Chapter 9: A Blade’s Reach

Julian had only just secured his place aboard the Maneater Shark. He had no idea he now had a new designation, Hellborn, or that his head alone was worth a full 5,000 pounds.

All he knew was that the lookout had sounded the alarm, and the entire pirate vessel had erupted into confusion.

First Mate Bram, known as Marrowcrack, could not keep the panic out of his voice.

“Captain! The man-eating sharks gave us no warning. By the time we spotted the cruising warship, she was too close to avoid!

“And this Force 6 northeaster came up too fast. We have to reef the sails, perhaps even take them in altogether!”

As he spoke, masses of black shark fins could still be seen circling near the pirate vessel’s waterline. They had not noticed the approaching warship at all.

The man-eating sharks Oswald Redgaze kept were much more than pets. They were the ship’s most capable helpers and armed escorts. With a sense of smell more than thirty-two times as acute as a hound’s, enhanced by some form of supernatural power, they could easily detect a single drop of blood five kilometers away.

As scouts, they were exceptionally useful.

But keeping them obedient required blood sacrifices. Without those, they would ignore commands or even turn on their master.

Oswald had only himself to blame. When he sacrificed the Pelican’s crew, he had recalled every shark he had sent out. Before they could return to their stations after feeding, the Severe had used the dense fog to close beyond the distance at which the two vessels could still avoid one another.

The pirates understood the gulf in raw fighting strength between their vessel and a warship better than the naval men eagerly preparing for battle.

Worse, the captain of a fifth-rate warship would be at least a Rank 2 Professional, regardless of which supernatural Sequence he followed. They had no advantage on that front, either.

Oswald Redgaze finally stopped eating. His narrow eyes flew wide, shooting bloody light as he surveyed the ship.

Every pirate, Julian included, felt a chill of apprehension.

Then he gave his orders without hesitation.

“I’ll take the helm myself. Furl the royal sails and topgallant sails. Reef the topsails by fifty percent. Throw the worthless cargo overboard. Lighten the ship, gain speed, and do whatever it takes to shake them!”

On a fully rigged galleon, the foremast or mainmast usually carried four square sails. From bottom to top, these were the course, topsail, topgallant, and royal.

Controlling even one square sail required nine types of rigging line: halyard, lift, brace, sheet, tack, outhaul, and three groups of gathering lines. Clewlines drew up the clews, buntlines the foot, and leechlines the sides.

A sailing ship of the line generally carried eleven square sails, requiring this arrangement eleven times over, for a total of at least ninety-nine lines. On larger warships, some types required more than one line apiece.