Disclaimer: My house belongs to the bank, my work belongs to my boss and my money is always confiscated by my wife. And Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling... Damn...
In enemy waters
By DerLaCroix
Chapter 2 – Portblockin'
Harry again stood on the poop deck and conjured his wind, whipping the Revenge forward. He was ten minutes way from the harbour entrance when the man in the mast sang out. "Sail in the entrance!"
Cursing, Harry started giving commands. "All guns ready, load the deck guns with canister shot - if they pass us, we will give them a taste - have the chaser guns open fire at will, I'll cancel the wind the moment we're in range," he told Hitch before turning to Tonks as the man departed to bark orders. "Have the lookout identify the size! And give report about the Raven," he tasked her.
While Tonks started a sonorous-enhanced conversation with the man on the mast – a man who didn't need a spell to make himself heard, and probably didn't know the spell, anyway - Harry called Remus over. "What do you think? Do you have any idea on how to block the harbour that is better than just ramming our ship into the entry?"
Remus thought for a moment before he stepped away and checked the real wind. "How about that - let's use a modified Woodbroke Sling move. We have wind from starboard athwart, so let's approach a bit starboard of the entrance and sling ourselves into position with the help of the wind. But instead of gripping the goalpost or hoop, we drop the anchor. With you re-enforcing the reservoir, the chain should hold. This should have us broadside to the entrance, and we can hit a ship for at least five minutes before it can try to slip past us."
"Good idea, that would also give us the advantage that they can only use their chaser guns on us," Harry said, pulling his mentor and former Marauder into a one armed hug. "I want you at the bow by the anchor. You will give the signal and the orders. Coordinate with Hitch, he knows the manoeuvres to bring us around better. Good luck, and see you after the fight, this is an order!" he said with a final hug, and Remus trotted off to carry out his plan.
Tonks approached with the news. "It's a corvette, smaller than the Raven, but much faster. It carries only deck guns, but 14 of them. The Raven has only twelve guns still operating, most of them on starboard, but not enough power to really use them, even if they had the men sprinting between them to operate them. By the looks of it, the decks are swarming with men, easily half as many as we have - they must have put every available man on their boats. They have cleared the harbour and have raised full sails, heading windward; it's obvious that they want to and can pass us, and chase the Raven. The next boat in the channel leave is another corvette, same build," she reported to the worried Harry.
"And the Raven?"
"They have come free of the mast just a few moments ago, and gathered way, but they are slow. Hermione has five wounded that barely can move, but ten of our men and five of the released prisoners that were vouched by our crew and gave loyalty oaths. They also have two men among the survivors that were pressed into duty. They gave oaths, as well. They should make it; the Pathfinder is less than an hour out of their position. If they had a man in the mast, they might see them already. Ginny is informed and has confirmed escort and rescue orders. If need be, they'll abandon the Raven and sink her."
The sound of the chaser guns opening fire interrupted their conversation. They must be about one mile out if the gunners even tried. Harry cancelled the wind charm and stepped to the starboard side to look at the enemy. The men had been prepared for that moment and immediately swung the yardarms around into the new position to the real wind. "Any idea we could help?" he asked.
"We could force them into an exchange," the returning Hitch voiced an option. "If we steer directly at them, they would be forced to change course to avoid us. We won't get them, but get in proper range. They are small, a proper broadside would almost wipe 'em off the surface."
"Should we talk to Remus? Would that mess up his plan?" Harry asked.
"Quite a bit. The second boat might give us the slip and leave harbour before we make it back. If they harass or board us, the delay may allow a true warship to leave the harbour. It's a tight race already, but we currently are ten minutes in the lead. But if one of the big ships gets out, they'll squish us like a bug, by numbers alone."
Harry had to think about it a bit. If they did that, they would do a bit more damage, helping the Raven. But winning that battle might mean losing the war if the second boat slipped free. Sighing deeply, he made his decision.
"Stay on course, but keep as close as possible to the boat, give them all we have from the lee batteries, but keep our men behind the reeling. We need every man. How many do we have, anyway?"
