Chương 71: 19 Cutting the Anchor

"Dustnose!" I barked, rushing to the bow.

"Tell me the Kisses are ready!" The young Kobold snapped to attention, saluting over his yellow goggles.

"Aye, Cap'n!" he called. Behind him, Clod barked at the others, micromanaging the other Warriors of the Trident as they grabbed the cranks. My eye twitched. Clod had definitely been sneaking honey since I left. His buttons strained across his belly, and his face was swollen. I stopped at the Kisses. A crate of ammo thumped down at my feet, conjured from my inventory.

"Load these—" I cut off.

"Oh, no." The Kisses angled up at the bow, ready to fire at maximum range. The monsters were designed to fire a whopping forty-two-pound projectile.

"What's the problem?" Naomi asked, studying my face. Bebi pried the lid from the crate and swore.

"What?" Naomi demanded. The ship lurched, pulling away from the dock.

"These are twelve-pounders, barely over four and a half inches." The Coredwarf glanced up.

"Absolutely the wrong size."

"You're saying we can't shoot them?" Naomi demanded as we drifted toward a battle that we weren't armed to fight.

"Too much windage. Powder'll blow right past the shot," I said, plucking one of the iron orbs from the crate. My fingers left a heat imprint on frost.

"Then forget the Kisses," Naomi said, grey skin paling.

"Load the carronades."

"Those are twenty-four pounds," Bebi said.

"And they lack the range." She cursed, glancing back at the helmsman.

"Take us out slow!" she called.

"We're dealing with something!" <<The Revenant's Requiem: The Undertide is eating me alive. There won't be any ship left if you don't get here now! >> I glanced at the top-down map. The Winter Maiden flashed in a blue outline as she ran parallel to a cliff on the port side. Presently, the headland concealed us from both ships. In mere minutes, we'd be a juicy target out in the open.

"It's okay!" I said, knowing full well that it was a lie.

"There's gotta be a solution here."

"Unless you can resize those cannonballs right tex now, I don't know that there is!" Naomi shouted. I snapped my fingers.

"Yes, resize. Is the forge going? We can melt them down and plate conventional ammo in cold iron." Bebi snorted.

"Do ya have any idea what it takes to work cold iron, mate? Rituals under the half moon, by those touched by elemental cold." He shook his head.

"This ship doesn't have the time or means." My head jerked up.

"The Requiem has twelve-pound guns! If we can get the shells over to Captain Corvelli—""How?" Naomi demanded, glaring at the sharp headland. Any moment we'd clear it and pull into contested water.

"The Undertide will sink us twelve times over!" Six more crates of shells slammed onto the deck. Corin was already unbuttoning his shirt, bare webbed foot planted on one of the boxes.

"I'll swim them over," he said.

"You keep these in case you figure it out."

"Corin, no!" Naomi said.

"What's the risk, really?" Corin asked.

"Worst case, I drown." She rolled her eyes at the only one of us who could physically breathe underwater.

"There's a lot of Feral Drowned in the shallows." His shirt came off his shoulders, and the slits on his neck puckered in anticipation of water.

"Good thing I'm fast," he said. Naomi gritted her teeth.

"Keep open comms."

"Will do!" He turned and sprinted across the deck, swan-diving over the bulwark as he reached the edge. The moment he hit the water, our top-down displays winked away.

"Great, now we're going in blind," Naomi murmured. Cannon fire echoed around the cliff face.

"If we could fix cold iron to the soles of my boots, I could try boarding them," I said.

"Cause some damage." My hand went to the Bane Thesis's hilt. Naomi snorted.

"And face a crew of Ghosts alone? Vale is a legend." She shook her head.

"No. You can barely stand." We crested the headland. and the black, cursed Revenant's Requiem pulled into view, circling the Jade ghost ship. Both ships fired, though to little effect. The Death Keel tolled atop Captain Corvelli's ship, sending a ripple out from the Requiem's base. Each time the swell hit the Undertide, its incorporeal substance flickered before resolving back into reality. Trajectory paths lanced across the bay, and green orbs whistled across the waves.

"Well, we're in this now!" Naomi murmured.

"Can you man the arcane deck?" I asked.

"I tried attacking them psychically," she said.

"No effect. There's a feat that lets Psionics use arcane focuses." Clod stepped forward, frowning at the smaller cannonballs.

"Sabot," he said simply.

"Clod, not now," I said, crouching over the munitions. Bebi stiffened.

"Yes!"

"What?" Naomi asked. Rather than answering, the master gunner spun.

"Carpenters, on deck now! Bring the barrels and split them into pieces. Sailcloth rope and oakum, too!" Paradisian sailors rushed to action, casting wary glances at the battling ships in the distance.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Sabot," Bebi said.

