Alexander shook his head, pointing to a place on the coast of Tuva that might work. “Do you know if that cove is deep enough?” Alexander asked.
“It is. But they’ll see us and then we’ll be trapped.”
“Head for it,” Alexander ordered. He went to the aft deck and grasped the hilt of Mindbender, sending his vision into the sword. He visualized them sailing north along the coastline into the gloaming while obscuring their true course.
The captain was reluctant but obeyed nonetheless. They slipped into the secluded cove and the enemy sailed right past them into the night.
“Might make tomorrow interesting,” Jack said.
“Tomorrow’s going to be interesting no matter what we do,” Alexander said. “At least this way, the men can get some rest.”
***
They sailed out of the cove before first light. Again, Alexander lamented his loss of sight. Prior to his encounter with Shivini, he would have been able to see the colors of the men aboard the ships in the night but they were well out of range of his all around sight. He stretched out as far as he could, straining through the pain to see farther still but the enemy just wasn’t close enough to detect.
Luckily, dawn broke over an ocean shrouded in mist. The enemy would have a harder time finding them with the limited visibility. Captain Rastus ordered his men to make best speed north as quietly as possible. Normally, the ship was a noisy place with men yelling and the row master calling out the stroke of the oars, but everyone understood the situation and made an effort to keep the noise at a minimum.
By midmorning the fog started to burn off and Isabel reported that the enemy ships were holding position in a blockade line across the narrowest point between Tuva and Lorraine. Seventeen ships formed a line across the strait, most of them large, sail-driven ships, capable of good speed out on the open ocean but lacking the banks of oars that gave the smaller ships an advantage when the wind was calm.
Alexander picked a point in the blockade where there were several of the larger, slower ships.
“We’ll run the line there,” Alexander said. “Captain, have your fore ballista loaded and ready to fire. Hit that ship as soon as we’re in range, then hit it again. Once its sails are on fire, attack the next nearest ship.”
The remnants of the morning fog helped them reach firing range before any of the enemy sailors saw their approach. As the first firepot lifted off the deck, the enemy sent up a whistler arrow.
The firepot shattered against the side of the nearest ship, sending the sailors scrambling to pour water on the growing flame before it reached the sails as the captain turned the ship to make for a smaller target. The second firepot was away quickly, arcing through the salt air and crashing into the mainmast, splashing fire across the sails.
The next nearest ship was closing fast, bringing its ram into position to hit Alexander’s ship broadside. Captain Rastus ordered his rowers to step up the pace as the fore and aft ballistae swiveled to target the approaching ship. They fired in unison, each scoring a direct hit on the deck, causing the enemy’s ram attack to falter.
They raced through the hole in the blockade as the rest of the ships adjusted course to give chase.
“One of those faster boats is going to catch us,” Isabel said. “It turned early and got out ahead of us as soon as the alarm went up.”
“Adjust course,” Alexander said to the captain. “Head straight for it. Target the nearest ship behind us with the aft ballista and sink it.”
“It’s almost out of range,” Captain Rastus said.
“Then you don’t have much time, Captain,” Alexander said. “Do what damage you can without slowing down, then prepare to engage the ship out in front of us.”
Rastus seemed to give up his ingrained reluctance and threw himself into the task at hand with a mixture of anger and resignation. The aft ballista fired moments later, scoring a hit against the prow of the nearest trailing ship, but failing to ignite the sails.
As soon as they were in range of the ship out ahead of them, the fore ballista fired but the wizard on the deck of the enemy ship deflected the firepot with a spell that sent it harmlessly into the ocean.
“I figured that ship had a wizard on it,” Alexander said. “Isabel, I need you to put a hole in the bow right at the waterline. Captain, prepare both ballistae but hold until you can fire both at once. Hopefully, the wizard can only defend against one shot at a time.”
Alexander took up his bow and went to the bow of the ship with Isabel. He could feel the tension build as the two ships approached. When they entered the range of his all around sight, he nocked an arrow.
