Cain leads everyone out of the carnival and back to the ship before new trouble can find them, setting an extra watch for the evening.
With the way Lancelot's son Odin had behaved, they didn't think that Human Supremacists were such an influential factor here. He knows it's similar with the Orcs to the west of them, insisting their territory is Orc Territory, but the Landis faction had seemed extremely open-minded about such things.
"Nila, we might need a new plan. Hanging out in the middle of someone else's civil war isn't my idea of a good time. I'll go ashore again tomorrow and see if I can get any answers."
None of them want to go back into town today, in case another group of gang members are waiting on them. Instead, they pass the afternoon on the Queen Rose while Nila teaches everyone to play poker.
Mid-afternoon, the dock gets visitors. A lot of visitors. Over two hundred rough-dressed, muscular men accompanied by two men in Blue and Silver robes storm past the handful of guards and on to the dock.
"In the name of the human resistance, these vessels now belong to the cause." As they make their proclamation, black sails are seen on the horizon, the civil war in the desert has spread to Landis, and they've broken the Naval lines.
The goons have already charged into the ships docked closest to the city; it is only their low priority position that has kept the Darklight Host safe so far. The merchants are trying to rally defenses to keep from losing their vessels, if not their lives to the insurgents, but it doesn't seem to be going well; there aren't many ships in Port.
"Nila, get us out to sea," Cain calls, and everyone springs into action. He immediately summons both lesser and greater Golems as sea monsters ordering them to attack the incoming ships with the black sails. Then he calls for the full complement of Seraphim Inquisitors, staying merged with two but sending the rest to clear the docks.
Holy Light strikes repeatedly, charring bodies and scorching the stone of the pier, but the attackers seem to have either blind faith or idiocy on their side.
"Fear Not, brothers. The gods favor us; no holy attack will harm the noble crusaders reclaiming the central continent for the humans." Their leader screams, and they begin to charge, ignoring the bolts of holy light that are killing them by the handful.
In under a minute, the dock is cleared, and everyone is beginning to set sail and run out their Cannons, preparing for a fight.
"We have signal flags. Do you want me to warm them they're making a mistake?" Nila suggests as they clear the stone piers and head for open water.
"Do it. Same as last time, we will have the monsters clear a gap and run through it."
Nila runs a red and white quartered flag up the mast, followed by a large all-black one with a golden wave shape. That should give them a hint. The first means they're headed into danger, the second is the sign this is a Wave Rider Raiding vessel. Cain had no idea where she obtained it, but it's going to come in handy today.
"It's a shame we don't have black sails; the Rose is so close to red already. We could have a proper Wave Rider Raiding vessel." Nila laughs, turning the ship towards the gap created by the monsters.
They're quickly outdistancing the other merchants, but that's to be expected and closing in hard on the flotilla. Once they're almost on top of them, Cain calls his unoccupied Supporters as Kone and floods the area with Dragons. Laura and Evangeline both call their Bonded Forces, and Cain calls back the Inquisitors who have been guarding the harbor while the other vessels got away.
The flying army tears into the ships, freezing and corroding away their sails and rigging, leaving them unable to run. A great cheer goes up from behind them, heedless of the Sea Monsters still attacking, and the merchants line up at their maximum speed to follow the Queen Rose.
In the next few minutes, a great many attacking ships are sunk, and the remainder are rendered helpless while the merchants flee. Cain went through his friend's list and found the two most likely to need this information, RhickJaymz, and Sergio.
[Nonhumans are being driven from the Landis Capital with help from the Senate. All mercantile vessels have fled. The city was attacked by a Pirate flotilla that is now essentially disabled. We are back at sea but will pass on any further news.]
Then he contacts the one person he knows who might make sense of this, the Blacksmith Lukas. He should be in the Capital right now, as he is a Royal Smith.
[What happened? We have just been run out of Landis, along with all the other merchants. There's a pair of Senators dead on the dock, killed while they attempted to seize the ships that were tied up there.]
