Chapter 28: The Vanguard

"...And that's the switch for the locator function. I placed it on the scabbard here. The small arrow will point at your sword. If you flick it and this switch on the other side at the same time, it also acts as a detonator switch and the sword will explode as long as it's in range," Entrapta explained, gesturing at the switches, then at the sword.

Which Seacat was holding. She tried not to show any reaction to the realisation that she was holding a bomb that would wreck the entire room and reduce her to smear on its remains.

"You mean it's armed?" Adora, obviously, didn't have such restraint. She was staring at the blade with wide eyes, then gaped at Entrapta.

"Well, yes, it's armed," the princess replied. "How could I demonstrate its functions if it weren't working?"

"Demonstrate its functions?"

"Not the bomb," Seacat cut in.

"Of course not - that would destroy the sword," Entrapta agreed. She blinked, then added: "And most of the inn, I think. It depends on whether the walls withstand the shockwave - if they do, they'll channel it upwards and the effects on the rest of the rooms shouldn't be too bad. If they don't, and if they are load-bearing walls, then the entire inn should collapse into the crater blown into the ground. Because the floor isn't actually that strong, you know? It's mostly a few solid beams and lots of wood, and that won't resist the blast very well."

"Ah." Seacat nodded. "Hide behind walls, not below floors. Got it." Well, it wasn't as if she was planning to blow up her room here.

Adora nodded with a slightly sickly expression.

"Unless the floor's solid stone, but that would probably be too heavy for most buildings," Entrapta told them. "I had to study that when I was rebuilding my workshop!"

"Ah." That wasn't a surprise. "And the sword otherwise works like the first one?"

"Yes, exactly! That's what you wanted, right?"

"Yes." Seacat smiled at the princess. "Thank you very much. This is great!"

"OK! And don't forget to gather data if you use the bomb function!"

"Will do!" Seacat suddenly frowned. "Oh, what's the blast radius of the sword-bomb?"

"Well, initial testing showed that the power of the explosion was roughly equal to a heavy shell."

"Ah." Enough to easily sink a courier ship.

Adora took a half-step away from the sword. "And how likely is it that that thing can blow up if you hit it hard enough?"

"Oh, not very likely. There's a tiny chance that it might explode if the pressure on the power unit is strong enough to force a chain reaction even without the catalyst, but so much pressure would probably kill the wielder anyway before the bomb goes off." Entrapta beamed at them.

Seacat smiled. "A last surprise? I like that."

Adora frowned at her. "Don't talk like you're planning to use it. In that capacity, I mean." In a lower voice, she added: "I'm worrying enough already."

Seacat smiled at her. But she didn't tell her not to worry - she was worrying about Adora, too, after all.


"Ah, First Mate! Right on time!" Sea Hawk yelled as soon as Seacat stepped off the gangway onto the deck of the Dragon's Daughter V.

"Captain." She nodded at him.

"Got your new sword?"

She patted the hilt on her hip. "Yes. And it's also a bomb."

"Great!" He beamed at her. "That might come in handy!"

She hoped she wouldn't have to blow up her sword - but he wasn't wrong. They had a war to fight, anyway. She glanced at the gun mounted on the bow, then at Alcy and Licy - she still didn't know their real names - and at Horas. The three were lined up next to the mast, smiling. She nodded at them.

"The entire crew's assembled, then!" the Captain declared. "We're ready to set sail!"

They had a bigger crew now. That would take some time getting used to, even though Seacat had known they would have to recruit more if only to man the gun. And the three former scoundrels had proven their mettle. Still... it wouldn't be just her and the Captain any more. She would miss the closeness.

"Did you already say goodbye to Adora?" Sea Hawk asked in a lower voice as she passed him to check on the engine and hold.

"She's coming to see us off," she replied, opening the hatch. "She just had to clear some things with the shrimp."

"Ah. I think I see her."

Seacat dropped the hatch and looked at the pier, then cursed herself for her reaction. She was better than that. But she was already missing Adora, too.

"Seacat!" Adora waved all the way to the gangway. "Great, I made it!"

"We're not yet setting sails," Sea Hawk told her. "We need to wait for the tide - well, we wouldn't have to wait, but we wouldn't want to give our secrets away.

Adora didn't seem to be listening to him, though. And Seacat wasn't really listening either.