"Good decision, Captain," Hitch answered while Tonks muttered happily about Harry's ability to be trained. There wasn't much to gain with that manoeuvre, and the second ship slipping out would be even worse for the Raven. He had to let go and trust everybody else to do their job. "We have fifty-seven including you three and the other ten freed prisoners, Captain," Higgs briefed him. "Two of them are Squibs or in-the-know Muggles, but they insisted in helping, so we equipped them with guns and swords we could spare. Tired as our men are, they'll probably have to resort to melee as well, I doubt they'd get more than a couple of spells off before being exhausted. Some of them have passed their wands to prisoners, who are at least fresh."
"Good, let's plan around that and hope for the best." Harry said and looked at the now barely a mile ahead and four hundred feet athwart boat his family tried to get away in.
The chaser guns sounded once more, targeting the enemy corvette still in the harbour, more than a mile ahead, and falling short, as the other vessel left their firing arc.
ooOOoo
As the other ship slipped into their starboard arc, nearly half a mile out, they gave her a broadside in passing once it lined up. They did score a few hits, and gave it's reservoir a good whack, but not causing much real damage at that range, except for hitting a couple of men, according to the lookout. Harry even cast a few of his own Reductors at the ship, but at that range, he only managed to hit their hull a couple of times, and putting a couple of holes into their main course sail. As much as Harry would have liked, there was simply no time to do more; the Raven was on it's own regarding that enemy.
As he had to watch the ship sail past them and after the Raven, Remus approached him. "Harry," the man spoke softly, trying to speak to him in private. When Harry turned towards him, he continued in a soft whisper. "I've seen your spells sail past that ship. At what range do you reckon it fizzled?"
"About twice as far?" Harry replied. "Why?"
Remus pushed a looking glass into Harry's hands and pointed towards their destination. "Splendid. Because there are, by my count, a dozen very heavy guns posted on the walls and towers next to the harbour entry, and now that they realized that we're not chasing that boat or running away as they most likely expected us to do, I don't like how many men are assembling next to them," he said in a seemingly jovial tone.
"Now our guns can't aim that far up and away. And because I'd prefer getting the chance to see if the anchor manoeuvre works, instead of getting sunk while still roughly a mile out, I'd strongly advise you to see if that estimation holds true," he continued in the same sweet voice while Harry confirmed for himself that there were indeed guns with terrifyingly large bores visible up there, now that a lot of people had been moving tarps off, and hauling ammunition towards them.
"These rat-faced sons of harbour whores!" Harry cursed as he rushed off to the bow, surprising Remus as well as himself with what vocabulary he had picked up during the last months.
"Ahoy, Capt..." Fred started when he noticed Harry approaching. His words turned into a surprised croak when Harry whipped out his battle wand and let loose with an unrestrained Reductor curse, right next to him.
"Holy son of a mermaid!" George gasped out loud as he saw the curse impact on the battlements, turning it into a dust cloud with heavy gravel downpour. "Nice one, Harry, but your aim is terrible," he said, sending another ball flying towards the ship slowly gaining on the harbour entrance from the other side.
"Not quite," was the barked response from his angry Captain, who tossed him the looking glass, before sending another spell at a different part of the wall.
George uttered a really creative curse when he noticed how men scattered to take cover behind the wall when another tip of the battlements exploded into shards. A different gun crew was the first to return fire, but hastily and wide. Others followed, just as badly. A hit on the first try would have been a miracle. Their next attempts were just as useless, for they didn't have much time to aim properly when Harry started blanketing all gun positions in rapid fire, rapidly reducing their cover to rubble and making them very reluctant to expose themselves while loading their guns.
On third attempt, though, about half scored hits. Harry briefly gasped and swayed as the child's head sized iron balls glanced off the Revenge's bow and starboard side. Wisely, they had not ran out the guns, yet, so they didn't lose any to a lucky hit. Still, the strain on Harry was significant, and he needed a few seconds to regain footing. Taking time to aim properly, he blasted one of the guns that was pretty exposed by now to splinters on his second spell.
