Burning Seas

[Jarad]

Geddo sighed. "Ah good, you are wise to listen to me. I say accept this, and I will pull my men back, while they search for the stone, we pirates will give them hell. Accept their terms. If we pull the pirates out, then they wont think that we are under your men. Besides, if I lead them to attack at night, which is something us pirates are trained to do, and I lead them under the pirates, not the southerners, then they cant attack you. I just say that you get your men prepaired for a counter attack, and just keep an eye on the navy. I am sorry that this may complicate your plans, but we cant let them get the stone." HE said to Khalore, the two pirates behind him spoke with admeration. "Geddo! Your so cool to think of a plan like that and keep the southerners protection at heart." The two pirates eyes glistened with admoration. Geddo sighed. "Shush! Well, I will pull the pirates back at your comande. Or you can say no, and I will use the pirates on land over there to nip at the northerners heels." He said to khlora.

[khalora]

"Tell the Northerners that once they find what they are looking for they will leave and return to their homelands. Their ships must be gone before sunrise, and if they aren't they are still not to attack us," Khalora said to the semaphore soldier as he hurriedly translasted what the Ice Ruler had said.

He turned to Geddo. "If you attack the Northerners then they will immediately consider our truce for broken. My armies and naval force will continue on to the naval fortress, but you should send some of your most experienced scouts to search for this amethyst, and destroy it by any means neccesary when you find it. It is imperrative that you find it before the Northerners Geddo, or so much will be lost."

Alessio looked around him, "This will be no easy task..."

[Jarad]

"Aye aye comrade. I will not only do my best, but i will make sure we find it!" Geddo said to Khalora. "Dont get yourself killed, and becareful, at the moment, you have northerners on one side and the navy on the other, if you arn't careful, then they ight just flank you." And with that Geddo grinned, and walked over to where the ropes where, and he slid down it, followed by the two pirates who had joined him. "Good luck!" HE said as they started to row their boat to shore.

[Kevin Sage]

Kevin stared with distrustful eyes toward the fleet of Southern Ships. The Flame seemed overly active.

Seems that word finally reached them... Kevin thought. He looked toward Ice, who seemed to notice the activity in the Southern fleet as well.

Still watching the fleet, Kevin crossed his arms and said, "Ice, they're planning something. We ought to seek the stone as fast as possible or they are going to try something foolish." He spoke darkly and suspiciously.

No doubt they’re planning something. We need to act now…

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[Ice]

"They are indeed planning." Ice rubbed his tongue along his chaffed lips. After listening to what the semaphore-man had to say, he ran a hand across his eyes and looked back toward Khalora across the water.

"Sage," He said, without turning, "Alaria," He never turned to them, it looked as if he was merely talking strategies with Cailen by his side. "I need you to lead a small party to find the stone right now. I will follow you with my army when I have finished here. Be inconspicuous. Under-estimation is a powerful ally we should hold this day." Ice trusted that they would not be noticed. There was enough movement on deck to make two seemingly insignificant soldiers invisible in the eyes of the Southerners. "Load one of the boats out of sight of the Southern Flame." Ice continued. "And sail with the White Warrior between you and Khalora. It should hide you until you are shrouded by our fleet. Then continue to Isla de Meuna and fetch me that stone."

Ice put his hands to his temples and replied to Khalora. "If the deal is still to be held by sundown, why must we leave? If we are not to touch each other's armies what difference does it make?" Ice asked the semaphore-man beside him. He was answered by the waving of flags as wind whipped through them.

[khalora]

"I'll try and keep the Northerners occupied here Geddo, you have to hurry and find that stone." Khalora said to the Pirate King as he descended down into his longboat.

Khalora turned when his semaphore sailor started speaking to him about what the Ice Ruler was saying. "None, as long as this truce is held." he waited as his response was relayed to the white fleet. "Maccenna, if you have anything to input here, please do. If you wish to go with Geddo and his pirates then you may."

Khalora scratched his chin in the silence that followed. only the lap of the ocean against the hull of his ships, the calling of sailors far away to each other in the distance, barely audible. The wind whistling through the tied sails, a hawk squaked somewhere high up in the sky, wheeling in circles with some target in its sights. Bakana let out a long moan as she sat on the deck in her golden armour.

What is there left to be discussed? Alessio asked himself, and he was just about to say something to the semaphore soldier when his navigator suddenly cried out to him. "My liege! Ships! Coming around the headland!" He had the lens to his eye as he spoke, and his voice was suddenly urgent.

"What?" Khalora rounded on the officer and took the lens from him, raising it to his eye and looked out past the northern fleet, and indeed, there was a naval patrol coming around from behind the Northerners. From this distance his crude lens couldn't make out any detail on them, but all he knew was that they weren't his, and by their obvious colour they weren't the Northerners either.

