The four crossbowmen fired, and four of the pirates went down. A few of them kept their eyes covered, and managed to get to the line, where they were quickly cut down by Tal’s men. Of the ninety or more charging pirates attacking, only a dozen reached Tal’s line, all dying quickly.
“Now!” shouted Tal, and the soldiers dropped their packs and charged. There wasn’t much fight left in the pirates, as many of them were blind. Tal shouted, “Get me some prisoners!”
Tal leapt among the smugglers, many of them flailing about wildly with their swords, doing more damage to their companions than to any of Tal’s men.
In less than ten minutes, the slaughter ended. Tal had only two wounded men, both with superficial cuts, and four prisoners who were sitting down by the boats trying to wash out their eyes with wet rags.
Sergeant Vadeski approached. “Captain, there’s somethin’ you should see.”
Tal followed him to where his men were digging graves for the dead. “What is it?”
“Look at the feet,” said the Sergeant.
Tal did so and noticed that a full dozen of the corpses were wearing boots. “Those aren’t sailors.”
“No, sir,” said the sergeant. He bent over the closest man with boots on and pulled open his shirt. “Look at this, sir.”
Under the dead man’s shirt was a pendant. “Bet you’ll find the same as this on the others, sir.”
“What is it?”
Vadeski pulled it off the man and handed it to Tal. He looked closely and saw that the medallion was embossed with the head of a roaring lion. “It’s worn by the Black Lions, sir.”
Tal shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
“The Black Lions are a special group, sir. Soldiers workin’ for the Prince of Salmater. These ain’t pirates, sir, but soldiers come across the border to do mischief.”
Tal looked at the four prisoners and saw that one of them was wearing boots. He went to stand over the man and nudged him with his foot. The man looked up and blinked. “I think I’m blind.”
“Most likely,” said Tal. “Or at least for a while.”
“What is this?” asked the man, pointing to his swollen eyes.
“Lye,” answered Tal. “Ash containing lye. Now I’ll ask the questions. Who was your officer?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” said the prisoner.
Tal nodded at Vadeski, who kicked the man as hard as he could in the side. The prisoner couldn’t see the kick coming and he doubled over, crying out in pain. He lay on the sand, unable to catch his breath for almost a full minute, finally inhaling with a great rasping noise.
“You’re not bloody pirates,” said Tal. “You’re soldiers of Salmater. You’re across the border in Olasko territory. If I take you back to Opardum, it’ll mean war.”
“I’m a smuggler,” the man said weakly.
Tal looked around. “Right.” He motioned to Vadeski. “We’ll stay the night, and tomorrow we’ll burn all the boats but one.” He pointed to the three large boats anchored off the shore. “Send four lads to see if there are any more of these cutthroats hiding aboard, and if not, what cargo they hold. If you can, move all the cargo to one of the boats, and we’ll sail it back to Inaska. Detail four men to fetch our boats on the other side of the island. I want to get this news back to the Duke as quickly as I can.”
“What about him?” said the sergeant.
Tal looked at the man huddling in the sand, blind and hunched up in such a way Tal that suspected Vadeski had broken some of his ribs. Without pity, Tal said, “Make him talk.”
“Gladly, sir,” said the sergeant.
The old soldier started shouting orders while Tal went over to the cookfire. A large iron pot bubbled near the flames. He lifted a wooden spoon out of it and tasted the contents of the pot; it was a simple but acceptable fish stew. He beckoned over one of the soldiers, and said, “Pass the word; hot supper tonight. After burial, I want pickets posted, then the men can start eating.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Tal knelt and took a quick inventory. There was enough hard bread and dried fruit to last his men four or five days. More than enough to compensate for the provisions they had dumped to accommodate the ash in their packs. Tal sighed. This was the first of many bloody tasks Kaspar would set for him, he was certain.
If he was to realize his ambition, to destroy the Duke of Olasko utterly, he must be a good and faithful servant until such time as the Duke revealed his true nature and betrayed Tal. Then he would be free of his oath and could bring Kaspar down.
But that day was a long way off, for there was still much to know. And Tal was patient in many ways.
He got a wooden bowl from a nearby pile and used a ladle to pour out some hot stew. Then he tore off a chunk of bread and sat down, noticing some bottles of wine nearby. He decided to leave those for the men. As he put the bread into the stew and took a bite, he could hear the prisoner starting to scream.
Tal stood quietly as Kaspar read the report. “You did well, Tal,” Kaspar said as he put down the parchment. “Your report is detailed. The goods recovered will pay for the cost of the trouble we went to, but what do we do about the Prince of Salmater?”