The High King: A Tale of Alus (25 page)

Gerid took up a position near the middle of the sloop. It was the widest part of the hull and across from him was the gangplank laying lengthwise pointing toward the rail. The ships were nearly upon each other now. Archers stood next to or behind any high pieces of wood atop the deck. Others stood behind a soldier who was prepared to lift a shield to defend them both. They were as ready for the warship as they could be and their enemy showed archers in their masts and a pair of catapults aimed at them betraying their preparation as well.

The Vengeance was now at full speed even as the warship tried to furl sails to slow its approach and to try and cut into their path. The larger ship was obviously hoping to close up the distance and try a bit of close quarter’s combat where their numbers would most likely prevail. Braigham was ready for their attempt and masterfully countered each twist of the enemy with an even quicker movement that kept them exactly parallel to the course of the warship.

Gerid waited until both ships were well within accurate range to strike with their catapults. His men were masters with the machinery and their near perfect aim shattered both of the warships catapults after only a handful of tries. The enemy was suddenly sent scurrying in an attempt to bring their remaining catapults around to defend themselves. The Vengeance hampered that attempt as the catapults continued to fire shrapnel and larger stones and archers took their toll on exposed men across from them. In the confusion, the gangplank was slid out to its maximum length past the railing and clamped down tightly to the deck. Gerid waited only a moment to see that Braigham had brought the Vengeance as close as he dared to the enemy. It was close enough to bait several hooks to be thrown from the enemy. Gerid's men were ready and cut away the few that held with their axes. As the cords fell away, their shields raised to renewed archer fire from the Klosten warship.

It was then, as both ships passed each other only dozens of feet away that Gerid leapt up and on to the plank. Running at full speed he ran across the deck and board. Near its end, the daring man jumped up high and landing at the plank's edge, the giant used its upward swing to propel himself high through the air and across the remaining distance to the warship. Still in the air, Gerid roared his battle cry and landed solidly on the deck. He attacked the nearest soldiers mercilessly. The commander knew that there would be no more help for him until the Vengeance could come around for a second pass, but that was what he had decided already. Gerid had refused to lose any men needlessly in his war and until the odds were more even he would work to even them himself.

The Klostens met him head on at first only to find out that he was more than he appeared. When twenty men had been cut down with his great axe, many of the men sought to flee before him. A group tried to capture him from behind with a net only to pay for the attempt with lost limbs and lives as he turned to greet them. The remains of the netting lay where they had fallen.

The enemy archers tried to save the day by launching their arrows as their fellows pulled back from the raging giant. Most of the missiles came from above where the men clung to the rigging for best advantage against the Vengeance, so Gerid simply raised his shield over his head to catch the barrage even as he fended off an attack from a pair daring enough to race in and try their luck.

With a grim smile, Gerid stepped through it all and sliced the cables holding the nearest sails. The securing lines sent canvas cascading down on top of most of the archers atop that set of rigging. Those who weren't sent toppling were forced to cling tightly and lost their weapons in their desperation.

As the force of nature started to make his way to the next mast, a stabbing pain in his calf distracted him and told that the first arrow had found its way through to his flesh. Hissing through his teeth from the pain, he limped to the second set of cables to bring the next group of archers down as well. The Klostens saw his wound and tried to take advantage of his weakness, so when a second arrow caught in his left bicep, Gerid found himself facing a dozen attacking soldiers.

He met their charge ignoring the pains. Without lowering his shield and using the wounded left arm, Gerid clove the first two men cleanly into halves. "Come and die!" he thundered.

Seeing his determination, two of the men dropped their swords and fled from his wicked axe. Five more were dead and the third rigging was lost when the cries of fear and even reverence were given by the Klostens. The blood rushing through him was loud as thunder and nearly masked the accents of the Klosten men. Swords were dropped and men began to bow before him. The archers who had not fallen came down from their roosts to join their fellows. No resistance remained as the entire crew knelt fearfully before him knowing that this must be some sort of god.

