Zyneera Roseflame Fireblade
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.
My Story Part 9
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~