Limitless Seas, Chapter 27.

Chapter 27.

They were close to their destination, a stretch of open sea near a tiny island. The island itself wasn’t much, perhaps a single square mile of sand with a sad pair palm trees near the center. They were several days early, but the pirates were supposed to show up each morning, though pirates weren’t known for their punctuality.

He had the crew set the sea anchor, keeping them from drifting too far off from their rendezvous coordinates. With nothing else to do, Larson had the crew continue their training. It was a bit more difficult with their camouflage deployed, but even that was good practice for when they had to maneuver toward the pirate vessel. They would make the best of their time, and every hour the pirates delayed improved the skills of his crew.

“Sail off the starboard bow!” The halfling stationed in the crow’s nest called out, interrupting the training drills they had been working on. Larson had been sparring with some of the crew, teaching them how to counter a spear and shield combo attack. He put his weapons into storage and slithered up to the quarterdeck to get eyes on the approaching ship. It looked like a small caravel style of vessel, the two lateen style mainsails would give it much more speed than his ship, but in calm winds, his oars would be king. Sadly, there was a moderate wind today, but if this ship was the pirate vessel they were here to meet, Larson didn’t think a long-range sea battle was in the offing.

The caravel was on an intercept course with the Sea Venom, and the solid black flag that was run up, told the world that these were pirates. Larson remembered that various flags designated a pirate in his old world, here, it was simple black flag. He hadn’t been given much information on the pirate or his vessel. The ship approaching them was smaller than the Sea Venom, but he had no idea how many pirates were stuffed aboard.

“Beat to quarters, it looks like our guests have arrived,” Larson ordered. Tarley barked down to the crew, one of the humans began pounding out the call to arms on the drum once used to sound the count for the slave rowers. The crew snapped into action, heading to their assigned posts, and following the instructions pounded into them over the last few days.

Larson knew he needed as many blades on deck as possible and leaving the bulk of his crew at the oars was foolish. He left a dozen men below to row and maneuver if they needed it. They would also act as damage control parties or as a reserve for the coming fight. Ibn opened the weapons locker and began handing out gear, starting with the two arbalests, the halflings assigned to the weapons stooping under their weight. One by one, his crew grabbed their assigned weapons and moved into position.

As far as an overall strategy, Larson hoped to lure at least part of the pirate crew over to his vessel, giving him a chance to separate destroy a small portion of the force before the main fight began. Shada and the halfling shield wall took position along the port railing, leaving the starboard rail, which was facing the approaching ship, open. Most of the crew were placed in the officer quarters, armory and even the captain’s cabin, hidden from direct view and ready to rush out when the signal was given. Other than the halflings and the crew on the siege engines, Nogreb led a half dozen sailors that lingered near the four corvus’ that were placed along the starboard side. The halflings with the arbalests prepared their weapons to fire, but kept them hidden below the railing, they could mount them and get the weapons into action within seconds, but their firepower would be hidden from the pirates for now.

The pirates continued to close, showing no fear in their approach. Larson made a note to himself to see about purchasing a spyglass the next time he was in port. He didn’t spot any sign of siege engines on the pirate ship and if he didn’t need to make the prisoner exchange, Larson could have made them pay dearly as they closed. His scorpion was hidden behind one of the false panels, but the crew of the weapon was ready to kick the panel away and engage when ordered to. The sails on the pirate ship were lowered, leaving them to drift slowly toward the Sea Venom over the last few yards.

“Ahoy there, I assume you’re here to bring me coin and collect these two,” A loud voice boomed out. Larson could see a huge figure step onto deck from below, hauling two young men with him. The figure towered above the young men, standing easily over seven feet in height. It was a mix of man and bull, something the system in his head categorized as a minotaur. The creature wore a patchwork armor of leather with metal plates attached at odd places. In its hand was a huge double headed axe that it waved around with seemingly little effort.

“I take it I’m speaking to Furious Fontaine,” Larson asked, shouting across to the pirate.

“Aye, you have that honor, naga, and who am I addressing?” The minotaur responded, its bovine snout speaking without difficulty, despite its odd shape.

“I’m Captain Larson of the Sea Venom. We have what you requested; how do you want to make the exchange?” Larson asked.

“Tell me, Captain Larson, why the ridiculous wood panels? What are you trying to hide?” Fontaine asked, ignoring Larson’s question.

“Apparently it was a poor attempt at disguising my vessel. The Sea Venom started life as an Imperium war galley and I didn’t want to scare you off if you saw an old warship was here to meet you,” Larson replied.

“Oh, no worries there, little captain, I don’t scare very easily. Permission to come aboard to make our exchange,” Fontaine replied.

