn't want to help us, so my family did. This is the result of my brother looking for a hundred men. He thought it was useful to ask for more. I have two hundred and ten men here. According to my brother, the extra people don't mind waiting until there is room and doing other jobs in the meantime. And because we were more or less chased by the garrison, I thought it would be better to take them with me anyway."
"So, that sounds like it wasn't as easy as we thought it was. On the way back you have to tell me exactly what happened."
"That won't work, Captain, I also have a few extra cavalrymen with me. An old friend, along with some other men, abandoned the garrison for us. I could hardly let them stand trial for deserting, so they are also going with me. All the riders are waiting for me outside the city and then we’ll ride back to Aran together."
Raidon starts to look a bit questionable when he hears all these problems.
"So if I understand correctly, have you illegally recruited people, taken deserters and are you going to Aran with the deserters overland?"
"That's right."
Now Raidon really has to sigh.
"All right then. But when you're back, I want to know everything that happened. I'm the one who has to straighten this out again."
By noon, all the new recruits are aboard the ship and ready to go. Morris has returned ashore after his short report and will already be well on his way with his riders. Ryker thanks the captain of the fishing boat and pays him. Then they are ready to set sail.
"Heave the anchor!" shouts Ryker to his crew.
Shortly after they have sailed out of the harbor, squad leader Ice comes to Raidon and Ryker on the aft deck.
"Captains, we've found something you both need to see."
"What did you find, Ice?" asks Raidon.
"In the forecastle we found a door. When Soldier Sam told me this, I went along and we broke open the door. What we found, I can't explain. You have to see for yourself."
Raidon looks at Ryker. "What do you think? Can your first mate do without you so we can go and have a look?"
"A secret room on my ship? My first mate had better make sure he can do without me. I don't want to miss this for anything."
In the forecastle, Raidon and Ryker immediately see where the door has been. The entire door has come loose from its hinges and is now next to the doorway. Within the space, the captains can see an entire structure.
"What is it?" whispers Raidon.
"It looks like a siege weapon, captain," squad leader Ice replies. "I looked through some drawings of these kinds of weapons with Duncan. He knows what this is for one, I think it's either a ballista or a small catapult. I don't remember exactly what's what, but at least this one here shoots those huge arrows."
Raidon looks at the angle to which squad leader Ice gestures. There are a number of racks with five huge arrows each.
"Wow, those arrows have to weigh at least ten kilos. Imagine what such a thing can do to an enemy ship. One shot and you have one less pirate ship."
"Well, maybe not with one shot," Ryker replies. "I think they only weigh about four kilos, but such a thing would wreak havoc on that ship. I don't think I would want to command a ship if such arrows were coming at me."
Raidon looks at squad leader Ice. "Can we test it?"
"I'm afraid not, Captain. It seems that the mechanism to raise it is locked. I think Duncan should take a look at this first."
"Let's just hope we don't need it this trip."