They were kissing.


"Locked!"

"Loaded!"

"Aimed!"

Seacat pressed her hands over her ears and yelled: "Fire!"

Alcy pulled the cord, and the swivel gun fired. A moment later, the water erupted near the floating piece of wood they were using as a target. The sailor cursed under her breath.

Seacat shook her head. "Close. If it had been a ship, you'd have hit it."

"But I missed the target."

"Not by much. And if we'd have loaded a shell…" Licy wiped the sweat from her brows - the sailor had served as a loader for this drill, and while a swivel gun's shells and shot were far lighter than those of a frigate's guns, constantly reloading was exhausting.

But you needed to drill that so you could keep it up in battle. 'The more you sweat, the less you bleed' was a quote from a Horde Instructor, but true anyway. Seacat just wished the gun wasn't so loud. Her ears hurt if she stood too close to it.

Well, she'd have to get used to it. Or get used to having Adora heal her ears every time they met. Or ask Entrapta for some earplugs that only worked against gunshots.

"Well, the cadence was good!" Sea Hawk commented. "You threw a lot of weight at the enemy."

"At the water," Alcy corrected him.

"We've got the entire journey's length to learn how to hit," Sea Hawk replied. He slapped her on the shoulder. "You'll get the hang of it in time for duelling gunboats on the river!"

"So you think we won't face any Horde ships at sea?" Licy asked.

"I didn't say that." The Captain grinned. "But if we encounter any Horde ships, they are bound to be frigates - and we won't fight a gun duel with a frigate."

That would be pointless, indeed. The swivel gun's shells probably wouldn't even blow holes into a frigate's hull. And landing a shot on the enemy's bridge… the enemy outranged them, and Seacat didn't want to brave enemy broadsides for some chancy shot.

"Keep drilling," she told them, pointing ahead. "There's another piece of driftwood coming up." So far out? Remnants from the storm that almost sank them, no doubt.

The two scoundrels jumped to handle the gun and point it at the new target. If they hurried, they'd get three, maybe four shots off before they were past it.

"I'll check the engine," Seacat said and then went down into the hold.

The engine wasn't running - with the wind at their back, they didn't need to waste the fuel crystals. She still stayed for a little while, watching it. Checking the switches and levers. And sighing. Usually, she'd be busy with the sails during such a voyage. But with their crew having more than doubled, Seacat had more free time. More free time to think. And miss Adora.

She sighed again, then went back on deck. "Everything's fine," she reported. "The power chamber's full."

"Good, good! You never know when you might need them." Sea Hawk smiled at her, then went back to the helm, where Horas was. The wheel looked tiny in the hands of the big minotaur, Seacat noted. He wouldn't be a regular helmsman, of course - that would be a waste of his strength - but every member of the crew needed to be able to handle every essential task on board. You never knew when you'd lose someone, to a storm or battle.

And she didn't have an essential task right now. She leaned against the railing and looked out at the sea while Alcy and Licy drilled without powder.

"Missing Adora?" Sea Hawk joined her at the railing, leaning against it while facing her.

"Is it obvious?"

He cocked his head. "Well, to me at least. But who wouldn't miss their lover if they had to part ways so soon after coming together?"

"Don't remind me," she muttered, closing her eyes.

"I won't."

He didn't have to, of course. Seacat was thinking about Adora all the time now. She sighed. "How do you handle it?"

"Ah." Sea Hawk turned to look at the sea as well. "I tell myself we'll meet again. And I do my best to enjoy the sea until then."

"It's not really working for me," Seacat muttered.

"Oh, I know. But it will."

She grunted. "When?"

"Someday."

That wasn't very promising. She took a deep breath. "Have you ever… thought about not leaving her?"

"Stop sailing all the seas?" He gasped, but she could tell he wasn't really shocked.

"Stay with her."

"Of course I thought about it." It was his turn to sigh. "My love is a woman of the sea. And yet the same power that makes her so perfect a partner for any sailor also means she'll be duty-bound to Salineas."

"Oh." Seacat hadn't considered that, but it made sense. "You could still sail, though. Just not…"

"...as free as before." The Captain nodded. "I know. But to take such a step… it's hard for any sailor."

She nodded.


"Ship ahead!" Seacat heard Licy call out from the lookout. She quickly scaled the rigging to check with her telescope. "Looks like a merchant," Licy told her.

