Part Two. The paths we choose

  Chapter 8

  The close shot hurt his ears, but Armando had been expecting it, so he didn't even flinch. The Don involuntarily drew forward, hoping to see a hit, but the empty barrel, which had been thrown into the sea, swayed quietly on the waves. It was not at all clear whether the bullet had penetrated it or not; it was not going to sink or collapse. The caravel was sailing with all sail, and every minute the improvised target remained further astern.

  - Missed, - Lady Maria said with a slight annoyance in her voice as she lowered the strangers bulky gun.

  - I'd be surprised if you hit it on the first try, - Alex grinned, folding his arms across his chest. - So far, we'd only been doing theory.

  The firing lesson took place on the stern of the “Elena”. Together with the defector, the squad received rich trophies from the other world - weapons, equipment, radios, and various useful little things like pocket compasses. Armando understood that some of these things had fallen into the hands of the Imperials before, but they were immediately taken by the intelligence, and the mercenaries were returned a pittance. And the purpose of these or those devices had to be determined by dangerous experiments. Now master Carlon and Lady Maria were passionately digging into the loot, pelting Alex with questions. Expectedly, the black-bearded mage was most interested in explosives and complex machines like radios, while the girl guard focused on weapons. She especially liked the long gun, equipped with a sort of spyglass on top of the barrel. Alex called it a "sniper rifle".

  - I'm good with an arquebusa and a simple rifle. - Maria rested the barrel of the rifle against the edge of the bulwark. - But the recoil feels different here. And the hardest part is the scope. I looked through it briefly, but my eyes were already hurting.

  - You'll get used to it, lady. It's a matter of practice. You can get used to anything, given time. - The stranger grinned and touched the collar around his throat with his fingers. Master Carlon had made the collar out of a leather belt and an old tobacco pouch. The pouch was filled with gunpowder mixed with copper nail heads, and in the centre of it rested a small piece of enchanted bronze. Since the amulet did not touch the alien's body, and did not affect him directly, the aliens' trademark "antimagic" should not have worked. If something happened, the mage could make the amulet produce a spark from afar. The spark ignited the gunpowder, and an explosion of a completely non-magical nature tore the collar wearer's throat out. Alex seemed to appreciate the invention, respectfully calling the bearded mage "Father Elijah". He didn't explain what Elijah was famous for, but he asked that the comparison be considered a compliment.

  - You should try shooting at a stationary target on solid ground first, - the defector continued. - Not from the deck of a floating ship.

  - I've counted my remaining rifle loads, and I'm afraid they're too few to practise often. We can't start small. - With a sigh, Lady Maria raised her rifle again. She looked through the telescopic sight without squinting her other eye. - Let's continue.

  The next shot also missed its target, but now the pale girl did not lower her weapon. She inhaled deeply and exhaled smoothly for the third time. Even without spyglass, Armando saw large splinters spatter from the drifting barrel.

  - Wow, - was all he said.

  - Just on the very edge, - the lady frowned, turning back to the men. - Barely a scratch.

  The defector stranger clapped her on the shoulder with a strange expression:

  - No. You're good. No, really. You're good. I'm surprised.

  - Thank you. - Maria smiled sincerely at Alex, and he smiled back.

  "Captain Velria has a way of charming people from the first moment they meet, but the longer you know her, the more you realise how irritating she can be," Armando thought, resting his elbow on the bulwark. - With Lady Maria, it's exactly the opposite. The more days you spend in her company, the more you trust her. It seems to work the same way with aliens from other worlds.

  - Ships directly ahead! - shouted the observer in the “crow's nest”. Skipper Dorlt and his navigator daughter were on deck almost immediately. The black-haired elven girl ran up to the forecastle, and the “Elena's” commander headed for the bow.

  - How are your lessons going, ladies and gentlemen? - The navigator asked with restrained politeness, standing beside the helmsman. She put one hand on the wheel.

  - Good, - Maria said in her tone. That was the end of the conversation.

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  The ships spotted by the lookout turned out to be large war galleys. Three of the ships had their masts down and were making strange manoeuvres on their oars. Their stern towers were adorned with the white and gold flags of the Republic of Erdo, and their bows were enclosed in a sort of cage of iron bars. The galleys did not seem to notice the caravel, but manoeuvred precisely across its course.

  - Hard to port! - shouted Skipper Dorlt from the bow. The mighty voice of the bearded elf drowned out all other noises, the whistling of the wind in the tackle and the crashing of the waves against the sides of the caravel.

  - Hard to port, - repeated the navigator calmly. The helmsman nodded, pushed hard on the rudder, and the “Elena” steered steeply to the side. A minute later the skipper ran up to the bays, holding his hat.

  - Ha-ha-ha-ha! Almost got into a pile-up! - he said to the passengers gathered there. - Let's make a detour, I think.

  - What's going on in there? - Armando asked. - Is it the Republican fleet?

