Chapter 6: Reunion

Jack awoke two mornings later in a considerable amount of pain. The first thing he did upon stirring from the infirmary bed was clutch at the bandage across his chest, where a throbbing pain made him grimace in agony. The deep wound left by Daimanos’ blade across his chest would need time to heal even though Jack wished that he could soon be out of the infirmary and back in his own quarters.

Sitting upright in bed, Jack grabbed the top of the bandage and gently pulled it from his skin. The angry, red gash waited just underneath, crusted in blood and needing another dressing.

“Kendall,” Jack muttered while trying to get the attention of the ship’s doctor.

In a few moments, the middle-aged doctor came gliding over to his bedside.

“Good morning, Commander,” said Kendall cheerily. “How are you feeling this morning?”

“Not much better,” said Jack while gesturing to his chest. “I’m bleeding through the bandage again.”

Kendall nodded. “With how deep that cut is, it’s not really surprising. Let me take a look.”

Kendall reached around Jack’s chest and undid the bandage, pulling it away at once and tossing the crumbled remains into the trash. Fully exposed to the air, the wound looked a lot worse compared to the small peek he had seen from under the bandage. Damn near crossing his entire chest, Jack still marveled at the fact he was alive from such a blow.

“That’s going to leave one hell of a scar,” said Kendall with a grin. “You’ll have to fight the women off of you when we get back home.”

Jack chuckled, immediately remembering the two women on board that he had recently been intimate with. If anything, he could do with less drama concerning women. “Is there anything you can do to make them less willing to fight about me?” he asked. “I’ve had enough of that for a while.”

“Oh, we have means to do that too,” said Kendall with a ready smirk. “Just a certain snip-snip and all your female attention evaporates.” Kendall made the snipping motion with his fingers.

Jack instinctively grabbed his manhood and shook his head. “I’ll pass on that. I’ll just continue to suffer in private.”

Kendall laughed heartily. “I thought you’d see it my way. Anyway, as nasty as your wound looks, it’s healing. There was much less bleeding last night as compared to the first. The wound looks clean and doesn’t show any signs of being infected. I’d say you’re on the right track.”

“How much longer am I going to be constrained in this bed? My crew needs me back on the bridge,” said Jack.

Kendall pursed his lips while his eyes rolled up in thought. “Soon enough, Jack. You can’t rush these things. Your body needs time to heal. If I let you go up now, you’re far more likely to bleed through your uniform and then pass out just from being on your feet too long. And that wouldn’t be a good sight for the crew, would it?”

“I could always remain seated on the bridge. They do have a chair for me up there,” said Jack under his breath.

“What the crew wants more than anything is for their commander to make a healthy recovery. And that means staying in bed until I tell you that you can go,” said Kendall in a firmer tone.

“All right, all right, you win,” said Jack while throwing up his hands. “Will you at least let me conduct some meetings down here? I can still give orders even though I’m bedside.”

Kendall nodded reluctantly. “I suppose that’ll be okay. You really don’t take any time off, do you? You almost died and you’re itching to get back to work?”

Jack thought about the question for a moment before responding. While his mind agreed with the doctor’s statement, his body sang a different tune and begged for rest.

He knew that he needed the time to recover, but Jack was also very aware of the fact that the world wouldn’t wait for him to be fully healed. Every moment that he spent on his back was another that gave the edge to the Occitanians. His enemies weren’t going to take a break just because he wasn’t at full capacity, and that ever present reminder steeled his resolve and made sure he kept pushing forward to leave the infirmary.

When Kendall noticed he hadn’t replied, the doctor began to chuckle lightly. “You don’t have to respond, you know. I understand what it’s like to be in a leadership position and feeling like you must lead by example. I can’t keep you down here against your will, but I beg of you to take it easy until you are feeling better.

Jack let out a relieved smile. “I promise I won’t do anything stupid, and I won’t leave just yet if you don’t think it’s a good idea. But I will get out of this bed at my first opportunity.”

“I figured as much,” said Kendall with a laugh. “Here, take this for the pain.” The doctor handed over a few pills and a glass of water. Jack took them eagerly and downed them in one swoop. “That should help you for the next few hours. You’ll be due for another dose by noon.”

