Sjan-dehk & Dahlia
Time: Night of 26th Sola
Sjan-dehk heard the falling ropes first, but Inshahri was quicker on the move. Before he could even call for her to stop, the young woodshaper leapt towards the noise, pushing the fallen coil aside with her foot, and a stack of empty sacks with her hands. Pale moonlight illuminated the unmistakable outline of a girl – she couldn’t be much older than Inshahri, Sjan-dehk estimated – who was very clearly not part of his crew, and very clearly not Viserjantan.
“Found you!” Inshahri chirped, her words a lilting melody. She reached for the girl, but this time Sjan-dehk stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
“Well done, Inshahri,” he said, then glanced at Yasawen.
“I’ll take it from here. Both of you, report to your stations. Yasawen, Master Dai-sehk should be on the orlop down below. Inshahri…” A woodshaper would be most useful with Hai-shuun and the carpentry team below decks, but if this Caesonian stowaway was truly possessed of magic, Inshahri’s counter-arcane abilities might prove to be invaluable.
“You report to Haifahl at the mainmast,” Sjan-dehk decided. That should place her close enough for her to react to any attempts at magic by the Caesonian girl.
“Aye, Captain,” Inshahri said, snapping to a salute before sauntering off. Yasawen followed suit, albeit less exuberantly. He snuck a few hesitant, apprehensive glances at the Caesonian girl as he walked away.
“Captain,” he began.
“It’ll be fine,” Sjan-dehk cut him off and drew a pistol. He grinned at Yasawen.
“We all know which is faster, between magic and a bullet, don’t we?”Yasawen paused for a moment. Then, he nodded and quickened his pace.
Sjan-dehk turned his full attention to the Caesonian girl. He levelled his pistol at her, hammer fully cocked and blackened muzzle pointed squarely at the centre of her forehead.
“Now, to deal with you,” he began.
“I do not remember letting a Caesonian board Sada Kurau. I also do not remember taking on…No, recruiting new crew. So why you are here, I do not know.” He curled his finger around the trigger.
“By my laws, I can kill you right now.”He lowered the pistol slightly, until the muzzle hovered over her chest.
“But I will not,” he said.
“Not yet. Do what I tell you, and you might live. Otherwise, you die.” He took a step back.
“Come out from the dark and let us talk for a while.”There was an almost inaudible sigh as the girl seemed to glare at the boards of the ship as if they were the reason for her current problems. Finally, Dahlia raised her hands, dryly stating,
“Well, congratulations. You’ve caught the world’s least threatening stowaway. I’m sure this will go down as one of your greatest triumphs.”Then the captain pulled a pistol, and her eyes flicked to the barrel now aimed squarely at her chest.
“A gun? Really?” she deadpanned, arching a brow.
“How rude.” Sjan-dehk didn’t give the girl the satisfaction of a direct response to her words. Instead, he waved her out from her corner with the pistol. Heads and eyes from across the deck and up the masts turned towards the pair, some curious, some suspicious, but all waiting to see what would happen next.
“Why are you here?” Sjan-dehk asked brusquely, keeping his distance. If Inshahri was correct, and this girl did possess magical abilities, then she had to be treated like a potential danger. A very, very lethal one, at that. But in the back of Sjan-dehk’s mind, he found that hard to believe. Didn’t Caesonia have a poor view on magic in general? Why then, would a magic-user risk exposure to sneak aboard
Sada Kurau? Wouldn’t it have been disastrous for her if she had been discovered just mere moments before, and handed over to the city guard?
Dahlia tilted her head, her lips twitching into the faintest of smirks.
“That depends. Are you asking because you care, or because you’re trying to figure out where to send my thank-you note?”He quickly pushed all those thoughts aside. They weren’t of any use now.
“Someone sent you?” He asked and allowed the pistol’s muzzle to drift slightly higher, until it was level with her head.
“Or you come alone, with no one?”“The gods sent me,” The sentence was delivered as if it were the most obvious answer to his question.
“Apparently, divine intervention doesn’t come with advance notice. Sorry about that.”Sjan-dehk narrowed his eyes. Part of him wanted to shoot her right then and there. He should just shoot her right then and there. Nobody would blame him for it. But he was too curious. There were questions he needed answered. And besides, who knew if this girl’s magic was the sort that triggered upon her death?
No, he couldn’t kill her. Not yet, at least. That might not be the right thing to do, but it was the smart thing, the safe thing to do.
His mind raced. The girl had the airs of a professional – she did things like this regularly, at least, if her glib tongue and outwardly calm demeanour was anything to go by. Most people’s guts would turn to water from the moment their eyes looked at a firelock straight down the barrel. Most people also wouldn’t be so quick to quip and offer wit upon being discovered. And if she was a professional, that likely meant that she didn’t come here on her own volition. What would be the point?
Sada Kurau was a beautiful ship, but she wasn’t one that announced wealth or power. Certainly, there was nothing about her that signalled that there was anything worth pilfering aboard.
That meant that the girl was here for something else. Information, most likely. And that meant that she had to have been sent by someone.
“Think carefully,” Sjan-dehk said. He couldn’t help the smirk that pulled on his lips. Despite everything, the girl’s spirit and nerve impressed him.
