Wild Watchtower: Shield & Claw Book One

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The First Battle

We gathered our weapons on the way down to the sea caves, strapping short swords and daggers at our hips. Although we all preferred to use claw and fang in close quarters combat, being in our skin proved more useful at sea than our fur. If a ship was boarded, we might strip down and shift, but to command a crew we needed the humans and elves under us to understand our orders. We couldn't rely on the barks, howls, chattering, and whines we'd grown up recognising as well as any language, not when others would find such signals impossible to interpret.

Of course, swords and fangs weren't our only weapons. As we made our way down past the empty jail cells and into the sea caves below, we passed storerooms where cannonballs and black powder waited to replenish what we used in this first defence of our citadel... Provided our ships made it home to restock.

While the First War of the Elves had been fought with archers, ballistae, and then with axes and swords when enemies boarded ships, weaponry had moved on since then. Now we relied on cannons and a range of ammunition from solid shot to chain shot, and from hollow shot filled with smaller lead balls to grapeshot. Whether the purpose was maiming the enemy, tearing through a hull, breaking masts, tearing rigging, or shredding and puncturing sails, the cannons gave us might the likes of which hadn't been seen all those many centuries before.

Despite advancements, crates of arrows sat on the timber quayside, next to bins loaded with bows. Such weapons were cheap to get a hold of because they required relatively little iron, but our crews were unlikely to use them. They were base-up weapons at most, because the men and women under our command had also trained in the use of matchlock muskets, which made the bows all but obsolete.

We'd only trained our crews and guardsmen as archers at all because we couldn't predict how this new era of war would progress. We had wanted to prepare for every eventuality, including running out of powder and cannonballs before we reached either a victory or a defeat. Anyway, bows were less susceptible to wet weather than the slow-match of a matchlock musket. They served as alternative ranged weapons, although our circumstances would be dire before we returned to using the projectiles of old, with their shorter range and the increased skill needed launch an accurate volley.

Of course, the newer firearms came with their own set of concerns. Those using matchlock muskets were well trained to stay away from the stores black powder required by the cannons, because a lit slow-match touching any powder other than on its musket's own flash pan could see us sinking our own ships. I worried that my men would forget themselves in the heat of moment, though. Accidents could happen, especially as none of us had ever been in battle before, not after so many centuries of peace. I'd only pressed our master gunner, Duán, so hard in the past because I needed those under him to remain focused and aware at all times; for their own safety and the safety of our ships.

Though our fleet did carry riskier weapons as well. We had a store of glass bottles on board each ship, each ready to be filled with powder and lead shot. With the addition of a rope slow-match in the bottle neck, those vessels could be turned into effective grenades. Throwing powder and burning cord around our own deck would be catastrophic, but if an enemy vessel drew close enough for one of our men to lob a grenade at it? Then we could kill and injure several foes with that crude delivery of explosive and metal.

When we reached the jetty where row boats waited to ferry crew members back to their ships, those few officers who'd gone ashore emerged from several other passages. Those tunnels led up into inconspicuous buildings in the town; hidden access and egress points which allowed our crews to gather quickly. Looking over the officers, many of which I'd known all my life, I felt proud of the fierce determination I saw reflected back at me even from frightened faces.

I only hoped I deserved both their loyalty and their courage.

"The Gale Piercer, Hero's Call, Red Harbinger, The Ill-Omen, and The Butcher will form the van under Lord Éirimiúil's command. The Stormbringer, Ray of Hope, The Lilac Lady, The Swallow, and The Heart of Rán will form the centre under my command. I will command the fleet as a whole from that position. The Iron Dragon, The Silver Star, The Black Sparrow, Tide Chaser, and Dawn Princess will form the rear, commanded by my Lord Father, with Lady Aisling as his second-in-command.