Project Empress 035

 (Chapter 8 continued)

It was bright day. By now the “Ruhig Blut” was just leaving the river Ruher entering the Rhine, moving upstream towards their goal in Thusseldorp. After having passed a complex of harbours not long ago this part was surprisingly green flood plains, dotted with a few ruins of buildings from the fallen union, which now were overgrown by plants. Cara was trying to pay attention to her surroundings. Everything looked markedly different here than in Monasteria but she kept getting distracted by the strange glances her master and Eliza were exchanging. It reminded Cara of one of the documentaries they were shown at school, always a highlight in young Cara’s life, where two dominant male orangutans had encountered each other, where on of them was obviously in the wrong territory. Yet instead of fighting they made a conscious effort to ignore each other.

In this case it was more an aggressive ignoring that contained suspicious amounts of side eye as well as polite almost gestures daring the other to step forward, if they thought they were hard enough. Cara was fascinated by how these two predators kept just outside of the distance that would force a response of the other. Now unlike how it would have been if they were fencing. Only that this to Cara smelled and tasted mostly childish. Which puzzled her even more, both these woman were obviously masters of the art. Cara could recognise the subtle shift in stances, a slight shift in balance of Eliza’s would result in Natalie moving so very slightly forward in her seat, so that she would be able to counter any attack that might come from the forge walker. While one was still pretending to look out of the window, with Natalie sipping on a mug of coffee that was coming to terms with the fact that it might soon turn into improvised brass knuckles. Manfred had completely removed himself from the possible lines of fire. He was now near the coffee maker checking the fire extinguisher. While so far it was Erika that had been the main fighter of the two, Cara could see that if need be, Wolfram was ready to fight for his bridge when push came to shove.

Instead the two great apes seemingly grew bored as time passed, Eliza actually starting to focus on the vista outside starting to point interesting points they were passing. Interesting to Eliza were smoke stacks of factories that were functional again, the power plant running, the two fortresses of high science that were deeper inland where the bright and the obsessed fought to keep the fading light of science going and of course most important of all the mines old and new that gave this region its enormous power.

“And around this bend”, Eliza said pointing forwards, “Is our goal palace Benrath.”

This woke up even Natalie who had not been as fascinated by Eliza’s accounts as Cara, her head that had hung backwards over the backrest of her seat, snapped up. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand blinking in the direction where Eliza was pointing. 

“I don’t see any palace.” Natalie said yawning.

“I see many ships.” Cara said, “Is that even a real harbour? I don’t see the usual cranes and most of the ships are small…”, she went to the window at the port side to have a better look, “and behind them… is that a fair? A marketplace?”

“A bit of both.” Eliza said, “This is a port of convenience that grew here over the years. The palace is a bit further inland. It changed functions several times. It was a command HQ, a hospital, the mansion of a wolf back in the day, but by now it is the ‘guildhall’ of the independent traders union. The large park of the castle and how close it is to the river made it the perfect place for smaller merchant outfits to come here and trade directly and it somehow turned into this.”, she said with grin. “Took a lot of tenacity to get where it is now, they fought hard to keep this bit of earth mostly independent. To them this confusion of quays is a feature. It is easy to get in there with a small boat while large freighters wouldn’t  dare to land here,” her gaze shifted towards Wolfram, “present company excepted it seems.”

Wolfram smiled a thin smile, his eyes glinting, “We have friends in low places.”

“And in high ones.”, Erika added.

“And in between”, Wolfgang said. After a short pause, “We have friends everywhere.” He moved towards the the radio station next to the helm. “Free Port Benrath, this is captain Wolfram Hartman Serafini of the “FMS Ruhig Blut”, we request permission to dock.” He cast a long roaming glance through the bridge, the shadow of raised eyebrows only reinforcing his poker face. The radio crackled back to life, “Captain Hartmann Serafini, welcome back to Benrath Free port, you can dock at your usual place and convey our welcome also to your wife captain Erika Hartmann Serafini.”

“Thank you and will do. “FMS Ruhig Blut” over and out”, he gave everyone enough time to process what just had happened. Natalie grinned, Eliza smiled nodding to him, while Cara was deeply impressed her mouth forming a an O, her eyes wide. She started clapping, Natalie and Eliza followed her example. Wolfram lowering his head humbly. Erika snorted.

A short while and some impressive manoeuvres later, the “Ruhig Blut” was fastened to the quickly deployed extension of the very first quay of the chaotic port. Cara watched how the freighter moved with a precision that was very close to magic towards the almost fragile looking quay. There were two people, a man and woman, already waiting for them. Erika was already out of the bridge getting ready to throw hawser on shore. Meanwhile Wolfram kept the ship steady, dropping its anchors. Shortly after the “Ruhig Blut” was as safely moored as possible under these circumstances.

“Are you coming to shore with us?”, Natalie asked Wolfram.

“Erika will, we have some deliveries to make here and maybe she will find something small and profitable in the market. I’m staying on board. Security. Both for our cargo and the harbour. That”, he pointed at the quay outside, “isn’t made for a ship like this.”

 “So…”, Cara started, not knowing exactly what to do, “this is goodbye?”, she fidgeted looking almost everywhere apart from Wolfram’s face. 

“I guess it is”, Wolfram said, who suddenly was very focused on his instruments. “I’m not got at this… Please take care, all of you. We will meet each other downstream again some day.” He did not look up from his instruments as he said this. 

Erika nodded and said, “Goodbye Captain Hartmann Serafini, I will remember you and so will the forge fortress”, she turned around and left the cabin. 

“You and your wife are some of the most solid people I’ve ever met”, Natalie said. “Until next time Wolfram, may your business and your boat always stay afloat.” Natalie too left the bridge murmuring, “Hey, that rhymed”, as she left.

“I…”, Cara started, “I just wanted to say thank you for all what you have done for me, I have no idea how to repay you for your kindness…”

Wolfram cleared his throat. “We got paid and we don’t leave anyone behind.” As Cara was still at a loss for words he added, “Become a great swordmaster and remember us.”

“I will”, Cara said. She moved forward a step, saw Wolfram sinking deeper into his seat. She decided to give him a quick pat on his head, turned around and left. ‘What was I thinking patting his head…’, she asked herself as she passed through the door outside. As she closed the door she thought to have heard a silent sniff.

Down on the quay, Erika was signing a paper held by the woman who had helped with the mooring of the boat. She the turned around and with wide gestures said goodbye to  first Erika, there was a lot of hugging too, the she turned to Natalie, the ritual repeating. As Cara moved closer she began to understand what Erika was saying. “…and make sure to eat well, it is not easy out there but a strong warrior like you needs to have a healthy diet. You need to keep that edge right?”

Natalie mumbled something that Cara couldn’t make out, but the answer from Erika was loud and clear. “Who are you calling your mom?! I’m not that much older than you. This is just solid advice. Porco d…, mom…. I’m like your older sister!”

Natalie nodded and again said something that Cara couldn’t quite understand, while trying to twist out of Erika’s embrace like a cat that had reached the limits of its patience. It was then that Erika saw Cara approaching. She let go of Natalie who was smiling her politest smile and quickly moved out of Erika’s reach. 

“Cara, carissima, come here”, with a side eye to Natalie, “to your big sister.”

Cara moved slowly towards the waiting captain, who embraced her the moment she got into range. At first Cara was impressed at how good Erik’s perception of distance was, that thought was instantly replaced by the feeling of being crushed. 

“Piccolina, how I wish you could stay with us a bit longer. But you need to go on, train to be a great warrior like your old aunt Natalie over there.” She shot Natalie a look as she said that. Cara heard a gasp coming from Natalie’s direction. Erika continued, “I already told her that she should be paying close attention to what you eat. You still have to grow big and strong.” Erika finally let go of Cara. Mostly. Her hands still remained on Cara’s shoulders. Cara wanted to say that she had not grown anymore in more than ten years but Erika kept talking. “Listen to your instructors, show them respect but most of all show yourself respect and train every day.” Cara nodded. “I know in time you will become a great hero. I am looking forward to the stories the people will tell of you.”

“I’m not a hero”, Cara just said.

Erika just nodded slowly, “N0 not yet. But you are getting there. Facing off against pirates. Breaking out of a slavers cage. Fighting your way to freedom.” 

“But I was…”

“Hurt? Yes you were. And look you are standing again. While the criminals who did this to you are now doing hard labour in Datlem. That,” she finally let go of Cara only to poke her in the chest with her weapon grade finger as she continued, “is how you grow strong.”

“er…”, Cara tried again, only to be attacked by another embrace. “I will miss you, Cara. Please take very good care of yourself”, she suddenly let go of her again. “And now go, Cara. I’ll see you down stream.”

“Thank you. For everything.” Cara tried to say something that could put her feelings into words, but at that moment no words would come. “See you downstream, captain.”

And with that she turned towards Eliza and Natalie. She stepped between them and together they walked towards the open market of Benrath palace.

Project Empress 034

Chapter 8
Kiln, Forge and Steel

Cara vaguely remembered Erika, coming for her at dawn when she was about to take over the helm from Wolfram. She had insisted on Cara to go to bed and sleep a little before they arrived at Castle Benrath as she had a long, strenuous day before her. Cara had resisted, Erika had none of it, more or less shoving her all the way to her bed. There against Cara’s protestations and the mumbling of the heap that allegedly contained Natalie, she had tucked Cara in. After that was a short moment of darkness followed by a long moment of being shaken by master Natalie.

“Come on Cara. We’ve almost reached or destination and you still have to pack your things.”, Natalie said, “at least you are already dressed…”, she added after tearing the cover from Cara. 

“Idonwanna…”, Cara somehow produced, turning away from the demon that had taken over the body of her master.

“I’m going to count to three Cara.”, Natalie said. “Afterwards I will not be held responsible to what happens.”

“Blrb…bleh…”, Cara countered, her mind clinging to the soft embrace of sleep that kept her away from the harsh cold of the outside world.

“One.” Natalie said.

“Twooo…”

“You’re really going to make me do this?” Natalie said, recoiling slightly from her stubborn aprentice. 

“You did this to you self… Three.”, Natalie moved forward until she loomed over Cara’s body that refused to acknowledge her or anything else beyond the blissful darkness of sleep. She moved over Cara’s head, face well hidden in the unjudging folds of Miss Snuggles. She aimed for Cara’s ear, pursing her lips and starting to blow into Cara’s ear.

As the moist, warmish air made its made it’s way through Cara’s ear canal, she felt the judgement of heaven and the contempt of hell worming their way through her body. The conept of sleep was ripped to shreds by the horror that was her body. 

“Gnaaaaaah!”, Cara screamed as she sat up. Nearly head butting Natalie.

“I warned you.”, Natalie said, her body still a bit tense, as she wasn’t sure of she had to fight off Cara.

Cara’s large, tear filled eyes turned towards the traitor she had called master. “How could you?”

Natalie was unimpressed. “Because you need to get up. It’s not my fault that you had to go all existential emo last night. I understand.”, she added with a bit less edge in her voice now, “However, that does not stop time. We need to get up now. We will be reaching Castle Benrath soon and you will want to have had coffee by then. And you probably want to do something about your face.”

“What happened to my face?”, Cara asked, her free hand darting towards her perfectly normal feeling face. 

“Look for your self.”, Natalie said, for this she was prepared. She held a little foldable hand-mirror in front of Cara’s face.

“It is missing a certain something…”, Cara said. 

“I knew you would think that. I have already packed most of our stuff. Minus your sword and your makeup. You can take care of that and then come to the bridge for a little breakfast.”

Cara nodded, following her image as Natalie pulled the little mirror away from her.

