“Let’s get down to it, then!” Nilsa said, and ran to help.
“I’ll deal with the prisoners,” Ingrid said, and Astrid joined her.
Lasgol went over to Captain Olsen. “How are you, Captain?”
“Wounded, but it’s not too serious. I was saved by a miracle. He had me, and then something deflected the sword … and shoved him … like a divine force … In all my years at sea I’ve never seen anything like it. Could it have been an intervention by the sea-goddess?”
“It must’ve been Eicewald and his magic,” Lasgol suggested.
No Eicewald. Me, Camu transmitted proudly.
It was you?
I save captain.
Very well done!
No captain, no reach islands.
Very true. Besides, he’s a good person, and we ought to save him if we can, because we don’t let anybody hurt good human beings.
Yes.
Lasgol was not altogether convinced by this laconic reply but he had to look after the Captain’s wounds and suture them, so he got down to work.
The other pirate ship, enveloped in flames, was still managing to stay afloat, although the whole deck was burning, from bow to stern. The mast broke and fell into the sea, consumed by the flames. While the team restored order on board and helped the wounded, the enemy ship was completely swallowed up by the fire. It sank amid a black cloud of smoke and a crackling of burning wood. It broke up before being swallowed by the sea.
They worked without stopping well into the night, looking after the wounds of all those who needed them. Unfortunately, there were some who would not see the dawn. It was a hard night, because comforting the dying is difficult for anyone. Lasgol and his friends concentrated on saving those who still had a chance. Rangers had knowledge of healing and were equipped to deal with nearly every kind of wound. Eicewald’s knowledge also helped, even though he was no Healer and there was little he could do with serious wounds. In some cases, he used his ice magic to freeze wounds so that they did not hurt, or to prevent the suffering of the dying by numbing much of their body, which they were grateful for.
Viggo and Astrid were in charge of keeping watch on the prisoners, whom they had tied up to avoid unpleasant surprises. They seemed to have learned their lesson, but it was better not to trust people who had spent their whole lives attacking ships, pillaging and killing. The problem was what to do with them.
“I think the best solution would be if they were to fall into the sea accidentally,” Viggo proposed the next morning.
“Accidentally?” Gerd said, looking puzzled.
“Yeah sure. With an accidental push.”
“Viggo!” Ingrid exclaimed.
“Eh? You’re thinking exactly the same thing, and you know it.”
“It might have crossed my mind, but we can’t do that.”
“I don’t see why not,” Viggo insisted. “They’re pirates, they’ve killed a whole lot of people.”
“Because we’re not like them.” Ingrid said.
“He’s right, you know,” Astrid reasoned. “If we leave them alive, they could turn against us and we might get a nasty surprise.”
“You too?”
Astrid shrugged. “Having them on board is a risk for all of us. That’s all I’m saying.”
“See?” Viggo said, glad of the support.
“We can’t kill them.” Lasgol put in. “That would make us into cold-blooded murderers, just like them.”
“I don’t think it would be right to kill them either,” said Gerd.
“We could prepare a poison,” Viggo suggested. “They wouldn’t even know what had hit them …”
“No way!” Ingrid said.
“I’m sort of half-way between,” said Nilsa. “I think killing them is wrong. But I see the risk of leaving them alive. What if one of them escapes and kills the crew, or one of us?”
“That’s not going to happen,” Ingrid said.
“It’s probably not going to happen,” Astrid corrected her.
“We’re not going to kill them. It’s wrong, and you all know that,” Lasgol said. He was looking at Astrid so that she would stop. She sighed.
“All right. We’re not going to kill them.”
“Don’t let your boyfriend persuade you,” Viggo said.
She shrugged. “He’s not persuading me … he’s right.”
“We’d better not kill them,” Nilsa said after a while. “We’d feel terrible afterwards.”
“You’re a bunch of softies,” Viggo objected. “You just wait and see if something happens. And don’t come weeping to me afterwards.”
“I have a solution for that problem,” said Captain Olsen, who had been listening to the conversation from where he lay against the mast.
“Go ahead, Captain,” Ingrid said.
“We chain them to the rowing benches and let them work for their living. That’s something quite normal at sea among pirates. They won’t be surprised.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Ingrid admitted.
“Me too,” said Lasgol. “It’ll be a good thing to have new oarsmen. We’ve lost some very good sailors.”
“Yeah, me too,” Gerd agreed. “I think it’s a great idea.”
“Then that’s decided,” Ingrid said, bringing the argument to an end.
“My idea was better,” Viggo grumbled under his breath.
Ingrid’s gesture warned him to leave it at that. Astrid winked at Lasgol to show that she too was in favor of the idea.
Three days later, recovered by now from the pirate attack, they were once again setting their course to the southwest, away from the coast, avoiding islands where they knew pirates had bases. Lasgol was watching the endless sea and its unfathomable blue beauty, with Ona at his side and Camu settled on the dragon’s head, when Astrid came to his side.
“Pure beauty,” he commented.
“The sea? Yes, it is. Infinite and beautiful.”
He smiled. “No, I meant you.”
She smiled back. The compliment had touched her heart, and she kissed him lovingly. “Don’t ever change.”
“I’ll try not to.”
“Promise me that whatever happens, whatever we have to face, you won’t let anything change you.
