The black canoe cut a silken path through the shallows. A fortuitous breeze covered the frail sliver of a moon, plunging the sea into darkness. As the boat touched land, a giant’s head and shoulders loomed in the distance. Three assassins leapt ashore with soft feet. They padded through a patch of forested coastline, approaching the human-shaped mountain in the centre.
“Kill the leader and incapacitate the rest. Our mission is clear.”
The others grunted their assent.
They crept from shadow to shadow to avoid stray light from the guards’ campfires. There were only a handful of them on the prowl. The Giant’s terror kept intruders at bay.
Tiny darts whistled out of the darkness, each finding a watchman’s neck. Each had their fall slowed down by an assassin. They laid their victims softly on the ground and moved from target to target.
Legends said that the island was formed when the sea floor cemented itself around the feet of a rampaging sea-giant, the guardian spirits of the world intervening in a war that human beings were too weak to fight. A cyclone swirled in the skies, clouds raining thunderbolt after thunderbolt until the giant was charred and melted into a lump of rock, his face permanently frozen into a last, defiant roar.
This roaring ‘mouth’ was where the pirates’ leader lived. The assassins walked into the unguarded living quarters. A coal fire glowed in a corner, above it a coat of arms depicting a solitary ship surrounded by sharks. Across the cave from it, a man slept in a large, golden four-poster bed.
The assassins’ leader scoffed. He could have kept dogs.
Three black knives moved swiftly, and the assassins disappeared into the night.
***
“You did what?!”
Ulka, Chief of Police of the Kingdom of Raghupur, recoiled as the king shouted.
“I, I killed Marika, leader of the pirates, sire.”
“Fool! Could you not have asked me?!”, Devvarman seethed, face contorted in fury.
Ulka steadied herself. I thought this was a victory!
“I didn’t realise this would displease you, sire.”
“Of course you didn’t. Get out, all of you! I need some time to myself.”
Ulka and her team scurried out of the hall, followed by the courtiers.
Devvarman, the king of Raghupur,slumped back into his throne, fuming. He had a problem, and no one else seemed to see it.As the departing durbaris walked the steps downhill, he asked the guards to keep the doors open, looking for signs in the sky and the sea.
Devvarman’s dominion of a dozen islands was surrounded by enchanted waters. Ever since he was a boy, he had seen the priests try to interpret every ripple in the water and every wisp of vapour in the sky. Portents of calamity in rough waters and stormy skies (often causing the calamities themselves) and invitations to fish and sail on clear, placid waters during hot, sunny days.
The sea gave him nothing today. Neither did the sky. Azure above, murmuring calm below. But his thoughts allowed him no rest. He twirled a pensive moustache. Ulka’s carelessness had brought a sword to hang overhis beautiful islands.
His wazir was keeping his distance. The king was not known for a temper. His outburst had stunned them all. But what was it that bothered him so? Raghupur was doing well. They had a closely-knit, ably-ruled community spread across the twelve islands. Crime was so rare that on most days, the Chief of Police was little more than a warden of the fishing boats. Raghupureven enjoyed a flourishing trade with the large port city of Brigha, sixty miles to the south.
And now the biggest criminal in the vicinity, Marika the pirate, was also dead.Then why was Devvarman worried?
The king climbed the stairs to the watchtower on the roof of the hall. It provided an excellent view of the island and its surroundings. In the centre stood a fluted marble pedestal on which a long steel tube was mounted on a swivel.
The telescope was more than thirty years old, one of the earliest of its kind. Glassmakers were only beginning to understand the wonders of controlled refraction back then, and it took the king quite an effort to see clearly out of it.
Having adjusted it for the tenth time, Devvarman finally had a clear view. He looked at each of the islands in his kingdom, thrilled at how the device brought them up close. Fishermen pulling in their nets. Dolphins frolicking in the open waters. Children at play on the beaches. If only his people knew how well the king understood their daily lives.
The telescope came to rest with the thirteenth island in sharp focus. The afternoon sun struggled to pierce the mists around a dark, vaguely human-shaped landmass.
What happened there was wrong, the king thought. Raghupur will suffer.
As the sun began its descent, the king left the tower and walked out of the hall. The sea breeze calmed him a little. He saw the Chief of Police sitting on the bottom step, looking at the sea. She leapt to attention at his approach.
