Holy Land

It took ten minutes for the group to get within conversation distance. Most of that time was spend in a shouted negotiation between Gingersnap and a hoarse-sounding Snowsong. In the end it was decided that all parties were to unload their ranged weapons and sheath all bladed ones. Even then some ponies in Snowsong's party walked with eyes twitching, as if their lives depended on their not blinking.

Snowsong looked the worse for wear. She had bags under her eyes, and the right half of her jacket was darkened with blood. Nevertheless she seemed truly happy to see her lost crewmembers alive and well.

The rest of the sailors had desperate looks on their faces, and stood on shaky legs. A few of them even lay down, and were not rebuked for doing so.

“How did you get here?” Morning Breeze asked in his usual voice, weaker still from recent strain. “The cliff runs all around this island. How did you land?”

“We crashed,” Snowsong replied. “I thought there was a shelf a few miles north of here where we could land. We nearly lost a sailor down there, and all of our boats are gone.”

“And why did you come here?” He asked. “What do you want?”

“We’re looking for water,” Snowsong said, looking down at her hooves. “We lost most of our freshwater supply in the mutiny; we ran out two days ago. We don’t have maps for this region. Please help us. We’ll all be dead in a day or two.”

“And you know who I am?”

Snowsong hesitated, staring into Morning Breeze’s eyes. There was no hiding her desperation.

“Morning Breeze...” She began in a gentler tone, but seemed at a loss for words.

“Alright,” he said after a pause, and turned towards the forest. “I have water enough for all of you, and barrels you can fill up.”

The pirates formed a ring around the newcomers. Gingersnap and Coral Frond fell into step beside Snowsong, getting a few odd looks from both pirates and navy sailors.

“Is Captain Winter Oat okay?” Coral Frond asked quietly.

“He is not well,” she replied, licking her cracked lips with a cankered tongue. “I don’t want to talk. Tell me what happened to you?”

Coral Frond did so enthusiastically and in great detail. Gingersnap kept an eye on the pirates, and especially on Morning Breeze. He did not seem bothered by any of this. Some of the sailors scooped up mouthfuls of wet moss as they walked, so great was their thirst.

Predictably their trek ended at a mossy pit, half excavated to reveal a foot and a half of fresh water. The sailors stumbled over each other to get down the slope. One pale blue pegasus had his head in the water for so long that Coral Frond had to tap him on the shoulder to make sure that he hadn’t drowned.

“Empty four of those powder kegs,” Morning Breeze ordered. “Scatter the powder and wash them out. And get rid of everything we’ve dug up so far. We’re leaving the rest of the cache here.”

There was some hushed argument, but in the end the pirates did as they were told. The powder was mixed with wet soil and covered with moss. Their work would not have fooled anypony, and there was still the issue of the cache that was already open. If Yellow Jack came looking for the guns now, he would have no problem finding them.

When Snowsong climbed out of the pit with her mane dripping with water, Morning Breeze was waiting for her with her jacket. Gingersnap had no idea where he should stand. He was still dressed as a pirate; his old uniform was probably in a trash bin on a distant island. For the moment he stayed slightly behind Snowsong and kept as many ponies in his field of view as he could.

“Where is your ship?” Morning Breeze asked.

“I’ll point it out when we're on the water,” she said without hesitation. “Thank you for your help, Morning Breeze.”

“It’s not for free,” he said warningly. “I need something from you as well. But let’s talk about this when we’re off this island. I want everyone working right now. Get rid of all those cannons over there. You have less than three hours.”

The navy officers were still weakened from their recent brush with death. It took two or even three of them to move a cannon. They left their weapons in a pile on the cliff. Morning Breeze tried to get his pirates to do the same, but they refused, and there was no time to argue his case. The griffins did sling their rifles across their back, however, and soon there was an unspoken understanding between the groups.

Gingersnap went about his work with renewed purpose. The sooner they got rid of the munitions, the sooner he could see his old captain. At the very least he could speak to Snowsong again. She was working alongside the lesser officers, and could not spare the breath to speak at length about the Spectre. It had only been three days since the mutiny, but it felt like much longer.

