Submit Your Throat!

“Signal the Dancing Dolphin to turn about and fire upon the ship chasing us!” Graybe shouted at the nearby flagman while she spun the ship's wheel hard to the right, sending the Black Shark spinning about.

After the mighty wooden vessel completed its turn, the wind caught her three largest sails and sent her ship racing towards the enemy warship that had been chasing them. Now Graybe could see that it was Guardian Arkus’ flagship Scarcozo.

Arkus was the guardian for the Assassin’s Trade, led by Clan Master Palatias. Just a few moons ago they had been allies under the Pirates of the Seven Trade Winds. Her clan, the Thieves Trade, had been exiled recently over some differences in opinion. Now the alliance had sent the Assassin’s Trade after them.

“Prepare to fire upon the Scarcozo!" Graybe shouted, then as the vessels passed each other, she ordered, “Fire!”

Archers in the riggings, as well as several deck ballistae fired upon the enemy vessel, as they were doing to them. The air filled with flaming arrows and fireballs, many landing on the decks of both combating ships.

The fireballs came from firepults. They were miniature catapults that launched tarp and oil rolled balls at the enemy as well as the newest weapon in the Trade Wind’s arsenals, the powder balls.

These were metal balls filled with explosive powder that could blow holes into the sides of ships. A strike at the waterline could be devastating. Some were also filled with shrapnel and fired onto decks to wipe out crew members.

The ballistae arrows were wrapped in tarp and soaked with oil. These were fired into the sides of ships to catch them on fire. Most ships were armed with two-, three-, and four-foot arrows, with the shorter ones being launched from greater distances. They also came in handy against sea monsters.

During the exchange, the Dancing Dolphin had caught up to the embattled Scarcozo and was pouring more fire onto the vessel. It looked like the Thieves Clan ships were getting the better of her.

A powder ball fired from the Scarcozo’s did get a lucky hit and exploded against the Black Shark’s main mast, sending it toppling into the sea. Once it went overboard, it drug several pirates that were in the riggings with it. The loss of the main mast brought the Black Shark to a slow stop in the water.

“Fire fighting crews topside!” Graybe shouted. “Creed, get the big sails up on the secondary masts so I can get this ship moving!”

The tanned female ship captain caught sight of more sails approaching in the distance. She caught her breath as she waited to see if they were friend or foe. Seconds grew into a minute.

Graybe let out a long sigh when she recognized them as the Flaming Arrow and the Salivating Salamander. Another ship was further back from them, possibly the Grim Goat. All three were Thieves Trade vessels.

Taking her attention off the Scarcozo was going to cost her. It had swung about, and now the smoking and burning Assassins Clan vessel was bearing straight down on the Black Shark. Guardian Arkus was going to ram them!

“Vorocious, prepare your warriors to repel boarders!” Graybe shouted down at her Second-In-Command, or Senior as they were called in the clans.

The large black man looked up at her with his red pupil eyes and nodded. He turned and raised his head towards the sky, letting out a mighty battle cry. The big warrior loved to fight.

He wore a shiny white metal armored breast plate and leg plates. He also wore a large metal helmet that covered all of his face except for the areas immediately around his eyes and mouth.

Vorocious came from lands to the far north. Cold and icy lands that were far out of the Seven Trade Winds control. He had been plucked from the sea many years ago. The Thieves Clan Master had found him on a boat, more of a raft really, floating in the wide-open seas alone and semi-conscious.

The athletic boy was taken in as an apprentice. He quickly rose through the ranks, greatly aided by his incredible strength, which matched that of any two men.

The only other items on the small boat were the strange white armor and a magical ice sword. The sword, when unsheathed, glowed blue and froze anything it touched. Magical items were rare in clan territories, so the master had held both the sword and armor for Vorocious until he reached an age that he could use them.

A tremendous impact shook Graybe from her thoughts. The Scarcozo struck the Black Shark near the foredeck, impaling her with her twelve-foot metal ram.