“You are here. Alone. We are at sea. You are only alive because you have answers I want. The people who send you here, you think they will care if I shoot you? Throw you to the waves? I only want to know why you are here. Sada Kurau, we have done nothing to your people. Not anything bad.”He paused, glancing towards the bow of the ship. There was nothing to see but interminable darkness, as he had expected. Rushing water, crashing waves, and the ruffling of sails were the only natural sounds of such a night. The roughness of the sea, which pitched the deck up-and-down, amidst the absence of any powerful winds did tell him that they were sailing close to shore, however.
Good. That meant that they were well on course to search for the mysterious vessels.
“Tell me what I want, and I guarantee you can live,” Sjan-dehk said.
Dahlia kept her smirk firmly in place, even as her heart hammered like a drum beneath her ribs.
”I mean, if you really wanted me gone, you’d have done it already. So why not indulge that curiosity? I’ll try to make it worth your time.”Sjan-dehk smirked again.
“That is good try, but not good enough,” he said.
“For now, you are more useful alive than dead. But if you want, you can jump into the sea. I will not try too hard to stop you.”She tensed up for a moment then let out a long, exaggerated sigh,
“Why am I here?” She gestured loosely with one hand, the other still raised.
“Let’s call it… curiosity. Your ship caught my eye, and I thought, ‘What’s the harm in taking a closer look?’ Turns out, a lot.”Her gaze flicked to the pistol and back, her lips twitching into a half-hearted smile.
“Look, I’m not here to steal your treasure or sink your ship. Not that I’d say no to a treasure map, if you’ve got one lying around.” She shook her head.
“I just needed a way out of Sorian. Your ship happened to be convenient. Lucky me, huh?”That gave Sjan-dehk pause. It did sound like a plausible story – someone possessed of magic wouldn’t be too happy living in Sorian, he imagined. And given that
Sada Kurau was perhaps the most foreign vessel currently in harbour, it would make sense for someone like the girl to pick her as a means of escape.
“That is…” Sjan-dehk began and trailed off. Then, he sighed and holstered the pistol.
“That much, I can believe for now. But you chose bad time to come aboard.”He jerked a thumb towards the top of the mizzenmast. Barely visible by the faint glows of lanterns, the flag of a Caesonian privateer fluttered weakly in the gentle wind.
“We are privateering, and will return to Sorian soon. But…” He trailed off, tilting his chin towards the girl.
“We do not dislike your…Your kind. If you did no other crime, then you will be safe here. With us.”There was more he wanted to ask, and wanted to say, but a shout from the bow interrupted him.
“Larboard prow, contact!”That stole Sjan-dehk’s attention momentarily.
“Steady as she goes, but prepare to maneuver!” He shouted back, making sure that the rest of the crew heard his order. He looked at the girl with a wry smile.
“It is not good time for you to be here, at all. We may have to fight.”Dahlia’s eyes lit up at the mention of a fight, her smirk breaking into a grin.
“A fight? Now we’re talking! I knew this trip would get exciting.”She stepped forward, her tone brimming with energy.
“Point me in the right direction, Captain. I’ll happily jump in.”“If we are lucky, it will not–” A series of low, muffled thumps – like distant thunder – interrupted Sjan-dehk. He looked towards the bow again. Flashes of fiery orange pierced the darkness like a dagger, each of them illuminating for the briefest of moments the outline of a ship in the distance.
There wasn’t any time to think. There wasn’t any need for him to.
“Everybody to cover!” He bellowed.
He rushed over to the girl, closing the distance in the time it took for him to blink, and roughly grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. Cannonballs sliced through the air overhead even as he pulled her down with him onto the deck. The infernal screams of the dreadful cannonade, the bone-chilling splintering of wood, and the dull thuds of
Sada Kurau’s pointed prow deflecting as many shots as it could, seemed unending. Men shouted all around him, but Sjan-dehk kept himself calm. This wasn’t anything new.
“Recover!” He shouted once the salvo was over, scrambling to his feet with a hand hooked under the girl’s arm to pull her up as well. All things considered,
Sada Kurau wasn’t in too bad a shape – large holes had been shot out of her bulwarks and gunwale, especially towards her bow, and there were shorn ropes and broken rigging hanging from above, but nobody seemed injured.
“Master Sahm-tehn, send your men aloft for repairs! Master Hai-shuun, your crew to the orlop!”“Aye, Captain!” came the series of acknowledgements from somewhere amidst the chaotic deck.
Sjan-dehk grabbed the girl by the arm and pulled her behind him.
“You follow,” he said curtly before going back to barking orders to his crew.
“They’re right ahead of us! Bring us hard to larboard on a course to cut across her keel–”“Captain! Second vessel spotted in the mist!” A shout came from above.
“Two vessels direct front! They’re sailing in line!”Sjan-dehk swore beneath his breath.
“Continue with my previous orders, but signal intent to our friend and tell them to engage the forward vessel. We’ll take care of the cunt in the rear!”Dahlia hit the deck hard, Sjan-dehk’s grip firm on her collar.
“Well, this is cozy,” she muttered as cannonballs screamed overhead.
When he hauled her up, she stumbled but quickly quipped,
“Appreciate the save. Real gentlemanly.” Staying close behind him, she added,
“So, is this level of chaos normal, or am I just lucky?”“Normal enough,” Sjan-dehk replied shortly. He would have preferred to have been able to get the jump on just one of the ships, or to at least take them separately, but such was the nature of combat. Things rarely ever went according to his preferences.
At the shout of a second vessel, her smirk grew.