By the time the Revenge had slipped into their blind spot where they couldn't depress their guns any lower, Harry had already taken out 8 of them. Even under that heavy suppressing fire, they had hit the ship a good two dozen times, though. To paraphrase it lightly, Harry would say 'it stung'. The strengthened reservoir had managed to deflect all the thirty-six to forty-two pound heavy balls of iron, but subrogated against Harry, with interest. The only lasting damage was when a ball bounced off the fore topmast and took out the yardarm. It did slow them down, slightly, but they didn't have any time to repair that, now. In case that they'd have to, they'd cut the remaining rig that held the sail and would let it fly. They lost one man to that hit, a snapping line whipped around and hit him hard, sending him overboard. Remus had levitated the man back on deck, but he was already dead.
Harry took delight in placing a few more aimed shots to remove the remaining guns from the table for their way out while Hitch barked commands at the men to initiate Remus' plan.
Savouring the brief respite, he watched the carrots send their last set of balls towards the ruined forecastle of the corvette that had meanwhile entered the harbour waterway. It must have been frustrating to not being able to bring their own guns to bear while methodically getting picked apart by the twins' diabolical iron hail. By the time the angle was right for them, there had been no guns left to respond with. Both balls missed the fore mast by a few hands, smashing into the wall raising the aft deck above the main.
The twins didn't stay to watch, but were already vanishing under deck as the entrance swayed to starboard as the ship turned in to backboard. Harry could feel the deck shiver as they brought the sails against the wind to swing around faster. A few moments later, they were parallel to the wall, turning further. Harry found his eyes sought out Remus at the anchor, just as anyone else's did. A few more seconds passed, and suddenly, Remus yelled to drop the anchor. Just a perceived fraction of a second later, Higgs exploded into a storm of commands, ordering the helm to go full starboard, demanding the sail timbers swung , and then for everyone to hold fast. Just a little less polite.
Meanwhile, Harry's attention was riveted to the anchor chain as it rushed by overboard like it had become liquid. Then - the men were just bringing the yardarms around - the chain suddenly stopped when the end was reached. That was the precise moment Higgs yelled for everyone to hold fast, and for Harry to ponder if he had been a fool to agree with this plan. At first, he imagined that he could almost hear the anchor scraping across the bottom, seeking purchase. Which was exactly what happened. Only that it was going to be a much more violent reaction than anything he would have expected.
With a sound like a whole wood splintering when hit by an angry god, the anchor found something to lodge itself to, firmly. Suddenly not able to follow its straight course any longer, the Revenge had to follow the laws of physics. Harry would have been amazed to see the ship bend visibly along its entire length as a few hundred tons in motion were suddenly redirected, swung around on the unbreakable chain, which was screeching out its own protest as each link ground against the others. But he was too occupied fighting the dry heaves he experienced as his magic was pouring into the reservoir to allow the wooden structure to withstand forces that would have shattered steel.
Under curses and shouts of the men trying to keep their footing, the Revenge finally came to a stop facing the direction she had originally come from. The baffled stares of the crew of the small boat currently trying to leave the harbour turned into panic as the amazement of the manoeuvre the Revenge just pulled off gave way to the realization that they were now staring into its broadside.
The twins reacted before the other crew could, not as if they had any options than keep moving towards them in the narrow waterway they were currently in. If their forecastle hadn't been a shattered mess, already, they might have given token resistance by firing their chaser guns, but as the Revenge's crew carried out the twin's orders, 438 pounds worth of iron balls smashed into them. Some ploughed through them, lengthwise, others at an angle, a few glanced off the hull or missed.
Harry could see the other captain yell commands at people, but it was too late. Before his orders - Harry assumed it was an order to use guns and wands to resist, going by the fact that rifles were handed out - were carried out, a second broadside sounded, repeating the experience. Going by the fact that their main was now leaning slightly leeward in a queer angle, it must have been severed under deck.
By virtue of being closer, even more balls had glanced off the hull. The twins compensated for that by firing a Reductor salvo, next. These spells would have very short range, but by now, they had closed in to less than 200 feet. The comparative quiet of a Reductor salvo was balanced by the sound of disintegrating wood as each connecting spell blew a hole of roughly a yard diameter into the already compromised hull of their enemy.
In the end, too much damage was done to the supporting structure. With a sound oddly comparable to eating breakfast cereal, the bow simply ceased to exist as the water resistance tore it apart, with the whole bow practically disassembling up to almost in front of the main in front of their eyes. The rest followed the wind, capsized leeward and sank as if made of stone, accompanied by the Revenge's crew's cheers, the few people that remained able to act jumping overboard and trying to escape drowning.