Immediately, wooden planks fell across, linking the two ships. Lizard men ran across the planks while others began to swing across to the Black Shark on ropes.

The vast majority of the Assassin Trade were seafaring lizard men. They were green and scaly from head to toe. The hairless lizard men had black eyes with golden iris’ and each had a stumpy two-foot tail that failed to reach the ground.

The Assassin Trade Clan warriors wore black, while her own troops all wore brown. The contrast allowed Graybe to quickly visualize that they were going to be outnumbered. Then the Dancing Dolpin rammed into the aft of the burning Scarcozo. That would even things up a bit.

Graybe released the now useless ships wheel and drew her zingso chain. It was modified from having the standard two hooks or two blades to having two hooks and two blades. The far-eastern man who had spent countless hours training her with it, Creed, came up to stand beside her with three other men.

They were her personal bodyguards. All four were bald, except for a ponytail that extended from the back of their heads and ran down their backs. Each carried two-foot-long blades, called Shugen.

Shugen were sharp on both ends and were held in the middle. The versatile weapon could be used for hand-to-hand combat or thrown at an enemy. Each guard had five Shugen apiece on their belts.

The only other person on the wheel deck was Bimbleton the Blue, her personal magician. The blue wizard was only twenty-years-old, yet fairly powerful. What he lacked in experience, he made up for with his superior intellect. Sometimes, Graybe found him to be too smart, often rambling on about unnecessary information.

Arkus’ assassins had quickly taken the foredeck and were now engaging Vorocious and his warriors near the masts. Several more were skirting around them and were heading for the wheel deck and Graybe.

Once they began climbing up to her, the female pirate began to swing the four attached lengths of chain in a circle above her head. The hooks and blades swung around her in a deadly rhythmic dance.

The first row of assassins went down from her guards' Shugen attack. Graybe followed up by bringing the two hooks down into the shoulders of a pair of lizard men in the second row of attackers. She jerked the two hooked assassins forward, and brought the sharp chain blades across their throats, killing them.

The pirate captain released the two attackers from her hooks and began spinning the zingso above her head again while she sought out more of the enemy. There was no shortage as the deck around her was now a battlefield.

One of her guards lay dead, while everyone else was engaged with at least two enemy warriors. Coming straight at her was Guardian Arkus. The lizard man had an angry scowl on his face and carried the common short saber of the pirates in each hand.

“I see you're picking up the filthy fighting habits of your far-east friends. I hope you can fight without their garbage weapon.” Arkus hissed, and threw one of his sabers straight at Graybe’s spinning chains.

The blade flew true and became entangled in the zingso, with the chains wrapping around the saber. One of the her own chain blades came down and sliced her across the upper thigh.

“It won’t take more than my saber to finish the likes of you.” Graybe smirked, and drew her own blade from her belt sheath. “This fight's been a long time coming, lizard.”

“I have paid papers on you, Graybe,” Arkus growled out, while they crossed blades and circled each other, both looking for an advantage. “Why don’t you be a good lass and submit your throat to my blade? You know that once the Assassin Clan has papers, we will never stop until you're dead.”

Their swords clashed together three or four times before the lizard man managed to slice her non-wounded thigh. This was followed by a furious onslaught of sword blows from Arkus, with the woman managing to parry each strike.

Graybe took a risk and thrust her sword straight in. Arkus easily side-stepped the blade and grabbed the wrist of her sword hand with his free hand, twisting it hard and causing the woman to drop her own sword, which clattered to the deck.

Arkus brought his glistening blade over her head to deliver the death blow, but hesitated for a moment to smirk at her. What the guardian hadn’t seen was that Graybe had pulled out her belt dagger with her free hand. She shoved it deep into the lizard’s throat, causing him to stagger backwards.

Arkus dropped his saber and began to claw at the dagger in his throat.

When he managed to pull it free, red blood started to spurt from his neck and onto the deck of the Black Shark. The lizard man fell to his knees.

