A Silver Lamp

For a moment he hung there, clinging to the hull. Then he slipped and bounced off the tumblehome on his water to the cold depths below. But someone caught his hand. Looking up, he found that his savior was Sahat.

"We thought you had gone off with the sorceress," he said as he and Imre pulled Bromm up to the deck.

"What a jump!" Imre cried. Bromm pulled himself over the gunwale and sprawled out on the deck. His friends and the other crewmen crowded around him, Pyet still holding the burning linstock in front of him.

"Welcome back, Captain," he said. Bromm sat up, his breath coming hard. He nodded in acknowledgement and tried to steady his breathing with one hand.

"The wind," he gasped, "the sorceress freed the wind."

"Aye, and what of the sorceress?" Sahat demanded.

"Fucked her," Bromm panted, and the crew cheered in delight, "but she tricked me. Ensorcelled me to sleep. That's why I missed the dawn." The crew groaned, some muttering curses against all sorcerers, others against all women. "And," Bromm continued, "she took the lamp."

"Damn it all!" Sahat cried. "So this was all for nothing?"

"Where did she go?" Pyet demanded. Bromm could only shrug.

"Doesn't matter now," grumbled Sahat. "She's gone and there's no finding a sorceress who wants to hide."

"We've got other problems," Lukodo called. Behind them, the gunports at the tower's base were opening. Dark squares threatened them with terrible repercussions for their flight, and the frustrated guards who had pursued Bromm still stood on the breakwater with bows ready.

"Hard to starboard," Bromm cried to the helm, "this wind's blowing from the east, head north at broad reach, it's the fastest way to get out of range of their guns!"

The crew leapt into action, scattering from the deck to man the sails or the guns. Bromm barked further orders and the White Shepherd's guns rolled into firing position before the first of the tower's guns fired.

The Shepherd's guns roared back, setting the whole ship heeling to port, and the cannonballs skipped off the tower's stone walls. The brig carried only light six-pounders that could not hope to bring down the tower, but as long as cannonballs were striking off it, it might interfere with the gunners' sighting. The guardsmen on the breakwater dove for cover on the far side.

"Good shots!" Bromm shouted as the roar of the guns faded. "Keep their heads down! We don't need to kill them, just keep them occupied long enough to make it out to sea!"

The tower's guns boomed in reply, and three heavy cannonballs tore just over the deck to splash into the sea on the far side. A handful of rigging lines were snapped by their passage, but the hull escaped damage. Bromm ran to the bow and steadied the gun crew as they finished reloading.

"Hold, one at a time!" Bromm cried. At his command, the first gun fired. The cannonball struck off the tower and he imagined he could hear the tower's guards scrambling about within. As the smoke cleared and the guards likely regained their composure, Bromm moved to the next gun and ordered it to fire. So he went down the deck, firing the guns in sequence to keep continuous pressure on the enemy. Some shots sailed wide, but one went straight in through the gunport, much to the crew's delight. They could not see the damage done, but when the tower's guns boomed again, only two cannons fired.

The shots streaked well overhead, one passing nearly twenty yards behind the brig as well.

"It's working!" Bromm cried as he ran back to the bow. They were nearly out of range, passing too far to an extreme angle for the tower to engage, for it was sited to rain shot down on ships entering the harbor unbidden, rather than those ranging up the coast. As such, they only had to endure one final volley before escaping, and it flew well overhead once again. The tower fell silent and now nothing lay between the White Shepherd and the lightening horizon.

"We've done it!" Sahat cried, and the crew broke into cheers. Bromm stood up at the helm as the crew feted him, but soon enough the contemptible dwarf Urgan appeared and calmed the crew.

"We've escaped yes," the dwarf growled, "but you promised us a bound djinn."

"I promised you nothing," Bromm retorted, "a sorceress promised me a bound djinn, and then abandoned us. I have done you no wrong."

"You've done me no good, either," the dwarf spat. "What are we to do now?"

Bromm sighed. There was no winning with the dwarf. "We will find something. There's always opportunity to be had on the seas. For now, make for Devil's Rock! While we sail, gather round and hear the story of how my night went..."