It was just before noon when Ludwig came to inform them about the inquisitors on the piers. Doc and his wives went out onto the quarterdeck to look back at the shore; five men in black robes stood at the end of the pier where the Anastacia had been tied up the day before. Behind them was a mob of people milling around.
“They’ve come,” Damir sighed, holding out the spyglass to Doc.
Doc took it to see the men glaring at them. He recognized one of them from Olimna, but the other four, he’d never seen before. The men and women behind the inquisitors were a motley assortment ranging from rough men, to housewives, to businessmen. Beside the inquisitors stood a preacher holding up a black leather book as he spoke to the crowd.
“Got themselves a lynching mob…” Doc muttered, handing the eyeglass to Lia.
Taking it, she looked over the gathering. “That would’ve been a problem if we’d been tied up at port.”
“We haven’t seen your boat, either,” Damir said. “It might be best to pull anchor and be on our way if you can take the loss.”
“We can, but it wasn’t cheap,” Ayla sighed. “The trip would’ve been so much easier with it.”
“They’re bringing a ship in,” Damir said, watching a larger tugboat heading for the pier. “I hadn’t thought they’d try to come over and board with a mob.”
Rosa sent her senses into the waters around them. The sharks she’d had come in earlier were still there, but there was nothing in the area that could sink the boat. She did have other options because of all the energy Doc had given her. Rosa didn’t want to act without Doc’s approval, but she would if she needed to to keep him safe.
“I guess we leave,” Doc sighed.
The man in the crow’s nest called down to them, “Captain, I got a rear-paddler coming in from the southwest. Two men on board flying Floating Safely’s flag.”
“Luck is with you, it seems,” Damir snorted humorously. “Alexi, make ready to bring the boat in. The moment we have it secure, we leave.”
“Da, Captain,” Alexi replied, then turned to shout orders to the crew.
“As lucky as I can be,” Doc said softly, “I don’t think we’ll get out before they’re on their way to us.”
Damir looked back at the pier. “You could be right. I won’t be letting them board, even if it means cutting ties with Emerita. We set out the fourteen people who asked to go ashore. Everyone still onboard is committed.”
“Let’s see what they do…” Doc muttered.
“I can’t fire on them,” Damir said, “but we can issue the crew weapons against boarding.”
“If it’s just the inquisitors, that’s something we can deal with,” Doc said. “Then it’ll be more on us rather than you and your crew.”
Damir nodded, but they stood at the rail, waiting to see what was going to happen.
It took time for the tug to tie up at the pier. When it did, the inquisitors and a dozen men with guns boarded. The preacher stayed on the pier, rousing the crowd into a frenzy. When the boat finally untied and floated their way, Doc had his answers.
“At least the majority stayed back…” Ayla murmured.
“Why couldn’t they just let us leave?” Sophia asked.
“Because I’m too big of a threat,” Doc said softly. “Captain, do you have a bullhorn?”
“I’ll have it brought out. You want to talk to them first?”
“If I can stall them even for a moment, it’d help,” Doc said. “Time is what I always feel like I’m short on.”
“Voice,” Rosa said softly, coming to stand directly beside him, “I have an idea.”
Doc turned to her, ducking his head so she could whisper, since she obviously didn’t want to say it loudly. “Okay?”
“I could create a whirlpool large enough to be a danger to that tug. It would take a lot of energy, but I can do it. If it doesn’t outright sink it, it would at least make it take on water and become unstable.”
“Would it be a danger to us or other ships?”
“We are much larger; it might draw the ship in some, but not enough to matter. Any other smaller craft nearby would risk being pulled in, depending on their proximity.”
Doc’s lips pursed. If Rosa did that, it would make a bold statement, more so if he could play into it. He glanced to the south where the riverboat was coming. “You’d need to make sure the riverboat is safe.”
“They are going to the other side of the ship to be winched up,” Rosa said. “If you want me to do this, I need to start now.”
“Do it,” Lia said.
“Better than shooting them,” Ayla agreed.
“And it’s not guaranteed to cause deaths,” Sophia nodded.
Doc smiled at his wives, all of whom had sharp hearing. Even whispering, they’d heard the conversation. Damir looked at the group in confusion, as he hadn’t heard what was said until the others chimed in at the end.
“Make sure the riverboat is safe, but go ahead. Try to hold back until I speak, though. It’ll have a bigger impact later that way.”
“I’ll be starting deep so it has the strength needed,” Rosa said, then dropped to her knees and grabbed Doc’s leg. “I will anchor myself to you.”
“Captain, the bullhorn,” Ludwig said, rushing over to them.
Damir nodded to Doc and the cabin boy handed it off to him. “Get below, Ludwig. The deck is not for you,” Damir said once the boy had.
“Yes, sir.” Ludwig ran for the cabins.
“Alexi, open the lockers. Break out weapons to repel boarders,” Damir ordered.
“Wait!” Doc interjected. “Captain, you don’t need to. Let me and my wives handle this. Those men will not make it to your deck.”
“Captain?” Alexi asked, waiting for confirmation.
“We trust in Luck, Alexi. Belay the last order, but arm yourself. I will also go get my guns. Faith is good, but protection is never a bad thing.”
“Can’t deny that,” Doc said.
He glanced to see the riverboat chugging along. It was different than the tugs in the area, which were side paddlers. Looking back at the boat with the inquisitors, Doc waited for them to get close enough for him to speak.
