Maker of Fire

A Mattamukan pirate ship in the Gulf of Chipagawkpaw

Twenty-two days out of Mattamukmuk, the pirate ship was stripping the merchant cog of its cargo off the southwest coast of Mattamesscontess. As the Captain contemplated what to do with the cog and its crew, the lookout in the skybasket at the top of the mast yelled a warning.

"Navy galley off the port bow seems to be under oars heading south, away from us."

"Tie these sailors up," the Captain commanded. "Cut the stays and throw their mast overboard."

The Captain of the cog tried to scream a protest through her gag.

"Shut her up," the pirate captain ordered. She didn't have time to put up with a merchant crew she had decided to spare. One of the crew struck the cog captain with the pommel of his short sword, knocking her out.

"When you're done with the mast, unlash the boarding lines and let the cog drift. We're heading for Gungywamp Point," the pirate captain ordered, nimbly running down the rowing benches to the tiller.

"Captain, someone is fighting the navy galley," the lookout yelled.

The pirate captain wondered who was daft enough to take on a Mattamesscontan trireme. It wasn't Mattamukmuk. She was sure the Mattamukan Navy sat quietly in the harbor back home while the Foskan governors took stock of their new vassal state. She took a moment to spit a curse at the Foskans, who had destroyed the Mattamukan trade in charm gems. She had made a lot of money on the black market selling charm gems of compulsion and control in Toyataskagka. Regardless, whoever was fighting the galley, she would be happy to cheer them on. After all, any enemy of the Mattamesscontan navy would probably be her friend.

On an eastward shallow tack, the best the pirate ship could do to head into the wind, the crew soon saw the smoke. The lookout said it was galley burning. Several other small ships were also visible, with strange sails running north before the wind.

"How many smaller ships?" the Captain called up to the skybasket.

"Twenty-three, no, twenty-four, twenty-five, no..." the lookout paused. "Captain, I can see more mastheads than I can count, all flying pennons."

"Are you drinking, Lamja?" she called up.

"No, Captain, I am not. Come up here if you don't believe me."

She didn't believe him so she climbed the ratlines to the skybasket. Then she believed him. It was an awe-inspiring and frightening sight, with hundreds of little ships with strange-looking triangular sails, all running before the wind. She wondered if her ship would travel far enough to the east to avoid an invading fleet heading for Mattamesscontess.

The crew watched in fascination as the fleet sank the galley. They watched in apprehension as the fleet overtook the drifting cog. They watched in fear when twenty of the little ships turned to intercept her vessel.

"Turn to port," she called down to the tiller. "Step the foremast and put up the bow sail." Her ship made its best headway when running before the wind and sailed faster than a Mattamesscontan trireme. In her line of work, that speed was essential to avoid being captured and hung for piracy.

It only took a few moments to step the short foremast and hoist the second sail. At first, she thought her ship would outrun the mysterious ships. Then, she saw them hoist more sail. When the little ships got close enough for her to see details, she counted two masts and nine sails. When the ships closed more distance, she realized the figures in the rigging were lizard-shaped. She didn't want to believe it, but Chem manned this fleet.

After a bell and a half, the Chem ships had caught up with her boat. Surrounding her on both sides, the Chem vessels paced her on either side. Then, some actually sailed ahead of her. To her great surprise, the four ahead of her dropped their middle three sails and turned to cross her bows. Four loud booms assaulted her ears, followed by pairs of black balls connected by a chain flying toward her ship. Three missed. The fourth hit the foremast and sheared three rowing benches on the port side. The flying balls cut Skret and Ferrim in half, smashed Lushgutt's head, and took off Nununun's arm. Nununun flailed, screaming, as a spray of blood covered the benches and sailors amidships. Her lieutenant Ganash reached out and put Nununun to sleep. Then she cut some line off the rigging of the downed mast and used it to tie a tourniquet on the stump of Nununun's arm.

"Use the fire arrows," the Captain commanded, shouting down to the crew below. "Lamja, we're getting out of the skybasket, now!" She slid down the ratlines to the deck.