“Two ships? Wow. You really know how to make a stowaway feel special.”Sjan-dehk didn’t reply immediately. The bulk of his attention was focused on
Sada Kurau. Getting her into a position to rake the enemy vessel was the best course of action, but it was also one that would leave her exposed to withering broadsides from the enemy as she approached. Granted, that depended on how fast Sada Kurau’s foe could reload, and how accurately they could fire in the dead of night. But unarmoured as his ship was, Sjan-dehk didn’t want to take any chances. One lucky – or unlucky – salvo would be enough to put them out of action.
“Up,” he said, pulling the girl behind him as he climbed the steps to get onto the quarterdeck.
“Helmsman, turn us three points to larboard,” he quickly ordered as he took position beside the wheel, looking out over the deck.
“Swing us out of their arch-of-fire.”“Aye, three points to larboard,” the helmsman replied. The tall, lanky man slowly turned the wheel, and the ship responded in kind, lurching over to the left.
“Not special,” Sjan-dehk said, finally responding to the girl.
“Special is if we board. We are not. If only one ship, then yes. We can board. But two? Too…Too risky. We shoot from far. Use cannons. If at the end they still float, then we go across and see what they have. If not, then we let them sink–”Another series of flashes interrupted him, and he flinched on instinct. Placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder, he was prepared to pull her down once more. But then he noticed their angle, and he relaxed slightly. Not a moment later, cannonballs shot past Sada Kurau’s starboard side, some coming worryingly close to her, and a few landing only glancing blows as they ricocheted off the hull. Still, the impact was enough to make the hull shudder, and Sjan-dehk kept a tight grip on the girl to keep her from falling over.
“Steady as she goes,” Sjan-dehk said quickly. The helmsman echoed the command and righted the wheel.
Grimacing, the Captain looked out towards the bow into the darkness. Luck alone had spared them from a second broadside, but he wasn’t too certain if it would save them from a third. If his enemy was smart, and they had a captain worth the title, they would be turning their ship to go broadside-to-broadside with Sada Kurau. With these winds, and
Sada Kurau’s agility, Sjan-dehk doubted they would succeed, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t fire off perhaps one or two more salvos that could at least brush against his ship.
He chewed on his lip. He would need someone on deck to handle the wounded, specifically the ones who would suffer minor injuries. That would leave Dai-sehk able to focus on the more severe injuries. Casting a glance over at the girl, Sjan-dehk hesitated. Although he had already gathered that she was a magic-user seeking to flee Caesonia, he still had his doubts about her. Enough to make him wonder if he should bring Yasawen up on deck, where she might be able to catch him using his abilities.
Sjan-dehk shook his head. No, that didn’t matter. The safety of his crew, did. If it came to it, he would have to simply do something about the girl. And besides, he could always just keep her away from the boy while he went about his work.
“Someone call Yasawen up on deck!”Dahlia clung to the railing as the ship lurched again, her knuckles white against thewood.
“So, not special,” she said, feigning a wounded tone despite the chaos.
“I’ll try not to cry myself to sleep over that later.”When Sjan-dehk yanked her up the steps behind him, she followed with an exaggerated sigh, her feet barely keeping pace.
“You know, I’m starting to think you brought me along just for my charm.” She ducked instinctively as another volley of cannon fire roared through the night, her breath catching when the hull shuddered beneath them.
“On second thought, maybe you just wanted a human shield.” As the captain barked more orders, Dahlia tilted her head, eyeing him warily. Despite herself, she couldn’t help but feel a grudging respect.
When he mentioned Yasawen, however, her smirk returned.
“Calling for backup? Don’t tell me I’m too much for you to handle already, Captain.” Another explosion rattled the air, and she flinched, gripping the railing tighter.
“Alright, I’ll admit it,” she muttered, mostly to herself.
“This is a little more exciting than I signed up for…” Then she sighed and added louder,
“How can I help?”A scowl briefly flashed across Sjan-dehk’s face. The girl’s bravado – regardless of whether it was an act or real – was starting to become tiresome.
“Nothing for now,” he said curtly, his eyes scanning the deck, then the darkness beyond
Sada Kurau’s bowsprit, then the billowing sails overhead. He grimaced. Even though both wind and waves were in their favour, the strength of the former sat poorly with him. They were sailing towards shore. The same speed that would shorten the time
Sada Kurau spent under the gun sights of her enemy was the same speed that could very well throw her against shallows.
“Take depth soundings from the bow!” He shouted. Again, the order was echoed across the deck. Not long after, two men made a mad dash towards
Sada Kurau’s prow.
“Report every five minutes! Helmsman and riggers, ready for rapid maneuvering!” “Aye, Captain!” came the chorused response.
Sjan-dehk glanced at the girl from the corner of his eye.
“We can do nothing for now,” he said calmly, even as his grimace deepened. The moments between coming under fire from an enemy and being able to pay them back in kind were always the most tense. One’s mind would be hard-pressed to not imagine all sorts of grisly scenarios. What if the enemy turned faster than expected, and fired a devastating salvo? Or what if
Sada Kurau wasn’t getting into as good a position as intended? The possibilities were endless.
But Sjan-dehk’s veteran sensibilities put an end to them, nonetheless.
“For now we can only sail and wait,” he continued. In an effort to calm the girl, whom he imagined must be new to naval combat, he cleared his throat and swiftly added,
“Sada Kurau knows what to do. With her, we will survive. We will win.”Dahlia leaned on the rail, her smirk softening as she watched the crew hustle around her.
