Captain Lorik Lornsen, was a seaman but also a businessman. He was concerned with saving his ship and cargo as much as saving the lives of his men. He knew his fine ship was fast but he could see black sails on the horizon no matter which direction he looked. Which meant the pirates were hunting ships like his. The Windflower and its cargo would be a real prize for those desperate enough to try and take her. Not since many years past had Lornsen seen a black sail, though in ports of late rumors were spreading about a new wave of reavers.
Lornsen, not one to abide by rumors still made sure to equip the Windflower with the finest dwarven cannonry he could afford and as much Everburning Fire as he could safely store and still have room for sailors and cargo. Thankfully the ship was not too heavily laden as they were returning from a loop around the large sea of Surrass and heading for their home port of Haverston.
His plan was to engage with cannon fire what ships blocked his passage to his homeport and then using all the speed the ship’s sails could muster, outrun the others to Haverston. A desperate plan for sure, but there was little other choice with craggy rocks shore-wise and pirate ships in each other direction. He cursed the fog which lifted just in time to reveal his position to the black-hearted sea rats looking to loot and capture his precious lady. He turned towards his first mate unsmiling with a question on his brow.
"A stowaway hmmmm? And our would-be sailor-boy helping the miscreant about? There are no free rides aboard my ship laddy!" He directed at Daisy. Apparently no one expected a filthy skinny unkempt young person in ill-fitted filthy rags to be female. Particularly not a stowaway. "If I weren't engaged at the moment in saving all our lives from those ships out there you’d be collecting barnacles off the side of the keel along with your new friend here. Art, get these scurvy runts out of my sight, and put them to good use while you’re at it!" With this he turned around and bellowed orders at the helmsman in the pilothouse.
Artku turned to the ‘boys’ and motioned them forward towards the stern where the cannoneers were loading the two steel and timber cannons with everburning fire after fastening their wheels to two large turret-like constructions. On these clever devices a cannon could be turned and fired in a wide one hundred twenty degree arc.
Daisy shivered in fear, wondering if the menacingly under-spoken sailor would throw them over board as the Captain talked of doing. Her fears were entirely unfounded but she didn’t get the chance to find this out.
Just then, a sound echoed from not far off that reverberated like a peel of thunder. Then all hell broke lose. The starboard cannon was surrounded by flames and sailors were running across the deck, shirts aflame, screaming. Another shot hit the deck nearby. Artku quickly grabbed both Daisy and Benji by their respective collars and pulled-shoved them hard behind him. The hellish flames spat out of the shattered firing urn and quickly covered the taciturn man burning through his damp cotton shirt and skin in short order.
The two were flat on their bottoms where they were thrown by Artku, stunned and terrified. Artku flailed about and eventually made it to the edge of the ship and still aflame dove off into the green waters below.
The cannoneers managed to finally get their bearing and return fire with the remaining cannon on the closest pirate ship. The wind caught their shot and gave it an extra push as if to punish the pirates for their temerity. The shot hit dead center on one of the enemy ship’s cannons. The force of the explosion knocked the enemy cannoneers back with such a blast that one individual flew off the opposite end of the ship. The cannon itself blew into shrapnel pieces impaling several nearby crewmen.The Windflower cannoneers reloaded and fired again. A large fire spread through the middle of the ship and caught the sails. Soon the enemy ship was ablaze and pirates were jumping ship to swim to their nearest ally. Daisy realized the Windflower herself was afire and sailors were trying to put out the fire by throwing buckets of water on the flames. She realized her very survival might depend on helping out and grabbed an empty bucket and ran to an open barrel of drinking water.