What she had planned to be a short shower became a rather long one. The warm water was relaxing, even better it felt that it was washing away all the anxiety from the last day. For a moment there was only the smell of soap, pushing away the memory of the stench of death. When Cara came out of the shower she put a tiny bit of soap on her hands and whipped the mirror in front of her so that it would remain clear. She looked tired. Examined herself for a little while, once she knew how she was feeling and what she would like to feel like, she started to apply her make-up. Again she took her time, this was important. Once she was done she put on the rest of her clothes, she put her makeup kit into her duffel bag, shouldered it, took her sword and went to the bridge.

Everyone else was already there. This morning Erika had taken the helm, Wolfram was standing close to the coffee maker between a beady eyed Natalie and Eliza who stood arms crossed at the other side of him. 

“If you don’t get your ass into gear in time you don’t get to complain when the food is gone.”, Eliza said, trying to move past Wolfram who shifted to block her way his hands held up palms towards trying to stop Eliza from advancing.

Behind him Natalie shifted her weight towards Eliza trying, moving slightly to get past Wolfram. “Yeah and if you put even one finger on what’s left before Cara eats, I will put your ass into gear…”

“Heh! I’d love to see you try.”

“Really, come and… oh hi Cara!”, Natalie instantly relaxed, waving at Cara.

“Er… what’s happening here?”, Cara asked. 

“You are being late and your master is trying to shield you from the consequences little…” Eliza said turning towards Cara. She paused for a second. “Damn, look at you. All polished and shiny.” Eliza looked Cara over nodding.

“Thank you?”, Cara said feeling her face heating up. “May I?”, she asked gesturing towards the coffee maker where Natalie smiling the smile of a predator that had her lunch cornered. “Please Cara, help yourself.”, she said making a grand gesture with her right arm using her body blocking Eliza and Wolfram who was busy trying to leave the line of fire. 

Cara poured herself a coffee, adding a significant amount of sugar, took some flat bread and leftovers from last nights meal. Eyeing her master and the solin-ger she decided to move to the side of the bridge that was the furthest of them both. 

Natalie sat down making her self comfortable blanketed in her smugness while Eliza moved to a window deciding to look out while murmuring something beneath her breath.

Project Empress 033

 [chapter 7 continued and finished]

***************

Roaring laughter filled the ship´s dining room. The table was a merry mess of half filled plates, islands in a sea of take-out boxes and pots. The air warm, smelling of the expensive and rare spices of the food. 

Read eared Cara had pushed her chair away from her place at the table as far as she could towards the wall were she tried to melt into the half shadow outside of the lamps glowing above the table. 

“She looked behind you?”, Natalie asked, “What was she expecting? A shy miniature container?”

Elisa shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Erika was looking at Cara with a warmth that Cara suspected was powered by pitty, she brought her plate close to her mouth, mumbling into her food. “It might have been a tiny parcel…” She cast a look around; Erika was still looking at her with motherly pitty, Elisa was grinning while mimicking the scene with her knife representing her and her fork looking around for the ‘stealthy parcel’. She gave a little snort, her eyes narrowing a bit as they moved on to Wolfram. He was very focused on his own food, moving it around with his fork as if trying to find a secret morsel under his vegetable heavy sauce, Cara did not miss that he was trying very hard to suppress a laugh. ‘Nice try… traitor’, Cara thought. Next was Natalie who was pointing at Elisa’s fork, laughing with tears in her eyes. 

Cara stood up and went for the door. She opened it, taking care that her cutlery didn’t fall to the ground. She had had quite enough humiliation for a day. As she moved out the room grew a bit silent. She turned back to the others, saying: “I hope you know that you are all”, she started looking at Wolfram, then went to look at Erika, followed by Elisa and ending on Natalie, “ assholes. Of varying sizes,”, a quick glance to Wolfram, who had the decency to keep looking at his food, all traces of mirth wiped away from his face. Cara looked back at Natalie, “but assholes nonetheless”, her eyes narrowed more. She slowly moved backwards out of the room, mostly to make sure she did not stumble on her way out, while appreciating that it allowed her to glower at the room for a while longer. She then turned around using her right foot to slam the door closed behind her. The door slammed shut with gratifying thunder. Cara took a deep breath and then left for the ships deck.

Outside it was dark, most of the illumination came from the almost full moon that had taken centre stage in the night sky, the Milky Way adding to its flair. The silver line was reflecting from the almost still water of the harbour. The only competition coming from the ship’s positional lights, which came a distant second. Cara was looking at the reflection of the water, eating with dogged determination. Her anger was doing a good job of pushing her hunger away, but the taste of the spicy food and the way that she couldn’t quite tell if it was still hot or if this was mostly the peppers doing their work kept her coming back for more. The burning in her mouth was also distracting her from the burning in her stomach. Besides, Wolfram must have spent a fortune for the food. Most of the spices in her food were incredibly rare. Earlier Wolfram had insisted that having everyone back alive and on their way to full recovery was worth more than money. He also added that the Hartmann Serafini’s may be one the suppliers of rare spices to Datlem, that was worth a discount. Still this must have cost them more than Cara used to earn in a week… Another reason to savour the food. Far away from the idiots below decks.

“If you come one step closer I am going to stab you”, Cara said, still looking at the reflection of the moon in the water below.

“With the knife or the fork?”, Natalie asked.

After considering it for a while, Cara answered: “With the fork”, her gaze wandering to the fork in her left hand. 

“Why?”

“Because its stabbier, it turns one thrust into four stabs. Very economic”, Cara said.

“That makes sense”, Natalie said, taking a step towards Cara. “Ow!”

“I warned you”, Cara said, her face neutral with a dash of murder. 

Natalie nodded, the fork still pressed into her skin slightly below the clavicle. “Fair.”

“Yes and there is more where that came from”, Cara added. “So could you please go away again?”

“I came to apologise”, Natalie said.

Cara didn’t answer. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to make fun of you.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“Well imagining the tiniest parcel, hiding behind that ranger…” Natalie started to smirk, followed by loud, “Oww! Ouch! Arrgh! Stop it”, she said, moving away from the stabbing fork. “It is a funny mental picture. It’s not even about you.”

“Is it not?”, Cara asked, “Is it not funny how dumb Cara is for not thinking that people are cargo? Oh how dumb of her. Ho ho ho. Yes the idea that person could be seen as cargo, after I was kidnapped by pirates who wanted to sell me is ridiculous. Dumb little Cara.” As she spoke Cara moved forward, plate in her right hand, the fork in her left seeking out Natalie. Natalie for her part retreated blocking Cara’s attacks with her arms. 

“Oooowww!”, Natalie shouted, Cara had turned the fork in her hand attacking from above, keeping contact with the blocking arm while continuing to push the fork down until it found its place in Natalie’s upper arm. “Stop that.”

“You stop being an idiot”, Cara said.

“I’m trying…”, Natalie paused, looking at the fork that was now standing embedded in her arm. “Good move.”

“Thank you…” Cara said, looking at the fork. It slowly dawned on her what she had done.  She snickered. 

“Oh so that’s funny?”, Natalie asked, looking at Cara. 

“Yes.”, Cara said. “I mean, just look at it.” Natalie looked, still grimacing, her grimace turning into a smirk. “It kinda is.” The women looked at the fork for a moment, before the both started laughing. 

“Could you please pull it out again?”, Natalie said still snickering.

“Is it deep in your arm?”, Cara asked snorting. 

“It’s mostly stuck in my clothes… I hope. It still hurts though.”

“Good”, Cara said, gripped the fork and pulled it out. Natalie grunted. 

“Are we good now?”, Natalie asked rubbing her arm. 

“No. But we are better.”

“Anything else I can do?”

“Yes I’m getting cold. You could get me Miss Snuggles and a cup of tea.”

“I can do that”, Natalie turned to go back under deck. 

“Wait a second.”, Cara said, she finished the rest of her food with a couple of hasty shovels into her mouth.

“With the fork you just stabbed me with?”, Natalie said recoiling slightly.

“The blood of my enemies is the sweetest spice”, Cara said.

“Is it?”

“No not really. I didn’t think about what I was doing.”

“You could spit it out?”

“Never. ‘tis too good.”

“I see…” Natalie stretched out her arms leaning forward to get Cara’s plate and the cutlery.  

“Not the fork”, Cara said. “I will keep this one for now.”

“Why?”

“It’s for traitors large and small.”

Natalie nodded slowly, retreating from Cara. After she had put a good distance between herself and Cara she turned around mumbling something about rabies.

Cara turned away again, looking at the reflection of the moon again. 

A bit later Natalie returned with a large mug of hot tea and Miss Snuggles. Cara had sent her away as she wanted to be alone with her thoughts. No fork was needed this time. 

Natalie had just nodded, leaving Cara with the moon and the stars.

Cara was lost in her thoughts, she almost didn’t notice the Ruhig Blut coming alive if not for the red light on the side of the ship slowly growing a brighter. As the ship started moving Cara moved to the front. There she was the furthest from everyone else, with only the night for company. The ship was now slowly moving down the canal towards their next destination the Confederated Cities of Rhineland North, where the canal would meet the river Rhine. There they would turn south until the reached castle Benrath in Thusseldorp, from where they would then go towards the forge fortress Solingen. 

These things were not in Cara’s mind. Her thoughts had lost focus, framed inside the pain that was still worming through most of her body. She was mostly lost in the dark, facing down the canal where the stars in the sky met their reflection in the water. Cara wondered what kind of person she was. She had lived a rather sheltered life dreaming of adventure and like a miracle, adventure had finally found her. It had started much like she had imagined it would be. Until the pirates came. That had also been very exiting. At first. Then she had been tied up in a cramped little cell to be sold to god knew who, only to be freed and having to fight her way out of captivity. Which was also quite like the stories. Until the first person died… There was a lot the stories didn’t tell you about that part. The smell for one. Dead people, especially if they had been cut open had a very special smell. Something that Cara hoped she would never have to smell again. 

She had of course not killed anyone. Maybe she was naive like Elisa had said, however this was something she was not ready to do. Turns out bad people look a lot like perfectly normal people and they sound the same when they scream…

Also people had tried to kill her, they had wounded her, she had bled not because of an accident but because people wanted to destroy her. It was here where her thoughts became confusing. Stopping them had felt good. To do that she had to break her opponents. Mostly in spirit, but she felt things that felt a lot like limbs, if not breaking then at least cracking. That memory made Cara feel a bit sick, but what was worse was the tiger that was hidden behind that queasy feeling. There it was lurking ready to pounce and that tiger was elated to break her opponents. This beast inside her heart was also proud of her art. That she had defeated those who had stood in her way. There was this tiny bit in her that was elated by what had happened. That was the part which scared her the most. 

She noticed that her knuckles holding her now cold mug had turned white. Her whole body was tense. “Do you still love me, Miss Snuggles?”, Cara asked. Miss Snuggles somehow shifted around Cara a bit in what would count as a hug for a duvet. 

“Good. That means there is still hope for me”, Cara said focusing on the world around her again, where the first rays of the sun were slowly starting to reclaim the sky.

Project Empress 032

[Chapter 7 continued] 
On their way back to the ‘Ruhig Blut’ Cara was troubled by the conversation with the regionaria. But she kept her thoughts to herself for now. Natalie was her master after all and knew what she was doing. Right?