“Thanks, doc,” said Jack gratefully as he handed over the now empty glass of water.

Kendall grinned and then nodded to the door. “It looks like you already have your first visitor.”

Jack craned his neck toward the door and saw Anna waiting near the door. She carried with her a small tray of food, no doubt brought from one of the mess kitchens. Jack perked up instantly at seeing her face, but the look on hers was still one of reserve as she approached his bedside.

“Good morning,” Jack called out to her, waiting to see that innocent smile that she was so famous for. He was let down when she only gave him a small one before her lips returned to their normal positions. She set the food down by his bedside and straightened up.

“I figured you might be hungry,” said Anna while avoiding his eyes.

“Famished,” said Jack. “And it looks like you brought me the best our kitchens have to offer.” He meant his words seriously. While the fare had never been that great for a warship, the offering of oatmeal and fresh fruit on his plate was a considerable upgrade than what he normally expected.”

“The fruit came from Heron. It was brought in all the way from West Sorella last night. I guess fresh fruit is valued rather highly right now with most of their lands being so devastated,” said Anna. “He figured you might enjoy something different for a change.”

“I’m really liking our new allies already,” said Jack with a chuckle. He grabbed the fruit, a banana, and began to peel it. Ripping off a piece from the top, he popped it into his mouth. “Now that’s really good. Here, try a piece.” He split off a piece and handed it to her.

Anna looked down at the banana and quickly shook her head. “No, that’s okay. I should get back to the bridge.”

The smile slipped from Jack’s face. “Already? You only just arrived.”

She nodded slowly. “I have a ton of work to do. There’s plenty to keep my attention.” With that, she turned to leave.

Jack reached out and grabbed her hand. “Surely they won’t miss you for a few minutes at least? Stay here with me. Talk to me.”

Anna flinched at his touch, and her eyes locked on his for the first time that morning. Whereas there had normally been a warmth to her gaze before, Jack was surprised by the distant glare he received instead.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as his expression turned to concern.

Anna shook her head lightly. “Nothing at all. I need to get going now, Jack.”

“Would you actually tell me if something was wrong? You don’t seem like yourself this morning,” said Jack in a quieter tone. Anna wasn’t one to wear her emotions on her sleeve, but he had spent enough time with her to know when something was wrong. It was equally suspicious to see her not in a flirtatious mood for once.

She pulled away from his grasp and walked toward the door. Before she left, she turned to face him and crossed her arms in front of her jacket. “I’m fine, Jack. But I need to get back to the bridge.”

Jack’s face filled with more confusion at her tone and the finality of the moment. Even though Anna wouldn’t admit to something bothering her, Jack wasn’t so easily fooled. Yet, the woman clearly didn’t want to talk about it, or perhaps talk about it with him, so he would have to leave it where it was.

“Well, thank you for breakfast at least,” said Jack. “I appreciate you coming down here and thinking of me.” Jack put on a hopeful smile as if seeing him wearing one might bring one to her own face.

It backfired tremendously. Anna put her hand to her mouth and looked to be on the verge of tears. “Bye, Jack,” she squeaked as her voice cracked. She turned and fled shortly after.

“Anna, wait!” Jack leaned up in bed but quickly laid back down as a shot of pain ripped through his entire torso. He grimaced and grit his teeth at the sensation and cursed his stupidity for engaging in melee combat over some simple taunting. Worst of all, he hated to see Anna in this position, so clearly upset at something involving him.

At that moment, Kendall came back over and noticed the new tray of food. “She brought you breakfast, I see. That one seems like a keeper.” The doctor winked at him and continued on with his work.

If only I could figure out what’s bothering her, thought Jack.

He spent the next few minutes eating in silence and enjoying his breakfast. The fresh fruit really was incredible, and he savored the banana for as long as he could before moving on to the oatmeal. Jack had just about finished the bowl when another visitor arrived at the infirmary.

“Ah, good, you’re awake,” said his longtime lieutenant, “Twitch” Buckner.

“Morning, Twitch,” called out Jack before his eyes flickered to his watch. “Right on schedule.”

