Explorer of the Endless Sea, Page 2

  Jules gazed in the direction Kyl indicated, studying the horizon where a tiny dot might or might not be appearing and vanishing as the Sun Queen rolled and pitched to the motion of the sea. “Yeah. Keep an eye out.”

  One foot on the top, one hand grasping a stay line, Jules leaned out to starboard, gazing down toward the ship they were pursuing. Both ships were heading east, the nearby coast to the south of them, open water ahead for many thousands of lances, as well as to the north and back to the west. But with the Sun Queen upwind of her prey the other ship couldn’t break north or come about to try tacking west. East was the only path open to him, and as the Sun Queen closed in he wouldn’t be able to avoid capture much longer.

  In contrast to the crowded deck of the Sun Queen, the only sailor visible on the other ship was the one at the helm, both arms spread to grasp the wheel, his or her face averted from the Sun Queen, perhaps gazing at the water to the starboard of the other ship.

  Jules gasped as she raised her own gaze to those waters. Just on the other side of that ship, she saw patches of water of varying shades, eddies and currents that spoke of sudden shallows, and here and there the flash of white spray against the jagged fangs of some reefs that extended above the water. “Blazes, he’s close.”

  Kyl nodded. “That scared of us, you think?”

  “Have you seen any others on deck or in the rigging?”

  “No, Captain. Just that one.”

  “Maybe some sort of illness?” Jules wondered. “Is the rest of the crew sick or dead? But his sails are all set and trimmed. One sailor couldn’t do all that.” She leaned out a little more, trying to see all of the deck of the other ship. A strip of the deck concealed behind the bulkhead still escaped her gaze, but not many could be hiding there and still be unseen from this angle. Raising her eyes, Jules looked past the other ship, seeing a few thousand lances to the south the light brown of patches of land and the gray-green of the salt marshes beyond. Nothing could be seen besides that, though, not a surprise on a stretch of land known as the Bleak Coast. “Keep an eye out for anyone else coming this way,” she reminded Kyl, before once again hand-over-handing her way down to the deck.

  “He’s close enough to those reefs to his starboard to shave on them,” Jules told Ang. “But there’s nobody else visible above deck.”

  “He could have fifty legionaries ready below decks,” Ang pointed out.

  “The hatches are battened down. Legionaries, or anyone else, would have to come up the ladders one by one.” An odd situation, but not one that posed any obvious danger. And breaking off the pursuit, leaving the other ship to escape, would baffle her own crew and perhaps leave them questioning her nerve. Still, an odd situation.

  Most of the Sun Queen’s crew were at this moment on the main deck, lining the rail facing the other ship, weapons in their hands and dreams of profit in their heads. Jules blew out an exasperated breath and made a decision. “Ang, bring us in to about five lances off his side so I can hail him. Liv, get the crossbows loaded and tell those carrying them to be prepared to shoot at anyone who pops up over that bulwark.”

  She walked to stand by the quarterdeck railing facing the other ship as Ang directed the helm to bring the Sun Queen closer to her prey, holding her balance easily by shifting her weight on both legs as the deck tilted in response to the push of the rudder. The sailor at the helm spun the wheel again, steadying out on a parallel course only about five lances away from the other ship. After overtaking the other craft, the Sun Queen was now almost even with it, so that Jules was looking across the gap at the sailor at the helm, who still had his gaze firmly fixed in the other direction. Cupping her hands around her mouth, Jules bellowed across the remaining distance. “Ahoy the other ship! Surrender yourself and no one will be harmed, on the word of Captain Jules of Landfall.”

  The helmsman didn’t react at all.

  A rogue wave churned up by the nearby reefs and the water trapped between the hulls of the two ships slapped the side of the Sun Queen, spray flying to wet one side of Jules’ shirt and pants as she leaned out, further aggravating her.

  “Ahoy!” Jules called again. “My patience is limited and you’re out of sea room! Surrender now or bear the consequences!” To emphasize her words, she drew her cutlass and brandished it over her head.