The woman was correct, as Seacat could see herself. It was a transport ship. An older ship, too - broader in the beam than a cog and likely to roll a lot in heavier seas. Probably built in a yard on the Northern Coast, not in the Kingdom of Snows - the lines didn't fit a cog like the Ice Spear. Though the flag claimed it was from Seaworthy. That was possible - many independent merchants, both honest ones and those who got their cargo at the point of a blade, picked Seaworthy as their homeport.

But… "There's some damage to the bow," she said. "Patched up, but not perfectly."

"Oh?"

"And they're headed towards the part of the coast occupied by the Horde."

"That could be a navigation error," Licy pointed out.

It could be. Not every ship had a decent navigator. And even those who should stick to the coasts to avoid getting lost at sea might decide to sail the open seas to avoid the Horde.

But Seacat didn't think this was such a case. Or it had been a navigation error, but then the ship had been captured by a Horde raider.

"They're changing course. Northwards," Licy said.

"To cover up, probably." Seacat couldn't make out the crew of the ship, not yet, but her gut feeling was clear.

"Suspicious transport ahead, Captain!" she yelled down. "Might've been captured by the Horde."

"We shall check it out, then!" Sea Hawk replied. "Ready the engine, but don't accelerate yet!"

"Aye aye, Captain!" Seacat narrowed her eyes as she went belowdecks. If it was a transport with a prize crew, then they could handle it. A Horde captain wouldn't want to lose more than the absolute minimum of his crew to sail a prize home. But if the ship was transporting soldiers for a raid or hunting other transports, things would get a little tricky. At least the other ship had no engine, which meant the Dragon's Daughter V could easily outsail it, should they have to retreat quickly.

She started the engine, checked that it was working properly, then rejoined the others on deck. The Dragon's Daughter V was cutting through the waves, towards the slower transport. Alcy was waving the signal flags, telling the other ship to stop and prepare for inspection.

"I don't see any gun ports!" Licy reported.

That didn't mean the ship was unarmed - but Seacat didn't see any guns on deck, either. Although if the transport was a concealed raider, they would've hidden their guns. And the additional troops.

"They're slowing down!"

Seacat could see the cog turn into the wind and come to a stop. The sailors on deck weren't running around or grabbing weapons - but they weren't lining the railing and watching the Dragon's Daughter V's approach, either.

"What do you think? Hidden gun ports? Or just a force hiding belowdecks to board us?" Sea Hawk asked.

"If they aren't a prize crew, then it'll be boarders. They wouldn't have been able to install hidden gun ports while at sea, nor would the Horde ships have had guns to spare," Seacat replied. They could've done that in port - but the transport would have had to sail during the storm to escape the blockade, and Seacat didn't think the ship would've survived. Not as low as it was lying in the water.

"Yes. So… this will be interesting." Sea Hawk grinned. "Horas! I think we'll have to test out my idea!"

The minotaur grunted his agreement and went to man the swivel gun while Alcy replaced him at the helm and Seacat handled the sails.

They quickly closed in - from the rear. No need to find out the hard way that there were hidden gun ports. The closer they got, the more convinced Seacat was that this was a Horde prize crew. The sailors were a little too tense, a little too young. Most ships had a few old sailors with experience amongst a crew that large.

"Ahoi!" Sea Hawk yelled as they came into speaking range. "Stand by to receive an inspection party!"

"Aye aye!" the other captain replied.

Seacat was already preparing the grapple hooks to lash the ship together. This was it - once they were alongside each other, it would be do or die.

She grinned, baring her fangs, as she let the hook fly.

A minute later, the ships were lashed together - Horas had almost single-handedly pulled them alongside the other ship - and Seacat scrambled up the line. She vaulted over the larger ship's railing and landed on deck with a grin. Half a dozen sailors on the deck, all armed, and the captain and helmsman on the bridge. Heh, she could fight them all by herself if she had to.

And, judging by how nervous they were, they knew it as well.

They didn't attack, but the transport's captain was moving towards her even as Sea Hawk joined her on deck. He was young, too. That wasn't proof that he was a young officer assigned to command a prize taken - there were young captains, mostly from families owning transport ships - but it fit the picture.

"Ah, well met, Captain!" Sea Hawk said, loudly. "I'm Admiral Sea Hawk."

