Outlander Ch. 03

The disappearance of the eastern seaboard of the United States would normally be shock enough, but Jack's eyes were locked on the twin moons that were still visible in the morning light. They were dim as they set beyond the village, and were half again as large as the single moon of Jack's world. "Mother of God," Jack said in wonder. "Where am I?"

**********

Mohanjo watched the Arabella through his telescoping sight glass. The ship had come about and was moving away to the east. "They're not turning north," he said.

"What?" Captain Drebin said snatching the looking glass away from Mohanjo's eye. He didn't see the look of loathing that his first officer gave him as he hastily peered at the escaping ship.

Drebin had feared this might be Garek's plan when he didn't try to slip the Arabella past them and northward during the night. He had sent three men on a small sloop out into the upper harbor with orders to uncover their lantern if Garek's ship tried to escape that way.

"They are going to sail through the Maelstroms," Mohanjo said calmly.

"I can see that, you idiot," Drebin snapped. "After them, quickly."

"We'll never catch them before they reach -"

"Damn it, I said after them! Sails and oars," Drebin shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. "Load the forward and side ballistae with grappling spears. Move, damn you!"

Mohanjo shrugged but hastily strode off shouting orders to the crew. Drebin watched as his well-trained men brought the resting Kraken to life. He knew that Liaman would have to save the strength of his oarsmen to escape the Maelstroms and that just made it possible to catch the smaller ship before it made its escape.

Unlike the smaller-keeled Arabella, the Kraken was too big and sat too deep in the water to escape the pull of the Maelstroms. To catch her he would have to be lucky, but fortune had a way of favoring the bold, and Drebin was feeling bold indeed.

**********

"I don't understand what's happening," Jack said to no one in particular.

"Make way," Ithos said loudly as he came up the stairs behind Jack. Jack limped out of his way and watched woodenly as Ithos raised a hand-held telescope to his eye and peered behind them. "The Kraken is giving chase," he said to Garek. "You should have killed Drebin when you had the chance."

"Perhaps," Garek replied. "But the day that captains in His Majesty's navy start killing each other will be a sad day indeed. Drebin may have no honor but I do."

"He may not give you a choice," Ithos said.

"Let us hope it doesn't come to that," Garek said. "When the King learns of his actions, Drebin will face His Majesty's justice."

Ithos grunted but said no more on the subject. He returned to studying the Kraken through the telescope. "Lord Aramon on the rock," Ithos cursed. "They are running sails and oars. They're gaining fast."

Garek looked ahead to the east and then back at the pursuing ship. "It's going to be close," he said.

Jack looked to the east as well. In the distance there appeared to be a blurring in the clear sky as though the horizon were obscured by mist. He felt an underlying tension hanging in the air, and was shocked that Garek and Ithos had been calmly talking of killing someone. What kind of people had he fallen in with? Jack had no control of the situation and was growing more nervous by the moment.

He gazed higher and was amazed to see a shimmering, transparent line arcing across the sky like a path through the air. He blinked but the line remained. It rose from the distant sea to his right and arched high above them only to disappear over the far horizon. It distorted the clouds above it, as if he were looking at something far away through a heat-induced mirage. The line seemed to call to Jack as though urging him to reach out and grasp it in his hand.

Jack shook his head, breaking the hypnotic spell of the mysterious line. He was startled to see his hand outstretched toward it. He hastily withdrew his hand and turned to Garek and Ithos. "What the hell is going on here?" he demanded incredulously.

"Jack," Garek began. "I realize that you are understandably confused."

"That's an understatement," Jack said angrily.

Ithos growled and Garek put a calming hand on his shoulder. "I promise that I will explain everything after we get through the Maelstroms ahead. Until then we must outrun the man who pursues us and wishes to take you captive."

"Take me captive?" Jack asked, surprised. "Why me? And what do you mean 'maelstroms ahead'?"

"The first answer is too long to explain right now and as for the Maelstroms, you will see shortly," he said. "Now Jack, when we are in the Maelstroms I will need all my concentration so if you wish to stay up here you will have to remain quiet."

"You promise to answer my questions after?" Jack asked.

"I do."

"Then I will stay here," Jack said.