  The reaction from the other ship shocked her as the sailor at the helm suddenly twisted his body to put the rudder over. A command to Ang to swing the Sun Queen away to avoid a collision froze on her lips as Jules realized the other ship had turned not toward the Queen in an attempt to ram but toward shore, into the reefs.

  “He’s out of his mind!” Ang shouted.

  “Hold our course!” Jules called back, wondering how much longer it would be before the inevitable happened, staring as the other ship opened the distance between them as it wove a desperate path toward land between the shoal waters and reefs.

  “He’s trying to reach the shore!” Liv called. At the same time the fleeing ship heeled over as one side scraped a series of rocks rising like jagged teeth just above the surface, before lurching free to stagger onward.

  “He won’t make it,” Ang said.

  The merchant ship, heavily laden, navigated the deadly underwater maze of obstacles like an old ox trying to avoid stepping into rabbit holes. “Whoever’s at the helm knows what they’re doing,” Jules said. “How much farther do you think he’ll get?”

  “He shouldn’t have gotten that far,” Ang said.

  The other ship tried to turn hard, the bow coming around too slowly and the hull continuing forward. The next moment the ship shuddered as it struck a submerged reef, the hull rising out of the water as it ran up on the rocks. Jerked to a sudden halt, with the wind still pushing the sails, the mainmast shattered. Jules winced as the sound of the wooden mast snapping carried clearly across the water, followed by a discordant series of sharp notes as rigging and stay lines parted under the strain. The mainmast toppled forward, slamming into the foremast in a welter of tortured wood and ripping canvas, bringing down the foremast as well in a tangle of splintered lumber, lines, and torn sails falling across the bow of the doomed ship.

  Perhaps twenty lances distant now, the Sun Queen sailed past the wreck, her crew stunned into momentary silence.

  Ang broke the hushed silence. “If we launch our boats we might be able to salvage some of the cargo. And take off any survivors.”

  Jules shook herself out of her shock at the watching the death of the other ship. “Good idea. Bring her about and see how close we can safely get before we launch the boats.”

  “Aye, Cap’n.” Ang raised his voice to a shout. “On deck! Let go the braces! Slack windward sails and braces! Haul lee braces and sails! Helm, bring her about to port!”

  The sailors who’d been gathered at the railing in anticipation of boarding the other ship raced to grab the lines, slacking one side and hauling in on the other side so the sails would be set to tack against the wind as the Sun Queen swung about to where the wreck of their prey rested on the reef. The ship’s speed dropped off sharply as the wind beat against the front of the sails before the Queen settled onto the new tack.

  “Ready the boats,” Jules ordered, her eyes on the deadly waters between the Sun Queen and the wreck.

  Liv yelled up to the quarterdeck. “I can’t see anyone on that ship! Where the blazes are they?”

  Jules frowned, studying the wreck where it shuddered as waves slapped into it. Those waves would in time pound the wreck to splinters. The crew should be scurrying about, trying to launch their own boats. But no one could be seen moving on the other ship, even the sailor at the helm no longer visible.

  “Leave it,” Ang advised, his face shadowed with worry. “There’s something wrong about that ship.”

  “I won’t argue that,” Jules said. The need to try to salvage some of the cargo and save any members of the wrecked crew warred with her concern at the oddness of the situation.

  Her next words died unspoke
n as Jules saw three figures rise into sight on the wreck from where they had been concealed behind the upper bulwark of the other ship.

  Not sailors.

  Mages.

  Male or female couldn’t be told since the figures’ Mage robes concealed their shapes and the hoods of the robes their heads and faces. But there was no mistaking what they were.

  If a Mage can see you, they can kill you, the old saying went.

  She couldn’t see the eyes of any of the Mages, but Jules could feel their gazes on her. Feel it as if the eyes of the Mages were daggers already pressing at her throat.

  Her thoughts flew in a whirl that felt slow but took only seconds. The distance was too great to have any chance of hitting any of the Mages with a shot from the revolver, even if she could get it out in time. Her crew, unnerved by the sudden appearance of three Mages, stood frozen, those who still held crossbows as unmoving as the others. That’s what commons did upon sight of a Mage. Run if you could, and if you couldn’t flee then freeze and hope the Mage would take no notice of you. It was widely known, after all, that no common weapon like a crossbow could kill a Mage. Trying would only bring their wrath upon you.

