To Be Grand Maestro (Book 5) (41 page)

He slowed the manta to a swim as they came within viewing distance. “I see Pentrosan cruisers and Ducaunan frigates, some of which with their sails and masts on fire and the crews on each vessel attempting to extinguish the flames,” his father described the scene from his viewer.

Flaming bolts shot into sky and angled down from all directions as the many warships exchanged fire. The Quester and one of the new sleek attack vessels were trying to out maneuver each other, both making tight turns, lances of light streaking at one, and spheroids hurling at the other, both missing more often than not. The crew of the patrol boat had a difficult time targeting such an agile adversary, but so did the Pentrosan vessel. The contest seemed a stalemate until the Quester came to a dead stop. Flaming stones from the bow-gunner slammed into the aft section of the enemy vessel as it sped on unable to match the quick cessation of forward motion. The entire stern was afire, even so the boat moved hard to port and out of the torrent of flames. The bow-gunner swung the tripod and sent a stream along the side of the vessel, igniting half the forecastle and command deck. In his haste to extinguish the flames, one of the crew members knocked over a spheroid, which exploded, causing a string of explosions, and blasting the ship out of existence. The hold must have been filled with the explosive orbs.

The Cutlass was in a similar tangle with one of the new warships. They maneuvered around each other. Lances of light and streams of flame flew out from the patrol boat while spheroids were hurling back at it. One of the orbs went into the middle starboard arrow slit and moments later an explosion of iron shards blew out of all three slits, and Daniel felt every life on that side of the second level abruptly end. A surge of sorrow followed by anger at the loss had to be quickly suppressed in order for him to think clearly.

“Finish off that serpent spawn.” His father blurted what sounded like a mighty fine idea.

The Captain of the enemy ship, whose crew was busy filling holes and fighting flames inflicted by the Cutlass, did not have time to celebrate the horrific damage visited upon his adversary, and Daniel held back his wrath at the sight before him. The Wager, in a narrow wedge-shaped energy field, fitting the dimensions of boat, came at the wooden vessel at high speed. The bow, sharper and harder than steel with the added strength of Karen’s shield, struck amid-ship, splitting the planking as if it was a collection of dried sticks, and passed through and out into open water. What remained of the two pieces drifting in its wake quickly sank beneath the waves.

“Admiral Dukane sure put out the fire for them with that maneuver,” Joel commented. “It is a pity the Accomplished aboard the Cutlass failed to act.”

“The patrol boat assignments were given to Accomplisheds who not many days ago were Talenteds,” Leah said. “Very few of them have experience in battle.”

“Experience in battle comes with a price,” Daniel replied, remembering how Roder Keenan had warned him, “The butcher’s bill always gets paid.”

“We will do battle assessments and learn from the mistakes as well as what works best,” Leah replied.

“Agreed,” Daniel said. “Limited resources and time have forced us to act sooner than is probably wise. Circumstances have forced me to do so since shortly after I cast my first spell and will probably continue into the future. Even so, those assessments you have decided to call for will become required reading for us all, from me to the most recent recruit. One good thing I see, Accomplished Konnan is a quick study, and following Karen’s example.”

A pinkish glow appeared along the dimensions of the Cutlass conjured by Accomplished Lief Konnan. The patrol boat launched back into the fight, using bow and port gunners, and Captain Walters evidently liked how the Wager ended the warship that had inflicted so many casualties among his crew. The Cutlass began living up to its name, cutting through the hull of a Pentrosan daisy-wheel-propelled war-boat that foolishly turned directly in front of it.

The Ducaunan and Pentrosan navies were so close and locked into battle with one another that Daniel realized any aid from the manta would have to be precise and narrowly targeted. Joel would not be able to capsize an enemy ship without affecting a friendly. “I’m going to maneuver us under the cruisers and, Leah, Joel, begin poking holes in hulls. I want you to do enough damage to sink the ships and yet give the crews enough time to make for the life boats.”

“It will be as you say, Maestro,” Leah replied.

“It will be as you say, Maestro,” Joel echoed her.

“Good call,” Sherree said, being a healer at heart. She had to know he could have called for many deadlier options, especially after what they had just witnessed.

