Northrop Harbor was massive enough to be a town on its own. Anchored ships replaced homes, their hulls gently bobbing in the waves and a layer of frost coating their gleaming surfaces. Vampires shouted to each other as they lugged nets of marine life – sea monsters that would be sold to other regions of the Demonic Empire as delicacies.
"Over here! That's the ship!" Raucon hopped over the pier and then gestured enthusiastically for me to hurry. I glanced at the ship he had stopped in front of. It was a medium-sized corvette. Nothing like the monstrous battleships that were parked further out, massive leviathans of iron idly floating in the sea. But it wasn't as small as the personal yachts that were docked to the side of the jetty. Those were probably owned by richer vampires.
I glanced up and spotted a burly vampire dropping down, a cutlass loosely bound to his waist. Dressed in a black cloak and sporting dark boots, he radiated a bloodthirsty aura that momentarily caused me to shudder inadvertently. Stella also instinctively placed her hand on her sword, her expression severe, but I held a hand up to forestall her.
"Captain Cooke?" I asked. The burly man met my gaze and grinned. I could see the demonic fires blazing in his eyes.
Raucon was right. This guy was mentally unhinged.
"That's right. I'm Paul Cooke, captain of the Abyss. And you must be…"
Pushing my glasses up, I took a deep breath and calmed myself down.
"Klein Pearson. Your employer, I suppose."
"Ah, yes." Cooke chuckled. He cocked his head to the side. "I'm surprised. I thought someone crazy enough to want to go to Ixia would look a little…wilder. I'll be blunt, right now you look like a little raft that will probably get swallowed by the waves."
"You…!" Raucon growled, outraged, but I waved him back.
"Perhaps so. Assuming that is the case, do you have the ability to safely escort me to Ixia and then back here?"
"Hah! I sure do! You won't be wasting your money, I can guarantee you that!" Cooke struck his chest confidently. "And don't mind me. I don't care where you want to go as long as you pay me!"
I glanced at Raucon. "Have you already paid him?"
"Yes. We've already transferred the credits."
"Good." I turned back to Cooke and smiled. "I hope you're as good as your reputation makes you out to be, Captain."
"Huh?" Cooke snorted. "I'm pretty sure I have quite the terrible reputation. I might be the one saying this, but most dandies are afraid of hiring me."
The fuck? He thought I was a dandy? Jeez. Perhaps some people might call me spineless for not beating him up over such a trivial insult, but such violent behavior was immature, childish and juvenile. Getting into fights for no reason over something as small as name-calling? I had no time to waste, and since we were going to venture into dangerous territory together, I would rather we start off on a good relationship.
Besides, I probably would have plenty of opportunity to prove him wrong later. And even if I didn't, why should I care what others thought of me? I wasn't going to die or scream in pain just because a brutish captain called me a dandy. Seriously? No need to overreact.
"Well, I'll be relying on you then, Captain." I held out my hand. He stared at it, grinned, and enveloped it in a crushing grip. I responded by exerting pressure on his fingers and enjoyed the slight wince on his face.
Cooke was a veteran, though, and he concealed his astonishment quickly. He nodded, impressed.
"Seems like you're more than you appear, kid."
"I hope so. Where we're going, we're going to need more than luck to survive."
"True." Cooke then turned toward his ship. "All right, men! Let's get ready! We'll be leaving in five!"
"Aye, sir!"
An affirmative chorus rose from the ship as the crews got to work. Raucon then bowed and stepped away.
"I'll see you when you return, sir."
"Thanks." I nodded at him, and then followed Cooke up onto the ship. Stella joined me a second later, bounding from the pier and onto the deck in a single motion. Cooke whistled as he looked from me to Stella.
"Your woman seems pretty good too, huh?"
"As my knight, she has to meet the minimum requirements of strength," I replied. Cooke chuckled and turned away.
"All right then, let's set sail!"
