Marcus

Bergraz Docks

174th SUMMER – the first year of the regency

(Earth Date 22nd JANUARY 2017)

It wasn’t until I was almost at the docks that I realised this was the first time in my life I’d been out in public unattended. I celebrated the fact by buying a dubious sausage in a bun from a street vendor and took great satisfaction munching on it as I entered Brand’s Passage, wondering why my brother-in-law had a narrow street between the lower town and the docks named after him.

After the relative quiet of the backstreets the docks were noisy and chaotic. Pedestrians from all walks of life dodged around huge carts pulled by unicorns who, in turn, eyed the few mechanically powered vehicles with suspicion. Steam powered cranes and steam vessels belched smoke that mingled with the low cloud. In all this chaos I had to find the Ariadne, a small two masted trading vessel, one of the thousands of vessels that was home and livelihood for around a quarter of the population of the Empire. From where I stood it looked like every one of those small vessels had decided to visit the docks today.

I stepped into a quieter area, my senses reeling. It had been a long time since I’d been in the presence of so many people and I was thankful for the sword and revolver that had mysteriously appeared in my personal effects, together with the slightly threadbare Red Dragon sergeant’s uniform that was getting me a bit of personal space.

I looked around and realised I’d inadvertently wandered into the Imperial docks, the bit Imperial Princes and Emperors never usually see, the bit with the slipways and dry docks. Not one hundred metres away sat the Little Rascal. Normally Imperial Courier’s vessels moored at their own dock.

All became clear as two unicorns, a brown, and what had once been my white until Oz had ‘borrowed’ him to get into Lady Kate’s… affections were led off the Rascal. I instantly recognised the handsome, elegant figure in the captain’s uniform mounting the brown as Oz, who instead of taking the longer ‘official’ route came straight towards me. I thought briefly about running and hiding but instantly realised that would just look suspicious, instead I stepped aside to let the two noble beasts pass, trying to act like a normal citizen would when confronted with two battle trained unicorns, hoping Oz would be too busy to glance at me.

He wasn’t, but to my amazement Oz’s gaze passed over me with no sign of recognition. I was shocked. I’d know Oz all my life, he’d been one of my childhood companions. Had I really changed that much in just one season?

My relief was short lived, the white unicorn who’d been following behind the brown nudged me in the chest as its rider, a girl in a court dress, desperately tried to get it to follow Oz. Whitey remembered me, the unicorn nudged me again, this time sniffing my jacket pocket. I put my hand inside and brought out an ancient, fluff encrusted piece of jerky, left there by the jacket’s previous occupant and fed it to Whitey who crunched it up with every sign of enjoyment, I made a fuss of the beast who, realising it wasn’t going to get anything else off me huffed in my face, turned and deigned to notice the increasingly desperate commands its handler was making.

“Fuck,” I said to the world in general,

“I thought you was gonna be unicorn fodder for sure there, mate,” a voice said from waist level. I looked down to see a well-muscled, middle-aged, white-haired man, sitting on a wooden trolly, holding leather pads in his hands. Both his legs were missing from just above his knees.

“Yes,” I said weakly watching the two unicorns depart, a Semulian accent coming naturally after weeks of playing the part. The man regarded me more closely.

“You’re actually a real Red Dragon, ain’t ya,” he said, sounding friendly enough, I plucked the fabric of my jacket.

“What does it look like,” I replied.

“Half the blokes down the docks have one of those, they were selling ‘em cheap after the battle, but you’re the real deal huh? Were you there when those beasts charged?”

“Yes. It is not a moment I will ever forget.” I said truthfully.

“Fucking hell,” the man replied in an impressed voice.

“That was my thought at the time, '' I replied, the man laughed and held up a hand.

“I’m Fred Jones, Master of the Gytha,”

“Marc Qaysar,” I replied, shaking it.

“So, what brings you to the arse end of the Imperial docks,” he asked.