Before Doc could, the inquisitor he’d bumped into before raised a bullhorn of his own, standing at the farthest point of the prow he could get to. “Faithless, it is not too late for you! Give us the false healer and we will spare your ship the wrath of Apoc!”
Doc’s lips twitched as he thought about what Rosa was going to do. Raising his own bullhorn, he got ready for street theater. “Wrath of Apoc? Are you not worried about the wrath of Mother?”
“We fear not false demons! Surrender to Apoc’s mercy, and your soul may yet be saved!”
“Mother is the world itself. To call her false is to deny the water you even now travel over. She was dying, but because of Luck, my patron goddess, Mother is regaining her strength.”
“Lies and heresy!”
Doc looked to the side where he saw people on big ships like the Anastacia lining the rails. Smiling, he knew rumors from today would damage the church, and the inquisitor was playing along without knowing it.
“You would say that Apoc is greater than the very place you stand, breathing and living? Who is the one with false beliefs here, Inquisitor? I am Doc Holyday, Voice of Luck, shaman to dwarven clans and elven tribes. I have been sent by Luck to save the world from the dark night that was coming to claim it.”
“No! We shall not abide your false words!” the inquisitor shouted, then drew a rod to point at Doc. “Die!”
Doc triggered his immunity bubble. “Your god holds no power over me!”
The beam of dark, oily energy flashed across the distance between the vessels. It went through Doc and kept going toward the other side of the ship. A gust of wind brought an edge of the sail into the way— part of the sail crumbled to dust in seconds, leaving a ragged edge.
The beam cut off before the ten-second window passed. Everyone stared in shock, including the inquisitor, who was slack-jawed. What they’d just seen was boggling. No inquisitor had ever failed to kill someone they were hunting. To the onlookers, Doc had just survived the wrath of Apoc. It shook the belief some had, shattering it for others who weren’t as devout, and sealed the fact that Apoc was false to more.
“Now, know Mother’s wrath!” Doc shouted grimly. “Luck turns her face from you this day.”
That was when the waters of the sound suddenly churned; Rosa brought the whirlpool she’d been building up from the depths. The water became white-capped as the spinning vortex appeared in front of the tug, much too close for it to avoid it. The sudden yank by the hard current flung the inquisitor into the railing, his rod going over the side when he grabbed the railing not to go over himself.
“Mother is angry with you for denying her,” Doc continued. “We should all revere the world we live in. Made by the gods of old, she has struggled for far too long because belief in those gods waned. Luck is not a false goddess; she is as real as me and you. She chose me to spread her name, and I will until the day that the world accepts her again. Apoc cannot stop what has begun. Even if you never believe, others will, and the world will become healthy and whole once more.”
Everyone on the tug was gripping the rails as the boat lost headway in the current, beginning to be drawn in and around. Voices raised in fear, pleading for Apoc to save them, but the waters didn’t slow.
Some of the onlookers on other boats cried out in fear, too— to see the planet rise up to attack someone was even more faith-shaking than Doc not being killed.
Damir stood at the rail, his mouth open in awe as he watched the tug’s paddle spinning, but still being dragged into the vortex. “Maelstrom…!” he whispered.
The riverboat was coming closer, and Lia went to the stern to wave them wide. Whoever was on it seemed to understand, because they angled the riverboat farther away from the ships.
Minutes passed as the tug was dragged closer and closer to the center of the whirlpool. Someone came loose, flying into the water and never surfacing. Sophia closed her eyes, whispering a prayer to Luck.
Doc was too far away to see what the center looked like, but from the way the boat was starting to tilt, he suspected it was a deep hole. He watched intently as more people began to lose their grip against centrifugal force. There was no satisfaction in watching the zealots with the inquisitors get flung off. It was their choice to come for him, so he stayed still as Rosa continued to work her magic.
The moment the inquisitor on the prow was flung off, nearly clearing the whirlpool, Doc raised his bullhorn again. “Leave me be. I will never attack you first. My life is one of peace to spread Luck’s name. Mother will defend me if she must, as her life is tied to my mission. Luck has spoken. The world will be saved, and those who try to harm me and mine will pay the price for their folly.”
The moment he lowered the bullhorn, the tug rose out of the water at a bad angle. There was no stopping things as more of the zealots and inquisitors fell into the sound. Doc counted, and when the fifth inquisitor went over, he tapped Rosa’s head.
The whirlpool suddenly collapsed, and the boat splintered apart as the forces were let go. Debris and bodies were either sucked under or flung away. Silence filled the air, but Doc felt the power of the Anastacia’s engine under his feet as it was turned on.
Doc raised the bullhorn one more time, “You need not worship Luck nor Mother. Neither of them are like Apoc, who would see you killed for not believing. For those who witnessed the awe of Mother’s wrath, know that she will only act like this if my mission is threatened. Go in peace, and consider what you saw today.”
Damir took the bullhorn when Doc handed it back to him. “Umm… yes… that was…”
Rosa’s hair was pale green, as she’d expended most of her energy on this one thing. “Did I do good, Voice?”
Doc knelt to hug her. “You are the best dryad, Rosa. Come— we’ll refill you as quietly as we can.” Doc took her hand, helping her stand before looking at Damir. “Might want to stay clear of the cabins for a little while.”
“Y-yes… of course,” Damir stammered.
Doc’s wives went with him, leaving the officers on the aftercastle and quarterdeck. The crew of the Anastacia stared after the group in awe. It was one thing to be healed by the soft-spoken man, but quite another to see the world rise to defend him. Many quiet prayers were said to Luck with a deep belief in that moment.