Marcus

The Sea of Bergraz

175th SUMMER – the first year of the regency

(Earth Date 23rd JANUARY 2017)

Before I’d even finished emptying my stomach of what felt like every meal I’d eaten in the last season, Vano managed to reef the sails and found the reason why the pirates had unexpectedly rammed us. In a million to one shot, the bullet I’d fired from the Ariadne had hit the helmswoman in the head, killing her instantly and causing her to slump over the wheel.

The impact that had left the Ariadne a half-submerged hulk drifting in the waves didn’t appear to have caused any immediate damage to this vessel. Vano was so impressed with my fluke shot I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d been aiming at someone on the other end of the boat. He also seemed rather impressed in the way I’d managed to board the vessel and dispatch the three other pirates. I was rather impressed with myself too, although I’d had some of the best martial tutors in the Empire no one had ever expected me to use this training in anger.

We started on the gruesome job of pitching the bodies overboard starting with the victims of the punt gun first. Even after working in the Sacred Pool’s healing rooms this was an horrifically unpleasant job and even Vano was looking a bit green about the gills after we’d finished washing the smaller chunks overboard.

This didn’t stop him rifling through the pockets of the less corporeally challenged corpses with practised ease before dumping those overboard. The blood in the water attracted the attention of the piscine population and the water looked like it was boiling as we threw the bodies into the frothing, bloody cloud that surrounded us.

The last person we dealt with was the woman I’d shot. Vano removed her dark blue jacket and pulled a grey medallion from her neck, inspecting it briefly. It had a massive dent on one edge where my bullet had hit it.

“Hmm, do you think this’d be worth anything more than scrap?” He wondered, hefting the medallion in his hand.

“I doubt it. That’s an Iron Brotherhood medallion.” I said flatly, he looked at the medallion more closely.

“Hmm… There might be a bounty… or we could pose as Iron Brotherhood ourselves, there are still a few of the outlawed guilds settlements where stolen cargos are traded,” he paused and caught himself, “well, so rumour has it…” I looked up intrigued despite myself, despite my spies best efforts none of them had managed to even confirm that any of these secret settlements actually still existed.

“You’ll probably need the password,” I pointed out.

“Oh well. I suppose wandering into an Iron Brotherhood encampment would be hellishly dangerous, I wouldn’t want to risk Kezia or Perri… or this ship.”

“A little bird told me the password is ‘swordfish’, or it was.” I said as we dumped the body over the side. I’d learned some interesting snippets of information as Emperor.

“I’m not even going to ask how you know that.” Vano grinned back at me as he held the jacket up against himself. “Damn, too small. It might fit you.” I looked at the jacket, it looked new and expensive, rather more ornate than the sober responsible cut George had made me wear as Emperor. I shucked my comparatively tatty and now bloodstained Red Dragon jacket off, and slid the jacket on, the lining was an iridescent silk and felt wonderful. I shot the cuffs and straightened up… I looked at Vano for his opinion.

“Fuck me. That looks like it was made for you… no it was meant for you.”

“It does feel good,” I said, trying to catch my reflection in the remaining windows of the wheelhouse.

“I’m so glad you’ve got your look correct. Do you know how to use one of these?” He handed me the AK47 and I nodded. The Governor had briefly demonstrated how to use one, and after a bit of fiddling I managed to check the magazine.

“I told you the idiot who was using that blew their entire load into the sea.” I said, showing Vano the empty magazine. Vano laughed, then went serious as he looked at the wheelhouse.

“We’ve put it off long enough. We need to check below decks.” I nodded. Neither of us had mentioned it but we both knew it had to be done and neither of us was looking forward to investigating an unfamiliar, cramped dark space with lots of potential hiding places.

“I’ll go first,” I said, drawing my gun and entering the wheelhouse, the dark maw of the companionway looming menacingly in front of the wheel. Vano nodded, looking relieved. I slowly and silently descended the ladder to the lower deck, taking my time to get used to the darkness. At the bottom I found myself in a long room with several doors off it, the saloon I assumed from the table and benches. It wasn’t as dark as I feared, light filtered in through gaps in the covered skylight above the table. Judging by the abandoned bits and pieces of everyday life it looked like everyone had rushed on deck as soon as they’d seen us. Otherwise the place was as clean and ordered as any naval vessel.