Twitch reached the bed and handed him a copy of the morning report. He had worked out a plan with the lieutenant that copies of the normal report would be brought to him each morning for review. Although still technically in charge of the task force, Abigail was functioning as his second-in-command while he was confined to the infirmary. He hated to give up the reins of control so easily though and thankfully, she was eager to have him still in de facto control.

“Quiet night it seems,” said Twitch while leaning against the bed. “Even the patrols reported no activity out there.”

“That does seem quiet,” said Jack. “Perhaps what’s left of Daimanos’ forces have slowly melted away.”

“Heron is still getting reports of brigands but nothing major,” said Twitch. “The road actually seems clear all the way to East Sorella.”

“We should get going there soon enough,” said Jack. “There’s a power vacuum right now with the death of Daimanos. If Heron doesn’t move quickly, another usurping king just might arrive to take his place.”

“Do you really think it would come to that?”

Jack shrugged, albeit painfully. “Who knows? I wouldn’t think so with the civil war this island just faced but people are people. If someone sees an opening for power, they’ll usually take it.”

Twitch began to chuckle. “You’re sounding like quite the politician now.”

Jack smiled. “Maybe I’ve just been commanding people for too long.”

Twitch’s eyes rolled up in amusement. “No comment on that.”

“You’d better not have a comment on that, or you can find yourself a new officer,” said Jack with some humor in his voice.

“You know I can only make you mad during times like these? When you can’t do much about it,” said Twitch while pointing to the hospital bed.

“Better enjoy it while it lasts,” mumbled Jack.

“Oh, I intend to!”

“Any issues I need to know about? Is all well with the rest of the ships?” asked Jack, bringing the topic back around.

“From what I can see. All three ships still need repairs but I’m not sure when we’ll be back in West Sorella to make use of the dry docks, or if they’ll even have what we need to do the repairs.”

Jack nodded. “That reminds me. Will you get a message out to Commodore Lucas? I want him to send a supply ship to meet us back in West Sorella as well as send any engineers that he can spare. If we have the raw materials and the know-how, then we can do a lot of the repair work ourselves with extra help from their engineers. Their technology isn’t so far behind our own that we can’t make use of it.”

Twitch gave him a funny look. “What about the damaged turret on the Valiant? Those guns were completely destroyed.”

“If we can get the barrels from Quiller’s Cove, then we can fit them ourselves. It’s a big if whether they’ll have them, but it’ll save us having to go back to Java for a refit,” said Jack.

Twitch nodded eagerly. “Good idea. I’ll get a message out this morning. Anything else you want to tell the Commodore?”

Jack chuckled. “Yeah, if he wants to send us any more ships, I’d appreciate it,” he added dryly.

“I’ll be sure to put that in there,” said Twitch with a chuckle. “I take it we’ll wait the next several weeks in West Sorella then? Or are we going to explore another island?”

“I haven’t decided yet but I’m leaning toward staying around West Sorella. Especially with all the ships being damaged and the war looming,” said Jack. “I don’t really want to go looking for trouble until the ships are patched up again.”

“I’ll let the Commodore know,” said Twitch before turning to leave. “Will you be back on the bridge any time soon?”

Jack thumbed his finger over to the doctor. “As soon as this one lets me leave.”

“Good luck,” said Twitch with a chuckle and soon he slipped past the door frame.

Jack spent most of that day resting in the infirmary but felt fidgety the entire time. Too many days had passed since the battle, and he was tired of being locked away from the rest of his crew. It was for that reason that after dinner, he managed to talk a very hesitant Dr. Kendall into allowing him to get out of bed and pay a visit to the West Sorellan king.

Jack grinned as his mind lingered on the word hesitant since he practically had to pull rank on the doctor to allow him to leave his bed but it needed to be done. As soon as he’d stepped out of the infirmary, it was like getting a burst of new energy. His wounds had never stopped healing, but it felt promising to resume some normality after so many days without.

Soon enough, Jack found himself outside the king’s quarters while the sun was just starting to set. Giving the door a firm rap, he awaited Heron’s response.

The door flung open immediately. “Jack! What are you doing out of bed?”

Jack chuckled. “I wanted to come chat with you. I was hoping you wouldn’t be too busy. Are you in the middle of anything?”

