Horizon (In the Absence of Kings Book 3) Page 4

  In the morning, the four were summoned to a breakfast of seared pork and spiced meal of oats, and they ate with the Amberclast’s crew in the mess hall. Frequently associating with sailors in the Salty Dog tavern, all but Ilsa were accustomed to the coarse manner and rough humour, but none of them had begun to drink so soon after sunrise, and the meal was enjoyed in good spirit. Accustomed to hiding away from the peering eye of the sun and being shielded by the boughs of the forest, Kayten opted to stay in the shade of the quarters, and Ilsa was obliged to agree and stay with her. Novas and Garreth found their way onto deck where Sevrad was looking out over the water with a spyglass.

  “When we arrive in Kal’resh, where will be heading? Is there a port city?” Garreth inquired.

  “Yes, there is a city called Nacosst on the eastern coast. There is a problem, however. I have spoken with my fellow Kal’reth in Amatharsus, and the most recent immigrants speak of Vandar’s grip on that city, the surrounding area, and the majority of the continent of Kal’resh. With that in mind, I have asked the captain to dock us to the south of that place, so we can ferry you to shore, and you can proceed on foot,” Sevrad explained.

  “We’ll be on our own from there?” Garreth assumed.

  “Fortunately not. I have received permission from the captain to venture with you to Nacosst where I’ll be picked up in a days’ time once we get our bearings. I’m hoping we can find a clue there that will help you along your way,” Sevrad told the two.

  “As do I,” Garreth replied as he looked at the sea.

  The rest of the day was just as uneventful as they had expected, but the men found some relief when they were invited to a game of dice amongst the crew. Novas was pleased to see the table was not hewn with notches from knifes or stained with blood, like one had been during his infiltration of a Blackwoods bandit camp, and him and his father both played freely regardless of winning or losing no coin. They did not bring any tetra or tri with them on the journey; like the assassin they trailed, they wanted to leave no record of their passing except that of a corpse.

  The second day upon the sea was much different than the first. The crashing of the waves was only matched in intensity by the roaring of the winds, the tearing of the clouds, the pouring of the rain, the flashing of the lightning, and the booming of its thunder. The boat was turned sharply on its bottom, but it proved to be too wide of a boat to capsize against the highest of wave. The four travelers spent the day in the confines of their room, explored the lower decks of the ship, or visited the captain when he was available, trying to stave off nausea by reclaiming their momentum and walking around themselves. The crew of the Amberclast spent most of the day toiling on the deck of the ship, maneuvering its many levers, ropes, and pulleys to safeguard the masts and sails from destruction. They all were rewarded towards sundown when the sky finally broke, revealing a red sky that led them into the night.

  That night, the seas were calm, the clouds were gone, and the moon was a pale sliver in absolute darkness. All that was left above was the myriad of stars, and the four looked on in wonder. Mostly white with some blue and fewer red, the stars were thrown across the sky like the spattering of freckles upon Kayten’s face, or Novas thought so at least. Standing a ways apart, each couple was bound in each other’s arms, and they were swayed by the movement of the seas until sleep began to make their eyes heavy. They retired to their cabin late that night. Despite the narrower size of the single beds, the four held their special one close until dream had taken them.

  The next morning, they were all woken by a firm rapping at the door. They found the gesture to be much more casual than the polite knocking and notification for breakfast from the day before. They figured the crew must be warming to them. The crewman’s bell rang with abandon for quite some time. It was only until the four made their way into the empty dining hall that they figured something was amiss. At least half the crew was up against the railing of the bow, looking to the direction that the ship was headed. The four travelers made their way to the front deck and looked beyond with the crew as well. The thinnest strip of colour rested on the horizon with sandy brown on its bottom and earthy green on its top; Kal’resh was finally in sight. However, that was not why the crew had gathered there. Two large ships stood between the Amberclast and the shore, and another three approached from the north and south.

  “Take a look,” Sevrad suggested as he passed his spyglass to Garreth.