She wondered if the little lizard people would attempt to board her. She couldn't imagine the creatures winning against Cosm, especially since her crew had three magic users. She was a silverhair with battle magic, and Ganash was a halfhair with a strong mind's hand and a fire talent. Ziltall, her halfhair boarding party leader, could mindcast and levitate briefly while fighting. She believed her crew had a chance to escape if they had to fight.

"Clear the wreckage," she shouted, flying to the bow and hacking with her short sword at the stays still attached to the severed mast. The little Chem ships kept their distance while the foremast and sail went overboard. Obviously, they were wary of her and her white hair. She took that as a good sign.

"Captain, something strange is happening to our arrows," Ziltall shouted, then shot a fire arrow at the nearest Chem ship. Before it arrived at its target, a wave leapt up and stopped it.

"What about shooting it up so it falls into their ship from above?" the Captain asked.

"Watch," Ziltall shot a second fire arrow as the Captain suggested. Before it could reach the rigging, several Chem stationed in the rigging stopped it with flying balls of water.

"Use a fireball on that ship," the Captain commanded. Ziltall did as she instructed, creating a fireball as tall as she was and throwing it at the little Chem ship. Half of it was blocked, but half landed at the main mast. She smiled as the four triangular sails in the bow caught on fire. She was confused as to why the Chem crew was diving off their ship. Surely, they could put the fire out with their water magic. Then the fire spread to the sails amidships and the platform between the two masts. She was knocked off her feet as the little ship exploded.

When she regained her senses, her face felt sunburned, and her ear rang. She sat up to discover that the main mast of her ship was broken and that the sail was in the water. The crew was clearing the wreckage of the downed mast as Ganash shouted commands at the crew still standing. "Man the rowing benches," she ordered the nohairs.

As the rowers lowered their oars into the water, ice formed around the blades. Swimming Chem in the water pulled the oars away from the ship. Then, a swarm of Chem climbed the freeboard and over the gunwales, each with a small white pot held by a forehand or by the hand at the end of the tail.

"Sssurrender and we will let you live," ordered a dark red Chem with spots.

She laughed, focused on the crystal ring on her middle finger, and all the Chem on the stern screamed and fell as she burst their internal organs. She could repel any boarders without any help from the rest of the crew. That was her last thought before the remaining Chem threw those little white pots at her. She erected a barrier, but not fast enough. Two pots exploded at her feet, and one struck her brigantine. The pots that struck her barrier exploded, and the shrapnel of the pottery shards wounded many of the crew. Many small fires started.

The light armor she wore saved her from injury by the flying pottery shards, but her clothes and armor were now burning. Her hair was on fire. She cast a charm of pain suppression on herself and then a charm of fire extinguishment. She then released a sigh of relief. That relief was short-lived. Before she could put out the rest of the flames on her ship, the fires on her clothes, armor, and hair rekindled. She cast extinguishment again and again until she attempted to rip her armor and clothes off with her hands and her mind's hand. As she did, more of the little white pots struck her and exploded. The pain of the flames and the force of the small explosions were the last things she remembered.

-------

A merchant cog in the Gulf of Chipagawkpaw

Sakapotayta, the Captain of the coastal freighter Sister Mareegeegee, was careening from one unbelievable moment to the next. First, her crippled and adrift ship was surrounded by small boats with strange rigging. The sailors of those uncounted little ships were free Chem. No one had ever seen a Chem in a sailing ship before, so that was the first wonder of the day. Then, those Chem boarded her ship and freed her and her crew.

The altercation with the pirate ship had left only three oars on the Sister Mareegeegee. The next marvel was the hundreds of Chem who flung themselves in the water around and under her ship and started swimming it toward shore through the fleet of hundreds of little Chem ships. She counted twelve of the smart little ships following alongside the Sister Mareegeegee. She assumed their crews were the ones swimming her boat to port.

