The last Man O War wheeling about was now caught between the five remaining frigates and it didn’t take long at all to dispatch her to the bottom. One of the enemy ships that had been left behind actually managed to get under sail again but that only delayed their own demise. The end result was one lost Frigate, the capture of one intact Man O War and a second partially burnt one. It didn’t take long to pick up the men in their rowboats from the lost ship, they were split up and given the two captured boats to bring back to the fleet.
Prince Alard had been watching from his own ship. He had seen how the frigates had focused on the fleeing ships even as other damaged ones had fallen out of line. He liked that aggressiveness in his leaders and it had paid off well. Three frigates had taken on superior numbers and while at the end others had joined them, they had always been in command of the situation.
Yes, there were to be citations for all three captains and awards to all the valiant crews too. There would be many stories told tonight and a lot of cheer about their first engagement with the enemy and total victory.
It was starting to get dark and he turned to the first mate.
“
Tell all ships we continue sailing south at flank speed, scouts out front and this time to the rear as well. Have an invitation sent out to the three captains of the engagement to join me at dinner.”
The Isogorreans will be surprised to find no Kingdom fleet heading back north on the morn. In fact he was sure they would be very puzzled indeed
That evening at dinner the three captains, Night and Loranda were sitting with the Admiral drinking wine and toasting the day’s good fortune, the men hadn’t expected female company and were asking questions for much of the time. One even asked about the sword fight the day before. That little incident had spread around the fleet like wildfire and had grown to proportions totally beyond reality.
“
Captain Koberg I would like to congratulate you on a job well done in leading the others in battle.”
The captain bowed his head to the Admiral who had just spoken.
“
I thank you your highness for giving me the opportunity to prove my worth, it is only through your training that I did so well.” The Admiral smiled.
“
Well said Captain, you have a bright future in politics with that response.”
The rest of the room laughed. They all went silent and listened.
Someone had shouted from outside.
“
Contact!”
Hearing this the Admiral and the rest sprang up.
“
To your ships quickly!”
They all rushed out to the open deck, the captains running to the side and disappearing over the rail.
A sailor dropped to the deck from above having come from the crow’s-nest, he ran up to the Admiral saluting.
“
There appears to be at least five ships, probably more heading directly at us from the southwest off our starboard bow Admiral.”
The Admiral thought quickly. The first mate had appeared at his side.
“
They may not know we are here. Have all lights doused. Ready archers, crossbows and Ballista’s. Catapults too but we are not to light the pots until the very last second before the order to fire is given do you understand?”
The first mate nodded, saluted and was off. They were five hundred yards away and closing fast, there was nothing for it but to run straight into them and maneuver around as best they could. It would be too difficult a task to try and signal in the dark as the moon was hiding behind clouds intermittently and hardly a star could be seen; it was almost pitch black most of the time.
Archers waited on both sides of the deck for orders. the crossbows had all been put in their pivots. They were loaded and ready. Alard signaled to Jean.
“
Drop pots.” He called out quietly.
The first mate nodded in understanding and relayed the message to a couple of junior officers who in turn sent some men below, they returned and placed clay oil pots along the starboard deck side. These were different to the catapult ones as they all had a handle on each side. Night and Loranda looked on, not sure what they might do with them. Prince Alard explained.
“
We will be getting close tonight and we will be able to drop those pots alight straight onto their decks, it will make them nice and toasty.” he winked.
It all happened very quickly. They closed the gap to not much more than a stones throw away. Alard relayed a message to the helmsman that had them lined up to run parallel to the first Man O War that came out of the gloom Then the Admiral yelled,
“
Open fire! Rake the decks!”
The crossbow men and archers let loose an enfilade of fire that covered the deck of the enemy ship hitting and killing most of the active crew that were exposed.
Then the Admiral waited just a few seconds as the ship glided past the starboard side. They could see enemy troops pouring out onto the deck, raising their bows and firing. He dropped his raised hand and two men per pot all lit, ran to the edge of the railing and dropped the pots over the edge of the ship.
The enemy down below didn’t stand a chance. Ten pots carrying five gallons each of tar-oil hit the deck below and exploded on impact, oil spraying over them and setting everything alight. The screaming was terrible as men collapsed to the deck writhing as they were covered in flames, others throwing themselves over the edge. The fire revealed to the enemy their presence.
The sister ship Vanquish made a beeline directly at the ships in the center with the Aggressor following. On the flanks the frigates had been maneuvering in wait for first contact and once that started they moved forward and begun firing on the few Man O Wars they found, there were another six all up sailing individually along on the flanks and were easy pickings in the darkness. The fleet of twelve frigates were able to sail through them first with a withering fire of arrows and crossbow bolts followed then by catapult fire to set them alight, after the initial surprise it was simply a matter of time to final defeat.
Prince Alard studied the seven ships ahead. They were much larger than the Man O Wars and much lower in the water.
It was then he then realized what they were and calling out at the top of his lungs in the direction of the deck, he yelled out,
“
Cargo ships!! Boarding Parties! Signal our sister ship to prepare the same!”
The ship’s deck sprang to life. Men poured out from below and waited, swords unsheathed. The junior officers were busy barking out orders and getting the grappling hooks ready. Archers waited quietly for the order to fire, focusing as the ships closed.
