Chapter 11.4- The Seadragon's Roar

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If I had expected the Tyroshi ships to present much of a challenge to capture, then I was sorely disappointed. Corlys on his flagship and me flying Igneel had led our own fleet right to them where they had gathered themselves a few miles off the coast and we had parlayed. Rather, Corlys had dictated terms on threat of dragon fire or scorpion bolts and they had accepted them. The men of Tyrosh would leave the ships they crewed and swim to shore. In exchange, we were not going to kill them. This was the solution to losing our naval superiority.

While the Tyroshi ships were not Velaryon ships made at Hull by some of the best shipwrights in the world using literally otherworldly designs, they were still near the top of the ladder for what was normal in this world. Definitely better than what most pirates could field. And so enough for us to take to the field until we could receive new fleets from home.

But then that left us with one remaining problem. We hadn’t just lost a fleet. We’d lost the men to crew those ships, and for this one there was no neat workaround. For now, we were establishing skeleton crews for the news ships. They were there to prop up our numbers and act as the expendable shell to our main core of caravels. The caravels had been built so sturdily that we had actually only lost one of them in he attack on Tyrosh, and none at all in the original pirate ambush. That left our numbers at a neat three and twenty. Adding seven and twenty Tyroshi ships to that meant we now had fifty ships to our name. That was bigger than all the pirates bar one could reported raise individually. So that also meant it was time to go on the offensive.

I had only just returned from Igneel’s ship after having had the men bring a pair of sheep for him to gorge himself on when I was called in for the next war planning session. Speaking of Igneel and his eating, he had to roast his food in his mouth based on being on a ship and all that but he didn’t seem to mind it as much as I had expected so it was fine for the time being.

I walked into the room to a chorus of applause. “The Shipburner” I heard Vaemond hail and it took all my willpower to stop myself from facepalming at the silly nickname. That shit better not stick.

“Well done, my son” Corlys said, and he gestured to the space at his right for me. I moved to stand there, the spot normally reserved for the next most senior Captain under the fleet and none said a word in opposition. Vaemond, whose position I was taking just shot me a smile instead.

“As I was saying, we have the momentum now, but we cannot stop” Corlys began.