Scarlet and the White Wolf [02] - Mariner's Luck (8 page)

Scarlet looked at the edge of the dark, eerily beautiful knife and then at him. "What's happening?"

"What always happens with men like me. You would have been safer going into the Wasted Lands than following me, little one."

Scarlet seized his arm when Liall would have left quickly.

Liall could not look at Scarlet. He was too sick at the thought of what would happen to the pedlar if the crew were not strong enough, if they did not prevail and drive their pursuers back or burn them into the cold sea. He could see the scenario unfolding in his mind's eye: the crew dead, himself fallen or taken, and the bloody raiders finally discovering the bolted cabin and its lone inhabitant.

Beauty, like gold, is coveted everywhere, and being male had never guaranteed Scarlet's safety from certain kinds of assault. There would be the inevitable joking and leers. They would take their time, no longer being in haste, and they would have him as they willed. Liall quailed to think of it, he who had seen so much of blood and death, but the thought of what they would do to Scarlet's flesh made him weak.

It was then, after months of denial, that Liall began to realize he no longer had a choice in whether or not he loved 64

Mariner's Luck [Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2]

by Kirby Crow

Scarlet. Fear welled up in his chest and he pushed it back savagely. He had loved once and men had died for it. Many futures had been lost, his own among them. He would not make the same mistake again only to watch his world fall apart. Yet, at that moment, he could not imagine any future at all that lay beyond Scarlet's death. The world seemed to drop off at that point; a far vista abruptly severed into a hopeless void.

Liall made to go, keeping the words he wanted to say behind his teeth.

"No," Scarlet urged, stepping after him. "Stay here."

"It's a small difference, but I can be of more use above."

"Then I'm coming with you."

"No!" Liall turned and grabbed Scarlet's shoulders, shaking him hard. "You'll do as I say!"

Scarlet gaped at him, shocked by his sudden violence, and Liall's anger vanished. "I crave your pardon," Liall said in shame.

"I'm not afraid, Liall."

"No. I am the coward here, not you, too weak to watch your blood being spilled." With that, he had no more words to share. Liall shook his head helplessly and released him.

Liall rejoined Qixa on the quarterdeck. Oleksei, Mautan the mate, and the quartermaster were gathered in a knot. For once, Mautan was not smiling, and he looked leeward and saw the schooner had gained greatly just in the time he was gone.

"Keep her on the leeward," he warned. "That will give us some advantage, but not much."

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Mariner's Luck [Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2]

by Kirby Crow

Qixa nodded, his arms crossed, watching the deadly lines of the ship closing on their stern like a sleek hound on the water. There was nothing else he could do.

When she was two hundred paces out, the mate gave a shout to the men on the main deck, all lined up as they were with their knives and swords and hatchets in their hands, silent as the tomb, watching the schooner grow and fill the horizon. At a signal from Qixa, they moved, some shinnying up the ropes and some bellying up to the port-side rail with shields in their hands to deflect arrows. These would try to protect the sails and masts and also hack through any grappling implements thrown at them from the schooner deck.

Liall saw a man marking his forehead with an ancient sign, and another, a mariner with ruddy-gold hair and a face even younger than Oleksei's, looked to the north, toward Rshan, and nodded as if making some silent pact. This was the worst part; the knowing. Watching them slip up behind and then alongside bit by bit and seeing their numbers, the weapons in the hands of the enemy crew, their set faces. There were a lot of them. Not Rshan, thank Deva, but lean, brown-haired Morturiis and stout, parchment-skinned axe men from Minh.

He had been wrong about the empty holds; they were filled with fighters.

It did not take long. The Ostre Sul dove into a thick fog that seemed to have rolled in from nowhere, smelling of fish and rot, and clouding their vision. The brigantine's sails vanished into white clouds.

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Mariner's Luck [Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2]

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They raced now, neck and neck into the north, and when the length of water between them was perhaps fifty paces, the schooner captain gave a shout. Some of the enemy crew leaped forward to the rail then, succumbing to nerves or just tired of standing. The captain, a grizzled Morturii commander in blackened Minh armor who straddled the quarterdeck as if bolted there, signaled for the hooks.