“I was looking for a boat, but I think I took a wrong turn, I thought you could get through here to the main docks.”

“It’s not really open to the general public but if you stay with me I’ll take you through,” he offered generously and started pushing his trolley along using the pads on his hands. Which boat are ya lookin’ for.”

“The Ariadne, it’s a small two masted trader,” Fred stopped and looked at me suspiciously.

“I know of it. What business do you have with the owners, they ain’t the sort who have the money to hire mercs, no offence mate.”

“They didn’t hire me, I’m a passenger, my passage was arranged through an agent of Lord Sorgi,” I explained. Fred relaxed and grinned at me.

“Oh, yeah that makes more sense. You’re off to Sandbeck then?”

“Somewhere around there,” I replied being deliberately vague, he nodded as if he understood perfectly. We passed through the part of the Imperial docks I was more familiar with, ignored by both the guards and dock workers. To stop the chatty Fred from asking me too many questions I asked him what had happened to his legs.

“I leave them aboard, they ain’t that comfortable so I only use them in social situations where staring at people’s crotches would be considered rude,” he replied, then laughed at my expression.

“I take it you want to know what happened to my real legs,”

“You don’t have to…”

“No, it’s a tale that must be told, it’s a tale of high daring and great sacrifice.” His story lasted all the way across the Imperial docks and most of the way to the harbour master’s office. To cut a long and much embellished tale short, after the attack on the Sarthville ferry by the Leviathan last year, Fred had been hired by a group of outraged citizens to hunt the Leviathan down and kill it.

Fred, not being a bloody idiot, had taken the money, made a great show of departing to rain vengeance on the practically immortal monster, then he and his crew had made sail for an out of the way cove planning to do a little light smuggling, then get heroically and epically drunk for a few days.

It hadn’t quite worked that way, halfway across the Sea of Bergraz they’d run into the Leviathan. Literally. It had been napping just below the surface and they’d run straight into it. The monster hadn’t taken kindly to being woken up and had proceeded to vent its rage on the small ship and its crew. Fred and a couple others had managed to escape on a half full tun of whiskey to a nearby island. At some point in the desperate escape, something, probably not the Leviathan, given Fred was still alive to tell the tale, had taken both of Fred’s legs off. According to him he hadn’t even noticed until he’d reached the island and tried to stand up.

They’d spent two days on the island before they’d been rescued by a fisherman with only the huge, half full barrel of fine whiskey to sustain them.

“We had to leave the barrel there, it was still half full,” Fred complained, seemingly more aggrieved at having to leave over 450 litres of fine whiskey than losing his legs, his crew, and his ship. I could almost sympathise with his anguish as I had strong suspicions of where the massive barrel had come from. Petty theft from the kitchen is not usually brought to the attention of an Emperor, especially one grieving his father, but this had been a special case and I think it had only been mentioned as a bit of light relief.

I had been amused until some jobsworth had pointed out I could have bought a small battleship and equipped it for what the whisky was worth. I still had a grudging admiration for whoever the cheeky bastards were who had managed to sneak the massive barrel of my father’s favourite tipple out the palace without being noticed.

“Ahh Fred, I see you’ve found a victim who hasn’t heard your tales before?” A weatherbeaten man in a Harbour Sergeant’s uniform sitting outside the Harbourmasters office greeted Fred.

“He did ask The Question; how could I refuse?”

“Oh, well if he asked The Question…” both men laughed.

“What happened to the whiskey?” I asked, the men laughed again.

“Ahh, a man who has his priorities straight. The truth is nobody knows. We think the Leviathan drank it. Every millimetre of every island in the sea has been searched, and no one has found any trace of this mythical barrel,” the official said. Fred grinned and shrugged.

“Easy come easy go, I don’t suppose you’ve seen the Ariadne, this gentleman has passage booked on her.”

