Blade of the North by Jones Heath

Author:Jones, Heath
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-08-01T16:00:00+00:00

“Get up!”

Groaning, I wish Karam would go away and let me sleep. Can’t we have one night off from our lessons?

“Quickly!” the voice – it isn’t Karam’s – says urgently. I open my eyes to see the captain in the doorway of our cabin. “I need all hands on deck. Now!” he barks, running out.

Grumbling, I roll out of my bunk. Catching Dain’s eye, he looks as confused as I feel. Maybe there’s a storm blowing in?

Climbing the stairs onto the deck, I approach the captain who is standing at the bow, leaning on the rail. “What’s wrong?” I ask.

In answer, the captain points out into the darkness.

“I can’t see anything,” I say.

“I assume you fight with knives?” the captain asks, his voice dark.

“Um…” I don’t know how to answer him.

“Yes,” Aveline says firmly. Standing beside me, she is straining her eyes in the direction the captain pointed.

“Johannes!” the captain calls out.

“Yes, Captain?” Johannes answers, suddenly at the rail with us.

“Knives for each of them,” the captain says. “And don’t be a miser - we’re going to need all hands.”

Johannes nods his head, then looks worriedly out into the darkness.

“I didn’t think anyone was supposed to have weapons within the emperor’s kingdom,” I say.

“They're not,” is all the captain says in reply.

“I can’t see anything,” Rose says. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a black nothing out there,” the captain says. “And it’s coming closer.”

“A storm?” I ask.

“Pirates,” the captain replies, spitting out the word. “Cursed pirates. That dark shape is a ship with no lights. It’s been tracking us for the last hour and now it’s coming in for us.”

“Pirates?” I say, dismayed. “How? If no one is supposed to have weapons within the emperor’s kingdom - ”

“Then how do pirates survive?” the captain finishes my question for me. “Because the emperor’s rule is not absolute, not even here. In Malikaran, maybe, but nowhere else. The pirates are getting brave though. I’ve never known them to come this close to Lusena before.”

Johannes returns and hands out a pair of knives to each of us.

“What exactly do you carry on this ship?” Theolin asks as she examines her knives.

The captain glances at her but ignores the question. “They’ll get a surprise when they board us,” he says with a savage grin. “After all, we’re not supposed to be carrying weapons.”

I watch, fascinated, as the dark shape grows larger. There is chaos everywhere around me as sailors rush about the deck, preparing for the inevitable attack. Gradually the dark mass resolves into the silhouette of a ship. As it draws closer, I begin to make out the shapes of men on the deck and up in the sails – lots of them. Slowly it dawns on me just how much danger we’re in.

“Is there any way we can avoid them? Outmanoeuvre them?” I ask.

The captain’s eyes don’t leave the approaching ship. “No. Their ship is light and fast. It’s built to catch its prey.”

“How can you tell?” Theolin asks. The only answer the captain gives her is a withering look.

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