Arrel dodges out of the way of one sphinx. He flaps his wings and give chase. The sphinx angles himself upwards going into a shallow climb. But, Arrel quickly realizes that the sphinx is faster than him. He hover in place for a moment panting. After catching his breath he goes to drop into a dive, but the flapping of wings next to him catches his attention. He turns to the sound only to find a spear heading straight for him. He does a backflip getting out of the spears range before it could impale him.
A light brown sphinx hovers in front of him holding the spear. Arrel shoots up into the sky while he draws his sword. He looks back down to try and find the sphinx, but doesn’t see him flying above the chaos. There is a sharp pain in the back of his neck, his head jolts up and he spots the sphinx out of the corner of his eye. He’s faster than me… He falls a few hooves but stabilizes himself soon after, he barely manages to keep hold of his sword. A pain shoots through his chin and jaw as the blunt end of the spear delivers a wicked uppercut. This time he doesn’t manage to hold onto his sword and it falls into the fray below.
He quickly stabilizes himself again. He looks down below wondering if he should try getting his sword, but decides against it as the end of the spear comes into view again.
Smokey fires his double-barreled flintlock at a sphinx as Craven keeps it away from him. He starts looking for a new target when the sphinx slumps to the ground, he jumps back when a sword lands in front of him. He looks up to find Arrel in a losing battle against one of them. Raising his pistol he waits for a good shot that wouldn’t kill his crewmate. Something tackles him from the side sending the pistol skidding across the ground. Smokey wiggles onto his back fully ready to fight whatever tackle him by hoof.
His hoof connects with Craven’s shoulder, pushing the griffon off him. Smokey shakes his head to make sure it was his friend who tackle him. When he sees that it’s still Craven his confusion shifts back to anger. It has to be that Celestia damned changeling trying to get us killed! Before he can do anything Craven sands above Smokey on his hindlegs, wielding his spear in his talons. A second later two arrows lodges themselves into the shaft of the spear.
Smokey looks back at where he had been standing, an arrow is sticking out of the sand. He looks up at where the arrows were coming from, the rough figure of a sphinx can be seen through the clouds. “Think you can out shoot me?” he grumbles. He grabs his pistol and flies up to shoot the bucker that was shooting at him. The beating of wing from behind tells him that Craven is following.
Ebony fires a magic bolt at a charging sphinx, though it does little but slow him down. Wrapping her magic around two swords on the ground she sends them at him. Another sphinx lands between the first one and the swords, the swords bounce harmlessly off her armor. Ebony levitates the swords back to her.
The armored sphinx steps forward. She gives a quick glare to the first then shifts her focus back onto the changeling. “I shall be your opponent, monster.”
“River, let me--” the first sphinx tries.
“You almost got yourself killed, go find someone more your level.” The sphinx backs away.
“What do you guys want with the ship?” Ebony asks.
The sphinx, apparently called River, blinks a few times having not expected her to speak, much less ask questions. “We’re being paid to retrieve the cargo, and we'll kill those who get in our way,” she says the last drawing her sword.
Ebony takes a step back. Alright then, if you want to fight. She launches both swords at her, River turns slightly and spreads her wing so that the armor deflects both swords. With a flap of her wings, River sprints at Ebony with surprising speed for someone wearing armor like that. Ebony tries to bring the swords back, but they’re both moving slower than River. She gives up on them and lets them fall to begin charging a spell on her horn. River’s sword slashes the air just above Ebony as the changeling ducks and rolls out of the way. Once she gets to her hooves she fires a bolt of magic that scores a direct hit on River’s armor. The shot doesn’t even slow her down, leaving little more than a small scorch on her armor.
Ebony’s wings buzz to life and she flies backward barely avoiding the tip of the blade. This is not going-- her thoughts are cut off by a shiver that runs down her spine. Something’s wrong.
Howler slices another pirate clean in half, while they may have new enemies that doesn’t mean that their old ones won’t e a problem. He brings his katana up in time to block a strike from a sphinx. He cuts through his enemy’s sword and runs his blade straight through the sphinx’s neck. There is a gurgling sound until Howler cuts it’s head off. The head lands a few hooves away scaring off quite a few more ponies.
