Noah woke up to an unusual shaking in his office at the ship's hull. He realized he had dozed off while reading a couple trade documents. He was completely still in the office chair, head resting on his fist. Noah was thirty-five, well-built, with brown ashen hair and hazel golden eyes. For a moment he sat silently there in his chair, trying to refocus on what he was doing, and trying to figure out what could shake his cabin this much.
'I'm more tired than usual.' he thought to himself, before he gave up trying to focus.
Suddenly, his office door flew wide as his right hand man rushed in. "What did I say about yanking doors open this violently, Tammer?" Said Noah with a voice edged with suppressed anger.
"This is no time for protocol, boss, there's a ballista spear sticking out of the ship's deck." Said Tammer with apparent nervousness in his voice. Tammer was a man in his mid-thirties, black of hair, and had a young spirit, he rarely ever did show fear…. but if this was a joke, Noah did not find it funny.
"And what's a Valoran ship doing at the far north of Marelia firing at a Merchant ship just making it out of Shipbreaker's Lake?" said Noah with disbelief, knowing full well the grave implications of such an attack.
"They sent a messenger boat asking for Noah Hazar, they asked for you in name, boss. I told them we had no one by that name, and that's how they fired a ballista at the ship…. they know you're the only one who can navigate through the northern waters." Tammer blurted out impulsively, almost stuttering, his voiced edged with nervousness.
Another impact shook the cabin, this time more violently than the one that woke Noah up, prompting him to spring to his feet, he reached for his weapon while barking orders at Tammer. "Get my son and wife into this cabin, gather Jamal and Yassin and tell them to keep guard outside the door, I'm getting up on the deck to see if I can talk some sense into those psychos". "We can't find Adam anywhere sir, your wife Lily asked me to look for him a few minutes before the messenger arrived. We've covered the deck by now, we'll find him somewhere in the hull sir". Tammer replied.
Noah took a deep breath before saying his next words. "My son always chooses the most inconvenient of times to play his games doesn't he? Cover all the deck entrances, I don't want him with me if those psychos try something funny. And don't show them your face on the deck, they might kill you for blatantly lying, you know how arrogant they can be".
He strode out of his cabin, with his sword at the ready, hanging from the hip, his steps solemn and his thoughts focused, despite his lack of sleep. 'Those were warning shots we've gotten. The ship isn't sinking'. Noah thought as he climbed out into the open deck. the sun was setting and night was falling, the air felt chilly with a sense of humidity that indicated rain. Noah thought of this as a bad omen.
The deck was empty of people except for him and the chaos of deck equipment. The sails were not torn, he thought that was fortunate, but there were two giant ballista spears peering out of the edge of the deck, with a chain connecting each spear with the Valoran warship that was edging closer. Two men stood out on the warship even from afar, one was round with armor that clearly wasn't made for him, an important political diplomat; Ian Velmont, he stood at the edge of the warship's bow, Noah knew that man well. The other he had not seen in a long while, but his golden shiny armor gave away his identity, standing at the bowsprit of the warship with a relaxed stance despite how thin the spar he was standing on looked, a commander of a Valoran platoon and a retainer of a high lord, Cain Thorne.
'This looks serious, they're not here for some supplies. this is a covert mission, most likely part of some plan a lord from Valora is plotting'
Cain leaped about 4 meters from the spar he was standing on to Noah's ship, he landed gracefully, and gave Noah a slight bow with a vicious and a mocking smile hanging on his face.
"Hello young lord, or should I call you Noah now?" said Cain, the smile never leaving his face. "That's a nice ship you got yourself, shame it got two holes in it now."
"Get to the point lord Cain, what business do you have here on my ship" replied Noah, clearly annoyed by the mockery of his aggressor. "You are not welcome here, and your aggressions are on Marelian waters, so you better start explaining yourselves, Valorans." Despite the aggressive tone, Noah was choosing his words very carefully.
As he was talking, around twenty Valoran knights were starting to board his ship, along with Ian, as the latter finally started talking; "Mr. Hazar, the house of diplomats has agreed to Valora's request of using Marelian waters for our purpose here, you have no say in this matter, as for the damages, lord Bloodwyne agreed to compensate for the value of damaged parts, if you happen to cooperate. We would even pardon the liar that was trying to trick us".
Noah now realized those guys did not come here for peaceful talks, he strode while Ian was talking over a metal led on his ship, and tapped twice with his boot on it. "You guys are not being friendly with us for us to be so welcoming as you demand, respect is earned Ian, not forced." As he finished his sentence, Noah's men came rushing from every door on the ship, around fifty men surrounded the knights, swords still sheathed. "Now be so kind gentlemen, and tell us the purpose of your unwelcome visit".