The ship then moved off, powered by mana and magic. It left a foamy wake in the sea as it surged forward. I stood near the prow, watching the grey wintry skies envelop our vessel. Behind me, Cooke shouted orders as he went into the bridge. His helmsman sat at a console, steering the ship while his navigation officer pored over a map and compass.
The crew didn't number more than twenty, which was a little surprising. I thought there would be more, considering a vessel of this size. Well, it didn't matter. If Raucon thought this was the best crew for the job that he could get under the circumstances, then I trusted him.
"The journey should take us a few days," Cooke told me, coming out to the main deck. "So sit tight, kid."
"Oh, okay. Thanks. I'm just looking at that…" I turned to the captain. "Honestly, I rarely sailed on a boat before, so I'm always amazed by the sight of the sea."
"Heh. You'll get used to it." Cooke chuckled. "I'm surprised you haven't gotten seasick, though."
"I'm used to traveling a lot," I replied, remembering Wolfe. Raucon assured me that he would take good care of my dire wolf, but the poor guy would be running around without me for the next week or so.
"Hmm, interesting. Well, I'll be on the bridge if you need me."
I nodded and resumed watching the scenery. I glanced at Stella.
"How about you? Have you ever rode on a boat before?"
Stella shook her head. She had chosen to sit nearby, her hands hugging her knees as she tried to get used to the gently rocking motion of the boat. Ah, so that was why Cooke thought I would get seasick.
"I grew up in Bravia, remember? I never had the chance to go out much. This is the first time I've been out at sea."
"Are you all right?" I asked, concerned. She nodded.
"I'll get used to it eventually. Fortunately, my new vampire physique helped or I would be throwing up." she grimaced. "I don't want to embarrass you."
"Don't worry about it." I then leaned against the railing and watched the waves. Occasionally, I would see dark shapes darting underneath the surface of the water. Fish, perhaps? Some of them seemed unusually large.
They did say sea monsters infested these waters. I wondered if we would get to see one. Hopefully not. We didn't have time to waste fighting sea monsters. I would much prefer to get to Ixia and back without any delays. Not to mention, sustaining damage to the ship would hamper our journey further.
I didn't know how much time passed while I stood on the deck, admiring the view. My enchanted glasses would magnify the view and allow me to look into the distance, or bring into focus blurry shapes under the water. Occasionally I would catch glimpses of shadowy leviathans in the abysmal depths of the semi-frozen sea, but they seemed content to swim past, ignoring the relatively puny boat sailing past above them.
Then I noticed something bobbing above the surface of the sea. Magnifying the image, I saw that it was another ship.
"Captain," I called out. "There's another ship coming from the opposite direction. Coming from Ixia, I assume?"
"What?" Cooke narrowed his eyes. He rushed back into the bridge, and I followed, curious. He gestured to his navigational officer. "Forward sensors to scan the front, from 11'o clock to 1'o clock. Search for anything resembling a ship and bring me a visual."
"Right away, captain," the navigation officer, Nate, replied. He thumbed several controls before there was a chime. A holographic display, powered by magic, materialized above his console and displayed a black ship. Nate frowned. "Frigate-class vessel coming toward us, Captain. Estimated time of encounter at current speed, fifteen minutes."
"The undead," Cooke hissed when he studied the ship.
I wasn't sure about it, but I could see that it was a rusting hulk of a vessel, with holes and ugly scars across its pitted surface. The decrepit ship looked as if it was in need of repairs, and theoretically it shouldn't be able to move in such a horrid state, but it was powered by unholy magic.
…then again, we vampires were in no position to criticize other demons' magic.
"Coming to greet us?" I asked. Cooke's lips curled into a half-sneer.
"Yeah…in an unfriendly manner. They are…hostiles. Patrols whose job is to keep us out of Ixian waters. If we don't turn back, they will attack us."
"No room for negotiation?"
Cooke gave me a stare. "They are undead. Do you see anyone aboard that ship who seems willing to talk?"
