The Chronicles of Lumineia: Book 01 - Elseerian (11 page)

“—And that won’t work because even if we caught the leader, someone might just kill him to ‘advance’ themselves in rank,” the captain interjected, finishing her statement. “So what
are
we going to do?”

Liri spoke up again. “I know that
normally
finding the leader of a group of pirates wouldn’t work—but, we aren’t dealing with a normal set of pirates, are we? If a group has united like this, maybe there is a leader they
will
obey.”

“I don’t like it, but I don’t think we have any other hope,” the captain replied with a frown. 

An arrow thudded into the railing nearby, drawing all their eyes to the quivering shaft.

“Well, we’re out of time, so that’s our new plan, but if you see an opportunity to stop a ship, do it.” Then the captain raised his voice and yelled to the crew, “Defend the ship, Taryn and Liri have a plan. Don’t wait for a command from me to shoot; if you see a target you can hit, hit it!”

The members of the crew that had bows or crossbows immediately turned and aimed over the rail. Pirate ships were all around them now. The two they had disabled were slowly turning with the rowers rowing in reverse on one side. Two ships were on their left, sailing parallel to their own vessel—but getting closer. Three ships were on the right with one of them sailing on an intercept course and the other two mirroring the others on the left. Pretty soon they were going to be surrounded.

A sudden volley of arrows came from the ship on an intercept course. Most embedded in wood, but one sailor cried out when an arrow sunk into his arm.

“Frey, take the injured that are unable to fight below, the injured that can still fight, do the best you can for them. We need every available figh—
everybody get down
!” the captain shouted as another volley flew through the air towards them from the left.

Everyone ducked as pirate ships all around them launched arrows and crossbow bolts in their direction. A hailstorm of deadly missiles rained down on their ship. Sails were ripped and torn, rails and barricades were pummeled relentlessly. Several of the men were hit because it was impossible to find cover from both sides.

Taryn leaned up and glanced over the rail at the ship that was still coming at them. If it didn’t turn, it was going to hit them in thirty seconds. Then the ship started to swing sharply to come in line with them. Now coming in at an angle, the rails could be seen lined with villainous looking pirates armed to the teeth with all manner of swords, axes, and daggers. Taryn estimated there to be about seventy in the boarding party, and it was clear they were going to be the first to intercept them. Their oars had been stowed and beams were ready to be put in place between their two ships.

As the ship drew closer the arrows slowed and stopped, allowing him to stand cautiously and look around for something to do. Seeing a stray rope that had been cut by the volley of arrows, an idea flashed into his mind. Brash and dangerous, it just might be brazen enough to take the pirates by surprise. It also might get him killed. With that comforting thought, he sheathed his weapons and sprinted to the rope that was hanging on the side where they were about to be boarded.

Without stopping he snatched the end of the rope and, still on the run, raced towards the back of the boat, wrapping the end of the cord securely around his left wrist as he ran. He streaked past the captain and a few sailors, reached the back rail and leapt off the boat at an angle. The rope instantly went taut and swung Taryn out to the right side of the ship in a wide arc—two feet above the choppy water.

In seconds he was angling out and away from the
Sea Dancer
an arm’s length from the pirate ship. Still gliding through the air with astonished pirates looking down at him from above, he drew Mazer and sliced right into the boat! The blade lit up with its magic as it cut through the side of the ship like it was a slice of hot bread. Gouging deep, the curved wood split open, leaving a ragged gap dipping below the water line.

Cries of astonishment turned to anger as they saw Taryn coast by several feet below them, gutting their ship like a fish. Before anyone could do anything, he finished his swing, sheathed his sword, and lifted his legs to fly right over the rail to land lightly at the front of his own vessel.

“Show-off,” Trin said, his voice laced with sarcasm.

Taryn shrugged and ducked as a retaliating stream of arrows shot towards them again. Through a crack in the barricade he could see the ship he had sliced begin to settle and fall behind as water poured into the long cut he’d made.