For a brief moment, Harry imagined he could see the other captain saluting him from the wheel before the boat started leaning, but it was over so quickly that he'd never know for sure.
Watching the bubbling water swirl and spit out parts of wreckage, cargo and drifting bodies for sharks to circle, Harry briefly hoped it was over.
"One down, one to go,' Higgs commented next to him. Harry had to briefly shake his head to fight off the fascination of the scene unfolding in front of him and pay attention to the man who had come over to talk to him.
'No need to stay at the wheel, 'cept to hide behind it, and twixt the both of us, I think they got better angle at that than here," Higgs gave something approximating an explanation for his presence.
The bark of the guns below them made Harry gaze back out again. A few hundred yards out, the wooden colossus of a warship slowly turned towards them, the iron balls bouncing off its hull as if made of rubber.
"With luck, we might get their chasers silenced before they get too many shots off, but I'd wager my left buttock that bastard is gonna plow straight through the wreck an ram us," Higgs replied before clearing his throat with a nasty hack, and spitting a wad of phlegm overboard. "I guess they outnumber us three or four to one. Any great strategy for that?" He asked.
"You mean to say tactic," Remus corrected the man as he approached them, Tonks in tow. "Strategy is planing when to fight, tactics is how to win the battle."
"Bite me, professor," Higgs replied with a chuckle that made him cough up another glob to send flying overboard. "Well, got any of those tactics, guv?" He asked in a sarcastic tone after he was done polluting the sea.
"The men are only useful as gunslingers or brawlers by now," Tonks remarked. "Are you up to go front and centre, Captain? Leading from the front? They can only board over their bow, so we have to stop them at that bottleneck."
Remus nodded at her comment. "Makes the most sense. The enemy will most likely be more proficient spellcasters than our men, but only barely. We need to see this like a medieval muggle repelling action. Historically, they were best fought in threes. Caster, defender, support," he started mentioning the non-boring part of history.
"You mean us three should work together," Harry inquired if he had gotten it right.
"Indeed. You focus on targets, while I keep a shield up against projectiles. Tonks will watch out for spells to counter and targets of opportunity. Once my shield wavers, Tonks will cast hers, and I'll take support role," Remus explained.
"Tonks and Remus do fancy stuff keeping Harry save. Harry smash," Tonks replied, briefly morphing into a green-skinned muscular version of herself.
"That's all nice and fancy, but their forecastle is higher than our sides," Higgs voiced his opinion, pointing out a flaw he deemed critical. "If we don't get that levelled, they'll have high ground, and I'd rather... ALL HANDS! TAKE COVER!"
While yelling his warning, he pulled Harry and Tonks with him, diving behind the railing. Remus barely had time to follow before their foe's chaser guns spat a hail of lead balls, spraying the ship. The other captain seemed to have come to the conclusion that it was useless to try damaging the Revenge, but rather wanted to clear her decks for boarding, instead. At that distance, the spread was huge, impacting all over the ship. You had to be a profoundly unlucky git to get hit by it, but a yell from the main deck meant that they had at least one of those on board.
"Francis!" Higgs yelled from their cover, getting a grunted reply. "Take these fishfuckers out with the deck guns, now! And send all men not needed to the poop or fore, rifle fire, two guns per man! I want them bilge rats just as afraid to poke out their heads as we are!"
After receiving a muffled 'Aye', he waited a few moments, before yelling again. "Is the poor bastard still alive?"
"Aye, just got hit by a ricochet! I'm fine! And MY parents were married!" Francis yelled back.
"Oops," Higgs mouthed with a grin. "So, you were talking about your plans, Captain?" He tried to rekindle their conversation, only to have the next metal rain pepper the ship around them.
"Francis! Today! Don't make me make you kiss the keel!" Higgs yelled, again.
Harry learned a new expletive with the man's reply, but moments later, the first men started scampering by, crouching low behind the railing and carrying two rifles, each. Taking a brief peek, himself, he could see how their deck guns were trying to take out the chaser guns pelting them. The fact that they were behind gun ports on that ship, instead of out in the open on the deck made that task non-trivial, at least. Even a near miss would just bounce off the hull, and their reservoir was still topped off to the brim, so to speak. Harry decided to send a Reductor over there before diving back, just to do something.
