Divided Nation

Battle Of The Hammer

The mirror was shaking as I stared at myself from what I assumed was belowdecks. Instead of my usual sandy coloured hair, it was dark, dark hair, with equally dark eyes looking back at me. I was stuck inside someone elses body, but I couldn't control their actions. It was like I was a spectator in their point of view.

     I sighed and examined myself in the mirror one more time. My eyes were as dark and as unmoving as obsidian as the mirror shook in its frame as the ship bumped across some waters. I opened to door to the room and stepped outside to a board of guards and soldiers waiting for me.

"Your orders sir?" The soldier asked to me.

"Get galleys 1 through 19 to guard the winch towers," I responded without thinking. What was happening? "Galleys 19 through 27 clog up the entrance. The rest, 27 through 273, engage the enemy in the Hammer. We've got them in a chokehold. This is the end of the Regime fleet."

"And our allied ships?" The soldier added before going off.

"Screw them," I replied, "How many galleys they have? 50?"

"um, 230 sir," The soldier replied, "What are your orders for them?"

"Bugger them. They can't do anything. Tell them to stay and guard the entrance and winch towers. They'll be our last line of defense."

"And Bardania?"

Right, Bardania. They were one of our most powerful naval allies, contributing more than 500 ships to our fleet.They were situated in one of the Bay islands. They had a considerable fleet, and had allied with the Central powers after the White Kingdom had joined the war.

     Bardania had a history of piracy, having one of the best pirating fleets in the world. In retaliation, Louis created an anti-piracy fleet, with Exenica at the head. They roamed the island of Bardania and sunk any pirate ships they found within the area. It had been one of the biggest reasons that Bardania had allied with the Central powers. To get rid of that anti-piracy fleet.

"Tell Allen, the commander of the Bardanian forces. He's on this ship. They're to go with us. Engage the enemy."

"Yes, sir!" The soldier hurried away to carry away the orders

"Wait," I blurted out, pulling my dagger out of my belt. The guards on the side of the ship eyed me, but showed no uncertainty, "Get back here."

The soldier nervously walked back to me. Without thinking, I plunged the dagger through his neck. Before he was dead, I reached inside his blood soaked jacket and pulled out a Regime pendant.

"A spy," I declared, "Anyone who dares defy me will meet the same fate as him."

"Now you," I guestered to one of the guards on the wall, "You carry out the orders. The rest of you, to your stations."

"Yes sir!"

I climbed up the stairs of the ship to get above deck and the view above took my breath away. We were in the White Kingdom, at the mouth of the Hammer, inevitably. The shape and colour of the water was unmistakable. It was late at night, almost midnight by the looks of things. Moonlight reflected off the green water.

And arranged around us was the biggest fleet I had ever seen. It covered far, as far as I could see, with mostly White Kingdom banners waving in the wind, but also with Purple and one or two Beige Kingdom ships.

"They couldn't have recovered from our latest victory," A man beside me said, "It's impossible. We knocked out at least a thousand galleys that day."