25. Birth of an empire

Ovis stood in a hole, sea water coming up to his waist, his family and many other people stood on the beach as he watched Lusenkia wade through the water towards him, a portly priest waded after her holding a gold jewel encrusted goblet. Lusenkia stood opposite the primarch, the water coming up to her waist, as the priest stood between them and filled the goblet with seawater, reciting words and prayers to the gods, he lifted it and the two each grabbed a handle.

"Do you wish to make this promise before the Gods, eternally binding, to trust and support your other in all things?" the priest looked at each of them

"I do" the both said

"To hold none above them and provide them all they need?"

"I do"

"To name the children born of this union as your sole successors, above all others"

"I do"

"Then in the sight of the Gods bind your souls and form a pact unbreakable"

The two pricked their thumbs on thorns sticking out of the handles and let a few drops of their blood mix with the seawater in the goblet, Ovis took it first and drank deep before handing it to Lusenkia to do the same with the remainder being thrown back in to the sea by the priest.

"Now that you are bound in the sight of Gods, be bound in the sight of men"

Ovis pulled out a necklace, it was made from the scrap of Kismet's battleship, the metal hanging along the length of leather and all feeding in to a centrepiece that held a blood red ruby, Lusenkia turned around and let the primarch tie it to her neck. Lusenkia pulled out a necklace of her own, a length of leather threaded with triangular and needle like teeth in an alternation pattern, Ovis recognised them as wolhark and seeran teeth, in the middle of the teeth was a sapphire it had the image of the krake circling the world etched in to its surface and was set in to a gold pendant. Ovis lowered his head so she could tie it around his neck. And with that Ovis was married.

Ovis and his bride returned to dry land where, in line with all Kraken celebrations, everyone present proceeded to eat and drink themselves blind. Ovis sat in the sand downing a barrel of rum when his brother stumbled up to him, barely able to take more than two steps in a straight line.

"Never thought you would get married much less be forced in to it" Sotris fell down next to his brother

"He had no choice!" Lusenkia sat next to Ovis downing drink after drink

"Ovis is the type to force his way through everything, no matter what you did he would have found a way to do what he wanted and then killed you for trying to get him to do something"

Lusenkia laughed, clearly drunk, "Not me, I outsmarted him and covered every eventuality, he's met his match!"

Sotris gave his brother a sideways glance, he knew from personal experience that no one could outsmart Ovis, no matter how much they planned. He glared at his older brother, trying to prod him in to revealing the truth.

"No" Ovis glared back at him, trying to get him to back down but Sotris persisted

"What really happened?"

"No"

"How could you have done it?" Sotris poked Ovis, "Come on say it, I wanna know"

"I could have killed her then swam to where ever Kismet was and taken him, I would have avoided fighting entirely"

"No way" Lusenkia protested, "It took my yachts 3 days to sail from my island to you and it would have taken your ships at least a week, no way for you to swim that far"

"1 week sail?" Sotris quickly calculated the distance in his head, "Ovis could have swam that in about a day and half"

"I wanted to get there quick so a day" Ovis corrected his brother, "I would have gotten there before anyone knew you were dead and your assassins could kill Kismet, you never forced me to do anything"

Lusenkia's face dropped as she heard Ovis could have outsmarted her so easily but a smile quickly returned as she realised something, "So you wanted to marry me, how sweet"

Sotris laughed at the annoyed look on his brother's face, "So now the traitors are dealt with what's next brother?"

"In my hunt I destroyed quite a few pirate lords, their territories are still is chaos and up for grabs" Ovis had already thought about his next 20 moves, "As everyone keeps saying I'm going to conquer this world and who knows how much more"

The two brothers smiled as they imagined the war and plunder that lay in their future before quickly getting back to drinking and celebrating.

Over the next year Ovis took to his war of conquest with earnest, with the power his parents once held now his to use as he wished. His parent's fleet had been decimated by the betrayal, they had barely managed to recover a quarter of the ships that had turned, but Ovis put in to motion a great building program utilising every slipway on every island he controlled and surgically defeated many minor pirate fleets so he could commandeer their ships, by the end of the year the fleet was bigger than it had ever been and he even had 3 more aircraft carriers to add to it.

