A Tale That Could Not Be
Chapter 31: Escape from Arababyl

Charging down the crowded streets, Bigbad and Beast led the way, forging a path through the terrified throng of Sauradians. Sinbad called out directions from behind them and the pace was relatively quick as few civilians wished to block the path of a horse-sized wolf and a muscled monstrosity. Any guards and soldiers they encountered paid them little heed as their attention was fully focused on the dragon attacking their city.

At one intersection that was blocked by an overturned ox cart, Marjeneh stopped and called out, “I have to go to the palace! I will be safest there. I’m sorry but I have to leave you…”

As Beast threw the ox cart aside, Sinbad approached Marjeneh and nodded. “Go. Be with the sultan. He will protect you.”

Marjeneh removed one of her necklaces consisting of a gold chain attached to a massive emerald. She placed it around Sinbad’s neck and gestured him to follow his friends, who were already leaving. “Tell my crew that they are to follow your orders. They’ll trust you when they see the necklace. Goodbye, Sinbad.”

“Goodbye, Marjeneh,” he said as the former slave girl turned away and fled, quickly swallowed up by the crowd.

“Sinbad,” Hook barked. “Let’s go!”

Sinbad hurried to catch up to him and then threw the necklace over Hook’s neck. “Marjeneh’s ship is yours, captain. Let us hope the empress has not burned it yet.” He then raced away, soon catching up to the others.

Hook glanced down at the emerald for a moment before doing the same.

Upon arriving at the fiery inferno that was the Arababyl’s port the group set about searching for Marjeneh’s ship. Jack and Red, remembering where they had seen it dock, lead the search. They soon found it, neighbored by two burning hulks but relatively unscathed. The crew aboard was already abandoning the ship as Hook marched toward them.

In a voice that made Jack and Sinbad instinctively stand to attention, Hook ordered, “Get your asses back on that deck and sail this ship out of here! As your new captain, I demand it!” He wasn’t about to let the miracle of an unburnt ship go to waste by frightened crewmen.

With a glance at the necklace around Hook’s neck, the crewmen hurriedly turned around and returned to the ship. The mooring lines were cut and the ship was slowly pulled out toward the middle of the river by two small rowboats attached to ropes at the stern. Red, Cindy, Jack, Sinbad, Bigbad, and Hook sprinted up the ramp onto the ship before it was tossed overboard and took their positions. Jack began unfurling the main lateen sail as Sinbad readied the mizzen mast. Still on the wharf, Beast pushed the ship away from port with his brute strength, vastly speeding up the process. Within mere moments the ship was out on the open river. Beast then joined the others by leaping into its deck, clearing a distance of several hundred feet in a single bound.

“The currents of hot air from all these fires are making it impossible to find the true wind direction,” Hook grumbled to Sinbad as he struggled to steady the ship. “At this rate those flames will catch up to us!”

Sinbad, to Hook’s surprise, grinned. “That’s the beauty of these sails, captain. You can sail into the wind if you must.”

Remembering his brief teachings about lateen sails, Hook shouted out orders to the ship’s crew, made a few adjustments to the sails’ positions, and held tight to the wheel. As the men turned the sails slowly, testing the winds and finding the strongest one, Hook glanced around. Embers floated through the air like murderous fireflies and the heat made him sweat profusely. Hundreds of vessels of all sizes from the mightiest warship to the smallest rowboat burned. A small number managed to escape the port in time and some of them sailed by, the men on board running to and fro, powered solely by fear and a need to survive. Amidst the thick columns of smoke flew the black dragon empress, raking the streets and rooftops with jets of red flame.

Finally, the strongest wind caught the sails and the ship glided ahead. Hook kept her steady and grinned as the ship flew across the water, catching up to the other fleeing vessels and speeding past them.

“Does this caravel have a name?” Hook asked Sinbad as the quartermaster returned from checking the sails.

Having lost his turban during the race through the streets, Sinbad’s long, black hair flapped behind him like a flag as he replied. “I hear the men calling it Golden Trident but she is yours now, captain, and you can name it whatever you wish.”

