Free Down to the Sea by William R. Forstchen Page B

way along as he weaved through the maze of ladders that took him up to the bridge. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could pick out the glow of fire astern, flashes of light, a star shell hovering on the horizon; sinking, disappearing. Beyond the naval battle glowed the human city’s consumption by flame.
    “My lord, Hazin.”
    The captain bowed at his approach. Though nominally a ship of the Blue Banner of Hanaga, in fact it was crewed by his order, or at least those of his order loyal to him, yet another wheel within wheels. It had been his safety net, something the Grand Master of the Order had not anticipated. Yes, he had been ordered to kill Hanaga because the Order had decided to switch sides, but Hazin’s own survival would not be expected.
    “Lookouts reported sighting a ship,” the captain announced. “It’s off our starboard bow, range less than a league.”
    “The emperor’s?”
    The captain shook his head, and Hazin remembered that the term no longer applied to the individual associated with that title.
    “Hanaga’s or Yasim’s?”
    “Neither, I suspect.” The captain motioned to the night glasses mounted on the bridge railing.
    Hazin bent over, seeing nothing for a moment. Finally he caught a glimpse of something, a darker shadow on the dark horizon. A strange silhouette, masts…the ship had masts.
    “Human?”
    “I think so.”
    “Not like anything we’ve seen before, is it?” Hazin whispered.
    “Not one of the island traders or their renegades. Too big for that, and you’ll see sparks trailing. It has engines as well.”
    Hazin slowly moved the glasses back, trying to compensate for the roll of the ship, acquiring the shadow again. The ship looked foreshortened, angling on almost a direct intercept.
    “I don’t think it’s seen us,” the captain said. “It hasn’t changed course since we’ve sighted it. It’s already in range.”
    What is it? Hazin wondered. It was definitely not the emperor’s or any other ship of the fleets of the Banners. No sailing merchant’ship, human or of the Kazan, would be within a hundred leagues this day. Only an idiot would wander anywhere near this confrontation between claimants of the throne.
    So, either it was a blind idiot…or it was the humans known to reside on the north shore. The Yankees, who had so easily been frightened off with a treaty while the Empire settled its internal differences.
    They would have to be contended with, in due course, especially now that they had reached the sea and ventured upon it. But here, now?
    He weighed the possibilities. Behind him a plan had been completed…and ruined. Hanaga, the fool, was dead. The new emperor had paid the Order well for the betrayal, but he would never know that it was, in fact, but part of a power struggle within the Order itself, an attempt by the Grand Master to eliminate not just Hanaga, but his own lieutenant as well.
    Hazin grinned, wondering how much time should pass before he allowed the Grand Master to know that he had not died on Hanaga’s flagship as intended and all but ordered to do.
    “Have we been followed?” Hazin asked.
    “We were, your holiness. From the Red Banner.”
    Hazin smiled. What would they think? That Hanaga had indeed escaped? A puzzle for them to ponder. The Red Banner would sweep the seas come dawn, but they would be empty, except for wreckage and the few defiant ships of Hanaga that had somehow survived the night. “And now?”
    The captain paused, looking aft where the fire glow of the battle shimmered on the horizon. “Not now. This ship is the fastest of its class.”
    He detected the pride in the warrior’s voice. Pride and attachment in one of his station bore watching.
    “We’ll be silhouetted by the fire in another minute,” the captain warned, looking at his master.
    Hazin leaned over, training the glasses on the intruder’s outline, barely distinguishable against the starlight. They could turn aside, run ahead and across its bow and