Banners of The Sa'yen, page 16
“Lead us. Lead us. Lead us. LEAD US! LEAD US! LEAD US!! LEAD US!!”
And the Lord cried like a newborn babe before His children.
X
Hakadians on the Horizon
It is no easy task to practice with the rapier against the Lord. He demands much of those He practices with, and it appears I am the only one that gives Him any competition with cold steel. Others have tried, including even the gray-robed Charolarl Priest But the Lord quickly penetrates their defenses and with a flick of His wrist disarms the unlucky opponent with a casual ease. It is, by some reason I do not understand, a different story when I face the Master. It is not that I ever win a match against Him. It is just that He takes a much longer time to reach inside my guard and touch me with the blunted point on my chain mail. And frankly, it is not unknown for me to penetrate His defense and touch Him for a point with the blunted tip of my sword. I do not understand why He allows me to do this, but I do not believe, as others have suggested, that I am as good a swordsman on occasion as He is and thus can score points. How can a mere mortal be as good as the Sa’yen? Yet it gives me a great sense of satisfaction when He drops His guard once in a great while and allows me to touch Him with the blunted sword tip. This is a great pleasure and more importantly a great honor.
We were practicing on the Black Falcon’s poop deck, underneath the mizzenmast behind the great spoked wheel that is the ship’s helm. We were a comfortable and contented crew, with many of the men stripped to the waist and gathered about watching us. It was a warm, extremely humid day and I for one had sweat rolling off me in great streams, stinging my eyes and making it difficult for me to see properly. A thousand feet below, the country was a vast, unbroken forest of Yab'lal and Kakla trees which ran on and on, flanked in the far distance by the purple and snowcapped ragged line of high mountains. We were far south of Triisus, in a much warmer climate and in rugged country I was only vaguely familiar with. The Lord wanted us to journey to the Black Pillar Mountains, a long voyage by any standards and filled with many lurking dangers. For to journey to the Black Pillars we would have to travel up the mountain passes that led to the Great Plateau. And the Great Plateau was controlled by the ships of the Hakadians, for only four hundred miles to the south of the pass we intended to ascend the walled towers of Hakad itself, reputed by many to be the oldest city still occupied on the face of Hungar. How we would ascend the mountain passes, with Hakadian ships moored and floating above the fortress towers, I could little imagine. Those problems I allowed the Sa'yen to solve. For He was the Lord, and I but a mere mortal. Yet I knew the journey was destined to swirl the air with cannon fire, spent powder smoke, and dying men. I knew the Hakadians would not willingly allow us to pass over the Great Plateau if they perceived who we were.
But fate decided to step in and play her hand. Even the Lord could not disregard the scheming plans Lady Fate held in store for us. As we sailed under full canvas, with a light breeze which barely gave us steerage, from the crow’s nest high above us on the mainmast came the call that a foreign sail was sighted. And as we lined the starboard railing the sailor above us yelled to us that he counted twenty sails, all ships carrying sail cut to the Hakadian set I sent more eyes up with looking glasses for a better view. But the first hail was not changed. Twenty sail, all of Hakadian set, running roughly parallel with us. Looking at the Lord, I saw Him give me a nod that was barely perceptible, and with that I ordered the helm to swing to the port by ten degrees. I also ordered more sail to be set, for if the Hakadians saw us I had little doubt they would try to use every broadside they could against us to blast us out of the sky. We still held the markings of a black-hull, an Aggarian pirate, and none of the Hakadians would hesitate in being the first to conquer and claim us as his prize. Or so I thought. For not more than fifteen minutes after setting the new course and steering away from the golden-hulls of the Hakadians, the lookouts above hailed down to the deck that another twenty sails had been sighted. But this time, all black-hulls. Aggarian pirates! Astounded, I took a looking glass from a sailor and lifted it to my eyes as the Lord quickly strode up to stand by me.
“Is it true, Magdar? Aggarians? In such numbers?”
“Aye, Lord! Look for yourself! Twenty black-hulls, and in perfect formation, like the best of any Hakadian fleet, they are too. And do,You see? From every mast of each ship the pirates show banners and pennants. They come not to fight, Lord, but to bargain. And they come in Strength.”
