Red Sails

Oda landed silently on the wooden deck. She flicked her hood back and grinned at her companions, who landed beside her in varying degrees of grace. Blank rode the wind like a goddess, lavender hair flowing and boots impacting the deck with magical ease. Ides stumbled heavily behind her, but kept his feet. Oda turned to see Rue getting hauled over the rail like a fish, clinging to Guy’s metal arm. The half-elf looked worried… and soaked. Oda skipped a few steps back, not wanting to get seawater in her fur.

The crew of the Dawn raced to-and-fro over the ship, fighting to maintain their speed and lead. A few looked at the group expectantly, but kept busy despite their curiosity.

Oda paid them no heed and, dodging the dripping Rue, scampered up to Guy.

“I found a book!” she crowed, pulling it from her satchel and presenting it to him.

“Very good, Oda,” Guy spared her a passing glance before addressing the others. “Well? You obviously pissed someone off.”

Blank broke out in a breathless explanation with Ides and Rue interjecting at key moments with relevant revelations. Something about an attack on Tralco, infiltration and brute strength, no time to spare.

Oda nearly danced with frustration as Guy grew pale.

“I found a book!” she said again, holding it out with both paws.

The others paused and looked down at her.

Guy took a deep breath. “What does it say?”

Oda handed it to him, announcing simply, “I can’t read.”

He accepted the book and began to flip through it. “This… isn’t a book. It’s a journal. There are spells in here.”

The three behind her perked up. She gave a little huff. Of course the book that she found would end up being useful for everyone but her.

Guy continued to flip through the pages. “There’s a bit of water damage but I can make out a few pages.”

Oda scurried back as she was jostled out of the way. Blank took the book first and after several long moments, began to whisper an incantation.

Turning to slip away and brood, Oda heard Rue gasp. She whipped around and to her shock, the book was on fire. Blank’s eyes went wide as dinner plates, but she kept reciting as the edges of the pages licked with dark orange flames.

Blank finished the spell and thrust it into Ides’s paws. He flicked a page over and he also started to recite. It was a shorter spell, and as he spoke, the fire turned silvery. He, too, finished and passed off the journal in a rush.

The pages were nearly half consumed and Rue hissed as she frantically thumbed through them. With the words all but embers, she quickly intoned the spell and the fire took on a more wispish quality, brightening to a sickly yellow-green. As the last word left her lips, the book disintegrated into feather-gray ashes, floating away on the wind. She yelped and pulled her burned hands to her chest, the skin already angry red.

Despite her disappointment, Oda was intrigued. Magic journal? “You’re welcome!”

A man ran up to them, grim. It was the one from the other night- what was his name? Thorn? Thane? He nodded to Guy. “Two ships behind us, there’s no way we’re gonna outrun them.”

Guy looked to where the mages were blasting gust after gust of wind into the sails. “They’re not to stop,” he instructed Thane. He glanced over at the four of them. “The rest of us, prepare for a fight.” He strode away, barking orders and pulling out a sending stone. Oda strained to hear him over the sudden chaos on deck, but caught nothing.

Ides stalked off to the stern of the ship, positioning himself close to the ballistae.

Blank spun on her heel, making for the crow's nest, nodding to Oda and Rue.

Oda looked around, assessing. There were few bowmen, most of the crew were strapping blades of all sizes to their belts. With a bow, she had deadly aim, and she figured they’d need someone with nearly heroic skill picking off enemies from afar. The crow’s nest would afford her the best position to see the oncoming ships.

“Fight good, friend!” she chirped to Rue, then ran after Blank, who was already halfway up the ladder. She climbed up and hopped on the nest’s railing.

The ships were gaining, and fast. Oda squinted at them as she unslung her bow from her back and strung it, the string giving a satisfying twang.

She was not afraid of a fight. The fear and pain she’d endured at the hands of Zandeer had turned to hot anger in her gut and she knew that she’d rather die than face another moment as a captive. The dank cell, the burlap sack, the days without water; she would never allow herself to be returned to that nightmare. Besides, she was much too slippery for Zandeer ship-rats to catch, now that she knew how they worked. She’d killed one before and she’d do it again.

She and Blank watched as the ship to their left pulled ahead of the other, leaping over the waves, sails full with the morning wind. The sun rose in the direction of their escape, its warm yellow rays reaching out to illuminate the names of their pursuers.

The Bloodcrest. Blank’s fingers drummed on the rail. Oda scowled, recalling the flirty captain lady and how much she didn’t like her.

Oda looked to the other. Blank was too distracted to read it, but it bore the red sails of Zandeer. She strung her bow and the string gave a satisfying thrum as she plucked it. She was ready.