As word of Ovis being on the war path spread across Krake whole fleets; either pirate, mercenary or pirate hunter, capitulated before he could even meet them in battle and islands invited him to fold them in to his growing empire, they all feared what defiance would bring more than they valued their freedom and they were right to be fearful.

The island of Zarain was one of the larger islands of Krake, while the average island could sustain 2 or 3 towns on it Zarain was one of the few that could have multiple towns on it and still have enough room to sustain one of the few cities on Krake. Being so large and having so many resources as well as a large natural port meant the island grew rich and powerful, it maintained its own fleet and extended its power over many nearby islands, it did not need to fear pirates or being sacked, at least until now.

Ovis had wanted to keep the island and its riches intact, he didn't want to burn it down only to have to build it back again, he had sent a messenger to Zarain's tyrant demanding he pledge his and the island's loyalty to Ovis without resistance. Ovis sat on the deck of the Krake's tooth waiting for the messenger to return with an answer, Lusenkia stood a few feet away casually watching the waves, there was not much to do until the messenger returned. 4 hours passed before the boat returned but not with the messenger, the man who returned was diminutive and clearly much more accustomed to land than sea, he carried with him a box and a message from Zarain's lord.

"I represent the Lord of Zarain, Mesiris Korran, and I bring with me his words" the man upturned the box and dumped out the head of Ovis' messenger, "I reject your offer, you are an upstart pirate who forgets his place, I will lock you in an iron cage and have you witness the price for you unnatural ambitions, I will scatter your ramshackle fleets and sink them to the deep, I will cut off your brother's imbecilic head and deliver it to your cripple mother right before I have her throat slit, I will gouge the eyes out of your crew and nail them to boards that line the beaches and I will chain your whore bride up and para…." Ovis crushed the head of the messenger before he could finish

Lusenkia looked up at her husband, "I wanted to hear the end, it was just getting good"

"He was rambling, he could have just said no" Ovis wiped his hand clean before turning and heading to the bridge

"Don't let him get to you, you tend to go overboard when that happens"

Ovis' fleet started to manoeuvre towards Zarain while the Skyfisher and another accompanying aircraft carrier sent planes ahead to ambush the island's fleet and soften them up. It would take the fleet 2 hours to reach the island, using information from the returning planes Ovis devised his attack, Zarain had one glaring weakness that most other islands didn't suffer from, they haven't had to fight any pirates for the last 1000 years.

The island eventually came in to view and so did its fleet, it was clear that the attack wings had done their job as many of the larger ships were either burning, just sitting in the water or outright sinking. Ovis pulled his ships in to a line as he watched his enemy try to scrap together enough capital ships to meet him, their destroyers were sent forward in a torpedo attack but many of them were forced to break off as Ovis' own destroyer screen engaged them. The smaller ships battled as Ovis' ships opened fire on the enemy as they were pulling together a battle line, ships and land batteries fired back but as Ovis suspected they weren't well trained. Most pirates knew how well defended Zarain was and avoided it, it hadn't been subjected to a raid in over 1000 years but that also meant they didn't know how to defend against an attack.

Their range finding was terrible and many rounds flew way over Ovis' line or fell well short, they also had little discipline as every gun on their ships fired individually instead of alternating or even synchronising fire. As Ovis' fleet kept the enemy ships engaged planes buzzed over the landing beaches, dropping explosives on entrenched positions and strafing them with cannon fire, defenders abandoned established positions and fell back, abandoning the beach to Ovis.

It took Ovis 20 minutes to carve a satisfactory path through Zarain's ships and allow his men to storm the beach, hundreds of boats were launched, each ladened with armed men, the beaches defences had been abandoned so a beachhead was established without casualty. Ovis left Lusenkia to finish off the remnants of Zarain's fleet while he took a boat to land.