“Sounds like Sada Karau’s been through this plenty of times, huh?”Sjan-dehk nodded.
“Yes. Many times.”The rapid thumps of approaching boots caught Sjan-dehk’s attention. He looked over the girl’s shoulder, at the landing of the steps leading up to the quarterdeck, and saw Yasawen jogging towards them. The boy’s face was flushed with exertion, and his clothes in disarray.
“Y-You called for me, Captain?” He asked even as he tried to catch his breath. Sjan-dehk could see that he was doing all he could to not fully double-over and brace his hands on his knees.
“Yes.” Sjan-dehk nodded, then tilted his chin towards the deck.
“Station yourself amidships. Minor wounds and such will be yours to deal with. Major ones, you send below to Master Dai-sehk. Is that clear?”Yasawen glanced nervously to his sides, his gaze turning curious when he saw the girl. His eyes lingered on her for a moment before returning to the Captain.
“Yes– I mean, aye, Captain! Are they any…Um, any guidelines as to what’s major and what’s minor? I-I ask only to be sure, Captain.”The brunette had watched Yasawen jog up with all the grace of a flustered deer, her lips twitching into a faint smirk. When his gaze landed on her, lingering for a moment too long, she gave him a wink.
Sjan-dehk raised a brow, amused.
“Guidelines? In battle? You’ve plenty to learn, kid.” He shook his head, then gave Yasawen a shrug.
“You’re the medical man between the two of us. I’ll leave deciding on what’s a major and minor wound up to you. Though if you want my advice, just handle what you can and give our Master Dai-sehk what you can’t. I just want my crew healthy and intact.”Yasawen nodded. He drew in a deep breath and forced himself to stand upright, with back ramrod straight and eyes as steely as he could manage. Sjan-dehk didn’t have the heart to tell him that he looked comical rather than serious, even if he appreciated the effort.
“A-Aye, Captain!”“To your station, then,” Sjan-dehk said and quickly dismissed Yasawen. The less time he spent around the girl, the better.
The boy’s boots were still thumping down the steps when a call came from the ship’s bow.
“Forty-nine feet and thereabouts to the bottom, Captain! Sand and reef!”Sjan-dehk chewed on his lip as he did the numbers in his head. Forty-nine was cutting it close to comfort, but it was still good. Sada Kurau had roughly six feet of her hull underwater, and needed at least twice that number to account for swells or dips in the waves. Aside from
Sada Kurau’s depth-under-keel, the call told him one other thing – roughly how much time had passed since the enemy engaged them. He peered into the darkness, and could only barely make out the tiny dots of flickering light that marked where the enemy crew had placed lanterns along their ship.
Bright flashes cut through the darkness, but they were far away enough that Sjan-dehk didn’t think them to be a danger. Not to
Sada Kurau, at least – those flashes were likely the muzzle flashes of their opponent’s friend as they opened fire on Cynric’s
Recompense. Now that, that worried Sjan-dehk. He didn’t know how strong his ally was, or how they would fare under fire or even in combat. He had to act fast.
“Gun deck, load shrapnel! Set time to fifteen!” He leaned almost half his body over the guardrail to bark his orders.
“All sailing hands, swing us hard to starboard and bring us directly towards our opponent! I want us to get clear eyes on her arse before we open fire!”Dahlia tilted her head, her eyes narrowing slightly as she watched Sjan-dehk’s focused expression. The way he stared into the darkness, the gears turning in his mind, practically radiated intensity.
“So, who’s attacking us?” she asked, her tone laced with teasing intrigue.
“Pirates? Rivals? Or maybe an ex you just can’t quit? ” Once again, Sjan-dehk didn’t reply immediately. He had far more important things occupying his mind. For a start, he needed to definitively locate
Sada Kurau’s prey. All he had seen of her thus far were the flashes of her guns and the lanterns of her crew, and now even those meagre hints had been swallowed up by the darkness. Chewing on his lip, Sjan-dehk wracked his mind for his next few moves.
Sada Kurau was sailing at speed – perhaps too much speed – towards her prey’s last known location. Without anything to tell him his foe’s heading and direction, it could very well be that Sada Kurau was going to find herself in a terrible position at the worst time possible.
“Pirates, I think,” Sjan-dehk replied curtly, and with only half-his-mind.
Dahlia let out an amused laugh, though her eyes scanned the darkness uneasily.
“Pirates. Of course. You make it sound like this happens every Tuesday.” She squinted toward the disappearing lanterns, her head tilting in suspicion.
“Wait, why’d the lights go out? Is that… bad? Like, really bad?”He didn’t care about the lack of gun flashes. The enemy crew was likely still in the midst of reloading, and it would be a while before they were ready to fire again. But the disappearing lanterns were another matter entirely. Either they had been doused – in which case Sjan-dehk was facing a captain and crew who knew what they were about – or the ship had turned in a way that brought them out of sight. Sjan-dehk preferred it to be the former. Better for him to face a skilled foe, than a ship whose movements he couldn’t tell.
“Thirty-five feet to the bottom and thereabouts, Captain! Sand and reef!”The call from the bow made her freeze, her brows shooting up as she instinctively grabbed the nearest railing for balance. The sudden flurry of activity on deck added to her unease.
“Thirty-five? That’s close, isn’t it? Please tell me you know what you’re doing.”Sjan-dehk swore beneath his breath.
