Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

Bokuboy

After eating lunch, I brought Lady Ming through the ship to show off the different rooms, pointedly showing her that there were no slave holds and only state rooms. She was shocked when we stepped out through the original hull into the port cannon room. She stared at the wall full of cannonballs, each in their own little holder for easy loading.

“There... there must be a hundred of them.” Lady Ming commented.

“A hundred and sixty, actually. Twenty shots for each of the eight cannons.” I said and she took several deep breaths. “It's the same on the other side of the ship.”

“H-how... how...”

“We raided the enemy ships.” I said. “We actually sold off more cannons than this and the cannonballs are pretty lucrative, even when not enchanted.”

“What?!?” Lady Ming gasped. “You enchant them?!?”

“When you've got a couple of magic users that need to practice the craft, you make due with what's available.” I walked her over to the wall and picked up the cannonball. “It's enchanted with Fire and Explosion.”

“By the Son's Light.” Lady Ming whispered. “Now I wish that I did have a mage onboard.”

“He would be extremely envious of what I've done.” I said and she nodded. “He wouldn't accept these as valid weapons, because it wasn't made by the Guild.”

“He would if I ordered him.” Lady Ming said.

I shook my head. “No, they have their own rules. I learned that a long time ago when I was conscripted into the army. They wouldn't be allowed to use them.”

“They are using your original Kracken Tubes.” Lady Ming said.

“That's because they believe Mage Lukas created them, despite the proof I did. Conscripts aren't allowed to claim things like that.”

“The Mages Guild is making a fortune creating them.” Lady Ming said. “They are in such high demand that there's a waiting list to get them.”

“The ones they make are substandard and weak.” I said and then smiled. “I didn't give them the full enchantments.”

Lady Ming caught her breath. “That's your proof! You can fix them because you made them!”

“I also have copies of the army reports that it was all mine as well.” I informed her and she gave me wide eyes. “I'll be releasing them as soon as I get back home.”

I brought her back up onto the deck, only to see two of her crew bound and gagged and surrounded by slaves with swords. Pointing outwards.

“Release them this instant!” Lady Ming ordered.

No one moved, not even her own crew members.

“What happened?” I asked.

“They were caught in the work rooms stealing.” One of my crewmen said and brought over a bag with different potions, labelled properly for use, that were kept exclusively in the work room for emergencies. They also had several of the large enchantment practice coins. They didn't realize that the wood was plain wood and couldn't be activated.

Lady Ming let my arm go and stalked over to the two accused men. “Explain yourselves right now!”

The two men didn't say anything.

“I am ordering you to tell me why you were so stupid to abuse this man's hospitality!” Lady Ming spat at them. “We ate at his table as guests and you dare steal from him?!?”

The two men still said nothing.

Lady Ming stepped back and looked at me. “Do what you want with them.”

“Take their hands. If they want to steal your livelihoods, you can have theirs in return.” I said.

“NO!” The two men exclaimed and tried to struggle.

“You should have thought about the clear warnings both Lord Drake and I gave you.” Lady Ming said. “At least you'll still have your lives.”

“Only if they are healed.” I said and she gasped.

“L-lord Drake, please.” Lady Ming pleaded.

“If they tell me why, they will be healed and won't bleed out.” I clarified for her.

“We... we were paid.” One of them admitted. “Anything that could help the kingdom, we were to get. By any means.”

“By who?” Lady Ming asked and they shook their heads. “Lord Drake, is that enough?”

“Crew?” I asked and shouts rang out. “Yes, Lady Ming, it was enough.” I said and walked over to the two men. “I hope your unnecessary greed was worth the loss of your hands.”

A crewman brought over a thick chopping block and the two men had their hands secured to it.

“Wh-what... what are you doing?” Lady Ming asked.

“Taking their hands.” I said and nodded at Galla.

Galla stepped forward and pulled out her sword. She made it glow and Lady Ming's entire crew took a step back. She smiled at them and then swiped her sword across the two men's wrists. They screamed at the sudden loss, more from shock than pain, and I knelt to grab their arms. They jerked back and stared at the stumps of their wrists.