The Lord held the glass up to His bearded face and peered through it for some time. The black-hulls were on an intercepting course with the Hakadians, with a great black-hull of huge dimensions leading the pirate squadron. I knew the ship well, with her highly painted mainsails depicting warriors in battle with legendary beasts, and I nodded and smiled grimly. Taking a second looking glass from Fidor, I lifted it to my eye and peered through it for a long time, examining as many of the black-hulled ship9 as I could.
“Lord, train Your glass on the ship leading the caravan. Do You see her size and note her sails?”
“Indeed, Magdar. I noticed that the moment I took the glass in hand,” the Lord answered, His voice deep and commanding yet quite relaxed. “A very important pirate lord, I suspect. Eh?”
“The most powerful of them all, My Lord!” I exclaimed, dropping the glass down and looking into His golden-bearded face. “Yonder skyship is the Black Emperor, commanded by Virgantrix, King of the Aggarian Pirate Lair, himself! And worse, I note that the Black Pearl and the Black Prince and the Black Hawk sail immediately behind Virgantrix. Sire, each of those ships I have mentioned is captained by a leader of the Aggarian
Pirate Lair. And if Hakba Baru had the Black Falcon with him, it too would be in the forefront of the caravan. These pirates plan to rendezvous with the Hakadians!" “But for what purpose, Magdar?” Fidor growled, stepping up to my shoulder and scowling as he peered out at the approaching pirate fleet.
“I have no idea, old friend,” I said truthfully.
“Ah, but perhaps the reason is obvious?” the Lord muttered, a sudden twinkling in His eyes as He smiled at us and snapped the looking glass in His hand closed. “Perhaps the Aggarians come to greet the Hakadians and possibly join forces with the golden-hulls of Hakad?”
“Join forces!” the gray-robed priest exclaimed, for once losing completely the iron discipline of his emotions and registering plain surprise. “And what would the Aggarians gain by joining forces with a foe they have fought against for a thousand years?”
“Aye, a good question indeed.” I nodded, just as surprised as the priest at the Lord’s statement “I cannot see what the Aggarians would gain by joining forces with the Hakadians. They are enemies, these two. Why, if they joined forces, there would be no power in Northern Hun-gar that could stand before them.”
The Lord turned to look upon me with His deep blue eyes, and He smiled at me, pleased at my statement. He honored me by placing one of His hand9 on my bare arm and shaking me fondly in His grip.
“You grasp the implications of this move more swiftly than I would have thought possible, friend Magdar. And you are correct! Combined, Hakad would need not worry that any power would defeat them, in taking Triisus, for instance. And Bahir Kandar, as a puppet prince for the Emperor of Hakad, with an Hakadian and Aggarian pirate fleet at his disposal, would rule Triisus with little fear of revolt, eh? Perhaps, for the House of Kandar, the turmoil of electing a new King of Triisus goes badly for them. A sudden coup, a show of force and an overthrow of the elected government by overwhelming power, would be better suited to the House of Kandar. Aye, there are advantages for the Aggarian pirates to join forces with their ancestral enemies, Magdar. And I fear that is what is to happen soon.”
“But My Lord!” 1 cried, paling at the thought of Triisus under the iron hand of Bahir Kandar, the Hakadians and the Aggarians all at once. “We must do something to save Triisus!”
“Yes,” the Lord sighed heavily, looking out across the valley floor at the tiny specks that were the Aggarian ships. “I am afraid we will have to take time out from our quest and do something to save Triisus. Magdar, I am going below to plan what our next move shall be. Steer a course that keeps us within sight of the approaching fleets, but with an avenue for a fast escape if we are sighted. And then adjourn to my cabin at eight bells so that I may outline to you what we shall do next.”
“Aye, Lord.”