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Rue cradled her burned hands. The stupid journal had been enchanted with a protection spell; one that set the pages aflame when anyone but its rightful owner tried to read it. Simple, but unfortunately, effective.

The others scattered, getting into position to face the closing ships.

She’d been in ship-to-ship battles before, more than she could count. There wasn’t a single spot on a ship that she wasn’t comfortable fighting at. Trailing an eye over every inch of the ship, she decided to head stern-side. The crow’s nest would be crowded with all three of the girls up there, and she figured she'd rather face the enemy head on. Despite her fanatically fanning the embers of her loyalty to Zandeer, she couldn't shake everything she’d heard and seen the night before. The Zandeer she saw wasn’t what she’d remembered nor imagined it to be, and besides, her ultimate loyalty wasn’t to the organization itself- it was to the Honesty, and to her parents… wasn’t it?

“I’m just glad I sided with Cassia during the whole… Quintus incident.”

Someone on deck shouted at her to move and she ran for the stern. There was no time to dwell on the dread the eavesdropped conversation inspired; the much more immediate threat of very pissed-off pirates was drawing closer by the second.

The stern was a-bustle with crew loading the ballistae. Rue favored port-side, not wanting to get too close to Ides, who was starboard, glaring at their pursuers. She’d seen what he was capable of and didn’t relish the idea of getting in the way of his broadsword.

Her fingers smarted, the skin an ugly shade of strawberry. She had a simple healing spell, but she figured better safe than sorry, she could use it after the battle if she had anything left in her small reserve of magic. In spite of the pain she was itching to try the spell that had cost her the burns.

A crewman nearby shouted, pointing to the ship on their left. Early sunlight made the name shine gold. Bloodcrest. They all remembered it from the day before. Had it really only been yesterday? She could all but hear Pendra’s cackle as she bore down on them.

Rue’s stomach twisted as her gaze slid to the second galleon. It looked much, much too familiar. The emblazoned name dashed any shred of hope.

Her ship, her Honesty, flew tall and proud across the waves.

Her hands began to shake.

“Enemy closing!”

The Bloodcrest was a mere hundred feet away. Scores of pirates crowded the deck, whooping and hollering and leering at their prey.

For one tense breath, no one on the Dawn moved.

An arrow whistled overhead and hit a Bloodcrest man in the chest. He cried out and fell into a tangle of rigging, the sudden dead weight causing a sail to droop.

Another arrow flew, this one from Ides’s heavy longbow. The helmsman cried out and lurched to the side, causing the ship to swerve and nearly ram the Dawn. He regained his feet and steadied the ship. The pirates roared and many of them clambered onto the rail, ready to swing across the expanse and board at a moment’s notice.

Rue blew out a breath. “Here goes nothing,” An acidic sting flared across her hands, the power of the spell catching her off guard. A thick greenish fog bloomed over the bow of the Bloodcrest, enveloping a dozen men before they could react. Many of them collapsed instantly, few were able to retreat as the poisonous cloud crawled forward.

She fell a step back and chuckled in surprise. That was definitely worth the burns.

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Someone had let Pina out of the cabin, and Blank found her perched above the crow’s nest, rasping her worry. She hissed at Blank as if to scold her for leaving, but jumped on her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek like an over-large cat all the same. Blank was relieved to have her back, and wasted no time utilizing her little shadow.

Pina sped over the sickly fog at Blank’s command, flitting around the helmsman’s ear as Blank telepathically tried to convince him to retreat. He hesitated a moment, swaying uncertainly and glancing around before batting Pina away.

Instantly, Blank sent three bright darts of magic deep into his chest and he cried out in pain.

In the same moment, the Dawn’s twin ballistae fired, one with heavy metal bolts, the other with crackling magic. Pirates screamed out and fell, and the Bloodcrest’s mainsail burst into flames.

Oda, perched next to Blank on the rail, loosed another arrow that hit the helmsman squarely in the shoulder. How he was still standing was a wonder.

Blank looked down at the deck as a dozen pirates or more swung from the Bloodcrest and boarded the Dawn. Guy charged into the fray with his crew, men fighting and falling on both sides. Ides swung his broadsword with unearthly calm, killing with ease until a beefy looking pirate ran up to engage him. Rue wasn’t moving, and Blank realized the yellowish cloud creeping over the Bloodcrest was of her making, requiring all her concentration. Men on the other ship collapsed in the mist even as they tried to escape the fog’s slow advance.

She tried telepathy again, but Pina was again batted away by the helmsman who leaned heavily against the wheel.

