Marco sat alone in the ship's cramped navigation chamber, which was really just the edge of Elisa's bed. He was eyeing the map they'd sketched, surprised at how many assumptions were baked into it. Everything Elisa wasn't sure about was marked with a question mark, and more things on the map had that mark than didn't. To be fair, it seemed she was sure there was something there under each of the question marks, just not what any particular thing was because it had been decades since the last book wrote about it.

The floating bar was already miles behind them. That was their lifeline, besides the island. Elisa had marked out four possible places they could go for supplies when that failed, places she’d heard about secondhand, seen in notes, or guessed from spots marked on the last ship's map.

None of them were sure, but it was good to know the possibility of options existed.

"We'll go west," Marco muttered. "Then loop around. Maybe intercept a pirate or two."

"You say that like it’s already decided." Elisa said from the doorway, her arms crossed. "Any reason?"

"We need to hunt. Any ship we take out is one less that can attack the island,” Marco answered.

She tilted her head.

"It’s very Marco, you know. Deciding to help the island like that."

"Thank you, I guess?"

"Wasn’t a compliment. You aren't trying to be a hero or anything." She sat on the bed next to him and propped her feet on the barrel on Riv's bunk, across the aisle from hers. “It's just fighting pirates is the hardest thing near you to do. The most difficult endeavor. You’ve been choosing the hardest option for so long you don't even think about it anymore."

“I thought about it.”

"A little. But you were always going to defend the island once she asked. You just had to make sure it was real."

Marco thought about that for a bit. "Then why are you going along with it?

“Because it's not the wrong thing to do, and it wasn't like you made a bad deal. Having the protection of a place to retreat to really is good. Having a local ally who wants nothing more than us to hunt pirates is great, considering it's the thing that makes you the strongest.”

“But you’ll also tell me if I’m going down the wrong path?” Marco suggested as he stood and made his way to the door.

Elisa smiled. “Of course, Marco. I’m the navigator. My job is to chart the path for us to take.”

The ship rocked gently. Outside, the sun was dipping below the ocean, lighting the water orange as it sank. Marco stepped out onto the deck, where Riv was re-tying the main rigging like it had offended him personally.

"What's that face for?" Riv asked without looking.

"Just trying to figure out if I’m the kind of captain who makes big plans…” Marco tried to think of another type of captain but everyone he knew was either like Garrick, strong in every sense of the word, or had been defeated by him. “Or some other kind."

“You’re the kind that steers through the cannon fire because there's something on the other side you need,” Riv answered.

"Not the most comforting."

Riv shrugged. "Wasn't meant to be. It's just true."

—

The next morning, the pirate ship drought was over. They found three before lunch time.

The first two came as a pair. They were small ships usually used as escorts. If they were legitimate, they wouldn't have been sailing without something to escort. Probably they would have been running defense for a larger ship of some kind.

As illegitimate ships marked with the same black sails and random evil-seeming pirate markings similar to what the other pirate armada ships had, they were easy targets, registering as negative fours on the spyglass.

When Elisa spotted them early through the scope, they moved like they hadn’t seen The Foolish Endeavor yet. Marco decided not to give them a chance to notice in time to do anything about it. He turned the ship directly at them, only veering to the side when they were in both cannon range.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

From there, it was a battle of maneuvering that neither of the smaller ships were built to keep up with.

“Permission to fire?” Riv called, grinning. They had just pulled into what they considered their cannon's long range, with Aethe manning one and Riv on the other. Elisa was helping with Aethe's, since the elf’s skills made it far more likely to hit.

“Granted,” Marco said. “Let’s introduce ourselves.”

The first volley caught one of the ships flat on the side. Riv's cannonball came in hot and slammed into the boards, while Elisa's fire-amplified shot that came in just after and hit the same spot. At first, it appeared to do less.

"Oh. That's kind of disappointing," Marco said, just before the other ship exploded in a plume of fire so high it looked like it would reach the clouds. "Never mind. It got to the gunpowder."

It was the kind of shot that wouldn’t have worked on a larger ship. This one was just small enough and weak enough for the fire to penetrate. To the other ship's credit, it was undaunted and immediately set itself into a ramming stance.

It never got to them. The withering fire Aethe and Riv laid down on the ship as Marco danced around them just out of their firing angles would have been sad if it wasn't so impressive. The second ship went down flaming. There were no survivors, and The Foolish Endeavor hadn't taken a single shot.