Dammit! Khalora thought to himself. How could he have thought the navy would sit by idlely and watch two fleets barter on their shores? He turned to the semaphore man. "Turn around Northerner..."

ooc: I was getting bored of this... lets spice things up a bit...

[Henry]

Henry led a group of the navy ships towards the Southerners, he hadn't noticed the northerners, but was intent on sinking the ship with Khalora on it. "Navy! For our bretheren and those killed by the southerners! ATTACK!" Cannons shot towards the southerners, and a few stray shots went towards the northerners.

The navy had arrived.

[Kevin Sage]

Kevin smiled inwardly. Ice had given them a plan, and he was more than willing to obey. Kevin looked toward Alaria skeptically. He had met her only once, hopefully she would be capable when it came time to take the stone by force. Obviously, this would be no easy task.

Kevin did not answer Ice directly, but nodded his head and made his way past Alaria toward the opposite end of the ship. In the distance, the sound of cannons boomed. Between the Northerners and Southerners, the Navy had arrived. Kevin cursed silently to himself as he readied the small row boat the leave the ship and head straight for the isle.

They were close enough to it to reach with within a few moments, and not be noticed by either the Navy or the Southerners.

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[Ice]

Ice looked across at Cailen. "They are perhaps the greatest archers of the North." Ice said. "I trust them with this task, and we can reach them soon and aid them."

Ice listened to the semaphore-man. If I understand this idea of the Southerners, there is nothing to make us leave after sundown.

Ice was about to say such when the semaphore-man shouted out Khalora's warning. Ice hadn't been watching the semaphore flags of the Southerners, and was shaken from his inner thoughts by it.

Ice spun around and ran to the other side of the boat just in time to see the Navy approaching, firing. Ice shouted wordlessly in anger. The Navy were not friends of the Ice Warriors. But they were fools to attack where both the Ice Warriors and Southerners were stationed. Perhaps they had not anticipated that the Southerners and Northerners were on neutral terms.

Ice looked back at the Southern Flame. It was time for Khalora to prove how honourable he truly was. Adverse times made odd allies.

Luckily for the Ice Warriors the trebuchets were already prepared. "Fire the trebuchets!" Ice yelled down the ship. Samara called loudly, roaring in the ocean wind. An frightening symbol of Northern ferocity.

"Cailen!" Ice yelled behind him, to where he anticipated Cailen would be. "Prepare your archers." Ice himself drew an arrow from his white quiver and nocked it into his bow.

[Maccenna]

Maccenna would have answered Khalora if she had been given more time but as soon as she opened her mouth to speak, the sephmoore man called a warning and Khalora took the scope. There was a naval fleet coming upon them- closer to the northerners than the southerners and pirates and still out of range for cannon fire or distance weapons. It was an almost instinctive thing for her to do - to shout out orders herself without Khalora's consent. She knew the Navy and themselves were never on friendly terms in these times, and the basic instinct to survive and to win kicked into her as adrenaline of both exitement and fear pulsed through her body.

The ship seemed to creek under the feet of archers, soldiers and sailors alike as they rushed along the Southern Flame's hard wooden decks. The wind was against them and in favor of the navy. It was better to be prepared too early than too late. She felt utterly aweful for not waiting for Khalora's commands, but it was the reason they were here in the first place. They came here to attack the navy. Now was their chance to fight. The element of surprise was lost but they had numbers on their side. Maccenna knew almost for certain that the navy would attack the Ice Warriors as well and she knew that while they were defending themselves they would not fire upon eachother. She pulled out her own bow and fit an arrow to it, though she did not raise it. It was too early to attack now...

[khalora]

ooc: Cannons haven't been invented yet ;D All we have are ballistae, but I get your meaning Henry.

Khalora turned to his semaphore sailor in a blur, "Swing the fleet around! Bring our face to the navy and advance the battleships. Give the order to FIRE AT WILL!!"

The officer beside him did a double-take, "But what about the Northerners?"

"They will be on our side! Pray they keep our truce!" Khalora ran to the back of the foredeck and called out to his sailors, who were surprised below him at the sudden onset of battle. "Lower the sails and bring our port to the naval ships! Load all the bolts on the port side and prepare to fire a full broadside! Sergeant! Load the catapult and aim at the heart of their fleet."

The Southern and Pirate ships all lowered sails almost in unison and they started turning around to face the new opponent. Boulders came hurtling through the air as the catapults on the larger warships let loose their volleys. Sinew snapped to wood as the bolts were fired across the expanse of water, death raining on all sides.

"Southerners!" Khalora called to the royal guards on the Southern Flame. "For years now we have bared witness the ruthlessness of the navy on our forces, on our families, on our lives! Now comes the time when we show them what they have wrought on themselves. On our shoulders rests the hope of all Southerners."

