Chapter 245: Blockade Runners
An hour before dawn saw Dauntless moving toward the rain with all sails at full heat. Splinter sailed beside her, sprinting ahead and cutting to port and starboard as Captain Woodrat grilled his Navigator on small tricks of steering and moving the heat in the sails to get the most speed out of the ship. It hadn't gone well at first.
After almost putting the ship onto its side with an overly aggressive tack, the argument got heated.
"I can steer a ship as well as you can! I can feel the heat and smoke better than you and react faster." Moira was at the helm with Woodrat near her and calling out orders or offering advice.
The Captain rolled his eyes. "Just like a windstorm to think they know it all. Have you ever wondered why every story where a Cyclone gets tricked and bound is because of their pride? I don't doubt you have a better sense of the smoke than I do. I'm only a wee little human with barely a breath of wind inside me. So why can I outsail you?"
"You cheat! I don't know how, but you cheat! Things always go your way."
Woodrat smiled. "Well, yes. You can call it that. But here's the secret: You can't just look for how to make the ship go faster. You also need to expect things to go wrong. Shit always happens on the smoke. A current you didn't expect turns the ship. Some beastie latches on for a ride or gets in your way. A hand doesn't pull a chain tight enough, and a sail loses some heat. You need to anticipate every way things can go wrong and make sure they don't happen. The Gods know I have enough experience seeing how things go wrong."
"Have your first mate check the sails, then check them yourself. Watch the smoke and judge the waves and currents. See where they work against you. If you can learn to see what's wrong as well as what's right, you might end up a better Captain than I am."
They argued for another two hours as the ships made their way to a rendevous with the Thunderheads.
Ozzy's plan had left everyone staring at him as if he was mad. "We need to bring along a Kraken to help out."
Cavendish held up a hand. "Here, the man out, if only for entertainment. But I don't see any of you with a legendary title to your name. Of course, he's crazy. How do you think you earn such a title?"
Ozzy explained his idea. "What made the Kraken come up to meet the Thunderheads? It's obvious they find them tasty, but how did they know? It's the cold they bring. As they drop down, full of water, they cool the smoke under them, telling the Kraken it's snack time. If we can get a Kraken near Dauntless, it will force the Thunderheads higher up, where they can't attack the ships directly. We can deal with the rain. But we can't have some of them converge on us and come lower to batter us with their winds and lightning."
Captain Shively looked interested. "But how do we bring one up? And more, keep it from eating us as well."
Ozzy leaned back in his chair, which groaned in protest. "Well, as far as I can tell, whey you want to catch a fish, you throw out a line with some bait. Talking with some of the older hands, they tell me there isn't much difference between fishing for a whale and a Kraken. You need a good lure, a chunk of meat, and enough chain. And I happen to know Captain Woodrat has a lure in his treasure."
Cavendish was trying to figure out the plan. "You propose that Dauntless drop a chain with a lure and pull a Kraken behind her? A big one could break in two."
"Not Dauntless. We'll go fishing with Splinter."
Woodrat looked surprised, then pleased. "I see where you are going with this. We fish up something big, stay ahead, and drag it over to Dauntless just as we break the line. With hot sails, nothing can catch us. I look forward to the job."
Ozzy held up a hand. "Two problems with that. The first is that Splinter needs to dump a lot of her heat. She'll attract Kraken faster. When you pull heat from the auric hull to the sails, you make room to pull heat from the sea to the hull. The Splinter leaves a trail of cold smoke behind her when she does that. With Kraken already in the area and the lure calling, at least one Kraken will follow as Splinter comes in close to Dauntless and slides into her shields."
Woodrat nodded. That made sense, and why they had attracted a Kraken so close to the ship before. "And the second?"
"You won't be steering Splinter; Moriah will. We need you on Dauntless for your shields."
Woodrat's mouth opened and closed. His eyes narrowed, and he almost wasted good rum by throwing the bottle at his first mate. Instead, he filled up his mug and drank it down. "By the gods, I need more rum if I'm going to turn over my pretty ship to that Cyclone. Of all the situations you've dumped me into, this is the craziest."
One of the old hands on Dauntless was a master of scrimshaw. He looked at the whale lure and added the runes to attract a Kraken. Then it was wrapped inside a hard-cured piece of the tentacle Beerbelly had been cooking. Ozzy and Woodrat poured smoke and heat into it until it glowed. All of the crew had been working on making chain. Ozzy took five strands and wove them into a strong cable with a strand of auric in the center. The lure would be kept hot with heat from the Splinter's hull. A thousand feet of cable was loaded aboard Splinter in preparation for fishing.
Woodrat delayed to the end before heading to Dauntless. Mariah was annoyed by this. "You don't trust me to do a good job?"