That sent a shock through the crew - Seacat saw them pale.

"Ah… I'm Captain Storm." The Captain was obviously lying. "Say… we're in a hurry - perishable cargo, you know - so is there any way we could, uh, speed things up?" He patted his purse as if the offer hadn't been obvious enough.

"Are you trying to bribe me, good man?" Sea Haw replied, faking a shocked gasp.

"No, no!" The man - Storm wasn't his real name, Seacat was sure - shook his head, almost dislodging his hat. "I was merely… uh, trying to save us time. We're both busy men, aren't we?"

"Indeed we are!" Sea Hawk pushed his chest out. "And I'm busy inspecting your ship!" he yelled.

"Of course, Admiral…"

The fake transport captain was interrupted by yelling from belowdecks. And screaming.

Prisoners. The cog was transporting prisoners, Seacat realised. That meant a bigger crew to guard them. "Horas!" she yelled, drawing her cutlass.

"Huzzah!" Sea Hawk's sword flashed, and the captain's sabre, barely out of its scabbard, went overboard.

"At them, men!" the Horde captain yelled, even as he backed up a few steps, holding his bleeding hand. "Hold them off!"

The sailors on deck made a ragged charge, and Seacat met half of them with a hiss. She batted the cutlass of the closest sailor away with a flick of her wrist, then hacked through the woman's arm. While the Horde scum collapsed, screaming at the blood gushing from the stump, Seacat parried another blow from a burly fishman, then ducked below a wild swing with a boathook from a third sailor.

Then the hatch to the hold flew open and Horde soldiers started to pour out on deck - and forming up in lines. Marines, then - and disciplined ones. Half a dozen, one dozen... Seacat had to duck under another wild swing, then stabbed the sailor's foot in retaliation. When the man collapsed, she slashed him across the chest, almost cutting him in half.

But the fishman attacked her with wild swings of his battleaxe. He wasn't trying to kill her, just keeping her off-balance, she realised - until the marines were ready. And it was working. She tried twice to cut the axe's handle, but he swept it out of the way- and forced her back with the next swing.

And the marines were now ready, three rows, pikes and shock rods. She clenched her teeth and counter-attacked the fishman, pushing him back a few feet - she needed room to fight…

Movement to her side drew her attention. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Horas climbing over the railing - and carrying the swivel gun. "Fire!" she yelled.

The marines started to charge as soon as they realised what was happening, but the minotaur was faster. He slammed the barrel of the gun into his left palm, braced himself against the railing, and fired.

And the charge of the Horde marines was shredded by canister shot at close range. The centre just disappeared - turned into chunks of flesh and blood. The ones at the edges of the formation dropped, their bodies pierced and torn by the shot, most of them dead, but a few screaming in growing pools of blood.

One Horde soldier, a young woman, had survived in the middle of the back rank, shielded by the ones in front of her. She seemed untouched - but she was shaking, and a moment later, she dropped her shock rod and raised her arms. "Please spare me! I surrender!"

Seacat glanced at the fishman, who had backed up a few more steps. He was trembling as well.

*Surrender!" Sea Hawk yelled - he had killed two of his enemies, wounded the third and was advancing towards the wounded captain.

The fishman dropped his blade and fell to his knees, sobbing.

A moment later, the Horde captain surrendered as well.


"Thank you!" the recently freed original captain of the cog told Sea Hawk for the third time.

"Oh, it was the least we could do!" the Captain replied with a beaming smile, stroking his moustache. "We knew from the start that the ship looked suspicious. The damage to the rigging, and their heading..." He shrugged. "The outcome, of course, was inevitable."

Mira, the other captain, nodded, then winced a little, touching the bruise on her face. "When we realised what was happening and saw the Horde soldiers line up at the stairs, we decided to warn you."

And the scum had beaten her for it. Well, at least the marines left in the hold hadn't put up a fight after the blood of the marines Horas had turned into mincemeat had started dripping down the hatch. And after the surviving marine on deck had explained the situation.

"Brave of you!" Sea Hawk nodded. "And very much appreciated. I assume you'll sail to Seaworthy now?"

"Yes. We were headed to Salineas, originally, but with the damage taken…" Mira shrugged. "It's a shorter trip - and safer."