The Sa’yen was blessed that night, as He always was. Heavy, dark clouds rolled in at dusk to fill the sky with jagged shadows, and the huge red moon of Hungar lay partially hidden. Only a slight breeze stirred the night air, just enough to give us steerage using only the for’top sails and main’top sails. And we stood on the poop deck, cloaks wrapped around our bare shoulders and in armor, with swords drawn and gripped with whitened knuckles. The Lord was standing slightly in front of us, the point of His sword barely touching the ship’s deck, His golden mane blowing gently with the breeze that filled our sails. And He was carefully watching how the helmsman was steering the Black Falcon into the midst of the enemy. We were, as if by a miracle, quietly and efficiently slipping in among the hulls of the black ships of the Aggarian pirates. And yet to be challenged by a suspicious guard of the watch 1 Around, above and below us were the dark and menacing black-hulls of the pirates. Only a few hundred feet below, on the floor of the forest valley, were thousands of campfires winking at us in the night. So still and silent was the night that we could clearly hear the laughing and boisterous voices of men relaxing around campfires and drinking stout ale. To our nostrils drifted the aromas of roasting meat and hot, delicious Thieves’ Soup, a concoction of strong onions much favored by the pirates of the Aggarian
Mountains. As the Lord had told me earlier this evening, He believed that to penetrate the moored fleets of the pirates and Hakadians we only had to work our way slowly into the darkened mass of ships. All skyships of Hungar moored above the forested floor of some valley at night to take on cut Kakla wood for the fire pits within the ships and to allow the crew to hunt fresh game for their evening meals. This night the Hakadian and Aggarian fleets took in sail at dusk in a wide, fertile valley of virgin forest and moored there in a blanket of wooden ships floating lazily in the dying sunset
Glancing at the Lord, I lifted my head in a silent prayer to the other gods of Hungar in thanks that I served the Sa*yen. For otherwise I would have labeled the plan we now were to embark on as being the plan of a madman. The Lord had a plan that would make a strong man’s knees quake with fear, as indeed mine were. For the plan of the Lord was to slip as far into the combined fleets of the enemies of Triisus and, when assured that we were as close as possible to the unsuspecting Hakadians, rip the night asunder with flame and smoke by firing broadsides from the Black Falcon’s guns into both the pirate and Hakadian ships. And in the confusion guaranteed to follow, we were to slip through the fleet and make our escape into the dark night I marveled at the daring and audacity of such a plan and was confident that whatever tender threads of cooperation had been made between the pirate and Hakadian lords would soon be cut and the old enmities again resume. With this assertion of sworn ancestral hate between Hakadian and Aggarian, there would be little chance the Hakadians could take the city of Triisus by a coup backed by the fleets of the pirates. Yet small tendrils of fear still dung to my chest, gripping me with such strength as to keep me from breathing naturally. The dangers of such a plan for the Black Falcon and its men! If they were to be faced by the breasts of mere mortals alone, I knew we would all be consumed in the combined fire of Hakadians and Aggarians. But the Lord was with us! He, with His golden beard and cold, gray-blue eyes, I knew would lead us safely through. And no matter how much I feared for my life, doubted His actual divinity, somehow I knew all would be well with Him guiding us.
To our ears came the sounds of ships moored for the night, not suspecting the chaos that was soon to awaken them. As we passed close to a black-hull, so close I could reach out with the tip of my sword and cut the rigging shrouds that held her main’mast in place, we saw a guard of the watch propping himself up as he slept soundly with the long pole of his halberd, the huge axe blade glistening in the light from the oil-burning torches on either side of him. Twice I heard a drunken sailor from within a hull singing off-key some ballad about whoring and fighting, which these Aggarian pirates were so fond of. And the Lord, in His excellence, stood close to the helmsman, sword in hand so that it appeared to us that the ship was a thousand miles away from imminent danger.
The huge moon of Hungar suddenly appeared from be* hind a large cloud, illuminating the night with a startlingly brilliant glow of white and red moonlight I lifted my hand to shade my eyes from the sudden blinding brilliance, blinked several times to clear the tears that suddenly came to my eyes, my teeth gritted together, my hand shaking from holding the sword so tightly, my breath coming to me in shallow, quick gasps. It occurred to me I had all the symptoms of being terribly frightened but dismissed this foolish thought, reminding myself that I had been born and raised among the Ha’valli. And the Ha’valli were renowned the world over as being the fiercest, most audacious warriors ever to walk. But I felt humbled and foolish whenever I cast my eyes upon the Master. He stood so calm and assured on the deck before us, a smile on His lips, His face beaming with a soothing confidence that was beyond understanding. Even with the blinding light of the giant moon of Hungar, which the Lord has told me is almost the size of Hungar itself and has an atmosphere of its own, He seemed unperturbed by the thought we were now visible to every eye of the fleet if they so glanced in our direction. But out luck held and the moon suddenly vanished behind another cloud, throwing an inky blackness about us; many of the crew let out a sigh of relief.