“Ulka,” he said in a much kinder voice, “Will you walk with me?”
“It will be an honour, sire. Let me summonsome guards.”
“No. I trust you to keep me safe. I don’t want anyone else listening to us.”
They walked in silence through the main street, citizens clearing the way on either side.
As they left the town behind, Devvarman turned north, leaving the beach and walking up a gentle incline to the rocky part of the coast. They reached an old stone tower, thirty feet high. The king unlocked the door and stepped to one side as dozens of screeching black shapes flew out.
He helped Ulka to her feet.
“Just bats, brave warrior. Nothing to fear.”
Embarrassed, the Chief of Police sheathed a black knife and followed the king into the dingy building. Devvarman snapped his fingers and enchanted torches flickered to life in brackets on the curved walls. He climbed the steps and Ulka followed.
The top of the tower was a windowless,circular room illuminated by skylights covered with glass and sealed against the elements. They kept moisture out,protecting hundreds of books kept in shelves lining the walls.
The king pulled out a scroll of parchment and spread it on the table in the middle of the room. Ulka saw a coat-of-arms depicting a solitary ship on a black field, surrounded by sharks.
Devvarman saw her killing arm tense at the sight.
“Why do you have a letter from the pirates, sire?”
“It is a long story, Ulka. And you may not have heard all of it.”
She caught a name in the flickering torchlight, underneath the coat-of-arms.
The Maritime Nuisance Company.
“Let me start at the beginning,” Devvarman said.
***
Raghupur was not always a united, peaceful kingdom with a brave Chief of Police moonlighting as an assassin. There were twelve islands ruled by twelve chiefs, home to a hardy folk, their will made iron by sparse resources and endless fighting. They fished in nearby waters, perched on their tiny boats, lacking the skills to make the big, strong vessels that could travel the high seas.
Beyond their watery horizon, on all sides, the world move forward as humans tamed fire, water and rock. Huge armies were raised, cities built and ships made voyages thousands of miles long. But not in these islands. The chiefs could never see beyond raiding their neighbours’ fish and livestock. The raids were such an integral part of their lives that the islanders made sure to keep enough for their raiders beforehand.Minds devoted to deflecting petty raids never found the time for invention and discovery. Every few days, groups of them went toe-to-toe, fighting pitched battles with stone arrowheads, rusted heirloom swords, wooden stakes and hemp armour. A small trade ship from the port of Brigha visited the islands occasionally, the minuscule barter trade their only connection to the world outside.
It was into this tableau of chaos out at sea that a woman called Isha came to power on Raghupur, the largest of the islands, shortly after her husband Chandravarman was killed in a raid. Isha was unlike the other chiefs. She saw a future for them beyond bare subsistence. Ingenuous since her childhood, she found a way to make rope from the islands’ abundant palm trees. Stronger than the best rope from the big port to the south, it earned her people a lot of money.
Isha used some of the money to buy herself a small ship. She took the new vessel from island to island, conciliatory white sails high in the breeze, telling the chiefs about Raghupur’s success at trade and the chance for them to make their people wealthy as well.
It took time, but the chiefs saw her point one by one. Her presence helped bury generations-old grudges. People who saw fit to continue the old fighting dwindled, and less than ten years after she became chief of her island, she was crowned the first Queen of what came to be known as the Raghupur archipelago.
***
“That was forty-two years ago. We have done well in that time,” said Devvarman.
“Indeed, sire. But what does that have to do with the pirates?”
“We are getting there.”
***
With the twelve islands united, life changed for the people. Trade flowed between the islands, and a big market grew on Raghupur. Young people met and married the children of their parents’ enemies, kinship further cementing the islanders’ ties. . A large trade ship from Brigha visited every week to trade the islanders’ unique produce and crafts for utilities from the world outside. Raghupur discovered metal and the infinite possibilities it added to their lives. Talking to the traders, the islanders learned to build stronger homes to withstand the regular storms. The more adventurous boys and girls sailed to Brigha when the trading ships returned, seeing new things and learning about new places, cultures and occupations, knowledge that many of them brought back home.
Raghupur was growing faster than it ever had. Isha was pleased, but wary. Her little nation was only good at enriching itself through trade. It was hopeless at protecting itself from tiny raids, let alone an organized attack by greedy, powerful countries who would inevitably circle like vultures once Raghupur’s fame reached the wider world.