  Garreth put the spyglass to his eye and peered west towards the incoming ships. Despite his hopes, the distinct shape of the Vandarian ship glinted in the sunlight.

  “No mistaking it,” Garreth stated with a sigh.

  “They’ll be upon us in an hour. With this wind, there’s no way we can make an escape,” Sevrad explained.

  “We’ll head for the shore and evacuate there. Hopefully, we can lose their forces in the terrain on land. All we have to do is survive the encounter,” Vern spoke, arriving behind them.

  “Garreth, as you are the martial expert onboard, I would be honoured for you to prepare the defense,” the captain spoke with a bow.

  Garreth nodded and looked at the crew.

  “Set course and rally on the deck, bring your weapons to me!” he shouted over all of them.

  The crew scrambled from the deck of the ship. While some made their way into barrels and crates on the deck, others flew down stairs to get below deck to find their arms. Before long, the lot of them, lightly armed and barely armoured, stood in front of Garreth. He did a count of the sailors before him. Fourteen of them had shortswords, some partially eaten by rust of the salty sea, and another seven had bows and a small cache of arrows between them. Garreth stood before the seafarers on the deck and began to draw his plans carefully.

  As the first of the Vandarian ships approached the Amberclast, shouts of surprise and caution were heard from the vessel of gray sails. There was no response from the Malquian crew as boarding hooks were tossed through the Amberclast’s railings, nor when the boarding ramp connected the boats from deck to deck. Unlike the sea-shawled wraps of the Vandarian sailor, the armoured Vandarian soldier was equipped with a thick leather cuirass with metal shoulder pauldrons, similarly reinforced gloves and boots, a lengthy bronze sword, and a round shield. A small group of soldiers made their way across the gangplank, landing with a thump onto the Amberclast’s deck, and looked around at the vessel that now seemed a ghost ship.

  Garreth and Novas breathed deep, collected themselves, and listened as the Vandarian soldiers stepped closer to the crates they hid behind. When it sounded like enough had filled the decks, Garreth stood up from his cover and released an arrow into an unsuspecting soldier. There was a chorus of yelling and slamming of doors as Novas released the second arrow, and Kayten, Ilsa, and the crew of the Amberclast came charging onto the deck. Soon, the golden floor of the Amberclast was slick with blood, but that did not deter the Vandari from marching over the plank, shields raised, to meet their land’s invaders.

  Although becoming withdrawn to the peaceful requiem of the forest, it did not take Kayten long to ignite her inner fire once again, which gave her the strength to swing her father’s sword or buffer the attacks at her shield. Nearly third out of the captain’s room in the initial rush, Kayten sprinted roaring with the rest of them and focused on a soldier mid-deck. She charged in with her shield up and stepped forward, twisting her heel, then released that tension with a spin and guided her shield against the shield of the Vandarian, knocking it aside. She stepped forward with the next foot, extended straight and long with her sword, and gouged the soldier’s chest, retracting behind her shield as her enemy fell.

  Three more soldiers approached her in rank with shields up high and swords folded out the sides, and Kayten held her shield out in front of them and was prepared to deflect their multiple strikes. For a time, they stabbed at her, together and apart. As long as she kept her focus, however, the Vandari could not pierce her guard, but neither could Kayten theirs without exposin
g herself. Kayten heard the sharp whistling, like a sparrow racing by her ear, and the Vandarian in the middle spun and dropped to the floor with an arrow deep within his collar. Kayten saw her chance, sprinted in between the remaining two, and leapt towards the rightmost one with an outstretched kick. She landed upon the circular shield, and leapt off of it, pressing her whole weight onto its frame. As the Vandarian fell to the deck as he was knocked off balance, Kayten jumped towards the other soldier with her shield in front, crunching his shield into his frame. The soldier reached out for the floor as he fell backwards, and Kayten came down with her sword, piercing his loosened guard. Kayten turned about and unleashed a spinning strike on the last Vandarian, keeping him on the deck where he had fallen. She had a spare moment to lock eyes with Novas, her guardian, as she rose from her knees for more.

