Chapter 6: Across the sea...

Halire leaned back against the Raven's mast. He was this voyage's assigned sharpshooter, whose role also doubled as a lookout. There had been nothing much to see on the outbound trip, but on the longer and more dangerous return leg his eyes would be much needed. For now, his role was to relax and prepare himself for this task ahead.

He wondered why Claw had given the order to sail before Naimee could board. Snipers were the Grosjager's most valuable asset, and they were never abandoned, never. Or perhaps that was merely because all the previous Commanders had been crossbowmen themselves, and so were slightly biased - but nobody ever claimed the Grosjager to be fair. Just, yes, but fairness was something else entirely.

The still air carried the sound of a faint whistle, and immediately Halire rolled to one side. The sound was all too familiar for he had caused it himself many times. It was the faint warning of an incoming arrow.

It stopped, and focusing his vision on the mast Halire could make out the outline of an angled crossbow bolt. The angle was large enough that only a ballistic trajectory could have caused it. That meant that whoever fired the bolt was a Grosjager sniper, and there was only one possibility in the direction it came from. Naimee.

Halire noticed the rope attached to the arrow and realized what she must be trying to do. He got up, ran to the stern and began hauling the rope in. The night air was already chilly; the ocean must be cold enough to kill then. After several fathoms of line, his suspicion was confirmed by the sight of a figure in the water pulling herself along the rope. "Man overboard!" he turned towards the pilothouse and shouted, then turning back to pull more rope in he whispered "Hold on, Naimee."

A few more hands quickly appeared to help Halire, and before long he was able to pull the person up onto the deck of the Raven and into his arms. Just then, the moon broke free from the clouds and everyone was able to see a little bit better. For sure, the person that Halire and crewmen had rescued was none other than the Grosjager sniper Naimee. She was almost unconsious and leaned heavily on Halire, her body deathly cold.

It was just as well that the colour red appeared to be black in dim light, because every sailor clustered around Halire had a nosebleed just then. Naimee's robe, drenched in salt water, was clinging to her form even more closely than usual. Every curve on her youthful body was outlined in fantastic detail, from her shapely thighs to her erect nipples.

Halire shook his head as he carried Naimee in his arms towards the hatch to go belowdecks. Sure, in another situation he himself would have been aroused too - heck, he was aroused now! - but the difference between him and them, what made him more esteemed in the eyes of the Grosjager than these common crewmen, was that he could discern the appropriate time when not to act impulsively on his emotions.

"Clean up your mess, guys," Halire called out as he kicked the hatch open and went down.

The first thing Naimee noticed as she awoke was that she was lying in a bed, wrapped in blankets that were deliciously warm. The second thing she noticed was that underneath the covers, she was completely nude. The third thing was that the morning sun was streaming into the room, and the fateful events of the night before were now in the past. The fourth thing was that someone else was in the room.

This last thing caused Naimee to sit up panicking. "Who are you?" she almost screamed but controled her voice just in time. A person standing in a blue polefeather/regoller/pants outfit came into focus. "Oh. Halire." She answered her own question.

"Glad to see you're awake, Naimee," Halire greeted her.

"I'm just glad to be alive," she answered.

"True. But I agree that putting yourself at the mercy of the sea was a better idea than putting yourself at the mercy of the RVMP."

"Haha. So, Halire, jokes aside, you have some explaining to do." Naimee gestured to the blanket wrapped around her, refering to what lay underneath - or rather, the lack of what lay underneath. "I never knew you would take advantage of anyone like that. Disgusting." The words left her mouth by themselves, and she frowned as she realized the significance of what she just said.

"Will it suffice to say that I was more worried about you catching hypothermia from your soaked clothing than my own reputation? I swear that I looked away as much as humanly possible." Halire raised his left hand, palm facing outwards to show his sincerity.

"I suppose I will have to take your word for it then," Naimee decided to believe him. Of course, she could not possibly know that Halire was not being entirely truthful. While she was unconscious, he had stared for a good two minutes after undressing her, but as he had not actually done anything to her she would never know.