A sudden crash from the opposite side shook their entire boat, throwing men stumbling to the deck. Another ship had just collided with theirs! Pirates, sailors, and the four fighters from the island rose to defend themselves. Shouts and screams echoed everywhere as the small group struggled to stave off the wave of corsairs, and the thrum of the large ballistae firing shook the deck. Before long, another ship hooked onto their boat from the right and pulled themselves close—forcing them to defend against both flanks!

Taryn and Liri fought on the left while Trin and Mae helped to defend the right. At first, Liri stood back and used her bow, repeatedly dispatching pirate after pirate until she ran out of arrows, then she drew her sword and moved to stand next to Taryn. For his part, Taryn was using both swords, blocking with first one, and then the other. When he had an opening, one of his swords would dart in, knocking pirates out with flat-bladed blows to the head. Even in the heat of battle with everyone’s lives at risk, his sword somehow turned at the last second before cutting into flesh.

Suddenly he charged forward, roaring as he rammed his shoulder into two men about to jump onto their boat. Smashed into each other, they flew backward and dragged another man into the water between the boats, where all three were quickly left behind by the racing hulls. Sending a quick prayer to Ero for them to survive, he hilt smashed a man that was about to kill Hunrin and sheathed Mazer.

With his right hand free, he changed his mother’s sword to a bow and whipped an arrow or two into pirates trying to jump between the ships. Each arrow went precisely where he wanted, embedding deep into shoulders or legs and causing each man to cry out before falling backward onto their own ship. Darting forward, he drew his father’s sword again and rejoined the fray.

On the opposite side, Mae twirled and danced, her short sword cutting through any that stood in her path. No one could even get close as she glided in and out of the group of pirates like an avenging wraith of destruction, and before they knew what hit them, they’d been cut down.

Near Mae, Trin stood his ground just as well, although in a far different style. His longsword had a greater reach than nearly all the weapons around him and he took full advantage of its length. Pirates fell left and right as he chopped and swung with incredible strength. Each swing and furious shout plunged fear into any pirate within view, causing more than one to shy away from the tall swordsman.

For a few minutes the four fighters and the sailors of the
Sea Dancer
managed to hold their own—until the other pirate ships drew close and tied on to those already connected to theirs. Now there were four vessels tied together side by side on their left, and two on their right. A moment later, the one he’d gutted managed to catch up and tie on as well. Bloodthirsty pirates roared and flowed across vessels like an unending wave towards the besieged ship in the middle.

Liri ducked an ax swing and cut the wielder down. Continuing her turn, she ended up next to Taryn. “Do you see the little girl by the helm of that ship?” she asked, breathless as she blocked another attack and then whipped around like lightning to slice him across the midsection. The pirate grabbed his stomach and dropped with a groan.

Taryn thought it was an odd question, but he spared a look where she’d indicated, and sure enough there was a young girl next to the pirate at the helm. Between parrying two swords and an axe at the same time, he noticed her hands were tied to the rail.

“Mae says there are other children on the other boats too,” Liri said beside him, ducking under his extended sword to fight an incoming charge by several more pirates from Taryn’s left.

Taryn reversed Ianna to rest on his forearm and spun around to look at the ship on the other side, in the process using the flat of his blade to brutally knock a man down when he whipped the tip of his sword out at another attacker.

It took a second, but he caught sight of another child, this one a young man that looked to be about twelve. Taryn ducked underneath a swing from an off-balance pirate and before the man could regain his balance, brought his knee up into the man’s stomach. He dropped like a stone, gasping. A hard tap from Mazer’s hilt on the man’s temple and he went down for good.

Taryn suddenly caught on to what Liri was suggesting. The kids had to have something to do with the way the pirates had communicated—and if they were kids, the leader had to be next to one of them, probably an older child, or perhaps an adult.

“Can you handle this side for a second?” Taryn asked Liri, but before she could answer he sheathed Mazer and morphing Ianna, sent four arrows into the men directly in front of them. Each of them hit in the shoulder so hard they flew backward, blasting others to the deck.

“Sure,” she said ruefully, “but only for a moment,” she added as another wave started climbing over the bobbing rail, daggers clenched in their teeth.