  “Ang!” Jules shouted. “Hard to starboard!” Her cutlass still in one hand swung up in an instinctive gesture, as if that weapon’s blade could parry a Mage’s spell the way it could the slash of a sword.

  A brilliant flash of light filled her eyes, and her thoughts vanished into darkness.

  Chapter Two

  “Jules! Jules! Captain!”

  Faces loomed over her, close and frightened. Jules struggled to focus on them. “What the blazes?” she tried to say, but the words came out in a hoarse whisper.

  Liv bent very close, her eyes staring into Jules’. “Can you think? Are you all right?”

  “I…” Jules clenched her teeth as she suddenly became aware of a stripe of pain running down her body, as if someone had carefully poured acid along her arm, down her torso, and down one leg to her foot. At the same time, she realized she could smell smoke. “What’s burning?” she managed to gasp despite the pain.

  “You are.” Liv stepped back, and someone splashed a bucket of seawater over Jules.

  Jules fought back a scream as the cold salt water hit the burn.

  Healer Keli came into her view, eyeing her. “Give her another, and get me some rum.”

  By the time Jules got her eyes clear of the stinging salt water, Keli was leaning over her with a bottle. “Have a drink.”

  She swallowed, the rum burning its way down her throat. Keli knelt and carefully poured a stream of the liquor down her body. Jules raised her head enough to see a strange pattern running down her arm and side, as if the outline of a many-branched fern had been seared into her flesh. The shirt on that side, and her pants as well, were ripped as if something had torn through them from the inside. “What the blazes happened?” she got out between clenched teeth as the burns blazed in response to the alcohol.

  “It was lightning,” Liv said. “They say Mages can call it down from the sky, but it seemed to me it came straight from that other ship and hit you. We heard the crash of thunder at the same moment it struck. You went flying and landed on your back in a puff of white smoke.”

  “What happened to my clothes?”

  “No idea, girl. They were like that when you hit the deck. The lightning must’ve caused it.”

  “Look at this,” another sailor, Marta, spoke up. “Your cutlass.”

  Jules felt a strange crawling in her gut as she stared at the warped and blackened metal of the cutlass blade.

  “Back where I grew up,” Marta said, “they put metal posts on top of buildings to draw the lightning away from the wood. Looks like your cutlass did the same.”

  Jules squinted at her arm, seeing that the line of fern-like patterns ran from where her hand had gripped the cutlass, the marks on her resembling a thick trunk about two of her fingers wide, the strange fern marks branching out just as if they were growing from that main scar. “The lightning went down my side instead of into me?”

  “You’re protected,” Liv said.

  To her own surprise, Jules managed a derisive snort at the words. “That side of me was wet with spray. My clothes that ripped open were wet. Maybe that made a difference.” She tried to struggle to her feet, but Keli held her down long enough to gaze into her eyes again.

  “She seems to be all right,” he finally said.

  “You won’t be if you don’t get your paws off me!” Jules growled, shoving aside the healer’s hand.

  “Yeah, she’s fine,” Liv commented.

  Jules made it to her feet, seeing that the Sun Queen was on a beam reach now, the wind from the east coming straight on against her port side as the ship sailed nearly due north away from the coast and the Mage-haunted wreck. She staggered to the stern rail, glaring at the small shape that was all that could be seen of the wreck from this distance. The heat of her burns faded into nothing and cold filled her as she thought of getting revenge on those Mages.

  “Leave it,” Ang said, standing beside her. “They’re marooned on the Bleak Coast. Let thirst and hunger and the sun’s heat be their end, if such things can harm Mages.”

  “What about the crew of that ship?” Healer Keli asked. “They’re marooned as well, and we all know they were forced to serve the Mages in this.”

  “They were putting their boat in the water after we turned away,” Ang said. He raised his head and called to the lookout far above. “Kyle! Did they get their boat in the water?”

  The answer came down faintly. “Aye! I saw four sailors get in, and then the three Mages.”

  Jules stared toward the wreck before yelling upwards. “Kyle! Are you certain all three Mages got into the boat?”