“Hmm, the Ariadne you say?” We both nodded, the man grinned, “I’m afraid I haven’t seen her and she’s not moored up on pontoon twenty,” the man said, giving me a wink. I nodded, and flipped a crown in his direction which disappeared.

“What was that all about?” I asked as I followed Fred along the quay.

“The owners have had a bit of a run of bad luck and us riverfolk look after our own, if the Ariadne moors up for a morning then leaves before the Harbourmaster collects their docking fee, well, that’s not the Ariadne’s fault is it?” Fred said, grinning.

“The Harbour staff must be very busy, it’s unreasonable to expect them to visit every vessel the moment it docks,” I said.

“Exactly… Ah there she is, the schooner with the yellow, green and red painted hull.” I looked across to where Fred was pointing, and after a couple of seconds made out the vessel amongst the hundreds of other equally brightly painted vessels.

“I will let you find your own from here, the pontoons are a bit awkward when you have no legs, and my Gytha’s, just over there,” Fred gestured to a large, three masted, junk rigged vessel painted black and yellow moored directly on the quay being loaded by a steam crane. Given the impressiveness of his vessel I suspected Fred’s claim of not having recovered the whiskey was untrue.

“A handsome ship. Thank you, you’ve save me a lot of hassle,”

“Don’t mention it, we’re off upriver too, if we run into each other, you can buy me a drink,”

“Whisky, I assume?” I replied. Fred laughed and we said our farewells.

I walked across the greasy pontoons to the Ariadne. As I approached I could see that under the fresh paint the vessel was not in the best of condition, her rigging could have been done with an overhaul and I could see several sections of the hull that showed signs of unskilled repairs. Despite this, the vessel looked clean and shipshape.

“Ahoy the Ariadne,” I called. A tiny, dark-haired girl in a filthy Earth style dress stuck her head over the rail.

“Hello, are you Marc?” she asked.

“I am.”

“Mum… Dad he’s here,” the girl yelled and a tough, dark haired woman dressed in a red top and faded blue skirt appeared followed by a muscular, shaven headed man.

“Ahoy Marc, cast off and come aboard, we’ll get out of here before the harbourmaster even notices we’re here,” the woman said. I undid the mooring lines and jumped aboard.

“That’s Vano my husband, I’m Kezia, and that’s Perri,” Kezia said, grinning fondly at her daughter who was jumping up and down in excitement.

“Welcome aboard,” Vano greeted me as he took the wheel as his wife pushed off from the docks with an evil looking boat hook that looked like it doubled up as a harpoon. Despite their friendliness they both looked hard as nails.

“Hello Red Dragon man, can you really turn into a red dragon?”

I grinned, bent down and whispered to her, “not while I’m on board,” Perri eyed me suspiciously.

“I said hello to the real red dragon once, he was very grumpy. Grahh was much nicer. Is that a real sword? Eric has a real sword but he has to practice with a wooden one.”

“It is a real sword.” I admitted wondering where the hell the little girl had been to say hello to not only Grahh but an actual red dragon, a creature I thought only existed in myth. The feeling I’d missed out on a great deal shut away in the Sacred Pool intensified.

“Perri, let the poor man get aboard before you pester him to death, go and show him to his bunk, let him stow his gear… Is that everything you have?” Kezia asked me, eyeing my small backpack.

“I’ve been a guest of the Druids since Beltane, they don’t believe in personal possessions,” I shrugged. The fact I actually had any belongings had actually come as a big surprise to me, especially as my worn belt had several golden dragons secreted along its length and my weapons were as fine a quality as any I’d ever used.

“Sorgi said you’d were injured. Well, stow what gear you have and then come up on deck, if you don't mind working for your supper, that is, we could use an extra hand.”

“Not at all,” I replied, and followed Perri down below. To get as much cargo space as possible every vessel on the River tried to allocate the smallest possible space to accommodation but the Ariadne’s accommodation looked spacious compared with some vessels I’d seen.