Back on the ship she was quickly distracted first by the enthusiastic hugs of both Wolfgang and Erika when she came back on board who for some reason were still all hugs and barely repressed tears seeing Cara alive and mostly well. Cara wondered why they were still so overwhelmed by her continued survival. The danger had passed, she had survived and was now back, safe in a civilised city, surrounded by friends. Where they friends? She knew Natalie for about a week and the Hartmann Serafini’s for a bit more than a day… consciously at least. But then, when it was time to act, when Cara had been in danger, when taking care of her was a burden, they stood with her, despite it having been easier to just leave her to her own fate. She was especially surprised by the love and care that she received from the captains of the Ruhig Blut as they were traders. In church she had heard over and over again that traders were suspicious people, who while beneficial to the people of the world, always carried the seed of greed, the ultimate of all deadly sins in their hearts. After all it was greed and how it turned the human mind into that of a degenerate demon that had destroyed the old world and had fed the fires of the tyrant lords that came after the fall. And yet, the Hartmann Serafini’s had been nothing but kind and generous to her. The world was a strange place. Which brought her back to Natalie who had also been nothing but generous to her, who seemed to be the one that was closest to this most malicious of seeds… Of course what Cara was doing was very close to the other seed of destruction, the seed of doubt that once it took root in your soul would turn you against your kin, both by blood and by merit, opening the gates to ruin. Now that she was outside her city, those sermons she had heard all her life began to sound far more foreboding than in the past, when she had wondered why anyone would ever be so dumb as to fall for such obvious traps. 

As these thoughts began to slowly spiral out of control, Erika appeared in her cabin, all broad smiles and kind words, moving her out of the cabin on deck to help with loading the new cargo. The rest of the day went by quickly, in a series of sudden instances of hard work interrupted by phases of slightly less hard work. When they went through the cargo for a last time that evening to make sure that everything was actually what it pretended to be, was present in the right amount and secured to its place, it was something that felt almost relaxing. 

It was all dark by now, a cold breeze coming up carrying with it the smell of the port. Cara’s body felt exhausted and hungry but her mind felt clear. Her doubts from earlier that had not vanished but turned into something more productive. ‘While I don’t understand what master Natalie is doing, she has never done anything to make me doubt her as a person’, she thought. “And the seed of doubt”, she told the water flowing through the canal in front of her, “cannot survive in the light of day and the fresh air.” After a second she added, “in the metaphorical light of day.” She looked up at the night sky, daring it to contradict her. The night sky remained unimpressed, but Cara thought that some of the stars were twinkling at her in an encouraging way. She would do what was to her now the obvious thing to do. Talk to Natalie. A growling in her stomach made her add an ‘After dinner.’ 

When she went to the small dining room of the ship she discovered to her dismay that the adjoining caboose was dark, cold and empty. There was also no one in the dining room itself. When she turned around she almost walked into Erika, who had somehow appeared out of nowhere. 

“Cara!”, she said, clearly happy to see her. “Food will arrive shortly. When we load the ship, it’s tradition that Wolfgang goes into the city to get us a proper feast.” She grinned as she said this, clapping Cara’s shoulder a couple of times. Cara did her best not to crumple under the friendly hammer blows of encouragement. It was no wonder that Erika was able to control the dead gods below deck…

“I’m going to prepare the table”, Erika said, “could you do me a favour while I am doing that?”

“Of course.” Cara said. 

“There is a last piece of Cargo that we have to take care off”, Erika said.

Cara’s smile was almost flushed away, it took all of her willpower to keep it in place. “Yes?”, Cara said, imagining having to direct another container into the already filled cargo hold, checking what it carried and securing it in place. She wasn’t sure she could get any of those steps done on her own.

“Don’t worry, this is the kind of cargo that takes care of itself. You’ll find it on the pier next to the ship. Bring it to cabin C. That is the one next to yours. 

“OK.” Cara said.

“Hey little ingot, haven’t seen you in a while”, Elisa Klein Cunningham said when she saw Cara descend from the ship looking for the cargo she was supposed to take care of. 

“Er… Hello Elisa, I’m also glad to see you”, she paused for a moment to look at the ranger. Elisa looked like a professional carrier in her sensible rugged clothes, boots designed to go almost literally toe to toe with the most hostile of environments. She was now also wearing a wide brimmed hat, together with her now openly carried blade staff. The blade was covered in a luxurious velvet covering and the steel ‘star over anvil, with crossed hammer and sword’ emblem of the forge fortress. Cara was impressed at how official and serious Elisa looked; she was even more impressed that the forge walker did not look like she had been in a life or death fight in her entire live, less only a few days ago. 

“I’m also impressed by how… normal?…you look”, Cara said.

Elisa’s eyes narrowed very slightly one of her brows quivering a bit. “I look,” she said, ”normal?” The threat carried in her voice flew right over Cara’s head.

“Yes, I feel like I was almost murdered by a horde of elephants.”

“Armed elephants”, she added after short pause, “mostly with clubs and a few with sabres.”

Elisa’s one eyebrow stopped quivering while her other eyebrow rose to join the first. “Elephants…?”

“Yes and you look like you just wandered out of some high academy or temple of science…”

“Ah…”, Elisa said, starting to nod very slowly, her eyebrows slowly returning to their original position but ready to jump into action the instant they were needed again. 

“Well I had a couple of days of rest and while I do not often crush a pirate fleet,” she added a small smile looking at Cara directly, “with help from my friends, that is part of my job.”

“That’s soo cool”, Cara said, “but I can’t get distracted right now. I have a mission!”

“A mission?”, Elisa looked around, dropping the large duffle bag, her now free hand moving towards her sword staff’s cover.

“Yes I need to find and secure the last piece of cargo.”

Elisa relaxed, so much so that entire expression of her face fell, her eyes rolling slightly… “Cargo…?”

“Yes, Captain Erika told me that there was still one piece of cargo left.” After she had scanned the dock for another container and not found one she stepped around Elisa to look if maybe some very small container or package was hidden behind the ranger.

“Does this ship also carry passengers Cara?”, Elisa asked sighing, her eyes completing their roll.

“Yes”, Cara said, continuing her search for the mysterious last bit of cargo. 

Elisa pulled her hand back from her weapons cover making a fist with it, shaking it very slightly. “And was there something special about that Cargo?”

“Special?”, Cara paused putting her index finger against her lips. “Erika said that it is a kind of Cargo that mostly takes care of itself and I should bring it to cabin C. The one next to Natalie’s and my cabin.”

Elisa’s brows knew this was their moment for rising high again. Her fist relaxing into an open palm swung in a graceful arc, indicating that a great revelation was reached.

Cara looked at Elisa, following her gesture into the dark of the docks. Elisa’s eyebrows managed to raise a little bit further while her hand fell limp to her side. 

“Cara.”

“Yes.”

“It’s me…”

“I know who you are…”

Before Cara could continue and after stopping her free hand to dart for Cara’s neck, she said, “I am the cargo Cara. I’m a passenger too.”

“Oh…”, Cara said still looking into the dark. She suddenly stopped, turning towards Elisa again. “Oh! Oooooh…”

“Yes little ingot… oh indeed…”  

Project Empress special. The story so far 2025 edition

The story so far

It is the year 20xx. The industrial world is no more. Neither are the warlord states that came after it.

Societies are slowly growing back on the ruins of the fallen civilisations that came before.

Cara Gibson Müller our protagonist dreams of becoming a sword master of the fabled historical martial arts styles. At the beginning of our story she is a hopeless student of the famous sword master Manfred Brumotti von Burg. Over 4 years of training but almost no progress.

Cara’s fate changes when she gets attacked by 3 ruffian. She does try to defend herself. She fails, but is saved by the wandering journeyman swordswoman Natalie Laukkanen Lapointe.

The latter had sworn to never take a pupil. Too much of a hassle really. But there will be a grand tourney soon, where a secret fencing manuscript will go to the winner. The catch, only a team of master and apprentice can take part. Natalie sees something in Cara so she decides to adopt her.

Natalie gives Cara a crash course in her Style to see if Cara has what it takes. She has. 

Natalie then goes to prepare some business entrusting Cara to Walter for the next training session. 

Walter Balogh Rayne is the owner of Bacchus’ Barrel the wine bar Natalie likes to hang out with her sword master friend and rival Robert Cavendish Gutierrez. 

Walter is an old war veteran who can vaguely remember the old days of the fabled European Union. The utopia Natalie wishes she could bring back. Walter who saw how the “utopia” fell and what followed, has a more down to earth perspective. 

He teaches Cara more about the fundamentals of fighting introducing her to the concept of animus. The force true sword masters can invoke to overcome their limits. 

And he gives Cara a refurbished computer book that she is to use to write down what she learns.

The next day Cara and Natalie go to see the lord bishop of Monasteria to secure the funding for their Cara’s training and their voyage to Vienna where the tournament is going to take place. The bishop duels with Natalie to see if she has the necessary skills. She has. So he offers her a deal with the opposite of the devil. They get the money and the bishop get’s the manuscript for the holy library of Monasteria, for the glory of good and the enlightenment of the people. 

With this deal done, Cara is officially the student of now Master Laukkanen Lapointe. 

As her former master Manfred hears about this he suddenly decides that Cara is a snake and a traitor running away from him to snatch the fabled manuscript for her self and get all the glory for recovering it for the bishop. 

Manfred decides that he will too take part in the tournament, by sending his right hand man and top student and now freshly declared master Eskil Feltis Gavenda and his new pupil and an as of yet unnamed young man, who happened to be one of the ruffians Natalie bet to a pulp earlier. 

Cara doesn't know anything about this. She is busy training and packing her things.

The last night in Monasteria, while waiting for Natalie at Walter’s bar, a bunch of students from Manfred’s appear declaring that Cara is now a Proditor Perfidissimus, a high traitor and demand from Walter that he gives her over to them. Walter hands them their arses instead as he is not only an army veteran but also a grand master of the historical martial arts. 

Cara flees with Natalie to the port, where they have bought passage on the MHS Ruhig Blut a free trader ship of the co-captains Erika and Wolfram Hartmann Serafini. They hope the ship will get them through the lawless lands of the Purgatory Gap from Monasteria to independent trade fortress Datlem and from there into the The Confederated Cities of Rhineland North, where they plan to get out to go to the legendary forge city of Solingen. 

Here in Soling Cara is supposed to get further training and more importantly new weapons from the forge masters of the city.

The HMS Ruhig Blut is one of the fastest freighters in the entire region using forgotten technology to reach incredible speeds, to push past and if must be right through the pirate gangs of the Purgatory Gap. 

Ship, crew and passengers are all prepared for combat. 

Everything seems to be going fine, but of course some pirates do mange to board the Ruhig Blut. A fierce battle ensues where Cara shows of her new skills that she has aquired over the last few days. She does pretty well, until the point where a pirate sneaks up behind her and all goes black.

She wakes up in the cargo hold of a pirate vessel inside a cage with no chance for escape. She has been caught by black sword pirates, who do not kill their prey as they prefer to sell them of as slaves.

Cara’s days of adventure seem to be numbered. 

However there is a stowaway with her in the cargo hold, the Solingen forge-walker Elisa Klein Cunningham, a special agent of the cit of forges, who had planned to use the pirate ship as transport but now sees her hand forced. 

Cara and Elisa have a slight dispute about what to do with the pirates, Elisa says kill, Cara insists of leaving them alive. While Elisa strongly opposes to leave slavers alive she grudgingly accepts Cara’s conditions, if only to get her to shut up and moving.

Meanwhile in Datlem an distraught and angry Natalie goes to see the protonotary apostolic regionaria Alperta the leader of the local independent church and de facto leader of the city fortress of Datlem to get her to help with saving Cara. 

The regionaria has better things to do, especially for civilians caught by pirates outside of her sphere of influence until Natalie mentions the tournament and the manuscript the winner gets. regionaria Alperta agrees to help if, when they return they give the manuscript to her to make a copy of the manuscript for the Datlem library. Cara agrees.

