scanning the smooth surface of the sea intently for any silhouettes.
Suddenly, an excited cry rang out from somewhere on a jetty further out to sea. This signalled that the ships would soon be visible from other vantage points too, and as they drew nearer, the hubbub in the harbour gradually grew louder. It was only when they pushed their way to the edge of the jetty with Dirk that Einar saw the ships gliding slowly towards the safe harbour. He breathed a sigh of relief to see that not a single vessel was missing and that all seven ships were majestically cutting through the water’s surface.
It also appeared that they were returning in very good condition; indeed, it even seemed to him that some were in better shape than when they had set out on this year’s expedition. Even from such a distance, he could make out several new ballistae and repeating crossbows, which formed their primary armament. The ballistae were usually mounted on both decks and were used to fire huge arrows tipped with various kinds of projectiles: blades designed to pierce the hull, clay jugs filled with flammable oils, blunt rams used to punch holes in the hull at waterline level, as well as powerful magical projectiles whose shafts were covered in intricate grids of runes. Magical ammunition was precious and extremely potent, so care was taken not to use it in trivial skirmishes. Of course, if ships were protected by spells or had runes burnt onto their hulls, there was no choice but to use such expensive ammunition if there was no mage or sorcerer on board.
Crossbows, on the other hand, were a variant of the multi-shot crossbow invented in the Empire a few years earlier. The first appearance of this type of weapon, which allowed the enemy to be literally showered with deadly bolts, came as a shock to the sea wolves setting out on yet another expedition and meant that many of them never made it back home. That year was truly dreadful, but the ships that had not set sail to
