Pressed Prey

Vel’s confidence had not been misplaced. Within no more than 4 hours, the squadron was nearly upon its prey.

He’d stopped using his powers to hurry the ships along as they got within a certain distance, not wanting to make the sailors’ jobs harder as they closed in by forcing them to do that delicate work at unfamiliar speeds.

He was fully suited up for battle now, as was Dina next to him. Full plate was not practical here, but they both wore a lot of armor, which came with dangers of its own. The chainmail alone would make drowning a certainty if one went overboard, at least for anyone that needed to breathe.

The risk was worth it though. The marines aboard the ships were similarly suited up, fully aware that their gear meant **** if they hit the water. The sailors too armed and armored themselves with what they had, but none among their number seemed to own even a mail shirt, at least not on the Fury. Luckily, the complement of marines that every ship carried would bear the brunt of the fighting, and the sailors would hopefully see little to no combat.

The siblings stood next to the captain again, but at the helm this time, the old man having insisted on having control of the ship himself as they closed in.

“There’s no obvious flagship among them, my lord, and your lady aunt made it quite clear we’re to select our target first. I will need your decision soon.”

Vel nodded, he’d been considering that problem for a little while now. His squadron was outnumbered by the pirates, but their own ships were larger than even the largest ones among the rabble, and they clearly outgunned them to an almost ludicrous degree. An engagement with cannon would be in their favor and would likely minimize their own casualties, but it risked killing Catalia, something Vel had promised his uncle not to do.

Boarding would be necessary, but which ship was she on? Every squad of marines had orders to take her alive, if possible, but that wasn’t good enough. The officers would be loathe to risk themselves or their men to make it possible and might very well deem it best to just kill her, and Vel could not blame any of them for it. That was if they even recognized her before she was slain.

It would be best, perhaps even vital to keeping his promise, that Vel lead the boarding of Catalia’s vessel.

But which ship was she aboard? He had hoped the answer would be obvious: a flagship, a signature flag, some clear mark of command. Yet nothing of the kind revealed itself.

He considered trying to use his powers, but to what end? He did not know Catalia’s mind and would not be able to identify it in the sea of minds that would greet him if he reached out.

On the other hand, he was out of options, and there was little danger in trying. He sent a brief mental pulse to Dina to let her know what he was about to do. She, not caring who could see, gently took his hand and squeezed it. Vel closed his eyes and let his mind float free.

He was amazed at how much he could perceive. Once it was all he could do to touch a mind or two, now he soared above the squadron, the minds aboard it a sea of twinkling little lights.

He pushed away towards the enemy fleet, a distance that would once have been insurmountable, but not so anymore. In the space between the fleets, a few merfolk minds twinkled, their songs like a background melody.

The pirate fleet looked much like his own had from above, except the clusters of minds were smaller and more numerous, owing to the larger number of smaller ships.

And just like that, Vel knew where she was. He didn’t know how he knew, but her mind was clear to him. It was… different. Perhaps it was wrong to say that it shone a little brighter than the others, but it was the closest Vel could come to putting it into words. The important part though was that it was her. He was sure of it, and he had learned not to question these things.

He opened his eyes again and took in the disorganized shambles into which the pirate fleet had collapsed. Some of their captains had realized fleeing wasn't working and were attempting to position for a fight, others seemed to disagree and were still fleeing. The result was chaos. Or perhaps it was simply due to them being disorganized rabble.

Vel knew exactly which ship Catalia was on, even after the change of perspective.

“I know which ship we will board.”

Letting go of Dina’s hand he strode away from her and the captain, heading for the prow.

“My lord, I need to know as well!”

Dina hurried to follow her brother.

“Don’t worry, you will in just a moment.”

He strode across the deck, every step full of purpose. Sailors parted to let him pass, sensing something of that purpose.

Upon reaching the front end of the ship, Vel’s eyes sought out the pirate leader’s ship. It was one of the ones that hadn’t turned, and it was trying to speed away into the mess of other vessels. If it managed to maneuver through them, it might well escape while the squadron was bogged down with the others. He could not allow that.

Vel stood, his legs spread evenly in a stable stance. He brought his arm behind his back like Fal had shown him, his hand coming to rest in the small of his back.

This was not like his first exercises; he was not standing on solid ground. But he was in his element, the salt spray and ocean wind around him felt right. He drew power from them and channeled it through himself, keeping it bottled up and building with great willpower.

Then, when the moment was right, he whipped out his free arm in front of himself, forming the straight line between shoulders, elbow, and hand that his mentor had taught him.

The bolt of lighting that sprang forth was easily the most powerful Vel had managed so far, and it flew unerringly towards his target, hitting the fleeing ship’s main mast with a near deafening crack.

Where it struck the mast exploded into a cloud of splinters and the upper half fell towards the sea, attached to the ship only by what remained of the rigging. Vel felt the deck lurch under him as Avlogg adjusted their course to steer towards their prey, which was now a sitting duck.

All eyes were on him as he strode to join Fal and the marines, who were formed up on the deck. His teacher gave him an approving nod as he approached, clearly pleased with the display.

“When we board, I go across first.”

No one spoke in protest.