Morning Breeze supervised from the growing pile of munitions on the cliff. Periodically he looked out to sea, and his gaze seemed to linger on Gingersnap and Coral Frond more often than the others. An uncomfortable idea grew in Gingersnap’s mind with every trip he made.

Will they let me leave?

That thought scared him. Gingersnap had thought of himself as a loyal citizen of Equestria since he joined the navy at thirteen. It was an easy identity to pick up; his first captain had drilled it into his head that every sailor should be ready to die for their home. Gingersnap had come close to doing just that on several occasions, and each time his conviction grew. For a while he had felt truly ready to give his life, until he was reassigned to the milder Captain Winter Oat.

I’m not a pirate. He repeated again and again as he walked. It was a hard case to make wearing a pirate’s clothes with his gut full of pirate food, buying the pirates’ goods and now doing a pirate’s biddings.

And it felt good.

Would Coral Frond want to leave? Gingersnap had grown rather fond of the young unicorn over the past days. He had always found him tolerable, but now they were without a doubt friends. And friends were hard to make in such a precarious trade as sailing, and Gingersnap had already lost several through staff rotations, not to mention the ones that were permanently departed.

They finished with time to spare. Gingersnap collapsed in the grass and watched the pirates push everything over the cliff. The cannons rang like gigantic chime against the cliff before striking water. The cacophony could be heard for miles.

When Morning Breeze called everyone to attention Gingersnap could not get up. His muscles were locked, and ceased up with cramps when he tried to stand. Coral Frond and one of his old shipmates helped him up and supported him from either side. When he still failed to walk they carried him.

The tide was rising noticeably as they descended towards the landing site. Soon Gingersnap felt a light drizzle of seawater against his face.

The dories rounded the cliffs. With the sea ponies completely submersed, the empty boats seemed to glide through the water of their own accord. A few of the navy sailors cried out in amazement.

They reached the landing site seconds before the sea ponies ran onto land. The steep slope was mostly submerged, leaving a stone shelf under a foot of water wide enough for a dozen dories or more. Even Snowsong was visibly frightened by the sea ponies, who eyed the newcomers suspiciously.

“They’re with me,” Morning Breeze said quickly, walking to one of the dories without breaking his pace. “Come on. Gingersnap, Coral Frond, you’re still with me. Gruff, come in here too. And you three! Hurry up!”

Snowsong rode with two ponies from the Infidel and a barrel of water. There was no room to spare. As the tide continued to rise, Gingersnap understood why they moved with such haste. The water over the shelf rose quickly; by the time the sea ponies towed them away from the island the waves were starting to throw the dories up and down with considerable force. In a few minutes the hull would have been smashed open against the shelf.

About two hundred metres from shore the sea ponies put the dories in a ring and raised their heads above the surface.

“Where do you want to go?” the one that had been pulling Morning Breeze asked. The others glared at the new ponies. There was no mistaking their hostility.

“My ship is over there,” Snowsong said, pointing to the open water between two other islands to the east.

The pirates and the sea ponies stared at her quizzically.

“Just head that way,” Snowsong said firmly. “It’s about half a mile away. You’ll see it when we’re close enough.”

“Do as she says,” Morning Breeze ordered.

Gingersnap’s mouth fell open when patches of air started to shimmer. It looked like heat lines at first, growing more intense as the dories continued forward. In the blink of an eye tall masts appeared floating above the water. Loose course sails fluttered in the wind, and on the stern rigging the Flag of the Two Sisters was flying. A few metres more, and he saw the heads and necks and some shoulders of his crewmates, and no fewer than a dozen crossbows. They were much closer to the waterline than he expected.

“Stand Down!” Snowsong shouted to the ponies on deck. “We have water!”

A cheer went around the deck, though the ponies lowered their crossbows barely below the gunwale. They must have been within twenty metres, but the hull remained completely invisible.

