Kingdom's Fall

Chapter 17, Part 1

Aiden woke to the thick air of morning, and the strident call of the Sparrowhawk's bell ringing out an alarm. He was out of his bunk and pulling on his clothes before he was even sure it was anything other than a dream; the startling thunder of feet on the deck overhead assured him he was right to make haste. One of the Sparrowhawk's crew met him on the way out of the door.

"Captain needs to see you, sir," he said.

"I guessed that," Aiden said. "What's happened?"

"Ship off our stern, sir. Lookout didn't see it until it was almost on us 'cos of the fog off the coast."

Aiden heard the unspoken rebuke in the man's words. He'd pressed Aradan to keep the Sparrowhawk close to land, running the coast like smugglers. There was precious little water underneath her, and the crew were forced to take more soundings to keep her keel sound; a task not made any easier by the thick fog that had settled as the morning came about. Running the smuggler's way lowered the risks of meeting a Kingdom ship, but they weren't the only crews that plied the northern coastline. Putting out to sea ran the risk of meeting a Carelian patrol ship, and Aiden wouldn't gamble his chances on convincing a Carelian captain that they were acting in the Empire's interests. He'd kept that to himself when insisting on their present course, and with the sailor's glare burning into his back Aiden wondered if, for the sake of peace, he shouldn't have let the information slip. He hoped the man wasn't carrying a knife; sailors took their superstitions more seriously than most, and he wouldn't put it past one of them to try and offload ill luck if they thought there was a readily disposable source.

Aradan and Kara were up on the deck waiting for him. Aiden noted she was wearing her swords, and that as he approached she moved to stand on the far side of the captain from him. She hadn't spoken to him since discovering the bottled demon he had smuggled aboard, and had taken to avoiding him - no mean feat in the limited space that the Sparrowhawk offered. Aiden turned to stern and squinted into the fog.

"What kind of ship is it?"

"Not sure." Aradan's voice was tight, and Aiden noted that he, too, was armed. "Lookout says it's smaller than us, or could be. He lost sight of it coming round the headland."

"Could we turn out to sea to clear the fog?"

Aradan shot him a dark look. "Aye, we could. That is, if we had the wind to. If we turn out to sea, we risk stopping dead. Even if we did get out of the fog, they'd still be in it, and if they have cannon they'd be free sink us or sweep our decks."

Aiden kept his mouth shut.

A cry went up from the lookout, and Aradan answered, cupping his hands around his mouth and yelling back to the man.

"I take it they know we're here," Aiden said.

"They've seen us alright, just as we saw them. They've been following us all the way up the coast."

"You didn't think to tell me this before?"

"Didn't see much point in it. They were either going to catch us or they weren't. Now that they have, though, I thought you might like to know."

 "They're here." Kara pointed, and both men turned to look.

The fog was a grey-white mass, so thick it looked solid, and the sun's rays were watered down to a yellow-pink glow that struggled to penetrate down to the water's surface. A thin, black spear broke the surface of that mass, and almost as suddenly as it had appeared the rest of the ship heaved into view, lurching forward to share the same pocket of space as the Sparrowhawk. It was a much smaller ship, and what crew could be seen were working hard to sail it, not lining the gunwale waiting to attack. There were no gun ports that Aiden could see. Aradan heaved out a sigh of relief. "Kingdom colours," he said, pointing up at their masthead. Above the sail, two flags were flying: one to signify the Kingdom, the other her port of home. "She's sailing out of Marr's Cove, too."