LazyWizard
patreon
Ch 72 The final Phase Part 1
🕑 Added 2024-09-24 16:28:29 +0000 UTC"Where is the advisor?"
"I don't know, Captain. The last time I saw him..." Blackheart replied with a hint of pity in his eyes, "He said he was going to the privy..."
Almost all of the leaders had little chance to get sleep last night, but the Advisor had the worst of it. The man had been running to and fro, the whole night trying to keep everyone awake and alert... so it was understandable that his stomach was now rebelling and giving him a hard time.
"Fine, just get someone to bring him to me as soon as he comes out..." Ravager ordered distractedly as they exited the inner castle, "So is everything here prepared then? Are they all ready to move?" he asked as he saw hundreds upon hundreds of his pirates standing under the shades of the castle walls.
They were divided into seven different groups each having a leader of their own who were currently barking orders at the rowdy crowd of pirates trying to get them to behave.
Only a small percentage of his pirates had armours of their own, the rest of them either had to snag them from someone else or were left going into the fight unarmoured, which wasn't a new thing for the pirates as they mostly participated in naval battles where armour was more of a bane than boon.
And, their choice was coming to bite them in the back, but it was too late to do anything about it now... so they could only sharpen their blades while praying that they manage to kill their enemy before they get killed themselves.
"Yes, Captain." Blackheart replied while nodding towards the pirates gathered in front of them, "They have all already been fed and are now bursting with energy, raring to have a chance to take revenge for last night's embarrassment... I must say, Captain. It was a brilliant idea of the Advisor to have the cooks prepare porridge so early on. Just seven of those huge pots filled with that simple and filling meal was enough for everyone here... it was the perfect feast before our battle."
Ravager of course hadn't eaten with this rabble. He had had a different meal in his own room provided by his personal cook filled with all kinds of meats and dry fruits. But knowing that his underlings were filled with energy satisfied him because he knew the more vigorous they were the more enemies they would kill.
"But Captain..." Blackheart suddenly said hesitatingly, "One thing has been bothering me about the ambushes last night..."
"What?"
"I just feel... that it was really unrealistic how this new force, who has most definitely arrived on our island for the first time, was able to kill so many of our people in such a short time and that too during nighttime... the only way something like this could even be remotely possible was if they had a very precise map of the island, with the location of each of our settlements marked beforehand, which would indicate that we have a... spy in our midst."
"Do you think I didn't think of that?" Ravager replied back in a low voice while glaring at Blackheart, "There is no doubt in the fact that there is a spy amongst our midst... and he is not some grunt either as he is most definitely someone in a high position... but even if we know this, there is nothing we can do about it... Taking drastic actions will only cause panic among them, so for now we can do nothing but wait..."
"But Captain... wouldn't this mean that the spy could be sharing every single detail about our action at this very moment and that would mean that the enemy could already know about our plan to ambush them from the back."
"Don't worry! After our meeting last night, I had the rookery watched by ten of my personal guards every single hour... Even a hint of someone trying to so much as send a single word would reach me immediately and then when I catch this spy.. I would make him wish for death..." Ravager said with a cruel look in his eyes before shaking his head, "But that is all for later... for now we just need to deal with these attackers,"
"You're, of course, right Captain." Blackheart nodded with an admiring look on his face.
"So are all the pirates here then?" Ravager asked changing the subject.
"Yes, Captain. Most of the pirates are here, except for the few who would be left behind to guard the castle in our place. And I have also had all the blacksmiths, slaves, prostitutes and other workers locked in the storage underground. It is a bit stuffed in there, but at least they won't be able to create any problems behind our back..."
"Perfect." Ravager nodded with a satisfied look on his face. "Then I think it's time. I want you to send out our best scouts in all directions of the island. I want them to find those bastards as fast as possible. And the moment they get even a whiff of the enemy's location, I want us to be ready to move out and—"
"Oi! Oi! Look! Look at that!!" "What?!" "What?! Let me see!!"
A loud commotion abruptly interrupted Ravager's conversation with Blackheart, and both of them looked up to see that the pirates standing atop the wall were pointing their fingers and staring at something in the distance with distressed looks on their faces.
"Go! See what the problem is," Ravager ordered with a frown and Blackheart immediately nodded and complied with the request as he ran towards the wall while barking loudly, "What the fuck is going over there Mickey! What are you all panicking about?!"
