The Stern Chase is the ninth book in The Brotherband Chronicles, following Return of the Temujai. It was released on the 25th of October, 2022.
Official Description[]
Outnumbered but determined, the Herons are ready for action. The scene is set for an epic battle at sea . . .
For years now, the Skandians have been the guardians of the Stormwhite Sea, stopping piracy wherever they find it. But there are some who don't like the Skandians' new role.
When their enemies strike at the heart of Hallasholm, damaging every ship and stealing the pride of the fleet, there is one hope. Hal's ship, the newly rebuilt Heron, was being repaired so the attackers didn't find her.
Hal and the Heron brotherband - along with the Oberjarl, Erak - set off to find Wolfwind. But when they discover the thieves are using Wolfwind to plunder ships and towns and blame the Skandians, Hal realises the pirates have a more sinister plan.
Plot[]
Hal and his crew are out on the Stormwhite Sea, testing out the new additions made to the second Heron (the original having been destroyed during the previous novel) when they catch sight of a trader under attack by Iberian corsairs and join the battle to assist the victims, defeating the pirates and taking them ashore for trial on the nearby Sonderland coast. As the criminals are being taken away, one of them - Miguel - curses the Skandians and declares they will soon regret ever seeing the Iberians' vessel, only to be silenced by his comrades. Dismissing the captive's yells to be simple bluster, Hal and the brotherband, after signing the required paperwork, depart for Skandia to celebrate the recent engagement of two of their crewmates: Lydia Demarek and Ingvar (Lydia having come to see Hal and Stig, her two former love interests, more along the lines of brothers, Hal not yet desiring the settle down while Stig having withdrawn from romantic attachments since the death of Bird of the Forest).
The town of Hallasholm is subsequently celebrating the engagement of two of its shining members in a festival financed by Oberjarl Erak. Jesper, as is common, gives a rather awful saga that Hallasholm greets with enthusiasm, recounting how, after the withdrawal of the Temujai, Ingvar had proposed to Lydia. Erak also is forced to rebuff Kloof's attempts to seize his staff, shaking the dog of before Jesper's saga begins. Leaving Karina and Thorn to dance, Hal proceeds to departing to his own residence with Kloof, where he falls asleep. Awoken by Kloof's barks, Hal, dismissing the barks to be directed at late-night party goers, falls back to sleep.
On the dawn of the next day, Erak takes his routine of strolling down the harbour, only to find the murdered bodies of two members of the town watch sprawled upon the ground, the Skandian ships damaged and Wolfwind gone! Sounding the alarm, the people of Hallasholm spill down to the harbour in answer to their Oberjarl's horn blast, the families of Tegar and Rogger surrounding their slaughtered relatives, Tegar's brother vengefully demanding to know who had cut his sibling down. The Skandians are baffled to who might have stolen Wolfwind, Svengal suggesting the Magyarans or Hungassi - both of whom deeply loath the Sea Wolves role as law enforcement on the sea - but Hal has some doubts, unable to see what either nations would want with the Wolfship when their criminal actions are mainly that of river piracy. Hal, however, realises that the raiders, who ever they are, might not have fought Heron, which is beached on the East Creek, and, with the assistance of Stig, sails the boat into the harbour, where the rest of the brotherband greet them.