Брайан Макклеллан - Blood of Empire

At the thought, Styke raised his head and swept his gaze across the deck for Ka-poel. He hadn’t seen her much since they’d set sail. In fact, ever since the battle at Starlight, she’d looked exhausted, and had slept no less than fourteen hours a day. He suspected that the sorcerous power struggle she’d had with her grandfather had done more damage to her than she’d care to admit. He wondered if he should ask her outright – he needed her in top shape for this mission – but immediately discarded the thought. She was still alive, still moving, and she had enough energy to snicker silently at his hat.

She’d be fine. She would have to be.

Styke lifted his eyes farther up, to the mainmast, where he spotted Celine just as she leapt from the rigging and walked – no, ran – out to the end of the spar. He swallowed a lump in his throat and the urge to yell, reminding himself that he was jumping between galloping horses at that age. Eyes narrowed, he watched as she deftly untied a knot, let some slack out into one of the sails, then retied it and returned to the rigging, where a trio of sailors gave her a proud cheer. He had to admit, in these last two weeks she’d become startlingly good at navigating the rigging, sails, and knots on the ship.

He had no intention of telling her of the chat he’d had with the first mate to ensure that the sailors did not ask her to do anything beyond her size or strength.

Styke returned his gaze to his knife, drawing it across the whetstone a few more times, and tried not to look to starboard, where the rocky, cypress-choked Dynize shore dominated the horizon. The sight of it would only frustrate him: so close he could practically touch it, and yet he was no closer to his destination.

Four days ago, just when they were nearing Dynize, an immense gale had scattered his fleet. Dozens of transports and their heavily armed escorts had been caught up in the storm. When it finally passed, the Seaward had found itself all alone and blown a couple hundred miles north of their rendezvous point on the Dynize shore. Styke had no way of knowing how many of the ships had been lost, or how badly they’d been dispersed. He didn’t know if half of his Lancers had drowned, or been dashed against the shore, or if his entire army of twenty-five hundred cavalry had already landed and was waiting impatiently for him to arrive.

Regardless, the Seaward sailed south at speed, hoping to make up for lost time and avoid any Dynize warships along the way.

A shout brought his attention back up to the mainmast, where a boy in the crow’s nest waved desperately toward the aftcastle. There was a sudden commotion, and the sailors sent Celine scampering down the rigging as their fun was replaced by an air of seriousness. The watchman gave another shout and pointed to the southern horizon, but the sound was lost on the wind.

Styke put away his knife and whetstone, climbed reluctantly to his feet, and headed across the forecastle, down the main deck, and up to the aftcastle where Captain Bonnie stood staring pensively through her looking glass to the southeast. Bonnie was an old seadog; a piece of shoe leather in tattered pants and a tricorn hat, her skin so dark from the sun she might have been Deliv for all Styke knew. He sidled up beside her and waited for her report. They were soon joined by Jackal and Celine. The Palo Lancer mussed Celine’s hair and got a jab in the ribs for his effort, then gave Styke a very serious nod.

“You get anything new out of those spirits of yours?” Styke said just loudly enough to be heard over the wind.

“No,” Jackal reported, glancing down toward the first mate’s cabin below them, where Ka-poel was resting. “They still won’t come near the ship, not with her hanging about. I almost coaxed one to me yesterday – there are the spirits of Dynize sailors this close to shore, and they seem less scared of her, but…” He trailed off with a shrug.

Styke opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Bonnie. “Here,” she said, thrusting the looking glass into his hands. “Directly southeast, ahead of us, you’ll see a point on the horizon.”

He put the glass to his eye. It didn’t take long to find the point she’d referenced. Three points, actually; three sets of sails, all of them black with an arc of red stars across the center. “Dynize ships,” he said.

“Very astute,” Bonnie responded with a snort. “Any idea what they are?” He gave her a flat look until she cleared her throat and continued. “Two frigates escorting one of those big monstrosities the Dynize call a ship of the line. Trios like that have been sweeping the ocean ever since the Dynize invaded. We call them the three-headed serpent.”

“Have they seen us?”

“They have much higher masts than the Seaward , so I’d be shocked if they haven’t – and if not, they will any minute.”

Styke felt his stomach lurch as he considered the possibilities. Their little transport was barely armed. He hadn’t chosen it for his own vessel because of size or power, but rather because Bonnie was the most experienced captain in the commandeered fleet and knew the Dynize shore better than anyone else. “Shit,” he said.

“Shit indeed.” She raised the looking glass to her eye for another few moments. “They’re already headed in this direction.” She paused, furrowing her brow. “Ah. The frigates are beginning to split off. They’ve definitely seen us, and they’re already preparing to widen the net. Probably hoping to get out far on our portside before we notice them.” She half turned toward the first mate and barked loudly, “Bring her around to starboard!”

A flurry of commotion followed as sailors scampered to adjust the sails. Styke felt a growing alarm. “We’re turning around?” he demanded.

“Yes, we’re turning around,” Bonnie replied acidly. “And don’t try to wave that knife in my face, because that won’t help shit. You may be Mad Ben Styke but I’m Perfectly Sane Bonnie. I can outrun those frigates without too much of a problem, but if I try to slip past them, they’ll turn us into driftwood.”

Styke wondered if she’d rehearsed that speech for just such an occasion. He glared toward the south, doing sums in his head. “And your plan is…?”

“My plan is to run away north until they can’t see us anymore. Then we’ll cut far, far east and come back around to reach the rendezvous. With any luck, they’ll assume they chased us off and continue patrolling the coastline.”

“And how long will that take?”

Bonnie shrugged. “Depends on the wind, the weather, and if we run into any more patrols. Fifteen days? Ten, if we’re lucky. Twenty or thirty or more if we’re not. We might even have to go resupply at Starlight.”

Styke grit his teeth and shared a long look with Jackal. Twenty more days until they met back up with Ibana and the rest. Twenty days behind schedule. What a goddamned disaster. He briefly considered how badly it would go if he did wave his knife under Bonnie’s nose. He might have a reputation, but her sailors outnumbered his Lancers three to one and he needed those sailors to get him to shore. The last thing he needed was to spark a mutiny against his commandeered authority.

The ship creaked as it came around, putting the Dynize vessels behind them and the shore on their portside. Sailors shouted and scrambled, accomplishing the maneuver in an impressively short period of time.

Styke’s mind jumped to the old maps in Bonnie’s cabin. They were the most up-to-date maps of Dynize available, which meant that the coastlines were all accurate, but inland hadn’t been seen for over a hundred years. That shouldn’t make a difference, not for his purposes. “Find us a place to put to shore,” he said.