"Oh, yes!" Sea Hawk smiled again. "We've found no sign of a Horde raider between here and Seaworthy. You should be fine."

And, though he didn't say so, Seacat knew that the rest of the force would soon set sail from Seaworthy as well. The cog would be safe, indeed. And carrying half a dozen Horde prisoners guarded by their former captives. Fortunately, the freed sailors - the crews of three transports that the Horde frigate had captured since it had run the blockade during the storm - outnumbered the surviving Horde soldiers easily.

"And don't worry- the Salinean fleet will soon bring up this raider, mark my words!" Sea Hawk announced. "We already captured two frigates!"

That caused a cheer to erupt amongst the freed sailors. Probably mostly those who had lost their ships, Seacat thought.

"But we must depart now - we have an important mission for the war!" the Captain declared, raising his fist to the sky. "The Horde will rue the day they laid claim to the seas! Huzzah!"

"Huzzah!"

Seacat dutifully cheered as well, though she was already thinking of their chances to encounter the frigate which had captured the cog. Her captain seemed to be either skilled or lucky - and either quality would make them a dangerous enemy.


"And there goes our prize," Alcy said to Licy as they watched the cog sail northwards.

"Yeah," the other scoundrel agreed. "We took it, yet we won't see any reward for it."

You could argue that, technically, the ship would've been theirs - the Horde had pressed her into service already. In the past, there had been cases where a ship had been kept by whoever captured it. On the other hand, the Alliance forces weren't supposed to keep the property liberated from the Horde for themselves. Especially if said property originally belonged to a member or ally of the Alliance. That made for angry allies.

"No, now!" Sea Hawk said, patting both women on the shoulders. "We returned a ship that was stolen to her rightful crew! We're following the sacred code of the sea!"

"We're better than the Horde," Seacat reminded them.

The two had the grace to blush.

"And like this, we didn't need a prize crew," she added.

"Right," Alcy said. "I guess the sailors we freed wouldn't have liked taking the ship to the prize court for us…"

Seacat snorted. The crew would probably have changed the name and claimed to be a different ship as soon as they were out of sight of the Dragon's Daughter V.

"Besides, we'll still get our share of the frigate and barge we took!" Sea Hawk reminded them.

"Once the prize court gets around to rule the case," Seacat added.

"Right." Licy and Alcy sighed in unison. "And that will take some time."

"We won't have many opportunities to spend any money, anyway," Seacat pointed out. "Not until this campaign will be finished."

"I only need one chance!" Licy told her with a wide grin. "And we'll stop in Fortress Freedom, won't we?"

"Oh, yes - a fortress full of marines? The taverns will be rocking!" Alcy agreed.

Well, they weren't wrong. On the other hand, Adora wouldn't be there.

Seacat hid her sigh. No need to bring down the mood. Especially not after they had just won a victory at sea. "Just don't overdo it," she told them. "The campaign up the river will be hard."

"But we won't be alone this time," Alcy replied. "We'll have at least two regiments with us! And gunboats!"

"One or two, at most," Licy said. "Former Horde boats that we took."

"It's still better than what we had before. And the infantry will advance along the river, screening us."

"That's the plan," Seacat confirmed. Though plans could change. The Horde leadership wasn't stupid, so they would be expecting such an attack. And a prepared foe was far more dangerous than a surprised one.

Seacat had a feeling that this would be a bloody affair.


Fortress Freedom looked the same as when they had left it. More or less. A few repairs had been done, but Seacat could still see some damage from shells. Holes and craters in the piers and mole, mostly. It figured - a few raiders at sea didn't change the fact that the Horde lacked the strength for a landing operation; any Horde attacks would be coming overland.

At least the port facilities had been repaired - she could see a new crane at the waterfront. And lots of soldiers serving as stevedores, unloading cargo from a Kingdom of Snows transport. "Looks like they were reinforced already," she commented. There were too many marines in the port for just the Seahorses.

"Mermista mentioned that the fourth regiment was sent straight from Salineas, but she didn't know if the ships would arrive in time."

Seacat nodded. The winds made calculating travel times difficult. Another thing that would change with engines becoming wide-spread - at least for military transports. For most cargo, it didn't matter if it arrived a few weeks sooner or later.

"The more soldiers in the fortress, the better!" Alcy said, joining them at the railing.

