Six trimarans sailed into the Eudaemon Arabia port in the Himyarite nation. Most of the people in the port knew that these ships were Paulsland ships and gave little thought except to note they were there. Few people in the port knew that the Himyarite kingdom was at war with Paulsland. The war was too fresh, and word had not gotten around. Of those who knew of the war, they didn’t care about the Paulsland ships. They were obviously too small to cause trouble, and taking ships away from merchants, even if you were at war with their nation, was very bad policy. Why would a merchant come to your port if they thought they would lose their ship there? And so, the very few people who noticed the six ships concluded they were harmless and ignored them.

Meanwhile, on one of the ships stood the stepson of King Paul and leader of the attacking fleet, Dashiell, who told his men, “I need to know the nationalities of every boat in the harbor. We do not need to start a war by accident.”

“There are several Satavahana ships.”

“Don’t worry about them. Satavahana is mostly a Hindu, Buddhist nation. If we burn their ships, their ruling class won't care. Do you see any Kushan ships?”

“Yes, but only one.”

“Signal the other ships not to burn that one. Their current king loves his merchants, and we do not want to antagonize any nation more than we should.”

“But what if the flames reach his ship?”

“Then we will send a diplomat to apologize to the Kushan king.”

“I see a Roman ship and a couple of Parthian ships.”

“Don’t worry about the Parthian ships, but try to avoid the Roman ship. I hear my brother has made inroads into Rome, so we do not want to make his job harder. Anything else?”

“I didn’t spot any other nations but I spotted several dieres.”

“Dieres?”

“Ramming ship, with two decks of rowers, they are smaller than Roman trireme but perfect for the Erythraean Sea.”

“How many Dieres do they have?”

“Ten, but those are in the military dock. No merchant ships are allowed near there.”

“That’s great. Tell our ships to leave that dock alone for now. We want them to be fully loaded with soldiers, and sailors before we sink them. I imagine once their entire port is burning they will get filled up, and come after us. We will burn them down at sea with our flaming arrows. No ship is to use those in port. Dad wants the flaming arrows kept secret as long as possible. We will use our pumps and coal oil to burn everything on the other docks except for the Kushan and Roman ships.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Inform the other ships of my decision, then spread out and attack.”

It took nearly a minute to inform the other ships of Dashiell’s decision, and then the ships fanned out across the port. Most people were not paying attention, so they didn’t notice, but those who did thought it was odd to see a merchant fleet fan and watched to see what would happen.

Eudaemon Arabia was a major port city with dozens of docks. At any one time, most of the merchants docked there would be Himyarite. So, the Paulsland ships did not have to be careful when they slowly sailed near the docked ships and began spraying coal oil on them as they passed. Each trimaran had a piston-powered pump at its rear corner, connected to a barrel of coal oil. They sprayed the oil as they passed. Most of it got on the ships, some of it got on the docks, and a lot of it went into the water, but coal oil floats on top of water, which is why Dashiell had his people pumping it out of the rear of the ship. They absolutely didn’t want to get any of it on their ship.

As the coal oil sprayed on various ships, some of them were empty and elicited no response, but most had crew on board. As the oil sprayed the ship, it got on the men, who were furious that the Paulsland ships dared spray their ship with stuff. They had no idea what coal oil was. It smelled foul, though, but many thought it was some sort of practical joke. None thought it was a military attack. Curse words and random objects were flung at the Paulsland ships, alongside threats of revenge.

As the first barrel of coal oil emptied, the Paulsland soldiers lit torches and threw them on the boats they just soaked, and flames erupted in a way nobody in the first century had ever seen before. The sailors and merchants went from cursing to screaming as their bodies began to burn. Most ran and jumped into the water; others ran onto the docks in their panic, spreading the fire as they went. All were dead men. Their burns were far too bad to survive, whether they survived the initial flames or not.

Across the city, everyone who saw the first flames appear would give the same description, “It was as if the gods threw fire.”

The reason the flames exploded outward was because the liquid coal oil doesn’t burn; the fumes burn. When they pumped coal oil all over the boats, docks, and water, it let the fumes go everywhere and made the perfect fuel to air ratio to get the most heat out of the burn when the torch met the fumes.

The Paulsland sailors marveled at their creation for a second before changing out their barrels of coal oil and pumping the new batch on the next few ships lined up on the docks.

As the Paulsland sailors methodically pumped death onto ships, the Himyarites outrightly panicked. Most of the Himyarites and sailors on the docks who saw the flames pop up ran toward the city, trying to get away from whatever angry god was casting fire. Others saw the fire and ran toward it with the intent of getting their ship out of harm's way or putting out the fires.

Then the second set of fires started, and people began to notice that ships, trimarans, the Paulsland ships, were spraying something out of their back as they went by. Then they saw those ships throwing torches on the liquid they sprayed, followed by a great burst of fire.

