Mel Odom - Rising Tide

"Poison," Finaren noted. "Umberlee take them deep what use such things."

Jherek fired another pair of arrows before the manta closed on Butterfly. For a moment, he thought the sahuagin craft was going to strike the cog, then the manta cleared Butterfly's stern by inches, charging past. The sahuagin hurled spears and tridents as they went by, croaking angrily.

The cog's crew started to cross over to the port side.

"Stay, you dogs," Finaran shouted. "Helmsman, bring us around harder to starboard. I want a hundred and eighty degree turn."

"Aye, cap'n," the helmsman called back.

Butterfly came about. Sailcloth cracked overhead as the crew flipped the booms around. She caught the full breeze again in heartbeats. The spinnaker blossomed like a night rose in full passion and pulled the ship forward.

"Crafty though them creatures may be," Finaren said, "they still don't understand the wind and what a kind mistress she might be."

Jherek watched as the sahuagin struggled to bring their craft under control. Finaran was right about the speed the sea devils had, and they would have outrun Butterfly had the attack led into a race.

"Bring her around, helmsman, toward them sea devils," Finaran commanded. "I want to shear her oars off on the port side. In another minute we're going to wake them up to what a war at sea is all about."

The manta almost stalled in the water as the sahuagin struggled to regain control of their craft. They floundered, struggling to turn the manta around.

"They got no draw on that boat," Finaren said. "It sits flat on the water, and once they get it started in a direction, they can make it go fast, but maneuverability becomes an issue. Hawlyng…"

"Aye, cap'n?"

"That fire projector, Hawlyng, are you ready with it?"

"Aye, sir."

Jherek glanced over his shoulder and saw the fire projector mounted on pivots come around to point at the stalled manta. The projector's maximum range was forty yards. At the moment, the manta was out of range, but the young sailor didn't doubt that it would come in again.

"Helmsman," the captain called out, "shear them oars. The rest of you dogs hold onto to whatever you got, and Umberlee take them beasties what's come upon us!"

9 Mirtul, the Year of the Gauntlet

Butterfly bore down on the manta, speeding closer. The sahuagin stared at her, their silvery eyes picking up light from the oil lamps swinging crazily from the railing. A renewed flurry of spears and quarrels thudded against the cog, finding few targets. A sailor went down with a trident through his guts, squalling in fear and pain.

Jherek held himself steady, an arrow pulled back. When Butterfly came down again, her prow nosing toward the manta, he fired arrows as quickly as he could draw the string. Even under Malorrie's tutelage, he didn't come close to the skills of an elf bowman in terms of speed, but he was deadly accurate at this range. He aimed at the sahuagin on the port side of the manta, driving them back into their shipmates when they fell.

A string of sharp thundering cracks followed Butterfly as she sheared through the sahuagin oars on the manta's port side, her prow cracking the paddles like kindling. When they finished the pass, Jherek saw that nearly every oar on that side of the sea devils' craft had been splintered and rendered useless.

A ragged cheer ripped free of the throats of Butterfly's crew.

"Hawlyng," Finaren bawled.

"Aye, Cap'n."

"Have you got that thrice-damned craft of fishy black-hearts in your sights?"

"Aye, Cap'n."

"Fire away and send 'em back to Umberlee's caresses."

The fire projector belched a thin stream of flaming, explosive liquid that served immediately to drown the cheers of the cog's crew. Most sailors didn't like the weapons. They sat like waiting death on a ship's deck, as able to work against a crew as for one. Jherek had seen them explode on ships' decks during battle before, ruptured by a catapult shot. Twice, damaged fire projectors had sent both ships to the ocean floor before any real salvage could be made.

Against the sahuagin, it was the most frightful weapon for the sea devils outside of magic.

The launched flames showered down over the manta, catching even the wet wood and the sahuagin unlucky enough to be standing there on fire. Sahuagin worked immediately to put the fire out, but oil-based as it was, they only spread it for the moment and made it burn hotter.

In the stern, Hawlyng shouted curses at the sahuagin from beside the fire projector. He didn't see the first of the sea devils climbing over the railing of the cog's squared stern castle. Before anyone could shout a warning, the sahuagin threw a spear that caught the mate in the side, pinning him to the stern castle walls.

"Clear that stern, you flea-bitten rum dogs, and Umberlee take any that lags behind!" Finaren shouted.

Jherek tossed the bow aside and slid the cutlass and hook free. He ran for the stern, charging up the starboard side steps that led into the stern castle with the other sailors. The lead sahuagin thrust out with its trident, intending to impale Hawlyng again.

Swinging the hook, Jherek caught the tines of the trident and yanked them aside. They buried in the wooden deck. Before the sahuagin could recover, the young sailor thrust the point of his cutlass between the creature's open jaws. Fangs snapped off at the impact, and the sword slid through the back of the sahuagin's neck. Jherek twisted the blade savagely, making sure to cut the sea devil's spine. Even if it didn't die right away, it was paralyzed.

Butterfly's crew crowded onto the stern castle, and the sounds of battle swamped over Jherek. The young sailor pulled his cutlass free with effort, then kicked the sahuagin backward as Malorrie had taught him. The creature's dead weight slammed into two of his fellows and drove them all backward into the ocean again.

"Die humaan!" a sahuagin snarled in the common tongue as it stabbed at Jherek with a trident. Its voice out of the water, wrapping around unaccustomed words, sounded flat and out of breath, a nightmarish gasp of rage and hate.

The young sailor turned the trident with the cutlass, losing the sword's use for a moment while it was trapped in the tines. The sahuagin swiped at him with its free hand, the talons black and sharp as razors.

Unflinching, Jherek took the attack to the sahuagin rather than retreating. All the fear inside him was concentrated on survival, and Malorrie's training made sure each move he made was smooth as Dalelands spider silk. He swept the hook up, catching the sahuagin's hand and driving the curved point through the creature's palm, stopping it only inches from his face. Before the sahuagin could react either to the counterblow or the pain, Jherek headbutted it in the face.

Off-balance, the sahuagin stumbled backward. Still holding the impaled hand on the hook, Jherek slid back and freed the cutlass with a slither of metal on metal that threw off sparks. He swung with all his might at the sahuagin's corded neck. The heavy blade bit deeply into his opponent's flesh, almost cutting through. It dropped with a harsh gargling croak, then died.

Jherek freed his weapons, watching as Finaren swung an oil lantern into the face of another boarding sahuagin. The lantern shattered and oil covered the creature's head, wreathing it in flames. It screamed horribly, clawing at its face, then toppled back into the dark water. The scent of burned flesh clung to the stern castle, overwhelming even the fishy musk from the sahuagin.

"Hold us steady, helmsman," Finaren commanded. "Keep us into the wind and let's put this place behind us."

Jherek fought on, slashing at his opponents. Two sailors went down around him, both with grievous wounds. He kept himself poised, riding out the pitch and yaw of Butterfly as she sailed across the ocean. He cut and thrust, blocking a dagger thrust with the cutlass, then ripping a sahuagin's throat out with the hook.