"Nice one, Captain," Higgs commented. "To cut things short - your idea is fine, but if you could use that beast wand of yours to raze their fore, I'd be considering kissing you. If they still have that cover, they'll just hide behind that and lob stuff down at us poor sobs."
"Got it," Harry replied. "I'll promise to wreck them if you promise not to kiss me, deal?"
Higgs laughed out loud, despite their precarious situation. "You're the one missing out, but deal. Now excuse me, I got to yell some more at these maggots, Captain."
Rushing over, while Harry started lobbing spells over the railing he hid behind, Higgs started to tear into the men. "Have you stupid scumgobblers forgot everything about rifles? Ten seconds for recharge! Firing, reloading, change rifle. Fire that, reload, and the other rifle is good to go, again. Now do what I said!"
True to his words, once the men started to use the rifles according to that instruction, their rate of fire almost doubled.
"At least you can be trained like the monkeys you are! I'll go and yell at the squid dicks at the poop, now. Don't make me come back or I swear, I'll rip off your balls and use them for shot!"
"He does have a way with the men, doesn't he?" Tonks asked sweetly, after Higgs had scampered out of hearing range, reloading the rifle she had claimed for herself. The enchantments did make it fire, but it wasn't possible to make it conjure a projectile, as well, so you had to manually insert the lead slug, every time. Remus chuckled slightly, then pulled the trigger of his rifle, cursing under his breath when the shot missed. Both would have preferred to use wands over the imprecise guns, but at this range, only Harry was able to do so, and have a still effective spell on contact.
"They are used to it. Any less, and they'd just laugh his orders off. I almost think it's kind of a contest, already. But Higgs told me once I should never be afraid to hex or thrash a man who doesn't follow my orders. Pecking order needs to be enforced, and stuff," Harry replied, firing spell after spell at the rough position of the gun ports the chaser guns retreated behind and closed after every shot, trying to expose their guns to the return fire as little as possible.
Taking a brief look over to their rear decks, he could see Higgs and a few men with long sticks rushing down the stairs and into his cabin. Pointing it out to the others, he got nothing but shrugs. About a minute later, the gun in there had started firing, again, and Remus laughed out, loud.
"That sly dog! They wrangled the gun into an angled position so it can be brought to bear. It seems to have worked only partially - I can see they use canister shot, and only barely hit the ship. They caught them complete unaware - seems they wiped their quarter deck clear. That evens the odds, a little," Remus gleefully commented on the fact that four dozen people wouldn't be coming home, tonight.
Harry's own smile turned into a confused look around when their crew whooped and cheered, suddenly. Confused, he shrugged it off and continued shooting, when his spell exploded a small hole into the planks right to the gun port he was aiming for. When the next volley of their guns rang out, he could see how they added a substantial number of holes to the few already visible ones that had caused his men's cheers.
"That's it! Shield down! Level their forecastle, Harry!" Tonks cheered, before shooting a man who had leaned out behind the cover of said obstruction to shoot them straight in the chest. The rifle and the man, both, dropped overboard as he collapsed.
Harry redoubled his efforts, casting spell after spell at the wooden behemoth closing in, taking out the chasers at the next time they were run out while his men were exchanging a pitched gunfight with men hiding behind the other vessel's forecastle railing. Meanwhile, he could see more and more men assembling on deck, and their broadsides getting quieter. Some of their battery could no longer aim at the other ship, and the twins had sent these men up to help repel boarders.
"It's time, let's go and lead the men," Remus remarked and put his rifle aside, drawing his wand and a cutlass. Tonks shook her head at her comrade's preference for cruder weaponry, and drew her own rapier and wand.
"Shield is up," Remus called out as he stood, the shimmering disc in front of him. Harry took position ahead and to the right of Remus, holding his wand right to the right of the shield. With Tonks behind him and watching out for threats, he returned to casting more and more spells at the approaching hull that between him and the two deck guns still able to fire rapidly resembled a Swiss cheese, depriving the enemy of cover.
Having line of sight, Tonks started taking out people with curses, only pausing to apply first aid to people that were hit.
