Divided Nation

The Curved Blades

     At dawn the next day, my makeshift fleet was standing ready at the base of the center island. It mainly consisted of merchant ships and the occasional battleship that was left behind to guard the base. There were even a couple rafts made out of old wood and pieces of the dock. These would be towed behind the actual ships with some soldiers loaded inside.

     Speaking of soldiers, the a good chunk of the army was made out of the guards that patrolled the parliament normally. There was some soldiers that were left behind or the rare citizen that took up arms and decided to join me. 

     Our plan would be quite simple. With our fleet, we would sail to the Outpost, drop of as many soldiers as possible. Then we would continue with the original plan, with most of our ships sailing on to Port Royale and blockading the city. As long as Harold's predictions on when the Royal fleet and the Bay fleet were going to arrive, we should make it around the Regime with no resistance.

     "We're all ready to go," Kyxio notified me as the last ships finished loading people in and started to slide their oars out, "How long's the journey going to take?"

     "Not long," I answered, climbing in to one of the war galleys that was bobbing near the center of the formation, "Should be around 2 or 3 hours. Are the winds looking good?"

      "Excellent," Alexia said, also climbing on to the galley, "And if we do manage to get becalmed, I can always summon some winds to take us along."

     "All right," I said, "Let's go then."

      Alexia nodded and raised the Elder Staff. A burst of fire flew up the length and into the air: the signal to start. As one, the entire fleet raised their oars and sailed out to meet save their country.

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     A couple of hours later, we encountered our first trouble. I was eating lunch belowdecks when a sweaty soldier who I assume must have been rowing the oars came busting into the room.

     "Sir," He said panting, "Enemey ships! You need to get above decks now!"

      I stood up and ran above the stairs where a small crowd of people were starting to gather. 

     "What's going on," I asked, grabbing a telescope, "Who's ships are those?"

      "12 O'clock sir," A soldier said, "We're pretty close to the Outpost, so that might be State ships.."

      As I turned right in front of me, I noticed a small speck on the horizon. Squinting even further, I saw a fleet sailing up the coastline towards us. Their sails were open and flapping in the wind, making them hard to read, but I managed to do it after a couple attempts. 

     It was a black hook resting on a gray and blue background. Curved blades. I racked my head, trying to find where those were from when it hit me. The Bay Kingdom. Below it, there was the crossed swords over a crown, the crimson on white banner, indicating their allegiance to the Regime. 

     "Everyone to their battle stations!" I hollered and everyone scrambled to man the cannons or grab their weapons.

     I drew my sword. I was scared that those horrible visions were going to pop up again, but this time, the sword stayed silent. I could use some of its powers right now. I gave the order to release the sails and our Sea States banner flapped in the wind as well. The wind....