“It’s a bit posh in here ain’t it?” Vano murmured from above me.

“Yeah, surprisingly tasteful” I reply, thinking I’d preferred the Ariadne’s cosy cabin.

“If you start with the two doors at the stern, I’ll keep watch.” Vano suggested. I did so, the two doors led to two generous stern cabins brightly lit by the stern windows, both with unmade double beds, clean but definitely lived in with personal possessions strewn around. A quick but thorough search revealed no-one was hidden in either of them.

I left the doors open to let some light into the mess and checked the other doors, most of them led to other cabins, a couple of them obviously unused, the used bunks reassuringly matching the number of pirates we’d disposed of. I also found a compact but well-equipped galley and managed to salvage the perpetual stew that had almost fallen off the stove. There was an actual shower room with an Earth style shower and a couple of Earth style flush toilets in separate cubicles. It was only at this point I realised the lights were all electric as well. All signs pointed to this being one of the elusive Iron Brotherhood vessels that popped up out of nowhere, carried out a quick raid and then disappeared without trace.

Reassured there was no one below, Vano returned to the deck and I took the companion way down to the cargo hold to check for damage. Even this turned out to have electric lights which made inspecting the hull a relatively easy job. I made my way to the bows through the randomly stacked cargo that looked like it had come from every point in the Empire and beyond, there was no ominous sound of running water, just the normal creaks and groans of a wooden sailing vessel. Then I heard low voices coming from the direction of the bows. I drew my sword and made my way forward.

The voices were coming from a storage locker partitioning the bows from the cargo hold. The door had been secured with not one but two substantial bars. A cell then. I removed the bars and the door swung inwards revealing a man and a girl crouching at a corner. The man was maybe five years older than me and was wearing a well-worn Riverman’s jacket with Carpenter’s and River Trader’s Guild journeyman badges, the girl was maybe twice Perri’s age and wore an equally tatty dress and jacket with Carpenter’s guild apprentice badges. They looked up dully when the door swung open until they realised I wasn’t one of their captors.

“Good afternoon,” I greeted them, wondering what the correct etiquette was in this situation.

“You ain’t one of them, are you?” the girl asked with hope in her eyes before the man nudged her to shut up.

“Marc Qaysar at your service. I’m definitely not one of them. Your former captors have decided to vacate the vessel. Are either of you harmed?”

“We’re fine… Nothing that won’t be cured by a bit of freedom,” I made an elegant gesture for them to leave their prison.

“Vacate… that means leave doesn’t it? But you said we were in the Bergraz sea…” the girl said quietly to her companion.

“I get the impression they didn’t exactly leave willing like,” the man replied dryly, getting up.

“Oh, I don’t suppose either of you noticed a slight impact around the bow area earlier?” I asked, the man nodded.

“Yeah, it felt like more than a slight impact, down here it sounded like those idiots sailed straight into another ship… we would have noticed a bit of water ingress if that had happened, this bastard vessel is well built but I don’t think it's that well-built.”

“Actually, that's exactly what happened. I was half expecting to have to wade to the bows. My associate and I appear to have acquired an extremely tough ship. You don’t know its name do you?”

“When we were brought on board they called it the Gytha,” the man said darkly.

“It means ‘gift’ in the old language,” the girl muttered, her eyes downcast.

“Well the Iron Brotherhood have certainly been generous to us today… And may I enquire to whom do I have the pleasure of rescuing?” I asked the shocked looking pair.

“My name’s Reuben, Journeyman Shipwright, this young lady here is Sabitha, she’s my apprentice and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.” I looked at the two of them, while Reuben exuded rude health and tough competence, Sabitha was a skinny, nervous, little thing with a certain wary look I recognised from some of my pupils.

“Were you one of Father Leo’s kids, Sabitha?” I asked, the two of them looked at me in surprise and Sabitha nodded.