Seacat didn't know if she meant that they would be safer - or that there would be more soldiers to carouse with. She didn't care, either. If any attack happened, she'd have ample time to get on board the Dragon's Daughter V, and they'd fight at sea. And there was only one person she wanted to carouse with. And Adora wasn't in the Fortress.

She blinked. Damn. She got it bad. A sailor was supposed to live it up in port - any port. Hell, that was on which all those lurid novels Adora had read were based. And yet…

"Something wrong, Seacat?" The Captain asked.

"Nothing," she told him without looking away from the fortress. They were on an important mission. Any distractions would be stupid.

"Really?" He leaned forward, over the railing, to look at her with wide eyes. "You look a little down."

She sighed. Of course he'd notice. "Just thinking of Adora," she replied. Who wasn't there.

"Ah." He straightened. "She'll be alright. She's She-Ra, remember? And she knows what she's doing."

She rolled her eyes in return. That wasn't what she was worried about - though now that he mentioned it, she was worrying. A little. Shadow Weaver did know Adora. And she would be making plans to deal with She-Ra. Sure, the witch had messed up and underestimated Seacat, but she had known Adora for a much longer time - and had more experience fighting her, too.

Seacat shook her head. "It's not that." Not just. "I'm just…"

"You're missing her. And you don't feel like enjoying your shore leave without her."

How…? "How do you know that?"

"I felt the same at the start of my relationship with my dear Mermista." He patted her shoulder.

"I never noticed," she told him. He had never moped around, not even after their breakups.

"Oh, it was before your time. Almost back before I realised that no matter what Mermista might say during a row, she loved me as much as I loved her." He nodded. "I, too, felt like shore leave was pointless without the woman I loved. But I was wrong."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Really?"

"Wrong, indeed. At first, I didn't want to enjoy my time on shore. And then, fearing for my reputation, I, ah.." He coughed into his fist. "I overcompensated, as Mermista calls it."

"'Overcompensated'."

He nodded as if she had said something profound. "Yes. I decided - correctly - that I could enjoy shore leave even without my love. Yet I went a little overboard."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"So, do enjoy your time on shore! Raise a glass in honour of your lover! Dance and gamble and fight to your heart's content. But don't try to prove that you're still the same sailor you were before you met the love of your life."

"I wouldn't do that!" That would be betraying Adora's trust!

"Good." He nodded again, with a smile that seemed proud rather than sad. "Then you're already wiser than I was!"

"'Already'?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

"At least in the ways of love," he amended his words. "But mark my words - we'll enjoy our time on shore leave! In honour of our two loves!"

"Yes!" Alcy chimed in, beaming at them.

Damn. Seacat had completely forgotten that the scoundrel was listening to them.


"Set sail! Cast off!"

The crew threw themselves into it with a vengeance. The sail practically flew up as Horas pulled on the lines, and Alcy and Licy threw the mooring lines to the pier with enough force to almost dumping them in the water on the other side. The Dragon's Daughter V was leaving port for a scouting cruise south. A short one - they would have to be back in time for the transports to arrive with the troops - but they needed to know if the Horde was preparing anything south of the fortress.

"And there we go!" Sea Hawk announced as the ship turned and started to pick up speed, the tide carrying it out.

"By the time we're back, things should've calmed down," Seacat said as they were halfway to the sea.

"Exactly!" the Captain agreed.

"We didn't break too much, anyway," Licy added.

"And they started it. Stupid marines." Alcy scoffed. "Not the Seahorses, the others."

"The Fourth," Seacat told her. "The Iron Crabs."

Both scoundrel and even Horas snorted at that. "Fits them," the minotaur commented.

Seacat shrugged. She could imagine the jokes the marines had to suffer through. Well, she remembered making some, last night. But then, that was to be expected, what with the Fourth being new arrivals. The brawl that broke out had been started by the Crabs, in any case.

It had been fun, though. The Captain had been correct about that. And they hadn't overdone it. She still remembered everything and the taverns they had visited still stood. Slightly battered, in one case, but that hardly counted on the waterfront.

Still, sailing early meant they wouldn't have to explain any details. And the Captain wouldn't have to pull rank. By the time they got back, Kilian would've straightened out things anyway. At least Sea Hawk claimed so.