That’s not to say it was uncomfortable or austere below decks. In the area little larger than the bed I’d slept in when I was Emperor there was a black, business-like stove, home to a steaming kettle and a pot of stew that gave off a mouth-watering aroma when Perri gave it a stir. Opposite was a narrow table with high backed benches on either side, with bookshelves above housing an eclectic collection of books together with the ubiquitous Earth-made wind up radio/torch every home, business and vessel outside the Sacred Pool seemed to have now. Beyond that was an enclosed double bed with a couple of bunks opposite, the longer bottom one had been cleared for me. The place smelt comfortingly of the stew, incense, woodsmoke and people.

The whole place was intricately painted, a riot of colour, everything had its place and nothing was out of place. Attached to the ceiling, within easy reach of the cockpit was another of the evil looking, three metre long boat hooks, a smoke stained punt gun that was almost as long, and, hung in pride of place from one of the beams was a new looking short sword in a scabbard with both Navigator’s Guild and Knights of the Citadel insignias on it.

“You’ve got Eric’s bunk. He’s my big brother. He’s a Squire at the Citadel,” Perri announced proudly.

“Is that his sword?” I asked.

“Oh yes, a Guild man gave it to daddy to give to Eric as a… token of their ess…teem… What does that mean?”

“It means your brother has some very good friends… in the Navigator’s guild no less.” I replied, impressed despite myself. A River Family son studying navigation at the Citadel was almost unheard of, no wonder this family was being kept an eye on.

“Oh, that’s nice. I have a friend called Izzy. She’s from Earth. Do you like your bed?” I lay down on it and stretched out, it felt wonderfully luxurious after a season on the Druid’s hard beds..

“It’s very nice.”

“Good. Mummy and me spent ages cleaning up,” Perri revealed. I dumped my gear on Eric’s bunk and made my way back onto the deck. I spent the next few hours following Vano and Kezia’s orders as we made our way out the harbour and into the Sea of Bergraz, extremely grateful that Father had indulged my obsession with all things nautical and allowed me to work an apprentice’s berth on a couple of navy vessels so I didn’t disgrace myself.

Once we were safely out at sea, albeit on a cautious course hugging the coast, I was given a much needed breather. I sat on the rail watching Kezia at the wheel as I drunk a cup of proper River tea and munched on a fish paste sandwich, enjoying the wind on my face and feeling rather proud of myself until the thought came to me that Blodwyn, my twin sister who’d never never wanted to leave the palace, was now actually sailing to Selamu Alu, something I’d always dreamed of doing.

Then I realised I was free, no longer bound to anyone or anything. For the first time in my life I was free to do the hell I wanted… with the exception of seeing George of course. He had made it very clear we could never see each other again and I think that had broken his heart. I wasn’t completely unscathed either but I had a plan to win him back and now I knew where we would go.

“You speak very good English for a Red Dragon. Aren’t all you lot from Selamu Alu?” Kezia asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“My mother was from Bergraz,” I replied, suddenly glad to have someone talk to me, even if it was asking awkward personal questions.

“Ahh… that explains the accent. What does Sorgi want with you?” she asked. I shrugged.

“I was told it was paying work and I’m not in the position to turn down a job offer from a Midriver Lord… I would like to go home at some point though.” Kezia looked at me with sympathy.

“Do you owe the Druids much?” she asked with some sympathy.

“No, they had me work my convalescence, both cure and payment, they claimed.”

“Oh, you’re lucky, they usually try and get you to do one last job for them once you’re discharged. What did they have you doing?”

“I was helping out in the wards, that was until they found I could read and write in both English and Semulian, then they had me teaching in the school.” I’d been rather amused that the Druids had put their former Emperor to work emptying bedpans and cleaning before they’d realised my talents lay elsewhere.

“Isn’t that where all the street kids go, I heard it gets pretty rough.” I looked at Kezia as I tried to think what a Red Dragon who’d spent a season in a Sacred Pool would know, as opposed to the boyfriend of one of those former street kids.