“I only took her on last week, we were lucky they didn’t require a demonstration of her skills, they left everyone else, they only took us, they were specifically looking for craftspeople.” Ruben said.

“Where were you taken?” I asked.

“Oh, a small fishing settlement a couple of hours upstream of Orston. Just two or three buildings and a couple of boats. I don’t even think it has a name. I’d been asked by the guild to have a look at one of their boats. They came at night and ripped the place apart but they only took us. We’ve been kept down here for a night and a day… I think. It’s hard to tell. Where are we now?”

“The Sea of Bergraz, around half a day’s sail from Orston. What happened to the other people in the Settlement?” I asked.

“No idea. They just took everything of value and left ‘em. I think they raided another settlement and captured a couple of boats. I heard them putting stuff in the hold, they seemed to know what they were looking for,” Reuben said, gesturing to the varied cargo.

I took them up to the cabins, showed them how to work the heads, then went up to the wheelhouse to see how Vano was getting on. We were underway, heading back towards the island where we’d left Kezia and Perri even though the sails were still reefed. Then I realised the muffled thumping I’d been ignoring was an internal combustion engine. Vano had also worked out how to turn on the deck pump and water sluiced across the deck. I looked behind us, the Ariadne was now just a dark shadow in the distance with three specks clinging to it.

“Any damage?” He asked as I entered the wheelhouse.

“Not that our carpenter can make out.” I said smugly.

“So I did hear voices. Prisoners of the Brotherhood?”

“Yes, a shipwright and his apprentice. They say they were taken last night in a Settlement raid. Those bastards have been busy, last night they raided two settlements and captured two boats. At least.”

“That a serious amount of raiding this close to Orston and Bergraz. Once the news gets out every Guild vessel will be on the water, it would have only been a matter of time before they were found,”

“Not necessarily,” I pulled up a panel that had been dislodged in the collision to reveal two flat screens, one showing a blur of red, green and grey, the other various camera views of the vessel with several analogue dials and switches underneath that, “sonar and I bet you those cameras have night vision. They’ll probably hole up in a deserted backwater until nightfall then bugger back to wherever they were hiding. I know how those bastards work.” I looked at Vano who was staring at me, a strange expression on his face, then he shook his head and grinned

“Well they ain’t working no more and we have a seriously nice ship here, all salvaged, nice and legal like.”

“And a crew…, a temporary one at least,” I corrected myself hurriedly as the two new crewmembers made an appearance and I introduced them. Fortunately our temporary crew had no qualms about being put to work and in surprisingly short order we had the deck washed as clean as it was going to get and the sails were raised. By the time we dropped anchor at the island where we’d left Kezia and Perri, Sabitha had investigated the galley and got us all generous sized bowls of stew.

It took several minutes for Vano yelling through a speaking trumpet to pry Kezia from her hiding place. I was starting to think there might be something to these mobile phones after all, when the Ariadne’s boat appeared from some overhanging trees.

It took us nearly half an hour to retrieve the boat, unload it, get Perri and Kezia on board, then tell them the story of the Gytha’s capture. Kezia was not happy at the loss of the Ariadne and after she helped set sail for Osrston, she had a quiet but tense word with Vano, then disappeared below with Rueben, Sabitha and Perri.

“We’re in the doghouse,” Vano said with a sigh.

“The Ariadne was a nice boat…” I started,

“She was nearing the end of her useful life, she was a wreck, but she was our wreck, we owned her outright, we could do what we wanted, we didn’t have a schedule, we were beholden to no-one… and now we are reduced to part ownership of a vessel…”

“...Of a far more valuable vessel, you could buy three Ariadne’s for what the Gytha is worth…” I pointed out.

“...ten at least if you include the engine and electronics, this is a once in a lifetime windfall. We would be fools to sell her…” Vano sighed, “Our days of bimbling up and down the river to suit ourselves are gone. We need more crew, so we’ll need a cargo to pay for them, so we’ll have destinations and schedules… And that is only the start, we’ll be merchants, life will become routine… unless of course we become pirates…” Vano said with an air of hopeful inquiry.