Unfortunately,Isha’s fears were dismissed by the chiefs of the other islands.
“You fear too much, my Queen. What would people want from tiny islands such as ours?”
“How could anyone feel threatened by us?”
“What do we have that the rest of the world does not own a hundred times over?”
Isha understood greed and covetousness better. Watching over the islands from the tower atop her hall, she knew there was everything here for the greedy conqueror to desire. Beautiful islands with a population that could easily be overcome and enslaved. Bountiful shoals. A dozen outposts to detect enemies miles before they reached the mainland. A buffer that could be ceded to enemies in case of war.
One day, the telescope on the watchtower showed her a shipwreck on the Giant’s shores. The debris and the many-coloured attire on the dead and injured marked them out as pirates. Isha sailed to them under cover of darkness with food and supplies. The pirate leader, Marika, told her how they had been routed in a civil war against their brethren, and were fleeing to deserted coastline north of Brigha, when a storm dashed their ships against the Giant. He was grateful for her help and promised loyalty for as long as he lived.
***
“But why a treaty with a pirate, sire? Everyone knows they are not to be trusted.”
“She saw them as people, like her own subjects. She also had a vision for Raghupur, day-dreaming aloud of markets on each island, a huge harbour, a navy, voyages in each direction. But her islands were not ready. They are not ready still, ten years after her death!”
“All due respect, sire. Why the pirates?”
“Because my mother’s fears were not unfounded. The lighthouses she built on each island were also watchtowers looking out for trouble. We got reports of spy ships sailing the circumference of each island by night. It was clear that someone, somewhere coveted our home. The Queen had to act, with or without her chiefs.
“Marika sent some of his best scouts to learn of the danger that approached us. We found that armed men would be hiding in the trade ship from Brigha when it came to us next. My mother asked Marika to help protect us. Her islands had no weapons that could withstand a shipful of mercenaries.
“The wily old pirate did not take long to decide. His people stood united behind him, and together they hatched a plan.”
***
The pirates discarded their old flag of six white swords on a black field, each sword commemorating a battle won. They drew a new banner, a ship surrounded by sharks and stamped it to the bottom of a scroll. That scroll was tossed into the trading ship anchored in Brigha, a night before it set sail for Raghupur. The letter said:
“We are allies of the Queen of Raghupur, and we beseech the merchant princes of Brigha to abandon their evil designs. The twelve islands ruled by Queen Isha are peaceful, meaning offence to none. Let them live in peace. Ignore our request at your peril.”
Next to the coat-of-arms was the new name adopted by Marika. The Maritime Nuisance Company.
The merchant princes who desired islands for themselves laughed at the message. A hundred armed men took station in the hold of the boat and it set sail at dawn.
***
“The spirits of the sea have always been kind to us islanders. The trade ship took to sea under clear skies, but the water soon became rough and clouds gathered overhead. As the storm broke, progress becameslow and the soldiers’ spirits struggled under the seasickness. Ten miles from the islands, the Maritime Nuisance Company struck. Two of their best sailors approached the ship from the left and right, barely sighted by the lookouts. Their boats had heavy steel battering rams in front, and they sailed them in very, very fast. The sailors leaped into the water just before the boats struck the ship’s hull, shattering it on impact.
“The lookouts only saw triangular black sails, shaped like shark fins, a moment before the collision. The armed men in the hold saw nothing. They panicked at the splintering wood on either side as gaping holes opened in the hull, bringing a rush of icy water with it.. There was a stampede on the steps out of the hold. We heard that only twenty men returned to Brigha alive, their employers imprisoned by the Mayor for this wanton act of aggression.”
“The pirates saved us! Why were we never told, sire?”
“The Queen knew the chiefs at the time. Many of them would have rebelled, so deep was their hatred of pirates, even though none had suffered an attack from them in their lifetime. The islanders were told that the trading ship was punished by the sea-spirits, and we continued with our lives.
“But we had made enemies. There were those who would seek vengeance, and we could not count on a small band of former pirates to help us at all times.”