A few first bullets ricocheted off their shield, and then spells started raining at them when the enemy realized that they were in casting range. Only few of them slipped past Tonks' counters, and were weakened by the long distance, but after a few seconds, Remus called out for a swap, which Tonks performed seamlessly, without disturbing Harry at dismantling the railing and the men cowering behind. Three of their riflemen from the lower main deck, which was under heavy fire, had caught on and took shooting positions behind their group, exchanging their bad line of sight at that position for a well defended position with a richer target environment. A fourth man had tried as well, but got shot by an enemy for his effort. Remus managed to stop the bleeding from the man's stomach, and wanted someone to carry him under deck to the other wounded, but the man refused and crawled to a new position near the still firing deck gun to resume his fighting.
With their losses increasing quickly under Harry's relentless bombardment and the more accurate rifle fire as the boat drew closer than a hundred yards, a lot of the would-be boarders on the approaching foredeck had to fall back to a lower deck.
In between spells, Harry thought that his line of sight on that deck had improved. A glance to check made him feel like it might have been due to the galleon lying very deep in the water, proving that the twins hadn't been idle. The bow riddled with more and more holes, the other ship was indeed slowly sinking, just not fast enough. By hearing, he felt that less than ten guns were still firing, including the deck gun next to them on the quarter deck, and one on the lower main deck. The other guns couldn't traverse properly to score hits.
"Harry, left corner, take the timber out! Remus, switch!" Tonks called out. Remus finished his tripping hex at a man running across the smashed fore, sending the man barrelling overboard as he lost footing, and stepped a half step forward and aside, casting a shield. "Shield up", he called out once his shield was taking the first bullets and stepped into Tonks' position once she had dropped her spell and stepped back.
Tonks wasted no time, countering a cutting hex before it could impact and weaken the shield, before retaliating with a spell that sent the caster diving for cover.
Meanwhile, Harry, ignoring the mounting pain in his hand as his wand grew hotter with every new spell, had walked his spells towards the target Tonks had assigned to him, but it took three spells to sever the beam completely. The reaction was instant. That beam was the last remaining structural support on that side, and the moment it was gone, the fore deck collapsed forward and to Harry's left, forming a deep slide of rubble, screaming fighters, and corpses dropping into the narrowing water between the two ships. The few men managing to hold on to something were less lucky than they believed. They slid down a few moments later, but as fresh corpses, and a good bit of lead heavier.
For a few moments, there was a lull in fighting as cries to hold fast rang out, everywhere, as the bowsprit of the galleon poked over the Revenge's railing, heralding the immediate impact. Harry dropped to a knee with a pained moan as the ships connected. His whole body was burning with pain, especially his hand, and every bit and fibre of his being demanding to just lay down and be done with it, but he numbly picked up his wand again, hissing as he realized how hot it was to the touch. Dropping it and cradling his hand he cursed under his breath while the ships ground into each other, the broken bow of the galleon hooking its wreckage into the Revenge, locking itself into place as the world shook.
"You alright?" Tonks asked in a concerned tone, knelt down next to him to care for, and cover him. Remus stepped a bit closer to improve the shield coverage, yelling at the men to form up to repel boarders, who could be heard yelling commands behind their cover, as well.
"I'm fine," Harry mumbled. "Wand is hot."
Tonks looked at the battle wand, which had a colour a few degrees darker than normal, and was smoking slightly at the tip. "That one's a goner. Use the other. Let me see your hand!"
"Harry!" She gasped as she saw the blisters and started casting spells at it. "Next time, drop it earlier!"
"Will do," Harry groaned as he pushed himself up, wobbly on his feet. There was a noticeable sigh of relief among his crew that he would continue to fight alongside them.
"Are you alright?" Tonks repeated her earlier question.
"No, you're not, but we need you," Remus interrupted sternly before Harry could deny the truth once more. "Cast slower, and smaller spells."
Harry accepted the order with a grim nod, flexing his patched-up hand before drawing his smaller wand and his rapier. "Hold your ground! Give them hell!" He yelled at his men, who whooped and shouted their own paroles. Somewhere, he could hear Higgs yelling that the second row should reload for the first row.