Korran had refused Ovis' offer and so Ovis had given his men free reign to let loose on the city, Zarain was a valuable port and settlement and Ovis had hoped to capture it intact but the message he was sending to anyone else who thought of refusing him was just a valuable. The pirates swarmed the city, it was a terrible thing when an island was raided, many simply paid tribute to avoid fighting but for those that refused; riches were taken, slaves captured and any who fought back were butchered. Ovis strolled through the streets as doors were kicked in and families dragged out, all they had was taken and who ever so much as looked at the invaders wrong was brutalised, the islands defence force tried to fight back but after their defensive positions were destroyed, they were scattered and easy to pick off.

Mesiris Korran watched from his manor as the city burned, he could hardly believe it, any pirate that so much as sailed too close to Zarain had been run off or sunk, no ship had even gotten close to the island without his approval. Korran shook himself out of his shock and turned from the destruction of his land, he had to hurry and get his family to safety before Ovis reached him, servants were running around the manor as they piled whatever they could lift to barricade the doors and windows, guards took up makeshift defensive positions as Korran made his way to the living quarters.

He found his wife and daughters furiously packing clothes and jewellery, tearing apart their rooms as they quickly decided what to take with them, "Forget the clothes just take anything of value, we'll need the money when we're hiding from Ovis" Korran grabbed anything made of gold or that had jewels in it, one of his brothers was carrying their aging mother so she could keep up with the rest of them while the other carried as many paintings as he could.

Servants helped as the family hurried to a secret escape tunnel, it would take them to a cove where a fast boat was waiting to take them somewhere far away, Korran hurried his family as he started hearing the sound of gunfire. He could hear the sounds of his guards dying and then the explosive sound of doors being kicked down, they were almost to the tunnel, the guards only had to hold the pirates off for a few seconds but they were unable to do that.

Ovis charged towards the manor through a hail of bullets, his men taking cover and returning fire, he ran on head first like a bull and ran straight through the door, the furniture used to barricade it flying in all directions and crushing many guards, the primarch paid them no attention and focused on the lord of the island. The primarch had a nose like a bloodhound and easily picked up the scent of his prey, he ran through the manor at superhuman speed, slaughtering any servant or guard that stood in his way. The family were mere meters away from escape when Ovis rounded the corner, in the blink of an eye he had run the length of the hall and grabbed Korran by his neck, the guards rushed to their lords defence but they were slaughtered with a simple flick of Ovis' wrist.

Korran and his family were captured, he was dragged back to his viewing room where he could see every ship of his fleet burning or sinking and his city being defiled, he was forced to kneel before a great window as Ovis towered over him.

"What did you say you would do?" Ovis taunted the defeated man, "You would scatter and sink my fleets"

Ovis clapped his hands and Korran's two brothers and mother were dragged in to the room, "You would cut off my brother's imbecilic head, since you have two I'll let you pick which one lives"

Korran looked at his two brothers, they had been supportive of him after their father's death instead of trying to take power for themselves, he couldn't let either of them die, "Just kill me and banish the rest of my family to some place far from here, I made those threats, I will pay for them"

"Pick one or I'll kill both"

"Please" Korran begged, "They tried to convince me to talk, I didn't listen, please just kill me….."

Korran stopped his pleading short as he watched Ovis cut his brothers' heads off, he didn't even see the primarch swing he only saw the slightest of movements and then their heads just fell off, his mother let out a cry as their bodies fell to the ground and their blood started pooling.

"You would deliver them to my cripple mother" Ovis kicked the heads over to the weeping woman, "Before you slit her throat"

"N…." Korran couldn't even get the words out before his mother's throat started gushing blood

"Your crew will have their eyes gouged out and I will nail them up on the beaches for all the survivors to see" Ovis knelt down so he was on Korran's level, "I killed the messenger before he could finish, what were you going to do to my wife?"

"Please just kill me and be done with it" Korran was doubled over in tears as everything his family built over 1000 years burnt up around him and everything he held dear was destroyed

"What were you going to do, tell me"

"I was going to chain her up and parade her around for all to see and I would make you watch as I kept her as my plaything until the day your spirit finally broke and only then would I end your life" Korran finished his message through tears, knowing what his fate would be

"Well that isn't as bad as what I had in mind, I have no children so you didn't mention them but you have some beautiful daughters…."