He turns around and lunges at one of Blackmane’s crew. He feel pain burst through his wrist and stumbles forward. A low growl escapes his lips as he looks at the one who hit him.
A sphinx, not one of the ones he had seen when they arrived. She’s a bit smaller than most of the other sphinxes, and has an almost ghostly white coat with a mane of fade orange. A blindfold with odd golden writing covers her eyes, small gold and silver beads hang at the bottom of the blindfold. She has three earrings on either ear made of golden links ending with small thin discs. Countless jewels and beads hang from her wings making an oddly alluring chiming sound everytime she moves, though he still has no clue how she snuck up on him. And several amulets hang around her neck, that for whatever reason make almost no noise when she moves. She wields a silver staff in her two forepaws, both her wings spread out behind her to help balance.
She smiles mischievously at the diamond dog. Howler hold his katana in both paws and stands in front of the sphinx. He sprints to her left and swings his sword toward her back, it would surely cleave the blind sphinx in two. There is an odd chime quickly followed by the sound of metal against metal as she block the sword with her staff. The chiming continues as she ducks down and twirls, she smashes him behind the knee with her staff. She doesn’t stop when Howler’s knee hits the sand, she continues her twirl until she is facing him once again and lunges at him with her claws, keeping her staff positioned so that he can’t move his katana to strike at her or block her.
Howler rolls forward, being the only option other than lose his head. He rolls back onto his hindlegs and quickly spins around to face the sphinx again. Something warm and wet rolls down his cheek, he wipes it off and looks at his paw for a moment. Blood, she had made him bleed. He growls at her again and gets into a battle stance. The sphinx grins back at him.
The unicorn tries to jump out of the way, but Hunter tackles him to the ground before he can get too far. He slams into the ground hard getting the wind knocked out of him. Blackmane charge at him from the side, sword held out in front of him. Hunter turns and spreads one of his wings slamming it into the pirate, he is sent tumbling across the sand. Drawing one of his swords Hunter jumps at Captain.
Captain steps forward swatting the the blade away. He lunges forward, aiming a punch for the sphinx’s head. A dark grey paw grabs his forelegs, claws sink into Captain’s leg as Hunter twists around sending Captain stumbling over the unicorn. Captain leans into the roll coming back up on his hooves. They hear a groan followed by cursing as Blackmane gets up and faces Hunter. The unicorn jumps back onto his hooves and wastes no time in drawing a pistol, apparently he had two.
Hunter flaps his wings blowing a gust of sand at the unicorn. The unicorn starts coughing and try to rub the sand out of his eyes, his pistol still floats in the air swaying from side to side. Blackmane runs forward and slashes at Hunter, the sphinx easily blocks it. Hunter grabs Blackmane around the throat starts lifting him off the ground, the pirate tries gasping as the claws dig into his flesh.
Captain tackles into Hunter forcing him to let go of Blackmane, however it leaves three deep gashes along the pirate’s neck. Hunter rolls onto his side and extends a wing flinging Captain away from him. Hunter is quickly back onto his paws and walking in a circle eyeing his three opponents. Captain gets back onto his hooves. He’s fast. We can’t win in a direct charge, or even one on one.
The unicorn stops rubbing his eyes and opens them, though he can barely see anything. He tries to aim at the sphinx. Hunter sees the gun moving and jumps at him. He throws the gun to the side and slashes at him. The unicorn ducks to avoid the sword, but he’s not fast enough. He falls to the ground screaming in pain as the sword cracks through his horn.
Hunter holds his sword over him, positioning it directly over his chest. His ear flicks back as he hears the other two running at him. He draws his second sword and turns to face the earth ponies. Sparks fly as the sword clash, Captain and Blackmane push forward as Hunter’s paws try to find some grip. Hunter feels his claws hook onto part of the stone below and he comes to a stop. With a twist of the wrists he pushes both their swords away from him as he places both his sword in front of their chests.
Captain swings his head back, knocking one sword out of Hunter’s paw. He jumps back letting Blackmane stumble forward into Captain’s path. A scream of rage and anger comes from his right, Hunter turn in time to find the unicorn charging at him. The unicorn slams his shoulder into Hunter’s chest and making him drop his second sword. Still filled with rage the unicorn grabs a sword off the ground, ignoring the feeling of sand in his mouth. He lunges at Hunter’s head.
