Chapter 98 A Chance of Redemption
Above the sea.
Red Sunrise to her rider: I see smoke in two places on the sea.
Corsino shouted: Smoke is coming out of the sea!
Heinrich: Go toward the smoke. Shark Fin has powerful fire weapons. If they saw any warships, they likely attacked them.
Corsino with his thoughts: Fly to those places, my red goddess.
The young Pegasus was determined to serve her rider. She could sense that his mind and heart were deeply troubled by that bipedal creature and a floating island of dead wood.
The Shark Fin.
Sigard: Lookout! Tell me what you see!
Lookout: Captain! Two ships are on fire, and the men are jumping into the sea. The other one, to the south, is moving with one sail. The main mast is broken and in the water. They are disabled.
Sigard: Good! Send the signal to our fleet! Full sails! The wind is strong, but a storm is approaching! Sail at full speed!
Many voices: Stahl und Blut!
The large ship turned northeast to stay close to the coast. Thirty armed ships followed it, with half of the army of Puerto Blanco on board. The warship named Floating Stone would make it to the docks at Isla Oveja slowly. The ships belonging to the Islas de Luz burned to their waterlines and sank. Half of the royal navy had been destroyed.
The air.
Red Sunrise: I see a large island of dead wood moving very fast. It has a lot of clothes on it.
Corsino shouted to his passenger: A large ship with many sails that is moving quickly.
Heinrich: Yes! It is the Shark. Get closer and I will be able to jump.
Corsino imagined in his mind his Pegasus flying alongside a large ship.
The Pegasus lowered her head towards the ship and dived down at great speed. Her eyes could spot a fish or a small animal from a great distance. The details of the ship were clearly visible to her before the bipeds could see much more than a dark speck on the sea.
In the mind of Corsino, the image of two large spears appeared. They were flying towards them at great speed. He shouted as the Pegasus turned its body to the right and flew between the two projectiles.
Corsino: Watch out!
Heinrich hugged Corsino tighter: They have six of those!
Red Sunrise saw two others flying directly towards her. She did not have time to warn them. She folded her wings and let her body fall rapidly towards the sea. The two large spears passed over her. She extended her right wing first, then her left. Her body spun in the air, and she resumed flying level. She looked at the ship with frightened eyes. She watched as the last two projectiles were fired from the ballistae. She knew the spears would pass on either side of her. If she tried to turn, one of them would hit her. With great courage, she flew in a straight line and slightly folded her wings as the spears approached.
Corsino: How long will it take them to load more spears?
Heinrich: Less than two minutes for the first two.
Corsino used words and images in her mind: If we do not act now, they could launch six more spears very soon.
The Pegasus flapped her wings powerfully, increasing speed and descending. The humans were frightened, because they knew that their lives depended on her.
Heinrich and Corsino shouted almost at the same time: Arrows!
Red Sunrise saw them flying over the bow of the ship. Thirty, forty, or more arrows formed a deadly rectangle. If she tried to fly higher, many arrows would hit them. She had only one chance. She tilted her wings slightly and dived towards the sea.
The arrows passed just the breadth of a hand above the heads of the bipeds. But they all fell into the water. She felt the water lapping at her knees. She flapped her wings with great force and let out a cry of effort and fear. If she did not ascend quickly, they could easily cover them in arrows.
Heinrich shouted: She is going too high!
Corsino: It is impossible! Look! More arrows!
The older man saw the archers preparing to unleash another volley. The three ballistae on the closer side were being turned in their direction.
Heinrich: Meeresgott, hilf mir. Fly over the ship! Now!
Corsino immediately pictured the scene in his mind. His Pegasus turned with great effort and crossed the ship in a diagonal line.
Heinrich took out his dagger and cut the rope that was tying him to the saddle. He used the small body of the rider to propel himself up onto the saddle. The man jumped from a great height and flew directly towards the largest sail. He struck the sail almost in the center, and began to fall towards the deck below. The sail considerably slowed his descent, but eventually, he landed on the wood with a loud thud.
The Pegasus turned again to fly away from the ship. Numerous arrows pursued it. Two struck it in the chest muscles, beneath the wing, and one wounded Corsino in the lower leg. She flew away from the ship. Both of them were bleeding. Every beat of her wings caused pain to both her and her rider. She flew in a wide arc to avoid the ship and its weapons. She was heading towards Isla Oveja. She hoped she could land there.
The Shark Fin.
Two men grabbed Heinrich and lifted him up. A sword was pointed at his face. He opened his eyes. His body ached and blood was gushing from his mouth.
Heinrich spat blood onto the ground: Sigard! You know me! Sigard!
The captain jumped down from his position on the upper deck and approached the prisoner. He looked into the eyes of a friend from his youth.
Sigard: Heinie, you have damaged my sail. What madness brings you here?
Heinrich smiled slightly: Sigi, Wulfhelm, Duke of Blasser Hafen, sent me with new orders. The son of Reinhardt is now the master of Veisse Halle.
Isla Oveja.
With each flap of her wings, the arrows tore through more muscles connected to her wings. She increased her altitude to land on the island that rose imposingly above the sea. She screamed in pain with the movements. The man cried out in pain every time the arrowhead moved inside his leg. After almost an hour of slow and tortuous flight, Red Sunrise landed in a large field. The sheep ran away in fright at the sight of it.
The servants and guards who remained ran into the field. They surrounded the Pegasus to calm it down. Carefully, they helped the rider dismount and took him to the castle. The Pegasus lay down on its side and stretched one wing towards the sky.
In a bed inside the castle and in a field, servants who knew how to treat wounds used heated steel blades to extract the arrows from the Pegasus and the man. Corsino lost consciousness from the pain, but Red Sunrise suffered throughout the entire treatment.