"Captain!! T-They are here." The man replied while pointing towards the distance with an alarmed look on his face.
"Who is here, you idiot!! What in the world are you getting so hysterical about—"
"The enemies!!" The lookout impatiently interrupted Blackheart uncaring about him being a leader, "They are here! Right outside our castle!!"
"What?! What are you..." Blackheart's eyes widened as he finally managed to comprehend the message and when he turned to look at Ravager, he saw his own surprise mirrored in his face.
And then without waiting for a single moment, both of them hurried to climb the stairs leading to the wall.
By the time they reached the top, the commotion had spread throughout the wall, and by now there were more than a hundred pirates all over the wall looking towards the distance with scared looks on their faces.
And when the two leaders finally managed to catch sight of the land beyond the castle... they realised that the lookout was indeed not wrong—The enemy was here.
Coming towards the castle in a tight formation made of seven rows divided into two parts was a disciplined army filled with men wearing well-maintained armours and sharp gleaming weapons in their hands.
And them being in a formation only made it easier for all the pirates to count their numbers. It only took them a few moments to realise that the numbers on both sides of the conflict were almost equal... which made it very clear this would be a fierce battle with a lot of casualties.
In addition, considering how they were on land and how well-equipped their enemy was... it was safe to say that things weren't looking good for the pirates.
"B-But didn't the Advisor say that they wouldn't dare to attack us in the castle," Blackheart stammered in an appalled voice, "He said that it would be—"
"Where is he?!" Ravager interrupted him while gritting his teeth in anger, "Where is that damn Advisor?"
"I-I-I—"
"Don't just stand there, you idiot! Go find him, and bring him to me!!" he hissed at the pirate who hurriedly nodded his head before scurrying away.
Ravager grimaced as he turned back to the pirates, and saw how quickly the panic was spreading amongst them.
He knew that he had to do something very quickly or the upcoming battle would become nothing more than a rout.
And being an experienced pirate Captain, it only took him a few seconds to come up with a solution.
After taking in a deep breath Ravager began, "HAHA!!" laughing at the top of his lungs.
Almost immediately he attracted the attention of all the pirates on the wall, "This is just the best... Here we were working so hard to find these bastards and now... these idiots decided to come to us on their own, Haha!! How generous of them to have decided to spare us from doing all the work..."
The pirates exchanged confused glances at that, wondering why their captain was happy that they were being attacked by the same force that had managed to devastate their fleet to less than one-third of its strength in just a single night.
"Men!!" he bellowed with all his might, "There is a saying that one needs at least ten times the men as the ones inside a castle to take it... Come! Let's see today if that checks out! Haha!"
"..."
"T-That's right! We have the castle on our side. There is nothing to be afraid of!!"
"You're right!! With the protection of the castle, they can do nothing to us,"
"Haha, Most of them would probably die bashing their heads against the walls, long before they even reach us!!"
"Definitely! This battle is going to be an easy one,"
"Good! Good!! Let them come! I'll show them the reason they call me the widow maker, Haha!"
"No one calls you that, you idiot!!"
All over the wall most of the tension seems to have left the pirates with just a few words from their captain. Their fear had turned into anticipation in a matter of seconds... showing that pirates really were simple-minded folks...
"Quickly, now, Men! Gather on the walls!! Defend against the enemy" Ravager shouted at the ones still standing below before turning back to the ones beside him on the wall, "I want the archers to the front and all the warriors... if you can then change your weapons to spears!!"
There was loud commotion and disarray among the pirates as they rushed to follow Ravager's orders.
Some were rushing to get their spears while others were trying to borrow some arrows from their comrades. But soon, enough pirates had managed to climb the walls so that they covered almost the whole wall facing the enemy force.
And while all this was happening, the sellswords had gotten a lot closer to the castle.
But then abruptly they just... stopped.
They halted just outside the distance that the arrows from the pirates could reach them, but they were now close enough that they could cover the rest of the distance in a matter of minutes if they were quick about it.
"Wait! Why did they suddenly stop?"
"Huh, Maybe they got scared?"
"There's no way that's true, you idiot!!"
"I think... they are waiting for something,"
"Waiting? Waiting for what?"
"Maybe they are waiting for us to come out and meet them in the field..."
"Do they think we are stupid or something? Why would we do that?"
Ravager was also quite confused by the strange decision of their enemy to abruptly stop so close to their target, as this does nothing but give his people more time to prepare, 'So why in the hell are they...'