"We have them on Scorched Rock. They're like steel jackets to fire smaller shots from larger guns." Naomi shook her head.

"But you said we don't have time to work metal—" she cut off short.

"Barrels—will wood work?"

"It's not ideal," I said, "but all we need is pressure."

"Seal the gaps," Bebi said, head bobbing.

"She'll fly." He winced.

"Or blow up in our faces. One way to find out." Sailors rushed empty barrels onto the deck. Other sailors dropped a bucket of bubbling tar, twine, oakum, and cloth.

"Split them open!" Bebi called. Axes splintered wood, steel hoops rolled across the planks, and curved staves clattered to the deck.

"Cut 'em in half!" Bebi barked.

"Be quick about it."

"Captain!" Serevian called. He pointed. The Undertide detached from its death spiral with the Requiem and angled toward us.

"Well, looks like they found easier prey," Naomi murmured. Bebi snatched the cannonball from my hand.

"Move!" He shoved a carpenter. He plucked up four staves and pinched them around the ball. He growled.

"Too big! Carve out the centers. Be quick about it!" Trajectory shafts raced in our direction, cast from the Undertide's guns.

"Captain," my voice climbed.

"They're sighting us!" Six carpenters jerked saws across staves and notched the inner curve of the wood. Bebi tried again, struggling to pinch four curved barrel planks around the cold iron cannonball.

"Good, tie it!" I snatched some twine from the pile and wrapped it around the front. Serevian dropped to a knee behind Bebi, fingers weaving twine around the back end.

"Move your elbow!" the Shad ranger hissed.

"Ya want me to drop it, boot scrubba?" Bebi demanded. I caught one of his fingers in a loop. He jerked his hand back, and the whole contraption shifted.

"Aren't ya supposed to be dexterous?" he demanded.

"Hold it still!" I snapped. A column of water erupted several hundred yards off.

"Captain, they're finding their range!" Elara called from the quarterdeck. Naomi heaved a sigh and stretched out a hand. A cannonball hovered into the air, four chopped staves clamping neatly around it, all held telekinetically aloft. Twine unspooled, threaded through the air undisturbed, then bound the casing around the shot on both sides. No elbows in the face, no hands getting in each others' way. Serevian, Bebi, and I went silent. Without a word, we dropped our jumbled mess at the same time.

"Or we could just leave it to you," I said hurriedly. The improvised sabot round floated over to me, and I plucked it from the air. Another bow chaser fired from the Undertide, and a second impact geysered fifty yards off. Naomi focused. Cannonballs hovered, staves dancing around them in the air. Oakum drifted between the gaps, and globules of tar lifted from the bucket, sealing the smaller cracks. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Boys!" I called.

"We are a go! Load up!" My Kobolds sprang to action, taking the wood-cased rounds and ramming them down the barrels. Trajectory light flashed across the deck from behind. I spun.

"Helmsman, hard port!" He glanced at me in confusion.

"Turn!" His gaze shifted to Naomi, waiting for confirmation. Too slow.

"Brace!" I barked. My Kobolds dropped instantly, knowing better than to question my warnings. A ghost shell slammed into the Winter Maiden, shattering planks. The deck shuddered, men crying out in the hold below. Naomi flinched.

"Tony—" I was already on my feet, hands raised before me as I stood between the four siege-class heavy bow mortars.

"One, negative thirteen by four. Two, seven by eight. Three—hold fire. Four, negative thirteen by negative seven." I didn't need to say more. The Kobolds knew the drill. Cranks ratcheted, and the arcing trajectory shafts came into alignment. Bebi watched silently. The crew on gun three waited expectantly. Rather than projecting a trajectory path, the potential momentum manifested as a rough orb of light around the cannon. Firing that one would burst the cannon, possibly hurting my Kobolds.

Bebi's improvised sabot rounds hadn't been flawless. I pointed.

"Bad shot, draw that charge." My focus drew forward, and I timed the path with the rocking of the boat. A bow gun on the Undertide flashed.

"Tony—" Naomi's voice climbed.

"Relax, it's a miss." It impacted the water on the starboard side. I didn't flinch.

"All. Three by negative two." The three trajectory beams shifted in unison, Dustnose's team every bit as much a machine as the gears that worked the guns.

"Tony!" Naomi said.

"Hold," I called. The bow rose. Then it dropped.

"Fire!" All three of the good guns belched flame as one. I grinned. Three balls slammed into the Undertide, cold iron shot punching through ghostly timbers like glass. The edges of the breaches flickered and sparked as spectral sailors scrambled for repairs. Dustnose and his team were already silently reloading. Good. They remembered their drills. The Undertide banked sharply, exposing her starboard side. Gunports opened, and trajectory paths winked across the water.

"They're not fleeing, Captain!" Elara said.

