The Attack of the H.S. Fury

But before they could rush him, a thud sounded somewhere on the ship and everyone felt the deck shudder, ever so lightly. "CAPTAIN!" a crewman shouted. Roberts immediately pointed at Fred and yelled, "Take him!" Fred swung at the first pair of pirates that grabbed at him, and a vicious back kick sent two more flying, but when a garrote suddenly slipped over his head from above and cinched tight around his neck, he was helpless to stop the pirate band from bringing him to heel. They bound him about the arms and legs, trussing him up like a pig. And a squinty eyed knave kneeling on the deck above him laughed, "S'like catching fish in a barrel."

Roberts meanwhile had hurried to the seaman who had yelled out. The man leaned over the side railing. Roberts too looked over the side and was shocked to see a large wooden shaft embedded in the side of his ship. "LOOK OUT!" someone hollered, and Roberts glanced up just in time to see another of the huge spears flying straight for him. He flung himself away from the railing and a moment later an exploding ball of flame engulfed that section of the hull. "LIQUID FIRE!" Roberts shouted out and ran toward the bow of the boat. He continued to shout, ordering his crewmen to smother the flames with sand. Sand was the only thing that could stop liquid fire. The devilish oil burned on contact with the air, and water slid right off of it. And if they didn't put it out quickly, it would eat right through the Peacock's Eye.

Briggs stood on the bow, the spyglass held to his eye. Roberts rushed up to his side and followed his eyeline. The only ship in sight was the merchantman, and it was headed straight for them. "By the devil, Captain," Briggs swore, lowering the spyglass, "we've been tricked! That merchantman is a ship of war, and those blasted arrows are courtesy of the Hespan navy." Roberts snarled. "Hard about!" the pirate captain shouted, but the ship was already turning away from the disguised Hespan man-o-war. Billingsley didn't need to wait to be told to turn and run, everyone knew the drill when it came to the Hespan navy. They were the masters of the sea and the only boats afloat that were equipped with ship's ballistas. And of course there was the matter of the liquid fire. No one knew what it was or where it had come from. No one but the Hespan. They were the only ones who had it and they were never slow to use it, especially against pirates.

1. The hunters now become the hunted...

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