“Captain, prepare to turn hard to starboard,” Alexander shouted.
They closed to within three hundred feet and Alexander loosed his arrow at the wizard standing on the foredeck just as Isabel unleashed her light-lance spell. The wizard conjured a shield to deflect the arrow, allowing Isabel’s spell to strike her target unhindered, burning a hole the size of a grapefruit through the bulkhead of the ship just below the waterline. Steam rose in a puff, then dissipated quickly.
The enemy ship fired two grappling hooks into the sails of Alexander’s ship, both trailing rope and both scoring direct hits in the mainsail.
“Turn!” Alexander commanded.
Captain Rastus spun the wheel, turning the ship to starboard and bringing both ballistae to bear on the enemy ship, both firing in unison. The enemy wizard deflected one firepot into the ocean but the other scored a hit against the deck cabin just behind the mainmast. Sailors raced to douse the flames but the sails ignited before they could put out the fire.
At the same time, the enemy started pulling on the two grappling hooks entangled in the mainsail, tearing gaping holes in it before the tethers could be cut. Captain Rastus barked orders to the row master below deck to row harder and to the deckhands to prepare the spare sail. Alexander knew it would take more time than they had. The enemy was going to board them and more ships were coming from behind.
The enemy fired their ballistae again, this time aiming for the broadside of the ship with barbed harpoons trailing rope. Both struck home, lodging deeply into the hull. A dozen men pulled on each rope in rhythmic cadence, drawing both vessels closer together with each heave.
One of Rastus’s sailors scrambled down a net draped over the railing in an effort to cut one of the tethers, but before he could reach it, a narrow wedge of blue magical force leapt from the enemy wizard’s hand, driving straight into the man’s heart. The sailor fell into the ocean and slipped under the waves.
Alexander sent another arrow at the wizard but he deflected it easily. Isabel fired a light-lance at one of the tethers, severing it cleanly. The ballistae fired again, this time both firepots shattered into the already burning sails, engulfing them in flames.
The enemy started to deploy their longboats, even as the men on deck heaved on the one remaining tether, pulling the ships closer together. Another of Rastus’s sailors attempted to reach the remaining tether by climbing down the side of the ship. This time Alexander was prepared. He cast an illusion of a curtain of darkness between both ships so the enemy wizard couldn’t see his target. The sailor reached the harpoon and cut the tether, but a moment later three men appeared on the deck of Alexander’s ship, wisps of black smoke fading quickly in the wake of their arrival.
“Wraithkin!” Alexander shouted. The meaning of his warning was lost on the crew, but Alexander’s friends understood the threat at once. Hector and Horace stood back to back, as did Alexander and Isabel. Jack flickered out of sight.
Alexander dropped his bow as he drew Mindbender and stretched out with his magic to see into the minds of his enemies.
He was in a fight and he had a sword in his hand … everything else faded away.
The first wraithkin killed a sailor with almost casual ease, then vanished and reappeared next to the first mate. The second in command of the ship stabbed the wraithkin in the gut with his dagger, but the wraithkin just winced in pain as he slashed the man’s throat and then vanished, only to reappear right in front of Isabel.
With the tethers cut, the gap between their ship and the now fully blazing enemy ship was widening even as the remaining fourteen ships in the flotilla were gaining on them. The rowers below deck were pulling against the water with all their might but the mainsail was offering little thrust and the sailors on deck were now engaged in a pitched battle with an enemy beyond their understanding.
The second wraithkin vanished before a sailor could bring his blade around in a slashing attack that would have decapitated him, only to reappear behind the commander of the fore ballista crew. He stabbed the man in the back and vanished again.
The third wraithkin easily sidestepped the thrusting attack of a deckhand, cutting him deeply on the outside of the arm before vanishing. A moment later, Alexander heard a shout of terror come from below decks in the rowers’ cabin.