I cast the field spell called Seal Wounds and all four of the wrists were sealed with a slight glow. I then took each arm and cast Heal Grievous Wound. The stumps reformed into perfectly curved smooth forms as if the hands had never existed at all.

“By the Father's Grace.” One of the clipper's crewmen said.

I stood up and looked at the rest of Lady Ming's crew. “Do I need to search you all to see if anyone else stole anything?”

All of the men held up their hands and shook their heads.

“None of them took anything, my lord.” Hanna said. “They were all discreetly watched.”

The crewmen let out a collective sigh of relief.

“Good.” I said and walked over to Lady Ming. “I thank you for the visit, despite how it ended.” I took her hand and bent over to kiss it. “I'll let your ship lead us into the kingdom's waters.”

Lady Ming nodded and the two men without hands were brought onto her ship. The funny thing was, I didn't recognize any of the workers. As if she knew what I was going to say, she sighed.

“My men were spread out all over to make up for the losses. They are training new crewmen on over half of the kingdom's ships.”

“I'm sorry.” I said.

“Things have been hard for everyone.” Lady Ming said and straightened her hat. “Unhook the ship!”

Five of my crewmen hopped over with some number ten potion and unhooked the boarding hooks, then repaired the damage as if it never happened. The clipper's crew were shocked by that. They had expected us to pay for repairs back at the port.

“Push them off.” I ordered and bracing poles hit the side of the clipper and pushed us apart. I waved at Lady Ming to get her attenton. “One last thing before you give your orders.”

“Yes, Lord Drake?” Lady Ming asked.

“All your men had to do was ask and I would have handed over whatever they wanted.” I said.

“No!” She gasped. “You... why did you...”

“Thieves are thieves, no matter the reason.” I said. “Polite thieves get a lot more when they ask nicely.”

Lady Ming sighed and nodded. She knew what I meant about the army taking my things without paying me for them. “Unfurl the sails and let's go.”

It took them half an hour to get out far enough head of us before we could move safely. We brought the other ship up to us as well and we made a good speed towards what was going to be the first port we had ever visited in another kingdom. We just hoped they didn't react badly to how heavily armed we were. If they did, well, it wouldn't be the first time I've wrecked ships.

“You know what to do.” I said to the crew and they prepped for a counter-attack and set traps on everything. If anyone tried to take us or the ships, they would regret it.

_______________

Montage mode engaged. Skipping miscellaneous details. Speeding up time. Done.

_______________

I brought both ships to a stop long before going anywhere near the port. Lady Ming's clipper ship, Swift, had been challenged by a schooner and a cannonball was shot across her bow. Her ship heaved to as ordered, or in normal terms had surrendered to friendly forces. Her ship was being checked over completely for something. It took a while.

Someone on her ship took out two large flags and started waving them in a pattern at us. I had no clue what the heck they were doing and asked around. None of the crew or slaves had any idea, either.

“Fly the main flag and not the pirate flag. We don't want them to know what's coming.” I said and that made a few of the crew laugh.

One of the crew waved our ship's flag back and tried to show that we had no idea what was going on. We all saw the man with the flags on the clipper ship, throw them down in disgust.

“What will they do now?” Jensen asked as the man disappeared from sight.

“They will probably try to send one of their navy ships to us.” I said.

“Not Lady Ming's?”

“No, she knows me. If they won't listen to her warning them about us, they won't want her coming back here to warn us away.”

“So, what you told her is actually coming true? They're going to try and take our ships and us?” One of the slaves asked.

“Try, yes. Succeed, no.” I said and that made everyone smile. “We'll burn them to the keel before we let any of our people be taken.”

“One of the ships are moving.” One of the other crewmen said and pointed. “Oh, damn. It's a dreadnought.”

“A show of force by them.” I said and then smiled. “Perhaps one of our own in exchange when they turn towards us?”

“Sir! Permission to load a blank log!” One of the forward weapons crewmen shouted.

“Farra, charge it up for the eager man.” I said and the man let out a shout of happiness.

Ten minutes later, the very large dreadnought turned towards us when it had enough speed.