The grappling hooks, iron claws attached with strong rope at one end, were thrown. Some missed the brigantine and trawled the sea uselessly; others struck the gunwale and held fast, their strong barbs sunken deep into wood or jammed between crevices. The Rshani crew leaped to hack the ropes that held them, and the Morturii captain shouted another order. Arrows flew from the schooner. One volley—all there would be time for before their two hulls began to scrape—and several of the men nearest the railing screamed and fell, impaled through the chest and arms.

The compact size of the Minh warriors gave them an advantage. From the schooner, the Minh were shinnying or swinging over on the grappling ropes, either to prevent the hooks from being dislodged or to drop like spiders on the Rshani crew from above.

Liall had put aside his knives and taken a sword from the weapons master. He had had it in his hand from the moment the arrows flew. It was a long, double-edged blade, probably Qixa's own, and felt good in his grip. They—the watchers higher up on the quarterdeck, Liall, Qixa, the quartermaster and Mautan, Oleksei and perhaps thirty other skilled fighters—waited for the arrows to land before they moved a 67

Mariner's Luck [Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2]

by Kirby Crow

muscle. One volley of arrows was all Liall expected, since they were at such close quarters.

He was not wrong, and as the Minh archers dropped their bows to the deck and blades flashed from their sheaths, Liall charged off the foredeck with Mautan and the others, roaring loud enough to wake the dead. Half of all soldiery is intimidation, and he made best advantage of his height and appearance. A Morturii swordsman rose in his path and he struck the man down as he passed, fixed on a target near the port anchor; a hook embedded in a post. Two of the fighter's fellows tried to take him down and he turned to slaughter them, wielding the double-edged sword like an axe, felling them like saplings.

Liall struck down another Minh on his way to the side, sword straight into him and out, not even stopping to make sure he was dead. Then a larger Morturii blocked his way and they fought briefly. The Morturii was enthusiastic with his weapon, but no true swordsman. At the last, he gave up parrying Liall's thrusts and maneuvers and simply threw himself at the taller man. Liall went down with him and the Morturii rolled and kicked, seeking to get his hands around Liall's throat, but Liall snatched up a dislodged hook in the deck and pushed the barbs into the Morturii's face.

Dazed but on his feet again, Liall hacked at a hook stuck firm in the brigantine's side and cut it away as an enemy crashed over him again and dragged him into the thick of the killing, rolling and tumbling.

Again, Liall threw them off and rose, and while he was fighting his way back to the side to detach more hooks, 68

Mariner's Luck [Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2]

by Kirby Crow

another Morturii clothed in flamboyant armor and armed with a long-knife in each hand came at him. The Morturii was good. Liall lurched aside from one well-aimed thrust, but the Morturii's left blade went shallowly into his shoulder. The man took a fool's moment to grin at his handiwork and Liall smashed a fist into the Morturii's jaw and watched his smirking head snap back. Liall used his knife to open a wide, red smile in the man's throat.

On the schooner, the Minh were hauling on the ropes, dragging the tethered schooner close to their side, at last sealing their wet hulls, which screeched like mating wildcats.

They lashed the ropes to their ship to make them fast, and then began to leap the distance between them, three at a time. Soon, enemy fighters swarmed over the Ostre Sul's deck.

The Rshani crew were in grave trouble. They were outnumbered two to one, and they had already lost many to the arrows. They had only one hope: to cut the ropes that bound the ships together and swing away from the schooner into the swell, separating the raiders on their deck from the greater numbers of their fellows on the schooner. Then they could kill the enemies that remained on their ship and then face the second wave.

Liall found another hook and chopped the rope free with his sword, then instinctively dropped to one knee when he heard a whirring at his back. The axe that narrowly missed his ear smashed into wood, and he stabbed back with his knife without looking, and the gut-stabbed mariner tumbled over him. Liall helped him into the sea while keeping a firm 69

Mariner's Luck [Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2]

by Kirby Crow

grip on his knife. Losing a blade stuck in another man's throat or kidney had killed more mariners over the years than scurvy.