"N-no please at least let them live, please!" Korran didn't want to bear witness to whatever torture and cruel execution Ovis had in store for them

"Oh don't worry I won't kill them" a cruel smile spread across Ovis' face, "Such pretty girls are valuable entertainment on the seas, its hard keeping men motivated when they are stuck in a steel box with only 1000 other men, a few girls like that will lift their spirits"

Korran perfectly understood the fate that was to befall his daughters, he looked up at the primarch horrified at his petty cruelty, he couldn't even think of a punishment worse than what was being dealt to him, "And don't worry I'll make sure you're with them, I'm not so cruel as to split up a family, between your wife and daughters working you'll have plenty of time to apologise to them for your foolishness"

Ovis laughed as Korran was dragged away to be thrown in some cage on the lowest deck of his ship where the rest of his family would soon join him, the primarch watched as his men took complete control of not only the city but the rest of the island, expanding his empire a little more.

With the capture of Korran the fighting wound down and all the captured riches were dragged up to the former lord's manor, Ovis sat on his throne as everything of value in the city was dumped at his feet, the plunder would be divided between the crew but as the commander Ovis got first pick but there was technically someone he had to wait for. Ovis was looking at a painting of the krake when Lusenkia practically skipped in to the room, clothes covered in blood and smelling of spent munitions.

"You should have seen the commander of their fleet, he couldn't even swing a sword properly" she laughed as she swung around her gore covered sword, "Whoever trained those sailors should have their head cut off"

"You seem a bit too happy, what happened to the fleet?"

"Most of the large ships were sunk by the planes but a good number of the escorts are still technically seaworthy"

"By technically you mean they're in the middle of sinking as we speak, no point in trying to salvage them just leave them be" Ovis discarded the painting and continued to look through the pile of treasures

"I do have some better news though"

"What is it?"

"I've been feeling strange for the past week so I went to the ship's doctor after some poking and prodding he determined that I'm pregnant"

"What!?" Ovis did a double take as he heard that looking at his smiling wife in surprise

As the months went by more and more of Krake fell to Ovis, many islands were happy to join him and offer their support and those that weren't were crushed and had what they could've offered taken. His fleet swelled in number and so did the admirals he needed to organise it all, Ovis was soon forced to make a new rank and promote his brother up just to be able to effectively command.

Ovis had gathered many of his officers on Kasain as he planned where he would strike next and rotate the duties of the different fleets; Urst, his mother, his brother and lusenkia all looked over a massive map of the area that comprised the primarch's empire and bordering territories.

"We should strike north" Ovis moved his fleet markers up, "The pirates there are finally unifying we should break it before they can form a solid alliance"

"They are rabble, you shouldn't do that" Urst countered, "My fleet just got out of a refit, I can deal with them, you should go west"

"He's right" Sotris agreed, "We're coming dangerously close to encroaching on Evis' territory, he won't allow us to get any closer without retaliation"

Ovis sighed, "I had hoped to avoid fighting Evis until the very end but that was a pipe dream"

"Then you'll need to quickly close the space between you" Asla gathered several fleet markers and pushed them westward, "While Urst is curbing the northern threat we concentrate our power west and push in, quickly and decisively"

"Ovis' fleet could act as a spear tip to break through Evis' defences and strike at the heart of his territory" Lusenkia drew arrows on the map to visualise her plan, "Our main power will follow in his wake and wreak havoc, we shouldn't give him time to organise and concentrate his power"

"That should work but we'll need our most experienced fleets to follow me in, get me Strass, Karak and Jalles" the plans were finalised and written up by Ovis himself before being sealed to be secretly ferried to everyone involved, "After we destroy Evis it will make all pervious conquests seem insignificant, after he's defeated no one will dare to try defy us"

Everyone was about to leave the war room when a messenger knocked on the door and informed them that an envoy from Evis had just arrived, everyone travelled down to the beach where a man stood by the boat he landed in, he was clearly high in Evis' chain of command.