"Very well. You will want to hang on tight," Garek said before moving over to a waist-high bulkhead that extended out several feet to the sides of the mount, which housed the ship's wheel. There were braided rope handholds along the top of the bulkhead. He grasped a pair of them in his hands and alternated between looking ahead and glancing back at the Kraken.

Ithos took position beside the captain, and Jack moved to the opposite side of the wheel. He grabbed the ropes as well and waited anxiously. Garek placed a hand on the shoulder of the sailor manning the helm. "Steady, Charuk," he said. "You will do fine." The young sailor nodded but Jack could see the nervousness on the man's face. That didn't do much to ease his mind about what lay ahead.

Jack looked back and was startled to see that the ship chasing them had halved the distance between them. The big ship looked ominous as it ploughed through the sea, splitting the water into a white frothy roil on either side of its hulking bow. Jack wondered if the men on shipping vessels of old felt as he did now when a pirate ship was chasing them down.

Jack fretted as he watched the Kraken draw closer by the minute. He was so focused on the other vessel that it took a while before he became aware of the rumbling sound that kept growing louder in the distance. The sound grew until it intruded upon Jack's study of the closing vessel. He turned, curious about the sound. He looked ahead and saw the mist that obscured the horizon getting closer.

"What is that noise?" Jack asked.

"The first Maelstrom," Garek answered curtly never breaking from alternating his attention ahead and then behind at Drebin's ship.

"What have I missed?" a woman's voice asked.

"Ava, daughter, don't you have sense enough to stay below where it's safer?" Garek asked. He sounded resigned, as if he already knew her answer

"Of course not, Father," she replied smoothly.

The woman's velvet voice washed over Jack. Her words, spoken in the same singsong lilt that his new companions had, sent a shiver through him. Somehow, he knew it was the voice of a beautiful woman, even before he turned to see her standing at the top of the stairway.

She looked small, almost tiny to Jack and she wore a cotton dress dyed a deep emerald green to match the green of her eyes. Her lustrous black hair was all one length and cascaded around her shoulders and over her full breasts. She was beautiful.

Her eyes met his and Jack felt his breath catch in his throat. He recognized the feeling that crashed through him. It was the same feeling he had the first time he saw Barbara. Having dreamed of it earlier, it was easy to remember. The thought of Barbara filled him with pain and disgust. He coldly turned away from the beautiful young woman.

Ava cut off the friendly smile she was about to give the Outlander and frowned instead when he turned away from her with a look of disgust. No man had ever had that reaction when looking at her before and she was stunned. Her surprise quickly turned to anger. Who did he think he was? Men far more attractive than he had tried to win her favor. Now this pudgy, plain man looked at her as if she were fish guts?

She swished her dress irritably and stalked over to the rope handholds next to Jack. Unfortunately, they were the only ones available. She cast a sidelong glance at the Outlander who appeared to be studiously ignoring her presence. She hid her annoyance with no little effort.

"They're going to overtake us, Captain," Ithos said watching the Kraken.

Garek nodded. "Damn it," he cursed.

"Shall we have the men break out the oars?" Ithos asked.

Garek thought for a moment. "No," he said. "We will need them in the Maelstroms, and if they are already tired we will only be sailing to our deaths."

"Do we fight then?"

"If we must, but let's make them force it." Garek answered. "Steady on, but signal the sea dogs to prepare to repel boarders."

"Aye Captain," Ithos said and pulled out two flags, one red and one green, from a wooden tube bolted to the end of the bulkhead. He waived them in a pattern toward the main deck.

Kairn, who watched from his station on the lower deck, waived his hand in acknowledgement and disappeared below deck. He reemerged with his twenty sea dogs in tow. They wore their swords on their hips and each brandished a wicked-looking crossbow. They moved with deadly purpose and manned the rails. If the Kraken's crew boarded them, the sea dogs were determined to make them pay a heavy price.

"If it comes to a fight, we have one ballista and they have three. They will probably have more men as well," Ithos said.

"I know, but surrender is unacceptable," Garek replied. "Drebin must kill us all anyway, lest word of his treachery reach the King."

Jack watched dispassionately as the Kraken closed the distance. Strangely, all the tension he felt earlier had disappeared. He should have been terrified. He had awakened to find himself in a reality too impossible to be believed and was now in the company of men who spoke of battle and death and yet he felt no panic. He thought about it for a moment and realized that Ava's arrival had reminded him of Barbara and her betrayal. Suddenly, he no longer cared if he lived or died.

