4. The seas of Krake
The seas of Krake were quite rough, thanks to the planets two moons the weather was very unpredictable, one moment the sea could be relatively calm and then next the waves were destroying whole islands, but the Krakens were used to it. The sea currently raged with waves that arched high over the mighty ships that sailed through it, the few men on the deck held on to whatever they could grab as both rain and sea beat down on the deck and them.
Atris sat in the captain's chair as he looked out of the bridge, although the rain and waves had obscured the windows too much to see anything. This wasn't the worst storm he had ever seen, nowhere near, it wouldn't break the top 10 of any experienced sailor, and he didn't expect to lose any ships to it either although a few sailors had been washed off the deck.
There wasn't much a fleet was able to do during a storm, except bear it and sail on, Atris looked around the bridge of the ship formally known as the Last bastion now renamed the Krake's wrath, his officers moved about as they coordinated the fleet and tried to keep them on course in the storm.
"How are they doing?" the pirate turned to his right hand, Kismet
"No one will sink but we need to reach port soon" The experienced sailor stroked a recently acquired beard, "the Wanting and the Integrity have been forced to tow the Baneblade and the engines of this ship are close to exploding, the men down there are wizards"
"Considering it all, it is probably Ovis' work"
"That boy has grown fast"
It had only been 4 years since Atris and Asla had joined forces but Ovis was already the size of a 10 year old and had been put to work in the engines. It was tradition on Krake, most sailors started working on ships when they were young and would eventually work their way up from the bowels of the ship. Ovis took to work in the engines quickly, he seemed to instinctively know how to work and fix them and the work never seemed to tire him out. It became more obvious by the day that Ovis was no normal human and would be destined for great things.
The storm eventually passed and Atris' fleet was finally able to sail though calm seas, the crew got to work assessing any damage they took during the storm and trying to figure out how far off course they had been blown. In the underbelly of the ship a grease covered Ovis checked over the struggling engines of the Krake's wrath, the fleet had been at sea for months raiding and pillaging and the battleship had received a direct hit to the engine, it had killed half the men that worked down there and left a giant hole they had only just managed to seal. The engine room was half flooded and the engines themselves were one good hit away from exploding but thanks to Ovis and the other men's works they were chugging along.
There wasn't much that differentiated Ovis from anyone else on Krake, he had the same dark skin and black hair but where most everyone on the planet had deep golden eyes his were silver, it was very small and most people didn't mention it but that was only the first thing that separated him from everyone else.
"How's everything?" A muscular man wearing a sleeveless black shirt that didn't start as black approached the boy, he was old and bald with his only hair being his greying beard, though the grease worked to hide that
"Considering, pretty good, the storm didn't cause too much damage but we're leaking fuel and just about everything else that we can leak" he turned to Aest, the man who had run the engines of the ship since he was a babe and had been working with engines since before he was 'born' or even his father for that matter
Aest laughed, "Well as long as the ship is moving then we're doing our job" he pat Ovis on the back, wiping more grease and oil on the boy's grease and oil covered shirt, "shame you won't be taking over the engines, I could retire happy knowing you were in charge here"
"Maybe I will"
Aest laughed even louder, "You're not meant to be down here, your dad just wants you to know every part of this ship, it's the only way you can truly command a ship, if you've had hold it together with your bare hands and with the shape this ship is in, we might have to resort to holding it together with our bare hands" Aest had been like a second father to Ovis and the old man had taught him everything he knew about fixing and maintaining every part of the ship, "Get up to the bridge and tell your dad what the situation is and check if the guns are still working while you're up there, I can guarantee Earst is slacking"
"Sure" Ovis quickly climbed out of the engine and headed up to the deck
Everyone on the ship knew who he was and moved aside as he made his way through the narrow corridors of the ship, he made it to the bridge in a few minutes, his dirty appearance out of place amongst the neat and clean appearance of the officers that occupied the bridge.
"Ovis!" his father smiled as he saw him enter and stood from his chair, "How are the engines?"
"Leaking but they will hold out" Ovis reported, "how long until we reach port?"
Atris looked at his navigation officer who sent a junior officer over to report, "We were blown quite far off course, at our current speed we'll arrive in 4 days" the young man, no older than 19, reported before heading back to the map
"Will they hold out that long?" Atris asked
"No but I'll make it work" Ovis sighed
Ovis made his way back to the engines to tell Aest how long they'll have to keep the engines running for.