"Who are you?" Ovis asked towering over the man, who didn't flinch in the slightest

"I am Commodore Rosist, 5th son of Evis and I bring a message from my father"

"Well spit it out and leave"

Rosist pulled a letter from his jacket, "My father challenges you to a duel at the islands of the eye, he will bring to bear every ship he has and hopes you will do the same, he will bet his entire empire if you will do the same" Rosist folded the letter back in to his jacket, "My father will not dance around you, he'll destroy you and be done with it, will you accept?"

Ovis didn't even take a second to think, "A respectable approach, clever strategies are fun but sometime it is better to just be done with a rival, I will bring my full force to bear against him, in 2 months I will crush him at the islands of the eye and claim all he has built"

"Then may the Gods grant you strength, you'll need it" Rosist bowed his head slightly before returning to his boat

Everyone looked at Ovis shocked, "Why did you do that?" Sotris asked, "We had a plan in place it would have worked"

"While killing Evis would have been easy we would have to clean up the remnants for months, this will be a duel before the Gods once I win I will claim it all by divine right" Ovis turned to the nearby messenger, "Send word to all my admirals they are to take their entire force and sail for the islands of the eye"

"Sure it's good to leave our territory undefended?" Lusenkia asked

"The planes can keep any upstarts away" Ovis looked down at his wife, "I also want you to stay behind, you'll be able to keep an eye on things"

"I'm not staying behind, this will be the greatest battle in the history of Krake and I will fight it" Ovis could tell from her expression she would not be backing down

"You're heavily pregnant Lusenkia and in 2 months they will be close to coming, battle doesn't seem like the best place to be" Urst spoke in his commander's defence

"I don't care if they come in the middle of the battle, I'll just give birth there"

Ovis relented, there was never any way to stop Lusenkia from getting her way when she was adamant about it and the pregnancy had just made that worst, "Urst your fleet will be charged with making sure she survives the battle, I don't care how you do it"

Ovis left the beach and made his way to his office to put together a battle plan for what would become the largest aquatic naval battle in the history of the galaxy.

The islands of the eye were a set of three large islands slightly north of the equator, they were called that because when viewed on a map or from low orbit they formed an eye, the eastern and western islands were inhabited as any other island would be with two of the largest cities on Krake but the central island was dedicated to worship. The volcano that created the island was long dead, it stretched high in to the sky and the caves that ran through it reached deep in to the earth, the slopes were littered with temples to the various sky gods and the beaches with temples to the various sea gods, it was the nexus of Krake and the perfect place to decide its fate.

Ovis' fleet sailed south of the islands while Evis' sailed just north of them, thousands of ships of every size with enough fire power to reduce a continent to little but dust, each line of capital ships stretched for miles, actually curving with the curvature of the planet as it went off in to the horizon. Ovis took a boat to the central island to the beach dedicated to his namesake, to meet his opponent face to face.

As he landed on the beach there was a great statue of the god Ovis, his clawed hand outstretched demanding tribute, the primarch pulled several jewel encrusted necklaces and placed them in the statues already overflowing hand. Ovis stood beside the statue as he waited for Evis to arrive, it was only a few minutes before a boat carrying Evis beached itself, the pirate lord got out and threw some golden daggers in to the statue's hand.

"Ovis" He bowed to the statue before turning to the primarch, "Ovis"

Ovis chuckled, "No one said you were funny"

"I prefer people scream when they see me" Evis gestured to the grandiose temple that lay just off the beach

The two entered the temple, it was made of sandstone with sea stones set in to it, every wall inside the temple was covered in some kind of art depicting a story involving the god and in the floor were great vats filled to the brim with treasures given by multitudes of pirates over millennia. The two each took a seat at a table that stood before the shrine, white robed priests poured them both goblets of ale as they sat opposite each other. It was tradition when a duel was to be fought that the two commanders drink together the night before the battle, the two pricked their fingers and let a little of their blood drip in to their opponent's drink and their own, a blood oath to seal this duel and its results.