  Although exposed by the radiant sun that burned above her, Ilsa had no problem finding her own way into the battle as she snuck from crate, to mast, to her target. Like sharp shadows cut by the billowing mast, if Ilsa was seen, she was a dark blur, only stopping for a moment to exact punishment from her twin daggers. She moved from Garreth’s side, spun to a nearby crate, and looked over the railing of the Amberclast to the Vandarian ship. The jump to the opposite deck would be too far, but she spied an open window that seemed just her size. In a quick breath, she stood, planted a foot on the railing, and then launched over the water with arms and hands outstretched. Landing against the curved side of the Vandarian ship, she grabbed onto the metal binding of the window.

  Just wide enough for her hips and shoulders, Ilsa pulled her way into the belly of the ship where she found herself in the goods hold. She sprang up from her place and knocked lamps off their places on the wall, spilling the oil and their flame upon the floors. She pulled up her hood and masque and waited near the stairs to the deck as the smoke rose. Before long, there was a rumble of footsteps as a small group of soldiers marched to investigate the fire. And one-by-one, Ilsa followed them around the smoky corridors, dispatching them unaware with ease.

  She would have stayed for more, but the cabin was becoming quite hot, so she sprinted onto the deck. She was surprised when she found herself surrounded by Vandarian troops, but not unprepared, so she dropped a wooden bauble that began to spin and smoke. Together with the haze that rose from the basement, Ilsa became fully obscured. When the Vandari moved in with their swords swinging, Ilsa launched towards the gangplank, leaping off the railing of their ship. She landed in the middle of the gangplank from her high leap, and it bent a degree enough to launch her further into the air as she sprung off of it. She plowed into a Vandarian with her legs first, pinning him to the floor as she plunged her daggers into his neck. She rolled off her victim under the swinging slashes of swords and made her way through the crowded melee back towards Garreth as the Vandarian ship began to smoke and flame at its deck. The second ship from Vandar, only a short distance behind the first, had now begun to pull up alongside the Amberclast and began boarding as well.

  “Clear the decks! Prepare for second assault!” Garreth called out as the gangplank from the second ship dropped across the divide.

  Garreth holstered his bow across his back, motioned for Novas to follow him, and withdrew Darkbreaker to join the heated fray. The two did not bother with the remaining Vandari on the deck of the Amberclast, who were shortly being overwhelmed. Instead, they made their way recently dropped gangplank where the Vandari had bunched up and were coming across in pairs. Garreth hopped up onto the railing and strode towards the approaching soldiers, bringing Darkbreaker down upon their raised shields. The Vandari watched the shining blade meet their steel but were completely surprised by the blinding flash that followed.

  The twin blades Darkbreaker and Dawnbringer, forged by Kayten following the liberation of Amatharsus, produced blinding flashes of light when striking or struck due their tempered sunsteel radiance, but its absorptive moonstone core kept the wielder from being blinded as well. Like the unlucky Vandari in the battles prior, these gashed their teeth and shouted as they fell back and were blinded. Novas rushed up beside his father and kicked one of the Vandari into the sea before bringing Dawnbringer down onto the row of raised shields again. Unable to open their guards to strike, the Vandari were shortly pushed backwards onto their ship. Before long, the remaining crew of the Amberclast followed behind the two Malquians as they fought their way on board.

  As if drawn by the desire to see the sword lighted, Novas found himself striking his blade against the sturdy Vandarian bulwarks. His foes could not engage the two light-bearing warriors who had boarded their ship, and the Vandari were soon bunched up upon their back deck as their numbers dwindled against the Amberclast archers that picked them off from the side. Before Novas and his father had a chance to close in, the soldiers began to throw down their weapons and jump over the railing into the sea. Garreth looked at the Vandari, who seemed to have trouble swimming in their bulky armour.

  “Quickly, detach the hooks and start the fire,” Garreth called out to his allies.

  “Garreth, the ships beyond!” Sevrad pointed out over the sea to where three ships waited.

