Page 82 of Pirate Witch
Even Titan, standing alert on the deck beside me, gets covered in glyphs. I hadn’t planned for him to still be aboard, but I’m grateful for the company. It’s selfish, but I’m glad I’m not leading this ambush completely alone.
TheDeadwoodis ready for battle, and so am I.
The other ships behind me don’t fire yet. They’re waiting for my signal, and I’m cutting things tight. I want to get close and unleash a full broadside into these fuckers before they know what’s hit them. It’s a risky plan, one which depends on them being too worried about the wraiths on the shore to notice the ships on their other side.
It pays off. I fire the first volley into a completely unsuspecting ship, watching with satisfaction as the already frantic crew yell out in confusion. They weren’t expecting this ambush, and it shows as their frantic captain jumps straight overboard.
Idiot coward. The shark shifters from the other ships will finish him off quicker than I can destroy his ship.
The crew of the largest ship—a Man O' War hidden behind the bulk of the other seven frigates in the fleet—is working overtime. That’s a complication. None of us thought they’d send anything that big after the witches. There wasn’t much point, considering that the witches would be fighting on land. Evidently, we underestimated my uncle’s ego.
I draw out my spyglass to get a better look and the Eagle’s sick logic immediately becomes apparent. They’ve anchored her with her powerful long guns facing the docks, probably intending to fire on the town once they were done with the witches—bastards.
I lower my spyglass with a frustrated groan.
We’re going to have to work overtime to break down the wall of frigates keeping that vessel from our firepower and then bring something that large and heavily armoured down. It’s not impossible, though. That ship might have a lot of guns, but it’s slow as fuck. If we can out-manoeuvre it, we can bring it down.
Another round of cannon fire, and my first target splinters. The mainmast comes crashing down, narrowly missing my own rigging. Titan barks out a victory woof, and I grin. One down, seven to go.
It shouldn’t come as a shock when the Man O' War flickers with multicoloured glyphs of its own. They’re following my example. The mages on board would be stupid not to imitate a strategy that works.
Too bad they’re doing a shit job of it. They’re royal mages, pets who don’t work well together. And theyhaveto work together to do what I do. They’re just not powerful enough to shield a whole ship by themselves.
Still, it will make things difficult. Especially since they’ve made the smart decision to cover the areas around their power store and their masts—the two main weak points I usually prefer to hit.
One of our ships takes down a second frigate before they even manage to get out a volley. A tiny victory thrill runs down my spine as I watch the burning ship get split in two by Fitz’s ram. We’re six against six now. Granted, one is a fucking Man O' War, but that’s got to mean something is going right.
I angle the guns slightly, aiming for a third ship, just behind the Man O' War, but before I can, one of their frigates finally manages to get out a coordinated burst of fire. Fitz’s ship, theGolden Griffin, braces for impact, but the rounds cut straight through the bow, coming dangerously close to the powder store. The damage is like a bucket of ice water over my premature optimism.
More fire follows. The gunshots are coming so fast and frequently now that I struggle to tell which side is firing them. The pirate crews are fast, efficient, and fucking good brawlers, so I leave them to it and set my sights on the giant ship, still struggling to get her guns loaded.
When she does, we’re fucked.
TheDeadwoodis primed to fire another shot, and this time I add a little extra magical punch, testing out those shields.
They hold.Fuck. How are they holding?
It doesn’t matter that they aren’t covering the whole ship. I don’t have enough guns to turn that ship into matchsticks on my own. If they can keep the vital areas protected… This might be harder than I thought.
More magic follows the second shots, but it barely makes them flicker. With a wave of my hand, I bring the swivels into play, landing precise shots toward the bow of their ship even as I turn theDeadwoodaround. If I don’t decrease the size of the target I present, I’m going to be a sitting duck.
I’ve barely made the turn before I hear them. Three rows of guns fire at once, sending a wave of fire and iron crashing into my stern. An ache starts in my lower back, the pain radiating around my hips. The windows, though shielded, shatter from the force of the explosion, adding pinpricks of fire to the deep muscle pain. The mastiff beside me whines, but doesn’t move. After a quick check to make sure he’s okay, I turn my attention back to my swivels, aiming and firing again. They don’t achieve much. A tiny flicker in the transmutation circle, perhaps. Nothing more.
Fuck, this might be the only time I’ve ever had to go against a ship which had enough powerful mages on the crew to use my own tricks against me.
I can only win this if I have more power than all of them combined, and I have the added disadvantage of feeling physical pain every time they get a shot in.
Titan brushes against my leg with a quiet, questioning huff. I nod at him. “We’re bringing them down, boy. I promise,” I mutter, absently. “I just have to work around it. They have to coordinate to do what I do. That makes them slow. I can work with that.”
Yes, things are bad enough that I’m reassuring my dog. No, I’m not going to examine that too closely.
A blast distracts me for a second, and I grimace. One of our other ships—not Fitz’s, I note with relief—has exploded. A lucky shot must have hit their powder, because now they’re little more than a floating inferno on the waves. Taking advantage of the distraction, I finish manoeuvring theDeadwoodinto place and fire off another broadside, then a second in quick succession. This time, a few of the transmutation circles on the larger ship do flicker out and die.
The weakest of their mages are already out of power, but I’m still fine in that regard. I take advantage of the gaps they’ve left, getting in another round that splinters the hull before I’m forced to brace for another shot.
Fucking fuck fuck. My ribs are on fire, making breathing hard.
Titan whimpers, tail between his legs, and I clench my jaw. “We’re fine,” I insist.