Sada Kurau was much too close to shore to be sailing at such high a speed. But neither could she slow down – that would be to surrender her one indisputable advantage, and in the face of an unseen enemy, no less. It was a decision between two equally bad choices.
Sada Kurau could either maintain her speed and risk running aground, or ramming the enemy, or she could slow down, and instead risk being caught by the enemy.
Then, he saw it.
It was nothing more than a vague outline, and moonlight reflecting off oddly-shaped waves, but they were enough to catch his eyes.
“Starboard battery, target will be approaching from the bow!” Sjan-dehk shouted and, grabbing the girl by the arm to pull her behind him, rushed for the stairs. He descended it quickly, and reached the starboard bulwark just in time to see a sheer cliff of wood and glass appear from the darkness like a ghost.
“We have her by the stern! All guns, fire as you bear!”When Sjan-dehk grabbed her arm and rushed her to the starboard side, Dahlia mock-complained,
“Careful, Captain. You’ll bruise my pretty skin.” But her teasing faltered when the enemy ship emerged from the darkness like a ghostly giant. Her breath hitched, and her smirk vanished.
“Well. That’s… terrifying.”“Aye, starboard battery, fire as we bear!” The muffled shout came from beneath his feet.
It would only take a few seconds for
Sada Kurau to get into position, but it may as well have been several eternities. Sjan-dehk kept his eye on the enemy ship as they drew closer and closer. It didn’t look as if she was moving, and it didn’t take long for him to figure out why. Her sails, dark grey and almost invisible in the darkness, were limp, and fluttered weakly against the oncoming wind. More likely than not, she had tried to turn to meet Sada Kurau, but her crew couldn’t tack her sails fast enough to keep them billowing. It was terrible luck on their part, but that was the nature of battle. Fortune often played a larger role than tactics.
“Cover ears,” Sjan-dehk said to the girl. Not a moment later, the first of
Sada Kurau’s guns opened fire.
So close were they to the enemy that Sjan-dehk could easily hear the shattering of glass, the splintering of wood, and the panicked yells of the crew as Sada Kurau raked their ship. And had it just been solid shot, it would have been bad enough, but
Sada Kurau was using her shrapnel shells. Designed for clearing decks and bombarding shores, they could be timed to explode after a certain distance, showering anyone unlucky enough to be in the vicinity with metal shards and rifle balls.
Glass and thin wood, such as the sort which covered most ship’s sterns, weren’t sturdy enough to shatter such shells. And so,
Sada Kurau’s salvo easily sailed into the innards of her foe before they exploded, one at a time. Sjan-dehk didn’t even want to imagine the carnage that was unfolding within. He caught sight of a flash of orange as
Sada Kurau’s final guns savaged the enemy. A fire, either from a fallen lantern, or just the sheer devastation, had likely broken out. Sjan-dehk wasn’t too keen on staying long enough to find out which it was.
“Fucking well done!” He shouted over his shoulder.
“Now bring us hard to star–”“Captain!” A frantic shout came from the quarterdeck, behind him.
“Ship approaching from larboard!”“Fuck,” Sjan-dehk spat. Taking the girl by her arm, he swiftly crossed the deck to the other side. And sure enough, there in the distance was another ship, white surf surrounding her bow, and bright – brighter than those of
Sada Kurau’s earlier prey – lamps illuminating her prow. There was no telling what she was, but if her billowing sails and apparent haste was anything to go by, she was probably in league with the enemy.
“Where did she come from?” Another shout from the quarterdeck.
“She must’ve lagged behind!” Sjan-dehk answered.
“But don’t worry about that! Proceed with orders! Bring us hard to starboard and get us around the ship we just wrecked! We’ll use her as cover!” Even as he said those words, he knew that it wasn’t the best idea. This new enemy simply had to make a turn to starboard, and they would be able to fire a broadside into
Sada Kurau’s stern. But there wasn’t any choice. Sjan-dehk didn’t know how close they were to shore, and to make a turn to larboard to meet this new enemy – even if it was a sharp one – would take too much time and distance.
“Twenty-two feet under keel and thereabouts, Captain! Sand, reef, and rock!”“Hard to starboard, now!” Sjan-dehk barked.
“Tack all sails if you have to! Otherwise we’ll run aground!”The yardarms swung wildly overhead, their sails straining to catch the wind from a different direction. Sada Kurau lurched hard as it turned. Sjan-dehk moved about the deck to keep his eye on the newcomer. Much to his displeasure, she was also turning as expected, to catch Sada Kurau in her stern. But she was a lot slower, and was much more cumbersome in her turn. With some luck,
Sada Kurau would circle around the now-burning wreck of her prey, and meet her new victim broadside-to-broadside.
“Wait!” It was Yasawen.
“I can help!”Sjan-dehk snapped his head around, just in time to see the boy rush towards the bulwark. Fain wisps, like a leafy green mist, swirled up his arms, intertwining and splitting as they tickled his tanned flesh.
“Fucking idiot!” Sjan-dehk shouted, for the moment forgetting the girl. He raced towards Yasawen.
“Don’t just stand there!” His words were rushed, and his crew didn’t seem to catch them at all, entranced as they were with the display of arcane power.
“Someone stop him!”Yasawen’s mouth moved, but Sjan-dehk couldn’t hear his words over the din of battle. The swirling wisps quickened, coalescing into something closer to smoke. More and more green trails rose from between the deck’s planks. They crawled out of the water like snakes and buzzed around Yasawen’s hands, eager and ready to be used according to his will.