“Permission granted, for you and no more than ten of your crew,” Larson said, holding up the bag of fake coin, shaking it to let the pirate hear the clink of coin. A plank was thrown across the two ships, and Larson could feel the tingle of magic working.

“Binding planks, sir, they want the vessels secured together,” Tarley warned from his position at the wheel. Larson nodded his understanding, walking over to the plank with his bag full of fake coin.

“Come along lads, you’re going home to mommy today,” Fontaine said, pushing the young men across. Larson thought the two young men looked the part, but he had been foolish to not get a detailed description of both hostages.

“This is yours, Larson said, tossing the bag of fake coin over near the ship’s rail. Fontaine kept his place on the boarding plank, not moving toward the coin he was supposedly there to collect.

“A pirate knows the clink of gold, of silver, and even of copper and that bag holds none of those things,” Fontaine growled as he walked across the plank, his crew following behind even as a second board was thrown across, magically securing itself to the Sea Venom. Fontaine threw the two young men back onto the pirate ship before charging across, his eyes and body glowing red as the creature roared in anger.

“At ‘em boys, cut down those pirates!” Larson shouted, pulling his weapons, and standing to face the minotaur that was heading directly toward him. The false panels were kicked down and the crew on the scorpion unleashed their first bolt, the shot taking a pirate off his feet and hurling him off the boarding plank. Not to be outdone, the Two arbalests got into the act, focusing on the enemy ship’s forecastle where some pirates with bows were gathered.

Fontaine flew across the deck, and Larson had no time to react other than get his shield between him and the minotaur. The pirate captain lowered his head, two sharp horns ramming into Larson’s shield even as the pirate’s axe flashed out to cut down a crewman coming to Larson’s aid. One of the horns penetrated right into his forearm, pain and blood exploding from the wound as the minotaur shook his head tossing Larson against the port railing.

Shada’s halfling shield wall charged forward, the long weapons jabbing at the minotaur and the pirate crew following closely on his heels. Larson rolled upright, his serpentine lower body making maneuver an easy one to execute. His shield was lying near the railing, so Larson placed it back on his damaged arm, grimacing as it rested on his wound. He readied his spear in his good hand, taking a firm grip and channeling slashing damage into the weapon as he closed on the minotaur.

Fontaine growled as a halfling’s spear pierced his shoulder and another weapon skittered off a metal plate sewn into his leather armor. The minotaur’s axe flashed down, cleaving a pair of halflings in two before he turned his attention back to Larson. Needing to slow down the monster, Larson extended his fangs and shot a stream of venom at the minotaur. Reacting quicker than he thought was possible for such a large opponent, Fontaine grabbed one of his own crew, pushing the man into the deadly stream. The venom hit the pirate crewman in the neck, decaying his flesh. Fontaine dropped the crewman and snorted in anger as some of the venom splattered on this chest, sizzling as tried to dissolve its way through the leather armor. Larson’s best chance at ending the fight quickly had failed.

Fontaine, scrapped his hoof on the deck, preparing to charge once more. Larson stood his ground, ready to counter the charge with his enhanced spear when a pair of daggers flew over his shoulder and buried themselves into Fontaine’s face, narrowly missing his eyes. Nogreb and another crewman pushed past Larson, his bosun reaching into the bandolier across his shoulder for another dagger. The cutlass armed crewman was gored by a shake of the minotaur’s head as Fontaine changed the target of his charge to onto the orc that was peppering him with throwing daggers.

Fontaine raised his axe overhead as he closed the distance to Nogreb. Larson moved to Nogreb’s side, spear out to meet the charge while the orc continued to try and slow down the minotaur with a hail of daggers. Fontaine ignored the wounds and chopped down with his axe as Larson’s spear bit deep into the minotaur’s side releasing the magic energy stored within. Larson could feel the deck vibrate and heard a meaty smack as the minotaur’s axe swung down. Fontaine released his axe as the magic in Larson’s weapon poured out. Armored plates sewn into Fontaine’s leather armor prevented a complete evisceration, but the minotaur was bleeding heavily as he staggered back from Larson and into the swirl of battle that now covered the deck of the Sea Venom.

Larson looked over to check on Nogreb, only to find that the powerful blow from Fontaine had split his bosun down the middle, cleaving from the top of his head down into his chest. He was stunned at the loss of one of his officers, the crew had taken losses before, but the orc was one that had been there from the start.