"Why not?" Serevian asked, leaning on his bow.

"Just because we can hurt it doesn't mean we'll win," I said as I measured the path of the enemy's cannons.

"This just became an honest fight!" Naomi said. I turned.

"Helmsman, starboard eight degrees." The sailor at the wheel didn't hesitate this time. We angled, allowing a trajectory spotlight to wash away from the deck. I turned and pointed to a sailor hanging from some rigging.

"You're going to want to get down!" The sailor flinched and slid down a rope. A cloud of spectral gunsmoke swallowed the Undertide's side. Twelve impacts splashed around us. One ball snapped through the rope netting precisely where a sailor had been only moments before. A recklessly long shot, but it had the desired psychological effect as sailors ducked and rushed for cover. <<The Revenant's Requiem: Passing through the other side. Maybe I can box her in with the Death Keel.

>> My eyes focused on the black ship as it silently inched behind the ghost vessel, cutting her off from the open water. Captain Corvelli had stopped tolling the cursed bell while he moved to his position. <<Naomi: Corin, have you gotten to the Requiem yet? >> <<Corin: Negative. Zombie eels. Captain Corvelli, I'm bringing a present. Almost to you. >> A private message flashed. <<Corin: Well, looks like I get to ride on the Requiem before you. >> I grimaced. <<Tony: Why don't you go drown in a chamber pot?

>> Dustnose flashed four fingers, and Clod snapped at the other Kobolds to stand ready. My chin dipped, then I barked out a new sequence. Gears clicked, guns shifted, and I lit up my opponent with trajectory projections.

"Captain Vale is about to find out what happens when he trades blows with the mongoose!" I said, a vicious smile splitting my lips.

"Fire!" The Kisses roared. I pointed toward the Undertide, as if a gesture could direct the shot. Theatrics. I'd already seen my victory. The ghost ship banked hard, its immaterial form defying the press of water. Two of my shells slammed into waves. Two punched through ghost wood.

"Try me, Vale!" I snarled.

"I can do this all day!"

"Actually, we can't!" Naomi said.

"Rig up more sabot shells!" The carpenters continued their work. I caught sight of the tiny Revenant standing on the arcane deck of the Requiem, hands clasped to his chest, long coat flapping behind him. A skeleton sailor struck the black bell dangling from the mast. A ring of bubbles rushed away from the black, cursed ship. The ripple struck the Undertide, and the ghost ship fizzled for a moment, ghost sailors crying out and clutching their heads. The Undertide looped away from us, doubling back on the Requiem.

<<The Revenant's Requiem: Where's that cold iron? >> <<Corin: Almost there! You're sailing the wrong way! >> Shouted orders sounded across the Undertide's decks. A broadside ripped from her, spraying green fog-like smoke at the Revenant's Requiem. Being much closer to the Requiem than she had been to us, the Undertide's shots hit. Splinters and bones sprayed across the Requiem's deck. Skeletal sailors disintegrated under the blast. Holes and breaches pockmarked the black ship's side both above and below the water.

The Requiem started to tip, heeling hard to port. My breath caught in my throat. It kept rolling, never fighting the sea. That wasn't possible—the curse. Water swamped gunports, and the black mast crashed into the waves. A startled murmuring spread across the Winter Maiden as the cursed vessel, the flagship of the Fel Navy, slipped beneath the waves. Barrels and bones floated to the surface, where the sea swallowed its prize. Ghosts cheered across the Undertide as their quarry slipped to the depths.

"The—the Requiem!" Naomi gasped.

"Captain Corvelli—""Glass!" I called, turning to Naomi. She produced a collapsible telescope and slapped it into my palm. I snapped the tube out and held it to my eye. Captain Vale stood at the helm, looking out to the open sea. His Drake-kin head pivoted toward us. I could see his calculation. Escape now, or double down and claim a second prize. I surged forward, gripping the bulwark over the figurehead carving of Ingred.

"C'mon!" I whispered.

"What's it going to be?" The Undertide was the fastest ship in the World Archipelago. If she struck out of the harbor, she was as good as free. Vale turned away from Fel Rock, angling the helm toward the open sea. My shoulders slumped, disappointment and relief somehow coexisting within me. This was a dangerous opponent. A predator of the sea, but he was also Captain Vale, the guardian of the dead. And he'd known my name. How? I might never know. <<Lance Coralfin: Is it too late to join this party?

>> My eyes snapped up. An excited cry burst from me. Crewmembers turned my way in confusion. Then the sea swelled. A massive tendril of water burst from the ocean before the Undertide. It lifted, higher and higher, until it was level with the ghost ship's highest mast. The water twisted into a loose approximation of a serpent's head, streams and droplets cascading from its fluid body. Figures swam within the elemental surge, one person breaking the surface atop its head like a crown.

