Raiders of the Middle Sea

a World of Kedra Story

Last time on Raiders…

Raiders of the Middle Sea Part 5

The leadership of the King’s Dart were all but destroyed in a pirate raid. It had been Leland’s first trip at sea where he worked as an aide to the ship’s Quartermaster. Promoted suddenly to the rank of Captain by the crew, the rough and uneducated me look to the coin counter of leadership…

Part 6

There was a banging on the cabin door.

“Captain!”

The banging resumed, picking up speed and waking Leland from his fitful sleep. He sat up in the large bed, unaccustomed, how he hadn’t yet nearly fallen off the thing, like his old cot two levels below, near the bowels of the ship. It was massive, this cabin. The crew had insisted that he, as the new Captain, take the cabin that came with the title. Well, it had really been Nich who had insisted that he make the move. The man had reasoned that it would put the men at ease.

“Captain Leland!” The voice yelled at the door and banged it again.

He had made sure to lock the door. For security reasons as he now held the last of the wealth aboard the King’s Dart. Even the banging on the door sounded odd compared to the wood of the cabin that he had shared with some of the other crew before.

“Yes?” He yelled back, cranky and out of sorts. Could nobody think for themselves? Suddenly, he became Captain and everyone expected the world’s truth from him like he was some sort of Seer.

“You had better see this sir!” The voice said.

Leland groaned and got up. He checked the large mirror over the sink at the one side of the cabin and straightened his clothing, then donned one of the old Captain’s spare hats.

He banged the door open and it stubbed on the man’s toe. It turned out to be Bugsby, the newly appointed Cook. The man knew how not to burn the food, but his cooking was up to shit.

“What had I better see?” Leland demanded.

The way the man responded to authority and his cranky attitude was almost comical. When he had been just counting money and balancing ledgers, Bugsby had taken many opportunities to bully Leland. But the man had no brains, and that’s why Leland had been chosen.

The man shuffled his feet and dropped his gaze to the deck, not daring to complain about his stubbed toe. “There’s a man in the water Captain.”

“Ours?” Leland asked.

“No Captain. Some man on a piece of wood.” Bugsby said, still looking down at the deck.

“Right. Let me see.” Leland pushed past the man and went through the door straight on to the main deck. A collection of sailors on the port side of the vessel told him where the man over board was.

When he arrived close to the men, they dispersed to give him room. “Morning Captain.” Several of them muttered. Leland peered down into the water. Indeed there was a man floating on a couple of boards in the ocean. It looked like he was not even aware that he was being watched. There was blood on the man’s soaked clothing. It was a wonder that there was enough wood for the man not to be dragging his legs in the water, a quick meal for a hungry predator.

“Why the hell have we stopped?” Leland demanded of no-one.

“Aye Captain. That was my order.” Nich pushed his way through the crowd towards Leland. The squat man had bags under his eyes. “We didn’t have enough hale men to man the sails in the night, so I ordered us to weigh anchor. It was pitch black out. The anchors actually hit something so we made the boat secure and I put the men to rest.” Nich indicated to the man floating alongside their ship. “Then when everyone woke up, we found him. We also found that.”

The new First Mate pointed over the deck towards the starboard side of the vessel. Leland followed the man’s gesture and saw something that made his heart leap in his chest. Land.

“First Mate.” Leland said, staring at the land. He could see greenery and stone.

“Yes Captain?”

“Fish that man out of the water. Tie him up. He may be dangerous, but see if he will live.”

“Yes Captain.” Nich answered, then the First Mate turned and barked orders to the men standing about.

Leland walked over to the railing on the Starboard side. There was no telling if there was danger on that piece of land. How far had they travelled while Leland had been sleeping? Was this mainland or an island? He would have to check.

He walked back to his cabin and studied the maps. None of it made sense. Even if Nich had gone in any direction on the compass for a whole night, he should not have come anywhere near land. His best estimation was that it would take them three days to reach his chosen destination.

The island must have been a feature that the mapmakers had missed in this particular print. Either that or the trader had sold him a phoney map. He shrugged his shoulders and wondered if that even made any difference. This new map showed Leland that the world was bigger than he had previously thought.

This realization carried with it the fact that the scholars within the Kingdom of Railor did not know this. Or perhaps they had not thought to teach this information to academics such as Leland. Maybe it had been deemed unnecessary? Maybe it was useless information, on a need to know basis and to keep people effective. The vision of the people were reduced to focus on the area directly around the Kingdom and not far away.

He pulled out some of his old ledgers. Records that would have been his only responsibility if he had still been just the coin counter on board the ship. But now it had become a valuable reference and point to work from for the Captain, who was the only crew member that could count well past twenty.

The records showed him what they had last purchased from the port they had visited three weeks ago. It had been scribbled over, by himself of course, it showed the true totals as were taken after the raid on their ship. Calculations were written in the margin of the journal making up two different scenarios of how the food and other supplies were rationed. The reality was that men would die before these numbers settled into something that was manageable.

Crew members are going to start killing each other to survive if they found out this detail. He prayed to whatever God looked after sailors and accountants that they never did.

He strode up to the deck and called for his First Mate. Nich arrived behind him so quickly that Leland nearly thought that the short muscular man had been following him. “First Mate.”

“Yes Captain Sir?” Nich answered, ducking his head.

“We will make landfall on that shore. We set up a watch aboard the ship and on the shore. Light is failing, so we focus on making a secure camp. When morning breaks, we will set out for supplies. I will write you a list.”

“Uh… Captain? I can’t read?” Nich said and smiled apologetically.

“Right. You go ashore for the night. I will stay behind with a group of men to guard the ship. In the morning I will come over and help instruct the men.” He looked back again at the shore. It was green, there must be food to be found.

If they did not, they could all be dead within another week.

To Be Continued

Next time on Raiders

The hour was close to midnight and Leland was awakened by a blood curdling scream.

The source of the screaming became evident: The man they had tied to the mast was screaming at the top of his lungs, staring up at the night sky.

Question!

Who noticed something different in this episode?