Free A Warrior's Legacy by Guy Stanton III

ship.”
    Thankfully our provisions had finally
arrived. I was looking forward to fresh food and drink and so I was
disappointed to hear that Captain Sargas had insisted that all
fresh provisions of food and water were to be saved until the old
stores were completely depleted.
    Oh well it was the right call that needed to
be made. There was no telling when the next opportunity to
replenish provisions would occur. I was going to lay down until
dark, which is when we planned to weigh anchor and leave headed for
the Northern Kingdom.
    All I could think of as I lay in my bed was
the old woman’s mysterious words. How had she known my name?

Chapter Five
Dark is the Forest
    I was startled awake by hand on my shoulder
and a man’s urgent words.
    It was Captain Sargas, “Sir there is
something I think you should see!”
    I got out of bed immediately already dressed
from earlier in the day and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I
asked, “Are we under attack?”
    Captain Sargas responded uncertainly, “I’m
not sure Sir.”
    I followed him up onto the deck. He pointed
at the Lantia.
    “I’ve seen no activity on her Sir. The
lanterns haven’t even been lit. This is entirely different behavior
than I would expect from Captain Ornak Sir!”
    I nodded somberly, “Lower a boat over the
side and try to keep from being seen doing it.
    The boat brushed up against Lantia and I and
the eleven men with me cautiously climbed up over her sides. Men
lay everywhere soldiers and sailors alike. There did not appear to
be any signs of conflict however.
    I reached down and felt one man’s skin. It
was cold. They had been dead for hours even while the sun had been
up. Below deck was the same no signs of a struggle. It appeared as
if everyone had simply laid down and gone to sleep. There was only
one solution to what I saw.
    They had all been poisoned.
    An icy feeling seized my heart as I thought
of how close I had come to such a death. If it hadn’t been for
Captain Sargas’s insistence that we use the old stores up first we
would all be dead now.
    The Lantia had no old stores, as they were
lost in the storm and they had been forced to use their new
provisions. This explained why there had been such a delay in
receiving the supplies.
    They had been probably waiting for a
suggestion from the sorcerer as to what to do with the newcomers.
This was the sorcerer’s answer to the problem apparently. I entered
the Captain’s cabin and saw Captain Ornak slumped over his desk.
His face was twisted into one of panic in death.
    He alone had realized what was happening,
but it had been too late for him to alert us. I stood in front of
him gripped by anger even as I felt a sharp grief over the loss of
so many good men. Their murders would not go un-avenged I swore
it.
    Talin came in behind me, “Zevin there all
dead.” He said quietly.
    I nodded, “We need to get back to the ship
gather the men.
    Gavin and Captain Sargas were waiting for me
when I cleared the side of the ship. I told them what must of
happened and they received the news in complete silence. Their
grief and anger at the news was as sharp as mine had been.
    “Captain Sargas I want you to send a small
party of our men over to the Lantia weigh anchor and start it
forward toward the dock and then set it on fire.
    Have your men string rope along after them
in their lifeboats. We’ll real them in as we weigh anchor and leave
the harbor, while the enemy is absorbed with the approaching fire
ship. We will jettison the new supplies as we leave the
harbor.”
    Twenty minutes later with the Lantia well
ablaze and headed for the dock we set sail for the open sea. We
watched the flaming ship that was all that was left of our friends,
as it smashed its way into the dock setting it ablaze also.
    “Shall we head up the northern shore Sir?”
Captain Sargas asked.
    “No head along the southern shore and to the
east. We need to find friends, if we hope to avenge our men and the
Northern Kingdom is