Tangled webs - Elaine Cunningham [51]
Chapter 7
Dance of the Elfmaid
As Rethnor watched through the spyglass, the captain of the Elfmaid-a mountain of a man with pale braids and massive arms-hauled up a brightly colored square sail and sent men to the oars. The pirates were going to try to outrun them.
But the Luskan warships were built for speed. Two tall masts supported enormous sails that caught and held every breath of the wind, and the crews were chosen from the best the Northlands had to offer. Rethno~s lead ship, the Cutlass, plunged after the pirates, its bow leaping the waves like a dolphin at play, sending spray after spray of white foam flying.
As soon as Rethnor had the Elfmaid within range, he gave the order to fire. A ballista bolt-a giant, iron-tipped spear-traced an arc toward the pirate ship and tore downward through its gay sail. The bright cloth caught on the barbs of the ballista, rending from midsail to lower beam. The rip stole much of the wind from the sail, and the pirate ship slowed. Rethnor gave the signal, and two warships went wide to flank the Ruathen vessel. On three sides they closed in on the crippled ship.
But Hrolf the Unruly was not one to go down lightly; The pirate ship spun in a sharp turn-so sharp that Rethnor fully expected the ship to careen. The Ruathen captain knew his Elfmaid well; the odd vessel righted and faced down her closest attacker, the ship approaching from Rethnor's left. The full strength of the wind caught what was left of the sail, and the oars bent under the force of the rowers' quick, desperate pull. The pirate ship lurched forward, so fast that the hull reared upward. Her sharpened bowsprit rammed broadside into the hull of the approaching warship. The lancelike beam bit deep into the wood of the Luskan ship.
The pirates immediately sent a storm of arrows toward the warship to hold back the Northmen fighters. Under the cover of Ruathen arrows, the black elf, nimble and sure-footed as a squirrel on a tree branch, ran up the tilted bowsprit and onto the warship's deck.
Northmen warriors charged to meet her with swords and battle-axes. The drow came steadily on. White fire spat from her hands and sent the warriors reeling back. She did not stop to press her magically gained advantage, but rose into the air.
As Rethnor gaped-he had no idea the damned fiends could fly-the drow floated to the very top of the masts. She pulled a long knife from her belt and cut the lines that held the sails aloft-first one sail, then the other, in less time than the telling would take. The massive sails plummeted down onto the fighters, burying them all beneath a blanket of heavy canvas.
Hrolf the Unruly was next to climb the bowsprit, and despite his massive size he was no less agile than the tiny drow. The captain leaped onto the deck and ran across the heaving, squirming canvas and toward the pair of masts. Meanwhile the pirates laid down boarding planks and swarmed up after him. They formed a ring around the outer edges of the canvas sail, stabbing down again and again into the trapped Northmen as they closed in toward the center. Here and there a dagger slashed up through the heavy canvas shroud, but the pirates easily cut down the sailors before they could emerge to stand and fight. It was not battle, it was butchery-and it was over in minutes. Meanwhile the warship on the right flank closed in on the damaged warship, circling around to the west and pulling alongside the Elfmaid. Rethnor nodded his approval. His ship was approaching from the east. The Ruathen vessel would be trapped, pinned to one warship and tightly flanked by two more.
The Cutlass came in fast, swinging around at the last moment so that her port side struck the trapped pirate ship with a solid thud.
"We got 'em now!" crowed the boatswain.
Rethnor responded with a grim smile. He was no less confident of the eventual outcome, but he'd fought Ruathen before, and he wouldn't consider them dead until their own funeral services were over and done with.
At a roar from their