Heron shook his head and moved away from the door. “Not at all. Come in and have a seat!”

Jack sat down in a spare chair in front of the king’s desk. Jack was familiar with these quarters as it was just a spare officers’ room that they had allocated to the king of West Sorella. Only large enough for a single bed, desk, pair of chairs, and a dresser, it was quite a tight fit for anyone bearing the title of king, but if Heron had any complaints about it, he kept them to himself.

The king sat down at his desk across from Jack. “How are you feeling today? Any better?”

“Better than yesterday, I suppose,” answered Jack. “Although I don’t think that’s much of an improvement.”

“Assuming that you heal, remind me to set you up with someone who can teach you how to handle a sword when we get back to my city,” said the king with a chuckle. “That is, if you plan to get into any more hand-to-hand fights moving forward.”

“I think I’ll pass on that,” said Jack with a laugh. “This one experience was enough to last a lifetime.”

Heron nodded while a solemn look filled his face. “You know, it’s funny. I should be happy that Daimanos is dead. He’s caused so much trouble to our homeland, killed so many people, including my own family members, and nearly caused our total destruction, but part of me regrets that he had to die. It might be the loss of someone who was blood, but I don’t know for certain. Sometimes I wonder if he could’ve been saved.”

“I doubt a man like Daimanos could’ve been saved,” said Jack. “He was full of pride, arrogance, and hostility. I’ve never really seen anyone with that combination have a natural death.”

“They do say pride cometh before the fall,” said Heron with a weary smile. “There’s a reason why that saying has stayed around for so many years. Daimanos was a perfect example of it.”

“That he was,” agreed Jack.

“Still though. He was my brother. He was still the son of a king of Sorella. I can’t find much happiness in his death.”

“That’s understandable, Heron. Perhaps another way to look at it is to fill that with satisfaction that so many more people will now get to live because he’s gone. Not to mention, you’re helping the memory of those that have died at his hand. How many deaths was Daimanos responsible for? Thousands?”

Heron shivered. “Easily. It reminds me that I need to do a census now that the war is over. We need to see how many of us are left. I almost dread finding out the actual numbers.”

“Maybe it’s a chance for rebirth though,” said Jack. “Maybe with him gone, you can create a new Sorella. A better Sorella.”

“If we are working toward creating a new Sorella, I’d first like to drop this old West/East garbage,” said Heron with a rueful look. “When I was growing up, there was only Sorella. It should be like that once more.”

Jack chuckled. “We’re already making changes. From now on, it’ll just be Sorella. The island is yours once more.”

“And not a moment too soon at that. Although there is still much to be done,” added Heron. “We sit as victors on the battlefield but now I must shift from general back to king. Sometimes I think I’ve had to wear the general cap too long that I’ll forget what it means to be king.”

“The people will remind you what they need,” said Jack. “And the people of Sorella need their king more than ever right now. You’re going to be the one to pick up the pieces and put this island back together. They’ll look to you to lead by example.”

Heron leaned back in his chair. “Might I ask you, Jack—what would you do if you were in my shoes? What would be your first action as king?”

Jack sat back and thought about his answer for a moment. It wasn’t something that he could respond to easily, and the look on Heron’s face told him that the king was genuinely looking for answers instead of making idle conversation.

“I know what I’d do first,” said Jack finally before leaning forward. “I’d go over to Daimanos’ capitol and show them the war is over. Letting them see you in person and learning the truth of their former king’s death will help them process the war being over.”

“And show them there is still a king in Sorella. Even if it is their former king from before Daimanos took over,” said Heron.

Jack nodded. “More importantly, you’ll have to show that the time for reprisals and revenge is over. The civil war is finished. Sure, there may be some forces to mop up. I’m sure we haven’t totally destroyed Daimanos’ army, and there’s going to be some cleanup actions before the island is totally secure. But the people will want to know that the killing is done with. That you’re there to rebuild what’s been shattered.”

“In so doing that, regain their trust and have a chance to earn their respect,” interrupted Heron while rubbing at his chin.

“Exactly,” said Jack. “Besides, from what I saw of East Sorella, those people are in worse shape than your own.”

