Chapter 2 Part 6

Early the next morning the trio came on deck to find three new crewmembers had signed on during the night. “We sail within the hour!” Tusk called to his crew.
“When does the tide change?” Armegon asked in Tusk’s direction.
“In but two hours,” replied the half-orc.
The crew was busily casting off lines and preparing the ship to sail. Since there were not enough crewmembers to properly run a ship the size of the Lady, Ultrecht and Armegon were taking turns filling in with magic. Avery’s job was to take shifts as steersman. In short order they were pushing off from the docks and heading out into the bay. Six hours later, the Reckless Lady was out of sight of land and heading south by southwest.
Over an early lunch in the captain’s quarters they sat with Captain Tusk looking over the seafarer’s charts. “If we head this way,” said Tusk as he traced a line with his finger, “we can be there in about two weeks.”
“Two weeks? ” griped Armegon. “I think we can probably do better than that.”
“No,” said Ultrecht. “If we use magic we run the risk of contaminating our sample.”
“Oh, yeah. I don’t use weather spells that often, so I keep forgetting their wide areas of effect.”
“We brought plenty of provisions, so a nice quiet ocean voyage won’t hurt anyone.”
Avery looked up from the maps. “It won’t be quiet for long. There is a large storm front heading towards our general area. It will arrive in about five days or so.”
Captain Tusk looked at him oddly. “How can you know about a storm over five days away?”
“Those golden eyes of his see more than you’d expect Captain,” Armegon explained. “If he says five days, he’ll only be off by a few hours at most.”
“Well then, we’d best prepare the ship.” He grinned fiercely. “The Lady gets a chance to show her stuff.”

The next morning another ship appeared on the horizon. The lookout called down that she was flying the flag of Khotain. Tusk swore and grabbed a spyglass.
“She’s got no house or guild flags. I’ll bet your mother's ass she’s a pirate.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Avery.
“The official gov’ment of Khotain has no ships,” Tusk spat.
Ultrecht cast mage sight and looked to the other ship. “They have a pair of ballistae mounted in the prow. There is also a firepot on the deck behind them.”
Tusk looked at him askance then with a shrug he handed the glass to Kip. “How many crew do they have and how are they armed?”
“They appear to have about forty men, all armed with small weapons. Oh wait, they also have four crossbowmen in the masts.”
“Bloody hell,” cursed Tusk. “They’re pirates all right!” He yelled to the crew, “Get them sails out, we got trouble a comin’!”
From his station near the mainmast Armegon stood as if taking his ease, while around him ropes adjusted themselves, sails unrolled, and all sorts of crew functions happened of their own accord. He called up to the captain. “Can we outrun them?”
Still swearing and giving orders, Tusk yelled back, “No, the Lady’s not built for speed.”
Avery looked carefully towards the oncoming ship. “They will be on us in about three hours.”
Tusk was swearing profusely. “I just got her back to life! They just can’t take her.”
Ultrecht laid a calming hand on the Captain’s shoulder. “It’s ok Captain. We can handle this.”
Tusk did a double take. It took him a moment to catch on, but then a slow grin spread over his face. “Yeah, I s’pose as how you can. This oughtta be fun.”
Armegon came up on deck with them. He looked a bit distracted, but otherwise he seemed himself. “Do you want me to take ‘em?”
Ultrecht leaned on the rail and thought a moment. “No, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt first. If their intentions prove ill, we can give them pause for thought.”
With a nasty grin the other mage said, “Ok, it’ll be more fun that way.” He turned to the captain. “I will have to break off running the ship for a bit though.”
If anyone ever thought that Armegon could have a nasty grin, they had never seen Captain Tusk have a go at it. “No problem. In fact we can probably stand back down to easy goin’.” He called back over his shoulder; “A ‘right boys, we can go back to runnin’ light.”
The Reckless Lady normally needed a crew of fifteen, but she could get by with the ten they had, especially if the mages helped out, but without her full compliment it was difficult to run under full sail. The crew was somewhat nervous about lowering sails and going back to casual sailing with a pirate ship on the way, but they complied.
It did not take long for the other ship to close the distance. Captain Tusk and his trio of passengers waited and watched. Avery had gone below for his bow, but other than that they all waited patiently.
At about two hundred yards distance someone from the other ship called out, “Heave to and prepare to be boarded.”
Captain Tusk grinned at his passengers and hollered back; “Piss off, ya bloody maggots!”
Four crossbow bolts shot towards the half-orc. Not one of them made it more than halfway, before they seemed to just fall into the ocean. Avery drew his bow and in four seconds, four crossbowmen fell to the decks.
Tusk pounded a fist on the rail and shouted with glee. “Nicely done!”
The captain of the other ship was not as impressed. Two crews readied the ballistae.
Avery leaned on his bow and looked at the two mages. “I just know that one of you is dying to top me.”
Armegon grinned and said, “Allow me.”
The pirate ship’s two heavy ballista bolts were aimed and lit aflame. A moment later they shot, blazing, towards the Reckless Lady. With a flourish Armegon waved and both bolts shimmered into seagulls and flew away. About eight seconds later both ballista cables changed into lightly cooked pasta noodles and broke.
“What, no cheese sauce?” asked Ultrecht with mock indignity.
“Sorry, ” said Armegon. A few moments later the foredeck disappeared under about fifty gallons of fine three cheese cream sauce.
“Oh much better, thank you.”
“You’re very welcome. I do hope you found it to your liking.”
Captain Tusk and most of the crew of the Reckless Lady stared in disbelief then the half-orc threw back his head and laughed uproariously. On the other ship, chaos reigned.
Ultrecht said, “Ok, time to get back to work.” He gestured sharply and released the power he’d been gathering and shaping while Armegon showed off. All of the sails on the pirate ship suddenly rolled themselves up. Crewmen immediately tried to unfurl them, but they stubbornly refused to budge.
Now without sails, the pirates began to fall behind. As they stood and watched the confusion on the other ship Avery casually asked, “How long until they can get those sails open again?”
“Oh, I thought I’d let them have control back sometime tomorrow.”
He received a sideways look. “Control back? What else did you do?”
Ultrecht smiled gently. “Nothing much really, I merely locked the rudder all the way to the left.”
Explosively, Captain Tusk’s laughter redoubled.
Avery wasn’t satisfied. “And?”
“And when they do get the sails open and the rudder loose, the ship is going to sail straight to Keron.”
“Where the authorities will have some questions, I suppose?”
“I’m almost sure of it.”
That seemed to leave Avery satisfied.
Captain Tusk was developing a stomachache from laughing.

