Gunpowder (4 page)

Miss von
Blitzen looked at an inconspicuous, shabby sloop swaying softly by
one of the inferior wharves of the largest port in the world and it
was clearly visible how her eyes start watering with tears, and all
hope is leaving her forever. Kristoff ran down the gangplank to the
pier and whistled for two sailors to carry the travel trunk aboard.
Seeing the horror on the face of a young noblewoman he spoke
reassuringly.

- Do not worry
miss. She doesn’t look beautiful, but I can assure you that she
will do the job better than any other ship in this port. - He
pushed her gently toward the gangway.

Miss von
Blitzen was walking step by step on slightly soft legs. She walked
unsteadily up the gangplank, and stumbled on the descent onto the
main deck and landed in the broad shoulders of the nearest seaman.
The young lady gasped frightened, and the rest of the crew roared
with laughter. The crew, by the way, was surprisingly modest:
captain, first mate, boatswain, ten shooters-gunners and only
twelve sailors. It was hard to believe that they are able to lead
the ship on the high seas.

The bosun blew
the whistle and the seafarers rushed to work. Mooring lines were
thrown, the gangplank was dragged aboard, and the ship was pushed
with long oars away from the waterfront. The traveller, feeling
that she is only in the way of the general on-board bustle, went
down to her cabin. For the duration of the cruise the captain moved
into the cabin of the first officer, and the first officer hung his
hammock in the corner usually occupied by the boatswain. Thus, the
boatswain, willy-nilly, had to move below the main deck, where
simple sailors slept together with the artillerymen. Thus, the
passenger had the best cabin on the ship at her disposal.

They have
already passed the head of the harbour’s breakwater when Miss von
Blitzen reappeared on the main deck. At the sight of her the crew
sounded whistles of admiration. The noblewoman was quite
transformed, and nothing like the uncertain and fearful young lady
from a good family. The plumpness of her cheeks disappeared, along
with protruding teeth and freckles. Speechless sailors were looked
at by grey, cold eyes of a determined and tough woman, who emanated
power and dangerous sensuality.

Her head was
topped with a leather hat, under which flaming curls were waving
instead of plaits, and she was wearing a white shirt with slightly
puffy sleeves, onto which she put a heavy vest of thick leather.
Her legs were covered by tight breeches tucked into high leather
boots with semi-flat heels. A rolled up sharp-whip was swaying by
the belt on the right and a long holster hiding a broad, slightly
curved blade was strapped to her left thigh. The weapon was neither
a knife nor a cutlass but something in between. The passenger
looked very alluring and very... dangerous. Her every step, every
gesture betrayed that she carried the weapons by her belt not just
for show and often had had the opportunity to use them.

The girl, not
minding the attention of the crew, went straight to the captain
standing at the helm. She stopped beside him and turned towards the
bow. “Thunder Led” was going with the wind. The deck was leaning
gently towards the rear of the ship. Miss von Blitzen was standing
on a low, aft-castle deck, almost equal in height to the main deck,
waiting for the reaction of the captain. One had to admit that he
kept a cool head ignoring her remarkable transformation and
remained focused on leading the ship to the open sea.

Kristoff,
tall, thin, with sharp facial features secretive under a
wide-brimmed leather hat ornamented with peacock feathers, held the
helm. The smuggler’s hat was just as surprising as his ship. Among
the feathers, it had hidden straps, which after tying the brim with
them, changed the hat into a classic triangular headwear of the
battleships’ captains. What's more, Kristoff’s jacket had similar
straps on its shoulders and at the back of the collar allowing to
transform the hat into a storm hood by attaching it to the jacket.
Truanpago's pragmatism showed in every detail of his character.

After a few
minutes of silence the woman decided to start a conversation.

- Forgive me,
mister, but I was forced to use a disguise in Haaven.  

- A change for
the better. - He smiled taking his gaze away from the sea and
looking closely at the noblewoman from head to toe. His eyes
stopped first at her rounded hips highlighted by her tight
trousers, then at her chest, released from the corset, outlined
under her shirt. - Yes... definitely a change for the better.

He expected to
get a slap in the face, but it never came. The provocative
statement, aimed to embarrass Miss von Blitzen, evoked only a smile
of satisfaction on her face. For a moment they looked into each
other’s eyes, then they both turned to the sea. They travelled
quickly, and the “Thunder Led” looked beautiful under full sail.
Smiteverden was a little over five hundred and fifty miles. With
favourable wind the slender ship could deliver them to the
blockaded port in a little over a day and a half. The trip was
planned in a way to give them the opportunity to slip into the
blockaded port the following day, after dark.

- Would you,
Miss, wish to shed more light on your story, or would you rather
prefer to keep your humble servant in the dark? - The captain
apparently tested the possible limits of impertinence. He should
have been slapped in the face after his first words, but since that
did not happen, he plunged on.