“Becoming a merchant was not part of my plan, as far as I had a plan, but I’d rather not be a pirate. I can’t imagine it as romantic as it’s made out to be.”

“You’ve got that right… err… or so I’ve heard,” Vano moved his head closer to mine, “I take it from your attitude you wouldn’t be averse to breaking one or two unimportant laws?” he said quietly.

“Are you referring to those laws that pertain to paying taxes,” I asked, acting wide eyed and innocent. Vano laughed.

“Maybe. I know a few people who might not want their wealth to bother the poor overworked Auditors and would pay handsomely for a vessel that could transport cargos into coves and up tributaries at night.”

“Sounds interesting. And I’m sure Sorgi could put us in contact with some of his old contacts, now he’s not doing… well whatever he used to do.”

“So you really do know Sorgi?”

“I used to put a bit of business his way,” I replied quite truthfully, if a bit misleadingly. Sorgi had been the Empire’s secret weapon, the Imperial Courier no one had known about. One of my final actions as Emperor had been to make him a Lord. If he didn’t owe me a favour then no-one did.

“And you’re not actually a Red Dragon then.”

“Okay, you’ve got me. After I was injured in the unpleasantness last Beltane the Druids mistook me for a Red Dragon, I decided not to disabuse them of their illusions and decided to make a new life for myself. Not many people who do what I did get to retire.” Again totally true while being totally misleading. Vano nodded as if what I’d said made sense to him.

“Hmm, I think I can talk Kezia around. If you take the wheel, I think the Gytha here needs a bit more sail.” I took the wheel as Vano ran out on deck and raised the mainsail, a job that could really have used a couple more people. Immediately the Gytha’s wheel came alive and I altered course minutely, just to feel the bite of the rudder in the water, the wind whistled through the broken panes of the wheelhouse as we picked up speed. For one glorious moment it was just me, the Gytha and the sea

Vano re-entered the wheelhouse, “she’s a sweet sailer ain’t she, almost a pity she’s got an engine.” he remarked, seeing me smiling. I nodded, making to hand over the wheel.

“Nah, you stay there, I’m gonna go and mess about on deck.” And so, that’s how I spent the next couple of hours as Bergraz disappeared over the horizon and Orston drew nearer. Kezia and the others reappeared having taken full advantage of the facilities, and from the looks of it raiding the bundles of clothing in the hold.

“I’ll take over if you want, you look like you could use a break.” Kezia offered, looking to be in a much better mood. I nodded, I wouldn’t have admitted it but I was starting to feel a little frazzled, “I’ve given you the stern cabin on the left,” Kezia informed me, “I’ve left some clothes on the bed that should fit you, we’ll split the loot we found when we dock. We’ve made a list of what’s in the hold… and what stolen cargo was already opened or damaged. You do know we have to give stolen non-perishable cargo back if it was recovered within a hundred days” Kezia said, giving me a wink.

“Don’t the salvage agent make up those lists? …and allowances are made for emergency use. Clothing is classed as emergency use, especially in situations like these,” I pointed out. Kezia raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t know about that rule, but this is the real world. If you give the agents a nice easy to understand list they normally take it at face value and don’t go poking around our personal possessions. You might also want to leave that jacket out of sight until everything’s all nice and legal.”

I nodded and went below decks and took advantage of the shower, getting myself properly clean for what felt like the first time in forever, then I investigated the rather large pile of clothes Kezia had left on my bed, winnowing the selection down to a variety of outfits suitable for most occasions then, remembering I no longer had servants at my beck and call I hung it all in the wardrobe. I changed into what I thought would be a respectable ship owner's outfit and lay down on the bed, just to see what it felt like.

***

“Mister Marc, wake up,” someone was shaking me and I opened my eyes to find Sabitha standing over me looking worried. “What's up?” I groaned, looking out the stern lights. It had gone very dark out there, was there going to be a storm?

“We’re entering Orston,” She said. I sat up in alarm.

“Fuck. Why wasn’t I woken up?” I growled buckling on my sword and gun as Sabitha stepped back, eyeing me fearfully as if I was going to hit her.

