4 May 1875 ~later~
We had very little time to prepare for the arrival of the pirate
fleet. There were some 20-21 vessels in the fleet as opposed to
our half-dozen ships. They were flying a flag with characters
that translated as “Mountain of Wealth” and those conversant with the
region recognized the flag as that of the Dragon Lady Woman.
During the controlled chaos of our preparations, one of our sourcerous
prisoners tried to cast a spell. He was interrupted in his
attempt, causing his casting to go wild and surge around us.
Major Powell, Mrs Cuthbert and I were able contain it and the prisoner
was re-secured.
I started the battle topside, ready to fight using guns or magik,
whichever was most needful. However the Selene quickly came under
fire and I heard a terrible shriek from belowdecks. The children
were down there—I wasted no time getting to them.
Their nursery had not been directly hit but both Violet and Daru were
very badly injured. Robert was crying but unhurt and his twin was
upbraiding him for his behaviour and instructing to help her make
bandages.
Daru was pinned under a heavy piece of wood and Violet was bleeding
rather severely. As I was binding up Violet I heard the Voice of
Kali from Galen's lips and he lifted the obstacle clear while Octavia,
Caroline, and Robert tried to pull her free. Before I could move
to help them Daru was clear and Galen had rushed to her side. It
took some time to get both girls patched up. We were under
constant bombardment, and while no water was yet coming in to our
section of the ship, there had been several ominous crashes. As
soon as we could the children and I marshalled all of our strength to
get our nursemaids topside. If Galen had not been possessed of
Kali, we could not have managed on our own.
We found a spot near one of the launches where we could continue to
care for our injured without being too much in the way. There
were a great number of explosions. The Selene was under constant
bombardment. There was a sole advantage to Violet and
Daru's grave injuries in so much as the children kept close to me and
were not tempted to assist various of their parents in combat.
I saw very little of the battle-- not even the rôle my dear
husband played in it (which I am certain was considerable). I was
not much use until the very end. The Dragon Lad Woman used her
alchemical skills to create a vortex in the ocean that was pulling our
ships in. It took all of our mystics working together to raise
enough power in time to close it before we were all lost within.
As it was, Mr O'Flaherty lost his new ship, the K.O. Fortunately we
did not lose him or his crew of Omphas—they had boarded a different
pirate vessel and taken it for their own. The Slice was also destroyed
but all hands were rescued by Mr Voach, who seems to be taking his
rôle as Miss Wilhelmina's step-father very seriously.
The vortex did succeed in claiming the Dragon La Woman and her
flagship. She nearly took Captain Sparrow with her, but while
they fell together from her ship, she plummeted into the depths while
he was caught in the rigging of one of three ships that rose from the
vortex. The Flying
Dutchman, the Black
Pearl, and the Jiu Shi
sailed up the side of the vortex as if it were calm ocean.
The supernatural Flying
Dutchman came to collect the dead sailors and
pirates. I am not certain how the Black Pearl, and the Jiu Shi managed to follow
in its wake, but was most heartened to see Captain Sparrow tangled in
the rigging of the Jiu Shi
and not dead after all. That man has more lives than a cat.
Though he certainly pays for them in bruises and embarrassments!
The battle was over soon after that. We were victorious, though
at great cost to our ships. They are all damaged—the Foxglove being an old
frigate fared the worst of all our small fleet, save the K.O. and the Slice. Sir Spencer
was able to ground the Foxglove
before she sank and quick work with patches and pumps kept what was
left of the fleet afloat.
Now we have learned of a great threat to Admiral Naismith and the
British Fleet in the South Pacific.
The reporter we met back in Port Victoria, Gideon Spillet, was found on
the pirate ship captured by Mr O'Flaherty. He had been held
captive for weeks and according to him it is mid-summer back in our
world and Admiral Niasmith's fleet has been destroyed and the Admiral
himself killed by Wu Chang. In their Now Wu Chang rules the South
China Sea and revolution is reaching the boiling point in several
countries that border it.
However, there is hope in this bleak picture, as it is only 4 May in
our Now and the many-lived Captain Sparrow believes that he can drop us
into the critical battle. “Time waits for no man,” he says.
“Unless that man's name is Captain Will Sparrow.”
All our present hopes for averting this disaster rest on him. His
guess is that we have slightly less than a month to prepare our tiny
fleet for battle. To augment our numbers, we now go in search of
the Icarus in hopes
that her Captain will see his way clear to follow Sir Cosmo's orders.
5 May 1875
We have found the Icarus
and she has joined us!
In all the excitement of yesterday's attack and emergency refit, I
forgot to mention one of the apparent casualties of the battle.
Sir Phillip is missing. There is (or was as of yesterday) a giant
hole in the room he was being held in. His body (living or dead)
has not been found. Mrs Cuthbert and I have not had a chance to
confirm if he is dead or has made an escape. She has been very
busy with the wounded and, most recently, in helping Mr O'Flaherty and
Captain Sparrow divine the precise time and place we must emerge from
this place into the substantial world for best effect in thwarting Wu
Chang's fleet.
Now that the Icarus
is assured, we are all working to prepare the ships for battle. I
have two items on my agenda. First, working with Major Powell to
make more manacles to bind the opposition's magik users. We have
both Mrs Domokos and Li Tsin aboard our ships and, as demonstrated
yesterday, they can cause us a great deal of inconvenience given the
chance. The two pair of manacles that the Major brought with him
from the Lord High Warlock's office are currently in use on Mrs
Domokos, leaving us with only plain metal to bind Li Tsin and that
could be a problem when we sail against his brother's fleet.
My second assignment is to enchant as many cannonballs as possible in
the time remaining. It is my hope that we will be able to shoot
them at the enemy and trigger the spell I have embedded in them at that
time. We need every advantage we can contrive. According to
Spillet, there are an enormous number of ships in Wu Chang's fleet, so
many that our ragtag conglomeration of ships will only stand a chance
of diverting them from there course if we drop ourselves right in the
middle of the enemy fleet.
For the first time in many encounters with the Opposition, I doubt our
chances of survival. But the tide must be turned, the unsettled
nations must not erupt into barbarous rebellion fuelled by one man's
desire for power. The resolution to the mystery of the Sword,
Star, Path, Book, and Shield must wait until our more mundane troubles
have been settled, one way or another...
Proceed to Wet and
disordered
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