Off Armageddon Reef (98 page)

Captain Tryvythyn saw the line of Corisandian galleys sweeping down upon
Royal Charis
. There were at least fifteen ships in the column—he couldn't be certain of the exact number; there was too much smoke—and there was no question that they'd recognized the royal standard.

The rest of the flagship's squadron saw the enemy almost as soon as he did, and oarmasters' drums went to a more urgent tempo as the other five galleys swept forward, charging around
Royal Charis
to intercept the attack. Tryvythyn glanced at his king and half-opened his mouth, but Haarahld only looked back steadily, and the flag captain closed it once more.

“Better,” Haarahld said with a thin smile, then nodded at the oncoming Corisandians. “If these people get past us, there's no one left to stop them.”

“I realize that, Your Majesty,” Tryvythyn said. “But I hope you'll forgive me for saying that I think you're worth more to Charis then all of those ships put together.”

“I appreciate the compliment, Dynzyl. But no one man is essential, and victory
is
. And not just victory, either. This war's only just beginning, whatever happens here today, and our ability to control the sea is the only thing which may let us survive. We need a victory so complete, so crushing, the next admiral to think about fighting us will be half-defeated in his own mind before he ever leaves port. So devastating
our
men will know they can do
anything
, defeat anyone, no matter what the odds. And we need an example that will make them willing to
fight
at any odds. That's more important than the life of any one man—even a king. Do you understand me?”

Tryvythyn looked into his king's eyes for a moment, and then he bowed.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said steadily. “I understand.”

Dreadnought
overtook another galley.

Devastation
had fallen astern, but
Destruction
had out sailed her and forged up almost abreast of the fleet flagship, and the two of them had spread further apart.
Destruction
lay further to the east than
Dreadnought
, passing down the galley
Scimitar
's port side, and her starboard guns thundered.
Dreadnought
was still a ship's length ahead of her consort, and her port guns smashed in the galley's
starboard
side. A few of her shots missed, two of them whipping across
Destruction
's bows at dangerously close range, but the concentrated fire, crashing in on
Scimitar
simultaneously from both sides, was devastating.

Cayleb glared at the crippled hulk as the Corisandian flag came down.
Dreadnought
's gunners were too exhausted to raise a cheer this time, and ammunition was getting low. The gunner was almost out of made-up cartridges, and Captain Manthyr had detailed a long chain of Marines to pass more round shot up from the shot lockers. Despite that, the crown prince already knew Charis had won a crushing victory this day. He knew that, yet he fretted inside like a caged slash lizard as Manthyr tried to wring still more speed out of the flagship.

Cayleb's own squadron—more than a little disordered as the faster ships, like
Destruction
, overtook and passed the slower ones in front of them, but still intact—was closing rapidly on Duke Black Water's fugitives. To the north, Staynair had wreaked dreadful havoc upon the western half of Black Water's original fleet, and over twenty Chisholmian galleys had surrendered with only minimal resistance. At least a few determined Emeraldian and Corisandian captains had managed to evade both squadrons of Cayleb's galleons in the smoke and confusion and break north successfully. There weren't more than a double handful of them, however, and at least two-thirds of the ships still with Black Water were locked in melee with the galleys of his father's fleet.

Only thirty or so Corisandians still had any hope of escape. They were trying to break around the western edge of the huge, confused hand-to-hand fight raging between their consorts and the main body of the king's fleet. Cayleb and his squadron were on their heels, already engaging their rearmost units, but some of them might yet win free.

Except for the six Charisian galleys steering to meet them head-on.

Black Water looked astern. He could see the topgallants of the nearest galleons now, looming above the smoke. They were still well astern, but they were coming up fast, and there was plenty of daylight left.

His mouth was a hard, thin line as he glanced at Captain Myrgyn and he saw the same knowledge in the flag captain's eyes.

“At least we can take a few more of them with us,” the duke said grimly, and Myrgyn nodded.

HMS
Queen Zhessyka
charged to meet
Corisande
as Black Water's flagship led the attack.
Queen Zhessyka
's captain judged relative positions and motion carefully, steering to lay his ship hard alongside the Corisandian flagship, but Captain Myrgyn stood tensely beside his helmsman, judging those same motions with equal care.

The two ships came together with a closing speed of at least fifteen knots, with
Queen Zhessyka
angling slightly to leeward, and Myrgyn showed his teeth in a thin little smile. He watched the Charisian unwaveringly, waiting for the moment when the other galley shipped its port oars. That would be the instant when her captain committed, and Myrgyn waited…waited…waited…

“Now!
” he barked, and his helmsman put his helm a-lee.

Corisande
turned sharply—not downwind, into the Charisian, but
upwind
, away from her.
Queen Zhessyka
tried to compensate, following her around, but the Charisian captain had expected an opponent under sail to turn with the wind, not against it. He still managed a glancing contact with
Corisande
's port quarter, and at least a dozen grappling irons slammed across the gap. But the momentum of two thousand-plus tons of wooden galleys, moving in different directions, snapped the irons' lines like thread.

Corisande
staggered and timbers screamed as her quarter gallery was smashed in, and twenty-five feet of the aftercastle's bulwark went with it. Five of the army troopers put aboard as marines were killed, crushed by the same impact which demolished the bulwark, and at least another half-dozen crewmen were injured. Two planks were stove in below the waterline, and water began gushing into her hold. But her mast held, she was still underway, and Myrgyn's crisp orders brought her quickly back under control.

She was past the rest of
Royal Charis
's squadron, and King Haarahld's flagship lay almost dead ahead, rushing to meet her.

Haarahld watched the other five galleys of his squadron as the hammer blow came down.
Corisande
might have gotten past
Queen Zhessyka
, but the next seven galleys in line were all intercepted.

HMS
Rock Shoal Bay
sideswiped the galley behind
Corisande
, crashing into her hard enough to bring down her mast, then staggered directly across the path of
Confederate
, the third ship in Black Water's line. Galleys might no longer mount rams, but
Confederate
's bows slammed into
Rock Shoal Bay
like an ax, cutting a third of the way through the bigger Charisian ship in a dreadful rending, tearing crunch of shattered timbers. Mortally wounded,
Rock Shoal Bay
began to fill rapidly, leaning against her opponent and trapping
Confederate
's bow in the wound it had torn. At least thirty of
Rock Shoal Bay
's rowers were killed by the impact, and dozens more of them were injured, many hideously. Their companions struggled to pull them out of the in-rushing water as their ship began to settle, but the Charisian gunners fired a deadly salvo of grapeshot down the length of
Confederate
's deck, and
Rock Shoal Bay
's howling Marines charged across onto the other ship in an unstoppable flood of edged, thrusting steel.

Queen Zhessyka
recovered way quickly after her grazing collision with
Corisande
and swerved to meet the oncoming
Harpoon
. This time,
Queen Zhessyka
made no mistake, turning neatly onto the same heading as her intended victim and allowing
Harpoon
to run up alongside
her
. Grappling irons flew a second time, and this time the two ships were headed in the same direction. They ground together, timbers groaning and shuddering under the impact, and another tide of Charisian Marines streamed across onto
Harpoon
's decks.

The other three Charisian galleys—
Sand Island
,
Margaret's Land
, and
King Tymythy
—picked their own opponents with care. They each crashed into their chosen victim, deliberately fouling the enemy column's line of advance, and at least two more Corisandian ships plowed into the sudden roadblock which had materialized before them.

But
Corisande
was already past them, and eighteen more galleys were streaming down upon them.