There is a flash quickly followed by the sound of metal striking stone. Captain blinks his eyes a few times making sure that the scene is real. The amulet around Hunter’s neck glows brightly. In his paws he now holds an odd weapon of sorts, it is made of a staff with a long crescent blade on one end while the other end is in the sand. The entire weapon seems to be made of sandstone.
The unicorn pushes harder trying to break through the oddly shaped weapon. Hunter grins up at him and starts lifting himself off the ground. When the other end of the weapon emerges from the sand Captain sees that it holds another crescent blade identical to the other. With a twist he pushes the unicorn’s sword off his blade. Continuing to twist his weapon, he brings the other end around at the unicorn’s neck.
The crescent blade rips through the neck with no effort, no even slowing the spin. Hunter stops the weapon so that one of the blades covers his front, while the staff cover his right side, and the last blade covers his back. The amulet dims down until it looks like normal again. “Too bad, you stood a better chance when I had my swords,” he says.
*****
Arrel tucks in his wings and drops into a straight dive. He feels the spear clips off a few hairs at the end of his tail. With the tip of his wing he rolls so that the ship is ‘above’ him. A few hooves above the ground he spreads his wings and pulls up heading straight for the ship. He aims for one of the holes in the hull, one of the smaller ones so that the sphinx would have a hard time flying through. Just as he reaches the ship he tucks in his wings a shoots through the hole.
The jagged wood scratches at his wings threatening to rip them right off with he was any wider. His eyes go wide once inside, the ship was still full of cargo and now he was heading straight for it at breakneck speeds and his wings tucked in at his sides. He flares his wings as hard as he can but he isn’t able to bleed off enough speed. A painful crack rings through the air as he slams into a crate, pain floods his body as he hits the ground gasping for breath.
Darkness creeps into the edges of his vision and every muscle aches when he tries to move. He groans turning his tilting his head back to look out the hole he just came through. The sphinx flies past the hole, but Arrel hears him land on the deck above. He wasn’t right behind me… how did I manage to put some distance between me and him? Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, he decides to take the time to see what the damage is.
He flaps his wings a few times, a few jabs of pain shoot up through his right shoulder, but it’s nothing unbearable. Rolling onto his right side he gasps in pain and quickly rolls onto the his other side. Okay, something’s broken. Before getting onto his hooves he looks down he right side. His right foreleg is a disturbing shade of purple and he has a large bruise on his shoulder. With a gash just under his wing, the blood turns his coat red. The sound of claws clicking on on the wooden boards draws his attention, the sphinx above him and not being too subtle about it.
Arrel slips his good hooves beneath him and picks himself up. Looking around he finds he’s in a maze of crates and barrels. Most of them had toppled over, their bindings snapped from the storm. Arrels looks back out one of the holes, there is no way I can beat him out in the open. His spear should put him at a disadvantage at close quarters though. Deciding that his best option is making a stand, He starts looking for a weapon. Not wanting to be caught off-guard by the sphinx he takes a plank of wood with a few nails through it in his mouth. After he limps over to a crate that had wedged itself between some barrels and the hull. He slips under it and waits.
He hears the clicking of the claws going away from him, presumably toward the hatch into the hold. The hatch opens and light shine in, only to be cut off by the sphinx walking in and closing the hatch behind him. Then, nothing. Arrel perks his ear up and forward to try and pick up the clicking again, but still hears nothing save for the fighting outside and the creaking of the ship. Does he plan on waiting me out?
A shadow pass over a few crates in front of him. The sphinx walks into view, having retracted his claws to be more quiet. Maybe he is a little subtle… He has his spear tucked under one wing, but it’s still pointed so he can impale anyone in front of him. He looks around at the crates and barrels, Arrel pushes further back into his hiding spot. The sphinx turns around and goes to leave until he sees the smashed crate with drops of blood. His eye travel downward until he sees a small puddle of blood.
