3. Smalljourn
The village of Smalljourn slumbered peacefully in the night. Candle light reflected in the black sea like a sky full of stars. Not a single breathing being walked the streets or watched the harbor.
The perfect circumstances for an attack.
Captain Pi stood on the bow of his gigantic ship named Adventure Galley. On his shoulder sat Widagai, the parrot who had become his messenger. Many parrots had assumed this job in recent times, and other birds were following once they caught onto just how much gold messengers earned per letter.
A few weeks ago he arrived at Pi with the most important message ever: a request, from the king of Casbrita himself, to completely erase that dreadful enemy.
Whoever managed it would deliver peace. Whoever sank all fleets of foes, burned all harbors of adversaries, would be a hero of Casbrita. The Hero to Stop all Future Wars. Because if nobody had ships or a harbor to build them, nobody could attack you if you’re an island.
Pi was the man to do it. As the son of the legendary Seafarers it could even be called his duty.
And it started here, at Smalljourn.
“Aye, finally a village with a sensible name. What’s that? A hundred homes, a little less? Fire a few warning shots. If they don’t surrender, we dock and simply take the village.”
“I counted a hundred and five homes,” Widagai said, “during my spy flight.”
“Aye! Warning cannons!” a rhino yelled, hidden by the shadow of the mast.
Thorngold had been incredibly lucky, again. Pi had spared his ship and even granted them a pardon, on the honor of the one and true king of Casbrita. Since then, they’ve never had to fear they’d meet a bigger boat than the Adventure Galley.
After days and days of pleading, Pi had even allowed Thorngold to take his lovely cannon with him.
Not a minute later, his cannonballs were the first to crush a watchtower along the shore.
No reaction.
“Aye, that be weird,” said Pi.
He was a tall monkey, always meticulously dressed. A black round hat betrayed his high-ranking position within the royal fleet. His crew often gossiped about his background and intentions, but Pi said a captain should not have to share such details. He had to win his battles and fight for his homeland. And they had to do as the captain commanded.
A red cloth wrapped around his hips and his left hand always carried something. A bottle, a cigar, a telescope, but most likely a sword.
“Widagai, have you seen any living beings?”
“Not seen, but heard. Snoring. I think they didn’t expect you this quickly.”
A dangerous assumption, Pi knew.
His ship could dock at harbor without any resistance. He climbed down, joined by five crew members, without any alarms.
They sneaked across the wooden pier, past the watchtower with five holes, straight into the silent heart of Smalljourn.
They found a single dog rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He tried to pull a wheelbarrow with raw material from a rope around his belly.
He stared at Pi, both yawning and wagging his tail.
“Good night, gentlemen. Could you please help? Come, come, if you there with the sword grab this side, and then the parrots grabs the other side, then—”
Pi did not hesitate.
“It’s a trap!” he yelled. “Fire at will! Cover me!”
His commands were relayed. Back on the ship, fuses were lit and cannonballs flew. They struck the first homes on the beach. Wood and stone scattered to create a ghostly fog.
Pi coughed and held the red cloth before his mouth, as he stumbled back onto the pier. His crew became a shield at his back. One yelled and went down.
A fire was lit at the top of the watchtower. A cannon was pointed at Pi’s ship. Widagai flew upwards and annoyed the being pointing the cannon, a shadow of which he couldn’t recognize the animal species, by repeatedly pecking at them.
Pi felt the trusty soaked wood of his own ship. “Have we been hit? How many enemies?”
“Unclear, aye,” said Thorngold. The mist made it hard to see your own paws, let alone what happened further on the island.
Pi’s cannons fired. Smalljourn’s cannons fired.
A crew member yelled and toppled overboard, into the blackened water. A chorus of screaming voices raise from the village.
The mist sustained, for many minutes on end, until it finally cleared.
They had won.
Part of the village was on fire. The watchtower had crumbled completely. Some inhabitants had fled using their own small lifeboats; they floated as silhouettes on the horizon.
The others surrendered. A large dog held a white flag in his mouth and waved it frantically. The others raised their hands. Or their paws, if they could stand on two legs.
“Aaaaye!” Pi yelled, as his sword pointed to the heavens. His crew yelled with him. He watched the harbor one last time: all ships burned, most piers unusable now.
It was done. “Onto the next enemy village!”
When he turned around, his crew blocked his path to the helm.
“Missed opportunity,” said Thorngold. The others confirmed with a curt nod. “The village is ripe for the picking! Plunder their treasures!”
Another ape, covered in blue garments and at least five daggers, stepped forward. He held Pi’s flag: bright blue, showing the face of the king.
“Plant our flag. Claim the territory for Casbrita.”
“That was not the command. The enemy has been destroyed in Smalljourn, we must—”
The crew stood their ground. The group was exactly as wide as the ship and locked their arms to create a wall. “Take our chances. That we must, aye.”
Pi rapidly climbed into the mast to make sure he was above everyone else. “I am captain. I decide. We move on.”
He yelled. “Once we’ve destroyed all harbors, freed the oceans of tyranny, we will be welcomed as heroes! You’ll be covered in more gold than you can ever spend!”
“And when will we have freed the oceans? When we’re all old and dead?”
Pi shook his head. “Only nine more harbors to go—stay strong! The last one will be the toughest. Casbrita wishes the Council of Kame, where the Companions ruled once, to be ours too. But then it’s done. Us heroes; peace everywhere.”
That was enough to break up the group, though not everyone was convinced.
“Elar, weigh anchor!”
“Elar went overboard during the fight, captain,” said Widagai.
“Thorngold!”
“His claws are too thick to—”
“Whomever is able to do so, make sure we start moving again.” With a disappointed grunt, someone trudged to the other side and weighed the anchor.
Widagai flew around the ship. After a short search, he spotted Elar, the crew member that had gone overboard, as he drifted aimlessly on the waves. Pi tried to haul him back on deck, but Elar worked against them.
When they finally placed him against some barrels, he spoke nonsense.
“The monster is coming. We’ll all die. Nobody is safe at sea. The monster ship is coming. Powers like gods will be unleashed.”
Everyone crept closer to listen. Elar’s eyes fell shut and his voice sounded as if he briefly became that monster himself.
“I … have … seen.”
Widagai had seen this before too.
The curse had reached all the way to here? They were on the other side of the world! The Dolphin Pass was many months away, if you traveled by water!
Pi pushed everyone aside. “Nobody touches Elar, or the water, until we figure this out.”
Widagai spotted something else in the water. Another parrot, larger and bright blue, which meant he was a king’s messenger. But if this one held an important message, it was now lost to the waves.