A Warrior's Redemption (The Warrior Kind) (45 page)

“The Lord my God is the God of battles, of whom shall I fear! He is Mas
ter of all and there is none before Him! To Him all glory and honor is due! Behold this day our Creator fights for us, as our cause is just and His mercy is great for those that call upon His name and are faithful to His Holy Word! He has heard our cries and taken our fears captive, even as we will be avenged this day!”

My words lashed out over the battlefield like words of thunder even as a white light too bright to look upon shot out of the end of the sword I still held aloft into the dark clouds of war above. A cre
scendo of echoing thunder rumbled out over the battlefield.

The remnant of the attacking force dropped their weapons in their haste to flee back to the mass of the larger part of the enemy army still gathered farther back on the plain from us. As I sat there astride Flin I watched as the retreating soldiers were cut down by their own men. As the last of the retreat
ing men fell, I watched the army gathered on the plain start out slowly for us.

I glanced to either side of me and saw the remnant of warriors who were still able to stand and fight spread out in a ragged thin line to either side of me on top of the mound. My grip on the sword tightened as I turned to face the enemy once more. We would be wiped out within moments by such a force, but it didn’t matter. We had al
ready won.

I felt a hand at my leg and glancing down I saw Nadalarkin stand
ing there bloody and bruised. He had been with me in the arena and the years that had followed and I had only known him to always be faithful to me. He could very well be the last friend I had left alive from the old days.

He was gesturing to the sea behind me, “Look Roric! Surely they wouldn’t! They’ll be smashed to bits!”

I turned in the saddle to look behind and I saw way out at the head of the bay, a row of sails stretched out full with the wind and colored a bright burgundy with streaks of gold across them. They were the battle sails of only one nation, the Tranquil Is
landers.

“Roric their dead men!
They’ll be smashed to bits on the rocks!” Nadalarkin exclaimed looking up at me.

“Maybe so my friend and then maybe not.
Who can say?”

Nadalarkin glanced from the distant sails that were fast approaching the rocks to the glowing sword in my hand and smiled lightly back up at me, “It’s been a day of miracles so far. Perhaps they’ll be another.”

Chapter Twenty One

Wave of Creation

Captain Jansa stood at the prow of his first command, the Fair Damson. It was likely to be his last command. Salt spray kicked up and splattered his tunic, but he took no notice of the cold seawater that was drenching him as he thought back to the night before at the captain’s meeting on the fleet’s flagship.

The night before, Tranquil Islander Fleet at anchor for the night.

The Admiral had spoken first to start the meeting, “Captains as you know that despite our best efforts we were unable to outrun the enemy fleet after we broke through their blockade. They got to the western shore first and now we are blocked from landing our troops to aid our only allies in this war. I know what I think is best for us in this moment, but I want to hear from you captains as to what our course of action should be now that we have been blocked from our objective. I ask this because I think it is a decision that should not be made by just one man. I give the floor to you captains, what do you have to say? I will preface the discus
sion by placing two options before you. Either we attack the
enemy fleet and try to break through to the beach or we turn our ships around and return to our islands to await the fight that will eventually come to be fought on our own ground.”

Captain Jansa, the most junior captain present stood up from the table where he was seated at the far end of and ad
dressed the admiral, “Neither option sir!”

“What do you mean by such a statement Captain Jansa?” The admiral asked, as he speculatively eyed the young cap
tain at the far end of the table.

“I mean to say that with all due respect, Sir, that neither option presented before us can accomplish anything meaningful in the outcome of this war. Attacking the enemy fleet guarding the western shore is shear suicide, Sir. Not one of our ships will reach the beach, except perhaps later as a piece of idly floating driftwood. Sacrificing ourselves in such an attempt will serve little purpose other than to help us preserve our honor with a noble death. As for the other option, Sir, as you yourself said this war will come to be fought on our own shores some day not to distant from now, if the battle taking place is lost by our allies. If we leave this fight we return home without our honor, only to face the inevitable outcome of our own fate at a later date. The outcome will be the same only we will die without honor after having run from this battle that is before us that our allies are proud
ly facing head on. It is not the way that I or how I want our people to fade into the pages of history!”

The captains were silently contemplative in the aftermath of Captain Jansa’s words, with even a few of them nodding in apparent agreement with his expressed sentiments.

The A
dmiral broke the silence, “True words, Captain Jansa, but tell me as honorable men, what other option is left to us but to attack the enemy fleet in the morning?”

Captain Jansa met the old eyes of the Admiral squarely, “I propose that we sail north around the rocky headland of Remembrance Bay and make our way through the rocks to beach our ships in the sands before the Shrine. Some of our ships will be lost on the rocks. Perhaps all of them, but there is a greater chance this way of us landing a fighting force to help our friends than in attacking the enemy navy outright. I am persuaded to believe that at least some of us will make the beach, as our ancestors did some
how so long ago. It is an honorable death at the very least.”

There was silence around the table as every captain present had at some time seen the rocks guarding the small bay and each was now imagining what it would be like to at
tempt to sail through such an obstacle.

The Admiral studied the young captain thoughtfully for a moment, “An intriguing option and one that I had not con
sidered. What do you think of the captain’s third option Captain Nargo?”

The grey headed captain to the Admiral’s right responded slowly and thoughtfully as he stared at the table top in front of him, as if seeing something there no one else could discern, “The Captain’s logic is sound I be
lieve. I find it only
regrettable that no better strategy than this lies open to us, but rarely have I found war to offer an agreeable path to victory either. It has my vote and my congratulations to the young Captain for coming forward with such a daring plan. Who knows it might work. Stranger things have hap
pened before.”