Well, since that didn’t seem to be working… Blank cast a fireball into the Bloodcrest’s rigging. It hit the mainmast and the sails and, along with three more pirates, burst into flames.

An enemy mage caught her eye. He snarled and replied with a fireball of his own. She flinched and thrust out a counterspell, the fire exploding into harmless sparks midair.

The crew of the ballista trained their aim on the mage and fired, the heavy bolt hitting true and sending the mage sailing through the air and skewering him to the smoldering mainmast.

Even as relief washed over her, her grip tightened on the rail. She was struggling to keep her magic from surging unpredictably. It bucked and roiled beneath her skin, fighting for escape. She couldn’t let it. Not yet. It physically hurt to keep the wild magic from exploding, but what choice did she have? It could be something as obnoxiously harmless as another feather beard but what if it was something so much worse?

She leaned against the mast, trying desperately to hold herself together.

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The deck of the Dawn was a writhing mass of bodies and blades. Ides cut down pirates with cold precision, satisfaction rising darkly in his heart. This is what he’d been waiting for. Every man he hewed down was one less Zandeer rat left to terrorize the world.

A giant of a man ran up to face him, but he countered the warhammer easily. He rolled his shoulders with a smirk but was caught with the backswing. Touching a paw to his shoulder, it came away sticky with blood. Now he was pissed. In a blur of steel, he attacked, forcing the pirate to surrender precious space on the crowded deck.

Dimly, he registered that Guy was now fighting nearly back-to-back with him, and they were surrounded in a knot that grew slowly tighter. With a roar, he ran his opponent clean through and whirled to challenge the next foe. Two stepped up to meet him, young and too green for their own goods. He swung with a flourish and the swords clattered to the ground. Another attack and they fell dead.

He took the next unconfronted moment to cast a healing spell on himself, golden light radiating around him. Guy was gone again, hewing at a fresh wave of pirates trying to swing aboard at the stern.

Revived for the time being, and ignoring the last night’s lack of rest, Ides flipped his broadsword’s pommel in his paw and strode back into the fray. He could rest when either he or every single Zandeer pirate lay dead.

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Next to Blank, Oda purred as her arrow went clean through the helmsman’s eye, finally putting the man out of his misery. Her purr turned to a growl as another man immediately jumped into his place, pushing the body aside and grabbing the wheel. In the shuffle he twisted it too far, and the ship rammed into the Dawn, which in turn slammed against the Honesty.

Blank sent another fireball roaring towards the Bloodcrest. In the blink of an eye, the helmsman and wheel were consumed in a blast of flame and heat.

In the same moment, she lurched forward, crying out as several things happened at once. Her hands caught fire as one of them swelled to ten times its regular size. She shuddered as the very frame of her bones shifted and though she couldn’t tell what had changed, she felt odd.

At the Bloodcrest’s helm, Pendra stood fuming, assessing the situation. Blank urged Pina forward, trying to throw Pendra into the same confusion that had distracted the helmsman. Pendra shook her head then spun and decked the man standing behind her, yelling what Blank assumed to be a barrage of curses for daring to suggest a retreat. Pina floated above the charred rigging, unperturbed.

The Bloodcrest was crippled beyond repair. It started drifting to its starboard, fading out of the fight. Attention turned to the Honesty, the twin ballistae priming to fire.

Blank huddled in the crow’s nest, trying to keep herself from falling apart. Another surge might well and truly be the end of her if it kept escalating the way it did. Keeping her fiery hand at arm's length, she forced air in and out of her lungs. The smoke threatened to choke her.

Oda looked over with a twinkle in her eye. “Don’t mind me, friend!” She touched an arrowhead to her flaming palm, lighting the porous stone. Pulling back and aiming with the wind, she loosed the arrow. It flew straight and true, striking the figure at the Honesty’s helm. The woman slapped out the fire and snapped the arrow shaft without missing a beat. She scanned the rigging and, finding Oda and Blank, fixed them with a deathglare. Oda glowered.

Pina flitted over the crow’s nest, squeaking her worry as Blank continued to fight the wild magic. With an effort, she stood, extinguishing the fire that flared harmlessly up her arm. She tested her hands. They were comically huge, but still worked. Curiosity wormed its way through her panic. Would a fireball be that much bigger coming from her monster hands? There was only one way to find out. Fire that rivaled the new sun in its insensity blasted the cool morning air.

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Thanks for reading! It's been a long month since the last update, and I have delicious new shenanigans to write up for our intrepid heros. Lots of happenings down the storyline but it'll be here before we know it!

If you're just finding the story, start here

Newest update is out -> Part Fifteen