lookout above.
“Where away and what color?” shouted Long Tom.
“Sir, a point starboard the bow. She’s lateen and scarlet.”
Long Tom turned to Noddy. “ ’Tis a Rover, lad; sound the alert.”
“Aye-aye, sir.” Noddy began ringing the bell in the tattoo of warning. And in but moments the full of the crew spilled onto the decks, Chakka warriors to the ballistas, sailors to the sheets and halyards.
“ ’Nother sail ho, Tom,” cried the lookout. “This one scarlet, too.”
Aravan, along with Nikolai, came from the cabins and to the aft deck. Fat Jim puffed up after, though Wooly was manning the helm. Aylis and Aylissa, their tokko game interrupted, stood out of the way on the deck below, Vex sitting calmly at Lissa’s side in spite of the bustle all ’round. Yet Aylis held a bow in her hands, a quiver of arrows at her hip. Lissa, too, was armed, her tiny bow and arrows quite lethal, should any foe come within its limited range.
“Three, no, four crimson sails,” cried the lookout, “two-masted dhows all. And a white-sailed ship running ahead, three masts-a barque, I think. They’re after her, Tom.”
“Wi’ y’r permission, Cap’n,” said Long Tom, “Oi’ll arm th’ crew. Them fools o’ Rovers moight tiak it in’t’ their heads t’ try t’ board th’ Eroean .”
Aravan smiled and nodded his approval but said, “More likely we’ll be boarding them, Tom, yet we’ll need falchions, no matter which.”
“I be the one to see it done, Kapitan,” said Nikolai, and down the ladder he bounded.
Nikolai rounded up a handful of sailors to disappear below and emerge moments later with their arms full of falchions, the heavy and relatively short-bladed swords ideal for close-quarter, hand-to-hand fighting.
And as Nikolai and the sailors passed among the seamen and handed out cold steel, Dwarves, already armed, stood ready at the ballistas-two of the arbalests in the bow, two in the stern, and three down each side-yet they did not cock the weapons nor load any missiles.
And on hove the Eroean . .
. . and the sun sank toward the sea.
Like the silent long shadows streaming from the masts and sails and cast far to the aft of the Elvenship by the lowering sun in the west, quietly the Eroean drew nearer and nearer to the Rovers, and still the ready Dwarves waited.
And all aboard the Eroean seemed to stand stock-still with bated breath, and the only sounds aboard the ship came from the prow cutting through the indigo sea and the shssh of the wake astern as well as the creak of Elven ropes straining against pins and yards and blocks.
And as azure sails drew on toward those of crimson, Aravan softly said to the bosun, “James, very soon, when I give the command, pipe the sails for a larboard beam reach against the two aft raiders. We’ll cross their sterns and rake the decks.”
Intent on their prey ahead, the Rovers had no idea that the hunters were hunted themselves.
Word as to Aravan’s plan went whispering the length of the ship. And the Dwarves to the starboard growled in their beards at being left out of the fight, while those to the larboard at last cocked their weapons and laded on fireballs.
And the Eroean slipped unnoticed up behind the foe.
“Now!” hissed Aravan, and James piped the command.
Even as sailors hauled the yards about and slipped the sheets of the stays, of a sudden the crews aboard the two Rover ships glanced ’round and began gesticulating and scurrying, their shouts loud over the water, as the Kistanian crews, their faces stark with fear, had finally realized the peril they were in.
Hard over the Rovers hauled the long lateen spars, yet it was entirely too late, and fire sailed o’er the span between the Elvenship and the deck of the first raider, flaming balls to explode across the decks and splash upon rigging and masts and sails and set all ablaze. Swiftly, the larboard ballistas were again cocked and, as the Elvenship crossed the heel of the second raider, five more fireballs were flung. And then the Eroean was past this pair and Aravan ordered the sails piped about to run down the other two dhows.
And as the bow veered close to the wind, a single fireball from one of the Rovers flew across the distance to fall short and sink with nought but a splash and the sputter of a fuse extinguished.
And leaving the two Rovers battling against blaze-their masts, sails, and decks afire-the Eroean now sped toward the remaining Rovers, whose prey fled just beyond.
And the sun lipped the horizon and began sinking into the sea.
On sped the Elvenship, closing the distance between. Yet, given the hullabaloo aft, the Rover captains had spotted the Eroean . And they shouted orders, and Rover crews haled on the lines of the lateen-rigged ships, and they heeled over to flee away southward toward the haven of Kistan, for few captains of the island nation dared take on Aravan’s ship.
“Shall I pipe the sails, Captain?” asked James.
“Nay, bosun,” said Aravan. “We’ll let these two take flight with their rudders tucked under their keels.”
Long Tom sighed, but said nought, while Nikolai snorted and headed to the decks to gather a crew to take up the no-longer-needed falchions. He passed Brekk as the Dwarf came storming up to the afterdeck. “Captain, you are my commander, but are we just going to let them run? If so, I mislike it a deal.”
Aravan looked at his Dwarven warband leader. “Armsmaster, wouldst thou hie after a snake were it fleeing into the dark?”
Brekk shook his head. “Nay, I would not. Yet if it were an Ukh, I would run it to earth and slay it.”
“This is no Rupt, Brekk.”
“Nay, it is not, Captain, but the difference is mere, like one chip of bad stone to another.”
“Yet thou dost know, Brekk, stones come in many kinds and forms-whereas some can be shaped, others crumble at a touch.”
“You, an Elf, try to teach a Chak about stone?”
“Nay, Brekk, for I know thy kind are masters of such.”
“Then what is your point, Captain?”
“Just this, Armsmaster: whereas Rutcha were made in the spirit of Gyphon, hence are incapable of change, Humans are malleable and can alter their behavior-for good or ill, I admit. Yet, heed: mayhap yon Rovers, though now like unto fleeing snakes, perhaps are frightened enough to give up their vile ways, for unlike vipers and Spaunen, Humans can indeed change. Yet, Brekk, I promise thee this: I have marked them well, and should either of those same ships be plying these lanes when we return, then will we hunt them down, day or night, and slay them to the last man.”
The armsmaster growled and glared at the crimson sails of the fleeing pair of ships. “Mayhap were it a lethal viper, I would slay it on the spot to prevent it from even the possibility of striking an innocent victim. I think these poisonous Rovers deserve the same fate, for unlike the snakes of which you speak, the brigands seek out the blameless to do them harm.”
Aravan nodded. “There is much to what thou dost say, Brekk. Mayhap I have made a mistake after all. Yet there is a ship to the fore that needs our help to gain the ocean beyond.”
Brekk grunted and gave a single sharp nod, for at last did he see Aravan’s true aim, and on plied the Eroean westerly as crimson-sailed Rovers fled southward.
Swiftly, the Elvenship overtook the three-masted barque as twilight overtook the world. As the Eroean eased up sails and hove alongside that ship, Aravan called out to the captain opposite, “We’ll run ahead and clear the channel.”
“Captain Aravan, is it, of the Eroean ?” called the merchant commander in reply.
Noddy snorted and muttered, “J’st who bloody else moight we be?”
“Aye, I be Aravan.”
“Well I thank ye, Captain Aravan. I be Captain Allson of the Gray Petrel out of Gelen. Though an escort we would take gratefully, we were headed east for Arbalin when we spotted the brigands.”
“Then come about, Captain Allson. The northern channel was clear when we sailed through. And I suspect you won’t be bothered by those particular Rovers again. As for us, we’re sailing west, and won’t be back for many a day.”
“Very well, Captain Aravan,” called Allson. “The channel west was also clear when we came through. And,