The lull in fighting went on for a few more moments, while the men got into a rough formation. All the time, you could hear the other side cheering themselves onto a frenzy, as well, and suddenly, the dam broke.
With primal war cries, the first of hundreds of foes came into sight as they scrambled over the wreckage, towards them, a wave of humans in his wake.
Tonks made the one in lead pay. His severed head hit a comrade in the face before his body had dropped. The following barrage as the Revenge's crew unloaded their guns dropped another baker's dozen or two. Harry started casting cutting curses into the mass, not bothering to aim properly, but to cast a steady stream of spells onto a steady stream of bodies. He was barely able to discern targets, anyway. His whole world had been reduced to a tired haze and the casting of that spell, and the increasing pain spreading throughout his body. Tonks joined him in his effort, casting furiously to make up for the difference.
Still, the mass of targets advanced, slowly. Occasional shots from the other side did their part in thinning their own ranks.
With only a few men to their left, the attacker's main push adjusted naturally towards that side, and Remus realized that they were about to be overrun at that flank. With only a brief warning to Tonks, he dropped his shield and started casting, as well.
Between him and Tonks proving why they were considered Masters in Defence and what an Auror could do, and the fact that Harry's spells usually got two or three targets at once, they barely managed to break the momentum of the rush of bodies for a brief period, establishing a fighting line along the impact, as the men engaged in hand to hand combat around them.
Trying to ease the pressure on the front, and wary to hit their own men, they shifted their fire into the approaching masses. Harry kept with his less exhausting cutting curses, but the other two went all out. Harry only recognized one in three spells Tonks used as she rained area affecting carnage down on the masses, fireballs, acid streams, and other effects from the right of Harry's corridor of dismemberment.
Remus took a lesson out of Harry's book and used a stream of fire to hose down his flank of attackers. It had the added effect that hit people tended to flail around or jump overboard, efficiently disrupting the re-enforcement of their line, allowing their men to hold the line more easily. It even created a few incidents of friendly fire as he made a few real blackpowder pistol charges ignite.
Sadly, his fire also served as a tracer to the most important targets. He went down with a painful gasp when a bullet impacted. Tonks screamed with range as he went down, clutching his side.
Harry had read about fiendfyre. It was deemed a very obscure thing, hard to cast, and even harder to control. Figures that a Black knew how to do it.
The whole front of the ship erupted in flames as Tonks sent a jet of the unholy flames into it, fiery creatures erupting and jumping at any living being in their path as they rushed towards the main and quarter deck of their enemy, following Tonks' control. A veritable cacophony erupted from back there as everything they touched, boat, ropes, men, and even cannons, erupted into flames on contact. Harry was aware that it had been only a few seconds, but that living flame spread far faster than it seemed possible. He had the feeling that Tonks tried to concentrate the effect on the main and fore deck, keeping a bit of distance, but still, the fire spread pretty much as if someone had spilled a bucket of it onto the ship.
"Tonks! Stop it, or you'll kill us all," Remus implored as he staggered back to his knees. "Not that I don't feel flattered," he chuckled, groaning painfully, and then sending a curse at a man who had just cut down one of theirs and tried to force the resulting breach.
"Dick!" Tonks snapped at him with a broken voice, but still used the even less known spell to dispel her fiendfyre. Not that it did the other ship any good, as all her sails were aflame, and her main deck an impenetrable flaming mess. The other ships heading their way in the channel hurried to swing their sails a-back to avoid the flaming hulk. One corvette was already far too close for that, and rather threw themselves against the rocks delimiting the waterway than into that inferno.
"I'm at most five percent dick, by body mass," Remus replied, pulling the wounded man he just had avenged towards him. "I'll swap to medic duty, from down here, if you don't mind," he commented with a rattled breath, before he started giving first aid.
By setting the other boat pretty much entirely on fire, Tonks had accomplished their main goal, but worsened their current situation. With the raging fire behind their backs, the remaining enemies pushed even harder towards them.
Harry's blade drew its first blood when the resulting push brought the main line of battle closer to them. With two combatants having themselves a shoving match, their blades locked, Harry broke the tie via stab to the face. Disregarding Remus' request, he pulled the man up to his feet, lest he got trampled. Tonks had already switched her sword to the right hand, occupying herself with supportive stabbing of opponents through gaps between fighters. Harry followed her lead.