“Most of the actual street kids go to the Church school. The Sacred Pool gets the kids from the docks. They didn’t give me any problems,” I boasted, deciding not to mention my students’ good behaviour had mostly been down to the fact I’d made the final lesson of the day learning how to wield a staff making attendance conditional on good behaviour. Kezia looked at me and grinned.

“I suppose you wouldn’t have, you being Red Dragon Sergeant and all,” she replied, and I suspect I was coming across as a little too educated and a little too young to be an actual Red Dragon Sergeant.

“They were good kids, well most of them,” I replied, deciding it would be a good idea to change the subject, “Izzy tells me your Eric got into the Knights? That’s a bit of a big deal isn’t it?” I asked.

Kezia proudly explained that not only was her son a squire in the Knights he was an Apprentice in the Navigator’s guild, and yes, it was a huge deal. I asked for more details and it turned out that this family had lived through some terrifying adventures over the last year, culminating in the Iron Brotherhood attack on Trafalgar.. Before I could say anything a frazzled looking Vano poked his head out the hatch.

“How’s the lessons going darlin'?” Kezia asked, grinning at her husband, he shook his head.

“Not good, if I take the wheel, can you knock a bit of sense into madame,”

“Oh, no, it’s your turn, but,” Kezia nodded to me, “our passenger here says the Druids put him to work teaching the dock rats, he claims he didn’t have any problems with the little darlings.” Vano turned to me, hope in his eyes.

“I don’t suppose…” he said, giving me a pleading look.

So I spent the next hour or so teaching Perri. She was a sweet child and didn’t give me any bother. It must have been around midday when Vano called down to me sounding concerned.

“Marc, come up on deck, tell me what you think of this vessel, Perri, you stay below,” he said, pulling the punt gun from its ceiling rack. Forewarned, I grabbed my sword and revolver off my bunk, put on my jacket then joined Vano and Kezia on deck. I helped Vano manoeuvre the massive punt gun onto a bracket on the stern before Kezia handed me a set of battered, Earth-made binoculars and pointed out a vessel skimming along close to the shore.

We were currently sailing through an archipelago of volcanically formed islands rearing dramatically above the Sea, giving the impression we were in a deep gorge, rather than a kilometre out at sea. The other boat looked small and toylike against the high, tree lined cliffs of the shore, the vessel in question being a dark hulled, two masted ketch with dark green sails, making it almost invisible against the dramatic background.

Kezia turned the wheel to take advantage of the wind, the lines holding up the mainmast creaked alarmingly as the Ariadne healed over and picked up speed. We all looked worriedly at the mast for a few moments then turned back to stare at the mysterious vessel.

“What do you think?” Vano asked me.

“No boat painted like that is up to any good, maybe a smuggler?”

“Not from around here,” Vano replied flatly as if he were familiar with every smuggler in these waters. Given that he was a friend of Sorgi’s it was quite likely he probably did.

“Then it’s a pirate and we’re not going to be able to lose them are we?” I said.

“In the Ariadne, not a chance, I’m banking on the hope they don’t have any artillery, we might be able to scare them off, being on the receiving end of this would make anyone think twice,” Vano patted the punt gun affectionately and I nodded. Punt guns are basically massive shotguns designed to take out whole flocks of birds in one go. The Druids had banned them for hunting, relegating the huge guns to conversation pieces and wall decorations. I’d never heard of one being used as an anti personnel weapon, but I had no doubt a shotgun with a 50mm barrel firing over half a kilo of shot was going to make any crew with piratical leanings seriously reconsider their career choice.

“What’s the range on it?” I asked. Vano shrugged, squinting at the suspicious vessel.

“No fucking idea, I guess we’re gonna find out soon though, they’ve changed course… Kez, if we turn at the end of the island, while we’re out of sight, you and Perri take the dingy and hide, once we drive them off we’ll come back for you… Marc, gimme a hand with those ropes,” Vano gestured to the small boat upturned on the deck and started to undo the lashings. I went to help.

