Limitless seas book 2, p.22
Limitless Seas, Book 2, page 22
“True. ‘Accidental’ death is still my main concern. Too many family members of the lords judging his case have gone missing or met untimely ends. I’m reasonably sure that he’s got a few of the lords on his side because he’s holding hostages somewhere. No, it’s best to keep Theodore out of sight and somewhere that he’s unlikely to be found. I have an older estate that I’ve been trying to sell. It’s at the northern end of the island in an area that is sparsely populated. It should give us a perfect place to hide my son. There’s even a dock there where you could berth at least one of your vessels if you so desire. I will offer the temporary use of this manor free of charge, but there isn’t much in the way of staff other than a few groundskeepers,” Buxton offered.
“That might be perfect for what we need. It’s out of the way, and some work needs to be done on my ships that can be quite noisy. I assume there aren’t any neighbors to disturb in this location?” Larson asked. If the place was as secluded as Buxton made it seem, it might be the perfect place to test out the weapons they were developing.
“As I said, the place is sparsely populated, mostly farming lands with a small village not too far away,” Buxton said. “My family made much of its initial wealth by overseeing these farms and providing fresh provisions to the vessels visiting Stratwall Harbor, but we’ve moved on toward bigger and better things than managing a bunch of dirt farmers. I sold most of that business off, but we still hold a sizable amount of property around the estate, so there should be no distractions.”
“Excellent. We’ll move the Sea Venom out to your estate, and if you need anything, send word to the Lost Soul and they’ll get in touch with me. I need time to prepare, but I wouldn’t mind taking a crack at these pirates when you find out where their lair is,” Larson said, happy to have an out-of-the-way place for one of his ships, as well as a chance to test his firearms without attracting any excess attention.
Lord Buxton was done with them and called a servant to usher them back into the plush carriage for their ride back to the docks. On the way, they counted out the reward that Buxton had given them. The sack of coins held a dozen ducats, 385 landsmen gold, and 840 scales. It wasn’t a vast fortune, but it would help with all the additional supplies they were going to need.
Back at the docks, Larson filled Tarley and Shada in on their plan. For now, he’d take the Sea Venom along with a good portion of the experienced crew, leaving Shada, Tarley, and Ibn behind to watch over the Lost Soul and continue to recruit and train new crew to fill up their ranks. Lucian helped Bug Bartholomew wrangle up a large wagon that they used to load up all of the equipment that both Sarvo and Felicia would need to start their work. They would also send a detachment of marines to accompany the wagon and take the overland route to the secluded manor they would be working at.
Larson wanted to oversee the cannon project since it would mean their domination of the seas if they could get it to work, but he was also torn about leaving Tarley and the others behind to recruit the new crew. He wanted involvement in who was chosen, as well as the final veto on the candidates, but with the crew growing and, hopefully, even more ships being added to the fleet, Larson would need to trust his officers to get the job done on their own. Tarley had performed well enough with the Lost Soul and had done nothing but prove himself capable and loyal since Larson had known him.
They shifted most of the supplies aboard the Lost Soul over to the Sea Venom. It would be much easier to provision the ship remaining in port rather than trying to haul supplies to an out-of-the-way location. The less contact with the outside world, the better, at least until Lord Mox and his son were dealt with permanently.
Chapter 24
~
Larson looked over the new ballista mounted on the bow with his gunner, Dredge. Bug Bartholomew had completed it earlier, and while Larson hoped it would soon be replaced with a cannon of some sort, for the time being, it was their only siege weapon. The older ballista had been transferred to the Lost Soul, giving them some long-ranged firepower, just in case there was another attack on the harbor. Once the last of the supplies were transferred over, they would be ready to sail. He would bring twenty of their most capable crew, not wanting to pull too many experienced hands from Tarley, who would need them to help train the new crew he and Shada were recruiting.
Back at the docks, a dark-cloaked figure waved and tried to push his way past the guardsmen who were pretty good at blocking anyone other than the crew from trying to come aboard. Larson realized it was that Narbos guy he had rescued from the imps, so he motioned for the guards to let him through.