A minute later, he was covered in blood, fighting a step behind some of his men. They had fallen in some kind of rhythm, as these men had realized that if they just focused on not getting hit, sooner or later, a spell or the captain's slender blade would slide past them to deal with their foe.
Hearing an anguished cry behind them, Harry found that some young bloke had actually been stupid enough to try and apparate to their deck. Or into, as he was splinch-fused to the deck by mid-shin, his feet probably still left on the other ship. Harry was considering to ignore the man, but then the guy did realise his predicament and swung his cutlass at Harry. Being immobile, he wasn't really a bother. A quick stab to the throat neutralized the target.
The fight lasted only a few seconds longer. Given the option to remain on a burning ship or to get cut down by Harry's crew, more and more enemy fighters decided to go for option C, ditching their weapons and take their chances with swimming.
When the last men were cut down, the pent-up tension from the fight erupted into a furious roar of victory cheers.
Harry was in a daze, in pain, and exhausted. Somehow, they made it, it slowly occurred to him. But they needed to get away, still.
"Hear me! Set sails, cut the anchor! Tonks, get that wreckage off us! Mister Higgs?"
"Wounded, currently under deck," one man replied from within the crowd.
"Here's hoping he's getting through. We'll do without him, for now. We need to get away before they realize the harbour is blocked and get some other idea," Harry yelled back at the men. "Remus! You, the twins and their gun crews look after the wounded, sailors to their stations, grab a gunner if you need an extra hand. I want a man at the wheel!" He gave commands to get his ship under control and away. He didn't think that their position near the looming walls was a good resting spot. Right now, all available men were on their ships, but they could show up up there any moment, now, with rifles and whatnot, once their surprise had worn off.
Realizing the truth to his words, his orders were followed as quickly as it was possible with the remaining crew.
Barely feeling his body over the burning feeling, anymore, he dragged himself over towards the helm, away from the blood and gore. He only made it up the stairs before his legs buckled and his exhaustion finally succeeded over his will.
ooOOoo
Harry was still sitting at the place he'd collapsed when Tonks found him.
"Message from the Pathfinder, they made it. Barely, but they're OK," Tonks reported.
"Good, as soon as you feel able, send a Patronus to tell the guys we're still alive, and heading home," Harry said tiredly, before focusing on their helmsman, waving the man over.
"Set course, we're heading south-south-west," he ordered. The man hesitated to enact the orders. He had trust in Mr. Higgs approving the new Captain's orders, but the man was currently not able to do his duty, as he was having his right leg reattached and a few shattered ribs vanished by Remus. Finally, he went so far as to boldly ask why they should do so. Their island was to the north.
"I hope that they take the bait, and believe we are running straight home," Harry explained calmly. "So they might assume we are heading to the American coast or down to Cuba, and this will take them off our track. We will submerge a couple miles out and cut north, then heading to Bahama and back," he said, seeing signs that the man had caught up with Harry's plan.
"And now move your carcass and follow your orders, you son of a beached whale," Harry growled dangerously, restoring the pecking order on the boat, smiling slightly as the man ran off back to his station, starting to yell orders and expletives at the men rushing towards the ropes at his call.
Harry dignified Tonks with a weak scowl when he caught her smirking at him.
"What?" He growled.
"When you're done napping, we could need you below deck. As bad as your magical exhaustion is, you won't run out. You'll feel like like a roast for a week, probably, but there are lives on the line."
"I'll do my best, but I don't know much healing," Harry stated as he wrestled himself to his feet, relying heavily on the railing for that.
"You know the basics, and have magic left. The rest, we'll teach you. The faster you learn, the less will die," Tonks replied, taking his arm to support him as she led him down to the improvised hospital under deck.
ooOOoo
AN:
Some more for you guys. Sorry for the delay, but I was sick, had some urgent orders for a few more swords, and general work. On top of trying to write a bit ahead in this story, and writing about half another story in two or three plot bunnies that had sunk their incisors into my head and wouldn't let go. So don't worry, this story won't get abandoned, it's just going slow.
Until we meet again - always keep a foot of water under your keels!