Isabel sent the wraithkin before her flying over the railing toward the water with a hastily cast force-push spell, but he disappeared in midair and reappeared to the side of Hector and Horace, stabbing at Hector the moment he appeared.
Hector turned to vapor almost instantly, using his innate ability as a sorcerer to once again save his life. The wraithkin looked almost puzzled as his blade thrust through the insubstantial form of his target. Horace seized the opportunity the wraithkin’s hesitation gave him and stabbed him under the chin, driving his blade up through his head and out the top of his skull.
Alexander waited, listening to the intent of his enemies. The wraithkin that had killed the commander of the fore ballista appeared beside him, as Alexander knew he would. When Phane’s dark creation materialized amid wisps of blackness, Alexander was poised to strike and his thrust was true, stabbing into the wraithkin’s right eye socket and driving through his skull. The man mixed with darkness slumped off Mindbender to the deck of the ship.
Another scream from below decks sent Alexander scrambling for the ladder. The rowers were their only means of propulsion and the lone remaining wraithkin was slaughtering them. Alexander reached the base of the ladder and found six of the sixteen rowers dead. The wraithkin saw him and smiled before vanishing.
Alexander heard a shout from the deck above and scrambled back up the ladder. Captain Rastus lay bleeding. The wraithkin reappeared behind another sailor and killed him with a quick thrust. Alexander reached out to see into his mind as he vanished.
“Beside you, Horace!” he shouted.
The wraithkin appeared beside Hector and Horace, poised to strike when Jack flickered into view, stabbing down through the back of the wraithkin’s skull with his dagger, dropping him to the deck with the force and violence of his blow.
Sudden calm descended on the ship. Alexander took a moment to assess his situation. It was bad. The captain and first mate were dead, as were the commander of the fore ballista, six rowers, and as many sailors. The mainsail was torn, and fourteen enemy ships were closing on them.
Just as he made up his mind, a deafening crack reverberated through the ship. The wizard, standing on the longboat rowing toward them, unleashed a spell that sent a whirling disc of blue-white magical energy scything through the mainmast, cutting it off just above the cabin and sending it toppling into the water.
“How close is land?” Alexander asked Isabel.
“A league, maybe less,” she said.
Alexander grabbed the nearest sailor.
“Take the wheel, head for the coast,” Alexander said, pointing to the coast of Lorraine off in the distance.
“You men go below decks and row,” he commanded the crew of the fore ballista before racing to the aft ballista.
“Sink that longboat,” he ordered.
The ballista crew had a firepot loaded and fired quickly, but it shattered against a shell of magical energy and dripped off into the ocean.
“Be ready to fire on my order,” Alexander said. He visualized a cloud of dense white fog surrounding the longboat and sent it into Mindbender. An instant later, fog materialized around them, enshrouding the enemy longboat. Alexander held the illusion and waited. He didn’t have to wait long before the wizard dispelled the fog; it dissipated nearly as quickly as it had come into being.
“Fire!” Alexander commanded.
From a distance of fifty feet, the ballista launched a firepot into the longboat, scoring a direct hit. The wizard leapt into the water in a panic as his robes went up in flames.
“Cut the mainmast free and rig the secondary sails to give us best speed,” Alexander shouted to the stunned sailors.
After only a moment’s hesitation, they sprang into action.
“Take a shot at that ship,” Alexander said to the commander of the aft ballista, pointing at the boat that was nearest and gaining. The firepot narrowly missed.
“We only have three firepots left,” the commander said.
“Very well, hold your fire,” Alexander said, “but keep one at the ready.”
The pursuing ships stayed just out of range of Alexander’s ballistae, but that was fine by him. His plan of sailing through the enemy blockade had failed, and badly. He stood on the bow of his damaged ship, stretching out with his all around sight in spite of the pain it caused him, and considered his limited options. He would soon be on dry land in enemy territory with fewer than two dozen sailors to stand against fourteen ships’ worth of sailors and soldiers, not to mention whatever enemy he might find on the island of Lorraine.