Arrel swallows a nervous lump, as best he can while holding the plank. His eyes follow the path of blood drops to his hiding spot. He backs up further, coming out on the other side. Once his head clears the fallen crate he presses himself up against another stack of crates. Just in time judging by the sounds of heavy footsteps behind him. He holds his breath as he waits for him to walk past. After a few tense minutes, which feel more like hours, he lets go of the breath. Where is--
A sound like claws tapping on wood comes from his left. Arrel whips his head around, his vision blurs at the same time, but he can still see the figure of the sphinx preparing to throw the spear. He ducks down, the spears whizzing by inches from his neck. He doesn’t run, or charge, but simply stands his ground ready to fight. Can’t run, attacking him would be worst since he’ll see it coming, I have to wait for him. The sphinx wastes no time.
He pounces at the pegasus, Arrel swings his head aiming the plank from the head. He feels the plank hit solidly on the sphinx’s shoulder. A small amount of hope flutters in his chest at seeing his enemy bleed, then the hope dies. A paw connects with his lower jaw, which still hurt from being hit by the spear. The blow sends him crashing into more crates, he gasps in pain as his shoulder slams into the ground.
The sphinx reaches over grabbing the plank and pulling it out of his shoulder. He throws it to the side. A low growl escapes his lips and he whips his head over to the wounded pegasus. Arrel is back on his hooves, swaying slightly but still able to stand. Arrel focuses his sight on him and spreads his wings. The sphinx lifts onto his back paws to bring his forepaws back.
Using his wings Arrel pushes himself out of the way as the sphinx swings at him. Before even letting himself stop Arrel flaps his wings and tackles him. He feels himself pushing the sphinx back until they run into a small pile of barrels. Quickly flapping the other direction he tries to put some distance between him and his enemy. Pain shoots through his right side as the sphinx claws at his shoulder.
He fall to the ground skidding until he bumps into the hull of the ship. Darkness fills his vision and he no longer feels his right foreleg. His vision clears enough to see that he was now cornered. No holes in this part of the hull wide enough from him to fit through, the crate he had crawled under is now blocked off. A pile of toppled crates to his hindlegs cuts off his way further to the bow. The only other way out is past the sphinx, who stands in front of him grinning down. I’m not done.
Arrel pulls his hindlegs up to his chest, bracing his shoulders against the hull. He kicks out with what energy he has left. A smile crosses his lips when he hears a snap followed by a pained roar. The sphinx stumbles to the side, grabbing onto one to the crates to stop from falling down. Arrel rolls onto his back once again bringing his legs up to his chest. He unleashes a buck on the pile of crates and feels it buckle under the hit. A rumbling fills the air as crates fall down around him, one crashes down onto the sphinx.
The wind gets knocked out of him when a crate falls onto him as well, and the darkness finally claims him.
*****
Smokey fires his pistol into the cloud that he’s sure the sphinx is hiding in. An arrow flies past him, he swings around trying to spot the archer. “Come out and fight me!” The smoke from the explosion is making it hard to see. He hears someone flying up behind him. Swinging around he cocks his pistol and aims for the head only to find Craven. “Damn it, you’ll be shot if you’re not careful!”
“Sorry, but I doubt you can handle any of the ones with swo-- Watch out!” His talons grab Smokey and pushes him down letting an arrow fly past. Instinctively smokey turns around and fires in the general direction the arrow came from.
“You can’t hide forever!” Smokey shouts at the clouds. A pain shoots through the back of his neck snapping his head upward. He hangs in the air for a moment out of the corner of his eye he spots brown colored feathers, then gravity takes hold of him. The wind whips past as he plummets to the ground, he hears Craven shouting something but can’t quite make it out. Suddenly a pair of talons grab onto his forelegs slowing his fall. Craven flies him down to the ground and lies him down behind a bush.
Craven looks back up to the clouds and sees the sphinx hovering where Smokey had been. She a darker brown with a lighter underbelly. A number of bracelets adorn her right arm, and an amulet sways across her chest. He looks back down at Smokey, still alive but probably have trouble walking in a straight line for a while let alone fly.
He looks back as the archer strings another arrow. He takes off flying planning to give the archer no chance to shoot at him. Without warning he bolts upward pointing his spear out in front of him. The sphinx doesn’t panic or hurry, rather she pulls the string back and tracks to movements of the griffon. With a twang she lets the arrow fly, Craven flares his wings coming to a stop as the arrow shoots past in front of him.