Five days later the storm Avery predicted arrived. The Reckless Lady rolled and heaved as she plowed her way through the heavy seas. The crew stayed below decks for safety sakes, while the two mages took turns keeping the ship upright. Three days later they were through it and sailing east. Fifteen days after that, they were over the deepest point of the ocean.
Armegon looked out over the rolling sea. “It’ll probably never be calm enough to reflect moonlight,” he said irritably.
Avery looked out to the northeast. “Three days.”
“Huh? What’s three days?”
“It will be clear and calm in three days.”
Armegon slumped noisily. “I’m tired of waiting. I just want to walk two-hundred feet in the same direction.”
Avery stood quietly, ignoring Armegon’s further complaints about feeling cramped. A curious thought came to him. “Armegon, can you change my form to that of a dolphin?”
Armegon broke off his mumbling and lazily said, “Sure. What for?”
“A cure for cabin fever.”
Armegon stiffened as though someone had poked him with a pin. His eyes brightened and he said excitedly, “Oh yeah. Now that’s the best idea you’ve had in weeks.” He shouted towards the main deck, “Hey Ultrecht, come here a moment would you?”
The other mage wandered up to join them. “What?”
“We were thinking about taking a swim. Care to join us?”
“It’s a bit chilly for swimming.”
“Not if you have flukes and a blowhole,” Armegon replied jauntily.
Ultrecht thought about it for a moment. “Sure why not.”
They went to a section of railing on the main deck that would open like a gate. Avery swung the section aside and lay down on his belly with his legs dangling over the ocean. Kip and another crewman watched, puzzled, as Armegon incanted a spell. Slowly Avery’s form shimmered into that of a bottle-nosed dolphin. With a cry that sounded like a laugh, the dolphin flipped backwards into the water below.
Quickly Ultrecht and Armegon each took a turn to lie on their bellies and become dolphins. Kip watched in amazement as the three friends swam and leapt, and dove. The crewman standing next to him said slowly, “If'n it was me, I’d not come back.” Kip had to admit it was sure tempting.

As predicted, it was quite calm three days later. The trio waited until well after moonrise, then Ultrecht cast a flying spell on one of the Lady’s dinghies. They flew about a mile out from the ship where Avery held onto Armegon’s ankles as the half-elf mage carefully collected a jar of moonlit water. “Ok, I’ve got it.”
Avery paused briefly, a thought of mischief crossed his mind and Ultrecht could see it in the ranger's eyes. The mage quietly shook his head urging Avery to behave. The ranger shrugged and hauled Armegon back into the boat and they returned to the ship.
“Seems like a lot of time and effort just to get a jar of water,” observed Captain Tusk as they landed back aboard the Reckless Lady.
Armegon just grinned. Ultrecht said, “I just wish it was always this easy to gather the components for a project.”
“This was easy?”
Avery looked at the half-orc seriously and said, “Oh yes, you should see the kinds of things these two usually drag me through.”
Armegon and Ultrecht both rolled their eyes.