“Kez told us to let you sleep, said you’d only been discharged from the Sacred Pool today.”

“Well, yes but we’re shorthanded on an unfamiliar ship,”

“That is why I’ve been told to get you up now.”

Five minutes later I found myself hauling on lines to lower the sails with Vano, Ruben and the girls with Kezia at the wheel as we approached Orston. As the sails were lowered, I heard the rumble of the engine start up. I stretched as my muscles complained about all the unfamiliar exercise they’d been forced to do today. “Have we spoken to anyone at Orston on the radio?” I asked, looking towards the docks, there seemed to be an awful lot of activity on shore and it looked like a couple of boats were hurriedly getting ready to sail.

“If we have a radio we haven’t found it. Why would we want to talk to Orston? I never have before, they’ve always got berths,” Vano replied. I sighed.

“We are approaching a major settlement in a sinister looking vessel at dusk? The same vessel that has raided several settlements? What’s the betting news of the raids has got out?” I pointed out.

“Oh… fuck.” Vano said, staring at the docks that were now resembling a disturbed ants nest. In the distance I could hear a bell tolling… no, two bells. I rushed to the deckhouse and started searching for anything that resembled a radio, a microphone, or anything that might resemble a communications device. Swearing to myself I pulled open lockers, one of them contained flags, the one on top was the Iron Brotherhood fist holding a lightning bolt, the next one, a torn and stained River Trader’s Guild flag, there were a few other flags underneath but no radio or phone. The locker opposite held some flares and a huge Earth made metal torch. I had an idea.

I grabbed the flags, the torch and the flares and ran back on deck, thrusting the flags and the torch at Vano. “Run those up the mainmast, make sure the River Trader’s flag is on top and the torch is shining at them.” Vano nodded running to the main mast and started to fiddle with the ropes, a few seconds later the flags shot up the mainmast, the torch banging on the mast behind them.

“Annnd here’s the welcoming committee,” I said, gesturing to two light, rectangular river barges with large outboard combustion engines attached at the rear, leaving the inner harbour at some speed. In the remaining light I could just about make out the shape of a heavy machine gun in the centre of the barge. Brand had obviously persuaded the Governor to part with some of his technology before he’d buggered off to Selamu Alu.

“Throttle back,” Vano yelled to Kezia as I activated a couple of the flares and handed one each to the two girls.

“Wave them like this,” I yelled, waving my arm about my head, the two girls did so, seconds later an unbelievably bright light shone at the deck, dazzling us all. Perri screamed and dropped her flare overboard. Sabitha looked up at me and I motioned her to keep waving. I resisted an urge to hide in the shadows and moved up to stand at the rail as the two barges approached. The light moved from the kids to shine on me and I raised my hands to protect my eyes from the dazzling light.

“EVERYONE ON DECK WHERE WE CAN SEE YOU,” an amplified voice boomed out as one of the barges shot behind us. Vano, Reuben and Kezia joined me at the rail with the girls.

“FUCKING HELL… IS THAT YOU KEZ?…” There was an audible click as the loudhailer turned off and the same voice boomed to someone else in the barge. “Put that light out. Yes, now. I know these two, they’re not bloody raiders.” The bright light went off leaving us as all blind as a bat.

“Is that you Will, you old dog? Have you actually got a respectable job?” Kezia called down.

“Kez! Where did you find that fine vessel? What happened to the Ariadne?”

“Ask my good for nothing husband and his associate about what happened to my poor Ariadne, they also have a little salvage claim that they want to process.” Kezia replied. I saw the man at the wheel speak into a microphone

“Okay guys, panic over, stand down. Get Big Tom to meet us at the inner docks, we have a salvage claim.”

It took a little while for everyone to sort themselves out, but as night fell we made our way into the inner harbour and were firmly directed to a mooring next to a sleek looking, well-armed steam launch.

Will turned out to be a middle-aged black man with an ancient, evil looking scar across his shaven head. He was wearing an Orston Guard’s Captain’s uniform. He was joined by a tanned, muscular, bearded man almost as wide as he was tall. This man was wearing an expensive looking coat and carrying a large briefcase. He nodded to Vano, Kezia and finally Perri who was taking in all the drama with big eyes.