“You know there’s gonna be at least ten of them. You go with Kezia and Perri and I’ll hold them off for as long as I can,” I offered quietly. Vano slapped me on the shoulder and gave me a grim smile.

“Nah mate, the offer’s appreciated but I reckon, if the two of us give ‘em a bloody enough nose they’ll turn tail and run. Also,” here Vano’s expression darkened, “there’s such a thing as the laws of salvage, we’ve only known you a few hours, no offence meant but if I leave with the girls what’s to stop you claiming the Ariadne for yourself,”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about the salvage laws…” I replied, embarrassed but relieved that I wasn’t going to have to fight alone, and helped Vano turn the dingy over.

“Don’t sweat it,” Vano grunted as we dragged the dinghy to the rail, then took over the wheel as Kezia disappeared below, reappearing a few minutes later with Perri and a couple of stuffed sailbags, Eric’s sword strapped to her back. Even in this short time the vessel had got noticeably nearer and I wondered if we were even going to make the end of the island.

Following Kezia’s instructions I got the dinghy hanging over the side, hidden from view of the pirates by the angle of the deck, and then we waited. It took the Ariadne a tense half hour to clear the end of the island, the pirate vessel getting closer by the second. Time I spent teaching Perri some basic staff moves.

As soon the pursuing vessel was out of sight, Kezia bundled Perri into the dinghy, gave Vano at the wheel a kiss and a heartfelt ‘I love you’ then she helped me lower the dinghy into the water, the drag slowing and turning the Ariadne for a second until Kezia cast off and leaped into the tiny boat. In seconds she had the dark grey sail raised and was heading towards the island. In minutes the boat had disappeared amongst the rocks.

“And then there were two,” Vano said as he checked over the punt gun, he looked like he was actually looking forward to the fight and I realised we might not be going to die after all.

“You've done this sort of thing before.” I commented.

“I’m actually one of the fifty… and I’ve been in more than a few ship to ship fights… on both sides,” he admitted. I nodded, being one of the fifty or so defenders of Trafalgar was becoming a big deal and I guessed Vano had an interesting and not entirely legitimate past.

“Do you think the punt gun will drive them off?”

“Yeah, I reckon so, back in my day it would have. You want your nice juicy target to roll over and submit so you can take their cargo and ransom the crew. Only the nutters want a fight. If we make a lot of noise and actually hurt a few of ‘em they’ll run off to find an easier target.”

“Where did you even get that thing?” I asked, gesturing to the punt gun. Vano laughed.

“Trafalgar. I was helping clear out the castle armoury and found it. The Governor gave it to me for the day’s work on the condition that he was allowed to fire it.”

“Generous of him,” I said.

“I’ve done a few jobs for him, here and there, you know.” I nodded. “Here, take the wheel, just keep her straight,” Vano said before I could ask any more. I took the wheel, feeling the ship come alive under my hands as Vano broke the gun open and carefully loaded a chunky wax paper cylinder, then clicked it shut. We sailed in silence for a while, the feel of the Ariadne under me, the wind at my back and the motion of the waves, was satisfyingly hypnotic. As the minutes passed I was starting to think the pirates had broken off their pursuit, by my rough estimate at the speed they’d been going they should have rounded the island ages ago. Then, through a channel between the islands, only a few hundred metres ahead of us the pirate ship appeared, close enough for us to hear the cheers from the crew.

“The sneaky fuckers,” Vano growled, a note of admiration in his voice, “bring her about and take her out to sea, as close to the wind as she’ll go,” I nodded and spun the wheel, until the Ariadne turned so she was heading out to sea, the sails flapping in protest as I steered into the wind.