The pain of four arrows and three or four major sword cuts masked the cries of `Turas, spare us'. The men believed him to be the war god as others had before them. This time the man didn't bother discouraging the worship as he laid down his shield and began pulling the first of the arrows free. Gerid cried out angrily with the torture of it, but his strength never faltered as he pulled. The new cries of anger and pain sent many of the Klostens to quaking in fear. The giant pointed to the nearest of the soldiers, "You, come pull these arrows from me."

The man turned even paler, but rose to obey a god. The soldier did as he was ordered. Gerid gritted his teeth and refused to utter another sound until the remaining arrows were pulled from him. After the last was gone, he turned to the man and asked, "Where is your captain?"

The sailor pointed to a beefy, black bearded man with a ragged scar across his right cheek. Gerid looked and saw the blood run from the man's face in complete fear of him. "Captain, have your men bring all their weapons into the forecastle there. Then you and your men will set to work on repairing the rigging and any severe holes. We will sail when the work is done."

"Y-y-yes, Turas," the man's voice quaked with his fear.
"Address me as my lord, if you have to talk to me at all," Gerid said in annoyance. "Now get to work."
"Yes, m' lord," the captain squeaked and seemed to squint against the fear of a death stroke or perhaps a bolt of lightning such was his fear.
Gerid smiled happily to himself watching the men work. He would wait for the Vengeance and the merchant ship to return and then it would be time to return home with his spoils.

Over the next few months, Gerid proved to be one of the greatest privateers Rhearden had ever known. He kept himself and his men very busy as a result of his successes. The young man saw his family seldom, however, and that only because of the necessity of a stopover for repairs, supplies and the sales of the merchant ships and goods that were unneeded for his growing fleet, and soon he had a true fleet indeed. The first warship had been refitted and rechristened the Dreadnought. With the klereon added to the Vengeance, Gerid was able to take two more warships of the same class from Kloste.

Perhaps his greatest addition to the fleet was a pirate ship that they had come across less than a hundred miles away from North Continent. It was of a design even larger than that of the Klostens he had taken. The power of the vessel was not the only advantage of this new conquest either he quickly found out.

It had been on a cloudy, gray day of wind tossed whitecaps. With Dreadnought and Vengeance sailing close together well to the north of his other two warships, it had been near midday when the crow's nest had spotted a battle between the pirate and a fair sized merchant. As they turned the two ships and signaled the others with carrier peregion, they were able to tell that they were facing a monster in the warship. The pirates were a force of roughly two hundred strong facing a large Klosten merchant ship. Though the merchant was of a size that was usually safe against most opponents, this day they were fighting odds of two to one. Still the merchants and the mercenary soldiers they paid to protect their cargo and vessel, fought vigorously to defend them selves in what Gerid knew would be a lost cause.

Moving at full sail, Gerid's ships moved swiftly to engage the preoccupied combatants. The smaller Vengeance moved in on the pirate ship at Gerid's command and, with their commander leading them, quickly tore through the corsairs still remaining aboard their ship. The Dreadnought had cut off any possible escape on the other side of the coupled ships. They were in a short lived battle consisting mainly of pirates now that there remained few men left from the merchant's crew.

By the time the rest of his fleet caught up, it was over. The remaining corsairs and merchantmen were bound and taken below for a future sale at the markets of Rhearden. Gerid and his captains quickly discovered how well they had lucked out. The two ships had been laden with a wealth that many kings could only wish for in their treasuries. In addition to a typical cargo of silks and glassware aboard the merchant, both ships yielded up several trunks of gold, silver, and sparkling jewels. Gerid guessed that his own percentage of the take would rival the previous worth of Carter Holtein himself. He knew that his partner would be quite ecstatic over his share as well.

The inspection of both ships proved that they had survived their battle quite well and thus the two were added to the fleet. Gerid spent a good portion of his time aboard the pirate ship at first as he and his weapons engineers took time to inspect twenty unusual devices that they had found there. They were thick walled tubes of metal which could fire balls of metal or rock shrapnel at opposing vessels. The pirates referred to them as god's fists and they dwarfed the culverin of the Patar. He had his men shown how to use the weapons and planned to distribute them between his other ships later.

So with six ships of such power at his command, Gerid now had the ability to split his forces to cover more water. The new merchant renamed Emerald, the former pirate still retaining its name of Death Stalker, and one of the Klostens known as Terror, were sent even further to the north while the Vengeance led the Dreadnought and the last klereon known as Sea Dragon deeper into the Klosten territories west of Rhearden.