Pain brought Larson back from his musing, a pirate had slashed a cutlass across his back, the weapon failing to crack through the steelwood rings in his armor but no doubt leaving a bruise. Lashing out with his tail, Larson took a grip around the pirate’s neck. A quick contraction of his muscles was met with the satisfying crack of the pirate’s neck breaking. Dropping his victim to the deck, Larson fought his way back up to the quarterdeck, trying to get a feel for how the battle was progressing and to find out where Fontaine had gone. Another pirate fell to his spear, as he made his way through the melee, though most of the pirates now tried to avoid him, seeking easier opponents to fight.

“NO! You hurtses Bartholomew’s friend, bull man,” the voice of Bartholomew roared across the deck, causing the swarm of battling pirates and sailors to break away from the ogre. Larson slithered up the steps to the quarterdeck watching as the ogre stomped his way over to Fontaine, knocking aside the small knot of pirates trying desperately to defend their captain. Bug Bartholomew surged forward, grasping Fontaine and hefting him into the air. The minotaur thrashed in the ogre’s grip; his immense strength was no match for Bug Bartholomew who now had both hands in a firm grip around the minotaur’s chest. Fontaine flung his head about, his sharpened horns goring the hands of the ogre, but Bug Bartholomew ignored the painful wounds as he began to squeeze. Even above the din of battle, Larson could hear the ribs of the minotaur snap one by one and the roar of anger from Fontaine became a higher pitched shriek of pain before cutting off completely with final crunch of bone.

The ogre swung the minotaur’s body like a meaty club, knocking pirates off the boarding planks while stomping others down. Here on the quarterdeck, Larson found the halfling manning the arbalest was down, and Tarley was being pushed back from the tiller, trading blows with a pair of pirates. Larson charged into the fray, not willing to lose another of his officers in this fight. His spear pierced the side of one pirate and his tail wrapped around the legs of the other, throwing him off balance and leaving him easy prey for Tarley’s next attack. Tarley finished his opponent and stood next to Larson, watching the battle unfold.

On the main deck, the battle had decidedly turned in Larson’s favor. With their captain killed, the pirate crew was wavering. Ibn and his men stood in a circle around the mainmast, cutting down pirate after pirate, while Shada reformed her shield wall and began to push their foes in the meat grinder of Ibn’s blades. Several pirates tried to throw down their weapons and surrender, but no quarter was being given by his crew. Larson rejoined the fray, fighting his way over to Shada, joining her shield wall as they pushed forward. Shada paused briefly over the corpse of Nogreb, a line of tears washing away some of the blood splatter that covered her face.

The last of the pirates retreated to their ship, one of them uttering a command word that unlocked the boarding planks. Larson signaled to the crew stationed near their corvus’ and the devices slammed down, metal spikes embedding into the pirate deck and holding the ships fast. Larson followed his crew onto the smaller pirate ship, cutting down the depleted remnants of the pirate crew. A handful fled belowdecks and Larson left Ibn to organize teams to ferret them out.

“Shall I take prisoners, Captain?” Perhaps it might be wise to save a few to help crew the prize. As much as Larson wanted them all cut down, it was a good argument, he had won a prize that needed to get back to port if he was going to cash in on it.

“Aye, Ibn, see if you can get some of them to surrender. I think the fight has pretty much gone out of them after seeing their captain taken down by Bug Bartholomew,” Larson said. Ibn got to work, his men excelling at this type of a fight.

“Did we do it? Did we win?” Shada asked, joining Larson on the pirate ship.

“I think so, but not without cost,” Larson replied, gesturing toward the fallen Nogreb. “He said I owed him for killing Maggot back when we were prisoners. I suppose that I owe him a bit more now. He put himself in front of Fontaine, taking an axe that very well might have targeted me,” Larson said.

“What are your orders, Captain Larson?” Shada asked, not sure what to do now that the fight had been won.

“Let’s get our people organized and make sure we didn’t miss any pirates. Find out where the two lordlings scurried off to, I expect their hiding somewhere. I want casualty figures and information on any damage the Sea Venom might have taken. I also want you to scour the pirate ship for any loot,” Larson ordered. Shada nodded and got back to work. He had Tarley organized things aboard the Sea Venom while Shada did the same on the pirate vessel. While they worked, Ibn and his marines ferreted out the last of the pirates aboard.

A flashing at the corner of his vision let Larson know he had leveled up once more. Before he could dig into any changes that occurred, Quix called out from the crow’s nest. The halfling had perched himself up there with a crossbow for most of the fight and Larson would be willing to bet that the man had racked up a considerable number of kills. Several arrows were stuck into the side of the crow’s nest, but the enemy return fire hadn’t touched his marine.

“Sail sighted, broad off the port quarter!” Quix shouted. Climbing up to the quarterdeck, Larson could see the faint image of another ship heading toward them. This was far too soon for Lord Mox to arrive, and Larson had a bad feeling that his battles for the day were only just beginning.