"Captain!! Captain!!" Ravager irritatedly turned his head around and saw Blackheart shouting while climbing the stairs towards him.
"What?!"
"T-The Advisor!! He is not there!"
"What do you mean he is not there..." Ravager repeated while getting a sudden sinking feeling in his stomach.
"I checked the privy and his room and even asked all the ones in the castle but no one has seen him in the last hour,"
"What? Where could he have gone—"
"Oi! Oi! What are you doing? What the fuck's wrong with you?!!"
All eyes on the castle abruptly turned towards a pirate who was shouting while holding his friend in his arms trying to wake him up.
The man in the pirate's arm was a thin almost malnourished pirate and he was currently shivering as if he was having a seizure, his eyes had rolled back into his head and no matter how hard his friend slapped him, he wasn't showing any signs of waking up.
"What happened?!" Ravager growled as he rushed to stand behind the pirate.
"I-I don't know, Captain." The pirate answered with a panicked look on his face, "One second he was standing there laughing with me and in the next, he suddenly started behaving strangely and then he just fainted and became like this."
Ravager grimaced but decided that now wasn't the time to be thinking about this so he decided to make an excuse to get the pirates back on track, "He was probably just a greenhorn who was nervous about the battle and fainted because he couldn't handle the pressure. Alright, men. Leave him for now—"
"But Captain, look!!" Blackheart interrupted Ravager with a horrified look on his face while pointing towards the fallen man, "Look at his mouth! He's throwing up white foam... isn't that a sign of p-poisoning."
"I-I... He must have eaten—"
Thud
Before Ravager could even make more excuses they were all distracted by the sound of a scream and a loud slam that came from the very front.
When they all looked towards the front they saw that everyone was looking towards the ground in front of the wall with a horrified look on their faces... Ravager gulped and followed their eyes only to have his worst fear realised as he saw one of his pirates splattered on the earth with his limbs twisted and his skull cracked... completely and irrevocably dead.
"H-He fell! He just fell!!" stammered a pirate who was standing beside, the now-dead pirate, just a few seconds ago.
And just like that it was as if a dam had burst open... all around him pirates began showing signs of nausea, fainting, and stomach aches.
Some had their faces turning green while others were shivering uncontrollably as if they were standing in the middle of the snow. The symptoms all around him were completely random as if someone was playing a game of death with them...
"Argh! It hurts! My stomach hurts!!"
"Ugh! I am seeing stars all around me,"
"My legs! They feel like jelly. Damn it! I can't stand!!"
As he looked at the chaos around him, Ravager's stomach sank even lower, and a horrifying realization began to rise in his mind as he asked, "Blackheart! Where is Rostch?"
"Eh? Rostch? The advisor's son? I don't know... Probably with the rest of the trash in the basement storage. Why?" Blackheart answered distractedly, preoccupied with all the commotion happening around him.
But that was the last straw as all the puzzles in Ravager's mind fell into place, all the suspicious things that had been happening since last night, and all the strange coincidences began aligning in his mind.
'There is probably a spy amongst our midst, Captain...' 'The spy must be in a high position..' 'Don't worry, Captain. I've had the cooks woken up early to cook food...' 'I don't think we should run away, Captain...' 'The enemy won't dare to attack us in our castle, Captain...'
"Captain! Captain!!"
"Huh?" Ravager came back to his senses due to Blackheart's scream.
"What should we do, Captain?! This is getting really dangerous! Our men are falling left and right and our enemy is right in front of us. We need to do something or else we'll all die!!"
"R-Right!! You're right." Ravager nodded with a forced smile on his face, "Don't worry, I know the exact poison that is affecting all of them and it has a really simple antidote. Blackheart! You! I am leaving you in charge of the wall while I go and prepare the antidote for all of us! It shouldn't take me too long. So you need to hold the wall with all your might. Understand!!"
"Really! T-Then I won't let you down, Captain!" he nodded with a nervous expression on his face before he immediately went to corral the pirates who weren't showing the symptoms of poisoning...yet.
"Look! Look" "They are coming!" "The enemy is coming!!"
"What are you panicking for, you idiots!" Blackheart cried in a booming voice, "MEN!! Gather on me! We'll show these bastards what pirates are made of!!"
After sending one last resentful look at the army of sellswords charging towards the castle, Ravager decisively turned around and hurried down the wall and into the castle... leaving all his men to fend for themselves.