It was close and dirty fighting from that point: stabbing up under the ribs, wielding the sword crudely, chop and hack and slash as the battle became more like butchery than war. He went down once under a press of Morturii and took the opportunity to hamstring two or three of them, then rose from the deck, throwing the bodies off him with a roar. A Minh swordsman darted in under his guard and thrust upwards. Liall danced aside, but not swiftly enough, and the enemy blade pierced his shoulder where the Morturii had stabbed him already, deep but not lethal. If he had not turned, the Minh would have taken him down and impaled him to the wooden deck.

Fresh blood can steam like hot water in the north, and new blood poured out of him in a misty fount, hot and smelling of slaughter. Howling, Liall hacked at the Minh swordsman until he had lopped off an arm, then kept going from there. The Minh was considerably abbreviated when he was done.

When Liall blinked away the haze before his eyes, he saw that Scarlet had disobeyed him and joined the battle. He was near the bulkhead that supports the quarterdeck, fighting a spear-wielding Morturii a head taller than him, and as he watched, Scarlet slashed with his long-knife—too slow!—and narrowly avoided being spitted.

Liall went a little mad as the berserker rage took over, but this time he welcomed it. He only knew there was a roar in his ears like the sea and his throat hurt from screaming, and 70

Mariner's Luck [Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2]

by Kirby Crow

all around him was steaming blood and the stink of fear and men falling like wheat under his blade. He saw Scarlet twice more: once hacking away at a grappling rope while a hulking Minh ran at him. Scarlet fell back and grabbed the nearest thing, a broken spar with a jagged end, pointed it at his enemy, and let momentum do the rest for him. Liall tried to fight his way to Scarlet's side, but Scarlet had already moved closer to the half deck, where the fighting was less, having achieved his goal and dislodged the rope. The second time, Liall saw him locking blades with a Minh who was a much better swordsmen. The Minh slapped the blade out of Scarlet's grip with his sword, slicing the back of his hand, and Scarlet danced back a step and looked wildly around for another weapon. Liall threw his dagger at the Minh and caught him where his spine joined his neck. The Minh fell to the deck, his feet jerking as he convulsed and frothed like a rabid dog. Scarlet stared at Liall, dazed and pale.

"Get below!" Liall roared.

* * * *

The Minh fell before Scarlet with Liall's dagger in his neck, and Scarlet fell back against the ship, pressing his body against the reassuring strength of solid wood. The deck felt slick beneath his feet, and he looked down and saw that his boots were washed with blood. Everywhere he looked he saw visions of madness. Men hacked into each other, their faces twisted into unrecognizable masks of straining fury, as blood sprayed from the wounds of their enemies, bathing all in crimson. He ran.

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Mariner's Luck [Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2]

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Suddenly, another Minh warrior loomed before him. The Minh's dark armor blackened the sky, seeming to shut out hope.
On Deva danaee shani
, Scarlet prayed automatically.

He had no more weapons, and the bodies of the dead blocked his escape from all sides. Scarlet knew that he looked on his death.

The Minh raised his axe
. Liall
, Scarlet thought in profound loss, and then the Minh opened his wide, bearded jaw, and a torrent of blood flowed from it like a red stream.

Scarlet gaped as the Minh fell, revealing Qixa's broad figure standing behind the fallen warrior. The captain locked eyes with Scarlet and shook his head, a small smile on his lips, as if ridiculing himself for the act of saving a worthless lenilyn.

"Get off the deck, Byzan child," Qixa growled.

Scarlet's whole body was shaking as he nodded at Qixa, unable even to summon a word of thanks. Qixa turned and barked orders to the crew, and for the moment the battle moved away from them both, giving Scarlet a much-needed moment to breathe. He spied a long-knife on the deck and took it up, and then looked out over the water to the enemy schooner.

The Rshani crew had cut away the last of the grappling ropes, and the schooner lurched away from the brigantine.

Even Scarlet, novice that he was, could see that it was only a temporary respite. The schooner was faster and could turn much quicker than the brigantine. She could stalk them for weeks on the water, attacking at any moment of her choosing, picking a little more of the Rshani crew off each 72