Meanwhile Cara and Elisa sneak their way over the small artificial ship island of the pirates, when freedom is almost with in reach at the edge of the island, they get ambushed. However Elisa is a formidable fighter using various different historical styles and weapons to dispatch her enemies. While Cara pushes herself through injuries and pain, fighting to survive. Freedom so very near. 

When they think that they have finally gotten rid of all the pirates in their way, they are stopped by the pirate commander Aurei von Brecksbach, who descends with unnecessary drama from the upper deck to confront our two heroes. 

A fierce battle ensues where both Elisa and Cara are pushed beyond their limits. commander Aurei tries to convince Cara to give up and join his side. Cara refuses and instead decides to attack the commander. Cara is overwhelmed and wounded by the fierce counter that the commander unleashes. It looks like this might be the battle that Cara will lose along with at least her freedom and probably her life. She knows however that she only has to withstand the onslaught for the time it takes for Elisa to join the battle.

Once she reaches the commander, the battle become more balanced. The pirate is still a formidable foe, who in the end is beaten by the wounded and exhausted warriors.

Natalie appears minutes too late to save the day with commandos from Datlem.

When Cara regains consciousness some time later she is back to safety in Datlem, where she learns that Natalie has made another deal with the devil, or rather a powerful representative of the church. Now they not only need to win the manuscript at the tournament but they also have to bring it to the regionaria of Datlem first, so that her scribes can make a copy “for reasons of safety and the greater good of mankind” before they bring the manuscript to the Lord Bishop. As she leaves voicing her feeling of walking into a trap where failure would lead to dire consequences, the regionaria tells her to focus on her growth instead of worrying about failure.

Which is the point where our story resumes this year. 

Project Empress 031

 [Chapter7 continued]

Cara woke up. She was still very cold and in pain. But she was in something close enough to a bed, rolled into something very much like a blanket. Several blankets actually. One was crinkly like the metal foil that you could still buy for ridiculous sums in antiquarian artefact shops. But on top of it was something soft and warm. She opened her eyes, as she drew the soft blanket closer to her. As her eyes focused on it she instantly recognised the soft sand yellow of it. “Miss Snuggles”, she said, tears suddenly filling her eyes. “You waited for me.”

“Hey”, Natalie said, her voice soft, “you’re awake”, she smiled at her.

“No”, Cara’s eyes grew wide, a sudden punch of grief striking her square in the stomach. “Not you too, master…”.

Natalie’s eyes grew wide, lying a hand on Cara’s shoulder. “It’s OK, you are safe, I’m safe. Even that weird stray woman you found is safe.”

“I beg your pardon?”, an aggressive Elisa said appearing in Cara’s field of view. The aggression instantly disappeared when she saw Cara. “Oh no, little ingot. What happened?”

Cara pushing back sobs said, “Aren’t we all dead?”

At this Natalie and Elisa looked at each other, the back at Cara. 

“What? No.”, Natalie said.

“Why would you think that?”, Elisa said.

“Because of Miss Snuggles”, Cara said. “She was cut to ribbons by the dumb blonde idiot, when he attacked me in Monasteria. And here she is whole. So I thought… that we are both in heaven…?”

“Miss Snuggles is not dead, Cara, neither are you.”, Natalie said, her voice soft and her smile warm. “Wolfgang had started repairing her, it was the only thing keeping him sane after we lost you when we arrived in Datlem.”

“So we are still all alive.”

“Yes, little ingot”, said Elisa.

Cara let that sink in for a minute.

“That’s OK then…”, she said, blinked twice and fell asleep again.

When Cara woke up she was in a softer, fluffier bed. Everything still hurt, but the pain had turned into a more numb, throbbing pain. Until she started to move, that is, then her leg, her arm and face flared up again. 

“Careful, cara mia”, Erika said. She sat next to the bed in which Cara found herself. She had been cleaning some kind of machine part, which she now lay away, putting it on the floor. “Are you thirsty? Hungry?”

“Yes”, Cara nodded. “Both.” How long had she been asleep? She was incredibly thirsty. Her eyes were so dry that her eyelids stuck to her corneas. That felt horrible…

“Here, drink first “, Erika said, giving her some water from a cup that thankfully had a straw in it. After she had emptied it, Erika put it away. “I’ll go get you something to eat.”

Erika opened the door. “She’s awake”, she said to someone outside. 

The someone turned out to be Natalie, who came in and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“How do I look?”, Cara asked.

“Like a racoon who played a key role in a brawl.”

“Did the racoon win at least?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s good”, Cara said, almost smiling. She did not notice that she had fallen back asleep until she opened her eyes again. A bowl of cold soup next to her on an improvised nightstand. Natalie was gone. This time it was Wolfgang sitting with her. He did not notice her, he was still busy repairing Miss Snuggles, who, as it appeared, still needed some more medical attention. 

“Hmblmn…”, Cara tried to say. She blinked.

It was a very slow blink because when her eyes were open again Wolfgang had turned into Elisa and Miss Snuggles was now back in her arms. The forge walker was focused on removing the burrs from the edge of one of her weapons. Elisa’s eyes darted to Cara.

“Am I steel now?”, Elisa said. 

“Not yet little ingot”, Elisa said, resuming the work on her blade. “But you certainly have felt the heat of the forge and the strikes of the hammer.” She paused in her work for a moment again. “You are on a good way though. You fought well. Behaved like a warrior too. There is already steel inside you, little ingot. Just keep going, You’ll be there soon.”

That made Cara happy. She smiled and fell asleep yet again.

“I was asleep for how long?”, Cara said, now sitting up in what she now realised was the lower bunk of her and Natalie’s cabin aboard the Ruhig Blut. A big bowl of stew in her lap. Next to her on the nightstand was an empty bowl which she had devoured in silence a few minutes ago. 

“Two and a half days”, Natalie said, passing her another piece of bread. 

“Dat makes no sense…”, Cara said stuffing  and chewing on her stew soaked bread. “I was just wounded.” 

“Yeah, but you were exhausted after the fight, you lost blood. Then you got a fever.”

“Fever?”, Cara shrunk back into the corner, her hands gripping her piece of bread and the bowl more tightly. Now that Natalie had mentioned it despite being wrapped in several blankets she was feeling cold. 

“Don’t worry. We treated your wounds, there are no signs of infection or sepsis. I’m not a doctor… obviously… but you seem to be OK. The actual doctors also don’t seem to be too worried. We are to keep an eye on you and if you get worse, then we are to worry. But right now you are doing pretty well.”

“The doctors?”, Cara said, finding her hunger again.

“Yep.”

“Plural?”

“Yes, the Regionaria insisted.”, Natalie said.

“Regionaria?” 

“Yes she is the sovereign of…”

“I know what a Regionaria is”, Cara said. “But why would the Regionaria of… Datlem?”, Natalie nodded, “…send physicians to take care of me?”, Cara asked, her eyes growing wide, bread and stew forgotten for a moment.

“Because you are a hero, Cara”, Natalie grinned. Natalie, now leaning back crossing her arms behind her head, seemed suspiciously self-satisfied. 

“How?”

“Well, you stopped the notorious slaver Aurei von Brecksbach. One of the demon-lords of the Purgatory Gap. Thanks to you, not only was this criminal apprehended, but thanks to you their organisation was struck a serious blow.”

“But Elisa…”

“Yeah the old toad is also very impressed by you”, Natalie said, waving her hand.

“Toad… wait impressed? By me?”

“She said something about turning piggy iron into steal or something like that.”

“Oh…”, Cara said. She continued eating.

“Also the Regionaria wants to meet you.”

“What? Me? Nooo…”, Cara’s bread fell from her hand into the stew.

“Ah… you worry too much. It won’t be that different from meeting the Lord Bishop”, Natalie said.

“There I could stand comfortably in the shadow. In this case she want’s to see me”, Cara said, trying to push herself further into her corner, “I don’t want to be seen.”

“Ah, don’t worry. I’ll take the lead, you just smile and nod. It’ll be easy”, Natalie said with a broad smile.

“Thank you for the introduction, Master Laukkanen Lapointe”, Regionaria Alperta said, a smile suggesting itself into her expression, bringing with it the suggestion that Natalie should acquaint herself with the virtue of silence for the time being. 

“I would like to hear from you, my dear”, she said, turning her piercing gaze towards Cara. The smile in the Regionaria’s face grew warmer, but with it it brought the hints of the last summer days before an early frost. 

Cara froze. “Errrr…”, she tried. “I… umm… I… there were the pirates and… well…” Fighting the pirate commander had been far less scary than this. 

With a languid motion, the Regionaria held out a hand. From the depths of her flowers a servant appeared, handing her a document, before vanishing into the greenery again. 

“My dear child”, she said with her face now radiating maternal affection. It didn’t really help Cara much. While she was impressed by how the Regionaria had flowed into this persona so seamlessly, with her voice embracing her fear and slowly dispersing it, that didn’t change that the Regionaria had a dragon’s eyes.

“I have already read the report and talked to other witnesses”, the Regionaria continued, the dragon behind her eyes carefully adapting to Cara’s reactions. “We already know of your great deeds. We just want to hear your version of things.”

“There isn’t much to tell”, Cara said. “I was locked up in a cage. Mistress Klein Cunningham the Solinger forger-walker freed me. Together we tried to escape. We were ambushed by the pirate commander. We fought. We won…?”, on this point Cara was still not quite sure. They certainly had beaten a couple of pirates and their commander, but was that really a victory?

“And then master Natalie and your most holy troops came and saved us…”

“It was you, however”, the Regionaria said, shifting her gaze as to not look her directly in the eyes, taking a slight step back, “who duelled with and beat the high criminal von Brecksbach.” She looked at her document for a second pretending to read it. “Twice.”

“Nnnn…yes?”, Cara said. “I did fight him. But together with forge-walker Klein Cunningham. The second time I mostly collapsed on him.”

“Because you were gravely wounded”, the Regionaria said. Again, casting a symbolic look at her document.

“So was he”, Cara said, slowly relaxing, now that they were talking about what had happened she felt more secure. Just telling what had happened was easy. 

“It says here”, again the symbolic scan, “that you, despite your serious injurie, crawled at least”, symbolic glance, “twenty metres, to stop him from what ever he was doing.”

“Well he was moving towards a cabinet. Why would you do that when you are wounded yourself? He mostly had blunt force trauma and it didn’t look like the locker held medical supplies”, Cara shrugged, “of course I couldn't be sure. But he had already cheated before.”

Cara paused for a second, now it was her who sought the Regionaria’s eyes. “And I was right. He had an ancient technology rifle. I could not let him use that.”

“And you stopped him by…”, this time the Regionaria didn’t even pretend to be looking at her document, “collapsing on top of him.”

“I had underestimated my blood loss”, Cara shrugged again, then smiled, “it worked though.”

The Regionaria waved the document away. As it left her fingers the servant had reappeared, caught it before it could fall, retreating again. Alperta turned to Natalie, who unclenched her fists before she had come into her focus, trying to fall back into her usual nonchalant bravado. She narrowly missed.

“I can see what you mean, Master Laukkanen Lapointe”, the Regionaria nodded. Turning towards Cara she said, “You show great potential Cara.” Cara’s face discovered some new exiting shades of red. 

Turning back to Natalie the Regionaria said, “And seeing that Lord-Bishop Waltharius has put his trust into Cara, it appears only natural that, for whatever our humble contributions may be worth, the free city of Datlem shall also back you and your apprentice for the upcoming tournament.” Alperta turned around walked over to her table, took a small crystal spray bottle and, still talking, started spraying her orchids with a mist of water. “After all I have a responsibility to cultivate all of the plants in The Lord´s garden. Especially when they are as promising as you”, she said, spraying an especially beautiful flower.