Craven quickly resumes his ascent and lunges at the archer once in range. She blocks the spear with her bow, but it buckles under the impact. Still, it gives her the time to roll out of Craven’s way without being impaled. She looks down at her bow with a frown, one of the arms is bent at an odd angle making it near useless, she drops it. Craven circles around and stops in front of her. “No more weapon,” he says.
Reaching behind her she grabs an arrow from her quiver and holds it in her paw like a dagger. “Still got arrows.” Craven looks at her with half lidded eyes, She still wants to fight me… Without another word she charges at him. He holds out his spear in her path, but she doesn’t slow down instead the edges of her lips curl upwards. She’s serious! Wait, she has a plan. He prepares to take the force of the impact, otherwise she would send him tumbling through the air. Just before she hits, the amulet around her neck begins to shine and with a sudden flash she’s gone.
Before he has anytime to wonder about what happened he hears a pop from behind him. She can teleport! He tries to turn around, but he feels her plunge the arrow into his back. He screams from the pain but still turns around and slashes at her with the spear. With a few flaps she moves out of range. Craven pushes the pain to the back of his mind trying to focus on the more pressing issue, the fall. He flips around and spreads his wings, stopping his descent.
The archer glares down at him, arrow no longer in hand. Craven swings his spear around and holds it in both claws. “You dare underestimate me again and you won’t be alive when you hit the ground,” she growls. She pulls another arrow out of her quiver and holds it in the same bloodied paw.
His back burns with pain everytime he flaps his wings. With a flick of the wrist he twirls his spear until it’s pointing at the sphinx once again. Getting a firm grasp of his spear he charges at her. Can’t let her get a shot on me. So long as I’m moving and have the further range I should be able to win. The archer doesn’t move as she watches the sharp tip race toward her.
Then, just before he reaches her, she rolls having the staff of the spear brush against her coat. Craven barely manages to stop as the arrow slashes a few inches away from his eyes. Flapping his wings in different directions he spins around and swings his spear hoping to cause a bad enough injury with the shaft given that she’s too close to hit with the tip.
He feels a solid impact as he scores a hit on the archer’s shoulder. Before he has anytime to praise himself for actually hitting her the sphinx grabs the shaft in her free paw. She tries wrenching the spear out of his talons, but just pulls him forward instead. Craven spots a flash as the sphinx places the arrow in his path. He hesitates for a second, either he lets go of his weapon or she sinks an arrow into his throat.
His talons loosen and he lets go, though a little too late. Pain erupts from his left shoulder as the arrow tears into his flesh and muscle. The spear is flung out of the archer’s grasp and is sent falling to the ground. But, he’s not going to let her win that easily. He reaches out with his talons and slashes at the sphinx’s side, he hears a sharp gasp and he feels her letting go of the arrow.
He flaps backwards, just till he’s out of her range. Steadying himself he snaps the shaft off the arrow and turns back to glare at the sphinx. A small smile parts his beak when he see the blood flowing from her side, must have cut her deeper than he thought. The sphinx reaches back for another arrow but finds the quiver empty, all the arrows having fallen in the tussle. She growls and flashes her claws.
Good now we’re on even footing. The sphinx’s amulet starts to glow again and with a flash she disappears. Right, she can teleport… I’m screwed.
*****
Ebony brings two swords in front of her just in time to block a strike from River. Her magic falters slightly as it take the blow, but it holds. She moves the swords so one is still in the way of River’s sword while she moves the other to the sphinx’s side. However, River flaps her wings and presses down harder on the sword sending it tumbling out of the magic field and her charging towards the changeling once again.
She jumps to the right bring her sword around and striking at the sphinx’s side. The sword slams into the armor, staggering her slightly but does little more. A growl escapes the sphinx’s lips and she shrugs off the blade and it tumbles out of the magical grasp as well. Turning back to Ebony a volley of green bolts fly at her.
River swings her left forepaw around easily blocking the volley with her shield. Her wings kick up a cloud of sand as her wings her forward. A few more bolts slam into her shield, but she pushes through the magic. She fails to notice the buzzing through the clatter of clashing swords and screams. A shadow passes over her, and Ebony delivers a quick kick to the back of the neck.