[The Senators have tried to stage a coup. The rest are dead at the palace already. With the two at the dock, none survived. But many fighters from the desert have been brought in, and there is still fighting in the streets.] Lukas responds.
[Don't trust the city guards. They're with the attackers. We had a run-in with them earlier. Lancelot will have details.]
[I'm on it. Stay safe, and I'll keep you updated.]
Once they're all clear of the incoming vessels and well past the horizon, Cain slows down, and the merchants gather around the Queen Rose to share what information they have. It sounds like Landis is winning, but the ground battle in the desert has essentially ended, and the victors are moving south into Landis.
None of that is good news for most of them, but a few still have armor to sell, so they're headed for Tortuga to empty their holds and get away from the area with a decent profit.
Cain is just about to order Nila to make south for the Serrah Woods when he gets a message from Lukas:
[Landis stands. The fighting has died down now, and the enemy leaders have fallen. We have a piece of confidential cargo that needs to leave the kingdom as soon as possible, and the King would like to know if you can pick it up by Dragon and take it with you South.]
[Happy to help. I'll be there soon.]
"Laura, I'll need both of you for this. Landis has a package for us in the Capital to take south urgently. They've started getting things settled, but we might still be attacked coming in." Everyone looks startled, but nobody argues despite having been run out of town only hours ago.
"Should we wait or set sail?"
Cain considers Nila's suggestion a moment before deciding. "Start south, on a course that won't take you near shore until You've crossed the border of Serrah. We'll find you without any major troubles."
Cain mounts Laura, finding a comfortable spot between her wings where the ridges in her back form a basic saddle shape, and they fly off low to the waves, making them harder to see from the city where he can still hear fighting and see burning buildings.
[I'm incoming. Where do I need to be?]
[Come straight to the Royal Palace East Garden. We'll try to clean up this latest attack before you get here.]
A Raid party invitation follows the message, and Cain sees that Lukas is with Lancelot, the Royal Family, and a few others. Circling the heaviest battles, Cain comes towards the garden from the north. Most of the group leaders are holed up in a stone building. Cain suspects it to be a mausoleum, while Lukas and Lancelot with a few of his Knights fight off a group of city guards out front.
"Laura, blanket the area in ice fog, but not inside that building. I don't want to freeze an innocent." Laura's ice-enhanced breath shreds the guards and leaves a lingering fog, hiding then from sight when they land.
"Good timing. They managed to block travel magic in and out of the city and killed all the Gryphons so we couldn't evacuate."
"If you need, I could send in a couple of hundred Dragons and end most of the fighting," Cain suggests.
"No, that would just make things worse. The pro-human faction found out that the Crown Prince had abdicated his position, in favor of moving to the Eastern Continent to take over his wife's Kingdom. Officially, that makes the second son the Crown Prince. The only problem is that the second son is well..."
"Not human." A young Fox kin man says, stepping into the open, his three tails flicking in annoyance.
"So they panicked and tried to take over to prevent a Beastkin on the throne? I suppose I can see why they'd feel that way, given their track record. Any of them that had been openly anti demihumans would now be enemies of the throne."
The Crown Prince nods. "We didn't realize how bad things had gotten. Everyone put on a perfect act in front of the Royal Family. It was when they hired mercenaries from the desert that they couldn't hide their intentions anymore. What we want is for you to take me into exile. My father will tell everyone I was killed, purge the ringleaders and any influential supporters they have for regicide and name the First Princess as the heir."
It's not an absurd plan. If the First Princess is capable. "Will that be alright? I don't know Landis customs, but a Princess as heir often leads to a power struggle as suitors fight to claim her power."
The Armored Knight beside the Prince gives a rather high-pitched laugh, raising her visor. "Knight-Captain Gurda. First Princess of Landis."
Honestly, she's more imposing than Lancelot, even with her armor dented and bloodied. She's over level 200 as well, which should be enough to secure her own power in the physical sense. The last question would be her political acumen.
When Cain sees the wistful look Lukas is giving her; he mentally wishes the man luck. He'll need it.