"Are you sure you won't surrender?" Ovis asked as he took a swig

"I can't have my legend end with me surrendering to someone" Evis chuckled and drank as well, "But I'm sure yours could end like that"

"It was worth a try, so what are you wagering on this duel?"

"Everything, every ship that survives or you can salvage and the entirety of my territory, everyone relevant has been sworn to a blood oath to honour the outcome"

"And I'll match you, I have made sure everyone will honour the outcome" the two sat in silence for a few seconds before Ovis spoke again, "So how many ships have you brought?"

Evis laughed, "I'll want it to be a surprise, I might tell you if you tell me how many of those aircraft carrying ships you brought"

"30 all I have, how many did you bring?"

Evis smile widened, "So you know I have some, I kept them from combat and tried to keep them secret but you're sharper than the stories give you credit for, 23 all I have as well"

"Before we do kill each other I want you to know I don't blame you for my father's death, that was Kismet's fault, you used a legitimate tactic to get rid of a rival"

"And I don't blame you for my son's death if he did die as foolishly as I heard"

"If you heard that I slapped him and then stepped on him then yes he did die like that"

Evis shook his head, "That boy was always too eager to rush in to battle, he never properly assessed a situation" the pirate gesture to the bulk of the primarch, "Clearly he couldn't beat you in a close quarters duel"

"Is that why you want to face me like this, you learned from your son"

"I suppose so, I had heard your wife is pregnant" Evis held up his goblet, "Congratulations"

Ovis tapped his goblet against Evis', "Thank you but she's been a nightmare for months"

"They all are, they suffer so we have to suffer with them in some way"

The two pirate lords sat there drinking for hours; laughing, singing and trading stories of their battles by the time they finished the sun had set and the moons hung bright in the sky. Ovis helped Evis walk out of the temple and not fall on his face, the two had competed to see who could drink the most and Ovis had cleverly hidden the fact he doesn't get drunk, he helped the pirate in to his boat.

"It has been a good day Ovis, I wish you luck tomorrow" Evis' speech was slurred but sincere, "May the Gods look kindly upon your ships"

"The same to you, prove your legend true tomorrow" Ovis hopped back in to his boat and took off back to his ships

Morning came and the two fleets moved away from the islands to face off, the two lines of ships stretched for hundreds of miles with miles of ocean separating them. Ovis stood in his bridge with a radio handset ready.

"Fire" he gave a simple command and in perfect unison thousands of battleships and cruisers opened fire with their main guns, the sound of their combined fire power being heard thousands of miles from the battle, Evis responded in kind and from that organised opening the battle descended in to near chaos. Hundreds of planes filled the sky, swarms that blocked out the sun battled each other and made runs at the capital ships that filled the air with anti-aircraft fire as they fired at their opposite number in the enemy line. Smaller escort ships battled in the space between the two lines, firing off torpedoes and attempting to destroy opposing escorts.

Ovis directed his admirals from the Krake's tooth, the bridge abuzz with activity as reports of positions, damages and sinkings came in every second, none of the officers could keep up with the sheer volume of information or size of the battle but Ovis could, while to others the outcome of the battle and even who had the upper hand was nebulous and subject to change, to Ovis it was clear the tide was turning in his favour.

The two fleets fought for hours, the sea around them becoming stained red, the Krake's tooth had received 53 hits and it had gotten off lightly compared to the other ships of the fleet, Ovis had his full attention on commanding the battle and barely noticed a runner burst in to the bridge calling for him.

"My lord, your wife she's gone in to labour"

Ovis turned his attention to the boy for a second, "When?"

"About an hour ago"

"And why didn't you use the radio?"

"In her own words she didn't want to clutter the airways with irrelevant information"

Ovis chuckled, "Well go back and tell her I'll be there when the battle is over"

The boy ran off and Ovis turned back to the battle with renewed vigour. From day in to night the two fleets battled; tens of thousands being blown overboard, being impaled by splinters, riddled with bullets, cut apart by sabres or simply drowning as their ship sank, the sun rose on the second day and still the fleets pounded away at each other with neither pirate lord allowing any of his ships to retreat. It soon got to a point where the vast ammunition stores that had been bolstered for the battle were running low, supply ships barely able to keep up with their expedeture, and the fight needed to end soon so with much reluctance Ovis took a fast boat and headed towards the enemy, intent on ending it swiftly.

