Chapter 18

It was much later that the first merchants came to us. The boys wanted to sell them horse meat, horses, tack, saddles or weapons. The symbols on the articles ensured that nobody would buy them if they wanted to live.

Tonno and Solsa were cleaning their weapons needlessly and talking to the youngsters around them about battles, including the one that was just fought. The boys and even the girls sat open mouthed. Some of the galley slaves were listening, too. Few of them had left the ship and so far nobody had come to claim them.

One old merchant clandestinely passed me a note. When they all left I went to the cabin and read: 'Bartho cannot come now. Too dangerous to come by day. Will come by boat tonight.' There was no signature or seal but I figured it was the king.

I wanted to heat the pot under Cantro. Tonno and Solsa were summoned and I said, "Take a few of the galley slaves out for a drink or two. Talk openly about how the Church has fallen on hard times and has to rob honest merchants to make ends meet."

"I like that, but why the slaves?"

"They don't get out much. There are enough of them that they can protect your bum if the big bad Adchek come again."

He just looked at me and said, "Ok, do we get paid for this?"

"The bar patrons will pay to hear about the fight. You robbed all the bodies and even the horses and you want me to pay you. Soon, I'll have to ask you for a loan."

Tonno was able to look both sheepish and happy and left quickly.

Carso and Fillo wanted their turn to go to the bars but they had to wait until their friends returned. When Tonno did return, he was bruised and his clothes ripped. In fact, all of them looked like they were through a war. None of them looked particularly hurt. Tonno reported, "The locals are sensitive about the Church but were sporting enough to just use fists. It was fun, I can't wait to go out later."

"Carso and Fillo are going to fill in for you." The latter two were also told to return before dark. They left with another contingent of warrior women from the galley.

Near midnight, a rowboat quietly paddled up to us. Captain Sacco helped three people aboard. One man stayed with his cowl on and I got rid of everybody else.

When the door closed, King Carrser made his appearance.

"Thank you, Lord Crazzic, or should I use your other name?"

"Lord Crazzic is fine. Are you able to introduce your friends?"

"I am, Lord Carzzic. The first is Admiral Dozza. He protects our shores against pirates and more organised groups."

"I see." I bowed to the man and said, "I'm glad to meet you."

"And I you. That was some fight you had here last night."

"It was no fight. We butchered them just like cattle."

"It was that easy?"

"I'm afraid it was."

I looked at the other man and Carrser said, "This is General Fadish. He leads my army."

"I'm glad to meet you, too."

I offered some wine and we got down to talking. Carrser said, "What are your objectives in this part of the world?"

"I don't like the Church. They control the people like puppets. They have made great strides in science but deny the benefits to the people. I believe that the Church wants to make the entire world like Adchek or Anguy. I have been to neither land but the thoughts of being there make me shiver in fear."

I had a sip of wine so they could digest this then said, "My aim is to fight the Church and at the moment that can best be done by helping those that are already fighting. Buseland is one that needs your nitre. I want to fill both ships with all I can carry and sail there."

"And after that?"

"Well, I expect a visit from the Army of the Righteous soon. I will kill the first few thousand men, I figure, until they start using a lot more magic on me. When they do, they'll bring the rest of their army and I'll just have to kill them."

"How do you plan on killing the Army of the Righteous?"

"That's my secret. It may get back to the Church."

"I see. The Buseland crown needs more nitre than what even your two ships can hold."

I just waited and he eventually said, "You are buying nitre for Isle of Entras. When you load up you will sail in that direction but somewhere along the way you will end up in Buseland. The Church is strong here and I can only do so much openly."

"Do you have more ships that I can purchase. If they're filled with nitre, they can go with my ships and make a convoy."

Admiral Dozza said, "We have three pirate ships that are not manned."

The king said, "They might work. There may even be enough nitre to fill them. What about crews?"

"There are few men available."

I put in my two cents and said, "There are women sailors."

"They cannot fight."

"I know some woman that I would pit against your best men. They are not strong physically but they are mentally. They have helped me kill thousands."

"I have heard of your women. They are all young and apparently you have drugged and bewitched them into being men."

"Those men are planning on getting pregnant soon. There are no drugs used but I love them and they love me. Tell me, would your wives fight to save your lives?"

There was no answer but I thought I hit my mark.

General Fadish said, "Can't you use the women you have here?"

"They were slaves. I had to keep them chained and only release them slowly. They're not sane."

"Can you hire competent women?"

"That, I can try. It has to be soon and I need to know how many I need to command the ships."

We talked of a reward and I said, "The pirates are sailors. Perhaps some of those can be reformed. Doing it at the end of a rope or in the bottom of a galley may not work when I need a quick mind and body."

We only stopped talking because it was going to get light soon. Not everything was worked out yet. I handed out some good walkie talkies and taught them how to use them. Extra batteries and a sheet of paper telling everything I knew about the radios went with them. We could now talk and not be seen together.

The Skussa was modernised like the Scors was. The lowest areas were cleaned extensively and converted to carrying cargo. All those people housed there had only been used for propulsion. There was no need for a large crew though.

The Harbourmaster and others directed the unemployed to the Skussa. They were hired to work on the repairs and to crew the ship when it was underway.

The slaves were worried about being abandoned. I had them learn to be sailors. Some were not bad or had previous experience.

The cabins on the deck above were combined and hammocks hung one above the other like WWII troop carriers.

The Harbourmaster gave me shit for taking up valuable dock space and then gave me a sickly smile. He must have been forced to do this. That meant that they were ready to take care of me once I left the harbour.

