A Tale That Dawned [Book 4 of Selvina's Tale series]

Chapter 43: Center of Focus

Hook peered into his spyglass and smiled widely. "White flag is waving, lads!" he yelled as loudly as he could. "We win another one!"

Jack couldn't hear his own shouting voice amidst the ever-increasing cheer, his lungs burning and his face buzzing.

****

Selvina snuck behind a shop and, as stealthily as she could, pulled a dirty robe off a clothesline. It was dry enough to wear and she quickly slipped it over her blouse and skirt, not wishing to draw any attention to herself. Amalthea's attire was unremarkable enough and Tinkerbelle needed no disguise.

"Ugh, this thing stinks," Selvina said as she walked into the nearest alley and headed toward the street. The three stopped moving as they reached it and gazed about, watching men, women, and children of human, elven, and dwarven races go about their business. Everyone seemed too busy to care about a few figures skulking in an alley.

"Seems safe enough," Tinkerbelle said. "Let's go."

"Wait," said Selvina. "I have no idea where to go from here and we don't have any time to chance it."

"I can fly up and spot us a route."

"Yeah, sure, that works but that doesn't help us once we're out of it. It'll take us a while to get to the army camp. We need faster transportation."

Tinkerbelle turned around and eyed Amalthea, the white-haired woman quiet and observant as always. "You can turn into a unicorn right?"

"I am a unicorn," replied Amalthea.

"Don't be silly, Tinkerbelle," warned Selvina. "How do we hide the horn? Riding a unicorn through a capital city is the exact opposite of trying not to draw attention! I was thinking more along the lines of..."

But then, as if sent by the gods, an answer revealed itself.

****

The naval battle seemed to be swinging in Avalon's favour. Many of the enemy's smaller ships were purposely avoiding Julia's Revenge and its larger ones, more than a match for Hook's frigate, were battered and bruised and in no condition to pursue.

Jack watched as the admiral's flagship sailed next to a Noyran second rate, a massive hulk of tall, wide sails and multiple decks of cannon. The flagship opened fire when it was in position, its highest deck firing first, starting the sequence from the stern to bow, one cannon firing after another. Its second deck of cannons fired next, the shots firing from bow to stern. The third deck fired immediately after, from stern to bow. The sequence of shots was an amazing display and for a crew to manage that in the thick of battle was incredibly impressive to Jack. The Noyran ship, on the other hand, fired its shots in no order, its crew clearly in a panicked, chaotic state.

It was no surprise to anyone that after the admiral's volley, it hung up its white flag of surrender. Another foe defeated. Another enemy captain humbled.

The warm, pleasant feeling of hope pulsed in Jack's chest. They were winning wonderfully. Few Avalonian ships had been sunk or irreparably damaged and though many had suffered some form of destruction, most of them were capable of fighting on if need be.

"Damage report!" Captain Hook called out, walking to the main deck, spyglass in hand.

"Cargo hold is flooded," answered one of the crewmen. "Patching up the holes as we speak."

"How's our armament?"

"We lost three cannons on the port side and two on the starboard. A few more are banged up but still fire well enough. We've still got plenty of cannonballs and our powder stock is at about half capacity."