“This concludes our conversation”, the Regionaria said. 

Cara and Natalie both bowed to her, turning to the exit. 

“What happens if we fail?”, Cara said more to herself than the Regionaria.

She heard the smile in Alperta’s voice as she said, “I would not worry about that, Cara, right now all you need to do is grow.”

“Hmmm…”, Cara said, nodding, looking at the discarded pieces of plants and cut of branches lying on the floor.

Project Empress 030

 Chapter 7

Crossing Limbo

Cara didn’t fall unconscious. No matter how much she wished for it. The wound on her head added a piercing burning pain to her headache, which she herself made worse by pressing a piece of cloth onto the wound, which Elisa had insisted Cara do, while she was busy disinfecting, then bandaging Cara’s other wounds. That also hurt.

In the background Natalie was kicking a pirate with little conviction to bring him to put up a fight. She had, a few minutes ago, appeared like an avenging fury on the deck of the ship island, flanked by white and gold armoured soldiers of the church. When she had seen Cara in a crumpled heap, sitting in a pool of her own blood, her eyes had grown wide and she had charged to her side. Cara had looked up, blinked in confusion, waved saying “Hi, Natalie”, trying to smile through her pain. In that moment Natalie’s expression went through a quick voyage starting at surprise, going to relief, taking a detour over slight confusion, before settling in something that looked suspiciously like disappointment. 

“Hey, Cara”, she said. “Who did that to you?”, she asked, a slight gleam returning to her eyes. 

“Him”, Cara said, pointing at the unconscious commander lying on the floor. “He was very rude.”

“Was he…”, Natalie said, walking over to him, prodding him with her sword a couple of times. Von Brecksbach didn’t move. 

Natalie turned back to Cara. Cara was a bit confused, as Natalie appeared to be disappointed. “He was really good.”

Natalie smiled as she heard that. “Well done Cara, I’m proud of you.” But then her face fell again.

“I don’t understand your reaction or your face…”, Cara said, “What’s wrong?” 

“I came here to save you…”, Natalie said. Cara wasn’t sure, but the slightly bowed head, the pouting lips… was Natalie pouting?

“You did save us, master Natalie”, Cara said. “Ow!”, she flinched. Elisa had been busy checking her wounds. She had now started cleaning them.

“And who are you supposed to be?”, Natalie asked pointing her sword casually at Elisa. 

Elisa looked at Natalie’s sword raising her eyebrows. After a moment she said, “Who are you to ask other people´s names without introducing yourself first.”

“I just came and saved you from a horde of pirates, is who I am.”, Natalie said, her voice filled with a bit too much ‘come and get it’ for Cara’s taste.

“Really?”, Elisa said, standing up in one fluid motion, her hands pressing a bandage against Cara’s head and pushing one of Cara’s hands against it. While Elisa was almost a head shorter then Natalie she somehow manged to look so very slightly down on her. “We were doing perfectly fine and were about to mop up the rest, when you blundered in.”

In the background a few pirates started a counter attack against the church forces. The sound of combat flaring up again for a moment. 

“Yeah, I can see that.”, Natalie said, “Totally under control. Why don’t I call the troops I brought to save Cara back and leave you to it then?”

Natalie’s sword moved into a guard that looked relaxed but out of which she could strike at any moment, while Elisa’s left hand slowly inched behind her back where she had a large hunting knife. 

“This”, Cara interrupted, trying to stand up, with marginal success, “is my master, Natalie Laukkanen Lapointe and this”, as she was saying that, Natalie and Elisa, while still staring daggers into each others eyes, grabbed Cara under one arm each, pulling her up and holding her steady, “is solinger and forge walker Elisa Klein Cunningham. Who saved me from the pirates.”

“Did she now?”, Natalie said, smiling a tigers smile. 

“Yes and thanks to that it is only you who is late”, Elisa answered with a shark smile.

“Thank you so much”, Natalie said, her tone murdering the concept of politeness.

“You are welcome”, said Elisa, finishing it of.

“We are all friends”, Cara said horribly confused now. “Also could you please stop being weird, for a moment and help me? Everything hurts and I think I’m still bleeding?”

That stopped the strange scene that had been unfolding in front of Cara. They had carried her to one side of the deck where she could sit more or less comfortably resting against a wall. Natalie had given them a bottle of disinfectant and stalked away to look for ‘dangerous individuals’. Elisa had finished dressing Cara’s wounds and then walked over to the officer who had led the church unit and started talking to her. 

And so Cara was left with her pain and her inability to fall unconscious. Waiting. Not sure herself for what exactly. She tried to remember her fight with the pirate commander, but realised that most of the details were gone from her mind. She had been so focused on surviving that there hadn’t been much left in her to take note of what was happening. At least trying to remember it, picturing the situations that still were vivid in her mind, did help against the pain a bit. And the cold. She was starting to shiver, even if the sun was now high enough in the sky to shine directly on her and on the deck. ‘Strange’, Cara thought. 

She looked over to where von Brecksbach was lying. 

There was no one there anymore.

Cara blinked. Still nothing. She looked around and saw von Brecksbach slowly crawling along the deck. Towards a cabinet bolted to wall of the deck. 

‘This can’t be good’, Cara thought. “Hey”, she croaked. “What are you doing?”

The figure on the floor stopped crawling, turning around with groan to face her. At first the commander´s face turned into a grimace of disgust. But then he smiled. “You will see..”, he said with a voice that could only be made by rubbing to dry, brittle vocal cords together. “I’ll have the last laugh.” He resumed crawling.

“Hey!”, Cara tried to shout. But no one heard her. ‘Where is everyone?’. The deck was empty apart from her and the commander. 

So Cara did what she had to do and crawled towards von Brecksbach. She tried to walk. But standing up she got nauseous, her legs giving in under her. 

And so no one saw this slow race between a wounded Cara and a not quite crushed commander von Brecksbach. 

Von Brecksbach reached his goal first. With trembling hands he was unlocking a combination pad-lock when Cara reached him. Inside the cabinet was a rifle from before the fall. While even with a full magazine it would not stop the church army, it could kill many of them. Among them Natalie and Elisa. This thought gave Cara a little push of power. Her body was now mostly deaf to adrenaline’s call. But it was enough to pull her self up to her full, medium, height. Commander von Brecksbach took out the rifle, crumpling under its weight, bowing forward. Cara took her chance and fell on the commander, slamming him back into the ground. There Cara found the unconsciousness she was looking for. 

Cara woke up. She was still very cold and in pain. But she was in something close enough to a bed, rolled into something very much like a blanket. Several blankets actually. One was crinkly like the metal foil that you could still buy for ridiculous sums in antiquarian artefact shops. But on top of it was something soft and warm. She opened her eyes, as she drew the soft blanket closer to her. As her eyes focused on it she instantly recognised the soft sand yellow of it. “Miss Snuggles”, she said, tears suddenly filling her eyes. “You waited for me.”

“Hey”, Natalie said, her voice soft, “you’re awake”, she smiled at her.

“No”, Cara’s eyes grew wide, a sudden punch of grief striking her square in the stomach. “Not you too, master…”

Natalie’s eyes grew wide, lying a hand on Cara’s shoulder. “It’s OK, you are safe, I’m safe. Even that weird stray woman you found is safe.”

“I beg your pardon?”, an aggressive Elisa said appearing in Cara’s field of view. The aggression instantly disappeared when she saw Cara. “Oh no, little ingot. What happened?”

Cara pushing back sobs said, “Aren’t we all dead?”

At this Natalie and Elisa looked at each other, the back at Cara. 

“What? No.”, Natalie said.

“Why would you think that?”, Elisa said.

“Because of Miss Snuggles”, Cara said. “She was cut to ribbons by the dumb blonde idiot, when he attacked me in Monasteria. And here she is whole. So I thought… that we are both in heaven…?”

“Miss Snuggles is not dead, Cara, neither are you.”, Natalie said, her voice soft and her smile warm. “Wolfgang had started repairing her, it was the only thing keeping him sane after we lost you when we arrived in Datlem.”

“So we are still all alive.”

“Yes, little ingot”, said Elisa.

Cara let that sink in for a minute.

“That’s OK then…”, she said, blinked twice and fell asleep again.

Project Empress 029

[Chapter 6 continued and finished] 

The commander smiled, his brow furrowed, head shaking. “You killed a good man down there, little mouse, you will have to fetch a good price and work off the debt you owe him and his family”, he said strolling leisurely towards Cara. His sword was now resting lightly on his right shoulder.

“Family…”, Cara said. 

“Yep, wife, three children, two girls, one boy.” He looked at her, seeking to peer deep into her eyes. “Who will now grow up alone”, he said as he continued circling her. 

‘No…’, Cara thought, her eyes narrowing, ‘Not a circle, a spiral…’; to test her idea she moved away a bit, and he subtly followed her, very slowly closing the distance between them. Cara tried not to grimace when she noticed. 

“I didn’t kill him”, Cara said. 

“You did not? You did not help your murderer friend over there?”, he said his expression relaxing, while inching another bit forward. 

“I am strictly opposed to murder”, Cara said, wincing a bit remembering how she did actually help Elisa kill the pirate.

The pirate commander’s beaming smile returned to his face. “Wonderful, then we have something in common. You seem to be a smart girl. Why don’t you just give up. You’ll take no damage. Fetch a really good price and get sold as a high class slave. Win-win.” Again, the pirate moved closer, moving to her left flank, where her reach wasn’t as far, being left handed. 

“Hmmm…”, said Cara, stopping in her motion, watching Commander von Brecksbach from the corner of her eye as he moved into her left flank. Her sword with the hilt still close to her left shoulder, the tip pointing high into the air. ‘One more step aaaand…’

She let the tip of her sword fall to the left, as the pirate rushed forwards with a slash from above. “I decline”, she said as she drove the point of her sword towards her foe. Following her sword she drew it high to her left, her blade catching the attack of the pirate. 

At first, the force and weight of her opponent´s strike was close to overwhelming her, pushing the weak, front half of her sword, easily away. But as Walter had taught her, she trusted in her art and moved forward. As she did, the pirate´s blade slipped down her own into its strong, making the point of her sword snap back into the direction of the commanders face. 

With a “Whoa!” and eyes suddenly wide open the pirate commander closely evaded the tip smashing into his face. “Looks like the kitty has some claws.”

“This kitty has a sword”, Cara corrected him, swinging her sword around to attack the pirate’s arms with a raising slash, which he blocked. Cara kept pushing, moving the point around the block of her enemy, again seeking out his face. ‘If I can keep this up,’ she thought, ‘I can win…’

The problem was that the pirate commander had no intention of letting her have the initiative. As soon as he found a gap in her attack pattern he instantly pushed into it. First he went after her arms; as she blocked those attacks he instantly shifted towards her face. Now it was Cara who was on the back foot, guarding against the direct attacks as well the traps they often represented. 

While she had managed to trick the pirate commander once into walking into the reach of her sword, he did not underestimate her again, using his reach and skill to his advantage. 

Cara couldn’t close the gap between them having trouble with his strange style, which somehow could shift the direction from which the attacks came with confusing speed and force. Sometimes it seemed that the point of her opponent´s sword hat teleported to a new position, or the blade was moving in way that should be impossible for a straight piece of steel. 

 

Von Brecksbach’s expression had changed. From his wide grin, now he was calm and concentrated, carefully pushing Cara, wearing her down. Whenever he saw weakness in her defence he instantly pushed against it. 

