On deck Loranda stood at the back deck. Lifting herself up onto her toes, she raised her arms and stretched once more before taking a stroll around the perimeter. Passing two men, one on the deck scrubbing with both hands looked up and with the shock of seeing Loranda slipped forward hitting his face on the deck. His partner stumbling over their pail and knocking it over, splashed suds and water into the face of the man laid out. Loranda casually walked by choosing to ignore the reaction.
A little further on she called out ‘Good Morning’ to one sailor fishing off the side. Looking around the man dropped his rod into the ocean with the same incredulous look on his face as the others. Then she came back strolling down the other side of the deck but without any adverse consequences, Night looked on and thought to herself, ‘That woman is going to get herself into real trouble one day, lucky she is good with a knife.’ Upon passing Night on her way back in, Loranda gave her a smile,
“
Well I enjoyed that walk. You really should have joined me.”
Later, the breakfast was another simple but filling affair. There certainly wasn’t the excess they had enjoyed in the King’s encampment and Night was getting the idea that this Prince and his fleet had not fallen under the spell of strength sapping self-indulgence that his father so enjoyed. The funny thing was, it helped reinforce Wollfen’s idea of a decadence setting in. This powerful navy was quite capable of defeating any enemy on the high seas from what she could see. That in turn helped perpetuate the decadence of the wealthy on land,. It just meant they could continue doing what they did, without consideration of others or how weak they themselves had become. The strength of the navy helped to shield the wealthy from any consequences. If this war went badly for a while, maybe it was what this nation needed to redress that insular selfishness of many of the elite.
“
Night?” It was Loranda stirring her from deep thought, “I have just been chatting to Prince Alard and we have been talking about his different weapons on board. They will be practicing use of the heavy crossbows today, he says it would be all right if we wish to be instructed in their use. I figured it couldn’t hurt and agreed to the offer. Anyway it will be good to pass the time too.”
The mounted crossbows, that could be interesting.
“
Sure sounds good to me, lets get changed and move out.”
They said their goodbyes to the Prince and left for the days challenges.
On deck, there were men along the entire length of each railing. All the crossbows were in use and they were preparing to fire. Nightwing approached an ensign in charge of one of the bows, introducing herself and explaining her wishes. Ensign Berwyn bowed and greeted her, then ordered the men aside who watched on, began to point out the parts of the crossbow,
“
The crossbow consists of the main bow on the front, the stock of the weapon which is mounted on a pivot forward of center here,” as he explained the weapon to the two women he pointed out each feature. “This handle here winds back the heavy twine to the trigger mechanism near the rear.”
The ensign wound the weapon back in demonstration,
“
You will note a groove in the center of the stock and this is where the arrow or ‘bolt’ as we call it will seat. Now that the twine or ‘string’ as we call it is residing within the trigger we can aim the weapon. I will demonstrate.”
Leaning over the weapon, the ensign took aim at a floating target that had been thrown into the sea. After a couple of seconds he depressed the trigger sending the bolt on its way, missing the bobbing target by only a foot.
“
It does take a bit of practice and will take weeks of shooting to get some consistency going. Allow me to fire one more for you, please pay attention carefully to what I do.”
At this point Loranda who had been looking at the sky stepped forward and waved her hand in the face of the Ensign shooing him away. She gripped the stock, quickly wound it back and locked the trigger. Then she grabbed a bolt, slid it into its slot and aimed the weapon only taking a half second, fired. All the men watched as the bolt flew true and buried itself into the wood near center of the target. Loranda looked back at the Ensign.
“
My my, did I do that? It must be beginner’s luck,” she smiled.
The men around her were smiling and laughing quietly but quickly stopped under the steely gaze of Ensign Berwyn. Night spoke up,
“
I must confess my dear man that we are well adept at using crossbows in general though nothing of this size, I thank you for your demonstration though, you have been quite helpful in showing us the similarities.”
Berwyn was in fact quite offended. His men sniggering at him having been shown up by a woman and a woman of the court at that,
“
I am sure that your highness’s think you are our equal simply because you hit our targets. But it is an entirely different set of circumstances facing a real enemy, I think you would run.”
The derision in Berwyn’s voice was unmistakable. Night, being challenged wasn’t about to back down and in a foreboding voice of a person knowing the action she was taking spoke slowly and forcefully.
“
It seems to me that you Ensign Berwyn need to practice more, a lot more.” Berwyn was incensed.
“
By the gods if you were not a woman I would challenge you now!”
Night stood her ground unwavering,
“
So challenge me if you don’t fear me.”
Night emphasized the word fear, wanting the challenge. Unknown to her, Admiral Alard was watching on. He kept an eye out for any underhanded tricks but he would sit back and watch. He needed to know if these women were half of what they claimed. Berwyn unsheathed his sword and spoke very carefully.
“
I Ensign Berwyn do challenge Lady Nightwing or her champion in armed combat to redress the insult leveled at me by your own person.”
Nightwing nodded, Loranda looked with pleading eyes. She wanted to champion her but Night raised her hand a little to say no.
“
I accept your challenge and also make it clear that I will defend myself without calling upon a champion.”
The admiral spoke up,
“
Clear an area at the center of the deck and hand the Lady Nightwing a sword of her choice.”
The men moved back and away as the two prospective combatants walked to the center of the deck between two masts. There Loranda had chosen a sword from amongst the men, handed it to Night and moved back. Night swung the sword around a bit feeling for its balance and weight. When she was ready she nodded and stood her ground, the sword held in front almost horizontal. The Admiral spoke,
“
Let it begin.”
