Dominus Protector Meus

by Zh3sh1re

On the water with fire and sword

The atmosphere on the ship was tense, as if you could cut it with a knife. Each side waiting for the other one to make their move. The time for talking was over, and now the relations would be dictated by the clashing of swords.

Claes smirked. The gryphons treated this fight as if it were a regular sword fight. The conclusion that they'd never seen a firearm was quickly settled in Claes mind, as they did nothing to protect themself towards them other than sneak a glance at them every once in a while.

His eyes finds the one of the marines onboard, pointing his musket towards the gryphons. A slight nod is all he did to signal the start of the attack. The gryphons hadn't even speculated on the possibility. Suddenly, the marine screamed at the top of his lungs. "AVFYRA!" The sound of many hammers striking their flint and suddenly discharging. The balls from the muskets tore asunder several of the gryphons immediately, the captains head exploding in a showery display of gore. Claes took this moment to initiate the attack, shouting in Swedish. "Attackera!"

The captain jumped into the fray, his sword quickly cutting down one of the gryphons. It seems that the muskets had quickly torn down the gryphon numbers, leaving only a few alive and scared. Claes then backed off and screamed once more. "AVFYRA KANONER!"

The HMS Bohus rocked as it's starboard cannons rapidly fired their deadly payload. Cannons rolled back and the workers were already on their way to reload the empty guns once more. Meanwhile, the steel balls of the cannons punched through the thin hull of the galley. It's front mast splintered apart and it fell overboard. Water started rushing into the holes formed at the bottom of the hull.

Claes looked back to the battle, seeing that only a single gryphon still stood standing. His eyes were tiredly scanning across the plentiful Swedish soldiers and sailors surrounding him. He made a few pathetic attempts at swiping his sword at them. His eyes were constantly scanning for openings, hoping to fly away. His eyes suddenly went wide as a sabre was thrusted into his side. The gryphons eyes looked at the sailor who had done the act, almost as if he couldn't believe it. Claes saw the sailor rip the sword out of the creature as it crumbled to the floor, bleeding on the deck. The corpse twitched for a few more moments, before it truly became a corpse.

Seeing the last battle done, he shouted to his crewmen. "Throw them overboard. No need to bloody our deck, gentlemen!" Claes looked over to the gryphon galley, slowly sinking into the water. Marines on the side of the Bohus were taking potshots at the feeling gryphons as they attempted to run from their sinking ships. Of course, hitting a bird with a musket from this distance was practically impossible, but nevertheless he saw one or two gryphons go down as the bullets practically ripped off their wings.

The captain remained at the starboard railing for a while longer til the main deck of the galley had gone beneath the waves, before nodding and wandering up to the poop deck. A few seagulls flying overhead gave the captain the direction to take, and he tapped the helmsmans shoulder, pointing towards the distance. "That way, my good man." The sailor nodded and Claes sank down unto a chair. Seems like it won't be long til they reach shore. Fighting like this would become a day to day business as they did, this he was sure of. "And do try to not hit the sinking ship, please. I'd rather not tell the King that I've lost one of our main ships to idiocy of the helmsman." His eyes pierced the said helmsman, who nodded once more, albeit more nervously.

The men climbed unto the masts and started to release the seals of the sails as the men on the deck loosened and fastened rope. The piloting of a ship was as advanced as one could get in the military, especially on a large ship such as the HMS Bohus. It made Claes yearn back to the days of sailing small merchant ships for the Dutch navy. He had to however admit that this brave new world was interesting. Europe was interesting enough, with berber-pirates and enemy vessels hiding behind every wave. This, however... This world of mythical and fantastic creatures was quite the head-turner.

Wrangel Palace - Throne Room
Sweden – Febuary 11th, 1700 A.D.

"...and with that, we suspect that this list of people would be best suited for Governor in any future colonies we happen to proclaim." The well-dressed nobleman and council member continued. His lips pursed gently as he looked to the aforementioned list. "I will admit that the list is rather short, but we are training new statesmen as we speak."

The king could hardly blame the overworked noblemen and council member for the short list. This was nigh-uncharted territory for Sweden. The last colony that Sweden herself had owned was Carolusborg in the African Gold Coast and that was lost over fifty years ago. With it, most colonial ambitions Sweden had claimed were dead in the water. With the thirty years war in recent memory at that point and the misery widespread, it was not strange that the colonialists had decided to take different lines of work or moved to more colonialist nations such as England, France or Spain.

