Severed Empire: Wizard's War (35 page)

The wind was picking up. The rain was turning to snow. Sebastian thought the hairs inside his nose were icing over. His face felt numb. “Fire starboard!”

“Fire starboard!”

“Fire starboard!”

Multiple cannons boomed.

Reed never lowered his spyglass. “She’s lowering sails, Captain!”

The Osiris ship continued south. Her sails and rudder showed her plan. She wanted to circumvent the
Derecho
and launch an attack when her gun-ports faced theirs; and then skirt on by and sail for the west banks.

“Incoming!” Reed said.

The Osiris ship looked like it was exploding as fire exhaled in plumes from multiple gun-ports on its starboard side.

“Drop anchor,” Sebastian shouted.

“Drop anchor,” Helix repeated.

“Spin her starboard.
Hard
, lieutenant!” Cearl cranked the wheel to the right.

The heavy chain spilled into the sea as the anchor plummeted for the bottom. The fluke snagged. The Derecho pulled taut against the chain. The rudder swiveled in an attempt to quickly change direction.

A cannonball crashed through the top of the hull. Wood splintered, and men screamed. Sebastian saw stakes like swords protrude from flesh. Blood mixed with the pooled water on the main deck.

More screams came from the gun deck. Richard’s men.

The bow dipped downward from the anchor’s restrictions. Sea water washed over the bow and across the deck. Men lost their balance. Some were washed up against the sides of the ship.

Sebastian kept an eye on the tars, making sure no one went overboard. Because a rescue in the heat of a battle, during a storm such as this, might not actually work.

Although the maneuver worked, it hadn’t been carried out quick enough.

“Damage to the Osiris?” Sebastian said.

Reed lowered his spyglass. “Two direct hits, Captain. Looks as if we damaged the lower part of their hull. Maybe the ballast and stores deck. They could be taking on water. They might be running.”

Sebastian wanted them running. Sinking, or running. Just a little more south that was all it would take.

“Take us at them, lieutenant!”

“Aye, Captain!”

“We want to chase them. Now,” Sebastian said. The Osiris’s bow faced south. They had the entire starboard side available to them. “Ready the cannon at the keel!”

“Ready the cannon at the keel!”

The cannon under the bow were not very commonly used. It made simple sense, but was somehow overlooked. It was while journeying to distant lands, far beyond the Old Empire, that they had seen the reconfiguration on another vessel, and then adopted it as their own.

“Cannon ready, Captain!”

The fight sounded thunderous from the north. Cannon reports echoed in the darkness.

“Cannon ready, Captain!”

Sebastian shouted. “Fire!”

Smoke plumed from the bow of the ship.

The sun made an appearance. Rays pierced a thin passing of clouds. It must be an hour or so from midmorning.

The light helped, but the overall darkness was thick, and blanketed the sky.

Reed stood beside Sebastian, his spyglass searching the darkness for signs of impact. “Direct hit, Captain! I believe it struck between gun-ports.”

Damaging the lower half of the hull allowed water into the ship. It brought them closer to sinking the enemy. Hitting the upper half, and there was a better chance for lives lost, bad injuries, and for ruining weapons. The obvious bottom line was that hitting the target was always better than missing it, as the old joke went.

“I see fire,” Sebastian said.

“Aye, Captain,” Reed said. “Inside the hull.”

A knocked over lantern? “Steady, Lieutenant.”

“Steady, Captain.” Cearl looked exhausted. The ship rose and fell hard. Each wave was the lieutenant’s own little battle with steering the vessel. “She’s in my sights.”

“That she is,” Sebastian said. “Ready the cannon at the keel!”

The command was repeated.

The fight worked in their favor. They were chasing the Osiris ship south, and the cannon aim had been true.

Reed shouted, “Incoming!” just as the Captain gave another order to fire!

Both the warning and the command relayed.

“Incoming!”

“Fire!”

“Incoming!”

Lightning lit the sky. The clouds appeared to shake, and bounce across the sky in skittish jerks and twitches between flashes.

The cannonball from Osiris burned through the flying jib, jib, and foresail, before it slammed into the deck. Lanterns shattered. Their oil spilled, and flames spread. Wood shards flew into the air. Sebastian saw many men either writhing on the deck in pain, or dead.

