“Aye, Captain.”
Ethan and Gideon climbed the netting alongside Brass, bringing them to the middle of the mizzenmast in order to help tie down the sail into proper position. “I don’t understand!” Ethan shouted over the wind.
“We’re going after that ship,” Gideon said.
“Yes, but why? Who are they?”
“Slaver ship!” Brass shouted.
The sails caught the wind and the ship surged forward faster.
“What’s a slaver ship?” Ethan asked.
“Mordred’s army has been making raids on the villages and towns at random,” Brass said. “They take prisoners to sell them as slaves outside Nodian borders. Some of them go to Emmanuel to work at the palace and take other jobs within the city for Mordred. He mostly has the women taken though. Mordred doesn’t want to risk a rebellion under his own nose. They burn out the villages and usually kill everyone else in the process.”
This reminded Ethan of what had taken place in Grandee. Had this been all there was to it, just supplying a slave trade? He couldn’t believe it was that simple. There had been a demon there in the council meeting. It had controlled the outcome, manipulating the men on the council in order to stop Grandee from joining the rebellion under King Stephen of Wayland.
Then another thought occurred to him. If this ship was a slaver, perhaps Elspeth might be onboard. He might be on the verge of finding and rescuing her before she could ever reach Mordred. This glimmer of hope comforted Ethan a little. He watched the ship running from Bonifast. Before Ethan could rejoice, Bonifast had to catch it.
From where Ethan stood, the slaver ship looked so far away. “Can we catch it?” he asked Brass. “My sister was taken by Mordred’s men.”
“It’s going to give us a run for sure,” Brass said. “They’re trying to hide in that storm, but Bonifast’s nickname is the Storm Rider for good reason. That man can navigate the swells like no one I’ve ever seen. I’ve not seen a slaver get away from him yet. He hates them. You lads had better hold tight and secure your lifelines. When we reach that storm it’s going to be a bumpy ride for all of us.”
It took over an hour to get close. In the meantime, the guns were prepped and Brass shared a little about what the Maelstrom could do in a real battle. The old girl carried sixty cannons, separated into two levels on both sides of the ship. Brass explained how the upper levels carried twenty-pounders while the lower levels, like the one they were standing inside now, housed the thirty-pounders. One of the secrets of Bonifast’s longstanding victories were his custom castings. “You see,” Brass said, holding up a twenty-pound ball. “These babies work very well. But, depending upon the enemy vessel’s strength, they may not have much penetrating power to the hull, where it really counts.”
Brass handed the ball to Gideon and walked over to one of the ammo crates behind the cannon crew. He removed a shell unlike anything they had ever seen before. Rather than the traditional round cannonball, this weapon was cylindrical with a very sharp cone tip at one end.
“Now this, lads, has got penetrating power,” Brass bragged. “When traditional ammunition can’t get the job done, we pull out these beauties. Then it’s all over. The captain had them specially designed. We can sink a galleon hundreds of yards away, while staying out of reach of its guns.”
Ethan noticed some of the lower deck guns were nearly twice the length of the others. “Does the added length allow you to shoot further?” Ethan asked.
“Well, it’s more about the powder charge on distance, but the barrel length gives us the kind of accuracy these guns really need. Our men are some of the best gunners sailing the Azure,” Brass said.
“He’s not exaggerating,” Bonifast added.
The captain had managed to sneak up on them. The ship pitched wildly, causing Ethan and Gideon to reach for the overhead beams in order to support themselves.
“It takes getting used to,” Bonifast said, “but you’ll both get your sea legs soon enough. Anyway, you might want to come up on deck. The weather is about to come down on us hard.”
“How close are we, Captain?” Ethan asked.
Bonifast looked at them, smiling with a ravenous gleam in his eyes like a wild man. “Soon, lads, and load up the specials for this one!”
There was a shout of “Aye” from the entire gunnery crew on that level. Then the captain led Ethan, Gideon, and Brass up on deck. The sight of the Azure Sea set into a frenzy, the way it was now, inspired awe and terror all at once. Gideon and Ethan looked at one another, amazed. To say that the beautiful Azure Sea looked angry would have been an understatement. What Ethan had seen before, as a calm sapphire jewel extending beyond his sight, had now become a vicious predator ready to devour the two ships at any moment. Roiling waves extended as far as Ethan could see terminating in ominous purple and gray thunderclouds at the horizon, in every direction.
Captain Bonifast ran to the helm and took over. He looked like a cat toying with a mouse. He played the wheel, watching the slaver ship battling against the sea several hundred yards ahead of them. The smaller ship bobbed up and down violently as the storm surge threatened to dash it to splinters.
Ethan thought he might be sick. The meal he had enjoyed earlier now churned in a stomach that felt as angry as the sea. Gideon seemed to be handling it better. Ethan wondered if the priest had sailed before during his time with The Order of Shaddai.
Ethan prayed as he held tight to the rail. Gideon watched him and stayed near. A rope around each of their waists tethered them to the ship. The crew moved about as though this sort of treacherous pursuit was second nature to them. And Captain Bonifast handled the ship like he’d been born to the task, anticipating each swell and bringing the ship into waves before they could crest and slam into the Maelstrom.
Apart from the constant up and down and the fierce wind, all was well aboard Bonifast’s ship. The same could not be said for the slaver ship. Bonifast kept a careful eye on the enemy vessel as he maneuvered the Maelstrom ever closer. The rain had not started…yet.
Gideon staggered across the deck trying to get to the helm and Bonifast. Ethan watched him, but he did not follow. He had enough trouble just trying to keep his lunch down. Gideon reached the helm as Bonifast sent the ship hard to port in anticipation of a coming wave. The captain’s expression grew intense. He stood at the helm in tune with the wind, the waves, and his ship.
“Even if we catch the ship, how can we board it during a storm?” Gideon shouted over the din. It was a fair question. There would be no way possible to do such a thing without being able to line the ships up in parallel and keep them still.
“We’re not going to board it!” Bonifast said, his expression suddenly turning grim.
“But what about the slaves they have onboard?” Gideon asked.
“We don’t know that they have any slaves on that ship, lad!”
“But if they’re headed back to Emmanuel…they wouldn’t go empty-handed!” Gideon reasoned.
The sea started to give Bonifast more trouble now. The questioning did nothing to help his concentration either. The captain’s face grew hard as he watched his target.
“You can’t just kill the innocent with the guilty!” Gideon pleaded.
Bonifast’s anger got the better of him at that point. He grabbed Gideon’s robe-big mistake. Gideon intercepted the intruding hand at the wrist. His index and middle finger on his other hand landed precisely on the captain’s left carotid artery.
Gideon heard the hammer-cock of a musket behind him. Turning, he found Anthony holding a long rifle on him just beyond arms reach. The Azure Sea rolled, boiling in its anger behind him. “Release the captain, NOW!” Anthony shouted.
“Why are you doing this?” Gideon asked Bonifast as he relinquished his grip.