11. Fishing.

Control. Control above all else.

She exhaled slowly, permitting the fiery spark within to ebb away, rather than yielding to the rage that yet again her people were in such peril.

No, it wasn't fair. But it was also logical ... of course sea creatures would come to dine on the buffet fleeing the burning land above. She could as much curse the wind or march an army into the sea. Not that she had an army.

Antaryon was standing perfectly still, his eyes betraying his own struggle with fear. He ventured cautiously "M'Lady?"

"So what are they doing?" Angelica asked pleasantly, the moment passed.

The young soldier relaxed slightly, and after remembering to breathe replied "building a raft to tow astern, from which we will hunt the kraken."

Angelica nodded slowly "Daring. Bold. Utterly insane. I like it." She smiled "what do I do?"

"You do not" Liva replied simply, rejoining them, a gaggle of wide-eyed small children proudly lugging two shields and three long spears behind her. "Our role is to defend the ship, if the kraken does not take the bait. Your job is to stay alive, no matter what."

"Wait, bait?" the stunned reply escaped her lips "how do you bait a kraken?"

"Live bait" replied Tori-Anna, joining the semi-circle before Angelica. Where Antrayon and Liva had added armour, Tori-Anna had shed hers, back to a shirt and pants with only a light leather jerkin. She had even removed her boots.

Maygus joined them, holding his family sword in one hand and a dagger in the other, wearing nothing but trousers tied with rope as the belt. "M'Lady" he dipped his head formally in salute, which she returned in kind. Angelica had never seen him so undressed ... he was practically a bear of a man, rippling with barely contained power, such a contrast to the lithe and nimble Tori-Anna.

"Just you two? That seems slightly unfair odds?"

Maygus grinned "I'd do it alone, but Zalori insisted. We four. Here don't be shy" Maygus nodded down behind Liva, and a young lad stepped forward nervously.

"Ketoth M'Lady" the lad said, kneeling before her in an honest attempt at a formal presentation.

"Stand Ketoth, I recall. Well met" she smiled at him with genuine warmth "good hunting."

Ketoth stood, and with a gesture from Maygus went to the lee rail, where the hurriedly constructed raft was being lowered over the side into the ocean below.

"The fourth?"

"Tarvald M'Lady" one of the sailors lowering the raft called back "it's my family's way, I insist on going too."

"Then, good hunting as well Tarvald, and may your deeds this day be told by bards for the rest of time."

The sailor simply grinned, and hefting a long handled war-axe saluted as he went over the side.

"Do you think he even remembers how this 'way' usually ends?" Liva whispered urgently.

"Nope" replied Tori-Anna quietly, as she saluted Angelica and went to the lee rail then over the side, Liva's grave look upon her.

As the sailors arranged ropes behind him, Maygus called out boldly "Polite! Where is Polite!"

The crowd looked about, promptly hustling the young woman to the front.

"Kiss for luck?" Maygus said with an impish grin.

Polite blushed momentarily, then as Maygus stood, lips pursed, one eye closed and the other tracing her movements, she lightly spun and ducked, delivering a feather light kiss upon the back of his sword hand. He stood stunned as she gracefully twirled out of his reach. The children cheered and exploded with laughter, doubly so when Maygus bowed formally in Polite's direction adding in his best theatrical voice "I thank thee, M'Lady!" Maygus was still laughing as he climbed down to the raft to join the others, yelling at Zalori to have his men play them out astern.

Angelica rushed to the taff rail and watched as the raft seemed to stop in place on the ocean as the big ship slowly pulled away, the heavy ropes lifting and dropping in the swell. Maygus and Tori-Anna stood tall, sword and dagger, sword and shield in hand respectively. Tarvald was on one knee facing towards the ship, his menacing axe held horizontally before him. Huddled into the smallest shape he could make between the three fighters was Ketoth, looking for all the world like a terrified child. Angelica wanted to yell out, to stop this madness, to protect them ... yet she did not have a better plan. She stood, bearing witness.

I must never forget this.

Maygus flicked his dagger lightly, a fine red line sprang into being across his leg, rapidly becoming a ribbon of red drips running onto the wood and dripping into the water beneath. Tarvald began banging the head of his axe onto the raft, the thump, thump, thump an unmistakable challenge.

Without any command having been issued, all on the deck of the ship had fallen silent, the sails rustling slightly as they spilled a great deal of wind, the raft behind moving with them at a gentle pace to not cast their champions over the sides. The shield and long spear Liva had placed in her hands felt unfamiliar, yet even Angelica knew what to do with the pointy end.

