Chương 17: 16 Boiling Water

The world tipped one way, and the deck of the ship tilted the other. I stumbled, catching myself on the bulwark. The sharp clash of the alarm bell sent waves of pain through my head, while men barked orders. Sailors and Marines rushed to battle stations. A new pillar of water erupted fifty yards off the hull on the port side, then a secondary detonation spat an aftershock through the steam.

"Bomb shot!" Elara called as another shell whistled past.

"Run the guns!" Grix screamed down the hatch.

"I want us ready to send iron back down their throats on a hard turn!" Captain Thalendris stood on the navigation deck, staring back at the pursuing brigs.

"Hard to starboard," he barked, pointing at a trio of rocky sea stacks.

"Put those between us." I staggered, steadying myself on a rail, heat still cooking the air. I gritted my teeth as I tried to breathe clarity into my exhausted mind. A deep scab on my shoulder ached; my whole body felt swollen. The health potions had probably saved my life, but were far from finished repairing the damage. We angled between a flat cliff face and three stony protrusions that jutted from boiling water. Bow chaser cannons boomed on the brigs behind us.

A shell splashed closer, then detonated underwater.

"How's the wind, Captain?" Naomi called.

"Not favoring us, Ma'am!" Thalendris called back.

"If we can round the headland, we'll catch favorable wind, but they'll get a clear broadside on us before we make it!" Lieutenant Stormsong personally manned the single aft swivel gun. Rather than aiming at our pursuers, she tipped the piece up and jerked the lanyard. The cannon belched flame, blast vibrations running underfoot. A trailing arc of chalky yellow dust streaked through the air before detonating overhead. A curtain of faded yellow mist descended behind us.

"Load!" she barked at Felipe and Taxon.

"I want chalk in the air until we choke!" Her men sprang to action. The Silver Zephyr threaded between the cliff and the rock pillars.

"Naomi!" I started towards her, but stumbled. She surged to catch me.

"Where do you need me?" I asked weakly.

"On your feet, Tony!" she shouted.

"I'm sorry!" I rasped, the world swaying. She bit back a curse before thrusting her hand into her vest. It came back with four vials: two red and two clear. My eyes widened.

"Those are Greater Health Potions!" I croaked.

"We were issued, Lessor—""Save the lecture for later," she snapped.

"I know money can't buy victory, but maybe it can keep you in the game!"

"Personal potions?" I asked, for once, not despising her family's wealth.

"Insurance," she said, thrusting them into my hand. She turned, rushing towards the arcane deck where Ingred was preparing. I popped a cork on a health potion and a stamina potion, then threw them back. Potions weren't medicine; they weren't magic, but somewhere between the two. An ectoplasm medium held a mana charge, as other binders and stabilizers trapped system power in fluid form. The initial effects hit instantly. Cords on my neck bulged as I tensed. A flood of energy roared through my blood.

My wounds prickled as the healing potion took effect. I slipped the duplicate potions into the loops on my belt before stumbling up the stairs. Aching muscles tingled as energy masked fatigue, not washing it away but shoving it down. I'd pay for this later. The aft cannon fired again, lobbing another chalk flare over our wake.

"Starboard, easy!" Captain Thalendris barked, and the Zephyr angled along the shore, shifting our side toward our pursuers.

"Grixx, give them something to flinch at!" Our four starboard guns roared. Shafts of water punched up through steam around the much more heavily armored Sirocco-class warbrigs. In the distance, tiny Vulcans and Primords scurried along the deck.

"Captain, where do you need me?" I called. His gaze snapped to me.

"More chalk shot in the lower deck. Grab us a crate!" I was off, buzzing with synthetic energy that pushed me through the heat. Behind the Zephyr, one of the brigs bore down on us dead on, the other shifted, carving a distant but parallel track and exposing its broadside guns.

"Keep her straight!" Captain Thalendris hollered. A line of smoke ruptured from the Sirocco's side. Bomb shot whistled over the steaming waves.