“Captain Larson, might I have a quick word with you?” Narbos asked.
“I don’t see why not, but make it quick. We’re about to cast off,” Larson replied.
“Very well. Here’s the quick version.” Narbos pulled Larson aside so the other crew wouldn’t hear. “The spells protecting my true nature are normally difficult to pierce, but it seems at least one of the temples in this backwater has a cleric powerful enough to see through my ruse. Of course, it had to be one whose faith deems all undead a scourge, and she has riled up a good portion of her followers—enough that they’re combing the town for me. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind giving me a ride out of this place.” Narbos looked over his shoulder in search of pursuers.
“I’m not going that far. We’re just taking a trip around the island to test out some repairs we made,” Larson said, not willing to tell Narbos the true reason for their trip.
“That’s fine. The cleric is using a tracking spell of some sort, and I’m willing to bet that if I’m far enough away from this place, it’ll lose the scent. She may be a very devout member of her faith, but I doubt she commands that much power. While I’m sure I could deal with the problem directly, I’m just as sure that the town wouldn’t be too keen on me slaughtering a sizeable portion of a temple’s clergy,” Narbos told him. The undead necromancer was in a bind, but it wasn’t exactly Larson’s problem.
“I saved you from torture and brought you here, but I didn’t sign up to protect you for the rest of your life. I’m not risking myself or my crew because you’ve had a dustup with the locals. What’s in this for me and my crew if we help you? I’m not running a charity organization,” Larson asked, not very excited about risking himself more than necessary for someone that was essentially a stranger.
“You know I arrived with nothing. I have no coin to pay you. Perhaps something else could be worked out. I am a powerful mage, and I don’t see that you currently employ any mages on either of your vessels,” Narbos said.
“I have some magic of my own, but I do admit another mage would be handy to have. A necromancer isn’t exactly the first choice for a ship’s mage, however. I need someone that can use their magic to control the wind and sea or hurl fireballs and the like at an enemy vessel. I’m sure your magic is good enough, but I don’t think it’s the best fit for a privateer,” Larson told the necromancer, curious how he would respond to the rejection.
“What could be better than a necromancer? I can hurl death itself at an enemy vessel, and not only that, once part of their crew is slain, I can raise them to fight on our side. Imagine that in the middle of a battle, the enemy crew has to fight not only our ship but also their reanimated crewmates. Oh, and another little-known fact about necromancy: we’re masters of dead flesh, but it goes deeper than that. We’re masters of dead remains of all kinds, and what is a ship made of? It’s made of dead trees, is it not? I can patch a hole in the ship faster than your crew can, and if I can get my hands directly on an enemy vessel, I can rot away its hull.”
Larson hadn’t thought of that. The man would have powerful offensive spells, but helping with emergency repairs would be just as valuable. He would be useful, but the real question was whether or not he should be trusted, and while Larson didn’t know as much about this world as he would like, an undead necromancer didn’t strike him as the poster child for an upright citizen. Then again, he was a naga with a career that skittered just on the legal side of piracy. The other negative would be that whoever this cleric was, she might make trouble for him down the line.
“Why don’t we do this? We’ll sign you on for a temporary basis,” Larson offered. “You work for me and do as I say, and in return, we keep you out of trouble. The Sea Venom might be gone for a few days, and during that time, we can both see if this will work out. If either decides to part ways, I’ll pay you a fair wage for the time you were aboard, and at least that should be enough to buy you passage to somewhere that isn’t as hostile toward you.”
The offer gave them both an out, and he would get a chance to work with another mage. Shada had magic, but her shamanistic spells operated differently than his own. Maybe Narbos could help him hone his craft. Keeping him aboard and paying him a bit of coin was a fair trade for that.