The waiting was the hardest part. Tarvald kept up a steady beat, sweat visible on his forehead despite the chill of the morning. Maygus looked like an angry otter-bear, ready to strike yet unwilling to move from its sunning spot on a sandy beach: barely contained raw power, twitching in annoyance at an unseen bug, shifting from paw to paw. Tori-Anna was like a kingfisher, poised on a branch over a river waiting to drop on a minnow. Angelica could not make out what Ketoth was doing. She could see not-so-small fish had gathered about the raft, drawn by Maygus' offering.

Tori-Anna made a faint "click" with her tongue, and Maygus shifted his weight smoothly to his back leg, dagger and sword lifting in high defence. Tarvald nodded slowly, keeping up the rhythm but shifting his hands on the axe.

"The fish have gone" Liva whispered.

Thump, thump, thump.

The ship rocked slightly as her sails all came down, the hiss of ropes, crump of canvas, and tap of wood on wood the only hint at the work of the sailors about the deck, scarcely daring to breathe as they worked as fast and as silently as possible to secure the ship.

Thump, thum-

Twin ribbons of glittering orange spray shot up on either side of the raft, long tentacles arcing up and over Maygus and Tori-Anna.

Tori-Anna was almost two fast to see, her blade flicking out and back, out and back repeatedly, circles of colour blossoming on the tentacle beside her as it rose above.

Maygus simply waited, then swung once. His blade arced down in a flash, and he remained low, blade still, barely above the water. The tentacle looming above him slid off the part below, still twitching as it fell to splash into the ocean.

The kraken surfaced a ship length beyond the raft with a screech of anger and pain, turning slightly to take a better view of its quarry with one huge unblinking eye.

Seemingly instantly a dagger landed perfectly on the eye; yet despite flying true it simply bounced off and fell into the ocean with a loud "bplop".

"Well, bugger" Maygus' droll 'whisper' was entirely too clear "I liked that dagger."

The kraken roared and turned on the raft, huge tentacles sweeping down from left and right. Tori-Anna bough up her shield and did her best to deflect the one on her, but the crunch of bones as she was slammed against the wood was all too plain. The kraken shrieked in fury as it pulled back the tentacle, a long deep slash raining scarlet droplets proof that even in defense Tori-Anna had stuck true. Silence gave way to whispers of concern and anger.

The second huge tentacle arced in towards Maygus, and just at the last moment he swung upwards with both hands on his sword. The force of the blow was meant to crush him, yet instead he held and severed the tentacle clean across as the raft rocked precariously. His raised blade glistened red as he held it aloft in perfect stillness.

The kraken charged, incensed that its meal was being so obstinate. As Maygus readied his form for another strike, Tarvald swung hard and severed the small tentacle that the kraken had quietly slid up behind Maygus to drag him below, to the roaring cheer of those watching on the deck.

The raft pitched wildly from the bow wave thrown up by the kraken, but Maygus' blade did not falter or drop, taunting the tentacles that played about just outside his strike range searching for an opening. Ketoth was doing something beside Tori-Anna, Angelica could not work out what, as Tarvald began yelling out what sounded a lot like an insane version of a children's nursery rhyme in a flat monotone while he watched Maygus' back.

The kraken opened its beak and snapped at the raft, misjudging the distance as the displaced water between them pushed the raft back. The huge armoured plates of its beak slammed into each other with a force greater than any hammer hitting an anvil, and the kraken slewed to one side to get a peek at what its prey was up to. It slithered two tentacles towards Tarvald, who for a moment was standing staring at the beak.

"Glory or death!" Tarvald yelled in defiance, and with every ounce of his considerable skill he lept onto the tentacles, climbing them as if they were the rigging he had spent his entire life upon. By rights he should have slipped and fallen on the slippery things, but Angelica noticed he had something tied about his knees, feet and hands.

The kraken was apparently as surprised as everyone else, one huge eye obviously tracking the plucky man. Confusion promptly turned to rage when Tarvald leapt onto the creature's back and began hacking with vengeance and purpose into its head on the space between its two huge eyes with his axe. Great spays of red ichor flew upwards with each return.

"Look out!" and "down!" screamed a cacophony of voices, but Tarvald was lost in fury. A long tentacle swept up behind him, coiled tightly around both legs, and yanked him high into the air where he dangled screaming, his axe still embedded in the kraken's skull. One pest out of the way, the kraken swept four tentacles at Maygus, who severed one, ducked another, but let out a "ooof!" as the other two slammed him into a long flat arc where he vanished over the next swell, a splash of spray marking his impact.

