Orc Pirate_Raiding the Seven Seas by Simon Archer

Author:Simon Archer [Archer, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-18T04:00:00+00:00

20

Our journey onward after that was uneventful, and at the speed we sailed, it wasn’t long before the isle of Bargest loomed close. The gibbous moon lit the wide sea with a pale light that sparkled and danced among the waves. I turned the ship’s wheel to adjust our course a bit, and The Hullbreaker slowly came about. Lights shone in the distance, rising from sea level all the way up to the top of a tall cliff, and the bright beam of a lighthouse’s lantern swept out to guide ships into the Tarrant docks.

The free town of Tarrant was unique in the isles. First, it was almost a city, home to several thousand lost souls. Second, it was built at the top and bottom of a three-hundred or so foot tall sea cliff. The docks and warehouses were situated at the bottom, and dwellings and businesses were built into and onto the rising cliff before the rest of the city spread out along the top and reached into the mountainous and forested interior of the vast island.

Tarrant never slept, either. Shipments of metals, woods, and stranger things arrived at the top of the cliff, were processed, and then sent down to the bottom as exports, while goods arrived daily by ship to be disbursed upwards through the network of stairs and lifts that connected upper and lower Tarrant.

“Ye can slow us, lass,” I called to Mary, who sat cross-legged in her spot beneath the mizzenmast. To the crew, I bellowed, “Drop sails and man the oars, we’re almost to Tarrant!”

The witch’s song began to fade and slow, and the winds dropped noticeably. I cast out over the moon-sparkling sea, searching for any sign of Ligeia. Where had the girl gotten herself to? She’d vanished with Tiny shortly after the fight with the fish creatures, calling out that she’d meet us near our destination.

Beside us, Sirensong adjusted her sails and course to continue to parallel ours. “Ye want us to put in, Captain?” Kargad yelled over, “Or hold watch?”

If we didn’t have pursuers, the crew certainly deserved a round of shore leave, and Tarrant was quite a place to have a bit of fun after weeks or months at sea.

“Hold watch!” I bellowed back. “We’ll come by for shore leave once we’ve more breathin’ room!”

“Aye, Captain!” he shouted back, then turned and began calling out orders to his crew. At his command, Sirensong slowed and angled off a bit.

While Tarrant didn’t have any sort of protected harbor, it did have extensive docks. We were in sight of them and within range of the cliff mounted cannons when Ligeia slipped out of the water and over the rail. Her eyes met mine, and she beelined for the helm, water dripping from her glittering skin. Mary rose to her feet and watched unmoving from the shadow of the mizzenmast as sailors dropped that sail.

The siren paused near me and fidgeted for a moment before she said, “I should have stayed after the fight, Captain.

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