Cara herself was surprised that she was still holding on. The lessons of Nat and Walter who had taught her to “think with the strong” and “let it just move to cover her” had been more effective than all her time under master Manfred.

And yet, she could not see a way out of this situation. She just couldn’t reach von Brecksbach. 

This became painfully clear when she tried to push forward again, to regain some initiative, when a secondary strike from the pirate commander struck her right forearm. She felt the blade push through the muscle, strike her ulna and make it bend inward slightly. The pain was instant and almost overwhelming, driving the air out of her lungs. For a moment, her body wanted to stop everything, cold sweat suddenly covering her entire body, making her grip slippery. 

‘No time…’, Cara thought, still trying to remember how to breathe in again, when the point of her opponent´s sword flashed past her defence towards her face. She moved her sword almost too late. The tip of von Brecksbach’s sword broke her skin, scratching it from her eyebrow all the way up to her hairline above her temple. Blood instantly started pouring over her right eye.  

Cara inhaled, the man in front of her coming back into focus. Pain and panic clawed at her, she pushed those back. 

‘Not now.’ The sword that had scraped her face was still moving past her. She was still alive and conscious. In front of her Commander von Brecksbach stood wide open, moving towards her arms extended. 

 As Walter said: “In combat, as long as you can, you keep fighting.”

‘I can go a bit further’, Cara thought as she crouched down, almost buckling. Gritting her teeth she held her position; her sword free again, she realigned her sword with the forearms of the pirate commander, while pushing herself forward, shifting her body to the right.  Now she was crouched under him, her blade held high behind her head, connecting von Brecksbach’s arms. Standing in a position not unlike someone chopping wood. She rose again, pushing the pirate up, following up with a motion just like chopping wood. Throwing the commanders arms forward and down. 

The pirate lost his balance, his whole body twisting to one side while almost falling flat on his face.

Cara wanted to follow that with a rising strike towards the pirate’s throat to throw him completely to the ground. Once he was prone it would be easy to just stab him until he lost the will to go on. For some reason though, night fell over the whole scene all of a sudden. ‘But the sun is still up…’, Cara wondered.

“Little ingot!”, Cara heard a somewhat familiar voice shouting, “You can rest later!”

‘Elisa?’, Cara forced the light back into her mind. 

In front of her the form of the pirate commander coalesced back into focus. Von Brecksbach was recovering quickly. A fierce murderous glint in his eyes. His sword, still hanging slack by his side, suddenly flew up towards Cara. Jean D’Arc, her own weapon, immediately moved up to intercept the attack, as if the sword had a will of its own. When it blocked the pirate’s strike, Cara felt the impact in her entire body. 

Von Brecksbach wasn’t finished. Pulling his sword high again, he started raining a flurry of blows down on Cara. From up above, form the left, the right. All Cara could do was try to stay behind her sword as well as she could. In the background she could make out Elisa starting to sprint in their direction. But she was still so incredibly far away. 

‘I just need to survive a bit longer…’, Cara thought. She almost slipped on something when walking back. She looked down. ‘Oh… my blood’, she thought and was shocked back into the fight when the tip of von Brecksbach’s sword narrowly missed her nose. The added adrenaline pulled her back into full consciousness. Von Brecksbach was now hammering strikes from his right and left into Cara to simply break past her defences. ‘He is wide open in the middle´, Cara thought. After she had blocked another strike and von Brecksbach withdrew his sword to launch his next attack, Cara jumped forward, almost slipping on her blood again, stabilising her fall by burying the tip over her sword in the pirate commanders solar plexus. ‘Armour!’, Cara thought. The moment she made contact she felt the resistance of something hard. Still, von Brecksbach’s eyes grew wide because of the form of the unexpected strike, staggering a few steps backwards before catching himself. The fire in his eyes reigniting. 

“I think I am going to smash away some more from your price for…”, he didn’t finish the sentence. Instead he gasped, eyes wide again stumbling forwards. Behind him Elisa’s sword staff clattered onto the deck. 

“Now, little ingot. Strike!”, Elisa shouted.

And Cara struck, swinging her sword with the full force of her motion, into the side of von Brecksbach’s neck, pushing her sword with her entire weight and following through with all the power that her legs still had left.  

Von Brecksbach fell side ways head first onto the deck. His head hitting the ground so far that it rebounded, meeting Cara’s second strike part way being smashed into the floor once more. The head and all the rest of the commander stopped moving. 

“Yessss!”, Elisa shouted. She was now standing over the sack that held her weapons, where she pulled out two awn sickles, which instead of smooth edges had serrated ones. “Run closer to the wall, so that the snipers can’t see you. We are almost done, we now just have to get rid of the rest of the pirates. 

“Yeah, that’s right you piles of recrement!”, she shouted, something very close to madness clouding her eyes. “Your commander is down. Now its time to harvest the rest of you.”

“The rest of them…?”, Cara croaked. Her exhaustion, the pain and blood loss were catching up on her. But no matter. She had to go on. So she turned around, moving close to the wall leading to the next deck, trying to keep an eye out for any more marksmen. As she looked up, she noticed that a new sun had appeared in the sky and then another and another. She looked around confused. Golden spheres of light where filling the sky around her. Those weren’t new suns… those were…

“Unknown pirate vessel, this is the holy fleet of Datlem, put down your weapons, surrender and repent your sins, or face heavenly retribution.”

“Heh…”, Cara said as she leaned on the wall, slowly sliding down the wall into a sitting position. 

Project Empress 028

[Chapter 6 continued]

Cara and Elisa exchanged meaningful glances.

The pirate commander shifted into a very low stance, his sword held almost at the height of his knees, the point shifting between Cara and Elisa. Time froze. 

Cara was still focusing on Elisa, trying to gauge what she would do next, while keeping a suspicious side-eye on commander von Brecksbach. 

Elisa on the other hand was fully focusing on their new target, her stance shifting ever so slightly. The only sign for Cara suggesting that Elisa was actively aware of her, was Elisa pointing with her lips towards the pirate commander.

The pirate rushed forward. Cara took a few steps back; she had not expected this kind of speed from someone in such a low stance. His long, fast steps evaporated the space between him and Elisa who was bracing for the attack using the point of her sword-spear as her shield, promising her nearing opponent a quick death if he didn’t stop.

Commander von Brecksbach didn’t stop, only holding on to his black long-sword with his left hand at its pommel and he struck a long slash against Elisa’s spear. 

The weapons clashed at each other. The pirate´s strange strike extending his reach significantly, crashing with force against Elisa’s weapon pushing it aside. 

‘The wide open wing!’, Cara thought here eyes going wide. She was surprised that such an unstable attack could be used in real combat. What the attack lacked in control and raw power it made up with reach and speed. It was enough to push the point of Elisa’s weapon away from the pirate’s line of attack. ‘I need to try that too!’, Cara thought before remembering that she was in the middle of combat. Admiring the enemie´s strange style was not the main priority right now.

It was almost too late when the present came back in focus. Having struck, von Brecksbach did not follow up his attack. Instead, he forcibly drew back his sword with his whole back; coiling back into a low stance again. As he reached the low point of his stance, he let his sword, now securely in both of his hands again, fly back past his shoulders. Again following up this move with his whole body, he flew towards Cara, closing the gap between them with a leap of a step. Rising up like a wave in front of Cara his sword high above his head, crashing down on her from above. 

Cara had hardly any time to react, pulling Jeanne D’Arc up, catching the attack in the cross guard and strong of her sword. But such was the impact of the strike, that it pushed her down, her enemie´s blade rushing past her defences coming far too close to her head. She stumbled back half a step, catching herself and turning slightly to the side, so that what power was still coming from the attack would go into the ground instead of her face. 

The attack that had crashed into her was fading, its power sliding past Cara’s sword. With the ebbing threat she could switch to a more secure stance, guarding her hands against a stab, the point of her sword seeking her opponents face. 

The stab that Cara was expecting never came. The pirate commander´s sword had somehow returned in a circular motion, back up high over the pirates shoulders. Cara had no idea how he had done that. What she knew was that, much earlier than anticipated, a new attack was coming from the same side from high above, her enemies blade somehow washing over her own defences. 

While she was starting to panic again, she remembered the advice Natalie had given her. ‘You are smaller than most fencers. Which is bad as long as your enemy is far away from you. It may not feel that way. But when someone larger than you attacks you, push back under the cover of your sword.’

Which Cara did, moving into the attack, wiping it away with her sword, she passed under her opponent´s attack, lifting her pommel towards his face as she emerged behind the pirate’s defence. 

Von Brecksbach shoved Cara’s hands away. Now she stood wide open. Time slowed down as she tried to push herself out of it and pull her sword back into the way of the incoming attack. It would be too late.

However, the pirate jumped back before he could strike, a flash of steel appearing in the spot he had just been standing. Elisa’s counterattack. 

Elisa opened up a large space between Cara and the pirate. It gave Cara enough time to reposition herself, while Elisa moved into the open space pressuring Commander von Brecksbach back.  

Von Brecksbach on the other hand kept pushing bac,k staying close to Elisa, denying her the advantage of her longer weapon. Trying to get close enough to her to get a kick or a punch in. 

Cara, now free again, tried to manoeuvre around the pirate commander. But he was moving so fast that she never got quite into the position she was hoping for. Instead a weapon or Elisa were standing in the way or the flow of combat was such that she couldn’t risk pushing into it without having to worry about hitting Elisa. 

‘Backstabbing sure is harder than it looks’, Cara thought still trying to find an opening. 

“Move back”, a strained Elisa told her. “You’re in the way”, she exchanged a few more strikes with von Brecksbach. 

“I want to help”, Cara said still trying to find an opening in the melee in front of her where she could thrust a helping point into. 

“Nnnnggg”, Elisa said, blocking an attacking over head strike and shoving the pirate commander away. “Go back, wait for your turn”, she added as she stabbed her way after the stumbling pirate.

“Oh, well done!”, Commander von Brecksbach said to Elisa, tipping his hat. With a little backward flourish, he took of his hat trowing it forward towards Elisa. She swatted it away easily with her sword-staff. This was enough time for the pirate to push forward again, his sword smashing into Elisa’s staff, pushing her off balance, following it up with quick succession of stabs. Elisa was pushed backward, blocking every attack but having trouble to counter them. 

The pirate was still too far away for Cara to attack and she knew that if she closed in on him he would just shift away again using Elisa as his living shield. So Cara got creative. ‘All I have go do is break his initiative…”, she thought. She started with an arching back-swing high over her head and throwing her sword at the pirate. The sword flew hilt over point towards the commander von Brecksbach, hitting him in the arm.

“Ow!”, the pirate exclaimed as Cara’s sword clattered to the floor. He glanced over at Cara, cracks in his showmanship appearing all over his demeanour. While the strike had mostly wounded his pride, it had destroyed his timing. 

Elisa charged into this gap, shoving away her attacker´s sword with the upper part of her sword-staff, while pulling up the lower part of it moving forwards. 

Von Brecksbach reacted immediately, pulling his head away just in time. Elisa missing the tip of his nose by a hair´s breadth. She kept on pushing though burying the metal cap of her staff in the commander´s chest. Pushing forward. 

As a wheezing von Brecksbach and the snarling Elisa moved past her, Cara ran forward to get her sword back. When she bent down to get her sword a quarrel struck the floor next to her. 

“Hey! No snipers!”, she shouted.

“Only if you are near the commander!”, a voice laughed from a higher deck behind her. 

‘Thanks for the tip’, Cara thought rushing after the Elisa vs commander Brecksbach escalation. 

By now the two had fought each other to a standstill again. The pirate commander stood in a middle guard, just waiting for Elisa to attack. While Elisa on her side was lurking in a high guard, the point of her weapon aimed at the pirates throat, daring him to take a single move forward. 