I studied the screen and when the ship drew closer, I could make out the crew. Or what remained of them. Skeletons dressed in rags, prowling across the deck and armed with crude weapons. Their jaws clattered and their sockets were as dark as ever.
"Where's the lich controlling them?"
"Probably on the island itself…if they are being controlled. More like they were reanimated and programmed for a single task – the elimination of trespassers. The lich who reanimated them probably wouldn't even bother paying any attention through its puppets."
I was clutching my right hand with my left, tempted to tear off the glove. Instead, I shook my head and sighed. "How troublesome."
"Yeah. So what do we do now, boss?" Cooke leered at me. "Do you want to turn back?"
"Of course not." I met his gaze evenly. "What's the matter? Are you scared?"
"Hah!" Cooke barked out. "No way in hell." He then turned to his crew and sounded the alarm. "All hands to battle stations! Prepare to repel enemy boarders!" he then turned back to me. "You'll see what you're paying us for."
"Yeah, I'm sure I will." I scratched my head. "You said the lich isn't monitoring its undead puppets, right? So nobody will care if I sink that ship?"
"Huh?" Cooke stared at me in disbelief. "You're going to sink that ship?"
"Well, I'm going to try." I left the bridge and got onto the deck. Stella was joining the rest of the crew in arming themselves and preparing to repel enemy boarders. They had taken up strategic positions. I noticed that, instead of swords, they were wielding hammers and maces.
That made a lot of sense. The undead were tenacious and regenerated quickly. Stabbing them wouldn't be effectively, not when they no longer had flesh to cut, organs to pierce or blood to lose. The most efficient way of dispatching such a troublesome army was to smash their bones into fragments and bludgeon them to smithereens with blunt weapons.
That inspired me. I was going to pulverize their ship with a similarly blunt weapon, using brute force to obliterate them.
Taking a deep breath, I began casting my spell. Azure mana flowed around me, swirling tempestuously and covering the deck with frost. The vampire crew around me gazed at me in wonder and dread, instinctively shuddering from the sheer amount of magic that was being called into play here.
"I'll be damned," Cooke muttered, watching me from his bridge with wide eyes. "This kid never fails to surprise me."
The undead ship drew closer and closer, growing larger with every tidal wave that swept it forward. I kept my eyes on it, never taking them off even while I continued to gather more mana. Above me, the maelstrom of azure mana slowly coalesced into a gigantic block of ice. Given our location, perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it an iceberg.
Panting heavily, I then threw the titanic iceberg onto the undead ship. There was a huge crash and the half of the ship vanished, buried beneath the gigantic block of ice. The forward half snapped free and drifted away from the rest of the groaning structure, which was swallowed by the seawater as the iceberg pressed it down.
All the vampires turned to gape at me. Cooke was the first to snap out of his stupor.
"It's not over yet!" he growled and pointed toward the broken half of the ship, which was incredibly still somehow able to drift toward us. "Their damned ship is just as stubborn as its undead crew. They still plan to board us with what remains of them!"
He glanced at me, thoroughly impressed.
"Our employer has kindly whittled down their numbers! So no slacking off! Earn your keep! Slay every single one of them!"
"Oh!"
His vampires roared back and gathered near the railing, prepared to smash any enemy audacious enough to climb up the ship.
Exhausted, I took a step back and rested on the deck. Having spent much of my mana in the previous spell, I could only watch as the undead ship drift closer. I was vaguely aware of Stella stepping beside me, ever the faithful bodyguard.
"That was good work, Klein," she said, just as impressed as Cooke. I grimaced.
"I only wish I had totally destroyed their ship."
"Oh, you have. It's only a matter of time before that half of their ship sinks too."
At Stella's words, I watched the approaching wreckage. Indeed, it was slowly being pulled under by the waves, with more of its black hull disappearing underwater with each passing moment.
But not nearly fast enough. The undead was going to reach us before the wreckage sank fully.