“Don’t you dare!” Sjan-dehk yelled, still pushing his way towards the boy.
“Don’t you fucking dare!”Then, everything happened at once. Yasawen abruptly stopped murmuring. He swung his wisp-shrouded arm upwards in a sharp, almost violent, motion. In an instant, the green smoke burst from him, cutting faint lines through the air as they hurriedly dove into the sea.
Sjan-dehk finally reached him. He tackled the boy.
But it was too late.
The sea lurched and churned, as if a great creature was just lurking beneath. Then, right when Sjan-dehk sent Yasawen crashing painfully onto the deck, it stopped. Grunting, Sjan-dehk pulled himself up, peering over the gunwale. White crests, a sure sign of agitated waters, surrounded
Sada Kurau, but they seemed to be calming. Not too far off in the distance, the enemy ship continued to approach, its wake clear even in the dark of night, the ruffling of its sails loud.
Then, something shot out of the sea. It was far too dark, and it moved too quickly for Sjan-dehk to catch it, but whatever it was, it speared the enemy ship from keel to deck. So violent was its impact that the entire vessel almost heeled over. A few moments later, the object fell from the sky, landing not too far away from
Sada Kurau. Sjan-dehk looked in the direction of its landing and managed to just catch sight of the boulder before it sank beneath the waves.
“Yasawen!” He shouted, but the boy didn’t respond. Sjan-dehk was about to check on him, but the sight of the enemy ship stopped him. Flickers of orange burned on her deck, and wicked tongues of flame shot out of her gunports. Her bow dipped low in the water, but still she continued to press onwards. But she barely managed a few yards before the flames became too much for her to bear. Her magazines detonated, and she exploded into a shower of embers and debris.
“Get us out of here!” Sjan-dehk shouted. Splinters rained from above, most of them splashing into the sea, but a few falling close enough to make him worried. As the ship lurched and continued to turn away from the burning hulk of the enemy, Sjan-dehk kneeled and grabbed the boy by the collar.
“You idiot,” he growled.
Yasawen blinked. A sickly pallour coloured his cheeks.
“I-I helped–”“We could’ve handled it!” Sjan-dehk shouted. His eyes fell to the boy’s arm, the one which he had used to channel his power. Yasawen’s entire forearm was sand. Not covered in it, but made of it. Some of it was in the midst of hardening to stone, while other parts fell away in clumps. That wasn’t too worrying, however; as each falling clump left behind a gouging hole, more sand rose to retain the shape of Yasawen’s arm.
“Not only did you damn near turn yourself into a fucking sand sculpture,” Sjan-dehk continued.
“But you’ve also given yourself away!”“B-But there’s only our people-” Yasawen whimpered.
Sjan-dehk turned him towards the girl and pointed at her.
“She’s not! Congratulations, you just made sure that we have to do something about her, now.”As Sjan-dehk barked for the guns to fire, Dahlia winced at the deafening blasts, instinctively covering her ears despite his earlier warning. Her eyes widened at the splintering wood and flashes of orange erupting from the enemy ship. Her balance faltered as Sjan-dehk dragged her across the deck again, her voice rising in alarm.
“Wait, there’s another one? How many of these guys are out here?” Her unease turned to outright shock when Yasawen’s magic came into play. Dahlia froze, her jaw dropping as the green mist swirled and the sea erupted beneath the enemy ship.
Her eyes darted between Sjan-dehk, Yasawen, and the unfolding chaos. She watched, wide-eyed, as the ship was hit by something she couldn’t quite make out with her eyes, her voice trembling as she muttered,
“That’s… definitely not in any naval manual I’ve ever heard of.” The fiery explosion that followed made her flinch, shielding her face from the heat and falling debris.
“And here I thought the cannons were overkill...”When Sjan-dehk tackled Yasawen and began berating him, Dahlia’s smirk faltered. Her gaze flicked nervously between the two, her tone cautious but questioning.
“Whoa, hold on. You’re mad because he used magic? I mean, sure, it was… dramatic, but it worked, right? I don’t see the problem.”Her expression froze when Sjan-dehk pointed at her, the gravity of his words sinking in. She took a deliberate step back, her hands half-raised in defense.
“Wait, wait, hold on squared! I don’t care if he’s throwing fireballs or summoning sea monsters. What do you mean you have to do something about me?” Her voice pitched higher, tinged with nervous energy, and her earlier bravado cracked further.
She frowned, her shoulders tensing as she motioned vaguely to the wreckage and chaos around her.
“Look, I didn’t sign up to be a loose end or whatever you’re thinking. I just wanted a ride out of Sorian, not… whatever this is.”“Liar.” Inshahri’s sing-song voice came out of nowhere, and the girl followed soon after, a carefree, cheeky grin gracing her lips. She moved as she always did, with a spring in her light, swaying steps, as she made her way towards the girl.
“Liar,” she repeated and giggled. In the aftermath all that had just happened, and in the midst of a battle, everything about Inshahri’s mannerisms struck Sjan-dehk as odd. But still, he held himself back and allowed her to do whatever it was that she wanted to do.
“Excuse me?” she retorted, her tone sharp and defensive.
“Your magic isn’t yours,” Inshahri said, her smile never wavering. She cocked her head.
“It looked strange to me earlier, but I couldn’t tell why. Now I can. You and that magic around you, your melodies are so very, very different! Not like Yasawen and his, or me and mine.” She buzzed around the girl like a bee around a flower, looking at her from every angle.