It was hard work but four days of constant repairs that barely kept the engine going had got them in sight of the port where they would finally get to properly fix all the damage done to the ship, from what Ovis and the rest of the engineering crew had seen of the damage it would take months to make the ship seaworthy again but their raiding had been very lucrative so the crew had earned a few months on dry land.
Islands and therefore ports were scarce on Krake and pirates, mercenaries and any other sailors would pay a lot to be able to dock at a port but the pirate lords were different, most islands would happily let them dock without a fee to avoid the wrath of their fleets but the most powerful of the pirates didn't just control fleets but also islands as well. They held absolute power on these islands, much like their fleets, they were used to grow food for their crews, recruit new men, dock and repair their ships and store the treasure they plundered.
Ever since his union with Asla, the two have been able to take control of a small cluster of three islands. They were quite far from any other islands and the waters were calm most of the year, it also didn't appear on many maps so no one would come and bother them.
The northern most island had been dedicated to docking and repairing the hundreds of ships the two controlled while the central island is where most of the people lived and farmed and the southern island was rich in ores so it was covered in mines and homes for the miners, although it was an active volcano and parts were dangerous. All the islands were shaped like mountains, very hilly with little flat ground, and covered in tropical greenery and fertile land. Near the peak of the central island overlooking the entire cluster Atris had a palace built for himself, circling the entire mountain and sitting atop it like a crown, and at the very peak was where he kept his vast riches, out of reach of anyone.
"Welcome back my lord" A short and scrawny looking man greeted Atris as he disembarked, he was Estras, the man that had been left in charge when him and Asla were out at sea, "I hope your voyage was fruitful"
Atris towered over the man, not just physically but in presence as well, Estras seemed to be bowing slightly as he walked behind the pirate lord, "I want my ship seaworthy as soon as possible, see to it" Atris barely looked at the little man as he made his way to a boat to the central island, "is Asla here? We need to discuss things"
"Yes she arrived a few weeks ahead of you, she is waiting at your palace"
Ovis, his father and many of his officers climbed in to a fast boat and made for the central island. They made it to the island and the palace in quick order and the officers dispersed to their various quarters, the palace hadn't been built to just house Atris and his family but also his officers and their families and allow them to quickly convene and discuss their next targets and strategy.
Ovis followed his father through the long corridors of his palace, the size of them becoming disorientating when compared to the cramped corridors of the ship he had spent the last few months on, the hall was decorated with rare pieces of art and artefacts all taken from various rivals or collectors his father and mother had defeated. The palace was basically one long corridor that looped around the mountain with one wall being covered in window panes that gave Ovis a good view of the houses and fields bellow them, the corridor was broken up by the occasional door that cut in to the mountain and led to various complexes that weaved through the rock.
"DADDY!" a squeal cut through the silence and a small child, no older than 3, ran towards them
"Sotris!" Atris kneeled down and picked the child up, "Have you missed me?"
"Yeah!" the toddler giggled as the pirate lord tickled him, looking completely opposed to the fearsome reputation he cultivated
"Now do you want to take me to mummy, I need to talk to her" he put the child down and let himself be led though his home
"She's in there" Sotris pointed to the door that lead to Asla's study
"Thank you" Atris picked up his small son and handed him to Ovis, "Go and play with your brother"
Ovis took his little brother as his father went to talk with his mother, he carried his brother out in to the main corridor, it had been quite some time since he had seen him and he'd noticed he had grown quite a bit. Ovis thought about how close in age they were, Sotris was only a year younger, but no one would be able to tell. Ovis remembered first seeing him when he was just a little new born and now his brother seemed to be growing as fast as the primarch was.