Ovis travelled through the body and wreckage filled sea alone dodging anti-personnel fire from Evis' flagship, the Blackbane, the primarch climbed up on to the ships deck and got to work killing the deck crew, easily cutting them down as he made his way to the bridge.

"Come face me Evis" Ovis called out a challenge to the pirate, "I know you didn't want it to end like this but your will is as unbreakable as my own, there is no other way it will end!"

Evis walked out of his bridge and came down to the deck, sword drawn and ready to face a primarch, "Since you're here then it's already over for me" he threw down his blade, "I can't beat you sword to sword and it is clear to me I can't beat you ship to ship either"

"So you realised that?" Ovis knew he would win eventually but he wanted to end the battle quickly and save as many ships as he could

"It took a bit of time but I did, you are truly worthy to be the Pirate king of Krake and as a sign of my support" Evis reached in to his left eye socket and pulled out his bejewelled fake eye, he threw it to the primarch

"So will you tell your ships to stand down" the fleets were still exchanging fire as the two pirates spoke

"Tell them yourself, they're your ships now and besides dead men don't talk" Evis made his way to the edge of the deck before turning to Ovis one last time and taking his hat off to the primarch, "I heard you wife went in to labour, I wish your child the best, now the riches of the seas are yours go and plunder the riches unclaimed"

The defeated pirate lord looked up at the stars just coming out, he stepped off his deck and in to the sea, "For every star is a jewel and they will all adorn my crown" Ovis gave a reply before he headed to the Blackbane's bridge to put an end to the battle

As promised the officers that served under Evis surrendered upon hearing of his death. Ovis took his boat and instead of heading back to his ship he headed straight to Lusenkia's, the Reaping blade was filled with holes and had several fires raging onboard but it still sailed well. With his enhanced speed Ovis quickly reached the captain's quarters where he found Lusenkia in bed surrounded by her ship's officers.

"Are you ok?" Ovis asked as he went to her bedside, she seemed fine, more annoyed that anything

"I'm perfectly fine but no one is letting me get out of bed"

"You need to rest" one of her officers countered

"I needed to see the end of the battle"

"Evis gave me his eye and killed himself it wasn't that exciting" Ovis quickly glossed over the event, "Now where is the little one"

"Little ones" Lusenkia turned to a cot on the other side of her bed

Ovis walked over and leant down to look inside, two babies were wrapped in blankets inside sleeping peacefully, they were small enough that he could fit both of them in one hand, "Boys or girls?"

"The right one was born first he's a boy and the left one is a girl" the ships doctor informed him

Ovis smiled, "Then I have the perfect names for them"

"I'm the one who did 20 some hours of work"

"Well I was a bit busy so I couldn't help you"

His family soon arrived to see the new additions, his mother more excited than he had seen her in years, "I thought they would be bigger" Sotris commented as he picked the boy up

"They'll grow" the baby cracked his eyes open slightly showing his solid silver eyes, "Well at least that confirms they're mine"

His brother laughed, "So what are your plans now that Evis is dead?"

"I am going to need you to take over the conquest of the rest of Krake"

"Why?"

"I am going to be busy setting up the next step, all the calculations and theoreticals are done but I just have to build it all" Ovis had a manic smile on his face that he only wore when everything was falling perfectly in to place

"What are you planning?" Lusenkia looked at her husband from her bed

Ovis turned to her as his smile spread wide, "The stars are all jewels, if someone was so careless as to leave them out how can I not take them"

"Your father would have loved this, he'd be bouncing off the walls in excitement" Asla chuckled, sitting next to the bed holding the girl, "But there are more important matters first, you have names yet?"

Ovis had picked the names the moment he saw the two, "I'll call the boy Atris and I was thinking about naming the girl Asla"

Asla looked down at the baby girl, "A pretty name for a pretty girl"

Next time: The Drake and the Krake