“Someone gave you that magic, didn’t they? Or they did something to you. Or maybe you stole it from them?”Dahlia’s mouth opened in disbelief.
“What? No. No way. You’ve got the wrong girl,” she said quickly, her hands waving as if to push the claim away. Dahlia’s face drained of color.
“What are you even talking about?” she asked again, this time quieter, almost to herself. She took another step back, her eyes darting to Sjan-dehk for some kind of explanation or reprieve.
“Captain? She’s not serious, right? I don’t have magic. I’ve never done magic. This is—this is ridiculous!”Sjan-dehk’s suspicions began to return. It did feel like too much of a coincidence – not only was this girl a magic-user, but they also seemed to understand Common Viserjantan. How many such people were there in Sorian?
“That is true?” He asked, eyes narrowing.
“You were…Given this magic?”“No! I don’t know what she’s talking about!” she protested, shaking her head.. A faint memory flickered in the back of her mind, too blurry to grasp, like a half-forgotten dream she couldn’t quite piece together.
“I mean… not that I know of? What does that even mean?”She turned to Inshahri, her voice rising.
“If someone did something to me, I’d know, wouldn’t I? I’d feel it or… or remember it, right?” Her tone softened into something closer to desperation.
“This has to be a mistake.”But the certainty in Inshahri’s words and Sjan-dehk’s suspicious gaze pressed on her like a weight. Dahlia’s breath quickened, her earlier nonchalance now completely replaced by fear.
“I swear, I don’t know anything about magic. Whatever this is, it’s not me. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t do this.”And then it hit her.
A memory, faint but insistent, surfaced in her mind—Seraphina speaking in hushed tones with another person. Words she hadn’t understood. A strange, fleeting warmth that had passed through her body, was dismissed at the time as nothing more than nerves or fatigue. Dahlia’s heart sank.
She must’ve had someone cast spells on me, she thought to herself.
What was she thinking? Why would she do that?Sjan-dehk watched the girl’s expression change with a cold, hard look on his face. He had been taken for a fool, although he had to admit that he hadn’t exactly made that a difficult task. He had been too quick to trust the girl’s story; too quick to extend his sympathies to someone who didn’t deserve them.
“So, you are lying, yes?” He asked, voice empty of emotion.
“You are not…You do not have magic. Someone gave it to you, and send you here to do something.”He asked no questions. The girl wasn’t going to answer them, more likely than not. Sjan-dehk looked out into the darkness, at the burning flotsam in the water, at the wrecks Sada Kurau had left in her wake. They were done here, it seemed. He couldn’t hear any firing in the distance, and so he assumed that Cynric had also made short work of his target.
“Let’s get out of here,” Sjan-dehk called out.
“Turn us around and bring us back to port. And someone get Mursi and Kai-dahn up here. We’ve got ourselves a spy to wrangle.”“W-What’re you going to do to her?” Yasawen asked in a small voice.
Sjan-dehk shrugged.
“Regulations say I should shoot her and throw her body overboard, or something like that, but…” He trailed off and fixed the girl with a scrying glare.
“No telling what magic she’s got. Could be one that blows her up once she’s dead. I’m not going to take any chances.” He looked at Yasawen, then at Inshahri.
“Don’t suppose either of you know anyone that can…I don’t know, remove that magic from her?”Yasawen shook his head, but Inshahri nodded eagerly.
“Yes, yes!” She chirped.
“Mistress Kadahya should be able to do something about it! She’s the chief counter-arcane specialist on Sudah, you know? She can even tell you what magic’s in the girl, I bet!”“Can she? I'll have to keep that in mind,” Sjan-dehk said with a mirthless chuckle.
Then, he walked back towards the girl, looking down at her with arms folded across his chest. Experience told him to just torture the information out of her. Whoever that had sent her had likely done so without any good intent, and who knew how much time he had before they did something more drastic? But Sjan-dehk couldn’t bring himself to give the order. The girl looked young. Far too young to be caught up in something like this. He could see her being a petty criminal, but a spy? That was a little far-fetched. Perhaps she had been telling some modicum of truth, when she said that she wanted no part in this.
“You…” He began, but then cut himself short.
“Fuck it, you clearly understand what we’re saying. Anyway, congratulations. I’m not going to kill you, but I can’t let you leave Sada Kurau, either. Not until I’m sure that you won’t go reporting whatever it is you found out to your master, and I’m sure that’s going to take a very, very long time. Welcome to the crew.” He shook his head. This wasn’t an ideal solution, and he knew it. But it was the best he could manage, for now.
“First things first, I’m getting Mistress Kadahya to look you over as soon as she has time. I want that magic out of you. Two arcanists on my ship-”“There’ll be more!” Inshahri piped up. Sjan-dehk glanced at her and sighed.
“A handful of arcanists on my ship is already more than what I can handle,” he said.
“I don’t need another one to give me worry.”Dahlia’s breath hitched as Sjan-dehk’s words sank in. Her eyes widened, and she took a sharp step back, her voice rising.
“You can’t just keep me hostage! That’s not how this works!” Her words tumbled out in a frantic rush, her earlier bravado completely shattered.
“I haven’t done anything to you! I didn’t hurt anyone! You can’t just decide I’m part of your crew like that!”Sjan-dehk blinked once.
“Actually, I can,” he said simply.