It was a strange feeling, climbing a rope ladder that seemed to dangle in midair. Gingersnap could feel the smooth plates that lined the hull, but could see nothing but the sea beneath him. His crewmates who leaned out to help him looked like they had been cut in half at the waist.

As soon as he climbed over the gunwale, everything looked exactly as it should. Looking down, he saw the hull as he always did. The draught had increased by five feet at least, and it was easy to see why. Slightly forward of middeck a ten foot section of the hull was torn off completely. That was where the brig had once been. Some of the sea ponies swam through the ship at this opening. Their amazement was obvious even through the waves that distorted their faces.

Two ponies grabbed Morning Breeze and pulled him aboard roughly. A unicorn approached with a length of heavy rope. In an instant Gruff had replaced him, and a very confused pony was yelling and thrashing around in the water between the dories.

“Nopony touch Morning Breeze!” Snowsong ordered, loud enough to be heard from stern to the tip of the bowsprit. “These ponies are our guests! The griffins too!”

“Thank you,” Morning Breeze said quietly before taking a seat on top of a deck box.

The pirates helped with the winches. The ponies on deck were moving lethargically. The two on bow watch had their heads resting on the gunwales, staring hatefully at the black water all around them.

“Everypony get your mug,” Snowsong ordered as soon as the barrels were all onboard. “No fighting! There’s enough for all of you!”

There was no fighting, but there was a lot of pushing and shoving as everypony tried to squeeze through the limited number of doors. Gingersnap and Coral Frond retreated onto a mast to avoid getting caught in the fray. Four pirates dispensed water from the barrels, scooping it up with bowls and mugs alike. Other ponies came up from below deck; the finest cider in Equestria was never received with such enthusiasm. In half an hour about half the water had been consumed. Gingersnap noticed ponies bringing full mugs down into the hold, and hastily descended the riggings.

He intercepted a light orange pegasus holding a mug with each wing.

“Weathervane,” he said quietly. “Are those for sickbay?”

“Yes,” she said. Her eyes widened in recognition. “Gingersnap? Is that you?”

“Yeah,” he said, taking the mugs off her wings. He nodded up at the mast. “Coral Frond’s up there. We're both alive. He’ll tell you everything. I can take these.”

Without waiting for a reply he turned and headed down the stairs. At first glance the crew quarter seemed to have not changed at all. Then he felt the crunchy salt on the second last step. Everything was coated in salt up to knee level, and the air smelled heavily of brine. But it was the sight of a white sheet that made him pause.

His old bunk had been cleared of its pillow and blanket. There was just a plain white sheet on the thin mattress, on which several trinkets had been placed: a silver bit; a blue silk ribbon; a stick of cinnamon, for some reason. It was a haunting sight. The same had been done for Coral Frond. Further down the hall there were more white sheets, but they had been treated with a lot less respect.

In all, five of the mercinaries had passed.

Gingersnap wiped his face on his sleeve before opening the infirmary door.

Every bed was occupied, and there was spillover onto the floor. There was a pony with his entire neck covered with bandages, and others that did not look injured at first. A few turned to him with half-seeing eyes. He passed his mugs to the nearest ponies who seemed to have their wits about them. There was already another sailor coming down the hall with more water.

Winter Oat lay on his back with his eyes closed. Bandages hid both his ears. His lips were cracked, and his face was drenched in sweat even though only a thin sheet covered him.

Gingersnap stood at his bedside staring into the familiar face, completely oblivious to everyone around him until he heard Snowsong’s voice.

“Go back on deck,” she said softly. “Everything’s going to be alright. There’s nothing more you can do here.”

Another hoof came to rest on his shoulder.

“I’ll call the Infidel,” Morning Breeze said. “Master Hornpipe has a good surgeon and supplies to spare. They will be here before sundown.”

But the sun was inches above the water when Gingersnap reemerged on deck. Coral Frond must have been looking for him, because he was by his side in seconds. Seeing the look on his face, the unicorn did not say anything. Instead he sat down beside his friend and put his hooves around him. That made him feel a little better.