Can't Look Back (War for Dominance Book 1) (19 page)

Like an avalanche the ship grew in size slowly and inexorably throughout the rest of the morning and afternoon. The closer it came, the more wind spilled over to the companions’ ship, and the rate of closure dropped as the orc ship neared.

“Is that a picture of a campfire on their flag?” asked John.

“No,” replied Captain Meyer. “As I feared, the ship is one of the Reaver clan’s. The picture on the flag is a bunch of broken leg bones stacked together. The red you see is the blood coming out of the broken ends.”

“Gross.”

“Aye,” said the captain. “They don’t leave anyone alive when they capture a ship, nor do they leave a single body unbroken. They are as horrible an enemy as you would ever want to come across. Sometimes they take prisoners, but I can’t imagine life under them would be very pleasant, or very long.” His voice trailed off, leaving John to imagine all sorts of horrible things that would be done to him if captured. He vowed he wouldn’t be captured...and hoped he would be able to fulfill that vow.

“There’s a halfling in the front of the boat,” said Fitzber who had the best natural sight of anyone in the group. “’Tis the spitting image of the halfling I caught in the woods with the orcs when they attacked us. The rest of the boat’s crew looks to be orcs, generally bigger than normal ones, if I had to guess.” He looked a little longer. “They appear to be armed with swords and battle axes, all except for the skinny one in the back of the boat that’s jumpin’ up and down with his staff.”

“What does his staff look like?” asked Ghorza.

“It’s an odd one,” replied Fitzber. “It isn’t straight up and down; it’s got a wee bit o’ a curve to it and all sorts o’ wee markings and writing on it, if that means anything.”

“It
can’t
be,” said Ghorza. “
Focus!
” she added, casting her far-seeing spell. “By the gods! That
is
Ragula. He uses a troll’s leg bone as a staff. He killed it when he was young. He’s carved all of his spells into it, along with words of power to increase the potency of his spells. Do not underestimate him; he may look like some backcountry shaman, but he is very powerful.”

As the group watched, there was a flurry of activity from the other ship.

“What are they doing?” asked John.

“Getting ready for battle,” said Father Telenor. “I know. I used to serve on ships when I was young. They are setting up its weapons.” He pointed to the front. “For example, it looks like they have a couple of onagers in the bow.”

“What’s an onager?” asked John.

“It’s a light catapult. Onagers aren’t big, but they’re effective. They can throw a 20 pound load over 1,200 feet.”

“20 pounds?” asked John. “That doesn’t seem like much. Shouldn’t the sides of this ship be able to withstand getting hit by rocks that small?”

“Oh, I doubt they’d throw rocks with it,” said Father Telenor; “I wouldn’t, anyway.”

“What would you throw then? They aren’t going to launch their men with them are they? Like to get them up into our sails and rigging?”

“No,” said Father Telenor with a laugh, “I doubt they’d do that, either. I imagine they’re more likely to launch clay pots full of demon fire.”

“Demon fire?” asked Ghorza.

“Yes, it’s a mix of resins and oils that, once ignited, is extremely difficult to extinguish. They’ll lob them over here and get our ship burning. Then, while we’re busy trying to put it out,
that’s
when they’ll board. If boarding is their intention, anyway. They could also just stand off and watch us burn. It’s not a good way to go.”

“We’re surrounded by water, though,” said John. “Can’t we rig a hose or something to put out the fires? Like with a pump or something?”

“I don’t know what this ‘pump’ thing is of which you speak, but trust me, once you get demon fire on board, it is very hard to put out. You can expect to lose all of your rigging. You may keep enough of the hull together to float, but there won’t be much.” He indicated several sailors that were rolling barrels around the deck of the
Dancer
. “Those are barrels of sand that they will use to smother any flames. Throwing water on demon fire just tends to scatter it all over the place.”