The pirate commander still looked kind of angry, when he noticed Cara. As he did he beamed at her, waving his sword a little bit in greeting, while never losing his focus on Elisa.

“I am so glad that you could join us again, sweety. I think for you I have to show you my true power.”

Cara looked over to Elisa, who was fighting the parts of her face maintaining her neutral expression from falling off. 

“Stay back little ingot”, she said moving slightly to block the pirate´s way towards Cara.

“No, come closer, we still need to finish our duel”, he said. 

“Come and gather my brother swordlings!”, Commander von Brecksbach shouted, blocking the attack from Elisa, who had enough of his theatrics. 

“Elisa!”, Cara shouted, “more enemies!”, pointing her sword to a group of three pirates who were now jumping down onto the deck. They landed right of Elisa and started charging her the moment their feet touched the ground. Von Brecksbach attacked Elisa again, forcing her to protect her left, pushing her towards the new attackers while opening the way towards Cara.

Elisa cursed. “I’m going to take care of the three lead swords over there. Keep their boss busy for a moment.”

“No problem”, Cara said. 

“Be careful”, Elisa said, disengaging from the commander, who let her go with a grin and a wave. Elisa moved her hands closer to the lower end of her staff, to maximise her reach with her weapon. Before she moved towards her three new enemies, she said to Cara, “Don’t underestimate the pirate’s Mayer style. He will overwhelm you especially with a black sword.”

Pirate Commander von Brecksbach now moved openly towards Cara. Slow and steady without a care in the world. “Three strikes and you are back to being cargo”, he said.

“No, thank you”, said Cara, deciding that she really had to work on her snappy combat dialogue.

 

Project Empress special: the story so far

 Life ate me. I could not go on writing as I had hoped. But it is NaNoWriMo again. So Project empress continues. 

As a reminder for what has happened so far follows a short synopsis of the story so far:

It’s the year 20xx.

In the first third of the 21st century: the great global industrial civilisation failed.

As it fell it dragged the entire world down with it, leaving it fractured in thousands of tiny pieces. Everyone blamed each other. The shadow of tyranny grew and devoured once great nations. But in a shattered world that still remembered a once golden age, the tyrants were soon eaten by the wolves they themselves raised. 

Out of the ashes, built on ruins, half remembered cultures and jealously guarded remnants of the old technology, a great number of new small nations, city states and petty kingdoms rose. 

Europe once on the cusp of unity and greatness had returned to its savage ways it had existed for so long, but it was here in these lands, that the historical martial arts underground rose. People used old manuscripts and treaties describing martial arts that had lain dormant for centuries, to bring them back. They were people bound by a common appreciation of the ancient martial arts, who during these times of chaos rose to the challenge, bringing a certain semblance of order into the chaos of a burning world. 

Let me take you into a world, where warlords vie for supremacy over the old Europe, where high scientists fight to bring back the wonders of the world that was, where some people dream of becoming kings in a world ripe for the taking, while others still dream to bring back the great unity of the past. 

Cara Gibson Müller our protagonist dreams of becoming a sword master of the fabled historical martial arts styles. At the beginning of our story she is a hopeless student of the famous sword master Manfred Brumotti von Burg. Over 4 years of training but almost no progress.

Cara’s fate changes when she gets attacked by 3 ruffian. She does try to defend herself. She fails, but is saved by the wandering journeyman swordswoman Natalie Laukkanen Lapointe.

The latter had sworn to never take a pupil. Too much of a hassle really. But there will be a grand tourney soon, where a secret fencing manuscript will go to the winner. The catch, only a team of master and apprentice can take part. Natalie sees something in Cara so she decides to adopt her.

Natalie gives Cara a crash course in her Style to see if Cara has what it takes. She has. 

Natalie then goes to prepare some business entrusting Cara to Walter for the next training session. 

Walter Balogh Rayne is the owner of Bacchus’ Barrel the wine bar Natalie likes to hang out with her sword master friend and rival Robert Cavendish Gutierrez. 

Walter is an old war veteran who can vaguely remember the old days of the fabled European Union. The utopia Natalie wishes she could bring back. Walter who saw how the “utopia” fell and what followed, has a more down to earth perspective. 

He teaches Cara more about the fundamentals of fighting introducing her to the concept of animus. The force true sword masters can invoke to overcome their limits. 

And he gives Cara a refurbished computer book that she is to use to write down what she learns.

The next day Cara and Natalie go to see the lord bishop of Monasteria to secure the funding for their Cara’s training and their voyage to Vienna where the tournament is going to take place. The bishop duels with Natalie to see if she has the necessary skills. She has. So he offers her a deal with the opposite of the devil. They get the money and the bishop get’s the manuscript for the holy library of Monasteria, for the glory of good and the enlightenment of the people. 

With this deal done, Cara is officially the student of now Master Laukkanen Lapointe. 

As her former master Manfred hears about this he suddenly decides that Cara is a snake and a traitor running away from him to snatch the fabled manuscript for her self and get all the glory for recovering it for the bishop. 

Manfred decides that he will too take part in the tournament, by sending his right hand man and top student and now freshly declared master Eskil Feltis Gavenda and his new pupil and an as of yet unnamed young man, who happened to be one of the ruffians Natalie bet to a pulp earlier. 

Cara doesn't know anything about this. She is busy training and packing her things.

The last night in Monasteria, while waiting for Natalie at Walter’s bar, a bunch of students from Manfred’s appear declaring that Cara is now a Proditor Perfidissimus, a high traitor and demand from Walter that he gives her over to them. Walter hands them their arses instead as he is not only an army veteran but also a grand master of the historical martial arts. 

Cara flees with Natalie to the port, where they have bought passage on the MHS Ruhig Blut a free trader ship of the co-captains Erika and Wolfram Hartmann Serafini. They hope the ship will get them through the lawless lands of the Purgatory Gap from Monasteria to independent trade fortress Datlem and from there into the The Confederated Cities of Rhineland North, where they plan to get out to go to the legendary forge city of Solingen. 

Here in Soling Cara is supposed to get further training and more importantly new weapons from the forge masters of the city.

The HMS Ruhig Blut is one of the fastest freighters in the entire region using forgotten technology to reach incredible speeds, to push past and if must be right through the pirate gangs of the Purgatory Gap. 

Ship, crew and passengers are all prepared for combat. 

Everything seems to be going fine, but of course some pirates do mange to board the Ruhig Blut. A fierce battle ensues where Cara shows of her new skills that she has aquired over the last few days. She does pretty well, until the point where a pirate sneaks up behind her and all goes black.

She wakes up in the cargo hold of a pirate vessel inside a cage with no chance for escape. She has been caught by black sword pirates, who do not kill their prey as they prefer to sell them of as slaves.

Cara’s days of adventure seem to be numbered. 

However there is a stowaway with her in the cargo hold, the Solingen forge-walker Elisa Klein Cunningham, a special agent of the cit of forges, who had planned to use the pirate ship as transport but now sees her hand forced. 

Cara and Elisa have a slight dispute about what to do with the pirates, Elisa says kill, Cara insists of leaving them alive. While Elisa strongly opposes to leave slavers alive she grudgingly accepts Cara’s conditions, if only to get her to shut up and moving.

Meanwhile in Datlem an distraught and angry Natalie goes to see the protonotary apostolic regionaria Alperta the leader of the local independent church and de facto leader of the city fortress of Datlem to get her to help with saving Cara. 

The regionaria has better things to do, especially for civilians caught by pirates outside of her sphere of influence until Natalie mentions the tournament and the manuscript the winner gets. regionaria Alperta agrees to help if, when they return they give the manuscript to her to make a copy of the manuscript for the Datlem library. Cara agrees.

Meanwhile Cara and Elisa sneak their way over the small artificial ship island of the pirates, when freedom is almost with in reach at the edge of the island, they get ambushed. However Elisa is a formidable fighter using various different historical styles and weapons to dispatch her enemies. While Cara pushes herself through injuries and pain, fighting to survive. Freedom so very near. 

When they think that they have finally gotten rid of all the pirates in their way, they are stopped by the pirate commander Aurei von Brecksbach, who descends with unnecessary drama from the upper deck to confront our two heroes. 

Which is the point where our story resumes this year. 

Project Empress 027

 [Cahpter 6 continued]

As Cara rushed forward, she turned towards Elisa shouting, “And remember: no killing!”

“Survive first, preach later”, came the answer from Elisa who was moving away from Cara, looking for a good position to start combat. 

Cara had already decided for a spot to initiate combat. She was running towards the trap door that she had seen moving earlier. She was pretty sure that the pirates were going to use it to ambush her and Elisa. As she was getting closer, she saw the trap door door rising. But that wasn’t all bad, she was already close to it and she had chosen her line of approach so that the side with the hinges was facing her. 

She let the bag with the weapons slip from her shoulders and let her body fall forwards pushing everything she had into a sprint. The hatch was already a third open when she jumped. It reached the half way point when she reached it with her feet, landing on it slamming it shut again. She could hear screams and falling bodies below her. She stood up, the hatch below her now her pedestal. She extended her sword to one pirate who was rushing her with a hatched and a knife in his hands, who suddenly came to a skidding halt. 

‘Yeah, cower before the sword empress`, Cara thought. 

This was also the moment when she heard a crossbow bolt fly past her head, only just missing her ear. She instantly collapsed back into a crouch, looking around her but she could not spot whoever shot her. Probably marksmen positioned on the decks of the surrounding ships. 

It reminded her of something that Walter had told her during their long training session. “Sometimes you will need to sting like a bee and scuttle away like a cockroach. Never let your pride stand in the way of your life.”

She got that lesson know. She felt an angry bump against the trap door below her. Before she scuttled, she pulled the hatch open, cowering behind it. There was a triumphant cry from below. It was cut short by another crossbow bolt, this one hammering against the metal of the open trapdoor. 

“Stop firing, you asshole! We are on the same side”, a voice screamed from below. Cara took a quick peek around her cover and saw that a head had appeared, this pirate was shaking his fist angrily. She followed where the man was looking and spotted the marksman on top of a cargo container on the ship from which her and Elisa had fled from. The marksman shrugged his shoulders while reloading his weapon. 

Cara slammed the hatch closed again. There was another muffled thump and crash. She locked the hatch to buy her some more time before the next pirate tried to climb up through there. Then she scuttled as fast as she could towards the next tree. 

As she moved, she spotted a pirate with an iron capped club who had been sneaking up on her from the back. She changed her scuttling to running. The Pirate with the hatched and knife had now regained his wits and was charging her again. He had chosen a slight detour to reach her that would keep him out of the line of fire of the allied ‘snipers’. 

By now Cara’s panic was starting to catch up to her. Too much was happening all around her. The trees that had appeared massive for something growing on a small flat ship, now looked far too thin and reedy to be of any help. More like bushes with high aspirations, rather than proper trees. Also, the direction she was running towards held a third pirate who was still at the side lines, watching and armed with a sabre. He was watching her with the patience of a hunter, waiting for her to be in range and distracted to calmly strike her down. That all the people around her were armed with black weapons only didn’t help her calm down in the least. 

Behind her she could hear a pirate scream. A quick look showed her that Elisa was winning her first duel. Her first opponent had been disarmed. Both his weapon and a good part of the arm that had carried said weapon lay on the floor. 

“No killing!”, Cara screamed. 

“He will live”, Elisa screamed back, turning around, pushing her strange glaive towards her next opponent, who fell over backwards to avoid running into its approaching point.

Cara had meant her appeal to reach  everyone involved. Because as far as she could tell, as much as these pirates were carrying non-lethal weapons, they were certainly using them with a very lethal mindset. ‘All of these people are insane…’, Cara thought. 

