Roo said, “Any weapons aboard this ship?”
“Only what you brought with you. The plan always was to just look harmless and slip out of the harbor without anyone suspecting we had all that gold aboard.” The Captain glanced backward and then returned his attention to the sails above. “We certainly have no ballistae or other war engines, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“That’s what I was asking,” said Roo.
Slowly the galley pulled nearer Roo’s ship.
“Sails ahead!” shouted the lookout.
“Where away?” questioned the Captain.
“Two quarters! Dead ahead and five points off the starboard bow!”
Roo hurried forward and squinted against the glare from the mist burning off in the morning light. Directly ahead he saw a dozen tiny dots of white, the sails of the fleet heading north from Port Vykor, while off to the right larger sails showed a fleet closer still.
Roo hurried back to the Captain. “We’ve got trouble.”
“I know,” said Nardini. “We need a much stronger wind, or that galley’s going to catch us in less than an hour.”
“Worse. It looks like we’ve got a Quegan raiding fleet heading this way, and it looks like they’ll get to us before the Kingdom fleet does.”
Nardini looked perplexed. “There shouldn’t be enough ships in Queg to make up a raiding fleet. A few of the richer nobles, like Vasarius, have a single galley, one they didn’t send on that big raid last year, but if there are five other warships left in Queg, I’d be shocked. A dozen or so are under construction in Queg, but they won’t be ready to launch for at least another month.”
“Then who belongs to that second fleet?” asked Roo.
Nardini shrugged. “We’ll find out soon enough.”
Roo said, “I wish I had your calm.”
Nardini said, “Well, truth to tell, if you get free, I’m a rich man. If you get caught, I was your prisoner.”
Roo had to admire the Captain’s poise. But his perverse nature demanded he spoil it. “Well, if Vasarius catches us, I hope I live long enough to hear you explain to him how you managed to let us capture your ship.”
The Captain’s face drained of color. “Put on every inch of sail you can!” he shouted aloft.
Roo laughed.
The Captain continued calling out orders to the men aloft as the two fleets bore down on the ship. Roo called to the lookout, “As soon as you can identify that fleet off the starboard, sing out!”
“Yes, sir!” replied the man aloft.
Roo found it impossible not to look continuously astern, to attempt to measure in his mind the progress the galley behind was making. In his mind’s eye he could see the hortator belowdecks slamming his wooden mallets onto the drum used to keep the rowers in unison. Roo knew that when they were close enough, and the Captain called for ramming speed, the beat would pick up and that huge ship would seem to leap forward, its heavy iron-clad ram striking this little ship in the stern. Then armed men would swarm aboard, and if Roo was lucky he’d die during the combat.
The galley drew nearer and Roo saw a man standing at the bow, watching intently. After a few moments, Roo said, “Well, it’s Lord Vasarius himself.”
Nardini said, “Then we had better pray that the wind picks up or more slaves die quickly, for we are unlikely to encounter mercy at his hands.”
“I’ve found the man lacks any sense of humor, myself.”
Nardini said, “I’ve never had the pleasure of any social encounters.”
“With luck, you won’t anytime soon,” said Roo.
From aloft the lookout shouted, “Kingdom ships to the starboard!”
Roo raced to the bow of the ship and looked. After a few minutes, he could see that both squadrons heading toward him were Kingdom ships. He whooped in joy and turned to shout to the Captain, “Which can we reach first?”
From the rear of the ship, the Captain shouted back, “Those to the starboard are closer, but if we change course toward them, we will lose speed.”
Roo didn’t debate. “Just keep as much speed as you can and let Vasarius decide who he wants to fight first.”
Roo heard a crash. He ran to the stern of the ship and saw the Captain cowering over the loose tiller, letting the high sterncastle shelter him. “What was that?” he asked Nardini.
“A ballista bolt! Vasarius seeks to slow us down.”
“Or he’s mad enough to sink his own treasure ship before he lets it get away.”
Looking over his shoulder, where men worked frantically or watched in fear, he shouted, “Do we have a bow on this ship?”
Silence greeted his question. “Damn,” Roo swore. “We can’t even shoot back!”
Captain Nardini said, “A little more to the left and he’d have disabled our tiller.”