“I want their main mast, if you please.” I said and the crew had feral smiles as they took aim. Farra launched the log when the crew said to and the sharpened log shot out of the Heavy Kracken Tube at full force and flew a very, very long distance. We could actually hear the shouts of the dreadnought's crew as the shot came towards them.

The sharpened log hit the dead center of the large main mast, that must have been a huge tree while alive, and our shot jammed into it and snapped the thing right off. The top two sails of the mast folded up as the support disappeared and the whole thing tumbled down onto the main sail and tore it to shreds. The large ship slowed down significantly with the main propelling sail gone and the ship started to turn, as if to dodge our follow-up shots.

We didn't fire any, because that wasn't the point. All we did was show them that we could take them out a long time before they could get close enough to take us out, no matter how much firepower they had or tried to threaten us with.

“Load up the assault boat.” I said and it was done in moments. “I know Gella wants to come...”

“I will as well.” Farra said, confidently. “I wouldn't be your apprentice if I was a coward.”

I didn't remind her what she was like under the tender care of the Eastern Empire's mages, because that required a different kind of courage. I nodded to her and glanced at Hanna. She shook her head to refuse, so I glanced at Molly.

“No, my lord.” Molly said and put an arm around Jensen. “I've been feeling sick for several weeks.”

I held a hand out to her and she took it with her free one. I sent a bit of magic into her to search for something and her belly glowed slightly. “Congratulations.”

“She really is?” Jensen asked, surprised.

“I told you.” Molly said and rubbed her still flat belly. “I just had a feeling that it wasn't seasickness.”

“Then it's just us three again.” I said and we hopped into the assault boat, sat down, and I moved us at a normal rowing pace. Unlike Lady Ming, I wasn't going to show them my full capabilities until they made me.

It took twenty minutes for us to get close enough to the dreadnought. It had a broadside to us and two of the cannons fired on us. There was a female's shout of 'No!' before I moved the assault boat exactly ten feet backwards and both cannonballs missed us and splashed into the water harmlessly.

“Light them up.” I said and brought us to a stop, just out of the ship's range.

Farra and Gella smiled and aimed two of the normal Kracken Tubes at the dreadnought's other masts. Two shots later and both masts had exploded and all of the sails on the ship were burning. People were screaming, crewmen were scrambling and trying to put the fires out, and two people were barking orders. One wanted to keep attacking us and one wanted the fires out first.

I waited patiently as they argued and the crew worked hard to put the fires out. They eventually pulled the burning sails down to cut them free and tossed them into the water. When the crew on the ship started to relax, I heard both people giving orders to bring us into range and to get the mages up on the deck to operate the Kracken Tubes.

I cast the amplify spell on myself. “If you think I'll just sit here and let you fire on me, you are even dumber than you were to try and attack me in the first place.”

That made them all stiffen and a man wearing an admiral's uniform and one wearing a captain's uniform came over to the side of the ship to glare at me.

“You fired on a sovereign ship of the Gulf Kingdom!” The admiral spat.

“You were aggressively coming to me with a heavy warship to commandeer my ship! Of course I'll fire on you, you idiot!” I spat back and he looked surprised that I had figured it out. “Captain Ming already warned you about what would happen if you did, and you didn't listen to her!”

The admiral looked angry. “A woman's opinion...”

“...is worth more than a hundred closed-minded men like you!” I spat back. “Either you give up trying to steal from me, or I'll sink every ship in this port and send word to the capital that you've declared war on behalf of the Gulf Kingdom on a friend of the royal family, Lord Drake of Drake's Marsh!”

The admiral smiled evilly. “Lord Drake is dead! His house and lands have been seeded to the head of the Henrietta Family.”

“Besides that being illegal, I'm going to kill Grand Mage Henrietta and the rest of the Mages Council anyways, so that doesn't concern me.” I said and the man's face paled. “Any other threats or empty words before I kill you?”

The group of mages came up onto the main deck of the ship and ran over to the Kracken Tubes.

The admiral saw this and smiled. “It seems your bravado has cost you, slave.”

“I'm sorry that you're wrong.” I said and held my hand up towards the Kracken Tubes. “Immolate.”