Daniel maneuvered the manta beneath cruiser after cruiser; darting from one to the other until Leah and Joel had half the remaining fleet sitting much lower in the water and scores of life boats were floating on the sea. The surface battle had continued while they were working and a good many of the ships sank under the overhead barrages and unfortunately so had a few more Ducaunan frigates.

“The Wager is about a thousand paces up and to the right of us,” Sherree informed him. “From what I see, this battle is over. The Pentrosan attack ships have been destroyed by our patrol boats and Admiral Dulannin is accepting the surrender of his counterpart. That last cruiser Leah punctured was the Pentrosan flagship. If we surface on the starboard side of the Wager, Manta One will not be visible to the rest of the fleet.”

“Thanks for the update, observation, and recommendation,” Daniel replied and glanced at his wife. “Your instincts are correct. I am not ready yet for the manta to become common knowledge.”

He navigated around and over sinking cruisers. Most of the debris was floating on the surface and not an obstacle, but pieces were still breaking off and in some cases floating out of the sinking ships. He angled up to avoid the tip of a descending mainmast belonging to a frigate and then leveled out until surfacing with the manta’s tail end starboard of the Wager.

A boarding ladder was set over the railing by Crewman Finch. His pale complexion and dark eyes where a match for Daniel’s, as was his age; but unlike him, Daniel never considered growing a beard. Tim and Gina were at the rail to greet them as Daniel stood on the back end of the manta waiting for his father, Sherree, Leah, and Joel to climb up. When he finally came aboard, the formal salutes began. “Welcome aboard, Sir Daniel,” from Tim and Gina, “Greetings Admiral Dukane,” from Daniel to Tim, and “Greetings to you Admiral Dukane,” to Gina, who then hugged him and his father.

The greeting and response of Sherree and Gina to each other had been cordial but it was obvious, even to Daniel, that neither could see the other without thinking of Gina’s twin sister, Val. The reaction would probably not be as keen if the two girls he had grown up with were not identical, but they were, and it is what it is, and everyone involved simply did the best they could to adjust.

After his father, Leah, and Joel, received proper greetings, Tim ushered them into the mess and to the crews’ table, it being the larger of the two. Gina sat at the opposite end from her husband, Ronn and Joel sat on one side and Daniel sat on the other between Sherree and Leah.

“That submersible vehicle is incredible,” Gina began the discussion. “Like the tales of sea monsters, I bet this one will give people nightmares.”

“And it handles like a dream come true,” Joel remarked with a faraway look in his eyes.

Tom and Jenny Grening came down the spiral stairs from the bridge. “Sir Daniel, it is good to see you. I like that sleek black thing you arrived in,” he said as the couple approached the table.

“It is good to see you again, Lord Ronn,” Jenny said, and then saluted Daniel and Sherree, the Lord and Lady of whose muster she was a part. “We stand ready to serve,” she told them formally, and then smiled at Daniel. “Tom and I will always be grateful to the man who repaired my guts after the Battle of Bashierwood.” She glanced at Joel and eyed Leah briefly before saying, “My greetings to you Accomplisheds,” which they each acknowledged with a slight bow of the head.

Karen Ducappus came down from the bridge, walked over to the table, and took the seat on the other side of Joel. After another round of formal greetings, Tim motioned with his hand for Tom to come closer. “Go fetch Captain Tollkay.”

“It will be as you say,” the former stable keeper replied.

Tom went out and soon returned with a plump middle-aged man wearing the gray-blue uniform of a Fon Kayan naval officer. With his hat in hand, it was easy to see the man’s neatly trimmed sandy hair, about the color of Simon’s. His beard ran along the jawline and evidently was not permitted to grow any lower on the neck or higher up the cheeks. His eyes immediately locked onto Daniel and widened in surprise.

Gina smiled at the officer’s obvious discomfort. “I see you recognize Sir Daniel.”

Daniel failed to notice one of the cruisers had been Fon Kayan, not that it mattered in the end. Tim leaned back casually in his chair. “You may speak,” he told the officer.