But there wasn’t much time for thinking. The pirate with the club had abandoned all pretences of stealth and had openly rushed Cara. He had stopped just outside the reach of her sword. The moment Cara had focused on Elisa, he pushed forward, club held high to strike down Cara. 

“Wrong approach”, Cara said, shifting away from the attack. Positioning her back towards the next tree, to force the pirate with the hatched and the knife to move around it. 

She shot the Point of her sword forward. “My reach is much grater than yours”. she said as she caught her attacker in the solar plexus. The moment she had made contact, she pushed her entire centre of gravity into the attack by moving half a step forward. 

The pirate in front of her doubled over, all of his breath leaving him with a wheeze. As his arms crossed over his stomach, Cara pulled her sword back, throwing a strike out of a movement of her wrists against the the arm that held the club. She felt her sword pushing through the muscle, hitting bone. The pirate made a strange croak, letting his weapon fall to the floor.

Cara didn’t even wait for the club to hit the floor when she turned around again. 

The pirate with the hatched and knife was moving around the tree to attack her from the right. While the hunter pirate with the sabre had been calmly approaching her from her left. The moment Cara spotted him he stopped his his approach. He shot her a sly smile, with a slight shrug of his shoulders. Cara filed that man away under ‘dangerous’. Turning her attention towards the man with hatchet and knife, she never let the hunter out of her field of vision. 

This opponent too, knew very well up to which distance he was safe. The moment he got close to Cara he stopped his advance. He glanced around. His eyes stopping at the hunter. At something above the hunter on the decks of another ship and at something right behind Cara.

‘Behind me?’, cold dread grabbed hold of Cara. She tried to swallow down her rising fear, but her mouth was dry while her throat was constricting with panic. ‘No, I just looked in that direction there is nothing there apart from the pirate I just beat.’ She could still hear that one wheezing and trying to get back enough air into his lungs to scream.

Her panic however was not that easily convinced. ‘Are you sure?’, it asked. ‘Haven’t you overlooked anything?’, it said, adding: ‘Those wheezes are so loud they could easily mask light footsteps…”. Her stomach had to this point felt like it was filled with boiling acid, now the acid had turned into lava that was now liquefying her innards. 

‘I am sure…’, Cara thought. ‘And even if I’m wrong. The greatest threat is right in front of me.’

This time it was a lesson from Natalie that she remembered. “There is only the Path”, she had said, “there is no need for fear on the Path, because the art will protect you. With the art you will move through all your opponents, always forward on the Path.”

“Easy for you to say”, Cara said, confusing the pirate in front of her, but not nearly enough to gain any advantage from it. 

‘Forward it is’, Cara thought, raising her long-sword high above her head taking advantage of her longer reach to hit the head of her opponent, who easily swiped away her attack with his knife, following through with his hatched targeting Cara’s arms. Just as Cara had expected. The moment her sword had made contact she had stared to pull her blade back, together with the foot she had pushed forward. Her head was held high and close to her head the point of her blade was still pointing towards the pirate, when his hatchet clashed against her sword. Cara took the energy of the strike to swing her sword around her head, now striking a counter attack against the arms of the pirate. Following through with a step. She did hit the arms of the pirate, blocking them. The pirate whinced as the point of Cara’s sword flashed towards his head. Seeing this he pushed Cara’s sword away to the side. Normally he would have cut open his arms with this. But with a black sword this wasn’t a problem. 

But Cara wasn’t done. The moment the pirate pushed against her blade she pushed the pommel of her sword under her striking arm, her blade turning over from straight towards his face to pointing away from him. Cara pushed her sword forward, as the pirate was still moving his arms. Now, instead of moving Cara’s sword away from his face this now smashed it right into his mouth. Again, had Cara’s sword been sharp this would have cut his face open from ear to ear. It was still enough, especially as Cara was following her strike through with her own force and movement, to smash into his cheek and the teeth behind it with enough force to throw his face around. A splash of blood erupting from it. 

Instead of being a good little pirate and stopping his attack, he just shook his head, focusing on Cara again. 

She had stopped her attack, thinking that she had won. She had moved slightly to get a quick look at what was happening behind her. There was only the pirate with the club still writhing on the floor. No one else. Her panic shrugged her shoulders and went looking for something else to torment Cara about. The hunter was still moving towards her, his head tilting this way and that way, trying to gauge the best way to approach Cara. 

Cara was pulled back into the current situation when a hatchet followed by the point of a knife came flying towards her. She moved out of the way, only to now be confronted by a knife point followed by the hatchet. Another step back to get her out of harms way. 

This time the crossbow bolt actually grazed her face leaving a burning mark on her cheek. Her panic sprang up again to tell Cara of all the exiting ways she would now be murdered. Cara told her panic to please fuck off, at least until she was done fighting. With sweat damp hands she shifted her grip on her sword, focusing for now only on the man in front of her. His attacks where good. She could not block both weapons at once, the pirate had also changed his approach in such a way that she could not repeat her trick from before. However, his technique was weak and if he had a style it was primitive. He fought with the cunning of an angry man. 

“There is no anger”, Cara quoted Walter, as she held her sword in front of her and as the pirate´s weapons came clashing down on it, she pulled it back, instantly pushing forward again as both of them had passed. “There is only the path.”, she continued, pushing her sword forward, it´s point accelerating into the throat of her enemy. The hit was strong enough that he man fell over backwards, the weapons cluttering out of his hands. 

Cara turned back towards the tree that she had used as cover and rushed towards it. Just in time, as she heard another bolt ricocheting from the deck behind her. With one hand she wiped away the warm sweat on her face not noticing that it was blood. 

Moving forward she saw the hunter, waiting for her, but she also noticed that the pirate with the club was slowly getting up. Wheezing, using the club to steady himself, he now held the weapon in his off hand. The moment her attention shifted the hunter moved forward. He was still far enough away, yet one or two quick steps would bring him in range. 

“You are going to retreat now, right?”, Cara asked the pirate with the club. As he got up still gasping for air, he turned towards her, strange flames blazing in his eyes. 

Instead of retreating he raised his club moving towards Cara again.

“Strong”, the hunter said, nodding at his comrade. 

Cara exhaled. “What did I not kill you for?”, she asked the pirate with the club. She didn’t wait for his answer, rushing point first towards him. Her opponent, not going to fall for the same trick twice, turned sideways, letting Cara’s sword pass him while still closing the distance to her.

However, Cara had played another trick this time. As the man had moved, he stood now in front of the entire length of Cara’s sword. With a yell, she turned her entire momentum around pushing her body while she was turning close to the hilt of her sword, to move forward with it with her full weight and momentum behind it. Her sword moved horizontally  into her attacker, catching him right in the stomach. Then it rose as Cara moved from a low into a high stance, moving all the inner organs of the man up into his diaphragm and sending him flying again. She followed the flying man, turning her sword around. She aimed the pommel of her sword at the falling man’s hand that was still holding onto the club. When he landed so did Cara’s strike. With a crunch it crushed the club into the hand which went limp. Cara swatted away the club with one hand.

“And please stay down, hurting you… hurts you more than me… but it´s not fun at all.”

The man was flopping around in answer. Cara turned her sight towards the hunter. He wasn’t where she remembered him to be. Instead there was now a shadow accelerating towards her head in the corner of her eye. With a mighty “Miiieeep” Cara jumped over the man in front of her, diving out of the attack´s way just in time, so that it didn’t hit her head splitting it open, but instead hit the calf of her right leg as she crash tumbled out of the way. Her opponents sabre transferred all of the remaining energy into the chest of the pirate lying on the floor.

“Sorry mate”, the the pirate with the sabre murmured as he lifted his sabre and moved around his now motionless comrade. 

Cara by now had found all her feet again, put them below her, sorted her hands into what she thought had to be left and right and was pushing herself up again. Her left leg was pounding with diffuse pain. If this had been a training session she would have tapped out and sat on the bench for a while. This was the type of pain that held back until you rested, to then tell you how bad it was. Usually leading to worse injuries because one kept pushing the damaged body part. But now Cara was glad for it, because right now she needed to go on and pay the pain tax later if she wanted to survive. 

“Best out of three?”, Cara asked.

“Heh”, was the only answer she got, before the hunter showered her with a wave of attacks. 

The panic was back. It had nothing helpful to say, only that there was now only pain and death left for Cara. 

Cara had stopped breathing, being pushed back by the hail of attacks raining down on her. Step by step she lost ground. The hunter came ever closer while behind her one of the aspirational trees that had been supposed to be her advantage cut of her escape route. 

Now it was only a matter of time until one of the attacks struck her hand or her arms.

Behind her she could feel the tree as she bumped with her back against it. 

Cara had lost.

Only that she hadn’t. 

The strong of her blade was protecting her. Despite her panic. Despite her mind drifting to how she would be beaten. Jeanne D`Arc and her art had protected her. She breathed in, pushing her panic out of her body. As she breathed out, she moved the point of her sword, that had been pointing towards the sky, back to where it belonged into the face of her opponent. Striking him in his right temple. The hunter staggered.

“One”, said Cara.

The hunter was still in the flow of his attack though, trying to hit her back on the other side. Again, Cara’s strong blocked. The point of her sword accelerated into the left temple of the hunter. 

“Two”, said Cara.

The hunter was now staggering back. But he did not stop his attacks. Turning his sword around he now made a rising slash against Cara’s sword. The sabre clashed against Cara’s sword sending her point flying back up towards the Sky. 

Cara moved forward, flying down into a low crouch, pulling her sword back close to her chest. From down here her opponent was wide open. 

“You lose”, Cara said, attacking the hunter with a rising thrust that caught him under the chin sending him flying backwards. 

“Three”, she said. “And because you are more stubborn than wise…”, she followed the flying man and struck him with a descending strike, where again she moved her body with her sword, sent the man crashing back on the floor. He bounced off the floor once before he came to rest before Cara. His sabre rolling out of his hands. 

She took the sabre and threw it overboard, to not encourage further stupidity. 

She then hobbled towards where Elisa was. The forge walker had been pushed towards the railing of the orchard ship, but where her enemies had thought her cornered, she had taken care of all of them. As Cara was moving towards her, she could see how Elisa was using the blunt side of her glaive to throw a last attacker rushing her overboard in a high arc. 

Elisa saw Cara and said: “Don’t worry little ingot, they will all live”, she looked across the deck of the Orchard ship. “As long as they quickly seek medical attention…”

“Now”, the voice of commander Aurei von Brecksbach echoed over the PA, “You ignored my generous offer to surrender and then you massacred my precious fighters. I’m afraid, that I have to take care of you myself”, he said. He now stood tall, illuminated from below on the highest point of the ship Cara and Elisa had fled from. 

“First of all, no more snipers. If I catch one of your ‘precision’ bolts one more time, so help me god…”, he glowered to his left and right. Some quiet murmurs could be heard from around the orchard ship. 

“I will have to dispose of you both myself”, he said. He opened the clasp holding his cape, with a dramatic swirl he cast it away. He then crouched down and to Cara’s amazement he jumped high into the air toward the Orchard ship. Instead of crashing into the deck below, he descended slowly down towards the ground while holding a pose, his arms held wide one of his legs pulled up slightly. 

When he had almost reached the ground he punched the big iron brooch he had on the right breast of his uniform, this released the harness that had been holding him aloft. 

He used the fall to land in a dramatic crouch.

“Lights!”, he demanded. To Cara’s surprise several lights came on, bathing the commander in the limelight. He stood up and with a giant grin on his face he said to Cara and Elisa: 

“It’s show time!”