As the sun began to sink beyond the western horizon, we set off. A small ship called a Cog had arrived at the Salt Fort with a captain and two crew members. As we approached, the captain and the crew gave a nod and walked right past us, into the fortress.
We boarded the ship, and Kona took the helm. Nigel, Josephine and Henri began to ready the ship for departure while the twins and I stood around watching since the three of us had no idea how to crew a boat. Since we had nothing to do, we decided to go below deck and organise the cargo we brought onboard.
We brought weapons and armour in case this turned into a standard attack, as well as Gunpowder and handheld bombs that Henri made. We sat in the dark as we sailed without any lanterns lit, and by faint moonlight, we slowly organised each person's equipment into their own pile.
"Shinya. Nigel t'a-t-il expliqué quel est ton rôle dans cette mission?" [Shinya. Has Nigel explained your role in this mission?]
"I know what I'm here for."
"Good. Can you swim?"
"No."
"Do they know you can't swim? Go tell them."
Realising that was probably a good idea, I headed for the upper deck to find Nigel, who was standing at the rear of the ship behind Kona as he was adjusting the angle of the sail.
"Nigel."
"Nigh is fine."
"You are aware I can't swim, right?"
"Really? I kind of guessed, but I wasn't sure. I think you're the only one who can't swim. Don't worry, you won't be swimming to the ship. We have a plan."
"Okay." I turned to leave.
"That's it? Not going to ask what the plan is?"
"No, I trust you."
"Hey, and if ye do fall overboard I'll jump in and save ya," Kona said with a childish grin on her face. I smiled faintly and gave a thumbs up as I walked to the front of the ship, where Henri was standing, looking out at the black abyss before us.
"Do you see it, that faint light?"
He looked oddly serious. I remembered what he said when I was first introduced to him. I figured he would be all giddy and excited, but this calm and serious man next to me is not what I expected. Like he said, on the horizon was a faint orange light floating in the darkness. There were others in the distance to the left and the right, but far enough away that it wasn't a large concern, even if fighting erupted.
"Anything yet, Josie!?" He turned and yelled out.
"No, too far." Atop the crow's nest was Josephine Baker with a spyglass pointed at the lights in front of us. As my eyes adjusted to the dim moonlight, I noticed everyone had a fearful look on their face. Of course they would, it's more surprising that I don't. But after all, I seem to have a way to cheat death, they don't. If that were the case, why not just send me in first?
I thought about suggesting the idea to Nigel, but he wanted to ideally do this without anyone being killed, including the enemy. I would also like that outcome, but somehow I feel like things will go wrong.
Several minutes later, we got closer to the ship. Josephine said that she only saw two men patrolling the upper deck, but neither walked up the stairs to the quarterdeck. So we spent another thirty minutes manoeuvring the boat to be positioned behind the larger ship, but still at a decent distance where the darkness would help keep us hidden if someone were to glance this way.
The team raised the sails, and we sat adrift. The whole time, Henri was always standing at the bow of our boat, staring at the enemy ship intently. Nigel instructed the twins to swim to the ship and circle it closely, and to find and inspect the anchor line. Then Josephine went to the lower deck to get changed and get weapons in case we needed to board. Of course, there was a chance that we might learn what we came for without even needing to board the ship at all.
With nothing else to do, I decided to leave Henri alone. Whatever he was doing seemed important, so I made my way up to the wheel where Kona was.
"Yo, need any help with anything back here?"
She had an iron grip on the wheel, but it swayed slightly, so she yanked it back to where it was. As if she were battling the sea itself.
"Can ye grab those ropes on the ground, help me tie the wheel off?"
I did as she asked. I grabbed the ropes and found that one end was a loop. I reached up and hooked the loop over the topmost spoke on the wheel. I moved to the other side and repeated the process with great effort, having to stretch the rope hard to get it over the spoke, but the tension of the two ropes held the wheel in place, allowing Kona to let go.
"Thanks, I could do with a break."
She walked towards the rear of the ship and sat on the floor, resting against the wall. I joined her.
"Kona, do you sail a lot? I mean you rowed us to the fort and now you've sailed us here."
"Mm, yeah. I'm actually from Fiskby. The one town in the north that lives more on boats than on land. I like the sea, feels a bit like home, you know. But this sea, bit too warm for my liking. I would like to go home."
"Why did you come south anyway?"
"To prove myself, I suppose? The Godi clan is meant to be a clan of warriors. As the twelfth daughter, naturally, my existence was an afterthought, so maybe with this, I could prove my worth."
"I think you're pretty worthy already."
There was a silence for a moment. I turned to look at her, only to find her smirking at me.
"Did you spend all day thinking o' that line?" She chuckled softly.
Embarrassed, I stood up and walked towards the wheel.