“Nicely done, keep her on that heading,” we watched as the pirate turned, visibly slowed, then altered their course. “They’ll pass behind us, they’re thinking they’ll get us on their next tack,” Vano predicted and grinned, patting the punt gun. Sure enough, I held my course and watched the pirate slowly pass behind us. When they were directly behind us, about three hundred metres away, with nine lining the rail jeering us, Vano fired the gun.

With a deafening crack, a gout of flame spouted from the gun and we were engulfed in white smoke, the jeers from the pirates turned to curses interspersed with exclamations of pain. The smoke cleared just in time for us to see one of the pirates lift a black gun with a distinctive curved magazine to their shoulder and fire it, there was a brief rattle of automatic gunfire. Not even halfway between our rapidly separating vessels I saw the splash of the bullets impacting the water. A moment later the gunman was berated by whoever was in charge. A proper bollocking too.

“That’s not good,” Vano said, crouched behind the stern rail.

“Oh, I don’t know, I suspect that was the last of their ammunition. They probably never had much to begin with.” I said coolly. Vano straightened up and looked over at the pirate falling behind and started to reload the punt gun.

“Well I hope you are willing to bet your life on it. Only the Iron Brotherhood have those and if those bastards are the Iron Brotherhood they’re here to cause chaos. They’re gonna come after us.”

“You better not fire that monster gun of yours till they’re almost on top of us.”

“I was thinking of getting a couple of shots off before they board us.”

“That’s what they’re relying on. If you fire too early and they’ll pop up and pepper us with small arms fire while you’re trying to reload, whereas if you blast them at point blank range you might actually do some damage.” I said. Vano looked at me strangely, then grinned.

“I suppose you know your stuff,” he allowed, then nodded at my revolver and sword, “I hope you’re really fucking good with those because if you ain’t we’re dead.”

“I’ve had my moments,” I replied wondering how good my weapons training would prove to be in the real world. From my adolescent sparring sessions with Brand I knew I was nowhere close to his level of skill, but then no-one was. People who knew their stuff were calling him the best swordsman on two worlds and I’d seen him attack half an army single handedly. Twice. And I could at least hold my own with him.

It looked like I was going to find out just how good I was as, in line with Van’s prediction, the pirate tacked bringing their ship on to an intercept course with ours. I tuned the wheel so we had the wind at our quarter, delaying the inevitable, and more importantly, allowing Vano’s punt gun a clear shot at the pirate.

We watched the pirate slowly catch up with us in silence. I looked around us, to one side the tall uninhabited islands rose out the sea, to the other, empty sea with no other vessels in sight, the far shore a dim line in the distance. In front of us, Bergraz, an untouchable white pillar in the distance.

I looked back at the pirate vessel, it was now clear that it was far larger than the Ariadne and this close it looked well kept, almost fit for a royal inspection, the only exception being a speckling of orange specs where the punt gun had blasted paint from the hull revealing bare timber. Unlike the Ariadne, the helmsman was protected from the elements by a wheelhouse with glazed windows and there were a couple of canvas covered ship’s boats on deck. Out of the shelter of the islands the swell was large, the wind much stronger and Ariadne's mast and rigging was creaking alarmingly.

Slowly the pirate drew level with us, staying around two hundred metres away, obviously reluctant to close. There was a pop and a puff of smoke from somewhere near the pirate’s bow and I saw a pirate wearing a long leather coat reloading a complicated and elaborate looking rifle at us. I glanced at Vano who looked around and then shrugged. I pulled my revolver out as the pirate vessel dipped into a swell and for a second their deck was at the same level as ours. I fired it one handed in the general direction of the rifleman trying to keep the Ariadne straight with the other hand. The revolver belched fire and smoke, kicking back so violently I almost dropped it. From the wheelhouse twenty metres away from where I’d been aiming, came a tinkle of glass.

The rifleman ducked behind the gunwale as the pirate ship turned sharply towards us, heeling over as it did so, exposing the pirate crew hiding behind the gunwale, for a moment I saw shocked faces staring at us then Vano, guessing he’d never get a better opportunity, fired the punt gun.