Heron’s face filled with confusion. “What do you mean? How is that possible?”

“I think Daimanos hoarded all the money and the food, especially when both became scarce during the war. You’ll understand what I mean when we get there and see the palace that he’d built for himself.”

“Nikias told me all about that already,” said Heron with a look of disgust. “I didn’t know that the food situation was that bad over there.”

“Wait until you see the common people,” warned Jack. “Most of them would fall over if the breeze was strong enough.”

“We’ll need to get those people fed and cared for immediately,” said Heron. “While we have little in stocks of food, I can disband a good portion of the army now that the fighting is over. That should help with the problem of feeding all those soldiers and allow those men to get back to their fields.”

“It’s probably going to be lean for a while until you can get a harvest in,” said Jack. “But you should eventually be able to catch up. If you like, I can see if we have any extra grain at our base in Quiller’s Cove and send it with my supply ships.”

Heron smiled eagerly. “If you can, that would be terrific. I’ll take any aid we can get until we can get our feet back firmly on the ground.”

“Consider it done,” said Jack with a nod. “It’ll take a few weeks for them to get out here but it’ll definitely help.”

“I appreciate that, ally,” said Heron with an amused grin. “It looks like Nikias was right in his initial assessment of you. You have really returned balance to our homeland.”

“You mean, he didn’t scare the shit out of you when he told you I signed an alliance with Daimanos?” asked Jack with a laugh.

Heron chuckled as well. “I’ll admit, I was initially a little hesitant but the thing with Daimanos is that he is usually his own worst enemy. You’ve seen enough of his personality—he’s abrasive, abusive, and downright cruel. You don’t attract good people to that kind of leader.”

“There were some warning signs from the start,” said Jack, remembering the first night and the banquet. “He seemed to have an answer for everything. He seemed to be trying a bit too hard to portray a polished exterior. I’m ashamed to say I was blinded by his single-mindedness.”

“That was one thing our father always tried to get out of him. That kind of ostentatiousness isn’t good for a general, much less a king. He always tried to do it through humility as if learning that he wasn’t all-powerful would eventually let him become a more normal person,” said Heron. “It never worked. If anything, I think it worsened the situation. Towards the end of our father’s life, there was an intense hatred on the part of Daimanos toward our father. I feel like that hatred is what caused this whole mess”

“Thankfully for everyone, Daimanos is dead now,” said Jack. “All that suffering is over.”

“Almost over,” said Heron with a shiver. “Except for those poor souls still recovering from that terrible fire.”

“About that, I’ve been meaning to ask you more about that fire. You seemed well-familiar with it when we talked earlier, but I’ve never seen anything like it in my past experiences or through studies. What was it exactly?” asked Jack, remembering the explosion that launched the globs of fire all over the fort.

“That is a particularly nasty weapon that I’m surprised he resorted to,” said Heron. “Father always said to only use it as a last resort to stave off ultimate defeat. Although, I shouldn’t be surprised that Daimanos acted on his own accord with it.”

“Nasty is quite right,” said Jack. “It stuck to everything it landed on. And it couldn’t be extinguished. I saw one man run out into the ocean and he still couldn’t get it out.”

“That’s part of the recipe for it. When I was a boy, Sorella was fighting a war against a much greater opponent, an empire who was determined to conquer the island. They had great, wooden ships more advanced than ours and quickly swept our navy from the seas,” said Heron. “Being that they were wooden, we tried to shoot some incendiary projectiles at them to light their ships on fire, but it was rather ineffective. For one, it burned too weakly and was easily put out. Half the time, it wouldn’t even cause a spark.”

“The other issue was that with so much water, it was easily extinguished. The enemy ships would keep enough water on the decks to easily counter the weapon so it was rather ineffective for our part. For a while, it looked like Sorella might be conquered.”

“So what changed? How did you make it more effective?”

“One of our engineers figured out that if he added a local component called naphtha to the fire, it burned much hotter, longer, and proved all but impossible to extinguish. Naphtha is in plentiful supply on the island so we modified our projectiles to include an extra chamber for naphtha, and then we tested it on the enemy ships. The results exceeded our expectations quite handily.”