"No… sorry… Also, sorry for earlier today as well. It was an accident."
"Just forget it ever happened, alright. It was my fault anyway. I tried to pick up the cannon, and I'm the one who dragged you into that tiny room. If anything, I should be saying sorry. So…have at it."
"Huh?" I turned back. Kona was standing upright with her arms open wide, her head tilted back, and her eyes closed.
"Go on, punch me. A proper apology is one free hit."
"You have a strange way of apologising." I took a step closer. She had been wearing the same clothes since she pulled her armour off back when we first met, only covering her chest, shoulders, forearms, and her skirt like leather armour that sat around her waist.. It seemed ineffective as armour as it left her whole torso exposed. Before I knew it, I got closer. She opened one eye and looked down at me, waiting for the punch. She let out a grunt as if to say 'get on with it'. With a soft sigh, I figured she would insist constantly, so I balled a fist and swung at her abdomen. My fist collided with her abs with a slapping sound.
"Eh?" She looked down at me, confused, "Was that it? Are you holding back to be polite?"
"No, that's as hard as I can punch."
I expected her to laugh for some reason, but rather, she placed a hand atop my head.
"I guess I've got my work cut out for me."
Her work? Oh, that's right. She said she would train me to become stronger. I suppose that might start after this mission.
The twins returned to the boat after some time and reported back. The whole team spoke in whispers at the bow of the ship.
"We swam around the boat and found it had two anchors at the bow, but both of them were fully retracted. So thinking something was off, I dove under the water and saw an anchor line coming from the middle of the ship and descending to the sea floor."
"To the sea floor? That seems impossible. The ship would have to be much larger to carry that much weight." Nigel placed his hand to his chin, thinking. Henri then stepped forward.
"Did you get close to the line?" The twins nodded, "Was it tight?" They nodded again. "I see, I think I understand how it works."
"But that's not all, when getting close to it, we found it wasn't a chain but a rope."
"Rope? Can it be cut, maybe?" The Twins shrugged, and Henri continued. "You see, their ship has been perfectly still in the water, unaffected by wind. If they have an anchoring line coming from the direct middle of their ship, and that line is tight, their ship can't move or even sway."
"But that doesn't answer the mystery of how they can anchor to the sea floor? It's too deep, it should be impossible."
Kona emerged from the lower deck with her axe slung over her shoulder. I hadn't even noticed that she left.
"That doesn't matter if the rope can be cut. If it is cut, then the boats can't stay here without drifting. That makes resupply harder, their daily lives more miserable, and the ship might have to return to port to repair the anchor. I say we give it a go."
Nigel gave a nod, and Kona dived overboard without hesitation. She vanished in the waters instantly without even a sound.
"What if that fails?" I finally decided to chime in.
"Then we board. And investigate inside for any information."
We stood around the deck of the ship, and a tense silence for several minutes. The twins Josipheene and Nigel had both gone below deck to arm themselves with weapons as I sat on the bow of the ship with Henri, looking out for Kona's return. After a short while, she swam back and climbed back aboard the boat.
"I can't cut that; whatever it is, it's not normal rope. Far too strong."
"Understood. Alright, well, since sabotage failed, let's pivot to infiltration and intelligence gathering. Josephine and I will board the ship, eliminate the two guards and then we can pull our boat next without raising an alarm."
"Understood. I'll take the helm again, I'll have to get Henri to help with the mast though."
I raised my hand. "I would like to help where I can."
Nigel and Josephine dove into the waters and vanished as Kona, Henri and I went to the rear of the ship. I was quickly instructed on how to raise and lower the sail, and Henri would turn it. The twins positioned themselves, one at the bow and the other on the port side, with a mooring rope in hand.
After a minute, a body appeared atop the rear of the quarterdeck of the enemy ship, waving at us. I lowered the sails to half mast, and Henri angled them as Kona started to turn the wheel. The boat sailed up to the left-hand side of the larger ship, where Nigel was looking over the edge, down at us.
The twin who was holding the rope tossed it up as hard as he could towards Nigel, but the rope fell short and splashed down into the water. He then dived into the water, grabbed the rope and with it bit between his teeth, he climbed the side of the ship.
As they pulled the rope up, the small boat started to drift left, closer to the larger ship. Closer and closer in drifted until it was in arm's reach. I raised the sail, and the two up top tied the rope to the railing of the ship. From above, a whisper pierced through the constant sound of waves.
"Put the buffer in place, and Kona, get up here and dispose of the bodies."
The other twin and Henri scuttled below deck, and Kona leapt onto the side of the ship and climbed it. From the below deck, Henri emerged carrying a mattress, then the second twin, maybe Lucas, emerged with another. I hurried below deck to fetch more.