I glimpsed half the crew disappearing in a spray of red before the smoke from the gun obscured my vision, when the smoke cleared, the bows of the pirate ship were pointing directly at the Ariadne and I realised they were going to ram us. Vano screamed an incoherent scream of rage, as he attempted to reload the punt gun.

I braced myself against the wheel as bows of the pirate ship smashed into the fragile hull of the Ariadne, the noise of cracking timbers and splintering wood painfully loud. I was thrown from the wheel, colliding with the gunwale, the bow of the pirate ship close enough to touch. Someone on board the vessel was shouting panicked commands and I got the impression that the pirates' ramming manoeuvre hadn’t gone quite how they’d planned it to.

I staggered to my feet, the deck at a steep angle. Our mainmast was leaning at a drunken angle, almost touching the pirate vessel's bowsprit and held up by only two taunt lines. A yell came from above. I looked up and saw several pirates gathering at the rail. I drew my sword and staggered up the slanting deck and cut at one of the lines holding up the mainmast. The sword was razor sharp and the ancient rope, as much tar as rope, parted with barely any resistance, whipping back and smashing into the pirates who fell backwards screaming curses.

I glanced at Vano who appeared uninjured and was concentrating on loading the punt gun to the exclusion of all else. I could hear the ominous sound of rushing water beneath my feet and decided boarding a ship full of injured, angry pirates was preferable to meeting whatever lurked beneath the waves of the Sea of Bergraz. I grabbed a rope hanging from the mainmast, ran across the deck and swung upwards, my momentum taking me over the rail and onto the deck of the pirate ship.

I let go of the rope and drew my sword while still in the air, slashing a stunned pirate across his already bloody chest and face, then smashed another across their face with the backswing before I even had a chance to look around. To my surprise both pirates collapsed to the deck. I took stock. The punt gun had turned the centre of the deck into a bloody mess, three bodies barely recognizable as human were splattered across the deck and another blood drenched pirate leant against the deckhouse staring at the remains of his left arm and whimpering.

At the bow, on my left three pirates stood, staring at me in horror, to my right a tall, muscular woman in a fine, long, blue coat, open to show a low cut, ruffled white blouse was aiming the automatic rifle at me. The Captain I guessed.

“Put that sword down or you’re gonna join those poor bastards in hell,” she growled at me as a hand plucked feebly at my leg. I stabbed the sword down into the plukee’s chest, drew my revolver and fired it two handed, hitting the Captain dead centre in her chest. She looked at me in amazement.

“You fucker, that’s a new shirt” she said, dropped her gun and pitched forward. There was a scream of fury and loss from the bows, I spun around, stepping backwards pulling my sword out the body as the leather clad pirate ran screaming at me, brandishing his rifle like a hammer.

Before I could even react there was a concussive bang and the pirate dissolved in a spray of blood. The two remaining pirates looked at me, looked down at the Ariadne and decided they’d take their chances with the denizens of the deep rather than face me. They jumped down onto the Ariadne as the muzzle of the punt gun appeared over the pirate ship’s rail. I helped Vano up onto deck and he looked around at the bloody devastation in disbelief.

“Fuck me, what a mess, what are we gonna do now?” he eventually said, looking down at the Ariadne which was sinking fast. I glanced over to where the man who’d lost his arm was sitting, he looked at me, screamed, grabbed his severed arm, staggered over to the rail and threw himself overboard. There was a thud and a scream as he hit the Ariadne’s deck.

“Well, it looks like this vessel has been abandoned, I for one am going to claim Right of Salvage. You can join me as a business partner, or there is currently a position as a deckhand open, either way we have a lot of cleaning up to do before we pick up Kezia and Perri,” I said, handing Vano a mop. He poked at a large pool of blood and viscera and I felt the adrenaline leave me and my gorge rise.

“I think we’re gonna need a bigger mop,” he said as I threw up over the side.