The Roar of the Lost Horizon by K.N. Salustro

Author:K.N. Salustro [Salustro, K.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nova Dragon Studios, LLC
Published: 2022-07-05T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter thirteen

The Talon

It did not take long for the Southern Echo to catch the Talon.

As so many had said, theirs was the faster ship, and the merchant vessel came into sharp focus long before there was any chance of it seeking refuge among the Coral Chain islands. It did seem that the Talon would try to run at first, swinging around on a sharper heading and making a desperate attempt to fill its sails, but the merchant ship—not much bigger than the Southern Echo—lacked the square rigging that made the pirate brig so fast, and it was barely an hour before the Talon was flying white flags and visibly slowing down. Arani had the Southern Echo respond with her own black standard: a bone-white dragon head devouring the Solkyrian sun. The dragon’s jaws snapped closed on the yellow sun as the wind whipped the flag about, and two blue flags with yellow crosses were strung up beneath it, followed by a solid red flag.

With no need to disguise their numbers, Nate was above deck with the majority of the crew. He’d ended up near Xander and a few other riggers. Still stinging from his earlier encounter with the Grayvoice, Nate avoided his eye, but from their spot on the deck, they both had a clear view of the flags as they went up, and Xander made a displeased noise.

“Captain’s signaling that she’s willing to give quarter as long as they behave.” The Grayvoice pointed at the two blue-and-yellow flags, then nodded across the water at the Talon, which was quickly hoisting two crossed flags of its own beneath the white flag. “And they’ve agreed.” He sounded almost bored.

Nate, on the other hand, was giddy with relief until Xander quipped a sharp smile.

“Maybe they’re trying to trick us and planning an ambush as soon as we’re aboard,” the Grayvoice mused.

“What happens then?” Nate asked before he could stop himself.

Xander gave him a cool smirk as he pointed up again, this time at the red flag. “Blood will be spilled.”

Nate swallowed hard and went back to praying to every god above and below that he could name. He did not join in the wild shouting of the rest of the crew as the ships came within hailing distance, and he was still silently praying as he began to pick out the individual sailors aboard the merchant ship. They were grim and silent, many standing as rigid as the stone sentinels in the watchtowers on Solkyria. Others were tossing their weapons into a pile on the deck, some quick and unsteady with fear, others slow and deliberate with clear anger. A man dressed in a pristine coat and large hat waved the merchant crew on, his eyes riveted on the approaching pirate ship even as he urged his sailors to unload their weapons at greater speeds.

The Southern Echo slowed as she came alongside the Talon, bleeding wind out of her sails until the two ships glided over the water at a sedate pace.

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