They felt fury and fear. Most of the people didn’t even know about the war in Paulsland. They were furious at the betrayal that their fellow merchants, these Paulsland traders, would burn their ships and port. Fear that they could cause such fire. Fear that all their worldly goods were destroyed and that they would have to be at the mercy of the city now that all their goods were gone. Fear of debts they could never pay back, and fear that they and their family would soon be sold into slavery.

Minutes passed, while the Paulsland ships were spraying ships with coal oil and casually tossing torches once they passed, before the governor inside the city found out about the fire. When he heard, he immediately ran to the docks to find out what was going on. If the port burned down, the King would hold him accountable. From the time the attack started to the governor reaching the port took only twenty minutes, but when he reached it, every dock and ship was completely in flames, except for the military dock, the military ships known as dieres, and the Paulsland ships.

The governor had bloodshot eyes and was almost in tears when he yelled at his servants, guards, and soldiers, “GET THE SAILORS ON THE SHIPS AND GO AFTER THOSE TRIMARANS! THEY MUST PAY! THEY MUST PAY!” The only way he was going to escape with his life was if he caught the perpetrators. He needed a scapegoat.

As for the soldiers, commanders, and rowers of the dieres, they were in shock at how fast everything happened. They had never heard of a city, or in this case, the docks of the city, getting burned in a mere twenty minutes. Pirates wouldn’t attempt this because they would lose all the goods they wanted to steal. Militaries wouldn’t do this because they wanted the port for themselves. If it burned, what was the point of invading?

As the soldiers, and ship officers watched, they couldn’t help but think of how uncivilized it was to come in and burn everything. They were not ready for it. Their job was to stop pirates out in the ocean or to contend with one of the nearby navies. If their port was seriously attacked, it would be attacked by an army, and their job would be to ram the supply ships of that army. This, this burning was chaos.

It took the Himyarite sailors an hour to fully staff their ships. As they unfurled sails and put oars into the water, they feared the Paulsland ships would be long gone by the time they got out to sea, but they had no choice but to hunt them over the next few months because after this disaster, if they returned without the attackers heads, their King would have their heads.

Meanwhile, the Paulsland trimarans were just over the horizon, sailing in a circle like sharks, waiting for their prey to come. As they waited, Dashiell sent a message to the other ships asking, “Why did you burn the Kushan and Roman ships?”

They sent a message back saying, “We didn’t, but the fire spread and got them before their sailors could leave the docks.”

Dashiell sent a message back, “We will send an apology and a gift to both nations.”

Once the message was sent, Dashiell asked his first mate, “What’s taking them so long?”

“I don’t know; maybe they are using their sailors to fight the fires we started.”

“That would be too bad. Once the sun sets, we are headed south and back home.”

“Why?”

“Weren't you paying attention during the attack?”

“No, I was moving the boon, keeping us moving.”

“We ran out of coal oil. If we want to attack another port, we will need more.”

“I thought you sent ships to every port the Himyarites have?”

“I sent six ships to each major Himyarite port, but the Himyarites have dozens of smaller ones.”

“So, we are going to go back to Five Island Village, pick up more coal oil, come all the way back up here, burn another port, and go all the way back over and over again?”

“If need be, yes. We will, of course, take out any Himyarite ships along the way; we still have plenty of flaming arrows.”

“Enough for their little fleet?”

“Should be, although we haven’t faced any warships yet.”

As he said the words, their lookout in the crow's nest yelled out, “The warships are finally coming our way, and they are moving FAST!”

Dashiell shouted, “SPREAD OUT!”

The small trimarans had no issue moving in various directions to wait for their prey. A few minutes later, the dieres noticed the first Paulsland trimaran in the distance and began making all speed for it.

Each of the dieres had two decks of rowers. These rowers were not slaves; they were professionals. Their job was to train their rowing technique for the time any pirate dared interfere with the Himyarite trade network, or anyone dared to contest their merchant's access into the red sea. They were healthy, well-practiced men who made their ships some of the fastest and most powerful ramming machines in the world.

When the captains of the diers saw their enemy in the distance, they spread their ships out to give the trimaran no room to escape. Their plan was simple, ram and sink these dangerous ships that burned their port. In another time, against larger, more powerful warships, they would have tried boarding them and used their soldiers to take over the ship of their enemy, but the trimarans were so small, they would forgo capture altogether. If they needed information, there would surely be sailors left in the water after their ships sunk that they could interrogate and bring back to their King as a trophy and object to focus his displeasure.

As the two fleets drew closer to each other, it was obvious they had very different tactics. The fleet of six trimarans were spread out and were clearly trying to surround and envelop the much larger dieres, while the dieres formed up next to each other and were trying to ram the small maneuverable trimarans one at a time.

As the two fleets drew close, the trimarans loaded their flaming arrows onto their scorpions, took aim, and fired. Since this was the first battle the flaming arrows were used, the captains fired their flaming arrows as they saw fit. Most fired into the side of the dieres, as it was the largest target, one angled high and tried to get their flaming arrow to fall onto the deck of the ship, and two targeted the sails.

