The Rise of the Sea Ghosts (from The Gelid Times Trilogy)

Chapter 5

THE GHOST SHIP, THE LEWIS; To the East

There was always an edge of disgust in Aerona's tone when she spoke. Nothing she said was out right derogatory but somehow, she managed to lace each sentence with strands superiority that, although they were equal commanders of respective Ghost Ships, the hints of supremacy was enough to put Erebus on his guard from the moment that death gripped them. Her gaze on his permanently startled face lent towards pity and was underscored with an assumption that, although they were just as smart as each other and could calculate the many permutations of a successful attack and conquest of the Kingdom, she had a dominance that Erebus knew threatened his very existence. Therefore, he played the fool. The second. The follower. He let Aerona take the lead, spearheading their ascent through the icy satanic Underworld and the breach of the surface of the Saltum Sea where she created a vortex of freezing weather that would weaken the Kingdom and enable an easy assault and capture. She thought it was genius. Debilitate and conquer. It was, however, a basic strategy in the combat. Erebus never said that though.

Great idea. Working perfectly. Won't take long before they are too weak to fight, he had repeated over the months.

The fulmar pulled heavily at the rope around his throat that morning. Erebus swung the rope up with his right hand and caught the fulmar by its lifeless neck. In the beginning he tried to cut the rope and let the bird go to its watery death in the sea. But no knife, blade or sword was sharp enough to cut through the cursed cord. Any hint of an indentation disappeared in seconds. Erebus knew that the old dead bird must stink. But then again, so must he. After so much time in the Underworld, rot was bound to set in – on the outside and inside.

Erebus let the bird drop down and it thwacked his thigh as he walked from the stern to the bow of the ship. As he stood at the front of the tall sailing ship, the Kingdom came into view. They had skirted the edge for some time, nearing just enough to glimpse their freedom in capturing the land, but far enough away as not to be seen. He was ready. Aerona was not. She wanted to wait – wait until the perfect time. For Erebus, anytime was perfect. The Kingdom was freezing and hungry. The longer they waited, the more he felt that those in the Kingdom would try to change their circumstance. He knew that's what he would do. Take control. Change what could be changed and be wise enough to know what could cause further damage. But Aerona did not think like that.

Who would rise up and fight us? What armies had they amassed? Were they waiting by the coast or inland? Strategies that Aerona had dismissed outright.

"They will be too hungry to create an army," she said flipping her head away from him.

"Humph," Erebus had grunted back and had turned away. She was always right. Or at least she thought she was always right. And he never argued.

Today, he could see Aerona pacing the Octavia. She ended up at the bow – a mirror image of himself. But her pose was more authoritative, bolder, commanding. She climbed to the very tip of the bow and stood with her right foot resting at the highest point. Dominance. Erebus could match the stance but decided against it. That would challenge her. She looked across at him, her chin in the air. Patience was the most important part of a conquest. Deception. More than one can play at deception. And to deceive the deceiver would always the greatest deception. Erebus smiled and waved at her as he leant against the mast pole; their strangled fulmars that hung by their thighs united them. Their Ghost Ships united them. Their deaths united them. But in unity there was always division, divisiveness and deviousness. They would conquer the Kingdom together and then Erebus would make his move. He smiled at Aerona again. Control would come.

Erebus pulled himself away from the mast and headed towards the stern pausing to look out the starboard side at the shoreline in the distance– soon, very soon, he thought. Returning to the commander's quarters, he removed the folio of parchment from the top draw of the desk. Part of winning the battle was to be not one, not to be two but to be twenty-five paces ahead of your enemy. Erebus let Aerona create the strategies against the Kingdom, whilst he created strategies against her - twenty-five moves.

On the desk was a large chess set with weighted magnetic pieces. The chess board was bolted to the top of the desk at an angle so that the person in the chair next to the desk could also play. Erebus moved the first white pawn two squares and methodically thought through twenty-five moves ahead – like in chess as in war. Taking out a pencil and a clean piece of parchment, he wrote: one - gain trust by keeping the biggest enemy the closest and, two – watch your back. Always.