"Brace!" Six impacts ruptured across the water, a section of bulwark disintegrated into splinters, and the deck shuddered underfoot. I stumbled, reoriented myself, and plunged into the hold, looking for the chalk shot. As a swordman, I was useless on a ship. Sure, when boardings are involved, I could really shine. But in a cannon slugfest, I was a piece of meat in a wooden crate that might turn into jelly for standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The only place I felt any control was behind a cannon or at the helm. Still, if there was a job, a sailor's duty was to see it done. Men moved in the dark gun deck, reloading our four starboard pieces. A new hole let a shaft of fresh light into the gun deck, but it had fortunately blasted through an empty gun port and carried out the other side. I continued down into the lower hold. I blinked in the low lamplight as I hurried to the secured cargo locker.

"Hey!" Barkley called from his brig cell, pressed tight against the bars.

"What's going on out there?" I didn't entertain him with an answer, but fumbled with the lock. It stuck. Growling, I jerked the deadbolt, and it jumped. Practically ripping the door off its hinges, I scanned the closet, eyes falling on a crate with four yellow alchemical balls. I grabbed it before rushing back out. My calves burned as I surged up the steep companionway steps.

"Fire as your guns bear!" Grixx shrieked. Two cannons thundered as we fired back. I stormed back into the ash-dimmed daylight to cries of panic. An arrow struck the deck less than a foot from my boot. I yelped, leaping back and turning to the port side. A dozen Magmotes charged along the bank on the backs of salamanders, nocking and loosing arrows along the shoreline.

"Port side fire, then grape!" Captain Thalendris snarled. Elara's marines rushed to the land-facing side, bracing muskets against the rail as they returned fire. Four guns bucked on the port side, blasting glass sand and shattering basalt. A mounted Magmote disappeared in a pillar of dust with a shriek. The salamanders scattered, veering away from fresh craters. Gasping, I rushed to the navigation deck, dropping my chalk shot at Felipe's feet. Behind us, the yellow mist dispersed. I spun toward the bow.

We'd round the headland in minutes, but until then, we were open targets to the Sirocco aft of us and the mounted infantry on the port side. Another broadside rumbled.

"Stand by!" Thalendris called.

"Ingred now!" This time, I caught a sheet rope and gripped it tight. The arcane deck pulsed with light. A mystical gale threw Ingred's hair, air howling overhead. Our sails snapped tight, and the deck lurched under my feet. We surged, a sudden bout of speed driving us forward as iron detonated around us. Two sailors screamed as the deck shattered under them, and two hollow impacts shook the hull. Ingred gritted her teeth, and the arcane wind in the sails died. She slumped, sweat slicking her beet-red face.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The helmsman cursed, fighting the wheel. Shouts of alarm sounded from below.

"Breach! Below the waterline!" Steam wafted up through the hatch. Naomi gripped the rail.

"Bianca, patch the outside! Tony—""I got the interior!" I called, spinning towards the steps. I stalled, glancing back at Naomi.

"Amulet!" I said, holding out my hand. She flinched, hand going to her medallion. Her original ring still glittered on her finger.

"I know you're bad with the heat, but that water's going to be boiling!" I called, shaking my hand. She nodded, pulling it off and slapping it into my palm. I slipped the chain around my neck as I slid down the rail. Elara and Roland followed as I pounded down the steps. The gunners cast worried glances down the lower hold as steam bellowed up like smoke. I gritted my teeth as I surged down deeper. The temperature climbed, the roar of water deafening. I dropped ankle-deep into clouded, scorching water.

I inhaled sharply, my amulet and Apex Wrath working to combat the heat. Even with two points of fire resistance, the seawater scalded my feet. Water roared through a clean breach in the far wall. Already, the waterline crept past my ankles.

"Tony, the ratchet braces are there!" Roland barked as he stepped up one stair, keeping out of the scalding flood. His bald crown glistened with perspiration.

"Hey!" Barkley barked from his cell as he perched on his cot. I ignored the pirate and rushed to the flood closet. It opened inward, water pouring in.

"Roland, I need you on the bilge pump!" Elara barked.

"Aye!" the marine hurried back up the stairs. With a hiss of pain, I hauled a heavy ratchet brace. Cursing, I hopped onto a crate, steam wafting off my leg.

"How are they doing with that outside patch?" I called. Elara glanced up.

"I say we don't wait."

"Hey!" Barkley snapped from his cell.

