Free The Devil's Deuce (The Barrier War) by Brian J Moses

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Vander Wayland. The Orange paladin was reserved around groups, and it was hard
to really tell what he was thinking or doing. Whenever Birch was alone with
him, out came the “I’m-too-secretive-to-tell-you” mystique, followed quickly by
his “the-world’s-problems-revolve-around-me” attitude that set Birch’s teeth on
edge. It was never anything Vander actually said, but Birch could feel it all
the same. It wasn’t even haughtiness. It was as if Vander didn’t even know how
he looked to others.
    Whenever possible, Birch stayed outside on the deck of the
ship. The quarters on a ship were too close for him to be comfortable for long.
Ever since his childhood, Birch had felt uncomfortable in enclosed spaces, both
in a physical sense of having the walls around him and in a psychological
sense, like being in a jail cell. He could usually ignore the discomfort, but
if left long enough, he began to get agitated and felt like a thousand ants
were just beneath the surface of his skin, all itching to break free.
    He envied Selti his freedom of the skies. Selti and the
other dakkan mounts split their time wheeling in the skies above, cavorting in
the waves behind them, or else resting inside the ship in their alternate forms.
Because it was a dwarven ship, there was an ingenious lift mechanism that
allowed large items of cargo, in this case dakkans in horse or runner shape, [11] to be transported from the cargo hold to
the main deck and several locations within the ship. The dakkans were thus able
to enjoy the freedom of the open air and still come back to the ship to rest.
Selti often switched to his gray-scaled drann shape and settled about Birch’s
shoulders. The cat-sized creature also preferred to sleep in Birch’s room,
where it was much warmer than the cargo hold.
    On their eleventh day at sea, they were still following a
south-bound tack when the lookout reported sighting a sleek ship bearing
directly toward them. The design was usually found only in pirate ships, and
the captain had them all prepare for battle, just in case. Platemail armor was
dangerous aboard a ship (or rather dangerous if you fell overboard), but James
had them partially suit up anyway as a deterrent to any forthcoming
hostilities. Their ship was the closest to the intruder, and should the
three-to-one odds not provide sufficient deterrent, the sight of several
paladins on board would make any pirate think twice about trying to close for
battle.
    As the ship drew closer, the lookout reported someone
signaling them with flags.
    “Whoever it is, he’s doing it right strange, too,” the first
mate said from the rail beside Birch. The dwarf had a spyglass to his eye and
was trying to decipher the message from the other ship.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well, see that fellow standing there waving the flags? He’s
waving the flags in the right sequence to tell us he means no harm, but he’s
got something wrong with his arm motions. Up close, it don’t look like proper
signaling.”
    “May I?” Birch asked, indicating the spyglass. “I know a
thing or two about this sort of thing.”
    Birch took the proffered spyglass and put it to his eye, and
almost immediately a smile broke out on his lips.
    “Do you have a set of signal flags I can borrow?” he asked.
    “What are you going to tell him?” the first mate asked,
frowning.
    “It doesn’t matter what I tell him, it’s how I
tell him that’s important.” The first mate looked confused. “Trust me.”
    Birch removed the pieces of his armor that would hamper his
arm movements, not wanting to send the wrong signals by mistake. The first mate
bellowed for flags, and a sailor was soon at their side and opening a box
filled with flags of every conceivable pattern and color. Birch sorted through
them until he had the ones he wanted, then he stood and began waving his arms.
    “Damned if he’s not doing it wrong,” the sailor said out the
corner of his mouth to the first mate. “That