My eyes locked onto the newcomer. Lance Coralfin sat astride Dredge, his great white shark, his trident gleaming in his hand. A squad of submariners—Primords and Merfolk—peeked out from within the elemental viper. I sprang back into action. Lance cut them off. This wasn't over. But it soon would be. Dustnose yelped at my barked orders, and his crew manned the cranks, recalibrating the guns.

"Make all sail!" Naomi called.

"We attack!" Sailors let out a battle cry as they scrambled up the rigging. Lance's elemental serpent dove. The column of ocean speared right through the Undertide's center. The flowing water and sea salt carved a hole through the ship, dispersing a section of its astral form. Ghost sailors screamed, rushing away from the Greater Water Primordial. The Undertide listed, banking hard with a new shaft cut through the hold. Captain Vale slipped, catching himself on the wheel. He gave it a good jerk.

I had already dialed the Kisses in. <<Tony: Mind your head, Lance. Coming in hot. >>"Fire!" I roared. My bow chasers blasted. New holes flashed across the Undertide, edges glowing orange like molten glass. Vale staggered at the helm. The Winter Maiden punched through the surf, heading straight in at the ghost ship. <<Corin: Got the shells to Captain Corvelli. Did you guys see that Lance is here? >> I frowned. Captain Corvelli? What was he talking about?

The Requiem was gone— The Revenant's Requiem exploded from the water, spraying mist in a wide arch. Corin grinned, dripping wet, beside Captain Corvelli on its quarterdeck. Gunports snapped open, seawater gushing from cannon barrels. Captain Vale jerked desperately at the resurgence of the black ship, spinning the wheel all the way around. Impossibly, the soaking cannons of the Revenant's Requiem fired. Cold iron rounds blasted the Undertide, smashing wood and blasting sailors to jade fog.

"Ready!" Dustnose hollered. I flinched, pulled from the spectacle.

"All. Eight by six!" Cannon mountings clicked sharply, barrels angling.

"Fire!" We punched Captain Vale with four simultaneous shots. The Undertide's front mast crashed down. The Death Keel struck. That close to the Undertide, the bell's tone made the vessel buzz and fizzle. Captain Vale howled, sinking to one knee. <<Lance Coralfin: Coming up! >> The submariners broke the surface and lifted tridents. Water Bolts snapped from the tines, opening holes through the hull like cannonballs through sailcloth.

"Ready!" Dustnose cried.

"Negative two by three!" Guns clicked into place.

"Fire!" One shot smashed the female figurehead at the Undertide's bow. The Death Keel struck. The Undertide buzzed. The Revenant's Requiem broadsided again. Cold iron entered one side and blasted out the other. The Ghost ship tipped, masts angling sharply. Captain Vale pulled himself up by the handles of the helm. He locked eyes with Captain Corvelli, then his gaze snapped over to the Winter Maiden. A water bolt struck his shoulder. The running water dissolved a chunk of his cloak and his delt.

His head jerked around, chest heaving.

"C'mon!" I whispered as we surged toward our surrounded adversary. He reached up, grabbed his tricorn, and pulled it off. Something folded within me, an unbidden knot tightening in my throat. Captain Vale. Wraith Slayer. Guardian of the Dead. Ready to go down with his ship.

"Ready!" Dustnose called. I inhaled—I couldn't give the order. Not again. Captain Vale's shoulders slumped. Then he straightened, steadied the helm, and lifted his head high. The ship began its descent into the waves. I saluted, a gesture he'd never notice. The moment stretched, the cheers of the Paradise sailors muted. The Dawn Verdict flashed with system light on Captain Vale's belt so bright I had to shield my eyes even at this distance. He flinched, looking down in confusion.

The cold iron sword flared, white flames licking along its blade. Carefully, the Drake-kin drew the legendary blade.

"What is it?" Naomi demanded.

"What's happening?" Vale's head tilted, as if he were listening to a whisper or recalling a forgotten memory. The Undertide continued slipping into the sea.

"I—I don't know," I stammered, squinting. The ghost captain slashed the air. A beam of system fire winked across the ship's bow, severing a thick chain. A ghostly anchor dropped into the sea without a splash. The Undertide lurched.

"What is it?" Mudlock called, shielding his eyes. The Undertide rolled back upright, remaining in place for a heartbeat. Then the sea let go. I stepped back as the Undertide lifted from the ocean, trailing mist. Glowing holes and ragged breaches burned along her hull. Wind filled her spectral sails, and the Undertide swung up and away. Every neck craned up, following her flight. She was—flying. How? That had never been part of the legend.

Gripping the helm tightly, Captain Vale laughed with delirious glee as he sailed up into the clouds. <<Time to Seal Collapse: 02: 00: 05: 01: 31: 07>>