Sea of Dekatos

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

“Master the sea and master yourself. There is nothing else.”

-- Sento of Yang

Wentai called out for the rowers to pull at regular speed. They knew he meant not the back-breaking strain of imminent battle, but the moderate, rhythmic work that could be kept up all day. There had been many boat races in Char over the years to explore different tactics. Wentai had consistently won the day-long races due to a trick he had devised. He had his men rest a full second between each pull of the oars. Until he revealed his secret and was copied by other ships, none could match the endurance of his men.

Wentai opened his wood chest and removed his copper sextant and compass. As Idalika looked on with interest, he pulled out his most prized possession, a leather-bound book. Its detailed pages illustrated almost every current, rock and whirlpool in the Sea of Dekatos. While it was not complete, he had spent six years working on it, outlining the details of the sea that a seafarer might need. 

He removed his bronze navigational aids and set them on the wood railing of his ship. His astrolabe triangulated his position between the cities, and his sextant allowed him to navigate using the stars and the sun. In his navigational book he had long ago drawn dotted lines representing the fasted routes between the cities, taking into account undersea currents and known hazards such as rocks, whirlpools and barnacle hives. Once he ascertained his position on the sea, he steered his ship into deeper waters and used the fast moving tides to speed toward Lau Cing.

His men kept watch during the day but there was nothing to be seen. The ships of the five cities of men avoided each other like antagonistic brothers unwilling to fight each other in the face of dangers from outside the family. Wentai stopped his ship briefly and had the crew drop nets, hauling in a catch of crustaceans and sunfish. The men uncovered their large, circular brazier and added fresh wood to the smoldering coals within. Cooked over the hot charcoals, the crustaceans made for one of the finer meals they had had in a while.

They sailed on as the sun dipped toward the horizon. There were no islands in which to seek refuge, but there were fast currents here, fed by vast undersea maelstroms which swirled and foamed. With only an hour of daylight left, the enemy struck once again.

The flying reptiles roved in packs, diving one after the other and dropping their metal spheres at Wentai’s ship, the near misses splashing the crew with water. For an hour Wentai’s rowers gave their utmost efforts, sending the ship surging over the waves. Wentai stood in the prow of the ship, his hands on the wheel, his body turned to face whatever assault was most imminent. 

To escape, he sent his vessel and his cherished crew through dangerous waters – the Stony Tract. This area of the sea was normally inaccessible to ships. The surface was an ugly mass of rocks and stone edifices. Many were a hundred paces tall. It was one of the shallow areas of the Sea of Dekatos, only a day’s sail away from Hecai, but unclaimed by them since their large vessels could not breach it. Wentai sent them hurtling through it because of its swift currents. He knew that if they could get half way through the Stony Tract they could turn and enter fast moving currents that would assist their escape. The Stony Tract was not large – little more than a half hour’s sailing to get across – but it was full of dangers. Wentai had mapped it out long ago by by sailing through it very slowly and he knew of a possible refuge within it. 

He raced through it, sailing along the edges of massive whirlpools to accelerate his ship, then getting thrust out like a stone from a sling shot when he turned the wheel and made his escape. The currents were active today, more so than his notes indicated, and they accelerated his ship as he sailed between stone edifices. The enemy archers, firing from the backs of their flying reptiles, found it difficult to strike their targets. None aboard Wentai’s ship were killed, although several were wounded.