Captain Tollkay broke his stare, briefly eyed everyone sitting at the table, and then fixed his gaze back on Daniel. “A child would recognize that face. It does not matter if you wear blue silks, the uniform of a Ducaunan Knight, or buckskins, everyone knows who and what you are.”

“Amuse me, tell us what everyone knows,” Sherree spoke up, drawing his eyes for a moment before they flicked back to Daniel.

“Tarin Conn is the Creator’s Champion, you are the champion of evil; the true Dark Maestro. Even the Grand Maestro of Aakadon has declared you and your Atlantan Guild to be illegitimate. Everyone knows you are the cause of all the turmoil in the world and the invisible vibrations that so often frighten decent folks.”

“Daniel is the Creator’s Chosen Vessel,” every voice at the table spoke in unison, except the one named.

“You have all been deceived,” Tollkay clearly was speaking what he believed.

Daniel had been taught, a
nything not contributing to the accomplishment of the chore is a distraction and to be set aside.
What his father had spoken to him in the early years of life was still true.

Daniel nodded at Leah, who returned the nod, understanding the silent request. Twin beams of light shot from her eyes and into the forehead of the captive. “Why did your ship participate in what is clearly a Pentrosan assault on Ducaun?”

The Captain’s eyes were now fixed on the First Accomplished. “The Bonaventure was sent in the spirit of cooperation. Some of our ships sail with the Pentrosan Navy and likewise their greatest General is spearheading our invasion of Lobenia,” he replied, truthfully, being unable to tell a lie while under the influence of her spell.

Daniel already knew about the intrusion into northeastern Lobenia and that Queen Clarees’s legion, based in Polatca near the Ducaunan border opposite Bolover, was under siege, and unable to get even a pigeon over the walls. The monarch must have sent messengers to find out why communications had come to a stop, but likely did not know what had happened. Her realm was being flooded with Battencayan refugees while merchant ships not flying a Taracopian flag set sail and never reached their destination. On top of which, it did not help that Efferin must have convinced her by now that Daniel was the greatest threat to her kingdom and responsible for most every problem she currently faced, including the failure in communications.

“What is the disposition of forces, in what forms will the attack come, and when?” Leah demanded.

“Ships from our Navy, along with those of Battencay and Pentrosa, will blockade the Serinian Channel to prevent the island kingdom from coming to the aid of their long-time ally. While that is happening, Demfilian ships will attack the Lobenian west coast while warships from Zune attack the southern coast and New Oben. Most of the ships are in the waters off Battencay awaiting orders and sinking any ships that come upon them. The other fleet is off the coast of Joppa. Each fleet has been given two hundred Anacondas, the vessels that need no sails, and most of the Battencayan ships have a team of twenty Accomplisheds aboard, mostly to ensure the obedience of the officers and crew, whose loyalties are still in question. The assimilation of Battencayan forces with ours has not gone as smoothly as Her Majesty had hoped,” Tollkay reported.

He took a breath and continued. “Six of the twelve Lobenian legions are on the northern border and trying to maintain security while scrutinizing the flood of refugees out of Battencay to be sure they actually are civilians. Our Queen is allowing those people to flee for that very reason, to draw the legions away from southern Lobenia, where General Kall is camped with his fifteen thousand Suttons and forty thousand men drawn from the legions of Fon Kay, Battencay, and Ecoppia. They will be employing the new explosive devices designed by the mighty Tarin Conn. At present over a thousand Aakacarns are in the camp, they come and go in their traveling circles, and the number varies. Our latest reports place the Lobenian Third Legion still near the coast at Fort Toben, its home base. The First is still at its base outside of New Oben, and the Second is on the other side of the Berbin Shelf, in Brenten, on the west coast. The Fifth Legion is on the southern end of Lake Remear, and the Fourth is at Jaffee near the northern end of the Shelf. The Sixth Legion is besieged at Polatca,” the Captain replied. His eyes never left Leah during the delivery of information.

Daniel sat absorbing the news and thinking of his options going forward when the man took another deep breath and continued. “General Kall’s forces are within a five day hard march of New Oben, awaiting orders from the Supreme Maestro, which could come at any time, and so the attack will come no sooner than five days.”