"Get me out of here!" He hopped from the cot, clinging to the brig's crossbeams. I took several quick breaths before dropping back into the steaming flood. Pain crept up the bottom of my calves as I sloshed to the hole. Elara cursed, bearing the pain with her single point of fire resistance. The ship lurched in another burst of speed generated from the arcane deck. The boiling seawater surged, a wave burning me up to the waist. I howled, hopping onto a table as the ship wobbled, off balance.

Elara pulled herself onto a hanging net to escape the splash of heat and steam. The speed slowed, sending another wave through the hold. Barkley let out a slew of curses from his cell. Then the torrent rushing through the wall slowed. A bulge of canvas and tar from the outside caught most of the water—Bianca had gotten the patch in place.

"Pump faster, lads!" Elara hollered up the steps.

"Quick, let's go!" I called, tensing before dropping back into the boiling bilge. Elara surged behind me, gripping the clamp and helping me place the pad against the hole. The rod swiveled on a ball joint as we braced a second steel pad with iron teeth on the ground. Working together, we cranked the ratchets on the pole, lengthening the rod and sinking the teeth into the planks. The cross tension created a seal, stopping the flow. Gasping in pain, we hopped out of the burning runoff.

We glanced at each other, chuckling through the pain. On the floor, the water level slowly dropped as the men worked the pump above.

"Brace!" The warning came late and faded from the deck above. The ship rocked once, twice, then the wall ruptured as an iron ball spat through the hull. Water roared in. This time, it wasn't a clean break, but a splintered breach spewing three times the surge onto cargo.

"Black Waves!" I gasped, gagging on salty steam. We turned back towards the clamp closet.

"Get me out!" Barkley jerked his bars. I stopped, glancing at the spewing water, then over to Elara. The Lieutenant nodded, fishing a ring of keys from her belt and tossing them. I snatched them from the air, then hurried to the brig and unlocked the latch. I half expected Barkley to attack, to produce some improvised weapon he'd been concealing, but he simply swung past me, climbing over cargo to stay above the waterline. It's not like he could go anywhere; we were floating in the world's largest soup.

"Tony!" I spun to Elara.

"We can't wait for them to patch the outside!" My head bobbed once, and I splashed to the clamp closet. I selected the ratchet clamp with the largest pad. Roland appeared in the hold stairway.

"Get her patched!" he barked.

"We're sitting too low, they're catching up!"

"Get back to the pump!" Elara snapped. He vanished back up the stairs. I dragged my new clamp through knee-deep water, the skin on my legs prickling through the pain. The heat was probably drawing out fresh rashes. I doubted very much that both of my mutagens would clear them out after this. Elara grabbed the pole and, together, we shoved it toward the breach. Big mistake—like water poured on a spoon, the gushing water hit the patch and sprayed everywhere. We jerked away from boiling rain.

The water rose above our knees.

"Too hot!" Elara gasped, ruddy red showing through the green of her skin. We could wait for an external patch, but there was no telling how much water we would have taken on by then.

"One more, one and done!" I called back, the pole heating in my hands. She met my gaze.

"One and done!" she agreed.

"Go!" I called, and we charged the breach together, thrusting the square patch at the pressurized fountain. The weight of the sea pushed back, halting the pad before we could plug the hole. Steam and water sprayed around the patch, flinging scalding droplets at our hands and faces.

"Push!" she bellowed, Orcish muscles tensing. I grunted as I drove with my legs. The skin on my arms and cheeks prickled as heat overwhelmed Igor's mutagens, drawing fresh rashes to the surface. The patch inched away from the breach as the sea forced it back. A third pair of hands caught the pole, and Barkley bellowed, pushing the brace down. The patch covered the breach, jetting water in all directions.

"Now!" I ratcheted the mechanism, and the brace pad's teeth anchored into the ground. Elara worked the second action, and the brace tightened, reducing the flow into a single tiny jet where we hadn't aligned it properly. Barkley leaped from the water, tan-green legs steaming. Elara and I joined him, breathing heavily. I fished my amulet off, tossing it to the pirate. The pain doubled. He didn't ask questions; he just slipped it on, bringing us all to a single point of heat resistance.

"Gotta work the pump!" I gasped, wiping saltwater off my face. Elara nodded once.

"I'll watch the hold!" I shifted to our prisoner.

"Barkley, think you can work a crank?"