"Now we cross the seas to face these bastards who choose to fight us! Believe in the man on your left, and have faith in the man on your right! With strong hearts and steady spirits we will bring these naval dogs to the floor of their ocean!" Khalora drew his broadsword. "Honour! Courage! Country! For the future of your children and the past of our fathers. For everything the navy has taken from us! Give it all back! Captain! Fire All!"

[Alaria]

Alaria grinned and was off at a run. Beneath the ship, she stripped the armor from her body and replaced it with an elegant dress. Be inconspiuous. That she would. She had two roles that she could play: a warior and a lady. Lifting the skirts, she leaped up the stairs and onto the boat required.

Sage! Where are you? she yelled for him. Cannon fire was raining down on them. Both sides were under fire from the Navy. Taking a fan from the folds in her dress, she tucked it under her chin as she put her hair up, the blonde curls flowing down behind her. Snapping the fan open, she walked the length of the deck and stood at the front of the ship.

Ice was attacking back, and she needed to get over to Isle de Muena. Flapping the fan, she acted like the ditressed lady. The boat was covered from Ice's fleet, and she would be safe. As soon as she got to land, she would be able to go with Sage and look for the stone.

[Kevin Sage]

"Over here!" Kevin shouted back spotting Alaria through the chaos. He waited for her to step on to the boat before lowering it behind the White Warrior.

They would make their way toward shore unnoticed by either the Southerners or the Navy who were now engaged in combat.

"As soon as we reach land, we must find the stone quickly. I trust you are skilled in battle or else Ice would not have sent you with me. Let us hope that the Drifters are our only encounter."

((I'll post their arrival in Lyenya's thread onward!))

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[Ice]

Ice stood up upon the bowsprit of his boat. He was a target, he knew that, but from here he had a greater view of the ocean that had become a battlefield. The dull twang of ballistae hung heavy after every shot, and massive arrows flew through the air. Hungry vultures seeking white wood and white flesh to slake their blood lust.

Samara was roaring, feet were slapping against the wooden boards, white armour flashed, and always in the distance was the golden light of the unlikely allies and the dark blue cloud of the Navy, drawing closer and closer.

Ice had made his decision. Jumping against the boat, Ice travelled across a far longer distance of air than normal, and landed back on the deck. His armour fell about him, and he suddenly realised just how hot he was in the suit. But there was no time to dwell on it.

"Archers!" Ice called to the sea of white running in front of him. "Stand to port! Arrows at the ready!" Ice's call was echoed across the length of the ship, and the Ice Warriors and Fallen Angels began to fall into the archery ranks they had been taught. The Navy was not in arrow range yet, but the Fallen Angels would be prepared to fire before anyone else, their bows being the best of the kingdom. Ice had to remember to seek the secrets for his own armourers.

The Archers of the North stood across the port side of the boat, all in a line, while other deck hands prepared the ballistae.

"Cailen?!" Ice called, somewhat irritated. He looked around for her, but pushed on anyway.

"Hold!" Ice called down to the men surronding the ballistae. All were mounted. All was prepared. Three seconds passed, and the time seemed so long in Ice's mind. "Fire!" Ice yelled down. The dull twang of heavy white arrows filled the air.

[khalora]

"Crossbowmen!" The archers on the raised middle deck of the battleship loaded and raised their bows to and angle above the horizon, aimed at the Naval warships closing in on them. The Southern longbows weren't as powerful as Fallen Angel bows, but their crossbows still packed a terrible punch, and had a longer range than the longowmen on his outer deck. Not to mention the fact that every Danartan arrow was customarily constructed so that they would be pitched and flaming."Fire at will! Aim at their flagship!"

The twang of the sinews carried through the air, softer and more harmonious then the song of the ballistae. Bolts carried along the sky like a cloud and littered the first naval ship advancing on it, leaving golden flames tracing through the air. The Southern Flame lurched slightly on the sea as the catapult took a massive swing and hurled another boulder out towards the oncoming fleet. The massive rock clipped the mast off one of the battleships, ripping through the sail and taking of a chunk of its aft but smashed into the ocean with a tremendous splash behind it, the huge flames of the boulder quenching in the sea in a pillar of steam. Powerful but innacurate, Alessio thought to himself with a pang of regret.

A bolt ripped through the air between two of the Southern Flame's masts, almost wiping out a ran of crossbowmen and another one richocheted off the aft hull, leaving a section of torn wood in its wake. The water was littered with splashes from ballisate bolts, arrows and boulders, and Khalora saw one of his warships take a ballista bolt to its prow, rocking off course and tilting dangerously to one side. He couldn't see what was happening to the Northerner's fleet, but he assumed they were faring much the same as his was.

His ships were plowing through the water towards the naval fleet, fire arching through the air in front of them, the Southern Flame out in front, and the white ships closing in on their side. The distance between the three fleets was closing, and soon... very soon, they would be meeting in the middle... and then...

Khalora shook the thought out of his head, "Continue the bombardment!"