“Captain,” Hook repeated. “It has been too long since I have worn that title. As for this ship, in honour of the woman who gave it to us, I suggest we rename it Marjeneh’s Grace.”

Sinbad smiled warmly and gave his captain a bow. “It is beautiful. I will inform the men of the name change. It is good to have you back on a ship, captain.”

“Likewise, quartermaster.”

“You need to keep better care of this, captain,” Jack said as he approached Hook with his tricorn hat in one hand. When it was back on Hook’s head, he added, “Now you’re a true man of the sea.”

Captain Hook smiled, nodded, and glanced fondly at the two remaining members of his old crew. “Let us show those Noyrans what true men of the sea can do!”

“Aye, aye, captain!” Sinbad and Jack said in unison.

The city of Arababyl was one of Sauradia’s largest and though the trek down the river was relatively fast, the city continued to border it. Empress Rhiannon made occasional appearances, usually to gush out more flame on the city’s buildings. During one pass, however, she targeted the ships on the river and set three aflame. All hands were immediately lost, the dragonfire instantly melting the skin off their blackened bones.

“Konri’s Breath Riders!” Sinbad shouted as the ship turned around a bend in the river. He pointed across the water to a large group of mounted archers galloping along the wharf. Their silver scaled armour glinted in the light of the fires and the arrowheads notched to their bowstrings glowed blue.

“What are they doing?” Red asked Sinbad as she watched the riders scan the skies.

“Their arrows are enchanted with piercing magic. If they can get within range of attacking Rhiannon they might manage to injure her enough to cease her attack on the city. It doesn’t stop her naval invasion but putting the dragon out of the battle greatly evens the odds.”

“Why are they called Konri’s Breath?” Cindy, also watching the event, asked curiously.

“Konri is our god,” Sinbad explained. “She is one of the four that we Sauradians worship. Konri is the god of wind, change, weather, and of sailors for every sailor desires the right wind to reach home quickly. The arrows the riders launch are meant to represent the power of a lightning storm.”

“Your god is with us today, my friend,” Captain Hook said, overhearing the conversation. “This ship makes Jolly Roger seem like a dead slug. I’ve never sailed one so fast before.”

“Rhiannon is coming back!” Cindy cried out, pointing to a dark shape in the sky that was enlarging ever so quickly.

“Too bad this ship can’t outrun dragons!” Jack cried out as he grabbed a bow and few arrows.

“Put that bow down, Jack,” Captain Hook ordered before he turned his gaze to everyone on the ship. “Everyone, listen! Rhiannon is coming and if we do nothing we all die.” Hook glanced at the dragon as she shot a fireball toward the mounted archers, scattering them into the streets and burning a few alive before any of their arrows could be launched. Nothing now stood before the dragon and the ships on the river. “I want men to load the port side cannons while everyone else moves to the starboard side of the ship; that means you too, Bigbad and Beast. You two are the heaviest and I need your help on this. Do it now!”

Without any questions asked, the loyal crewmen loaded powder and ball into the dozen cannons on Marjeneh’s Grace’s port side as everyone else hurried to the starboard side. The combined weight listed the vessel toward starboard, effectively raising the port side cannons to angle up into the sky. Just as water was beginning to flood on the deck from the lowered side, Hook glanced at the approaching dragon and ordered all cannons to fire.

Rhiannon, with flames already building within her throat, eyed the listing vessel and flew toward it. Just as the order to fire was called out she opened her mouth to release her jet of flame but instead, twelve cannon balls streaked through the air toward her. Most of them missed but a few struck her in the chest and neck with terrible force, forcing her to abandon her attack. She cried out in anger and circled back to the city, where she landed her bulk on a few rooftops, crumbling them under her weight, and shook away the pain.