Three of the flaming arrows hit one dieres, another diere was hit with two, and the final with one. Each arrow hit its target, easily puncturing wood, or sail, bursting the clay orb that protected the flame, and began burning the material they were stuck to.

At first, the soldiers on the dieres ignored the arrows that they thought missed them, assuming the arrows were targeting the men on deck until they noticed the flames and smoke. The first flaming arrow that was noticed was the one that crashed into the deck of the ship, and when one sailor noticed it was on fire, he quickly ran over and tried to stomp it out. This was a very poor idea, as flaming arrows are designed like lamps, where the flame is kept alight by a small reserve of coal oil. When he stomped down on the flaming arrow, it broke the reserve, spreading coal oil and fire across the deck.

Sailors panicked and began scrambling to find water to pour on the oil. As they did, two different ships' sails began to burn, and the sailors on those ships had to quickly come up with a solution for their fire. One ship had sailors who panicked and chose poorly. Their captain ordered sailors to climb the mast and pour water on the fire, but the fire spread faster than the sailor could climb.

On the other ship, the captain had the sailors lower the sails to the deck, and they poured water on the fire.

On neither ship did the lowering of the sail slow down the ships significantly since they were still being propelled by rowers.

As for the three arrows that went into the side of the ships, each one burned as they were designed, and they went unnoticed by the crew at first.

As the trimarans used their new state-of-the-art weapon, the dieres kept rowing toward their first target. The rowers rowed with all their might and followed orders. They had no idea about the mysterious fires that appeared on deck or on the sails, so their morale was high, and they kept the dieres moving fast.

As the ten dieres moved closer and closer to the first trimaran, it became obvious that spreading out was a good idea as the Himyarites would have to attack the trimarans one at a time. To the surprise of the men on the trimarans, the large ships were faster than their small ships because of all the rowers. In a different wind, if the trimarans had not been trying to get within firing range of the larger ships, things might have been different, but under the circumstances of this battle, the dieres were creeping closer to the small ship.

As the large ships crept closer, the fleet of six trimarans kept shooting their flaming arrows into the ships, and small fires formed wherever they hit, and the fires began to slowly spread. Those along the side of the ships spread without notice at first, and so the dieres continued moving forward, and then one reached their first target, ran into it, and the dieres’ bow managed to get over the small trimaran and force it under. As the ship went down, sailors jumped out, but there was no safety in the water; the rowers bludgeoned the Paulsland sailors in the water as their ship moved past them and began looking for targets. Only five trimarans left.

About this time, the sailors on deck noticed that there was smoke rising from the side of their ships, and they came and looked and saw flames. They shouted and pointed and ran to get more water, but try as they might, they could not put out the flames that had been growing for minutes now. Worse yet, they began noticing the arrows the trimarans kept firing started fires every single time they hit. The captains on the dieres recognized that they had to sink the trimarans or fires would continue to spread. And so, they pointed the ships to the nearest trimaran and pushed their rowers to row as quickly as possible.

But this realization came far too late.

On one of the ships, the fire finally reached a rower. He shouted, “THERE’S FIRE!”

The commander shouted, “STAY IN YOUR PLACE! THE SAILORS WILL DEAL WITH IT!”

This calmed the rower for a few seconds until the fire continued to grow, and the sailors did not come to put out the fire. They were in the hold of the ship on the second deck, so they had no way to know that the sailors were dealing with other fires. The only thing the rower saw was that a fire was growing on the side of the ship, and he was next to it.

He continued to row at the rhythm of the other rowers, but as he rowed, he watched the fire draw closer and closer to him, and then he had enough and ran. Then the rower next to him ran with him, and the rest of the rowers followed suit. They would rather try to swim back to the coast than burn alive on a ship.

This scene played out among each of the ships over a handful of minutes. Ramming ships with hundreds of rowers was now officially outdated. The time of ship artillery had arrived.

Dashiell and his five surviving ships encircled the burning sinking ships, and as they waited, Dashiell told one of his sailors, “You know one time my dad told me about an experiment his people did. They put mice in a bucket of water and waited for them to drown. They noted how long it took and then started a new experiment. They put the new mice in a bucket of water, but this time every hour or so, they gave the mice hope. They lifted the mice up for a second and put them back in. Those mice were able to swim for days because they had hope.”

“What’s your point?”

“The coast isn’t that far, I don’t want these men making it back, so in order to encourage their drowning, we have to take away their hope. Message the ships. They are to get between the Himyarites and the coast, and then begin bringing the Himyarite sailors on board one at a time. Once onboard, torture them, get them screaming. Once they are dead, find another sailor. Once they lose hope, they will drown instead of making it back home.”

“What do we do when that’s done?”

“Head back home; we have to rearm.”