Up on deck of the conquered blackrat ship, I opened every scrap of sail and went ahead of the other ships in the blackrat fleet that were chasing the QueenDark.
This ship was the fastest, and we were almost caught up with my own vessel. I waved to Diringe on deck of the QueenDark and motioned that we had conquered this ship. He saluted in reply, but didn’t slow down the pace of the ship. There were still thirteen more enemy ships to deal with.
The scarred weasel appeared beside me, wiping his paws on his torn tunic.
“The last of the blackrats dead bodies are in the ocean,” He reported.
“Good.” I said. Then, remembering how he had known my name, I asked, “How did you know my name? What is your name, anyway?”
The weasel looked uneasy. “My name is Sanik,” He replied. “And how I knew your name is a long story. Some other time, maybe?” I nodded and picked up my cutlass from the deck where some blackrat had dropped it after they stole it from me. My crossbow was in the rowboat that was now up on deck. I picked that up too.
“Archers!” I yelled to a group of seven beasts that were up on deck. They were carrying bows and arrows from a chest they had found. Two of them even had longbows. “Pick off any blackrats from the other ships that are stupid enough to come up on deck! We’ll keep them in their cabins!”
“Aye, capn’ Zyneera,” (I had told them my name and made it clear that I was captain before I freed them.) The fox that was freed second said, stretching his longbow to the limit. He shot the arrow, watching with a half smile on his face when a blackrat fell. I myself picked off a few with my recovered crossbow. Soon there were not many rats left on the decks of the ships. They were cowards who would rather hide then shoot back.
Finally I decided it was time to get rid of the rest of the ships and put my plan into action.
“Sanik!” I called to the old weasel. “Come here. You too, fox, and you, the white ferret.” They all walked over to me.
“What’re your names?” I asked the fox that was freed second and the white ferret. “My name is Quickfoot,” The fox said.
“And my name is Whitepaw,” The white female ferret said.
I nodded. “Good. You three will help me sink the remaining thirteen blackrat ships. I paused, waiting, almost expecting a protest of mutiny or rebellion. Silence. They all nodded seriously, seeming glad they had been picked. I continued. “First we will get some axes and weapons, and go over to the ship over there,” I pointed to a ship traveling half beside us and behind us. “The archers will keep the rats inside the cabin. All we have to do is make it down to the slave benches, kill the slavemaster, free the slaves, then sink the ship and run with them.
We will do that with all the ships. Any questions?” Sanik frowned. “What if we meet some blackrats on our way down to the slave benches?”
I did not hesitate. “We slay them.”
Whitepaw grinned. “I’m all for it,”
“Good.” I replied. I ordered the archers to cover for us, then I lowered the rowboat and jumped in beside Sanik, Whitepaw, and Quickfoot. We started rowing towards the ship. I smiled eagerly. ~To be Continued~