  - Yes, Senate and taiko ships. Chancellor’s, in other words, - Dorlt nodded. - What they're doing... I can guess, and I don't like it. See the iron bars on the forward superstructures?

  - Mm-hmm.

  - It's a defence... not against cannonballs, magic or ramming.

  - What's it for, then? - Alex frowned.

  - Ha! Let's see now.

  Catching the wind with slanting sails, the "Elena" was making a solid arc. The three galleys remained on the starboard side. Armando finally understood the meaning of their manoeuvres. It was as if the ships of the Republic were trying to surround someone invisible and constantly moving.

  - There it is! - The skipper pricked up his holey ears and pointed his finger. - There, look!

  A huge grey back flashed among the turquoise waves. Lady Maria fixed her rifle's telescopic sight, using it instead of a telescope:

  - Whale?

  The beast of the sea, meanwhile, made a semicircle and dashed towards one of the galleys. It hastily began to turn round to face it, aiming at the beast with a powerful battering ram, shod with bronze. The cannons on the forward tower fired a volley, but the cannonballs only sprayed fountains on the sides of the grey back. The beast came close to the ship... And out of the water came long tentacles topped with curved spikes. The tentacles entangled the bow of the galley, crushing the iron bars, the spikes digging into the plating. The beast pulled itself towards the ship with a jerk, and its oblong face emerged from the water. Its tentacles grew round it in a wreath like a nightmare parody of a lion's mane.

  - A kraken?! - shuddered Armando.

  - No, a whale, - said the equally dumbfounded Lady Maria. - There was a... whale. I'm after Carlon!

  Throwing her rifle on her shoulder, the girl took off. The skipper, however, gave orders:

  - Load the guns. Maintain course.

  Under the weight of the monster, the attacked galley's bow settled, its stern raised above the water. The sailors on the yuth could be seen firing at the tentacles from their arquebuses and swivel guns, chopping them down with axes. The other two ships flanked the beast without opening fire.

  - Let's see your whalekraken. - The Imperial mage didn't have to wait long. As usual, grumbling under his breath, he stood beside the captain, took the scope unscrewed from Maria's rifle, and looked through it at the battlefield.

  - Boom, boom, boom! Boom, boom, boom! - the cannons of the Republican galleys finally spoke. The cannonballs struck the monster in the back, tearing out chunks of grey flesh. The creature struggled silently, waving its tentacles. The ship it was still holding swayed dangerously. Several human figures, barely recognisable from this distance, fell overboard. One of the free galleys repeated the volley, and the other moved forward, ramming at the monster.

  - What is that thing, master? - De Gorazzo asked, unable to take his eyes off the monster.

  - Maria says it was a humpback whale. I believe her; she's read more animal books than I. With pictures, - the magician said, also keeping his eyes on the sight. Unlike Maria, he closed his left eye as he looked through the scope.

  - There was a whale. What's that now?

  - What you see. A sea monster, - the mage snorted. - A gift from the last war. Some whale had the misfortune to be near the fighting fleets of the Empire and the Coalition, got caught in a blast of raw magic, and that's what happened. I'm just surprised it survived this long. Usually these things take three or four years to catch, they're too aggressive. They throw themselves at ships. This one's been sailing for at least ten years.

  The former whale let go of the battered galley, but it was too late. The second ship accelerated hard and smashed straight into the rounded side of the creature. The ram pierced the ribs and skin, penetrating deep into the monster's flesh. The long grey body bent unnaturally. The beast's spine seemed to snap in half from the impact. Nevertheless, the monster managed to push itself off the galley with its tentacles, pulling itself off the ram. Wriggling convulsively, it plunged, but immediately surfaced again. Again it plunged, again it surfaced, moving away from the Republican ships. White fountains danced around, as the galleys fired everything from bombards to crossbows. Still the sea beast managed to break the distance and headed north, disappearing among the waves and reappearing at the surface. Two of the galleys gave chase, while the third, damaged, drifted and pulled in the oars. From its deck a swift winged shadow sprang into the sky, instantly overtaking the departing ships. Armando did not have time to see it, but the black dot into which the shadow had turned circled over the monster's grey back.

  - He won't escape, - Master Carlon said. With a grateful nod, the mage returned the sight to the Lady Guardian. - They'll catch up with him and kill him before daylight.

  - It's a good thing we didn't run into it alone, - said the “Elena's” commander. - The thing would have peeled all the paint off my sides with those stubbies. And we've got bullet holes to fill. Ha-ha!

  - Let me get this straight, - Alex suddenly spoke up. Watching the battle, the alien defector didn't utter a word. - These things... You know, like this one in the water. Do you have them after every big war?

  - Well, yes, - the imperial mage nodded. - It depends on the luck of the draw. They're smaller on land, because they're made of people or animals, but they can be big in the sea.

  - You know, - the stranger rubbed his chin glumly. - It seems to me now that threatening the inhabitants of your world with an atomic bomb was... a stupid idea.