We strapped the mattress to the side of the boat in an attempt to dampen the sound should a wave or wind push us against the larger ship. As we did this, Kona climbed back down with a dead body of a Metonym over her shoulder. Once aboard, she walked to the starboard side, knelt down and gently lowered the dead body into the water. Clearly, sound was our biggest concern if we were going to such lengths to be silent.
She climbed up again to fetch the second body, and the second twin followed behind her. Henri gave me a nudge towards the ladder, signalling for me to go up, and so I did, and he followed. But before I climbed up, I took off my shoes. I knew firsthand how low footsteps can be to someone on the deck below you.
We boarded the ship as Kona descended with the second body. Everyone else gathered around Nigel.
"Okay, we'll look in the captain's quarters for anything of value, military plans, maps, anything. If he's sleeping there, I'll take him out. If, for any reason, an alarm is raised or we need to go to the second deck down, then Shinya and Kona will have to take the lead."
Everyone nodded and we started to walk slowly and deliberately towards the rear of the ship, where the captain's quarters would be. Careful not to make a sound. We approached the glass door. Trying the handle, we found it was locked. Josephine reached into her boot and pulled two thin metal tools out, and began to pick the lock. There was a faint orange glow coming from inside the cabin, so there was a chance the captain was awake.
Once the door was open, Nigel and Josephine entered first with weapons drawn. The twins followed after, and then I went in. Henri entered last. Nigel and Josephine finished looking around the room and came back to the entrance to report that the captain wasn't here, ordering one of the twins to stay by the door just in case.
The three of us spread out and looked around for anything we could take. There were papers strewn across a grand dining table, and there was a small chest tucked under a bed and an ornate desk that looked out towards the back of the ship through a series of large windows. I walked towards the desk where the other two went to the table and the bed, and Henri paced around the room looking for something.
Opening the desk, there were some scrolls of paper with a map of the narrow sea drawn on them, with markings showing in the water. I held it above my head, and Nigel noticed and came over to look at it. He took the scroll and opened it, flat on the table. He ran his finger up the shoreline on the right of the map. He placed his finger on an island and then moved it westward towards a marking.
"I think these are ship locations? We're here, those two other ships nearby were here and here."
He pointed to the marking above and below the one he pointed out first.
"I can't be the ships themselves, right? The paper looks old, very old. Maybe it's something else, a secret of theirs?"
Nigel nodded and placed the map into his coat, patting me on the back as he walked away. "Good find. Also, ignore anything written in Nishigo, we can't translate it without the help of Balim."
I continued to rummage through the desk, pulling the drawers open. There were stacks of old paper with writing on them that we couldn't read. Though I noticed the last drawer at the bottom was locked with a key. I looked atop the desk and found a key sitting on the wood. It was a perfect fit. Opening the drawer, I was met with an unexpected sight.
I picked up the item by what looked like the handle. I wasn't too sure, but I think I might know what it is. The handle fit in my hand well, and there was a small metal protrusion that sat near where my index finger would sit naturally. Sitting atop the wooden handle was a metal part that looked like a smaller version of a cannon. Could this be?
"Is this a gun?"
As I spoke, the other two turned to look at me. Seeing me holding the gun in my hand, they froze in place. We had only just started to develop this technology, so how was this here? The only country that had made and mastered gun technology was the empire.
"Is that a matchlock pistol?" Henri called out from the other side of the room.
"TEKI DA!!!!!"
A voice screamed as the ship's captain burst forward from a closet next to me. Rushing me with a small blade drawn. It happened quickly, my body froze on instinct as I couldn't even turn my head to look at my attacker, only seeing it out of the corner of my eye. In my right hand was the gun, but it was held aloft and pointed upwards. Could I have used it to kill him to save myself, probably, but I didn't know if it was even loaded or how to properly fire it. While my mind went blank and my body froze, the attacker took another step closer. He was in a full sprint, the point of the blade pointed at me, and at this rate, it would pierce my side and kill me.
In the blink of an eye, and without me even realising what happened, I felt a sharp pain in my left hand, a warm, wet substance on my face. A red liquid sprayed past me. Did one of the others kill him with a bow or gun, maybe? What happened.
I turned my head to find my left hand buried in his face, one of his eyeballs dangling from his skull and onto my wrist, and blood poured from his half-shattered jaw. As I pulled my hand out of his skull, a reddish clumpy thing dropped out of it as the body thumped to the ground. My body began to tremble at the sight, my knees buckled, and I dropped to the floor, leaning forward, and I vomited. The acid clawing at my throat caused tears to streak down my face as well.
I looked back at the body as I tried to crawl away from it. Nigel rushed over to me and helped me get on my feet as my rapid breathing slowed.
Then we heard it, footsteps coming from below, the marching of feet, the shouting of voices. Then a thunderous billow of a horn being blown shook the ship.