Graybe grabbed the two sharp hooks from her zingso chain and brought them down into both sides of the assassin’s neck. Guardian Arkus of the Assassins Trade Clan was no more.

The pirate captain looked around and saw that they had defeated the enemy on the wheel deck. Two of her bodyguards had crossed into the light. Creed stood nearby breathing heavily, with a long bleeding gash across his chest. Bimbleton the Blue had a frozen lizard standing in front of him, a casualty of his Frost Spell.

Graybe walked over to the rail and looked down at the main deck. Vorocious stood with several of the enemy dead at his feet. The big black warrior had an arrow sticking out of the back of his right shoulder.

Eight or nine of his warriors stood by him, while two nearby crewmen were finishing off a human assassin. It appeared that the main deck had been secured. The forward deck was a different story. There, many more bodies were strewn about the wooden planks.

Thieves Clan warriors from the Dancing Dolphin had quickly secured the near empty, and burning Scarsozo. Then they had pushed forward onto the Black Shark. A handful of them could be seen standing on the foredeck in their brown leather tunics.

Graybe’s personal healer, a yellow wizard named Zazo, topped out onto the wheel deck and began mumbling some words. A yellow glow passed from his hands to her wounded thighs, and within seconds she was healed.

The pirate captain smiled at Zazo and ran her hands through his moppy blond hair. He looked at her with his big brown eyes and smiled. The boy was only fifteen and still learning to properly use the Heal Spell.

Zazo the Yellow went over to Creed to try and help him. The boy would be able to heal one, maybe two more, before he would exhaust his magical energy. Still, he was learning quick and would grow into a strong healer with time.

Vorocious topped out, and with his red pupils flashing, said, “A strong victory.”

“How many men did we lose?” the tanned black-haired beauty questioned, her dark eyes still smoldering with adrenaline.

“Twenty-six, Guardian Graybe,” the blue wizard advised. “Looks to be about the same amount of dead from the Dancing Dolphin.”

“Anyone die that's going to make me angry?” she asked.

“Braden and Jazzy passed into the light,” Vorocious answered. “The rest were in servitude as apprentices working their way up.”

Both the named dead had held rank as juniors. The rank structure in the all of the clans were the same. New members started as apprentices. They did all of the cleaning and cooking. They could be promoted to crew members, who ran the day to day operations of the ships.

The lowest command rank was juniors, and each ship had from three to five, depending on the size of the crew. Each ship also had one senior who ran the ship. The top two ranks in the clans were guardian and then master.

Jazzy was no big loss. She was mouthy, unruly, and aggressive. She had topped out as a junior and wouldn’t have risen above that rank. Junior Braden was a different story. He was a good leader and would have been promoted to senior as soon as a spot opened on any ship.

“Have the men prepare the fallen properly for burial at sea,” she ordered. “We'll hold the ceremony just before sunset.”

“As you wish,” Vorocious replied.

“I can see that the Scarzoso is listing and is about to roll. She is lost,” Graybe surmised with her keen seafaring eye. “What about my ships?”

“The Dancing Dolphin has very minor damage, although her ram busted off into the Scarzoso. That’s an easy fix,” the black warrior reported. “Our deck fires are already out. If the crew works all night, we can have the main mast replaced by tomorrow morning, then the Black Shark will be right as rain.”

“Look,” Creed interrupted. “We're getting a visit from the trade master.”

Graybe looked to where the eastern man was pointing. She could see the Blood Moon approaching. It was the vessel carrying the Thieves Trade Master, leader of their clan. The Blood Moon was being flanked by the Creeping Willow and the Purse Snatcher, two of the largest ships in the fleet.

“Angry or pleased?” Graybe shrugged her shoulders at Vorocious and Creed.

“Angry?” Vorocious guessed.

“Pleased?” Creed contradicted.

“With the clan master, you never can tell.” Bimbleton the Blue remained neutral.

“I guess we're about to find out." She frowned, watching the Blood Moon pull along side the Black Shark.