With Gerid back aboard the Vengeance and the power of the others to back him, his victories multiplied quickly. His wealth also grew exponentially. Selling lesser vessels and their goods soon made him wealthier than the Aramatheas could ever have dreamed in their days to the north. It didn't replace their loss, of course, but it did bring him ever closer to finding a way to avenge them.

It was more than a month later that he experienced his first real loss and it had nothing to do with his fleet. The commander had returned home victorious with a trio of merchants in tow when the bad news arrived. He had ridden to visit his wife and child with a dozen of his retainers. Upon entering the front yard entrance, Catiya and her brother had come out quickly to meet him. Their faces betrayed that a great sorrow had occurred in his long absence. The usual happiness at his return was masked in tears.

Gerid dismounted and passed his reins to Finneas even as his mouth went dry and his heart began to beat faster. He looked to Catiya as she began to shiver with her muffled sobs and could barely ask, "What's wrong? Has something happened to the baby?"

Karma shook his head and began quietly, "I don't know how to say this to you, my friend."
In the silence of Karma's search for words, a whisper he barely heard froze him to the soul. Catiya's voice conveyed the words quietly, but they were like thunderclaps reverberating in his breast, "It's Tabitha. A sickness took her."
The Holteins both averted their eyes unable to look at him. Gerid started forward fearfully. "Where is she?" Gerid asked quickly knowing only that he needed to see his wife once again.
Catiya caught hold of his arm with both of hers. The woman looked up at him completely blinded by tears. "You've returned too late," she whispered chokingly. "Tabitha died almost a week ago."
"No!" the man cried and fell to his knees drained of all his strength. His first worry returned to his mind and Gerid looked pleadingly at the woman and almost begged for assurance. "What about Simon? Is he...?" Gerid asked still unable to finish his question.
Catiya knelt beside him and patted his arm. "He is fine. The nurse maids and I have been caring for him since Tabitha first got sick." She paused and continued, "At first, it seemed like she had picked up a simple cold. Soon she had a fever and headaches so we sent for a doctor and even requested aid from the king's wizards. We could do little for her, I'm afraid. We kept Tabitha as cool as we could while the fever continued, and she seemed to get only worse no matter what we did. Finally, her body could no longer take the strain and surrendered to the disease."
Gerid laid his head on the woman's shoulder and wept. He thought of all his accomplishments and suddenly they seemed unimportant beside this tragedy. His need for vengeance had kept him from the love of his life and there was no treasure that he could win to replace her. "Have you buried her yet?" the man asked after a time.
Karma answered as Catiya continued to hold him sobbing. "Yes, only three days ago. Would you like me to take you there? Father put together a lovely service for her and even purchased a marble marker for her grave. The flowers are still in place around the site. It can't replace her, but we honored her as best we could, my friend."
Finneas led the other men away to leave their commander to his mourning. Catiya recovered enough to help lead Gerid to the gravesite. His wife had been laid in a place of honor in the Holtein family graveyard. He knew just how much of an honor it truly was and thanked them for treating her with such respect.
The siblings left him shortly afterward and Gerid cried over his wife's grave for more than two hours. As darkness fell, Karma returned to his friend and led his drained form back to the house for dinner, but the grief stricken man could not bring himself to eat.
Finally Gerid simply left the dinner table and returned to his room. The suite smelled sterile from all the cleansers that had been used to make sure that the disease would not spread. As he sat down and removed his shirt, Gerid found himself looking for a sign of his wife. He longed to hear her voice or at least to see her face one last time. Searching through a chest of drawers, the man found little remaining of his wife, until finally he spied a golden locket. It had been his present to her after his first successful sailing trip. The man remembered that night and treasured the memory of the passion that had been part of it. Placing it to his lips, Gerid kissed it in place of the one he longed for so harshly.
He soon found a dress of scarlet in one trunk, a gift from the last time her husband had seen his beloved wife. Gerid lifted the material to his face. The faintest trace of her scent lingered there. He wept again staining the cloth with his tears.
Gerid knew that this sorrow would be with him always. Never would he allow Tabitha to be forgotten.