***
Isha was bitterly disappointed to see that the chiefs of the islands learned no lessons from the attack at sea. They were happy to let the sea-spirits defend them. If anything, they became more complacent. She was forced to take harsh steps. Over the next few months, anonymous attackers came in the dead of night, looting barns, breaking pottery and beating drums, striking terror into the islanders’ hearts. The Maritime Nuisance Company made sure they never injured a single person.
When the chiefs approached the Queen for help, she told them they had no choice but to defend themselves. Men and women turned up in her court asking to take her subjects as apprentice blacksmiths, soldiers, masons and engineers. She assigned willing students to them, who learned happily, unaware that these masters of many crafts had been pirates not long before.
There were still those among the commoners and the chiefs who knew of pirates living on the Giant, and suspected them to be enemies of Raghupur as well. The Queen guarded her secret, confident that the superstition around the thirteenth island would keep the Maritime Nuisance Company safe.
By the time Isha died, the islands of Raghupur built a trading fleet, sea gates on all four directions around the archipelago, lighthouses to rival the best on the mainland and importantly, a standing navy of three hundred men and women who commanded ten modern warships. The little community of destitute raiders was making its own place in the world.
***
“I wish I had known this before, sire,” said Ulka, “I only thought I was bringing the night raids on the islands to an end.”
“Don’t blame yourself, Ulka. Perhaps I should have trusted my Chief of Police more and shared this secret. Marika’s attacks kept us on our toes and forced us into thinking of new ways to do better, be stronger. The fault lies with me. His death makes us vulnerable.”
“What do we do now?”
“Unless I am mistaken, those among Marika’s followers who live on this island will desire an audience with me. Let us walk back to the hall.”
They stepped out of the tower to see a man and a woman standing outside, the fury in their faces illuminated by the torches on the path. Ulka’s hand went to her dagger, and the pirates’ hands mirrored the move.
“Stop!” Devvarman said. “Bala, Kiri, let us talk. More violence will not help us.”
“We want her head,” Kiri said, “You cannot deny us that, Your Majesty.”
“I can. She has taken a life, but she took it in error. I must ask you to be forgiving, in my mother’s name.”
“What would the Queen have done, Your Majesty?” Bala hissed.
“She would have executed her. But I think differently. I will dismiss her from her post and assign her to a smaller role. I will do the same to those who accompanied her on this mission. I expect large heartedness from you, my friends. Please.”
The pirates scoffed. Ulka’s hand tightened around the dagger.
“Fine,” Kiri said, “We accept your decision. Let the girl live. But the Maritime Nuisance Company will no longer aid Raghupur. You are on your own from today.”
They waited for an answer, but got none. The king was too stunned to speak. His worst fears had come true.
“Ten ships laden with five hundred mercenariesare coming tomorrow, Your Majesty,” Kiri continued. “The Mayor of Brigha wants to take over your kingdom and surprise his king with a new conquest. We had hoped to talk about this today, before your Chief of Police murdered Marika. I hope your navy has learned enough to defend you successfully. Good bye.”
“Take my head,” Devvarman croaked, “But don’t leave my people vulnerable.”
The pirates stared at the king as Ulka gasped in surprise.They bowed to Devvarman and disappeared into the night.
Ulka put her arm around the king as he broke into tears.
***
Devvarman spent an uneasy night, mobilizing his troops and running messages between all the islands. The navy’s three hundred were bolstered by another hundred men and women of fighting age, possessing some skill at arms. He prayed to the sea for deliverance, as his mother had all those years before. He wondered what the pirates would do. Would they watch from the sidelines or keep away altogether?
Whatever they did, he hoped his people had the strength and the skill to repel the attack.
As the sun rose and illuminated the Raghupur archipelago, the leader of the Brigha attack admired the view. Soon, the mainland flag would flutter over all these puny islands.
His ship passed within half a mile of the Giant before it entered the waters of Raghupur. He was distracted by a projectile whistling towards him. He ducked just in time to avoid a scorpion bolt that buried itself in the deck. A scroll was tied to it. He unrolled it and read:
“You are not the first to play this foolish game, but you could be the last. Surrender while you have the chance.”
The seal was accompanied by the sender’s name.
High in his watchtower, Devvarman smiled at what the telescope showed him. Small saboteur boats isolating the lead ship from the rest of the attackers’ fleet, their distinct triangular black sails moving at a fast clip. A solitary ship, surrounded by sharks.