The latest unbelievable event was the arrival of a magnificent black flying horse who banked his flight above her vessel and then gracefully landed amidships, just aft of the rump of the mast. A Coyn girl with the stature of a small twelve-year-old was on the flying mount's back. Flying horses outside the far-off kingdom of Foskos never allowed riders, and no one had ever seen a Coyn on the back of any flying mount. The Captain felt like she had stepped into one of those fantastical adventure tales of the professional storytellers.

"Welladay," the girl said in a soft soprano voice with the crisp accent of Foskos. "Do you mind if I stay in the saddle? It's easier to talk if I don't have to look up at you tall folks all the time."

The first hand, Gillihintas, who was the Captain's halfhair daughter, came running up. "Captain, this one's aura," she whispered and gestured at the little Coyn, "I can feel the touch of the gods on her. Look at her eyes." The Captain looked and saw that they were golden yellow and almost seemed to shine.

"Please," the Captain smiled at the Coyn, "stay where you are comfortable, little one. I am Captain Ginniatahah of the freighter Sister Mareegeegee. May I inquire who you are, and if you connected with these kind Chem who offered to take us to the nearest harbor?"

The little Coyn looked embarrassed for some reason, "Yes, Spot and I are with the Chem fleet. My name is Emily, Revelator of Tiki, Mugash, Giltak, and Galt. This guy," she patted the flying horse on the neck, "who is kind enough to ferry me around, is Spot, Revelator of Gertzpul."

"Mother," Gillihintas forgot the proper address for her mother and Captain while underway. She looked afraid as she pulled on her mother's jerkin. "Mother, I can sense the touch of the ocean god on her."

The Captain gave the little Coyn a sharp look, "Are you the rumored Coyn who brought the words of our Lady Vassu to the infidel rulers in Toyatoskagka last year?"

"I am," the girl nodded.

The Captain got on her knees, and the crew followed. All twelve Cosm on the ship then kowtowed to the Coyn. "Forgive our rudeness in not recognizing you, Beloved of Vassu. We thank you and these kind Chem for our rescue."

"Please get up," the little Coyn sounded sad to the Captain's ears. "I came to give you the unfortunate news that we could not save your cargo. The pirate crew fought back when we boarded their ship. The pirates are dead, and the ship was burnt. This will be the fate of any pirates or slavers this fleet encounters."

"Beloved of Vassu, you have already done more than enough for us," the Captain said.

"I assume that you are faithful to Vassu. Do you currently live under the persecution of the followers of the false god Cragi?" the little Coyn asked politely.

"We do, Beloved of Vassu," the Captain replied, marveling at what was happening before her eyes. "Most of us are sailors or fishers or shipwrights. We know Vassu has never forsaken us."

"Vassu has a demand, and it will be hard for you," the Coyn looked concerned. "Vassu wants all the enslaved Chem to be freed. We have ships to take them home to Sussbesschem. If you love Vassu, free your Chem and gather them in the ports along the coast. This fleet will come to collect them after we destroy Toyataskagka. Bring this message to your people. Those places that do not have their Chem freed and waiting for us will also be destroyed.

"Free all your Coyn and flying mounts, too. The gods will no longer tolerate slavery of any form. This is a fleet of retribution, Captain. Sussbesschem will sink all marine commerce engaged in piracy or slaving that it finds. This is the will of Vassu and the rest of the gods. Take this message to your people and act on it, or you will perish. I am a revelator of the god of wrath and know what the gods will do to those who do not obey these commands. Galt sent me to destroy Salicet last year, once the greatest city on Erdos. It is no more. Vassu now sends the Chem to destroy Toyataskagka for failing to heed her warning from last year.

"You need to follow my words and obey Vassu," the little Coyn looked apologetic, "or you and your loved ones will die. If you want to show your sincerity and devotion to Vassu, bring your freed Chem to the beach north of Miskwoomsettkut in four days time and wait for us."

With that, the little Coyn and the magnificent flying horse departed with the mighty beat of his wings.