“Put out those flames!” Sebastian’s command was unnecessary. Tars scooped water off the deck with buckets and doused the flames, getting the fire knocked down and under control.

The cannonball had created a splintered hole in the main deck. Below, Richard shouted orders while other men screamed.

“Captain,” Cearl said. He pointed toward the bow. “The Osiris ship is picking up speed!”

Sebastian’s breath caught in his chest. The omen. It
was
on their side. The Osiris ship did pick up speed. It was getting caught up in the vortex’s current. The plan, thin as it was, couldn’t have worked out better. With the rough weather, it only served as an aid in the take-down.

“Ready the cannon at the keel!” Sebastian commanded. His orders were still echoed, despite the damage and injuries to his ship and crew.

“Incoming!”

Sebastian was getting tired of hearing Reed’s announcements.

“Brace!” Sebastian said.

Two cannonballs struck the
Derecho
.

The first clipped the fore mast. It sounded like a tree falling in the woods. The mast bent toward the port-side, and cracked more as it toppled, taking the fore topsail and fore sail with it. The weight tipped the ship to port-side. More waves rolled onto the deck. The ship was turning on its own because of the sails in the sea. They worked like the blades of an oar.

The second cannonball slammed into the front bow, blowing apart wood as easily as a pebble dropping into a brook.

Below, Sebastian saw flames lick at the opening of the hole in the deck. He didn’t want to do it, but ordered Helix to raise the anchor.

The fallen mast dragged in the sea like a second rudder and sent the ship spinning.

“Raise the anchor!” Helix barked out the command.

“Fire!” Sebastian yelled. It might be a wasted shot. The Osiris ship was still in front of them. Cearl had been correct. They picked up speed. It was possible they were already caught, and with the damage to their ship, were unable to maneuver themselves out of the current.

The cannon at the keel of the ship fired.

Reed watched intently.

Sebastian thought they might have been moving faster than expected. He wanted to wait until the last minute before dropping their last sail, the mizzen, and directing their vessel north. He couldn’t wait much longer though. Although the foresail wasn’t useless, the hole through the material hindered their escape. Crippled, they could end up having just as hard a time manipulating the current as the Osiris ship.

“Miss,” Reed said.

“It’s got her, Captain! It’s got her!” Lieutenant Cearl didn’t hide his excitement.

The Osiris bow dipped forward, and left a wake nearly as troubling as the waves rolling on through.

The main mast finally snapped free. The lumber splashed into the sea. Sebastian silently thanked the stars. The extra drag disabled their chances. It made them nearly immobile.

“Sir,” Reed said.

Sebastian pointed Starboard. “The Devil’s Hole,” he said.

Reed’s lips rose in smile under the spyglass. “She looks violent, and hungry!”

The relentless whirlpool was common knowledge to the Voyagers. The downdraft sucked in anything within its opposing currents. Unless a wary captain could skirt it by running near to the coasts, and be careful not to run aground, there was a real danger of being sucked in. Once in the vortex, a ship was doomed, as the currents caught hold and wouldn’t give up their prey.

The Osiris ship was now in the
Devil’s
grasp.

The men on the
Derecho
cheered!

Sebastian wasn’t ready for celebrating. It was far too premature. “Lower the mizzen!”

There was no echo.

“Lower the mizzen sail and the main sail!” He screamed out the command this time. The wind from the storm would have to work in their favor. They needed to harness that power. It might be the only thing keeping them from the mouth of the vortex.

“Lower the mizzen and the main sail!”

“Lower the mizzen and the main sail!”

Sebastian watched tars skirt the shrouds, and crawl out on the T’s. They unfastened knots and the sails unrolled. Helix worked with the others tying off the lower end of the sail to pegs.

Trapped, the wind performed perfectly.

“Cearl, turn us away,” Sebastian said. “We need to put some distance between us and the devil of a hole.”

He went toward the stern, not wanting to miss the Osiris ship pulled under.

The sun’s rays appeared to watch, as well. They shone through the thinning clouds like beacons of victory.