Daisy lost track of time as smoke filled her lungs and painted her face black. Her whole world was running around filling buckets and tossing them on fires. Everburning was a good name for the stuff that the ships used to fire from their weapons. It was very hard to suffocate it and it would start up again from very small embers. Daisy knew enough of sorcery from her royal education to know that water would eventually work its undoing on the fires but that the magic could damage a lot of the ship.She vaguely remembered from her childhood a controversial law proposed by her father to the king to limit the use of such magic for military purposes only. He walked away furious and unsatisfied. The only time she witnessed his angry side firsthand. Apparently the unscrupulous mages who create the stuff were still getting rich off selling it to anyone who could afford their prices. If such evils are common place she thought, perhaps someone should do something about it.
Through her haze of effort, Daisy remembered afterwards someone actually had to pull her by her shoulders and force her to stop drenching the ship because the last of the fires finally died down. She didn’t remember the royal frigates arriving. Nor did she witness the well-deserved demise of the pirates and their awful ships. Nor was she aware of what became of Benji at first.
The air, so constantly thick with the screams of sailors, the shots of cannons and the smoke of fires burning suddenly was still and silent. An occasional scream would break the silence like a mournful punctuation but the peace permeated the ship so thoroughly as men collapsed where they stood and thanked their good fortunes to be alive still.
Daisy noticed no one was bothering her, sitting as she was half hidden behind a broken spar and half-burned sail. The few sailors who did see her were too weary to accost her. For a long while Daisy sat and recovered her breath from the coughing she wasn’t even aware of doing.
At some point she pondered she was having an adventure. No one could deny it now. She had been fighting for her life and those of others just moments ago. And she triumphed she felt. Then guilt intruded and then worry. That brave sailor who saved her, whom she had thought of being a souless scoundrel similar to the attacking pirates: Artku. He never surfaced again as far she could tell. Also, what had become of her new friend Benji? Benji who was facing the same punishment for her crime of stowing away as she when he could have turned her over and been done with it.
Heavy booted footfalls nearby broke Daisy’s revery and she looked up into the grim soot cover faces of the Captain and his first mate Artku who must have climbed aboard from angle she didn’t see. Dragging him by his wrist Artku held Benji behind him. The boy looked tired and filthy and just a bit angry.
"Get up lad! We’ve unfinished business between us. You owe me several hundred royal sovereigns to pay for your purloined passage on my ship. Don’t suppose you have that on you do you? You don’t look like you could afford a meal much less clean clothes or a voyage on anything seaworthy." He paused and appraised Daisy with a glint in his eye. Then he stared away into the sea. Daisy stared at what he was looking at too, squinting to make out the dead bodies floating on wooden debris. All that remained of the pirates who didn’t flee fast enough from the Royal Navy.
Benji spoke up from behind Artku "Capn, you ain't still gon’ta punish him for stowin’ are ya? He did help t’ save the ship from the flames. " Artku swung his free arm to silence the boy but Captain Lornsen stopped him with a look. "No need for that Art. The boy only speaks the truth. This lad had a debt to us. But he paid some of it with his unstinting bravery and effort. I wont be so harsh as I was minded before we engaged them sea rats."
Pausing slightly to indicate a change of topic the captain continued: "We were very fortunate that we weren’t boarded and also that the Dancing River Tiger showed when she did with her sister ships. A few moments longer and we might have had to fend off attacks hand-to-hand with what little weaponry we own."
Daisy decided she needed to speak but was unsure of what she could say that wouldn’t reveal her gender which might land her in more trouble than she was in initially. As she opened her mouth to speak Benji spoke up instead. "Thank ye sar. We’ll both be of good service to ye. An’ I’ll get ‘im into some o’ me spare garb. The Windflower never’ll be as pretty as when we be done wid ‘er."
"That will be all for now then, lads. Come Art lets get this wreck underway." Captain Lornsen nodded and then motioned for Artku to come with him as he began discussing repairs and getting the ship sea worthy again. Daisy noted that aside from a continued lack of hair and singe marks on wide holes in his clothing Artku did not seem much burned. She shuddered when she thought of the burns he must be suffering with. She marveled also at his stamina to be walking about, doing his duty rather lying abed as most of the wounded were doing.