Hook ordered everyone to spread out and then steadied the ship as he glanced at the black dragon. The orange glow of the flames reflected off her black scales as she stood on the buildings, recovering from the cannonball shots. The dragon’s head lifted and fixed her eyes directly on Captain Hook, narrowing them menacingly. Hook felt his heart skip a few beats and his entire body clench but he did not look away. Rhiannon spread her great wings, growled, and readied to take to the skies, undoubtedly seeking revenge for her injuries, slight as they might have been.

“She’s going to attack again!” Jack called out.

“Make ready, men!” Hook shouted. “Load the cannons and get ready to shift the ship’s weight once more.”

Then, just before Rhiannon beat her wings down, dozens of blue streaks whistled through the air and struck her body. The dragon shrieked in pain and hurriedly turned around, flapping hard and fast and gaining altitude as quickly as she could. The Konri’s Breath Riders, responsible for sending her away, galloped through the streets after her, intent on bringing the beast down for good.

“Well, that was impressive,” Cindy said, wide-eyed. “At least we don’t have to worry about the empress anymore.”

“We’ve got a much greater threat ahead of us,” Hook grumbled grimly, gazing down the river. Just beyond the mouth of the river, still some distance away, he saw scores, if not hundreds, of warships locked in a pitched battle. The brief flashes of cannon fire blinked like fireflies and moments later their thunderous, popping booms were heard. Sauradia’s navy was locked in a bloody defensive battle against a much larger force and it did not have long before total defeat. If Hook did not hurry he would be sailing alone against Noyr warships much heavier armed than Marjeneh’s Grace and far more difficult to sink.

“Help is with us,” Sinbad noted as he pointed to the side.

Hook glanced to see more Sauradian warships coming up alongside him. They were small and lightly armoured but upon their decks were several grim-faced fire mages, their hands aflame. They quickly outpaced Marjeneh’s Grace, which was already a swift vessel, and everyone aboard watched the small war dhows sail into the fray up ahead. Once in range, fireballs shot out in great volleys from the decks of the small warships, aimed at the black Noyran sails. The enemy sails ignited quickly, drastically slowing the large vessels and making them easy targets for the more heavily armed Sauradian warships. Cannon fire burst forth and splintered the Noyran hulls like kindling. Many Noyran warships sunk in the assault but there were many more to replace them. As brave and effective as the attack was, the small war dhows bearing the fire mages were soon targeted by newly arrived ships and quickly sunk. It did leave a substantial gap in the Noyran fleet, however, and Captain Hook sailed directly toward it.

Leaving the river and heading into open sea, Marjeneh’s Grace skimmed through the water as warships all around her traded blows. Constant booms exploded in every direction and cannon balls flew through the air like horizontal hail, some of them splashing into the water right next to the swift caravel. The water was choppy from the large vessels maneuvering about and Captain Hook struggled to maintain a direct course through the watery battlefield. To aid him see through the forest of masts and hulls, he ordered Jack to climb up to the crow’s nest, which he did in the blink of an eye.

Off to the port side, a Noyran frigate had just collided into a Sauradian brig and the Noyran sailors were leaping off their deck onto the smaller ship. The two crews battled for supremacy with blade and musket, steel against steel and lead against flesh. Hook kept his distance from the bloody battle lest the Noyrans get overconfident and think of boarding Marjeneh’s Grace. The doomed brig let out a final salvo from its cannons, which heavily crippled the frigate, but failed to claim victory as a Noyran cutlass plunged into the Sauradian captain’s chest.

Glancing starboard, four small Sauradian galleys used their greater maneuverability to circle a large Noyran man o’ war. The huge behemoth had six gun decks with twenty times the firepower of the galleys but was slow and unwieldy. One volley of its port-side cannons rent the sky with an ear-splitting roar and immediately reduced one galley into nothing but splinters and body parts. The remaining three galleys moved quickly, their dozens of oars paddling madly, and fired a few shots into the man o’ war’s hull. Their cannons were few but powerful and they managed to pierce through the thick planks, causing damage from within.