For the first time, Cain seemed to lose his smile. "Your lord father is asking for your return Noah, this…. this insurgency of yours...." He rubbed the bridge between his eyes and continued. "… you are thirty-five, your father has been giving you chance after chance, enough disobedience, anymore and we will show force". The Valoran warship was so close at this point; the two ships' decks were basically connected.
A huge mysterious knight-almost a giant-, armored from head to toe with some lusterless black metal stepped through the small gap between the ships. He carried a huge halberd that's even bigger than him. His eyes peering through his metal visor were black as night, his steps heavy as a boulder, he was looking at a barrel that hadn't been knocked over by the shaking of the ship, the only one at that. "Who do you hide in that barrel young lord?" he interrupted. Immediately, a kid of six years emerged out of the said barrel, running off towards Noah.
Noah's eyes wavered here for the first time. "Adam go back to your mother, this is not the place nor the time, go back in the ship right NOW." His voice was shaking, clearly caught off guard by his son's immergence.
Adam Hazar's eyes were already watering, each glinting with a different color, one with a golden hazel identical to his father's, the other green just like his mother's. He was doing a good job holding his tears for a six-year-old. "I'm sorry… I was playing with Tammer…and everything started shaking….and everyone left me... I… I'm sorry… I didn't know when to get out…dad I'm sorry." He was struggling to get the words out, clearly shaking from fear.
A vicious smile on Cain's face reappeared. "I heard you got married to a low born, but conceiving a child? That's a new low, Noah. Isn't it about time you leave your make believe family and come make a real one. I'm sure your father will forgive you for having a bastard, just save me the trouble of dragging you-…"
The mysterious knight stepped in interrupting, his voice booming. "Your child is safe from us young lord of Bloodwyne". This statement flabbergasted Noah's men, and murmurs started going between them.
Cain did not seem to appreciate the interruption. But he didn't express it. "You may outnumber us, but every one of our men can take five of yours, we're trained knights, and we have ballista fire support from the war ship, with seventy more knights waiting for my signal to join the fray."
Noah glanced at the warship, and found four knights mounting ballista, the number Cain threw may be a bluff, but the ballista looked menacing, not to mention the seeds of doubt the enemy planted between his men, simply; things were not going well for them, he might need to take Cain hostage. Noah was confident in his ability to beat anyone if it's in a dual. It wouldn't be easy, but they'd be massacred otherwise. His target is surrounded by knights, and has a weird blood red spear at the ready. Noah needed to turn the tables, but the direct approach wouldn't work, he was lacking the element of surprise.
Tammer stepped up from the murmuring sailors, sword unsheathed. "We don't care about what background or origins you had before you started this crew, boss, you slept with us, drank from the same cups as us, and trusted us with your wife and child, you are one of us". He caught Adam by the arm, and continued, looking Noah in the eye. "I'll take him down to somewhere safe, just stand your ground, boss." He gave Noah a wink before turning his back on him and the rest of the men, heading towards the cabin door.
A long spear embedded itself in the door in front of Tammer, immediately stopping him in his track. "The boy stays here." Barked Cain, his face twisting in anger. "You either come with us Noah, or the boy dies, oh and no more games, your men die here!" A cruel smile a cruel smile crept across his face as he gave a signal, his raised palm dropping sharply.
The ballista started firing from the warship, shredding four of Noah's men immediately, while the knights charged in a trained formation, ensuing chaos between the sailors. 'Element of surprise my butt'. Noah charged forward towards Cain immediately, starting off with a faint vertical slash, and switching to a horizontal one.
Two knights jumped in to defend their commander, caught off guard, both of their heads rolled right off. Noah's speed was lightning fast, his eyes glinting gold, and oozing of rage. He noticed Ian being escorted back to the warship while parrying the strikes of a third knight.
As he finished off the knight with a thrust, he glanced at Tammer and found him ducking under a horizontal swing of the mysterious black knight, 'Tammer is a good swordsman, he can hold his ground,' he thought to himself.
Noah looked around for the other men. He found them in a perilous state, they were under ballista fire, dying too fast, and Valoran swordsmanship was clearly superior to the swordsmanship of his crew.
Noah found Cain grabbing his red spear from the corpse of one of his dead crewmates, and this time he made sure to rush him with swifter steps, and more precision, but Cain was ready for him. As the sword and lance clashed, sparks erupted like fireflies, and each clash lit up their faces, Cain's smile never wavered, his eyes fixed on him. Noah started feeling desperate as the duel kept going, his men needed him now more than ever. The clock was on his opponent's side.
A cry from Adam stopped Noah's sword at a crucial parry, which Cain immediately took advantage of to knock the sword out of his hand. Tammer's sword arm was cut from the shoulder and laid on the ground, and to Noah's horror, the black knight's armor was not even scratched. His black halberd was drenched red, the impact of his strikes had the ship dented from every impact. Adam was crying, yet he stood between the black knight and Tammer's knocked down body protectively.