The Admiral looked around the table and saw a quiet acknowledgement echoed on the faces of the other cap
tains.

“It’s settled then gentlemen! Tonight we will weigh an
chor and sail around the headland through the night and make our attempt to pass the rocks in the morning’s first light. May it be that the Creator will have mercy on us and allow us to fight by our friend’s side after
all.
R
e
turn to your ships and make ready for we sail within the hour. Captain Jansa if you would stay behind a moment.”

The captains got up and started to leave. The last captain to leave the room, who captained the Admiral’s flagship turned back to the Ad
miral, “Sir?” He asked.

“Yes, what is it Captain?”

The captain looked hesitant to speak, “Sir, as you well know the Tasa’Anna is larger than any other ship in the fleet. We cannot even hope to possibly fit between the narrow confines of the rocks guarding the bay!”

“Be that as it may Captain the Tasa’Anna sails with the fleet tomorrow. I never ask more from my sailors than I am personally willing to do myself.”

“Yes Sir!” The C
aptain said quickly opening the door to leave.

“And Captain I want her to look her finest tomorrow un
derstood?”

“It will be done Sir!”

The door closed softly and the old A
dmiral rose stiffly and walked over to Captain Jansa.

His arms came up and he hugged Captain Jansa to him tight
ly, “I could never have asked the Creator for a finer son than you! Never was there a prouder father than I!”

Captain Jansa returned his father’s embrace, but asked with emotion in his voice, “How can you say that father, when I have surely killed you and all those aboard the Tasa’Anna on the mor
row?”

The Admiral leaned back from his son still holding onto his son’s shoulders, “Who can tell what will happen tomor
row? You must have faith my son!”

Captain Jansa was startled out of his remembrances of the night before as a sailor addressed him, “What is it?”

“The A
dmiral has signaled the fleet Captain!”

“And the message?”

“Godspeed Sir!”

Captain Jansa nodded and thanked the sailor as he turned back to the prow railing. They would need plenty of divine intervention, if they were to make it through the roiling jug
gernaut that lay just ahead of them. He started to pray as he had all night long since the captain’s meeting, when the same sailor tugged on his sleeve again. He turned to see what else the man wanted.

The sailor stood with his sea cap in his hands his stance respectful, “Beggin your pardon Captain, but the men and I was won
dering if you wouldn’t mind praying out loud.”

Captain Jansa looked beyond the sailor to see that sailors and soldiers alike were intently staring at him. Step
ping past the sailor to make his way to the main mast of the ship he knelt down on one knee and placed one hand on the mast beam while he held his hat in his other and bowed his head.

“Lord your servants have need of Your grace in this hour. Give us the courage that our circumstances demand and open up the sea lanes ahead of us and grant the wooden beams of our ships the strength of iron so that we can reach the far shore and help our friends claim the victory that I pray that You
would give us this day.
Thy
will be done in all things, Amen.”

Captain Jansa rose back up to his feet, as did many of those on board. He started back to
wards the prow when the ship shuddered violently.

Had they already run into the rocks? He ran to the star
board side of the ship and was in time to see a monstrous head crown out of the seawater.

A whale!

The blast from its spout sheeted cold sea water down onto the shuddering deck of the ship. Another splash of water onto the deck had him wheeling around to see an
other great head rise out of the sea on the other side of the ship.

Two whales!

Suddenly the ship went up into the air and then back down again and then up again and so on.

Men were thrown to the deck and some were almost thrown over the side by the force of the up and down motion. It was like rid
ing a giant bucking horse.

The whales were carrying the ship!

“Cut the sails and let the rudder go! Quick, at
it
men, these sea beasts are taking us for a ride!”

Awe struck sailors stumbled to accomplish the tasks given to them. Captain Jansa looked out at the other ships along the line only to see the same unbelievable phenomenon happen
ing.

The rocks loomed close, but the big beasts that bore the ship charged toward them heedless of their danger. The helmswheel began to turn freely as the two great whales turned to the right slightly as they swam in unison with each other. The hull of the ship was balanced between them.

The Fair Damson raced into the jagged rocks carried along by its two shepherds. The whales turned first one way and then the other way, as they steered the ship through the rocky ob
structions in its path. Their great bodies slammed into the rocks, and the sea foamed red from their injuries, but the ship never touched a rock.

Sailors and soldiers alike clung to each other and the ship for dear life, as the ship rose and fell violently. Salt spray cascaded onto the decks drench
ing everyone.

Captain Jansa clutched the side of the ship’s railing near the prow and looked across at the great eye of the whale so close
to him that if he had leaned out he could have touched it. Ships everywhere were being ferried through the perilous rocks by the great beasts of the sea.

They were through the rocks suddenly and the beasts bearing them headed straight for the beach picking up speed with every moment that went by. What of the flagship?

The Tasa’Anna being bigger and slower had been at the back of the fleet. Captain Jansa strained to see what had become of her and his father. The Tasa’Anna was under full sale headed along the cliffside wall of the leeward rocky headland. It was the only place where the channel was wide enough to accommodate it, but it was also the most danger
ous route to have taken.

The seawater in a backlash of current smashed up against the cliffside wall with a force that would ground anything it caught to pieces. The Tasa’Anna sailed fero
ciously down the narrow channel at full speed. What was keeping the ship from being pushed sideways against the cliff and destroyed?

Captain Jansa’s jaw fell open as he saw a bluish whale’s head far larger than the ones carrying their ship rise out of the sea on the cliffside of the ship. It was acting as a buffer for the Tasa’Anna to keep it away from the cliff rocks at its own expense!