Her shield digs into the ground, flipping around and sending River tumbling over it. She uses the momentum to roll back onto her paws and turns back to face Ebony. The changeling already has a sword slowly orbiting around her with another two floating towards her. Ebony changes the course of one of the swords and sends it at the recovering sphinx. River strikes it out of the air with her own.
Better trained than any pirate, Ebony thinks bring the sword back into an orbit around her. The sphinx quickly throws her shield back over her back and starts walking around Ebony, slowly and low to the ground, stalking. Ebony turns to keep River in her sight. Armor isn’t something too commonly seen outside of Equestria. Sunny wore some, but I think it was lighter armor than this. But, she doesn't seem too slowed down by hers.
Ebony looks at the black scorch on River’s chest, a few scratches dot her armor. She has yet to cause any actual damage to her. Sparing a glance at the burning forest she thinks about getting the ship and bringing it around but decides against it since it would make the Misfortune an easy target and the sphinxes could easily fly onboard. She turns her focus back to the fight afraid that the sphinx might have taken the second of distraction, but instead it looks sphinx herself is distracted.
Her gaze is still on Ebony, but one of her ears have swiveled towards the forest and she is moving slower than before. In an eye-blink River pivotes and spreads a wing, a something sparks off the armored wing and buries itself at Ebony’s hooves, a dart. Willow! she realizes a split second before River pounces at the bushes.
The deer bursts out of the bushes sliding under the sphinx and immediately gets to her hooves. River doesn’t stop however, instead she flies straight into the air, angling herself so her armored back is to them. Willow quickly runs over to Ebony, careful to keep some distance between the two.
Ebony looks over at her friend, a burn runs along her side with quiet a number of small scratches covering that side as well. Must have gotten caught in that explosion. She looks up to the sky making out River’s silhouette out of the smoke filled sky, her armor makes for poor camouflage “Are you alright?”
“No, I damn near died in there! That bucking blindfolded one nearly turned me to ash!”
“The what now?” she asks looking back at her friend, only to see Willow pulling her blowpipe back out. Willow shoots a dart into the air only to have it be blocked by one of River’s wings. “Don’t bother, attacking from one direction does nothing. We have to wait till she comes at us.” She hears Willow drawing out her dagger. Blindfolded one… didn’t I spot Howler fighting someone like that. Another shiver runs down her spine.
Ebony focuses back to the air, just as River drops into a dive. She sends two of her swords into the air to meet the sphinx. However, River simply draws her shield and tucks in her wing becoming completely hidden. Ebony tries to stop her swords, but they spark against the shield and are knocked out of the magic field again. Shit.
The pirates sprint out of the way, Ebony being sure to head in a different direction then Willow. She skids to a stop in the sand, turning to watch the sphinx plummet to the ground. What are you gonna do now?
She feels a small wave of surprise as River simply lets go of the shield and starts pulling up. The shield crashes into the ground with a resounding thud but River skims just over the sand, heading straight for Ebony. She quickly snaps out of daze and brings her sword out in front of her, holding it in her hooves so it won’t simply be knocked out of the air.
Pain shoots through her shoulder as she takes the brunt of the force. The feeling is just short of being run into by a cart. She is sent tumbling across the ground, feeling herself hit the rock surface just below the sand more than once. Still, her sword saved her from having her whole right shoulder from being chopped off.
She stops rolling in a dazed state. Her vision is blurred, but she can still make out the shape of the sphinx as she circles around. Every part of her is sore. Ebony says a quick thanks to the Queen, more out of habit, thankful that she feels the pain lancing up through her legs, rather than being able to feel nothing at all. She blinks her eyes a few times to try and clear her vision.
Looking back at River as she circles around she finds Willow running to her. Her heart skips a beat as River makes an abrupt turn and heads straight at Willow. “Watch out!”
Willow only spares a glance behind her, but doesn’t stop running. She leaps once she reaches the shield, swinging a forehoof through the straps of the dented shield. Dropping into a roll she lifts it off the ground bringing it between her and River. As the sphinx quickly closes the distance she sheaths her sword. River rams into the shield, landing on top of it and crushing Willow beneath it.