"Let's go," he said. We leaped from crate to crate, getting to the stairs with no need to step back into the stew. I drew out my blue potion, unstopped it, and drank half. I handed the rest to Barkley. I fished out the healing potion as he finished the stamina potion off. We split the healing potion before pounding up the steps. At the top, four men worked the bilge pumps, panting as they seesawed the handles.

"Switch!" I barked at Roland, who staggered from the pump red-faced and gasping. Barkley caught the other end, and fueled by a stamina potion, we heaved. With our heat resistance, we cranked out twice as many beats as the other sailors on the second pump.

"Now, Ingred!" Captain Thalendris called, and the sails snapped as we surged past the headland, launching out toward open sea. A victorious cry ripped out across the deck as we angled and caught the natural wind.

"Keep going!" I barked at Barkley as I jerked my handle down. The more water we could pipe out of the hold, the faster we'd go.

"Sails ahead, closing!" Felipe hollered. My head lifted. A new Scorched Fleet vessel rounded the island, bearing down on our port side. The pump handle went numb in my hands—this wasn't a warbrig, but an Inferno Juggernaut class war vessel. Black iron plating clad the heavy frigate, turning it into a floating fortress; fifteen guns protruded from battery ports on either side, and light swivel cannons angled toward us from the deck. Twin tongues of fire spat from a pair of bow-mounted flamethrowers as they warmed.

A wedged hull breacher sliced through the water like a battering ram.

"Hard to starboard!" Captain Thalendris bellowed.

"Belay that!" Ingred called, already plucking a canister from her belt. I hauled on the handle hard, tearing muscles which the dregs of the healing potion rushed to fix. Ingred began muttering an incantation as she unscrewed the thermos. Tongues of fire jetted before the Inferno Juggernaut, too far to do any harm beyond nearly making me wet myself. On the deck, dozens of Vulcan Marines gripped rifles and waved grapples. My eyes widened as I recognized a figure on the bow, robes flapping in the hot wind.

"It's Azhak!" I called. The customs warden pointed at us animatedly, talking to a Primord naval officer. Energy crackled on the quarterdeck. Ingred stood in the cavity of false cargo crates that covered the arcane deck. She caged a tempest of ice and power between her hands. My eyes widened. The Thermos of Ice Island. She slammed her hands on the arcane deck's rail, and runes and sigils along the quarterdeck flared to life. A ball of power raged before her, churning wildly.

Her eyes snapped up, and the blue orb darted across the waves. I was no mage, but I knew from our lectures that open water messed with it. It was impossible to sling spells from deck to deck unless you were practically grappled together. Arcane decks, however, were integrated into the ship itself, converting the entire vessel into an arcane focus. The ball of blue light disappeared under the waves ahead of the frigate. The sea hissed.

Water churned, then a crack like snapping trees filled the air as the Inferno Juggernaut's ram slammed into ice. Figures toppled from the deck as a small arctic mountain rose from the depths, lifting the ship's bow and cracking the hull. I swallowed. Our plan to use the Thermos of Ice Island to create a loading platform wouldn't have worked. Not even close. It didn't make a nice flat plane, but a sharp glacier that hissed in the boiling water. The Juggernaut tipped and slid off the glacier's edge.

Steel screamed and wood splintered as it slammed back into the water. Then it descended, slipping beneath the steaming water. Felipe cackled, pumping a fist and whirling on Ingred.

"Hail Coppersmeldt Clan!" I grinned, practically numb with shock as I continued pumping. The brigs behind us chased us with a few more cannonballs, but with the natural wind in our sails, we pulled beyond their range. The crew cheered while I kept working the pump. We were alive—barely. The Zephyr still floated, albeit with a fresh collection of holes. I glanced back at the smoking island, and my relief fled all at once. We were sailing away from the objective. Our first mission, and we had failed. I had failed.

This was my first chance to prove myself to the High Family, to Paradise, and here we were, running away. I shook my head, banishing the intrusive thoughts. The quest wasn't over. Three days. We were sailing away, but we would come right back. Someone took over for me on the pump, and I slumped down on the planks, my fatigue finally burning through the adrenaline. Before we came back, I needed a nap. <<Time to Seal Collapse: 04: 02: 03: 07: 02: 43>>