“You snuck onboard Sada Kurau. You came here with bad intentions, and really, there’s nowhere for you to go. And besides, I’m Captain. I have the right to press people into service if I need to.”She took a step back, her fists bawled,
“This—this isn’t even my fight! I didn’t ask for any of this! I’m just trying to survive, okay? You can’t—” Her voice cracked, and she clamped her mouth shut for a moment.
When she spoke again, her tone was quieter but tinged with desperation.
“Look, I’ll tell you what you want to know. I’ll cooperate. But you have to let me go when we get to port. You can’t keep me here forever.” Her gaze darted to Yasawen and Inshahri, searching for even a shred of sympathy, before returning to Sjan-dehk.
“Please. I’m not a threat to you. Just let me go when we dock, and I swear you’ll never see me again.”The two arcanists looked at each other. Then, they looked at Sjan-dehk.
She paused, her hands trembling at her sides, then added with a bitter edge,
“I’ll even tell you about the bitch who sent me. She’s the real danger here, not me.”Sjan-dehk nodded.
“I appreciate that,” he began, and then sighed.
“But that’s not the point. What concerns me is that you will tell her. I don’t have any guarantee that you won’t tell her…Whatever it is that you were sent to find. I’m not taking any chances. And besides, we’re going to get that magic out of you. If anything, you should be thanking us.”He shook his head.
“But at the end of it, you’re not going ashore when we return, and after all this, I’m not going to moor Sada Kurau at the docks,
anyway.”[/color] Although he hadn’t any intention to reassure the girl, he still nevertheless added,
“Don’t worry. You’re not stuck here forever. We’ll have to go home someday, and when that day comes, you’ll certainly be released. It’ll be an earlier release if you can somehow convince us that you’re not going to go running back to your mistress, however. Though I’ll be fair and tell you right now that as far as we’re concerned, you’re a liar. Your words’ not worth the air you use for them.”[/color]
Dahlia tapped her foot. If she didn’t get off this ship, they’d certainly kill her parents. She’d have to play ball..
“Let’s be real for a second—keeping me here? That’s not going to stop these people. If anything, it’s just going to make them come after you harder. And me? I’m your only shot at staying ahead.”She paused, then tilted her head with a sweet but condescending smile.
“Unless you think you’ve got it all figured out. Maybe you like surprises, like waking up to your ship under siege. But me? I’d rather avoid that. I’m offering you a heads-up—a chance to know what she’s planning before she makes her next move. You’re welcome, by the way.”Sjan-dehk arched his brow at the thought of
Sada Kurau coming under attack. He resisted the urge to grin or smirk, and instead kept his expression neutral as the girl continued.
Dahlia threw her hands out in mock surrender.
“But sure, go ahead. Keep me here, make me part of your crew or whatever. That’ll definitely end well. Because, you know, nothing screams ‘smart captain’ like forcing the one person who knows your enemy’s next move to swab decks instead of helping you avoid getting ambushed.” She let her words hang, then raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to argue.
She took a step closer.
“Look, Captain, I’m trying to help you. You let me go when we hit port, and I’ll give you everything you need—names, plans, weaknesses. You’ll be ready, and I’ll be out of your hair. And look, I won’t tell them anything, I swear. They have my parents hostage so why would I care about helping them? I honestly just want to help my parents. It’s a win-win no matter how you look at it..”She arched an eyebrow, her smirk returning.
“Or you can keep me here and hope for the best. Your call, Captain.”“Are you done?” Sjan-dehk asked. He didn’t wait for her to reply before going on.
“Firstly, I appreciate your concern for Sada Kurau, but it’s unnecessary. She, us, we’re all veterans. Between us, we’ve fought more battles than anyone can count, and we’re still mostly alive. So if your masters and mistresses believe they can beat us in a fight, they’re more than welcome to try. I’ll personally invite them, even.”He took a step back and finally allowed his grin to show.
“And even if they win, and they slaughter me, and everyone aboard, and they burn Sada Kurau, it’ll be a hollow victory. The Commonwealth will take it as an act of war, and they will surely return to your lands with fleets and armies and plenty of devastation.” Despite the weight of his words, he said them lightly. It was hard not to – the past five years had made war an almost normal activity. Part of him worried over that. Another part of him reminded him that the war was over, and that he shouldn’t be throwing that threat around lightly, even if he knew that the Commonwealth wasn’t the sort to turn the other cheek when slighted. He breathed out slowly through his nose.
“But I suppose you’re doing this for your parents, and that’s itself admirable,” he said. If his parents, or any of his siblings were taken captive, he doubted there were any lines he wouldn’t cross to rescue them.
“So I think we can compromise. I’ll let you off on shore. You can return to your mistress, and you can find out for me why they sent you in the first place. That’s all I want to know.” He paused, letting his words hang in the air for a moment before giving the price for his offer.
“But you must do two things. First, when you return to Sada Kurau, we will have your magic removed. And two, you’ll stay with us for a few days. Just to be safe, and just a little more incentive for you to not tell them anything that brings harm to us.”Dahlia exhaled slowly.
“Alright, Captain. You’ve made your point. I’ll take the deal. You let me off when the time comes, and I’ll get you the answers you want. No games.”She straightened up slightly,
“And for what it’s worth, I get it. You’ve got a ship to protect, a crew to think about. I don’t want to be here any more than you want me here. But this? It works for both of us.”
princess
Tae
Infinite Cosmos
