“Merchants?” Karl asked, but the Captain shook his head.
“No, too large and they are coming with all oarsmen, maybe two hundred oars in the water,” the Captain answered. “And from their position, I would say they began their journey sometime last night.”
Gwaynn and Karl exchanged a look. “Should we go to all oarsmen?” one of the lieutenants asked from behind the Captain.
“No, not yet. As I was just telling our young Master here, it would look out of place with all of our oarsmen going. They have no idea who we are, so let’s appear to be the innocent merchant. We should excel at it.”
And so they continued at their current pace, trying to hurry but also trying to appear as if they were in no hurry. The three approaching triremes were just over a mile away as the Londalay cleared the harbor and headed southwest toward the Toranado. Gwaynn, Karl and the Captain moved to the stern and kept a close watch on the three ships.
“Perhaps they are just heading for the harbor,” Gwaynn said softly.
“Perhaps,” the Captain answered. “We shall know very soon.” It took only about ten minutes for the triremes to reach the mouth of the harbor, and two indeed turned and entered, but the third kept coming on very fast, still pulling all oars. They were still distant, but gaining steadily.
“All oars,” the Captain said with a look of concern, and his order was immediately shouted and obeyed. The additional oarsmen were apparently ready and waiting for just such an order. The speed of the ship increased almost immediately, and it took nearly twenty minutes or so before Gwaynn could tell that the trireme behind was still gaining on them. Captain Tul, however, did not seem too concerned.
He smiled down at Gwaynn. “They’ve been pulling all oars for quite a time now. It will be tough for them to continue the pace.”
Gwaynn nodded, and felt Karl put a hand on his shoulder. Together they watched as the chasing trireme slowly gained on them. It was only a quarter of a mile away when its speed began to slack, after that the distance between the ships seemed to hold steady. Gwaynn turned and moved to the awning where the Captain was sitting with two of his lieutenants. The Captain looked up as Gwaynn came into view.
“Their speed has fallen off?” Captain Tul asked.
Gwaynn nodded. “How long can we hold this speed with all oars?”
The Captain smiled at the boy’s astute mind. “Several more hours at least, but our pursuer will have to keep up their speed also. Come sit and relax, I think we will win this race,” he said.
A lieutenant stood and offered his spot to Gwaynn, who hesitated, then moved and sat next to the Captain.
“Why?” Gwaynn asked. “They have more oarsmen.”
The Captain nodded. “Yes, but their ship is a war ship. It is much larger and heavier, built for ramming. We were built light for speed and we are carrying no cargo. They will falter,” he added confidently. But after nearly three hours the ship chasing did not falter, and when the sky suddenly grew very dark and the seas grew heavy the pursuers actually began to gain once more. The wind was blowing hard from land, filling the sail and making it more difficult to control the ship and keep it on course. On the Inland Sea, triremes normally move to land and anchor during storms. The ungainly ships were not built to handle large swells. But at the moment, the Captain did not feel that this was possible.
“They are gaining,” Gwaynn informed him. “Larger, heavier ships move through rough seas better I assume.”
The Captain grunted.
“Do we know who they are?” Karl asked his eyes weak over long distances. Gwaynn frowned at him.
“Very definitely Zani,” he answered. The large Zani flag was clearly visible to him even though it was flying from the stern of the following ship. He could also see several men standing on the bow of the ship watching him watching them.
“Captain,” said a lieutenant. “We should make for land. This storm looks to be a very bad one.”
The Captain studied the sky and indeed it looked none to good. The clouds blowing off the land to the south were dark gray and billowing, but farther to the south, near the horizon they looked almost black. Karl and Gwaynn stood silently by waiting for the Captain’s decision. The swells now were nearly ten feet high, making the boat pitch and roll alarmingly, especially to the newcomers. Both Gwaynn and Karl knew that to make for land was a death sentence for each of them. Still neither said a word.
The Captain noticed their silence, especially the boy’s, and was much impressed. The lad was smart, there was no denying that, and would know just what landing the ship would mean for him. His silence spoke volumes for both his courage and character.
“Lieutenant Hobbs hard to port. Take us north, dead with the wind,” he finally said, and to his credit Hobbs relayed the order without hesitation. In the swells the ship turned slowly, allowing the trireme behind to gain on them quickly, but then the wind finally filled the sail of the Londalay and they streaked off toward the north. Their pursuer seemed to hesitate then they also began to turn toward the north, but then the rains came hard and steady and blotted them from sight.
Lightning filled the sky and the thunder rolled over the waves far easier than the Londalay, but the crew kept the ship heading due north, as wave after wave crashed into the bow.
“Hobbs, see to the boy,” the Captain yelled through the noise of the storm. Hobbs nodded as the Captain gave orders to trim the sail, before it drove them sideways into the teeth of the swells. The ship would rely on the oarsman, already tired from the chase, to keep them on course.
Hobbs came over and showed both Gwaynn and Karl how to run a rope, which looped around their waist. It would keep them from being washed overboard by the high seas. It was a measure of safety but it also meant that if the ship went down they would be pulled down with it. All through the morning and well into the afternoon they fought the storm. The ship weathered it extremely well, but the oarsmen were very near exhaustion and the Captain knew that if they were to survive, the storm must begin to abate soon.
“Captain!” Karl yelled holding stubbornly onto Gwaynn’s shirt as they both fought to keep their feet on the pitching vessel. “We can’t take much more. Where are we headed?”
The Captain smiled. “The Temple Islands, but if we make land it will be in the sunshine. The Islands are still at least a day away on calm seas.”
Karl’s eyes grew big. “Can you swim?” He asked Gwaynn, who looked up at his big friend but said nothing.
The crew fought the storm for nearly two more hours before the first of the oarsmen collapsed from exhaustion. The ship grew sluggish as more men fell, then began to founder as the remaining men lost their battle with the sea. Waves turned the ship and crashed into it seemingly from every side. Sailors, those with enough strength left, fought the rolling of the ship and clamored to the top deck. The Captain was near the stern when a large wave hit them, spraying them all with a wall of water, when it past the Captain was gone.
“Remove the rope Karl,” Gwaynn yelled into the wind. Karl, though he stood right next to Gwaynn did not hear, so he yelled once more, then once again until the big man understood. They untangled themselves just as the ship was hit by a mighty roller. It struck them and the ship listed nearly thirty degrees. Karl gripped the rail with one arm and Gwaynn with the other, neither believing the ship could right itself, but for a moment it did, then the next wave hit and they were both washed overboard and into the sea.
Gwaynn went completely under and panicked. He kicked strongly, fighting for several seconds but still did not reach the surface. This is the end, he thought, strangely confident that he was right, then his head broke free of the waves and he gulped in precious oxygen. A wave caught him and he rode it high into the air. The Londalay was nearly a hundred yards away already. He fought the wave and frantically looked about for Karl. At first he could not see him, but then the big man popped to the surface only a few feet away. Gwaynn swam to him. They reached each other and turned just as another wave struck the Londalay. This time it rolled, snapping dozens of oars. The sound of the groaning hull could be clearly heard over the noise of the storm. They saw several men fall into the sea as the ship finally flipped completely over. Seconds later another wave hit the ship hard and when it passed, the Londalay was gone.