“
One hundred men at the ready for boarding!” Prince Alard cried out and as the lead cargo ship approached they started taking some arrow fire but it was light.
“
Fire!! Two flights only!”
The Archers let loose on the enemy deck, quickly reloaded and fired once more. Then they stood back as the second flight was hitting the deck, the men holding the hooks were already throwing them out and pulling hard.
“
Two more flights! Fire!”
Again the archers let loose two arrows each and as the ropes were tied off, Prince Alard cried out once more,
“
Board now!”
100 men surged forward over the edge and onto the enemy deck dispatching what feeble resistance there was. A couple of junior officers were on board barking orders, flushing out the last of the enemy sailors below.
“
Get down below and make sure that any attempts to scuttle are dealt with!” Prince Alard heard a junior officer cry out on that deck.
They were working like a well-oiled machine, they all knew their duty and did it well, all those war games were paying off. Then the call came out,
“
The ship is secured!”
As soon as the Admiral heard those words he signaled for the grapples to be removed.
“
On to the next one! Ready 100 boarders!”
On they sailed to the next ship, Prince Alard could see the Vanquish was moving off their first cargo ship too. They just might capture all of them if they were lucky. The second was a repeat of the first and it didn’t take long to secure that ship either.
In the reflections of the burning Man O Wars, he could see the frigates had gotten into the act as well. There was three on each of the two cargo ships at the rear. Vanquish had also captured its second ship, but as he looked to the seventh and last ship he could see her settling in the water. They were too late to get to it and as it foundered, parts of loose wares floated free, men clinging to them as it went down.
All of a sudden Alard felt rather tired. The adrenaline was subsiding and he was feeling drained. It had been an exciting twenty minutes. Turning to First mate Jean, he gave his orders for the evening.
“
I want a full report of casualties as well as what we have captured and what was sunk. Contact the fleet and let them know we continue on sailing south with our booty. The helm is yours Jean.”
Jean saluted and responded that all would be taken care of. Prince Alard turned to go to his quarters. He saw both Night and Loranda standing to one side and gave them a look and continued on. He needed a coffee right about now and maybe a bit of rum in it too.
In less than an hour the report came back, thirty-four men dead and fifty wounded, twelve seriously. Alard was surprised, it could have been worse. The report also showed they had captured another two Man O Wars. It had been Captain Koberg again. This man was proving himself a very capable Naval officer.
The manifests of the six cargo ships also made for interesting reading. Two were filled with ballistas and catapults knocked down for sea travel and also had quite a number of wagons too. One was simply filled with lumber and other building materials. A fourth ship contained food supplies and even a dozen large kegs of beer. The fifth carried all sorts of weapons including swords, crossbows, bows, arrows and even some armored clothing. The sixth ship carried winter clothing, tons of it.
It was a fair haul, so what to do with it now? He could burn it all denying the enemy of ever getting it back but he felt it could all be put to better use and that depended on what Lord Raz had managed to organize at Port Valderus.
The following morning Night came to the Admirals quarters with some fresh information. It wasn’t much but it would help with organizing the two groups. She had been in contact with Keera again and gotten a much clearer idea of what was happening. She now knew Wollfen was on board an enemy ship and on his way to Isogorr. She also knew that Dark had mounted a rescue mission and was sailing fast to catch him. As for Lord Raz, he was busy moving anything not nailed down in Port Valderus to the new deep-water port four days further south. Lord Raz though was staying in Port Valderus for now. So armed with this information Alard decided to sail directly for Valderus and hook up with Lord Raz to discuss their next move.
Turning to Nightwing, he thanked her for the information and allowed her to leave. He was in a tight situation he realized, being in the southern ocean he was cut off from the rest of the fleet and regular contact with the Kingdom. It occurred to him his father the King just might toy with the idea of sending a rescue mission simply to get him back and knowing of the fleet strength at Port Cholandra he knew that would prove a costly exercise if not disastrous.
There was also the point of who his father might put in charge of the fleet while he is out of contact. While he had left Captain Rouillard in charge of the northern fleet, he was sure that once the King got word of his appointment, the King would override his decision and put someone of the court in his place. Thinking on that, he couldn’t think of a single person amongst that court who even had the remotest idea on running a fleet.
He had to go back, there was nothing for it. Once he had arrived at Port Valderus he would have his sit-down with Lord Raz to work out the basis for a southern resistance and then he would have to return to Oceania. It occurred to him too that he would have to groom someone to be his second in command in the event of him being away from time to time as the war progressed. Some would say it was rash of him to continue south instead of breaking off and returning home, but he still felt he had done the right thing.
It was late that night they approached the coast where Port Valderus lay and it was in total darkness. He hoped they hadn’t abandoned the place altogether, that would have been a tactical error. A junior officer called out,
“
I see a light sir, just a little further down and almost level with the ground.”
Yes, he saw it now too, there indeed were people still in the Port.
“
Send a cutter to shore and find Lord Raz, ask him to please accept my request for his presence on this flagship. Make sure everyone is wearing full Kingdom dress, I don’t want you to be mistaken for Isogorreans.”
The junior officer nodded and went off.
It was a half hour before the cutter returned, Lord Raz standing on the foredeck watched as they approached a huge warship looming out of the dark. They drew beside her and Raz couldn’t help but look straight up at the sides of this behemoth. This had to be the biggest warship he had ever seen.