The kraken pivoted to vertical, and entirely devoid of ceremony lowered Tarvald down and with a snap his yelling was silenced. The kraken lifted its tentacle again, all that remained were the legs. It lowered them down again to finish this morsel.

The delicate silver orb arced neatly up then down, joining the legs in the maw moments before the beak snapped shut.

"DOWN!" bellowed Zalori, and everyone who was not already cowering threw themselves at the deck, save Angelica who peeked over her shield, not daring to miss seeing this.

The ship rocked hard in the blast wave, and moments later the deafening sound reached them.

Her ears ringing Angelica could not hear what Liva was saying, but guessed it was probably "are you all right?" She pulled herself up over the shield, using it for balance, spear forgotten on the deck, and looked astern.

Lying on the raft next to the motionless Tori-Anna was Ketoth, the young man looking back at the ship. He nodded slightly acknowledging that he saw them, and raised his right arm straight up into the air, clenching his fist in triumph, then extending his thumb upwards to indicate he was ok. His arm slumped back onto the broken wood, suggesting he was anything but.

Zalori was yelling, again, but Angelica still could not hear over the ringing. She could see a fishing ship, no it was Tol-Varus's fishing ship, racing in at full sail with the wind, sailors and soldiers pointing frantically to where Maygus had been hurled to. The other fishing ships were returning as well, many with more discretion but the fleet was closing up.

Away in the distance, she could see the shadowy figures on the upturned ship waving and very obviously cheering. They had raised a banner too, something about it looked familiar.

Angelica put one hand on her head to try to stop the world spinning, and to quiet the noise and pain. The kraken was undeniably dead, its head split in half and tentacles floating lifeless on the water but ... Liva and Antaryon helped her sit. She didn't want to sit down, yet she could not seem to stand either.

Zalori was yelling again, and Liva had run up to him pointing as well. There was so much going on, so much chaos, she just wanted to be at home, in bed, with Mother reading a bed time story like when she was little. Blackness overtook her eyes.

"Stay with her" someone ordered, as if that was really necessary.

"Yes, Captain, you heard me. Bring it alongside, we're going to harvest it." Polite ordered. How could she order anyone? "The eyes have drinkable fluid in them, it's sweet like nectar. And it will have an ink bladder, the ink is said to be the best in Elyria, it lasts forever. One barrel of that ink is worth a castle to the right scholars. Also you can make candles out of some parts, and you can certainly feed many of your animals below for a long time on it."

"But ..." someone else said something lost in the babble and ringing.

"We need to rescue them" Olga said evenly, her voice clear over the ringing in Angelica's ears. Zalori was yelling at someone ... no not just someone ... at a fishing ship captain, to go fetch the survivors.

Angelica lost the words again, something about Tori-Anna.

"Stay still M'Lady" Antaryon said, his hand firm holding her to the deck, a cloak behind her head. When had she laid down? "You have a concussion from the blast, just rest M'Lady it will pass."

"I can't see." she said with quiet urgency.

"Priestess Fael says it will pass, just take your ease M'Lady. A fair number have concussions, just be still now."

"We need to get out of here as fast as possible." Polite was yelling loudly, decorum abandoned "do you not see?"

No, I really don't. Thought Angelica.

"That's the banner of Lady Violet. We're not leaving here without rescuing her." Olga simply said. She was not shouting, nor did she need to. She was a Duchess, after all.

"And there is something ... I need more time with that fish thing." Liva added.

"Do it" said Maygus quietly, his breathing was quick with the odd groan when he breathed in ...

Oh, Maygus must be lying on the deck too. That is why I can hear him.

"But do you not see it?" Polite was all but screaming now.

"What, that seagull?" someone else asked.

"No!" Polite was nearly beside herself. "Are you all blind? It's a raven. Do you even know what that means?"

"Yes." said Zalori calmly. "We know. And we're not leaving yet. Get it done people, and be quick about it."

"What?" said Angelica quietly, her head throbbing.

Antaryon answered "It's something we were all taught about in our training. Some of the Northern peoples use birds to scout. Some say they can even turn into birds, or can see through their bird's eyes. Pure fancy of course, but they do keep birds on their raiding ships."

"What kind is it?" she asked quietly.

"It's a Caspian Raven. M'Lady."

"Ah". She said simply. Everyone knew of them.

Pirates.

The blackness engulfed her completely.