When a radio message came, I slipped into a rowboat, then a carriage, then onto a horse. The next day I saw my three newest ships. They had been stripped and cleaned just like the others but there were no crews. The man in charge was not at any previous meeting. He said, "How do you like them?"

"They look good but I'm not much of a sailor. Are the sails and cordage good? Do the hulls leak a lot? Is there a lot of rot?"

"Milord, the ships are fair and they will get you to any destination you wish. After that you will need to make repairs like any ship."

"I know that nothing lasts forever but will they last in the short term?"

"They will last."

When I got back to the Scors, I knew that I would have to have Captain Sacco come and look after the ships. I asked on the radio if there were any old men like Juke that could come out of retirement to be the captain and major officers. Apparently there were some good men that may take up the call to arms.

Sacco and my crew nearly deserted me and worked on the three ships. I insisted on calling them the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria. They were taken out for sea trials and to train the crew. Three weeks after I entered the Mersia Islands, I had to leave. We had dawdled as long as we could to give the others a chance to train.

The Scors and the Skussa had few of the original crew. I sold sixty kilos of copper and filled the bottom of the hold of the Skussa with three tonnes of gold. On top of this was the niter and some cannon that should have had the Royal armoury symbol on them.

A large ship pulled in when we were doing our final preparations. I used my spotter scope and saw people using scopes on us. There was one man with the symbol on his coat that said he was high in the Church and probably Lord Cantro.

The time to sail was with the tide and that wasn't until the early morning. It was doubtful if Lord Cantro would start a fight here in the bay, but he might. It would be a fact that he would follow me tomorrow.

I went to my supplies and pulled out a kilo of plastique and a radio detonator. I wasn't a demolitions expert but I figured that the best place to park this charge would be near the magazine or at least below the waterline.

Solsa was the only good swimmer we had so he had to help. Tonno insisted on coming with us. The bottom of the ships were encrusted with marine life. The wood was soft and punky. There was nothing to grab onto. An explosive device would come off when the ship started to move. We wracked our minds and the only thing we could think of was to pound some nails into the hull and suspend the mine from there. The noise from the nailing would alert the crew.

We were ready when it got dark. Solsa rowed and then drifted under the black sail we used before. There was a watch posted on the ship and it was awake.

We made it under the bow just as a sentry looked out across the water only a few metres above us. Knives worked their way between the planks so we had something to hold onto. If only I had thought to bring screws and a screwdriver.

Solsa went overboard and worked another tool between the planks. He was a metre down while doing this in the dark. I went over next and worked the metal in a little more and even Tonno gave it a try.

While waiting for my turn a big fucking turd hit me, followed by another. The head is the toilet and on a sailing ship it's in the bow. The wind pushes the ship forward as well as the stink from the toilet. I was on ground zero and there was nothing I could do.

I took my turn next in the water and if I could have seen them, I would know that they were grinning. The flat bar we used finally went through and then it was wedged. Old rope was pushed in around it to stop any leak and I just hoped that the metal would not be seen. The last thing I did was push spikes between every plank until I got a metre above the water and attach a silver wire to them. This extended to the radio receiver hooked to the explosives.

Two hours after we started, we left the spot under the bow and headed back. Three hours after midnight some boats pulled up and threw us lines. The boats had thirty rowers each and they pulled as quietly as they could to get us out of the harbour. It might be a shock to see us gone from our berth but I figured the Church would expect it.

The local experts put us in the right currents and continued to row for three solid hours until the wind freshened. They had already been paid and were both too far away and too tired to help the Church.

When the sun had completely cleared the horizon, our fleet of five ships was underway. I had another shower of seawater. The water in the bay was filthy but the water in front of that ship was worse.

Everybody was looking behind us and around noon we saw the mast of a ship. The ship was big and fast and by four in the afternoon, it was visible as the ship we mined.

When I planned this trip I knew most of our journey would be by ship and brought something to keep us safe. We now opened a steel box and set up a M252 mortar. The unit itself was just over forty kilos and the rounds were a little over six kilos. This unit was brought because of its extended range. It could hit from 4,500 metres to 5,650 metres depending on the weight of the shell it fired. Some cannon could shoot further but were also much more inaccurate. If they wanted to be sure of a kill they had to get close.

By seven they fired their first cannon round. They were within our range and outside theirs. The ball missed but not by more than thirty metres. I wanted our people to see that we did this in self defence.

I took out the detonator. Camsa and Bosma were watching intently until I said, "Push the arming button then the destruct. Do it together."

The boys didn't move until another cannon ball came even closer to us. The switch was pushed and we saw a geyser at the bow of the pursuing ship. It rapidly lost way and the sails came down. The faster they sailed the more water would pour into their hull.

I called a halt when the explosion went off. It would take a long time to try to buck the wind and make it back to the wreck so we used our boats to speed the trip. There were people in the water hanging onto whatever they could. Some snarled at us and we left them to their fate. There were some children and women still alive. We pulled these from the water and put tie wraps on them. Some actually fought us.

Weakly holding onto a chest was a man I saw in the scope. "Go there." The boat shifted and I caught the tunic. The man looked at me with blood shot eyes and snarled. I also saw that he had a medallion around his neck. I grabbed this quickly and the priest could not put up much of a fight. He picked up his hands, slid out of his tunic and down into the ocean. The tunic went into the boat and I then grabbed the chest the man had been holding onto for support.

We saved seven lives but left the soldiers. That was the way they wanted it. We picked up what would be interesting and then headed to our ships.