**********

"We have them," Drebin said gleefully.

Mohanjo only grunted in response. He felt his heart quicken at the thought of the fight ahead. He smiled cruelly. He would wash his soul clean with the blood of the Arabella's crew. He need wait only a little longer.

They were close enough now that Drebin could see the faces of Liaman and his companions. They huddled around the Arabella's helm looking worried. Drebin almost laughed with glee as adrenaline swept through his system.

He ordered their course altered slightly to move up to the port side of the fleeing ship, bringing his rear starboard ballista to bear. He saw Captain Liaman say something to his helmsman and the man began spinning the Arabella's wheel. The ship yawed hard away from the Kraken and Drebin smiled. Liaman was going to fight.

"Starboard ballista, fire!" he screamed.

**********

Garek watched silently as the Kraken began moving along side them. He had no choice but to fight now, and worry for those on board clawed at his gut. He took a deep breath and dispelled it, pushing the worry for his crew into the back of his mind. He would have to be focused to get them out of this alive.

"Hard to starboard, now," he ordered.

"Aye Captain," Charuk said then spun the wheel.

The Arabella groaned as her weight shifted. She cut hard through the water and began turning away from the Kraken. Garek knew that his only chance against the more heavily armed ship was to take advantage of the Arabella's tighter turning radius. If he could out-turn her, he could get on her tail and pound the bigger ship with his lone ballista. But first, they would have to survive one salvo from the Kraken. There was no way to avoid its firing arc but by turning his rear to the Kraken, he had presented a smaller target. With any luck, the shot would miss them.

"Get ready," Garek yelled just as the Kraken fired.

They could hear the thrum of the large weapon across the space that separated the two ships. A ten-foot long steel spear shot through the air with a chain trailing behind it to a large spool mounted on the Kraken's deck. The grappling spear crashed into the back of the Arabella. The ship shook and the sound of splintering wood split the air.

Jack staggered and grasped the rope handholds with one hand and dragged Ava to her feet with the other. She had fallen to her knees from the force of the impact. She nodded her thanks as she regained her hold on the bulkhead.

"It's a grappling spear, brace yourselves!" Garek yelled as the Kraken veered away drawing the chain connecting the two ships taut.

The spear had penetrated deep into the Arabella. When the chain grew taut, it released the inner catch that held four bars to the side of the spear. The spring-loaded bars sprang out and caught on one of the heavy support beams that held the ship together. The ships shuddered violently as the slack in the chain connecting them disappeared. Both ships came to a sudden halt as their combined tonnage fought against each other.

The Arabella lurched hard and Jack's hands ripped free from the ropes. He hit the deck with a thud and his breath exploded from his lungs. Gasping for air, he crawled to his knees. The sailor Charuk was lying unconscious in a crumpled heap beside him. Ithos was cursing vehemently but had managed to stay upright. Garek had taken control of the wheel.

Surprisingly, Ava still clung to the rope handholds. She quickly released them and staggered to the unconscious sailor. She knelt by him and laid her hand on his chest. Jack started when he saw a tendril of light from the shimmering line he had seen in the sky arc out and flow into Ava. Her whole body seemed to glow as she knelt over Charuk. She seemed frozen that way for a moment and then the glow was gone.

"He will be all right," she said and climbed back to her feet.

If the structures of the ships in the King's navy had not been magically hardened to withstand great stress, the Arabella would have been ripped apart by the incredible strain placed upon her. Instead, she only groaned in protest as she warred against the superior bulk of the Kraken.

"Help me, Outlander," Ava ordered and darted to the rail at the back of the ship. She leaned out, and looked at where the ship had been speared.

Jack followed and looked down as well. He could see the chain where it disappeared into the gaping hole about six feet below them. He was surprised to see that the chain was not very thick. The small chain was so taut that Jack could hear it humming from the incredible tension.

"That's impossible," he said. "That chain can't hold ships this size."

"It has been strengthened by a witch of the covenant," Ava said. "It will hold. Now hold my feet and lower me down."

"What?" Jack asked, incredulous.