Ovis remembered everything from the moment he opened his eyes for the first time, it was his mother's face looking down at him, he remembered the lullabies she would sing him and his father showing him the endless ocean for the first time. Those were the clearest memories the young primarch had but he remembered things from before he opened his eyes, maybe before he had eyes, they were fuzzy and more like dreams he has already half forgotten but he never completely forgot his dreams. It always started with calm and a golden light passing him and then he is thrown in to chaos, the overwhelming power of the universe surrounds him and he's sent tumbling through an ever-stormy sea, he sees others suffering as he is and tries to reach out but the currents fling them far away. He is tossed around for an eternity or maybe just for a second and then he is caught, the sea still rages on around him but he is caught on a black rock that keeps the raging sea at bay, a will that stands opposed to the sea even as the swirling energies of eternity try to break it. Malicious presences surrounded him and the will, predators of unmatched power poised to rip them apart and feast, beings that cannot be bested even by the unbreakable tenacity of the will but still the will does not falter in the face of it's own destruction as the predators chipped away at what the untamed sea couldn't.
"I am the will and I will not be broken" those were the only words the will said before a dark shroud fell upon the primarch and next he knew he was in his mother's arms
Sotris squirmed in his arms and brought Ovis out of his day dream, the small boy covered himself in the oil that covered Ovis' stained shirt, managing to slip out of his brother's grip and run off down the corridor, tracking filth along the carpet as he went.
"Get back here" Ovis took off after the giggling toddler, purposeful keeping his distance as he chased his brother through the corridors, the memories of untameable seas and all-powerful predators falling to the back of his mind
Atris walked in to his partner's study without knocking, the room was reminiscent of a ships bridge with a large table that contained many maps taking up the centre of the room, the walls were covered with scraps of steel taken from ships she had sunk and a large chandelier that was clearly made from parts of wreaked ships hung from the ceiling to provide the room with light, Atris' own study wasn't too different.
"Don't you knock" the pirate lady sat behind a large wooden desk that dominated one side of the room, cleaning her plasma pistols
Atris looked at the necklace she wore and at a similar one he also wore, the two were technically married although on Krake marriage for sailors had little to do with love, it was used to produce an heir and gain the power and resources of another and monogamy was far from enforced. Despite the laxed view on marriage it was still a sacred covenant between two people and the gods and some traditions needed to be observed, such as one's spouse making a necklace that was to be worn for the rest of their lives. Atris' was many wooden fish hooks, carved by Asla herself, centred around the skull of a small fish, the only problem was that Atris hated fishing with a passion and she knew that. Asla's own necklace had been made with a similar sentiment, Atris had threaded the smooth seeds of the Olglom fruit with a dried piece of the fruit that could be chewed for the taste in the centre, Asla absolutely hated the fruit, she couldn't stand the taste or the smell of it and Atris knew that.
"Don't you look after your son" Atris moved over to the map table, it showed the area around their islands with small wooden ship representing fleets in the area, "he's running around covered in filth"
"You're his father, why didn't you stop him?"
"We needed to talk, Estra is encroaching on our territory" the pirate lord picked up and examined the detail on one of the ships, "she managed to ambush me but I was able to send her running"
Asla put her pistol down and stood up, "Expanding in to her territory wouldn't be the worst idea" she shuffled the maps a bit and brought up one that showed the area just north of theirs and then moved over to a case that contained more maps, "did you take the map of Estra's territory?"
"Yeah, what's your point?"
Asla sighed and moved back to the map table, "This is the territory of Mast and few other pirates, I was planning on bringing them under our control, I've gotten a few of the smaller pirate fleets to join us already but if we can destroy Estra then the rest will fold without much effort"
"Our territory would double with half the effort and together Estra stands no chance" Atris was impressed, "my fleet will be in repairs for a few months but Kasey and his fleet will be raiding near there, we can send him in to harass her ships and soften her up"
"I guess we have months to plan then, Ovis will be older than us by then" Asla played her concerns off as a joke
Although she had never said anything Atris knew the speed of Ovis' growth and the other superhuman abilities their son demonstrated had concerned her, the two had spent the year after finding him sailing together to solidify their combined authority and only a week after they had found him Ovis was walking and a month later were his fist words. It had concerned Atris as well but he ignored it and treated Ovis as he did his own son, and so had Asla.
"He is still our son, remember that"
"I know, I just find myself wondering where he really came from, who are his real parents?" Asla asked the questions that had been on Atris' mind since finding the child, "as much as everyone wants to say he's divine what we found him in was made by a man"
"I know, the pod is still in the vault but it's no help"
"I feel that something's going on here" Asla picked up one of the ship markers, "like someone is using us as pieces on a board and I don't like it"
"At least we get to make our own moves"