The Lord lifted a hand and motioned for me to step up to His side. I did so and He lifted a sword and pointed off to the starboard bow.
“There lies the first Hakadian ship, Magdar. We are almost in the midst of both fleets. Send a message down to Tallsus to have his guns double shotted for the first broadside. Thereafter he will alternate with solid shot and grapeshot. I want as much damage done to every ship’s rigging that we pass as is possible.”
“Aye, Lord, Your will be done!” I nodded, stepping back and giving His instructions to a young lad who was my runner to the gundeck.
I stepped back to the Lord’s side and soon stepped away again to whisper on His orders to lessen sail but to keep the sail crews up in the spars, ready to throw all canvas to the wind the moment the first broadside was fired. I no sooner stepped back to His side from passing on this order than our luck suddenly ended with the voice of an Hakadian officer hailing us from the deck of his small, ten-gun golden hull. ,
The Lord grinned suddenly, leaped forward to the ship’s railing and grasped part of the rigging to brace Himself with one hand and lifted His sword high into the air with the other. And as His sword came down, He yelled one word into the night “Fire!”
XI
In The Heat of Battle
The guns of Tallsus, so lovingly cared for and made ready for just this moment, ended the placid solitude of the night with a deafening and staggering roar. Flame shot out and curled around the ship, almost engulfing the Black Falcon with belching fire. And no sooner was the starboard broadside fired than the ship shuddered in the night sky, skidding to the starboard a bit as the port side ripped the night air with flame and smoke. I heard men crying out, screaming from mortal wounds, in the ships of both the Hakadians and Aggarian pirates, and I cheered. The fighting lust was boiling in my veins and I was ready to have a fiery and hard-fought battle. And so, apparently, was Tallsus! Amazingly the tall, thin-framed gunner reloaded both sides of the ship’s guns and a second full broadside erupted into the night even before the first shattering cannonade and its echo had run their course booming up the forested valley. Above us, the crew assigned to the masts were busily unfurling all sails and tying them down fast The Black Falcon was gathering speed rapidly even in the light breeze that blew, and the helm was coming about to give us the wind gauge. Yet we were not to flee from our sudden surprise attack without meeting some resistance. As I stepped up to where the Lord was standing at the railing of the ship, intending to pull Him back to the deck, a large Hakadian frigate suddenly loomed up into the night off our port side and let go a full broadside into us. The roar and furnace like heat blasting into us 155 from her guns were overpowering. I heard the whining sound of grapeshot cutting through canvas and rigging above us, mixed with screams of men who had been hit And then the portside answered the Hakadian’s challenge with a roar of its own, making the ship skid to the starboard again as all guns fired at once. Through the eye-watering, hot smoke of spent gunpowder I saw the Hakadian’s main’mast suddenly give and then, with astonishing rapidness, come crashing down and, in doing so, entangling itself into our ship’s upper rigging. Our port erupted again in another roar of cannonfire, but by now so many ships were firing madly into the night sky it hardly came to my ears who had fired! The night was aflame with ships burning, with guns firing, and with the sounds of fierce battle around us. And the Lord’s plan appeared to be working perfectly from what glimpses I could see through the growing cloud of smoke which was engulfing the fleets. Hakadians and Aggarians, in their confusion, were attacking each other, and the battle was rising ferociously by the minute. I would have cheered with glee at this development but, with an Hakadian frigate’s mainmast entangled in our rigging and anchoring the Hakadian ship to our side as if it were a part of us, I had no feeling but cold dread. If we could not quickly slip away from the grasp of the Hakadians, we were doomed. For if the Hakadian frigate’s full crew was on her, overpowering numbers in manpower would soon end the fight for us. Leaping through the smoke and fury of battle and screaming at the top of my lungs, I lined up two columns of musketmen and hurried them to the port side with hopes Of being in time to save the ship.