“I am Big Tom, Lord Brand’s Senescal. Will vouches for you three, not that that’s any indicator of respectability, but the Harbour Master and the Guild representative also vouch for you as well. You two I can see are members of the Shipwrights Guild, but you, Sir, you have no guild affiliation and a dangerous look about you. Whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?

“Marc Qaysar, at your service,” I gave the big man an elegant bow, “I am a former Red Dragon who took passage this morning on the Ariadne, bound for Sandbeck in the service of Lord Sorgi,” I said. Vano and Kezia nodded in confirmation.

“And where is the Ariadne now, and why are you in possession of a rather grander vessel? One that just happens to match the description of a vessel responsible for at least two raids well upstream of here only last night.” Big Tom asked. I smiled.

“I believe it was actually five raids and it is quite a tale, come into the wheelhouse and I will spin you a tale of heroism and derring do even your boss would be proud of.” Big Tom smiled.

“Now that is a tale I would like to hear. After you Master Qaysar”

So I told the tale of how the Ariadne was lost and how we captured the Gytha, barely exaggerating at all. To my surprise Vano and Kezia let me tell the whole story with hardly any interruption. Big Tom and Will were obviously no fools and asked us in depth questions about the deployment of the pirates. The punt gun was brought out for inspection and it was sadly decided it would not be a good idea to fire in it the harbour, at night, at least not until a good deal more alcohol was consumed. It was not how I expected an official salvage hearing to go but as Big Tom was making notes and writing stuff down it appeared that it was and to be fair to him all the legal points were met.

Eventually the two men got up to leave with a great deal of laughter and shaking of hands. “Well I can’t see there will be any objections to the salvage, given that this vessel looks to have been built by the Iron Brotherhood. I will send the Guild Representative to you tomorrow, he can discuss the removal of the stolen cargo and the insurance due to you for the Ariadne.”

Big Tom turned to Reuben and Sabitha, “And you two, you are quite welcome to stay ashore, Orston will cover any expenses, and I would be happy to escort young Sabitha to the Sacred Pool if she wishes.”

“No thanks Seneschal, we will stay on board, Master Vano mentioned there might be a couple of crew vacancies for us here,” Reuben said. Vano nodded.

“It’s something I’ll have to discuss with Marc, but that can wait until the morning,” Big Tom nodded and the two men made their way down the gangplank escorted by Kezia.

“Right girls, it’s late and you’ve had a busy day. Both of you, off to bed,” Vano shooed the girls down the companionway and followed them down. I went out on deck to get a bit of fresh air and clear my head. I stood at the stern, looking out at the lights of Orston. From the docks came a mutter of conversation and I realised it was Kezia and Will.

“... is he who he says he is?”

“Fuck no, if I was to guess I’d say he was one of the Emperor’s Secret Auditors, or at least he used to be. He knows Sorgi.”

“Hmm. That’s one hell of a tall tale he told. Did he really kill four of them?”

“So Vano says. I actually think he quite impressed him.”

“And you are sure you can trust him?”

“Pretty sure, but just in case do you know if any of the old crew are around? If they haven’t succumbed to respectability like wot you have.”

“You’ll need some crew anyway, I may be able to get in touch with a couple of the guys… But I was asking if he could be trusted for other reasons… official reasons.”

“I never thought you’d have an official anything. Except perhaps an official death warrant,” Kezia said with a laugh.

“I know, I’ve landed on my feet here, I’m courting and everything.”

“You, courting? You mean the fair ladies of Orston don’t scream and run away when you enter a room?”

“I’ll have you know some ladies appreciate a man with experience. But enough of my love life, do you think your new business partner would be up for tweaking the Iron Brotherhood’s nose a bit?”

“From what Vano says I think he’d be more than up for that. What did you have in mind?” The two of them wandered off out of earshot and I quietly re-entered the wheelhouse, went down to my cabin and reloaded my revolver, placing it under my pillow... Just in case. It looked like owning the Gytha was going to be interesting.