  Garreth headed over to the Amberclast, took the spyglass from Sevrad, and looked upon those cautious vessels. Their decks were filled with soldiers who were all formed in rank and watching the Amberclast. Garreth found it odd that no sailors were steering the ship towards the Amberclast. A familiar sound, one from a distant memory, came from the direction of the Vandarian ships. In the short time that Garreth delved into the past, he returned to the moment with a pang of dread. A rhythmic striking of metal, like a hammer against the smith’s forge, began to click steadily. The sound of tension, like trees bending in a storm of great winds, was heard across the distance. Through the spyglass, the Vandari found their positions beside the great constructions of wood and metal, featuring a great wooden arm with a deep scoop. Garreth had not seen these catapults since the Vandarian occupation of Deepshine, but he recalled their potential for destruction immediately.

  “Fall back to the Amberclast. Sevrad, get us out of here. To shore!” Garreth shouted.

  But it was too late. The weighted payloads had been unleashed. Their projectiles were not stumps and rounds of wood like the Blackwoods had taken from the forests of Deepshine, but weighty earth of dark stone. The first boulder landed in the back of the Amberclast and ripped the apart the hull, tossing Vern’s valuables into the sea. Although the sailors kept the ship straight as it lurched precariously to the side, they were completely dismayed as the next boulder landed straight into the base of the main mast, knocking over the three story pillar and the massive sails. The mast landed with a heavy smash on the edge of the ship, nearly tipping the Amberclast completely over, and separated Novas and Kayten from Garreth and Ilsa.

  Garreth looked around to find his son, but the crew was in an absolute panic. The captain was calling to abandon the ship, and the crew made their way into the water. Novas and Kayten were thrown against the side of the railing as the boat tilted. Before they realized, they were falling into the sea when the piece of the ship they were standing on was smashed and dislodged from the ship. Novas reached out to Kayten as they fell. When they fell, they fell hard, and all was black.

  “Meet on the shore!” Vern called out before he dove into the water below.

  Garreth grabbed Ilsa’s hand and took her to the splintered edge. He looked below and then looked at her. When their eyes met, they jumped.

  Chapter Five

  Kayten could no longer see any traces of the Amberclast, and the Vandarian ships had finished their patrol some time ago. Although she was sure that only debris remained, the wreckage was so sparse that it was obscured by the height of the waves. While noon was passing on, and the unheeded sun was no longer directly overhead, the heat seemed to be getting to Kayten as much as her worry. She made her way over to Novas, balancing on their salvation, and felt at his head and face again. There was a proper bruise on his forehead nea
r his scalp, and she assumed that he received it in the fall. He would not respond to her calls or her prodding, so she languished alone on the hot sun and the endless sea and tried not to dread.

  She stared at the land beyond. The thin strip of sandy brown and forest green was growing larger, she hoped. She wanted to paddle her way to shore, but every time she made her way to the edge of the wooden debris they lay upon, it sank and threatened to flip. She had never even considered the dangers of falling into the sea with such weighty armour because she never assumed she would be overboard. Now it was a true threat, but she had nowhere to take it off, and she would not forsake her hand-crafted armour.

  So, she sat and hoped for Novas to return to her. Soon, she became angry with herself. She ripped off a panel of the debris and began to paddle towards the shore with it, but due to the distance to shore and the weight and size of their ship, she felt like she was making little progress. As the day pressed on, the sky began to darken behind her. The same shade of clouds appeared that had brought the storm to them on their second day of travel, so she bit her lip and continued to paddle.

  It was around sundown when there was coughing and sputtering from behind Kayten. She turned around where Novas had turned over and began to roll off the side of their ship. Kayten reached out to catch him and caught the edge of his chainmail shirt in her grip.

  “Novas! Novas! Wake up, Novas!” she shouted, “You need to wake up!”

  “Mmnnh,” Novas murmured.

  He opened his eyes and saw himself peering into the dark green of the deep sea. His eyes opened wide, and he rolled back towards Kayten, who embraced him in a hug and kissed his head.