Hook eyed the men aboard one of the galleys as they stuffed small, metallic barrels into their forward-facing cannons and wondered what they were up to. Then, just as a second galley fell victim to the warship’s starboard side salvo, the nearest galley turned in the water swiftly.

Hook was impressed with the oarsmen and their ability to maneuver the ship as if it was a horse on land. The captain’s skill at making full use of his oarsmen’s talents was also nothing short of remarkable. The galley rowed closer to the huge vessel and aimed its cannons toward a small hole in its side left behind from one of the other galleys. The cannons fired and the metal-cased barrels sped through the air, expertly aimed. Every single barrel entered the small hole in the man o’ war’s hull and Hook then realized what they held within as a massive explosion blasted out of the man o’ war’s sides. The huge vessel burst open like a flower of wood, metal, and men and quickly sunk into the sea. The two remaining galleys then sought out their next victim, like sharks after a hapless whale.

Battle raged about and Captain Hook had great difficulty avoiding crashing into other vessels. Some Noyran vessels fired a few poorly aimed shots at him but the speedy caravel proved much too fast for them. Some cannonballs came close and several chipped the deck and damaged the gunwales but the ship was still mostly intact and fully capable.

Then came the moment Captain Hook had dreaded.

Up ahead was a large group of Noyran warships sailing directly toward him, too close together to sail through and far too powerful to engage. To the right was another gathering of enemy ships sailing toward the mouth of the river, their broadsides getting within range to send a few volleys against Marjeneh’s Grace.

“Port side, captain!” Jack called out from the crow’s nest. “There’s an opening!”

Hook glanced to the left to see two frigates, one Noyran and one Sauradian, trading volleys from their broadside cannons. A distance just wide enough for his caravel to skim through separated them. Looking up at Jack, Hook shouted, “Are you insane, Jack? We could be blown to bits!”

“No, we won’t!” Jack called back. “Set a course through them, captain!”

“We’ll get killed!”

“We will get through alive! Trust me!”

Captain Hook trusted Jack with all his heart but this was madness. On the other hand, there was no other way to go but back and he wasn’t about to do that. Once he reached the open ocean he would be able to sail away from the battle thus the only path for him was forward.

“Hard to port!” he ordered his men and they obediently carried out the order, though he noticed many seemed nervous.

They have good reason to be, Hook thought as he turned the ship toward the two battling vessels. Sailing directly toward the small gap, he witnessed the Sauradian frigate unleash a massive volley into the Noyran vessel’s hull moments before the other ship retaliated. Wood splinters exploded into the air and damaged cannons rolled out of the holed hulls, splashing into the water and sinking to the bottom along with a few slain seamen.

“Everyone brace!” Captain Hook shouted as the caravel swiftly glided between the two larger ships. Deafening silence rent the air as both Sauradian and Noyran crews watched it sail by. Hook looked up and almost grinned at the confused faces of both crews. Noyran loaders, after recovering from the shock of the event, hurried to reload their cannons upon catching sight of the Sauradian flag flapping behind Marjeneh’s Grace.

Hook did his best to delay them. “Starboard cannons fire!” The twelve cannons blasted out their balls and further damaged the already ravaged Noyran hull, eliciting a loud cheer from the Sauradian crew. The volley, though small, did slow the loaders and even killed a few, allowing Hook enough time to sail past both ships and leaving them behind to continue their battle uninterrupted.

“That was amazing!” exclaimed Cindy, grinning widely.

“I told you we’d be fine!” Jack called down to Hook.

“Well done, Jack!” Hook called back, giving himself the liberty to smile.

The rest of his crew, however, was completely flabbergasted.

There were still many ships to avoid and sail through but with the aid of his trusty crew and loyal friends, Captain Hook was confident that they’d manage. He dearly missed his Jolly Roger but Marjeneh’s Grace was proving to be a worthy vessel. She hit like a drunk harlot but sailed faster than the swiftest dolphins and at this moment he needed speed over power.

With battle raging everywhere he looked, Hook sailed on.

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