Woodrat smiled at her. "I trust you as much as I trust myself. I have no doubts that you'll bring my lady safely out of danger. What worries me is whether or not I'll see either of you again. We're sailing into danger, and as grand a ship as Dauntless may be, she isn't Splinter. She's big and can take a lot of damage. We might make it through, but we might not. If the worst happens, don't look back. Take Splinter and run hard to safer seas."
"And you should wear these." He took off the ancient coat and hat he had won from Captain Blackfetter. Wordlessly, Mariah put them on. Then she kissed him on the cheek. He saluted her and left for his spot on Dauntless.
Sharthezel heard something, a call from above that disturbed her light sleep. She had fed well; it would be years before she went back to deep sleep in the depths. The young Cyclone had been tasty and rich, full of so much air and wet that she couldn't remember the last time she had feasted so well. She and her sisters had lurked near the new land for weeks, knowing that sooner or later, the green goddess would call down the Thunderheads to cool the seas so she could claim the new island.
She had been surprised when the little ones had helped lure a cyclone near her. The ship had cooled the smoke, alerting her to its location, and the Thunderhead had pounced on the bait. Like a patient hunter, she had pounced and consumed nearly all of it. The storm had been so wet that it exploded into steam, blowing off a few of her many limbs. She hadn't minded. Once part of her, they would eventually make their way back. Except for one. She had gifted one of her limbs to the little ones. They would worship her by eating her flesh and making themselves strong. Bit by bit, she felt her flesh disappear. Nothing was as tasty as Kraken. She should know. She had hunted her own kind when there was nothing else to eat.
Part of her was calling, and she looked upward. The Thunderheads were still moving toward the new land but staying high, out of reach. But the little ones were trying to bait them down again. How kind of them. They were undoubtedly the best bait. Two of their ships now moved above her, covered in heat and fire, daring the Thunderheads to chase them, and the Cyclones had noticed. Sharthezel moved upward, following the tiny bit of herself that swam behind the cooler of the two ships. She was waiting for a chance to at another meal.
Behind her, the lesser of her kind followed. Some hoped for scraps, and others wished to hunt for their own meal. All respected the old one, and none moved past Sharthezel. They would delay until after she struck or possibly become her meal themselves.
Derek scanned the horizon, estimating the distance to the Thunderheads and calling it out. Butterbelly kept a hand on the cable holding the bait, trying to feel if anything had taken it. Unnoticed, the last few feet of uncooked tentacle moved slightly. The massive chunk of meat was hanging from a hook and chain from one of the yards. Meat rearranged itself, and the little piece of the great Kraken opened one eye and then another, keeping watch on the sky.
Behind them, large creatures grew closer to the surface. Derek could see them as darker parts of the smoke following in their wake. "We have at least one, maybe more on our tail."
Mariah turned the wheel. "We're heading to Dauntless then. Pay attention to my commands. Some of these maneuvers will throw the ship around. So make sure you're tied down tight." She pulled heat from the hull and forced it into the sails. Splinter leaped ahead over the choppy sea, leaving a long line of cooled smoke behind her. No Kraken ever had a better map leading to a meal.
Aboard Dauntless, the lookout called down. "Captain! Splinter is signaling she has fish on the hook and is coming up behind us." Captain Cavendish acknowledged the message and turned to his Captains. "It is time. Captain Ozzy, you have the wheel, and we will add to your shields. Captain Woodrat, your aura is the most powerful; we will add our own after you have reinforced the ship's shields."
Ozzy took the wheel. He wouldn't have to change course, simply keep the ship moving straight ahead. He slowly became aware of each of the dozens of sails. They interacted with each other in strange ways, passing heat back and forth and making minute changes in the sails. Just moving dead ahead seemed complex. He wondered how a Captain could handle all of this in the middle of a battle. Cavendish put his shield over the ship. Woodrat added his own shielding and then his aura. One by one, all the others did as well. The glowing shield extended out into the smoke on either side, far enough for a small ship to be covered if they could move close enough.
Splinter had moved in a wide loop, letting Dauntless take the lead, and now came up upon the slower ship. She slowed abruptly as she came aside Dauntless, matching speeds and slowly moving closer until only thirty feet separated the two ships, and she was just inside the shield. Linked now, the two ships moved ahead toward the line of Thunderheads. Dauntless had been aimed at the gap between two waterspouts, and now both moved into the gap to intercept the big ship. Lower and lower, they came, picking up speed. The seas behind the ships were clear.
Woodrat looked around the ships. "I can't help but notice our fishing expedition took the bait and ran, Captain Ozzy."
Ozzy was concerned himself. The Kraken hadn't been shy about showing up during their last encounter. "Sometimes you catch the fish, sometimes the fish catches you."
"Remind me not to go fishing with you in the conjunction!"
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