"I have to touch the chain," she yelled at him. "Grab my feet." Without waiting on him, she leaned over the rail and her feet came off the ground.

Jack lurched forward and grabbed her ankles. He clutched them tightly as she hung upside down behind the ship. Her dress fell over her head revealing her legs and undergarments to Jack. He hastily looked away from her shapely legs as she struggled to free her hands from her skirt.

"Lower me down," she called up to him, finally freeing her hands.

Jack planted his feet and leaned his hips against the railing for support. He squeezed her ankles tightly and leaned over at the waist, lowering Ava down toward the straining chain.

"Lower," she called urgently.

He leaned over until he felt the strain in his lower back. Ava didn't weigh much but Jack wasn't in as good a shape as he used to be. He gritted his teeth and struggled to get her closer to the chain.

"There," she called up to him. "Now, don't move."

Ava reached out and grasped the chain in her small hand. She closed her eyes and opened herself to Lord Aramon's gift.

Jack gasped as a tendril of light flowed into Ava. He could see something flowing into her from the light that stretched into the sky to the shimmering line. Her body began to glow and Jack felt sparks like the gentle touch of a mild electric current where his hands grasped her ankles.

The power flowed into Ava from the leyline. Access to the leylines were Lord Aramon's last gift to mankind as he died on the rock for their salvation, and Ava sighed as she was filled with its glory. When she had drawn enough of the power to accomplish her task, she released her contact with the leyline.

Ava pushed her mind into the power-enhanced links of the chain. She delved deep into the cold steel. She could feel every subtle change of density in the metal, every detail of its makeup and quality. She found its strength and focused her power into turning that strength to weakness.

"Pull me up, quickly," she yelled urgently.

Jack began to haul her up, but had only raised her an arm's length when the chain snapped. A crack like a lightening strike split the air, and the freed Arabella surged forward. Jack, caught by surprise, tumbled over the railing. He grasped for the railing with one hand while desperately gripping Ava's ankle with the other. He caught the rail, but was almost jerked free when Ava's fall was stopped short by his grip. Agony shot through his shoulder but he managed to hold on.

Ava swung beneath him, and Jack bit back a scream as the pain in his shoulder threatened to overwhelm him. Jack knew he couldn't pull them both up, but maybe he could swing her into the gaping hole made by the spear. He tried to sway her away from the ship so he could swing her in, but felt his grip on the rail slipping.

Their combined weight was too much for his grasp. He knew they were going to fall. As his fingers lost their hold on the railing, they instinctively grasped at the empty air. He smiled wryly. He just didn't care. It was too bad about the girl though. She really was beautiful.

Suddenly Ithos was there. His hand shot forward and clutched Jack's forearm. Jack's hand instinctively clasped Ithos's forearm as well, creating a strong grasp. Ithos strained as he held Jack and Ava suspended above the choppy waters of the sea. He took a deep breath then slowly began pulling them up. His face turned red, except for the puckered white skin of his scar. The muscles in his neck bulged with strain. Spittle flew from his lips as he growled with effort.

Inch by inch Jack felt himself being raised until he was able to get his feet on the bottom of the balustrade. He released Ithos's arm and grabbed the top of the wooden railing. Ithos leaned over, grabbed Ava's other leg, and together they hauled her over. Jack fell over the railing and onto the deck where they all three lay gasping.

**********

Drebin cursed as he climbed to his feet. When the chain had snapped he'd been thrown to the deck. He cursed again when he saw that Mohanjo had stayed on his feet. He turned his gaze to the escaping Arabella. She had corrected her course and was heading back toward the Maelstroms at an oblique angle away from the Kraken.

"Shall we come about and resume pursuit?" Mahanjo asked.

"No. We've lost her," Drebin said woodenly. "By the time we turn around they will be too close to the Maelstroms."

"What are your orders then, Captain?" Mohanjo asked, adding the honorific after a pause as though he was loathe to give Drebin the courtesy.

"Back to port, and take on supplies," Drebin said, looking at his first mate. "Liaman didn't have time to re-supply his ship. That means he will have to make port at Antyor before sailing on to Panaar to see the King. We will sail north around the Maelstroms and when Liaman sails for Panaar we will be waiting for him."

Mohanjo nodded and strode away to issue the necessary orders.