Having recovered from his near drowning, Devrim had no desire to put his head back below the water. He could still feel some of the water sloshing about in her ears no matter how hard he tried to empty them. It was frustrating, and he was unwilling to repeat the event.

Fortunately, none of the dozen or so pirate ships seemed to have anyone bothering to look their way. Anyone keeping watch was looking at the shoreline. Even if some sailor had deigned to look their way, spotting the bobbing heads in the water would have been difficult among the shining waves.

Their first goal was to make each boat unable to sail. The boat furthest from the shore and behind the rest of the fleet was their initial target. Riding over on the Selkies' backs, twenty men attached themselves to the side of the ship and began using their large screws to bore holes into the ship's hull. It would have been much easier to have the merfolk complete this task, but Darya had said she was there to engage pirates, not toy with ships. No amount of reason would persuade her to do more than she promised. It was also why none of the men were being transported by the merfolk either.

"We are not--how do you humans say it?--oh yes, we are not pack mules," Darya had said right in front of Phoca just to offend her. Obviously being allies did not make them friends.

Coming up on the side of the boat, Devrim thrust a spike into the ship's study hull and tied it to a rope off of it to wrap around himself so that he was anchored to the ship. Reaching toward his chest and pulling up a small tube, the Emperor put his mouth on the hollow reed that was attached to an animal bladder.

Blowing air into the tube, the bladder filled and gave him some buoyancy beneath his chest while he worked. The floatation vest had been another one of Renat's inventions. 'That boy is full of ideas.'

"Go get the next batch of men, please," Devrim told Phoca. She and the Selkies complied.

Floating on the surface against the boat was perilous, and Devrim had to plant his feet against the hull to keep from ramming against the side. He placed the corkscrew—or more accurately the wood screw— against the ship and began boring a hold below the water's surface.

The process was difficult to complete and the Emperor was beginning to wonder if he was doing any good when he finally felt the satisfying thunk of his screw pushing through and no longer meeting resistance. He removed his tool and bore a second hole just above the surface of the water, hoping to increase the first hole's intake rate.

He could hear the trickle of water into the base of the ship and a second hole below the surface increased the sound. Along with the twenty other men including Junayd, the side of the boat was beginning to resemble cheese. The rush of liquid from all the holes, each of which was only smaller than the circumference of a cook's rolling pin, was adding up quickly. The boat went from bobbing nicely atop the water, to sluggishly rolling with the tide.

Junayd pulled his peg from the side of the ship and tucked it away so he was no longer attached. "That about does it, Sire," he whispered.

Devrim pulled his own anchor from the wood and nodded, as the next batch of soldiers arrived on the backs of the selkies. "It's time for phase two."

———

Goober was sleeping below deck instead of mopping it when he had a dream that he was being chased by a shark. The creature was so close that he could actually feel his wet, slimy skin. When Goober tried to hit the shark away, the fish burst into a thousand droplets. The pirate woke from the dream, thinking about how lifelike the dream had been. He could even feel the wetness of the shark like it was brushing up against his feet now.

His eyes popped open. A pool of water that was covering his feet was spilling in from many holes in the ship's hull. His heart sank. As Goober had chosen a very secluded place to nap, he doubted anyone else knew that the integrity of the ship had been breached. They were going to sink.

He ran to the deck where his despair only deepened. Just as he was about to call out to his shipmate, a burly man wearing royal blue and white washed onto the quarter deck and pushed the shipmate overboard. Dripping, the soldier drew his sword and aimed it toward Goober with a menacing grin.

"Don't move," he ordered.

Goober, who was far more skilled with his mop than his sword, raised his hands quickly in surrender. "The boat's sinking!" he yelped as if it would help his situation.

The burly general gasped. "Do you hear that, Sire?" He said in a frantic whisper. "The ship is sinking!"

"You don't say! However could that have happened?" the Emperor responded in the same sarcastic tone. The grey-eyed man had his sword pinned against another pirate's back as he came near.

Goober looked around to see the other sailors in the crew were being rounded up and led towards him. The he glanced at the other ships. One of them was just within earshot if the wind was right. He took a deep breath when Junayd poked him not so gently with the sword.

"Make a sound and I will not be scratch next time. I will run you through," the General warned him.

The frightened pirate swallowed his scream and remained silent. All of the buccaneers were brought to the quarter deck, where the back of the ship shielded them from the view of any of the other boats.

"As this man has said, your ship is going down. Now you have two choices," the Emperor told the criminals as he walked around them. "You can die or you can take your chances with the lovely ladies waiting for you down below. They are very eager to meet you."

"You mean…walk the plank?" Goober asked.

"In a manner of speaking," Devrim answered.

"I don't want to die!" Goober pleaded.

Junayd hauled the man from where he was seated on the deck, "Then it is an easy choice. Over you go!" He pushed the man over the side of the deck and listened to him splash.

"You enjoyed that a tad too much," Devrim scolded, unable to hide his smirk.

Junayd shrugged, "What can I say? I like the simple things. Now, who's next?"

Goober splashed into the ocean and sank beneath the water, thinking with remorse that his last meal had been moldy bread and bitter wine. But then two smooth arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him upward.

When he broke the surface, Goober beheld the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her purple hair and shining green eyes made him lose sight of everything else. She pulled him slowly to the sandbar, and he felt immensely happy to have her attention. "You are beautiful," he said as he laid down upon the sand.

Looking deep into his eyes, the mermaid began her siren's song, "Come with me to the sea…"

Suddenly his happy feeling was gone, replaced with pure terror.

————

Once the last of the pirates decided his own fate, Devrim signaled to Wai to help them down. The watery nymph pulled a spout of water from the ocean and allowed the soldiers to slide down into the foamy waves. It was not a long fall, but the gentle descent was preferable. She then used all her might to push water into the small holes until a whole section of the hull burst loose and took on water. 'That was effective,' Devrim noted.

Already some of the other troops were disabling the rudders of and drilling holes into the next two ships in the line. Transported by the selkies, Devrim and Junayd joined and his group moved onto the fourth ship in line.

"That wasn't difficult, but it was time consuming. We need to speed things up if we hope to make it to Xander before he is wise to us." Devrim pressed his screw deep into the wood and spun it to bore a hole.

Junayd shrugged. "Even a few less ships of pirates storming the oceans is a win in my book," the General whispered.

They stopped talking as a pair of boots clattered past them on the deck overhead. It seemed the pirate had not seen the human barnacles attached to his ship, because he moved on toward the prow.

Devrim shook his head. "I would rather be rid of all of them, if I have the chance. Also, we need to finish quickly. I want to get back to my wife before she meets with Cafer."

All around them, the Horn of Sonority rang out, bringing both the Imperial Troops and the pirates to attention.

"Too late, Your Majesty. I think she has already met him, and I guess things did not go as planned." Junayd sighed when the horn ended.

They both looked up and met a pair of astonished pirate eyes. "The jig is up for us too!"