The third ship came just after midday.

It was bigger than the other two were , and just obviously better in every way. It had sleeker lines, more effective-looking sails, and even better men manning the decks. Of course, most of that knowledge came to him secondhand. His eyes were pointed front.

Aethe spotted it first and relayed the information to him. “Company. Bearing northeast. Heading our way.”

Marco was already deciding on his course. The spyglass claimed it was a five, which was right in between the four he knew he could handle and the six he knew he'd run from for sure. This was a gray area.

"It's an five, guys. Want to fight it?” Marco asked.

"No,” Riv said. "No reason. Let's find more threes. Those were fun."

Marco turned the ship, catching the wind and pushing the ship as fast as he could away from the pursuer. That had always been the plan, really. If they met something too difficult to kill, they wouldn't even try to kill it. They'd just get on their way. He could never really say why, but it had always felt to Marco like their plan wouldn't be that simple.

It didn’t take long to find out why. The enemy ship kept a perfect intercept path, matching their changes with unsettling precision. Worse, it was catching up.

“That’s not a normal pirate,” Elisa said. “The speed is just levels, but the intercept path is training. I couldn't have calculated it any better."

“It's a black flag with the stupid drawing on it,” Riv said. “But that rigging is new. All the maintenance is done. Someone spent coin on this.”

Marco didn’t reply. He just stared at the approaching silhouette.

For the first time in days and after all the upgrades he had put into it, The Foolish Endeavor felt outmatched in terms of speed.

"Screw it," he said. "We're going in."

"What? Really?"

"Yes. We just cut apart two ships that couldn't deal with our speed. If this guy is faster, then fine. He's faster. We won't beat him that way. But he’s not much faster, and there’s more to Endeavor than pure speed. Let's let him be confident, get an advantage, and then beat them when they least expect it.

They turned, weaving in and out of cannon fire while their autocannons went for lucky shots. By the time they closed, The Lucky Endeavor had taken a few shots and so had the enemy ship, but none of them were direct enough to do much damage.

“He's not veering.” Riv looked out over the prow, holding his club in hand. "He's not turning at all. Is he that brave?”

“Maybe he has a skill. But our ship is built for ramming. He can't be that much better at it than we are,” Marco answered.

"You hope."

"I hope."

The collision was a contained cataclysm. The two ships hit each other dead on, and while neither ship broke outright, it meant that all the shock was transferred to the passengers. By the time Marco recovered his feet, Riv was gone.

It took him a moment to find his quartermaster. Riv was down in the water, swimming back towards the ship. A few more of the enemy battlers were in the drink as well, but Marco didn't feel that much better about things despite that. With Riv temporarily out of the fight, they were all in more danger, especially Riv. All their tactics were going to be different.

Aethe was already slinging arrows, but Elisa was just as stunned by the outcome of things as Marco. That momentary hesitation was enough for both of them to be caught flat-footed, and for the first time ever, they allowed the enemy ship enough time to board them.

The first to cross was armored and fast, landing hard on the deck and already drawing a short-bladed axe. He swung wide at Aethe, who ducked beneath it and returned fire with an arrow the man almost managed to dodge, picking up a cut on his arm but not much worse.

Two more came behind him, cleaner than the pirates they had seen before and moving with much more purpose. Their weapons were uniform. Their attacks were coordinated. Elisa moved in, the elements in her hands split between fire and lightning, but the two warriors split apart as she moved, scattering her effort and keeping her from hitting either of them with much.

Marco caught his first attacker midway through his jump, shooting the man in a shoulder and pushing him off course just enough to leave him clinging to the side of the railing, weapon and armor hindering him from actually climbing over. Seeing the enemy captain recovering and ready to jump on the ship, Marco dashed to help Elisa out first, shooting one of her attackers from behind before trying to stab him in the back. The metal cuiraisse stopped the point of his saber, which skidded downward and dug into a gap in the armor at an angle. The man jerked away, not seriously injured but slowed. Marco hoped that was enough.

The deck was chaos. Somewhere behind him, Aethe shouted a warning, and Marco spun just in time to raise his arm and catch a sword against the edge of his vambrace. He twisted, drove his shoulder forward, and forced the man off balance, kicking him over the railing.

“Riv’s still in the water!” Aethe yelled. “What do we do?"

Marco hated it, but he didn't have many options here.

"Trust him to swim back! We have to clear the deck! Elisa, get to the back, behind Aethe. I’ll hold the front.”