The Osiris circled around the mouth of
The Devil’s Hole
. The mouth was as wide as the sky. On the far side of the vortex, Sebastian thought he could see each crewmember scramble around in useless panic. Their fate was sealed.

Sebastian knew some of his men had been injured, and the ship would need substantial repairs. But all and all, his chest swelled with pride.

Just when he thought nothing could be better, and he was ready to sail off and assist
Berserker
and
Armory
in their fight, the sudden sound of Reed’s voice made him cringe and want to close his eyes. “Incoming!”

Captain Sebastian watched in horror, as the Osiris ship came back around the edge of the vortex, and three grapple hooks were launched toward them. They were harnessed with thick rope, and had been shot with harpoon guns from their deck.

The grapples pierced the stern, and then smashed through the wood with a sick and crushing sound.

“Drop anchor! Drop anchor!” The anchor might buy them some time. If the iron caught on the seafloor, it might prevent them from getting sucked into the bottomless void.

The
Derecho
snapped to a sudden stop; the hull groaned in protest. Sebastian was thrown back. He lost his footing, and went down hard. He knocked his head onto the wheel, beside Cearl. He felt warm blood seep from the new cut. And although the timing was odd, realized how it actually felt good—bleeding, in contrast to the icy cold and numbness he’d grown used to.

He knew the claws of the grapple dug teeth into the walls of the hull.

Sebastian drew his sword and struggled getting back onto his feet. Cearl reached down and grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Captain!”

“I’m good, Lieutenant,” he said. On his feet he felt dizzy, and lightheaded. The blood spilled into his left eye, blurring his vision. He swayed on his feet. If something wasn’t done there was little hope for them. The problem was he wasn’t sure what could be done.

He heard tars running around, panicking.

Sebastian stood at the stern. Below, the three ropes were taut, dragging the
Derecho
toward the vortex. They were essentially disabled, and being pulled behind the Osiris ship. Once it encircled the east end of the mouth, the whirlpool would have them both.

“Hold this!”

It was Reed. He threw a coil of rope at the Captain, climbed up onto the railing with a battle axe in his hand.

“Secure it to something!”

“Reed? What are you doing?”

Cearl snatched the coil of rope out of Sebastian’s hands and ran. Reed held the battle axe in both hands raised over his head. He bent his legs at the knees, and then sprung up and out. Diving over the back of the ship, he nearly splashed into the sea. The rope pulled tight. Reed swung out like a pendulum. On his arc back toward the center of the ship he wielded the axe in a wide downward swing. The razor sharp blade sliced through the grappling’s ropes, freeing the
Derecho
from the trap.

Sebastian wasn’t sure if what he’d witnessed actually happened. Had Reed really dived off the back of the ship to save them all? He spun around.

Lieutenant Cearl had thrown the rope around a post, and also draped the end around his waist. He held the rope in a white knuckle grip. His feet were in the air, planted on the post. It looked like he was levitating on his back, three feet above the floorboards. His face was tomato red. His lips were raised in a snarl. He was grunting as he strained to keep from dropping Reed into the sea.

Sebastian hollered for help.

Other tars ran up the stairs, and joined Cearl. Four men now supported Reed’s weight, and Cearl’s natural color slowly returned to his face. Sebastian was relieved. He thought for sure the man’s heart was about to burst inside his chest.

Turning back to the sea, Sebastian saw the Osiris ship tip onto her side. She went around and around the mouth of the whirlpool. There was no escape. Not now, not any longer. He tried ignoring the sounds of men screaming.

They weren’t his boys, but they were soldiers just the same. They were people.

There was no shame fearing death. The unknown of what lay beyond was a frightening thought.

With both hands braced onto the starboard railing, he watched as the Osiris ship made its final lap around the vortex, as the clouds parted and the sun shone directly over them, and she dropped into the funnel. He heard the horrific sounds as the ship was crushed by the pressure of the sea.

She was swallowed.

Devoured.

“Captain?”

It was fitting death. Sebastian lived his life on the sea. The sea was more of a home than the islands ever had been. When his time was up he knew he wanted the sea to claim him.

“Ah, Captain?”

Sebastian looked around.

“Captain?”

It was Reed. Below he hung onto the rope, the axe, and was twisting in the wind helplessly.