The six tubes were immediately covered in bright white fire, which made the mages touching them also go up in flames. The men screamed and died as the Kracken Tubes burned down to ashes in only a few moments. The admiral's face went white at the sight and looked back at me.

“Goodbye.” I said and nodded.

Farra fired a Kracken Tube and hit him right in the chest and it lodged there as he was launched backwards, like he weighed nothing. It was thanks to the weight enchantment on the projectile that his body was now a part of, and his body flew through the air several hundred feet before it arced downwards and made a splash in the water.

The ammo exploded from hitting the water a second later and the fire was extinguished almost right away. It left a large circle of blood in the water that was quickly sucked up by a water beast.

“Any more orders to attack me, captain?” I asked the man standing there wetting his pants.

“L-let Lady Ming go.” The captain said. There was a sound of shackles being opened and a woman's inarticulate yell before Lady Ming ran over to the side of the ship, then she punched the captain in the face and right over the side of the ship.

“YOU BASTARD!” Lady Ming yelled and we all watched as the man tumbled down the twenty or so feet into the water. She waited for him to come to the surface before she spoke again. “I told you! I warned you! Now the admiral is dead, your ship is ruined, and you've severely weakened an already weak part of the kingdom's defence!” She shouted, angrily. “For what? FOR WHAT?!?”

The captain didn't respond and swam over to the rope ladder the crew had tossed down for him. He climbed up and then flinched as Lady Ming stalked over to him.

“I'll be sending my own missive with Lord Drake's about your behaviour! Imagine! Attacking a ship full of slaves seeking refuge! How stupid are you?” She asked and slapped his face. When he didn't respond, she slapped him again. “Tell ME! How did you get this job if you're THIS STUPID?”

The man cowered and wouldn't speak.

“I guess it doesn't matter now. After they court-marshal you for losing your ship to friendly fire in a time of war, I doubt you'll live long at the end of the rope they'll hang you from.” Lady Ming said and pushed him out of the way and turned to me. “Lord Drake, can I ask a favor? Please return me to my ship. I need to get to port to send those messages.”

“Of course, Captain Ming.” I said and zoomed my assault boat over to the side of the dreadnought and came to a perfect stop, which shocked the crew of the dreadnought. “You can jump instead of climbing down.”

Lady Ming gave me an odd look for a moment, then shrugged and jumped down the twenty feet.

I cast the Slow spell on her and she giggled as her momentum was reduced to a float and she landed softly right beside me.

“I'm not going to ask how you did that.” Lady Ming said and sat down to take my arm.

“It's a spell called 'Slow'. It works on a lot of things.” I said and we took off like a shot and I zoomed us around the dreadnought and over to her clipper ship.

“Get those traitors off my ship.” Lady Ming ordered her crew.

“Yes, ma'am!” They said and the six inspectors were quickly tossed over.

“I can tow you in.” I offered.

“No, Lord Drake. I believe they may try to take you again if you aren't protecting your ships.” Lady Ming said. “I'll be escorting you all the way back to the capital, now that I know what my status really means in the navy.”

That made me think of something that Princess Rivers said to me before about utilizing women being marginalized. “Perhaps you can suggest to the First Princess that the Fifth Regiment needs a naval division. As the first officer commissioned, your rank should be jumped up to Admiral automatically.”

Lady Ming gave me a very sexy look, something she had given Mage King when they were in bed together. “David, if I was ever to give myself over to someone to have a child, would you agree?”

“You used my first name.” I said and she smiled.

“More personal talk deserves a more personal address.” Lady Ming said.

“Depending on the state of my estate when I return there, I can bring the subject up to my betrothed.” I said and she nodded. “Have a nice trip into town, Cynthia.”

Lady Ming stood and put a hand on my shoulder, before she grabbed a rope and was pulled up onto the clipper ship. “Is there anything specific you want in your message to the capital?”

“Tell them...” I started to say.

“The Marsh Man is coming for his due.” Farra said and interrupted me.

“And he will have it.” Gella added.

I glanced at the two women briefly, then I looked back at Lady Ming before I nodded. It was a better message than what I was going to send, anyway.