Because of this lack of experience and viable infrastructure to support such efforts, Sweden had to work quickly to train new governors and colonial offices to take advantage of the situation that they now found themselves in. In a way, it was maddening. Most of the knowledge on the subject was from a handful of English and French tomes that had found their way into the libraries of Uppsala- or Lund Universities.

Speaking of the Universities, they had their hands very full with the influx of new knowledge. Several islands had been claimed around Sweden. Most of them had been small, but a few had been decently sized for naval bases in the future. The various flora and fauna on these islands had kept the universities of Sweden working overtime. It was a monumental task to try and catalog all of it and it had not been done before. Not even in Europe had the various flora and fauna been cataloged.

The king finally nodded to the nobleman and dismissed him, his mind now turning unto the strategic situation. Pirates had been spotted and sunk around the area which Sweden now found itself in. He had to give it to the Royal Swedish Navy, they had taken upon a monumental task for which they were largely under-equipped for and turned the seas around Sweden somewhat safe. Reports had come in and spoken of fantastical creatures. Unicorns, Pegasi and Gryphons. Stranger still, they apparently spoke an odd dialect of English... or at least something that resembled English.

What these encounters had given the king was confirmation of what they suspected. This world was rather technologically backwards. Galleys that would've fit right in with the old Roman Empire. Archaic, medieval-like swords and armor. No gunpowder to speak of. This made the Swedish troops and ships vastly superior to them... But there was one rather startling discovery, something the priests and bishops all over Sweden gape with horror.

Magic. True, honest to God magic. While the King had not yet heard much of it, it was obvious that it penetrated the society of the foreigners. One of the ships had reported that the pirates had similar cannon-hatches to a ship-of-the-line, but with large archaic ballistae with a twist. They had some form of curse on them, which made them explode in flames when they hit the hull of the other ship. Thankfully, they most likely weren't intended to be used against large, oak ships-of-the-line and their effect was minimal compared to the cannons the Swedish ships used but it was unpleasant to think about.

The priests had of course lost their mind. Even now, the various religious leaders of Sweden was harshly debating the theology behind this new discovery and what form of word to assign to it. Heretic, perhaps. Heathenism? Devil worship? The king did not care to speculate. It had however given him more than a pause for thought. What else where these creatures capable of? If they could conjure up fire by inscribing runes on the tip of arrows, what more dangerous hexes could they have in their arsenal?

The King was of course a god-fearing man, much as anyone should be. This gave him even more conviction of how this new world would test their beliefs. But Sweden would triumph, as it had for centuries. This, he was sure of. And if the priests and zealots of the nations could band together against such a foe, all the better.

Comments

[Merula]

Ahh, nothing like a good human-style ass kicking! And by the Swedes no less!

Good to see this fic alive!

[Starlight Nova]

If the main OCs in this story were voiced, what would they sound like?

[crimson clover53]

im so happy to see this updated

[Mobile SAM]

[Boof Man]

This is a pretty good read, do you plan to update soon?

[Zh3sh1re]

8307265
OCs? All characters in this story has been real so far except Axel in the first chapter. Claes is real, as is the King. Heck, even the ship HMS Bohus is real. The best picture I can find is this... I believe it's the one in the left hand corner, which is in focus. The bigger ship sinking in front of it is the ship Kronan.

d6jf7ok6u1qis.cloudfront.net/imengine/image.php?uuid=834c596c-4aa5-4ec2-bed8-34f4b4de501a&type=preview&source=false&function=thumbnail&width=2500&height=2000&q=72

[Rainbow Sparkle]

Haven't read yet, but added to favorites and tracking so I can read it soon!

*prepares Sabaton Music folder*

[Russian Bank Teller]

When is the next chapter?

[DarkHooves]

Speaking of the Universities, they had their hands very full with the influx of new knowledge. Several islands had been claimed around Sweden. Most of them had been small, but a few had been decently sized for naval bases in the future. The various flora and fauna on these islands had kept the universities of Sweden working overtime. It was a monumental task to try and catalog all of it and it had not been done before. Not even in Europe had the various flora and fauna been cataloged.

Dont'cha worry Charles. In just 7yrs Carl Von Linné will be born!