“Well, Captain Larson, I think we have an agreement to the terms of my employment,” Narbos said, shaking his hand. Whatever enchantment hid his true nature also masked the feel of his touch; the hand felt exactly like that of a living human, not at all like the cold, dead flesh that was the man’s true form. Larson was a bit curious about what Narbos looked like under the spell of concealment, but not enough to press the issue.
“Good. We’re about to cast off, and hopefully, you can’t be tracked once we put some distance between us and this temple,” Larson said.
“Yes, I would be surprised if whatever cult of the light this woman serves is willing to expend the effort to track down a single undead necromancer that isn’t causing any trouble,” Narbos said.
“We both better hope that’s the case,” Larson replied as the lines were cast off and the ship rowed itself back from the dock. Slowly, they made their way out of the harbor, and while Narbos made a tour of the ship, Larson checked in with Cassia.
She was now level 3, and while Larson hadn’t unlocked any new abilities from that, she had expanded her reach to cover just about three-quarters of the vessel. Her scales protected the exterior of the ship, and inside the interior spaces she had already permeated, the wood looked clean and new, without any of the old stains and decay that a vessel this age would normally have. Cassia now only required sixty percent of his mana pool, and the mana recharge rate had also increased by the same percentage. Regen was still slow, but not quite the snail’s pace it had been when she had first bonded to the vessel.
The abandoned Buxton estate was on the northwestern side of the island, and Larson charted a course that followed the western shore of Stratwall Harbor. While the island was named after the town and the harbor it contained, it was a sizeable landmass, large enough to make the place self-sustaining with farmland. It also possessed a modestly sized forest that supplied the lumber necessary to run a port town. The majority of the shoreline was rugged and rocky, many portions of it blocked by steep cliffs. Just outside the harbor, Larson could see work teams digging into the side of one cliff, cutting stone blocks that would be used in one of the many construction projects for the growing town.
There were few places to approach the shoreline safely in anything other than a small ship’s boat. A few farms and tiny villages dotted the shoreline, but in general, it was sparsely populated. The farther north they went, the fewer signs of civilization they saw. Near the northern end of the island, a fishing village consisting of a few dozen buildings was visible, with several small craft plying the nearby seas. From the looks of their heavily laden nets, the fishing was good in this area. Larson was tempted to dive and explore, but there were likely dangers in the water he didn’t know about. Not to mention, the makon were still out there somewhere.
“There it is, Captain. There’s the estate my father is loaning us.” Theo pointed out a cove that Larson figured was just deep enough for the Sea Venom to navigate. It would be tight quarters, but they could tie up to a small pier jutting out into the cove. The estate itself seemed to comprise a collection of three stone buildings about two stories tall, with a low wall connecting them. They furled the sails and began to row their way in.
“Careful, the pier looks like it’s seen better days,” Larson called out as they pulled in close. The pilings were starting to lean, and the wooden planks that made up the walkway looked like they were nearly rotted away. A pair of crew jumped onto the pier to tie off the Sea Venom. Both nearly fell through as some of the planks gave way. He would need to have Bug Bartholomew take a look at it if they ended up staying for a while. For now, he had some of the crew examine the planks, marking those that were too far gone to walk on. It was going to take a lot longer to unload the supplies safely, and while they got to work, Larson jumped off the ship and swam to shore, wanting to get a look at his temporary home.
“Can I help you, sir?” a groundskeeper asked, obviously taken aback by the imposing ship pulling up to the dock and a naga jumping off and swimming to shore.
“Aye, I’m Captain Larson of the Sea Venom, and Lord Buxton is having us use his estate for a short while,” Larson said. The man didn’t look convinced they should be there, but he was also too timid to put up much of a fuss.
“Lonnie, it’s good to see you again. How are things at the estate?” Theo asked as he picked his way across the damaged pier to join Larson and the groundskeeper.
“Milord, I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize you. I’m afraid the estate isn’t in any kind of condition to host you, but we’ll do what we can,” the groundskeeper, Lonnie, said.