Willow tries to catch her breath, but the armored sphinx pinning her to the ground make the task nearly impossible. River leers down at her, baring her sharp teeth inches from Willow’s neck.
*****
Howler lunges forward only to have his strike parried away. He jumps back, immediately getting out of range of the staff before it can strike at him. The sphinx simply keeps the momentum and swings back around, ready to parry another strike. She looks back at him with smile, or rather he believes she’s looking at him.
He lunges forward with his free paw grabbing at the staff. An odd chiming comes from her wings as she begins to twirl. Howler jumps to the right just as the staff passes through the air where his arm had just been. Seeing an opening he charges, bring his sword down at the sphinx’s neck. But, she continues twirl sweeping her staff at his feet as she comes back around. He falls onto his back, but the sphinx jumps back.
Getting back to his feet he looks around, annoyed at the few pirates and sphinx that are simply watching the fight. He continues to scan the surrounding mayhem for the rest of the crew. Captain is the easiest to find fighting alongside the two other pirate captains against the leader of the sphinxes. He is vaguely aware that Craven is somewhere above fighting an archer. After a second he finds Ebony fighting the armored one, doesn’t seem to be going her way.
A feeling of restlessness passes through him, knowing he should be protecting Ebony but he is stuck fighting this annoyance. He looks back at the pale sphinx growling at the fact she didn’t even bother to attack him while he wasn’t looking. The fact that she’s winning without even trying is starting to grate on his nerves.
He slowly approaches her, waiting to see if she’ll act first. Her smile twitches as does one of her ears. “Tired of running at me?” He pauses for a second, blinking a few times. But the confusion last only a moment then he’s moving again, inching ever closer. “You don’t like to talk? You must have suffered a terrible betrayal.” He looks at her in shock, her smiles twitches again. “I see… it was your brother... you betrayed him.” With a bark he charges her, completely forgetting his plan, wanted to shut her up. Now, she uses the opportunity.
A sharp pain shoots through his right arm the end of the staff ramming into the crook of his elbow. She twists around, keeping his momentum and sends him crashing to the ground. Dropping to the ground she brings the other end of her staff around straight for his head.
Howler throws out one of his arms, blocking the blow. Pain explodes through his arm as he tumbles across the sand. He digs his claws into the ground to stop himself and looks back at the smirking sphinx. He starts growling at her, and he digs his other claw into the ground. “Even I can see why he didn’t want you anymore,” she taunts.
That’s it, he starts pawing at the ground, less than a second later his claws are scraping against the stone beneath the sand. Then he starts tearing at the rocks, pieces flying into the air. It takes him less than five second before he’s underground.
The sphinx’s smile twitches again. She shifts her weight and flaps her wings a few times, resulting in that odd chiming, and readies to take flight. She isn’t kept waiting long, the ground at her feet shakes and erupts. Howler sharp claws rip through the rock a few inches from her chest, he lunges with his sword that held in the other.
A smile crosses his lips when he hears, and feels, metal sinking into flesh. A gasp comes from a watching sphinx, he quickly glances at her but flies away. The sphinx lets out a shuddering breath looking down, even though she has a blindfold, at her gut. Blood seeps out from around the sword staining her coat near the wound red. He rips the blade out, aiming for the throat this time.
Howler hears the odd chiming of the sphinx flapping her wings, a moment later a powerful gust of wind whips around him. The wind lifts him off the ground and sends him tumbling backward. It quickly dies down and he rolls back onto his feet, digging his claws into the ground to stop him. He looks back at the sphinx only to flinch back slightly.
The amulets hanging around her neck begin to glow, as does the writing on the blindfold. The wound in her side begins closing leaving a red stain. More chiming as she lifts off the ground. She grins down at him, the same mischievous grin as when they started. “Good, I was afraid no one here would be much of a challenge… Not saying you will be.” She lands back down standing once again on her hindlegs. “But, once I show them true power, they’ll see the only way to stand a chance against me is if they fight me, together.”