Halire suddenly became somber. For all his skirt-chasing, the man still knew when the right and wrong times were. He wondered how he would break the news to Naimee. No point in delaying it; she would in the long run appreciate being told earlier. "Naimee... there's something about last night you should know."

"What is it?" She caught the grave note in his voice and the fear of the worst gripped her.

"Mekil...-"

"-he's dead." Naimee finished quietly. Halire nodded.

She didn't say anything. He went and sat down on the bed beside her, remaining silent too. The mere presence of a friend is the most comforting thing in times of catastrophe.

"First, Daar. Now, Mekil. One by one, I am losing everyone I once knew..." Naimee muttered. She gripped Halire's hand as if she was afraid that he too would disappear. "Are you going to leave me too?"

"Don't worry, I don't plan on going away anytime soon. We snipers have to stick together, right?" He tried to cheer her up.

Halire looked into her face. The life in her eyes seemed to have been smothered. Naimee leaned into him, feeling very alone in a very wide world.

Draining his cup of coffee in one gulp, Lordblitz shuffled his pile of papers, picked one, and went to work. It would be a long day of shifting bonds, securities, and whatnot from one investment portfolio to another...

"Wonder why we mages always get stuck with this paperwork," Ashrey called from the far side of the room.

"Yes, does someone have a grudge against us or something?" Lordblitz answered. They both sighed.

Tess read through the transcript of the drug-induced confession Stonehead had obtained from Mekil at such great cost. It was fascinating reading. Perhaps armed with the information from this she woud be able to avenge deaths... the mind at work has no room for wallowing in past sorrow.

She came upon a key phrase, and in half a minute screaming at subordinates began sifting all the way down through the ranks.

GMS Sleepywood sailed smoothly into Lith Harbour. The gangplank was lowered and amid the bosun's whistle the captain began stepping onto dry ground -

-he didn't get very far before he ran into a large group of 18th Kerning troopers heading in the opposite direction, led by Tess.

"What's happening-"

"We're setting off, now!" Tess cut him off. "This is the boarding party for the pursuit-"

"Woah, woah! What pursuit?" The captain asked, holding his hands out.

"Grosjager! Who else? They sneaked onto the abandoned dock, which no one had the sense, to guard, and left in a ship with a raven figurehead-"

"Shit! We passed her coming into port!"

"WHAT?" Tess screamed. "Get moving!"

The captain ran back onto his ship and began shouting out terse commands. "Battle stations! I want full military power on all engines! Port ahead full! Planesmen on standby! Rudder full starboard!"

Even as the last soldier scurried on board, Sleepywood began leaving port. As things began moving, Tess forced herself to calm down.

"How will we catch them?" she asked the captain. "They are too far ahead of us."

"Only if we travel by sea," he replied confidently. "But we shall travel by air. Excuse me."

By this time, Sleepywood was beginning to pick up speed, cruising towards the open ocean. Her stay in Lith Harbour had been less than five minutes.

"All ahead full!"

Sleepywood was a new class of warship, powered entirely by her two engines, one on either beam. She had no sails nor masts, and her hull was designed for cutting through water and air with maximum efficiency. Even her cannons - she had two turrets, one bow and one stern - were retractable for takeoff operations such as this. As a result, the ship accelerated alarmingly quickly.

"Up angle on planes!"

The elevation planes, attached to the bow below the waterline, angled upwards. Water flowing by along the top surface of the planes suddenly had a longer distance to travel, and compensated by flowing faster with less pressure. The unbalance of pressure between the top and bottom of the planes forced them upwards, bringing Sleepywood's bow up.

As the ship pitched upwards, the landlubbers stumbled around trying to hold on to something solid while the crew continued working as if nothing happened. They were too focused on the next, critical, step of their task. A plumb line (corrected for the ship's acceleration) showed that Sleeywood, and her engines, were now pitched a full ten degrees up towards the sky.

"Engage afterburner!"

Raw fuel was injected directly into the engine exhaust. The additional thrust rocketed Sleepywood into the sky.

A few minutes later, the captain helmed his ship into cloud cover and began to search for his prey, Raven.