“Don’t worry about that, Lonnie. I know Father has let this place go a bit and there’s not been enough staff to keep it up. We’ll likely only be here a few weeks at most while I work on a project with Captain Larson. Can you show him around?” Theo asked.
“That I can, milord. Captain Larson, I’d be glad to show you the estate,” Lonnie replied. Larson could see the man wasn’t comfortable giving a tour. He had the tanned and rugged look of a man who worked outside, not one that would be giving estate tours to the lords and their visitors. It wasn’t much of an estate, really only the three buildings, with the largest one nearest the pier being the lord’s residence.
“I’m not insulting your work, Lonnie, but this place is kind of run-down. Why would Lord Buxton let it become so dilapidated?” Larson asked as he noted the general state of neglect.
The manor house the lord would have stayed in was dusty and only had a few pieces of furniture inside. It was worse with the other two buildings, one of which was the servants’ quarters, the other being a kind of workshop and storage barn. Other than a small section of the servants’ quarters that Lonnie and his son Jacob occupied, the place looked like it would fall if a strong wind blew by. The wall connecting the three buildings was originally designed for defense, maybe from when Stratwall Harbor was a much wilder place than it was now. Several sections of the wall had collapsed, and other than neatly piling the rubble, there had been no attempt at repair.
“I can answer that for you, Captain,” Theo said, jumping into the conversation, much to the relief of Lonnie. “My father equally loves and loathes this place. He loves it since it represents how far my family has come, and he loathes it since it’s a reminder of the struggles and hardships he faced to become what he is today. The original home was burned to the ground by brigands, and after Father rebuilt, pirates looted and burned it down a second time. The third time’s the charm, and we haven’t been burned out since. I think he would sell it, but some nostalgia keeps it in the family holdings even if he’s unwilling to spring for proper upkeep.”
“My apologies that I haven’t kept it up the way it should be kept, but it’s only my boy and myself here looking after things,” Lonnie said.
“With my crew on hand, we’ll be glad to help you fix things up,” Larson said. “We’ve got just over twenty people to house, and while we’ve brought supplies, I didn’t plan on any major construction projects.” They had the manpower to make the place livable, and he didn’t mind having his crew pitch in and help the beleaguered Lonnie. Getting the cannon project rolling was his main concern, but he also wanted his crew comfortable when they were ashore.
“We’ve got plenty of building supplies on hand. Tools too. What I lacked was hands to use them.” Lonnie showed Larson the storage barn and workshop area. There were neat stacks of lumber, hand tools, rope, and, more importantly, a decent-sized forge.
“This is good, Theo. Get a detail working on the main house. I want it cleaned and patched up for everyone to have a place to sleep inside. Another crew can work on shoring up the pier. Bug Bartholomew will need to look at it, but we can at least replace the rotted boards and secure the pilings so they don’t fall over. I suspect the wagons will be here around sundown, so let’s do what we can before they get here,” Larson ordered.
“I should mention, Lonnie, that Father had me join Captain Larson as part of his crew for the time being,” Theo said as the poor groundskeeper looked aghast at a naga sailor ordering around his lord.
“Not my place to say one way or the other, but it’s good to see you take to the sea, milord. It does the family proud, it does,” Lonnie offered.
They all got to work, and Larson took some time to scout out the area around the estate. The fishing village was a few miles away, and according to Lonnie, it was their closest neighbor. Cannon fire would likely be heard from that far away, but whether the distant sounds would be enough to draw nosy neighbors remained to be seen. Once the wagons arrived, he would have some of the gnolls patrol outside the walls to keep any curious onlookers at bay.
Lonnie had cut back the foliage around the estate, but about a hundred yards past the wall, the land was overgrown with tall grass and a few stunted trees, plenty of cover for any would-be attackers. If they had time, he’d have things cut back another fifty yards, just to be safe. A road was cut through the foliage and the groundskeeper had made at least some effort to keep it clear. Larson did spot a small draw a bit past the estate, where the sloping ground would provide a safe firing range, should they need it. The terrain would also help muffle the sounds of cannon fire.