Noah kicked away Cain's spear that was aiming on his neck, rushing over to intercept the black knight with fierce momentum. He kicked him hard on the chest, grabbed his halberd with one hand while punching his shoulder with the second one. Noah's leg throbbed from the power of the kick and his knuckle was bleeding from how hard the shoulder guard was. Meanwhile, his opponent didn't budge, his gaze was empty of emotion. "I wish no harm on you or your child young lord." He spoke with monotone, sounding almost unhuman. He grabbed Noah from his wrist and slammed him to the floor, knocking the air out of him, and immediately subduing him.
Cain's voice rang aloud as the one sided battle came to an end, with a resounding ballista shot that signaled the death of his last crewmates. "To think even a Bloodwyne would be this easily subdued by Euron the Dread, you really live up to your reputation, you monster." Noah glanced over him to look at Tammer, he found him releasing a life boat at the edge of the deck with Adam in it, he was in pain and clearly struggling with only one arm, blood pooling at his feet. Noah needed to keep the attention on himself, allowing Tammer to take Adam to the shore. 'I'm sure he's going to be safe in Aram, that town has peaceful people.'
Cain followed Noah's gaze, his smile widening even further. This time his javelin throw wouldn't miss, and given Tammer's condition, he wouldn't be able to react. Noah's throat felt dry, his mind went into panic. 'This shouldn't be happening!'
As Cain was about to lunch his spear, a club struck him from behind, planting his face in the deck of the ship, the attacker looked to be a woman, her face hidden by a veil, concealing her identity. But Noah recognized his wife, she looked the same as when they first met, fierce but graceful, and for the first time in this battle, he felt a kind of relief knowing she's safe.
Tammer fell into the boat with Adam, as the last rope was cut off, dropping him with Adam to the sea below. "Row Adam." His voice echoing with a tremble from below the ship. Now Noah only needed to get his wife to follow them. He kicked off the ground and delivered a kick to the Black Dread's face visor, his wife following up with a club strike to the back of his head. Euron was barely shaken, but his grip loosened, that gave Noah enough time to grab his wife by her hand and slip away from their aggressors.
As they reached the edge of the deck, a spear came whistling, imbedding itself in Lilly's back. She fell to her knees, blood coming out of her covered mouth. Noah felt horrified, dread completely taking over. He fell to his knees putting his wife in a tight hug.
His wife's voice came out weak, blood gushing from her mouth as she spoke. "Go Noah…. Adam needs you, please…. just move… please Noah, take care of our boy." Despite her dire condition, she was urging him to leave her. Noah's head felt light, a nauseating whirl of grief and helplessness taking over his senses, his wife's body was getting colder by every passing moment, her warmth slipping away. Pain clawed at him as he struggled with the unbearable truth. 'I can't save her.' Tears blurred his vision, the future he envisioned with her was flashing through his eyes. The memories cut his breath like a chokehold, the shared laughter, the quite moments by the lake. Her once vibrant green eyes, now dimming as they struggled to meet his gaze. His leather armor smeared with blood, a metallic stench of death. a crushing despair crashing over him as his heart's pulse kept accelerating.
Around him the bodies of his men lay scattered like fallen leaves, he realized as he looked around for help. Their lifeless bodies, a haunting testament to their loyalty and courage. Blood soaked the ground, echoing their silent screams. He tasted iron in his dry throat. His voice cracked as he whispered her name with a desperate voice. "Stay with me… please," he begged, clutching her closer, as if an embrace could defy death's grasp. Her hand, colder than he could bear and weaker than he's used to, brushed his cheek in a final act of comfort, a silent farewell. He felt right then and there that the weight of her loss would leave an ache that would never heal.
Cain's shadow crept closer, like the tide swallowing the shore. Another spear was in his hand, glinting under the moonlight. Noah shivered from the scene, he didn't want to believe his wife was beyond saving. Her breath was slowing down, as her body felt colder by the moment.
Cain tore Noah away from his wife, gripping his hair and hurling him to the side, his spear pierced Noah's thigh, pinning him to the ground. "Stay down. Final warning, I've had enough of your games." He grabbed Lilly by the shoulder and took a knife out of his belt. "Now watch." He slid the knife under her head, then cut her throat, cutting with it her last breath short, the light in her eyes completely flickering out.
Noah's cry shattered the stillness, raw and broken, echoing across the indifferent skies. Tears traced paths down his blood-streaked face, falling onto her pale and lifeless face. Despair swallowing whatever will he had left to fight. He couldn't even conger rage, his emotions an unidentifiable mess, he cried until his voice gave out, as knights closed around him in an encirclement, as if the world itself was closing in against him.
End of Prologue