“That good, huh? I saw what quick work it made of Daimanos’ fort,” said Jack.

“You should see it launched against wooden ships,” said Heron with a solemn look. “You’ve never seen such an inferno in your entire life. Once it lands, it’ll burn continuously, even directly on the water. We launched it against the entire enemy fleet of over fifty ships. Those that were struck immediately burned rapidly until the entire crews were killed and the ship sunk. Those that weren’t hit right away suffered a worse fate. They had to wait until their oxygen was sucked off from all the fire. It turned the entire area into total carnage. I still remember the sounds of their screams.”

“I imagine they were the same screams we heard just a few days ago,” added Jack. “I can’t think of a worse way to die.”

“Despite the method, it did work. The empire retreated, and we were never attacked again,” said Heron. “Father commanded that we keep stores of this weapon, which we now called Sorellan fire. It was to be our ultimate deterrent weapon, and it has largely worked. Sorella hasn’t been attacked by an outside power since that last event.”

“Is it easy to make?” asked Jack. “You mentioned that this naphtha is in good supply on your island. What about the rest of the recipe?”

“It’s not hard at all,” said Heron with a quick head shake. “All you need is naphtha and oil. You need to make your projectile with two separate compartments for them both and let the force of the explosion merge them together. As a precaution we light a fuse to them before we fire them. Once it’s launched, the fire will catch up to the oil and set the whole thing aflame. Then when it hits, the entire mixture will combine to catch fire.”

“That’s a surprisingly easy recipe for such a powerful weapon.”

Heron nodded. “The naphtha is the key. Without it, the whole thing falls apart.”

“Do you keep stores of the weapon?”

“I have enough storage of it in our armory back in my capitol,” said Heron. “It would’ve stayed there in the event of my death as well. Despite several of my generals wanting to use it against Daimanos, I could never have authorized that against my own people. There’s no power on earth that’s worth the mark that would leave on your soul.”

“These people are lucky to have you as their king, Heron,” said Jack. “You’re a wise man, and you care for them deeply. It is to their great fortune that they don’t have to suffer Daimanos as their king any longer.”

Heron smiled weakly. “I’ve made my share of mistakes. Too many mistakes. I just hope that we’re able to start over. You’ve given this island a second chance, and I intend to take full advantage of it.” Heron pulled out two cups and filled them with water, passing one over to Jack.

Jack drank eagerly and then set his cup back down. “One thing still bothers me. Something that I can’t quite figure out.”

“Well tell it to me and let’s see if we can solve the mystery,” said Heron with a light chuckle.

“Daimanos was so intent on seeing our technology. It was all that he talked about during our initial meeting and at our later banquet. What I don’t understand is why he attacked us. He opened fire on the Valiant and tried to board her to capture the vessel. He hoped to have us wipe out your men before falling on us to wipe the rest out. If he wanted our technology so much, then why did he betray us?”

Heron took another drink before answering the question. “I’m not sure I have the full answer for you, Jack. There aren’t many men who understood how my brother’s mind worked. But if I had to take a guess, he felt threatened by the technology. He knew you had the ability to destroy him, so he wanted to destroy you before you could turn on him.”

“Yet it was his eagerness to betray us that turned our hand. If he hadn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now,” said Jack with a smile.

Heron rubbed his chin. “How much did he pester you about seeing some of your technology in action?”

“It was damn near every other sentence,” answered Jack. “I told him to wait until the battle was over and then we could talk about it.”

Heron snapped his fingers. “Your usefulness to Daimanos evaporated at that moment. The second you denied him, even if it was just temporary, was the second he set his sights against you. He was one of the most insecure men I’ve ever known. I think it’s a large reason why he was never able to marry. He would go into a rage if any woman he was courting so much as looked at another man. Once that happened, he would discard her quickly. In his mind, you had already betrayed him.”

“So you’re saying because I didn’t immediately give in, he took that as a violation of our alliance?” asked Jack.

“No one can say for certain now, but that would be my guess,” said Heron. “My brother’s behavior was predictable. Erratic, yes, but predictable. It was probably for that reason that he decided to separate you from your ships and then put a good portion of your people on shore. Divide and conquer.”