Taryn nodded and raced for what was left of the rigging. On the way he punched a man that was about to gut the captain but didn’t wait to see the man drop. Sheathing his mother’s sword, he leapt up the rigging as fast as he could. In a heartbeat he reached the nest, and in another instant he was running on the crossbeam towards the pirate ship. When he reached the end, he leapt up and out. Sailing through the air above the brutal fight below, he landed hard in a crouch—on the crossbeam of the neighboring ship!

Without hesitation, he stood and sprinted across the spar until he reached the end and leapt again to the next ship in line. In this manner he crossed all three ships until he came to the fourth and last pirate vessel. As he ran across each boat, he searched for and spotted a child next to each helmsman, but when he got the last one, he looked down and saw a haggard looking man chained to the rail. Beside him a large pirate stood, shouting orders laced with profanity.

Taryn paused for a moment and studied the pirate leader. Dressed in black leather, he had long black hair tied back and wore several knives as well as a rapier at his belt. From the deference the other pirates showed him, he appeared to be an epicenter of activity as other pirates jumped to do as he commanded. Seeing a route to the captain, Taryn looked for the fastest way down.

Still in his crouch from jumping onto the spar, Taryn slipped off the beam and dropped towards the deck over thirty feet below him. There was no rope to grab to slow his descent, so he landed hard and rolled forward to take most of the force. Finishing his roll he spun in a full circle with his leg extended and dropped two astonished pirates before they could draw their weapons. Giving the others no time to take action, he jumped up the steps to the pirate at the helm.

One man leapt towards him as he came up the stairs, but Taryn angled his body to the left and let the man’s sword glide harmlessly past him, an inch from his face. The pirate had evidently expected resistance, because he stumbled as he tried not to fall down the steps. Taryn easily slid past him and tapped the back of his head with his elbow to send him sprawling down the stairs. Racing forward towards the man at the helm, he drew Mazer and smacked the flat of the blade against the pirate’s sword hand, forcing him to drop his half-raised weapon. In an instant the long katsana was at the leader’s throat.

“Call off the attack,” Taryn said in a voice as hard as steel, and hoped the man didn’t call his bluff.

The pirate captain hesitated, at which Taryn dug the tip of his sword into his neck enough to draw blood and make him wince.

After a moment more, the man glared at Taryn and said, “You have no hope. I will have you killed before you can take two steps.”

The pirate captain’s eyes flicked to the left, and Taryn instinctively snapped his body around. Before his mind had time to register the danger, he had hooked a throwing knife from his belt and snapped it through the air to sink into the attacker’s arm with such force that it slammed him into the post behind him, sticking him fast while his loaded crossbow crashed to the deck.

Rotating back before anyone could even blink, Taryn removed his weapon from the man's throat only long enough to smack the flat of his blade into the pirate's face. The sheer speed and strength behind the thrown knife had left the men in view visibly shaken. The pirate captain shook his head and swallowed at the unwavering blade at his neck, eyes wide as he looked at the fire in Taryn’s.

“Tell everyone to retreat to their ships,” he spoke—not to his shipmates, but to the shabbily dressed man chained to the rail behind him. The prisoner closed his eyes and after a few moments Taryn could hear the sounds of battle slowly diminish, and then stop altogether.

In a flash of steel, Taryn drew Ianna and placed it at the pirate’s neck while at the same time he used his father’s sword to slice right through the chains that bound the man. Mazer glowed dimly blue as it cut the metal chains.

“Your prisoners are no longer yours,” Taryn said evenly. Without taking his eyes off the pirate in front of him he addressed the now released man: “Get the children onto our boat.”

The man nodded gratefully and left to gather the children. Out of the corner of his eye, Taryn wasn’t surprised to see the boys and girls be freed by their captors before the man reached them and work their way slowly over rails until they achieved the relative safety of the
Sea Dancer
.

“What are you going to do, hero?” the pirate said in front of him. “You can’t kill us all, can you? Come on . . . my name is Raize, I can make it worth your while if you—.”