Father Telenor looked back at the other ship. “They’ve also got six ballistae,” he said, pointing to where the orcs were mounting three of the weapons on each side of the ship. “Those will be fairly accurate today, since the water is smooth, with a range of about 1,500 feet.”

“How accurate is accurate?” asked Dantes.

“Inside of about 1,000 feet, a good ballista operator can pick off individual targets,” said Father Telenor.

“That’s pretty accurate,” Dantes replied.

“Are these orcs any good?” asked John.

“The Reaver clan? They’re the best,” replied Captain Meyer, walking up to look at the enemy. “If they want us dead, the odds are that we’re going to be dead in short order.” He nodded to where several of the
Dancer’s
sailors were leaning crossbows against the rail. “We’ve got a few surprises of our own,” he added. “We’ll get a few shots off; we’ll just have to make them count, since we won’t be out-running them today.”

“If you can kill the shaman in the back of the boat,” said Ghorza, “that will release the weather to let it go back to normal.”

“Aye, he will be the first one we kill,” agreed the captain. “If we get the opportunity.”

“Why don’t you go down below,” Dantes said to John. “No sense letting them know that you’re here.” John didn’t look happy to be sent below, but left the rail without too much grumbling.

The vessel approached until it was just outside of bowshot, at which time the shaman in the back of the ship put down his arms. All of the wind ceased, and both boats coasted to a halt. There weren’t even any waves; both boats were completely becalmed. The orc shaman and several of the largest orcs moved to stand with the halfling, aft of the onagers.

“The crown!” said Ghorza as she got a closer look at the group. “The halfling is wearing a crown. It’s got to be Milos!”

One of the orcs handed the halfling a hailer, a cone of metal that helped to focus a speaker’s voice, allowing it to travel further. “Ahoy, the
Pole Dancer
,” he called. “I would like to talk to the outlander.”

“Ahoy yourself, Milos or Solim, or whatever you’re calling yourself these days,” said Dantes. “I’d like to say that it’s good to see you again. I’d like to, but that would be lying. Something you’re good at, I guess.”

“So you recognize me, do you? No matter, it’s too late for you to do anything about it.”

“It’s never too late,” Dantes replied. “Why don’t you come on over here, and we can discuss it?”

“No thanks,” Solim replied. “I have a feeling you might bear me some ill will. I think that I will stay over here with my friends.” He looked at the
Dancer
. “Tell you what. If you send over the outlander, I won’t bother sinking your vessel. It’s obvious that the ship is in no danger of catching us; I’m surprised that it hasn’t already sunk on its own.”

“Outlander?” asked Dantes. “What do you mean by outlander? We’re all from Tasidar. The only people from Salidar are on your boat.”

“You know who I mean,” said Solim. “The person that I framed as the Spectre. I don’t know how he was able to use the mirror, but I know that he followed me through it. I’ve been watching you through a seagull, and I know he is with you. If you send him over now, I won’t destroy your ship. You have five minutes. If he isn’t on this ship by then, we will sink you.”

“Have you found your brother yet, laddie?” asked Fitzber. “If not, I’m happy to be tellin’ you that he died on my blade.” He smiled. “I’m right here if you’d like to come avenge him.”

“He was my half-brother,” said Solim, “and I never really liked him much. You have four minutes left.”

“You wouldn’t sink a ship with women and children on it, would you?” asked Lady Ellyn.

“If that’s what it takes to get the outlander, then yes, I would,” said Solim. Several of the orcs said something to him. “My friends would be happy to take whatever women and children you’d like to send across. In fact, please feel free to send them all over.” The orcs began laughing. “Two minutes. If he isn’t in the water within the next minute, we will sink your ship.”

“I’m coming!”

The companions turned to see John coming out the door from below.

“If you promise to let them go, I will come with you.”

Dantes intercepted him on his way to the railing and lifted him off the deck. “No,” he said. “I won’t let you go.”