"That's a whole day we spent patrolling the area without spotting anything," Seacat said as she joined Sea Hawk at the helm in time to see the sun set. "I would've expected them to at least use cutters and courier ships to keep an eye on us." The Horde hadn't lost most of their couriers, after all. And the smaller ships could evade the blockade by the Salinean Fleet. Not always, not by far - but often enough to make the attempt worth it.

"It might just be bad luck," the Captain replied. "However… if they are holding back their scouts, then they are not only preparing something, but they either have other means to keep an eye on the area - or they are ignoring us."

"They can't ignore the fortress," Seacat said. "It's the perfect staging point for an offensive."

"But that is obvious - they know we'll mass our troops there," he countered.

"They still need to know how many troops we're gathering," she pointed out.

"That depends on how far away their main line is. If they withdraw far enough, they have plenty of time to use scouts on skiffs to track and observe us." He rubbed his moustache. "I think they're up to something. That witch of theirs…" He looked at her. "Can she use magic to watch us from afar?"

"Probably," Seacat replied. Sorceresses could do that, or so she'd heard. "I've never seen her do it." Shadow Weaver never showed her anything. Although Adora didn't know much about the witch's capabilities, either.

"It cannot be sustainable - otherwise, the Horde wouldn't have suffered defeats." Sea Hawk nodded to her own words. "And it might be pointless at sea; without a reference point, you'd never know a ship's position."

"Good enough for keeping an eye on the coast, though," Seacat told him.

"Infantry on foot would be enough for that," he retorted. "So, we're already sailing out of sight of land."

She acknowledged the point with a slight hiss. "What are they doing, then? They can't gather a fleet in a blockaded port without the Salineans noticing."

"I agree. And yet, they have to keep us from landing more troops in the fortress. One we're ready, they'll lose all the troops cut off in the north, at the very least," Sea Hawk said. He suddenly smiled. "I think I know what they have their couriers doing."

Sometimes, the Captain's flair for dramatic scenes was very annoying. "What are they doing?" Seacat asked.

"Seeking the raiding frigates with new orders."

Oh. That made sense. She should've thought of it herself. "And what will those orders say?"

"Either an all-out attack on the fortress - or a diversionary attack on another port," Sea Hawk explained.

"Four frigates won't be able to take the port. Engines or not - the Salineans will have double their number of ships screening the port, and the guns on the mole."

Sea Hawk's expression grew serious, and Seacat tensed up. "But their engines will let them break through the Salinean battleline and into the harbour."

She hissed. "Fires ships?"

"Or bomb ships."

Damn. "We don't know if they would do that." The Horde hadn't been keen on such attacks before.

"They've got a lot to lose," Sea Hawk said. "If they lose the troops north of us and the river…" He shrugged. "We need to prepare for it, even if I'm wrong." Louder, he added: "Turn about! And start the engine!"

"Let's hope they haven't figured out how to turn their engines into bombs," Seacat muttered as she started to walk towards the hatch leading belowdecks. Four frigates blowing up like that… there wouldn't be much left of any ship in the vicinity.


Nothing. Perched on top of the mast, Seacat sighed as she kept scanning the horizon. She was sure that the Horde ships were out there. And their scouts - or spies - would have noticed that the troop transports had arrived in the fortress.

But she didn't know how long it would take for the Horde ships to get word of that. They would have to send a courier to the coast - either south or north of the fortress, at a location the Horde still controlled. Probably at night, too, to make it harder to spot the ship.

The patrols of the Salinean Navy hadn't caught any such attempts, but that didn't mean anything. Smugglers routinely managed to evade the fleet, and any Horde captain who had managed to sneak out of a blockaded port would be skilled enough to make the coast at night as well.

Perhaps they had misjudged the time it would take for the transports to arrive? They would have meeting times pre-arranged, which was a tricky business. No. She shook her head. She couldn't count on that. And even if the Horde attack was late, they could still wreck the transports unloading the supplies.

And if the Horde ships had been turned into bombs… She shuddered.

On the other hand, finding any ship, much less four frigates doing their best to hide, was not easy. What were the odds that the Horde had managed to contact all four frigates and gather them for this attack?

She snorted. The Horde didn't have too many skilled officers. And…

...there was something on the horizon. She narrowed her eyes and picked up her telescope.

Then she cursed. It seemed that the odds of the Horde gathering all four missing frigates hadn't been as impossible as she had hoped.