Later in the evening as he lay in bed staring out the window at the first rising moon, the door opened startling him. Gerid sat up and put his feet solidly on the floor. "Who is it?" the soldier questioned the shadows and he found his voice thin with grief in the darkness.
A figure clad in a blue robe moved into the light cast by the moon. Catiya's auburn hair shone lightly in the silvery light. The woman walked towards him slowly and he noticed that she carried his son, Simon, in her arms. "He was crying," she explained quietly. "I thought maybe he could use his daddy nearby and that maybe you might need him as well."
The gurgling of the baby's voice called to him. Gerid rose and took his son gently from her arms. The woman started to turn to leave. "Please stay," he urged her softly. "I'm not that good with babies yet and I have to admit that I missed you as much as Tabitha this past month at sea."
She wouldn't turn back to face him, but answered, "Don't dishonor your wife's memory by taking me now, Gerid. I don't need that on my conscience."
"I don't want to dishonor her either. I just hoped that you would stay and keep us company, besides Simon knows you better than he does me these days. I'm afraid that he might cry if he was left all alone with me so soon."
"Fine," Catiya breathed and turned back to them. The woman reached up to gently tickle the baby's cheek a moment. Little Simon smiled a toothless grin and laughed. With half veiled eyes, she admitted quietly, "I have grown rather fond of him over the past couple of months actually. You have a beautiful child, Gerid, though I could expect little else given his parents." Catiya looked up to look in the man's eyes. Tears glistened as she admitted, "I've missed you as well to my shameful regret."
Gerid hugged her briefly with his free arm. They sat on the bed and lapsed into a long talk like the ones they used to have while he was still a slave. It was like nothing had changed between them. After Simon was sleeping soundly once more, the two looked at each other again. The realization that things were changed between them quickly made their worries resurface. Tabitha was gone now. The barrier between them was nearly gone except for the memory, and yet it was enough that they knew they shouldn't move ahead so swiftly. The time for grief was too fresh to think of anything but his lost love.
With that in mind, Catiya asked finally from beside him, "What do we do now?"
Gerid turned as he sat and looked at her upturned face. He sighed, "We go slowly. We stay friends. I'll have to return to sea soon enough and I would like you to keep caring for Simon." The man thought a moment and continued, "We may not be able to stop our feelings for each other eventually, after all they have been there the entire time, but to act now just would be a betrayal of Tabitha. I've only just lost her, Catiya. That needs to sink in first and I need time to mourn her. We can wait for that, can't we? We've known each other so long, what are another few months or even a year to us? When I return from the sea each time, we'll see if it truly is the right thing for us."
The woman nodded and replied, "You're right. There are too many emotions to deal with right now. Tabitha's passing is too fresh and overwhelming when trying to decide something so important. It's a time for mourning indeed." She paused a moment. Then standing up she kissed him lightly on the lips and asked shyly, "Could I stay with you here tonight even so?"
Gerid nodded and gently placed Simon in the center of the bed. With a small smile, he replied, "I had hoped that you would, as my friend. I could use the company right now."
Catiya walked quietly to the other side of the bed and let her robe drop from her shoulders to reveal one of Karma’s old shirts that she used to sleep. The woman could feel his eyes watching her before she could slide quickly beneath the covers. Gerid slid into bed from his side even as he stared at her face lying upon the silk encased pillow. They would let nothing happen beyond friendship this night no matter how strong the feelings they might eventually share. It was time for mourning Tabitha and his heart was still consumed with her loss. Any attraction was crushed by the pain of his first true love.
When Catiya had finally fallen asleep and Gerid could hear the even steady breaths of slumber, he continued to stare over his son at her. Despite his undying love for Tabitha, the man knew that he and Catiya would probably come together eventually. He hated to admit his shortcomings, but Gerid knew that they loved each other strongly as friends and Catiya had been truly in love with him for a long time. The wait was important. The husband had to make peace with the loss of his wife before he could go on with the rest of his life. Once, there was healing, then maybe it would be time for them to move on with each other.
Gerid closed his eyes and dreamed of only Tabitha until morning's light awoke him once again.