Siren's Silence

Chapter 2: Griffins and Wolves

James

"Ship ho!"

I looked up from my charts and stepped out from behind my desk. I had barely reached the door when it was slammed open.

"Thomas! What the devil has gotten into you?" We had been on the seas for nearly two years now and were already considered one of the best crews in the Navy. This sudden drop in professionalism came as a shock to me.

"I'm sorry Captain, but there's something you need to see." He rushed back out. I followed with similar haste and discovered the crew of my ship, the Destiny, on edge as soon as my feet touched the quarter deck.

I could see another ship off the starboard bow, its shape was eerily familiar. It was a long, tall, tri-masted ship. It was slim enough to be decently fast, but still big enough to carry a lot of guns and supplies. I pulled out my spyglass and searched for the tell-tale signs of the nature of our opponent. Following the tallest mast, I found the flag that all men fear on these waters: the snarling face of a black canine glared at me with the red of the canvas around it making it look like the beast was standing in a field of blood.

"Dammit," I snarled, "Wolf Ship! Warn the others! Beat to quarters! All hands to battle stations!"

The deck became alive with men. They were quick, pulling out weapons and readying the cannons. One man stood at the bow, signaling the other ships to warn them of the danger. I looked over at the magnificent merchant craft we were escorting. These days every boat like that required an escort of at least two warships. The Wolves were as greedy as pirates and targeted anything that carried valuable cargo of any variety merely because they believed they could. I was not about to let them have this one.

"Raise the cannons! Remember to aim for the deck! Prepare yourselves!" The men obeyed immediately. We had sunk one Wolf before. It had been by accident that one of the guns was aimed higher than usual, but it was that accident that turned out to be our saving grace. The sides of Wolves were made of thick, strong wood that was difficult to break through, but their masts and decks were not. If these were targeted, the ship could be made dead in the water, though it was still almost impossible to sink it. We had only succeeded out of pure chance, we had managed to apparently light their powder kegs, causing the ship to detonate. I didn't need to sink this one, however, just disable it so that it could no longer pursue our charge.

"Hard to starboard! Aim straight for them! Come up behind if you can!" More orders rang through the many decks of the ship as we turned and charged the other vessel.

I knew we were in trouble when the Wolf turned to face us, prepared for battle.

"Ready yourselves!" I bellowed. "Aim straight for them, we'll bank hard then fire."

There were iterations of "yes, Captain," as I felt my ship gain speed and the distance closed between my vessel and the Wolf. I took control of the wheel. We slid up close enough that I could glare into the eyes of the other captain before I bellowed, "Hard to starboard! Port side cannons, fire!"

I heard several iterations of "Fire!" Followed by the magnificent blast of cannons. Wood and shrapnel blew everywhere, but I knew instinctively that we hadn't broken enough to cripple the other watercraft. The double-layered dense wood was simply too strong.

The aft of my craft barely passed the bow of the Wolf. "Aft cannons fire!" Two more blasts rang out from the back of the boat, causing more wood to fly, but it still wasn't enough.

I kept turning as tightly as I could, trying to spin my ship around and use the starboard battery while I still had the edge. I wasn't fast enough.