“I don’t want all of your deaths on me,” said John. “I’ll go over there, and you can figure out a way to rescue me...somehow. Maybe I can escape. You’ve all been so good; I can’t let you sacrifice yourselves for me.” He lowered his voice. “Besides, the Mathison girls are still down below. They’d be killed, too.”

All of a sudden, Dantes understood why John had come up on deck. He would have happily sacrificed himself for John, even if that meant fighting the orcs, but he didn’t want the little girls to be killed either. He nodded. “Go then. We will follow you and get you back.” He set John back down on the deck.

“I know you will,” said John, kicking off his sandals. Flipping one leg over the rail and then the other, he pushed off the railing and fell to the sea below. He hit the water and came up sputtering. The water was
cold!
He forced himself to keep moving although every fiber of his being wanted to huddle into a ball to retain what little heat it could. Although John had learned to swim when he was younger, he hadn’t done it in a very long time and was forced to dog-paddle his way across to the orc ship while everyone watched. Better a little embarrassment than having the little girls get killed, he thought as he continued to stroke his way over. If only it wasn’t so cold!

A line came down from above as John reached the side of the orc ship. The rope had knots in it for climbing, as long as the climber had the upper body strength to pull himself up. Cold and out of energy from the swim, John didn’t, so the orcs pulled him up instead.

“So,” said Solim as John was brought over the railing, “there’s more to you than I thought. I don’t know how you were able to figure out the mirror, but you have been a thorn in my side ever since you got here. No more, though.” He looked at two of the orcs standing nearby. “Grab him. Search him.”

The orcs’ eyes glazed over. “Yes, highlord,” they intoned, and each grabbed one of John’s arms. Six and a half feet tall and 250 pounds, the orcs were giants compared to John; there was no way he could break free of them. The orcs searched him, but didn’t find anything. They shook their heads.

“What are you planning on doing with him?” asked Dantes from the other ship. “You know that even killing him won’t stop the Prophecy.”

“Why would I want to stop the Prophecy?” asked Solim. “I’m
counting
on the Prophecy.” He started laughing. “Silly people,” he said, when he could talk again, “why is it that you hero-types always think everything is about you?” He said ‘hero’ as if it were some lower form of life. “The Prophecy isn’t about this boy. How could it be? The Prophecy is about
me
. I came back from another world. I am gathering all of the Items of Power. And I will be the one to end the world as we know it and re-make it in my image. An image where the tall bow down to those who aren’t. Everyone will bow down to me. Even you would have bowed to me...except that you will all be dead and will miss seeing it.”

“What do you mean?” asked Lady Ellyn. “We gave you the boy liked you asked; you said that you would let us go. Have you no honor?”

“No,” replied Solim. “I gave up my honor long ago. I’ll make you a deal, though. I know that you still have the spell book that the Magistra gave the outlander. If you give me that, we will be on our way, and you will be free to go.”

Onboard the
Pole Dancer
, Ghorza stiffened. “You can’t give that to him,” she whispered. “It’s worth more than even the girls’ lives. You
cannot
give it to him.”

“I know,” Dantes whispered back. To Solim he yelled, “We don’t have it. The boy lost it somewhere in the escape from Norlon. It’s probably in the tunnels there if you want to go look for it.”

“If you don’t have it,” Solim replied, “then there is no longer a reason to keep you alive.”

“I challenge your captain to a duel,” called Captain Meyer. “Man to orc, with the winner to take both ships.”

Solim started laughing, followed by all of the orcs that were topside. “Why would he want to do that?” asked Solim. “Have you
seen
what your ship looks like? Pathetic.” He laughed again. “No, I think there is only one fitting end for that collection of broken timbers you call a ship...and that is to turn it into driftwood.”

Even across the gap between the ships, the companions could see Solim’s eyes go unfocused.

“Stand by the crossbows,” said Captain Meyer. Crewmembers edged closer to the weapons leaning against the railing. They didn’t have the range to shoot across to the other ship, but if they were attacked, the crossbows would prove deadly to at least a few of the orcs.