Berwyn lunged forward with a few paces driving the tip of his blade directly at Nights stomach and as he did, Night was able to easily bring her own sword down then across and deflect the incoming blade to one side. But as she did she continued the arc of contact and spun to one side a little taking her sword right around. As Berwyn stumbled past she was able to plant a hit on his ass with the flat of her blade. Berwyn spun about having caught himself and squared off again, growling at the physical insult.
He looked about his men who were all having a good giggle. This time he came at her with sword raised bringing it down with a powerful slice. Again Night raised her sword deflecting the blow past her left and managing to get a light slap on his back as the ensign’s momentum carried him past her once more. Berwyn stood there looking at her and Night calmly watching on, tip of her sword now resting on the ground. Berwyn’s face was going red, only now he thought a bit and advanced more slowly swinging his sword and parrying with Night. Swords clashing as he attacked and she blocked, withdrew and came forward again. He became singular of mind. Harder and harder he swung that sword, more and more force he put into each swing building his attack, Night while skilled and fit was no match for the man for sheer physical might, if she didn’t want to be worn down she would have to take the initiative.
Night studied him as their swords clashed looking for an opening. Watching, waiting, then she saw it. He was swinging the sword a little too far back before striking. It would allow her just a little bit of time and she lunged, the tip of her sword pierced the air and she nicked his cheek. That made him immediately step back and hold his face, he looked at the blood on it, it was a reprieve for Night whose arm was getting tired.
Then Berwyn resumed where he left off, his anger a glowing orb in his head. Once again he focused and worked on Night wearing her down, but Night was watching waiting for another opening and again Berwyn made a mistake. Again Night’s blade pierced the air and nicked the ensigns chest.
Berwyn backed off. He was getting very angry indeed, but he wouldn’t make the mistake of rushing her. Back he came attacking her defenses, Night was getting a little desperate. This man wasn’t going to stop until he had hurt her, so now she could only stand her ground and focus her will, hoping her arm could hold out. He was making inroads as Night was weakening fast. Berwyn sensed he was close and redoubled his effort as he got closer with each hit.
She wasn’t defending as hard anymore. Then as he had done before, he lifted his sword a little too high and Night struck. The tip of her sword jabbed forward and caught him in the stomach going in about an inch. Ensign Berwyn fell back dropping his sword and clutching his stomach, blood oozing between his fingers as he went to his knees. There was a murmur in the crowd and a little ill feeling. Admiral Alard spoke to break the crowd’s spell,
“
Get a medical intern here now, I want this man taken to the infirmary below and get him stitched up.” There was a hesitation, “The rest of you return to your posts the show is over!”
They all scattered at the Admiral’s bark. Alard approached Night and offered his hand and she graciously took it. She handed back the sword to a waiting sailor and he disappeared. Loranda came to her side and put an arm around her. They then went to the galley which was empty. Sitting at a bench Night sat back and rested. Loranda fetched a drink for her, which she gulped down.
“
I must say, you did quite well against a man who is considered one of the top five swordsmen on this ship.”
Night looked on. Her arm was giving testament to the fact, throbbing and feeling weak. Loranda couldn’t help herself,
“
So it looks like the crew need some sword lessons from a woman.”
Alard looked at her, he still wasn’t sure how to take this woman but he had no doubt of her skills either after seeing her fire the crossbow.
“
This has certainly been an eventful morning. I unfortunately, have many things to do and I will leave you to your own devices. But please don’t pick any more fights. I only have 599 able bodied men left on the ship.” Alard winked as he turned and left.
Loranda straddled the bench next to Night and leaned in close to her ear and whispered.
“
I am proud of you.” Then in a louder voice, “Oh poo you stink.” Waving her hand in front of her face. Loranda stood up,
“
Come now, we are going to go back to our quarters where I’m giving you a hot bath and a long massage.”
Loranda helped Night to her feet and out of the galley. The rest of the day passed without any incidence and it was the following afternoon when things started to get interesting.
The lookout in the crows nest had called,
“
Sail ho!”
Night and Loranda had gone to the bow of the ship but could see nothing; it would be another fifteen minutes before they spotted it.
“
It's one of our cutters returning.” It was Prince Alard behind them. “I expect we will have news in about 20 minutes.”
The time past very slowly as they were willing that boat closer to hear of news, any news that might give them an idea of their friends fate.
The cutter drew up beside the warship and having slowed to a snails pace, boarding ropes were thrown across and pulled tight while a rope ladder had been thrown over the edge. A single man came on board from the smaller craft and saluted the first mate before walking to the Admirals common room.
Night and Loranda waited as time ticked by. It was almost another hour before the same man came back out and rushed to the edge, saluted the first mate again and disappeared over the edge. Ropes were released and the cutter was off again. Still they waited. Before long the adjutant came out and signaled for them to follow. Once inside they stood at the other side of the table watching Prince Alard head down reading a scroll, he looked very troubled. Then he looked up.
“
They saw well over two hundred ships in and around the Port.”
“
Two hundred?!”
Night couldn’t help but blurt it out, she immediately knew what it meant, so many men, so many troops.
Prince Alard had been doing some calculations.
“
It means we face a force of well over twenty thousand men and we have not the firepower or the resources to attack such a large presence.”