  “Aye, Captain. It came out into clear water, and they hoisted a sail and headed east. I can just make it out still.”

  “The rats left the sinking ship,” Liv muttered. “Heading back to Landfall, no doubt.”

  “Were there only four sailors aboard that ship?” Jules asked.

  “Four couldn’t have handled a ship that big,” Ang said.

  “Why’d the Mages just leave?” Keli said. “And not chase us in that boat?”

  “A longboat couldn’t have caught us,” Ang said, then frowned. “Unless Mages can make a boat move very swiftly, as Mechanics can.”

  “Yes,” Keli said. “And only the one attack, against the captain.”

  “Ask a Mage,” Liv said. “Why do they do anything?”

  Jules inhaled sharply. “They think they killed me.”

  Keli thought about that, and nodded. “Like as not. That lightning should’ve done it, too. I never heard of anyone surviving a Mage attack like that. I met a healer once who talked about flowers left over from lightning striking a body. What’s on you must be what he meant.”

  “Mages couldn’t even kill the Captain with lightning,” Gord said, sounding half-proud and half-amazed.

  The silence that followed his words aggravated Jules as much as the pain of her injuries. “Lay off that nonsense. That lightning should’ve done more damage, but it didn’t. It was weak.”

  “Why would it be weak?” Ang asked doubtfully.

  “Ask a Mage!” Jules looked toward the wreck again. “As soon as we’re certain that boat the Mages took can’t see us, we’re coming about again. If there’s anyone left on that ship, they need rescuing.”

  This time no one argued.

  “I need to get a new shirt and pants,” Jules said, feeling the shredded fabric flap against her side and causing new flares of pain.

  * * *

  The sun had sunk far in the afternoon sky by the time the Sun Queen made it back to the vicinity of the crippled ship. Ang adjusted the sails so the ship would drift slowly past the wreck while Liv supervised getting the longboat into the water.

  But when Jules moved to climb down into the boat, Liv stopped her with a stubborn expression. “I know appealing to your s
ense of self-preservation would be a waste of time, so I’ll mention what anyone else would’ve thought of before this. Those Mages think you’re dead, Jules. They’ll tell their Guild that, and all the Mages will stop hunting you until they learn you’re still alive. So wouldn’t it be wise for the sake of this ship and her crew, as well as your own life, to keep the Mages in the dark for as long as you may? Which means not showing yourself right away!”

  “There aren’t any Mages left on that wreck,” Jules said, glowering at Liv.

  “Is that what you say? Because we see none? And how many Mages did we see when we were approaching that ship the first time?”

  Mak had told her more than once that being captain meant knowing when not to insist on doing what you wanted. Knowing that Liv was right, Jules bit her lip, stepping back. “All right. You command the longboat. See if there’s any chance of getting anything off the wreck, but not at any risk to the boat.”

  “If you didn’t want to risk the boat, you wouldn’t be sending us into that field of reefs,” Liv scoffed. “Don’t worry, Captain. I’ve been sailing the Sea of Bakre longer than you’ve been breathing the air of this world.”

  “I’ll still worry about you, Liv,” Jules said. “Don’t take any foolish chances.”

  “I won’t. I’m not you,” Liv said with a grin before heading down into the boat with the other sailors who’d row it to the wreck.

  Mak had also told Jules that sometimes responsibility meant sending someone else to do a risky job, and that she’d find that harder than doing the job herself. As in so much else, Mak had been right. Jules tried to distract herself by helping Ang keep the Sun Queen near the wreck without getting too close to the reefs, but still found her gaze frequently straying to the longboat as it navigated the reefs to reach the wreck without suffering damage or running aground.

  Cori had relieved Kyle on lookout during the afternoon. “They’re alongside!” she finally called down from the maintop. “I see people on the wreck! No sign of trouble!”

  Jules squinted toward the wreck, wishing she knew more of what was going on there. “Mechanics and Mages are supposed to have mysterious means of quickly passing messages over long distances,” she grumbled to Keli the healer, who was standing beside her on the quarterdeck. “I wish I had something like that.”