Calliope shot a final glance at the retreating Vizier. The man had not been best pleased to see Achmed return, but knowing what she knew of the prince she supposed she ought not hold that against him. The Vizier was playing at something, but whatever it was she didn’t have enough information to understand. 

“I notice he didn’t commit any of Dalib Sahara’s glorious navy,” she commented. Markus chuckled at the comment. Arad Lind was not renowned for its sea power. The galleys that pirates and powers of the Arads used were ideally suited to the rocky coast and its fickle wind, but they couldn’t mount the kind of heavy guns nor carry the amount of canvas that fleets from Andred and Vrettonia could boast. Timber too was a problem, with few native trees, shipwrights worked on a single piece build rather than laying down frames and strakes. While this was a more efficient use of timber, it limited the total size of any given hull. Finally, Arad society did not lend itself to the kind of technical specialization that the Northern Kingdoms enjoyed. Pirates like the Bloodaxes could be a danger, particularly if they had numbers, surprise and magic on their side, but ship for ship a square rigged northern vessel like the Weather Witch was far superior. Unfortunately, tight seas, like those around their island base, were the perfect place for the galleys strengths to shine.

“It probably is more trouble than it’s worth,” Calliope agreed.

“But we are going to need more than one ship if we are planning to capture the dowry when it sets sail. Pirates and privateers aren’t going to follow you if you don’t have a reputation, and that means that you, we, need to win some victories. Wiping out the Bloodaxes would be a good start.”

Calliope unstoppered a bottle of wine and took a swig from the neck before sitting down beside the Captain.

“They have more ships than us, we need to find a way to neutralize that advantage.” She stared at the map the islands were the real problem, so long as they could use them for cover and concealment, it would be a struggle. If only she could sink the islands into the sea. A sudden thought occured to her and she tapped the largest of the islands, though not the one the base itself was located on, with a fingernail.

“Could we land some men here at night?” she asked. Calliope wasn’t a naval strategist as such, but she was confident that Markus could sharpen the idea. 

“If we could lug a gun up onto those heights, we might be able to force them out from between the islands.”