Under the Cover of Darkness

Chapter 11 - Alric

Winters on the Albine Sea were a hassle for even the most advanced sailors. The fierce winds and inconsistent weather made navigation a pain as frequent storms along with the mass chilling of the waters forced ships from cutting across the body of water to stop. Much like the never-ending gray wall of clouds that had been plaguing Set, the Albine Sea, during the winter, was covered in the bleak grayness of darkness that had seemed to slowly shroud Netueeia.

Nonetheless, the major port kingdoms of Herfdole and Lallev depended on this sea trade, and the strengthening and growing kingdom Urlor, which had been isolated into the southwest of Netueeia, was rapidly becoming dependent on these trade routes as well, so sailors were forced to find a way to continue the sea trade. Instead of cutting through the middle of the sea, most ships had to circumvent the sea by hugging the coastline all the way to their destination. It was a safer way to prevent a crew from a couple days of miserable sailing in negative degree weather. By using this method of sailing, winter storm's could be easily measured and predicted making it easy for sailors who'd hop from port to port during the midst of the winter storms.

This type of traveling was also susceptible to raiding pirates though. The marauders hid along the coastline until a ship that was hugging the coastline came along. At that moment, they would speed out and board the unsuspecting ships, raiding them all the trade goods they had. While the king of Herfdole sent countermeasures to help stop the tyranny, the attempts never seemed successful without full corporation from Lallev, who actually profited from, the pillaging as most of the pirates were Lallevians looking to make a cheap profit.

During winter times, it became a game of luck and strategy as to who would be sunk and who would make it to the next port alive. Expert sailors had learned to use other ships as decoys by hiring Herfdolan soldiers to help ambush the pirates who dared board their ship. Similar tactics included going behind a merchant ship or a cargo ship and letting the pirates bite at them first. The last famous tactic was trying to locate the pirates beforehand by sending patrol boats, but these often resulted in casualties on the side of the traders.

In the bustling port city of Thessia, the fourth largest Herfdolan port cities, a five year old Brefave by the name of Alric Grayson, along with a teddy bear that he squeezed in his arms, was intently watching his father clean a two foot saber. His eyes sparkled at the glistening metal as Charles Grayson took a small towel and rubbed it down spotless. Not a single speck of grime or oil resided on the steel blade as long as Charles had something to say about it. The man cared for the singular saber almost as much as his own life.

Only ten years before, Charles had joined the Herfdolan military as a navy officer at the age of twenty two, and when war broke out between Herfdole and Urlor, the latest war among any number of the five major kingdoms, he was immediately sent out to fight the dominant Urlorian navy throughout the Albine Sea. At that time, Urlor had controlled most of the land around the Albine Sea, but after Herfdole came out on top, Urlor was severely damaged and forced to exile itself into the southwest. Charles led a fleet of four ships into a battle against a Urlorian fleet of eleven. The battle would become one of the important victories for the Herfdolan navy as they managed to destroy the morale of the depleted kingdom and bring an end to their dominance with the destruction of ten of the eleven battleships.

Captain Charles Grayson came home a hero and looked to settle down next to the sea he had fought so bravely to protect. He met his wife and had a son named Alric in the town of Thessia. In the growing port city, the thirty-two year old retired navy captain constantly retold the story of him boarding an Urlorian ship, and with the same saber that he cleaned daily, Charles killed more than twenty crew members alone while his ship boarded Urlorian vessels and slaughtered the hordes of sailors.