- It’s not
much of a story to tell. My father set off on a trade expedition,
which was supposed to bring new business opportunities. In his
absence, his partners took over his share of the company and left
us with its debts, which led my mother to her grave. After her
funeral, as an only child, I had to take care of myself, and my
first instinct was to look for my father. Under the guise, to
protect myself from the creditors, I set off from our family estate
in Rixburg, which incidentally my father’s dishonest partners were
to seize in the following days, to find at least some trace of my
father. I took with me a considerable fortune once hidden in
numerous caches of our home, and thus I did not want any publicity.
I wandered following my father’s trade route through Mondsburg and
Daelwynn to Haaven, where the trail led, and there it turned out
that my father hired a ship and sailed to Smiteverden in the spring
of this year, which had been barely a month before the port was
blockaded.

Kristoff
looked at her closely. The girl told the tale convincingly, but she
did not look like a poor orphan, especially after her surprising
transformation. Besides, the captain was disturbed by her story
because it was suspiciously close to something that he could have
come up by himself to deceive an unsuspecting victim. The story was
logical at first glance, but if one looked deeper into the details,
it did not hold water. How did the bankrupt noble family manage to
preserve hidden assets, or on the other hand, if the family did
actually have the hidden wealth, why did it go bankrupt in the
first place? What kind of business was her father’s trade
expedition meant to acquire? If the father was stuck in
Smiteverden, why didn’t he just return by the overland route? After
all, for a citizen of the Northern Kaesary, it should not be that
much of a problem. The smartest thing in all of this was that an
orphan looking for her father most probably wouldn’t know the
answers to these questions, so there was no point in asking them.
They stood there measuring each other with their eyes. The smuggler
decided that further questioning was pointless and returned to
steering the ship. The girl also recognized the conversation as
finished, looked around and faced the wind embracing the atmosphere
of sailing into the unknown.

The
first day at sea was promising to be delightful. The weather was
excellent, the sea was calm, and the ship responded to the
slightest breeze. Truanpago set out to open sea early in the
morning using the remnants of the night breeze. The eastern sky
glowed in the distance ahead around the rising sun throwing its
first rays on the milling squalls’ belt, where the breeze
transformed into a considerably stronger open sea wind.

T
he cruise proceeded peacefully and the
weather was conducive to sailing. According to their plan, they
were to approach the blockade in the late afternoon the following
day. After having sailed far right off the busiest route they
circled around the blockaded city of Smiteverden to try to enter
this heavily defended port from the east. Another hour and a half
remained for manoeuvres before sunset. Then, along with the
advancing darkness, they would try to cross the line of the
blockade and after having avoided being tracked by the ships of the
Eastern Company, hide within the range of the trebuchets, catapults
and artillery of the Trade Guild’s former eastern stronghold to
enter the port under their guard.

At the last,
fading glow of the setting sun, the sloop was well disguised as a
powerful gaff junk, and on the mainmast hung the flag of the
Eastern Company. Kristoff decided that the safest way across the
blockade would be to pretend to be part of it, as a privateer hired
by the blockading fleet, and junks were the most popular private
vessels on the Inner Ocean. At the stern they were flying matching
colours, and all the positional lamps, although not yet lit, were
carefully replaced with lanterns glowing with pale aquamarine
light. Of course it was impossible to change the western-looking
silhouette of the hull itself, but in the darkness it was
impossible to notice the difference without being right next to the
ship, and Truanpago was not going to sail so close to the patrol
ships.

The crew of
the “Thunder Led” was intently preparing to run the blockade. Each
of the sailors stuck to his post. Cannons located at the bow and
the stern of the ship were loaded with chains, to damage or wipe
out the largest area of sails from the enemy unit’s deck, if the
need arose. Four cannons on the deck were loaded with incendiary
bombs and were supposed to start a fire on-board the aggressor
ship. In the long run it was impossible to effectively combat
warships bristling with guns, but one salvo could cripple an
opponent for long enough to enable them to escape. Beside the mast
and on the stern, flags of the Haaven Trade Guild and Free Karaham
Islands were placed, ready to be exchanged, when the ship entered
the perimeter of the port’s fort artillery. Kristoff quietly gave
orders to the crew to bring up the rest of the masts and sails in
the event of a closer encounter with the enemy. He did not want to
demonstrate Miss von Blitzen the full capabilities of his ship, but
if the push came to shove he preferred to save his life rather than
the secrets of the “Thunder Led”.

After dark,
the captain directed the bow of his ship straight towards the
harbour’s entrance to catch the fading window of silence before the
change in the direction of the breeze at night. Entering the
harbour at night and against the wind could pose a lot of problems,
even without the additional danger of artillery fire from the ships
of the Eastern Company or even worse, from the harbour’s own
battery.

Kristoff’s
dark thoughts, estimating their meagre chances to enter the
Smiteverden port without heavy losses, were lit up with a lightning
crossing the sky in the distance astern. Once again, luck was with
him. The storm was approaching as quickly, as it was unexpected.
Only a few more minutes and the wind-borne “Thunder Led” would fly
directly to the port, while being at the same time hidden in the
rain. The captain immediately ordered the change of ship’s flags
ship and lighting. In just a few minutes the sloop became once
again a commercial ship from Port Sud. During the expected
downpour, the smuggler preferred to bet on speed instead of
camouflage.