Chapter 20: Dealing With the Enemy

The Captain was much happier knowing that he wasn’t going to have to board a hostile ship from a small boat, and he had his force ready in seconds. As always, he reminded the Guardsmen that they were there to hold attackers off. The archers would do all the killing that needed to be done.

As always, the approach seemed to take hours. We didn’t want to go fast, though, as there was no good way to slow down and a hard collision would damage both ships. When we got closer, I yelled “Ahoy the Sea Fortune! We are going to tie up and board. Don’t do anything to startle our men, as they will ensure you never startle anyone again. Just don’t cause trouble.”

We closed up on them and tied our forecastle to their stern. With our archers all standing by, the Captain sent half of his shieldmen across, then once they were safely on deck and had set up a perimeter he sent the rest followed by half of his archers. The man who had been talking for the pirates was there with three others, and the rest of the crew was farther down the ship in the waist and the bow.

I asked the Captain to retain the rest of the archers onboard our ship, then had him and Filo come across with me to talk to the pirate officers.

“Are you the Captain of this ship?”

“For the moment, yes. Andrew Black, of Mountain Isle.”

“I am Lord Jason of Topeka, commanding the Wrong Place for Widemouth.”

“I heard that we had lost two ships there. That was one of them?”

“Yes. One was captured and another sunk. This one was sunk. We raised and repaired it, and now we’re out looking for more ships we can take from you. Tell me about your cargo and how you got it.”

Their cargo wasn’t anything impressive, mostly farm equipment and animals. They had raided a couple of farming villages on our island, taking everything they wanted and burning the rest, then gone across to the mainland and raided a small fishing port. Their last take was a rather slow cargo ship carrying some stone. They had taken some just to see if they could sell it, removed most of the food and anything else portable, and let the ship go as too slow to take back to the islands. They had been delighted to see us, as they weren’t ready to go home yet but didn’t want to go raid more farms to capture more cattle.

Oh, and they had about twenty captives, young men, women, and children, being taken back to be sold as slaves. They were all down in the hold with the animals until it was safe for them to come out. I got the idea that the women were all somewhat worse for wear.

“Did the ship say what the stone was for?”

“Building. It’s pretty, but I certainly wouldn’t pay much for it. We just took some because it was there.”

We got interrupted by one of our men crying “Captain! Trouble!”

Of course both I and the Captain of the Guard turned to see. Yes, it was awkward with us both having the same title. This hadn’t been the first time we got caught like this, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

It was one of the Guard, one of our shield-and-sword men. I nodded to the Captain. “You go see what it is.”

He walked over and down the stairs to the waist, then in a minute was back.

“They still have a big pile of dead and injured, and many of them still have weapons.”

Andrew Black said “That’s probably true. Can you be satisfied with just killing those with weapons? Even if they are already dead?”

I decided to lay down policy. “Have your men strip them and toss the dead overboard. Put all the weapons, all the clothes, everything, in piles. Let them know that they themselves will be stripped and their clothing checked every day until we land. Any of them caught with money will be killed on the spot and thrown overboard for the fish to eat. Any of them caught with a weapon will be merely wounded, and thrown overboard for the fish to eat while they are still alive.”

The ship’s captain asked “What will become of us when we land?”

I shrugged. “What was going to become of your captives when you returned home? Slavery, right? You and your men will get the same thing as you planned for them.”

“Many of my men would rather die than become slaves.”

I shrugged again. “That’s fine, too. The sooner they decide that, the easier it is on everyone. Would any of your families be willing to pay for your release?”

“Mine might. Maybe some others.”

“If they make it worth our trouble, they can have you back. Although, each of your captives who claims to have been raped will be given a crossbow with one bolt, and allowed to fire it at whoever among your crew they wish. If that happens to be you, well, you won’t be ransomed.”

“I understand. I don’t like it, but I understand.”

“There is a saying in my homeland. ‘Live by the sword, die by the sword.’ If you can’t handle the punishment, you shouldn’t do the crime. Let’s hope that none of your captives remember you as someone particularly worthy of hatred.”

“Are you going to do this with every ship you capture?”

“You people have been raping, pillaging, and killing others for years, maybe generations. What did you expect to happen when your victims learned to fight back? Yes, we are going to do this with every ship we capture. Eventually, you will run out of ships, and the few men who are left on your islands will either learn to farm, or they will learn to trade. I don’t care which, but it will be a very long time before anyone from Hunter Island listens to anyone from the Pirate Islands complain about cruelty. We have another saying, too. ‘You made your bed, you sleep in it.’”

“We may be in for some hard times.”

I nodded. “It’s possible.”

I waited a few minutes. “Consider a herd of cattle. Some are easy to deal with. Others are troublesome. To make things easier for you and your children, you allow the easy ones to breed, while the difficult ones are killed and eaten without letting them breed. The young cattle are all taught by the older ones how to behave, but none of the troublemakers are around to teach them how to cause trouble. Before long, the whole herd is easy to deal with.”

I was talking too much, but if he was ransomed he could tell everyone on the islands what I’d said, and what I’d done. It would save me a lot of trouble, if all the pirates knew what was coming when they saw a ship with a rectangular blue flag. So, I continued with the lecture.

“Now, consider your islands. You have been rewarding the violent, the evil, the ones who would rather steal than work. They come home with riches, women, slaves. You reward them with power, property, and children. Your children see what you reward, and they want to go out killing and raping and stealing when they grow up.”

“It’s time to cull that herd. What we’re going to do is kill or enslave every one of your men who would rather fight than work. Eventually you will run out of pirate blood, and the survivors will be easy to get along with. Maybe, in a hundred years, they will be called ‘the Gentle Islands’ instead of ‘the Pirate Islands’.”

“You intend to destroy everything that we are.”

“That’s a quick way to say it, yes.”

“What if we renounce our ways, and swear to stop raiding others?”

“Are you willing to send out ships that are completely unarmed? If the captain has a sword, he will be killed, the ship will be sold and the entire crew will be enslaved.”

“Do you want our ships to be completely defenseless?”

“What can others do to your ships, that you haven’t been doing to theirs? You have sown a field of theft and butchery, and you are going to reap that field for yourselves. My people won’t be satisfied with a promise to stop. Will you return all the stolen money? Will you bring back all the slain people, all the butchered cows? Will you rebuild all the burnt farmhouses? Simply saying you will stop will not end their hatred and thirst for revenge.”