Howler takes a few steps forward, more annoyed at the fact she healed herself than shocked. Her amulets and blindfold are still glowing, but she still looks the same. Lacking any other plan, he charges. He growls as chiming rings through the air and the sphinx lifts off the ground until she is just above him. He swings his sword back around, seeing as to how she’s still within range of his sword. Then he spots a small wisp of fire and smoke rise from the end of the staff.
A fireball forms on the end of the staff and Howler figures out who made the explosion in the forest. He sprints away from he as she starts to twirls in the air, fire spreading from her staff to the ground before quickly expanding into a spiralling wall of flame. Howler manages to get out of range, two other pirates however do not.
He goes into a roll as the blastwave pushes him away. He turns around and digs his claws into the ground to stop himself. The sphinx lowers her to the ground and lands on the searing sand, fire still runs along her staff. “No, I won’t be doing the same trick I did in the forest, but I doubt that’s much comfort to you.”
*****
Blackmane takes a step back, looking from the body of the unicorn to Hunter’s odd weapon and back again. He stops himself and steels his nerves. There’s still two of us and one of him. A new explosion shakes the ground, Blackmane whips his head around in time to watch two of his crew members being caught in a torrent of flame. He turns back and starts running to his ship the few crew members who notice follow.
Captain watches the pirate flee. He thinks about running as well, but he turns back to Hunter. He sees Ebony in a fight in the background. Not going to lose.
“Not going to run?” Hunter asks.
“Don’t know, are you?”
Hunter glares at him. “Very well then.” He bursts forward with the flap of his wings. His claws dig into the ground in front of Captain bringing him to a full stop while he brings one of the crescent blade around at Captain’s shoulder.
Captain barely has time to block before the shaft slams into his own sword. The screeching of metal on stone rings through the air as Hunter pulls his weapon back toward him also bringing one of the blades straight for Captain. With a turn Captain that puts the shaft of Hunter’s weapon against his shoulder, he blocks the blade. He thinks of grabbing the weapon, but before he can try the pressure against his sword goes away. Dropping into a forward roll the blade on the other end streaks through the air where his head had been.
He stops rolling a few hooves away only to see the same Hunter swinging his weapon down at him. Rolling onto his side the blade misses his back by inches and sinks into the ground. Captain rolls onto his back and slams his hindhooves into the weapon pushing him further away and snapping the blade off. Even before Captain gets to his hooves he see more sand already forming into a new blade.
He can attack from two different directions, how can I stop that? Maybe if I get too close… But how do I-- He jumps back with a yelp as Hunter lunges forward. He avoids the first strike, letting it pass just to his right and lunges forward himself. Hunter deflects the strike with the shaft, and Captain jumps back before the other end can come around.
Captain deflects a jab from Hunter only to have the other end come around. He ducks under the blade. Getting back onto his hooves he strikes at the sphinx’s back. With a flap of his wings, Hunter leaves Captain in a small cloud of dust and gets out of range.
“Hunter!” The two fighters turn to face the sphinx that’s flying over them. “We have an issue.”
“What is it? I don’t see these fools giving us any problems,” he says pointing at Captain whom growls back.
“The navy is moving in. They’re going after the ship that left, but they’ll be coming here soon.” Captain pauses and looks up at the sphinx.
So I’m outgunned by these guys and outnumbered by the navy, Captain thinks. He hears a loud groan come from Hunter. “Of course… maybe letting them go was a bad idea…” Hunter looks over at the wreck. “I’d much rather not deal with pony politics.” Hunter surveys the rest of the shore, watching one fight then another.
Captain smiles to himself. He only manages one step. The other sphinx lands between him and Hunter wielding a spear. “Dare and I’ll skin you like the meat you are.”
“Start loading the ship,” Hunter says. The sphinx goes to question the order, but a quick glare sends him flying. “Pirate, I’d rather not deal with the navy, and I’m not being payed to kill you. So I’m going to give you an offer, leave and take your crew with you, or we slaughter the lot of you. Your choice, but mind you, I’d rather not waste my time fighting you.”
I’m a waste of time?! Jackass, I’ll show you a slaughter. He drops into a crouch and paws at the ground. A scream catches his attention, in the background he watches the armored sphinx slash at Ebony with her claws. Ebony! Another explosion shakes the ground and a wall of flame streaks across the shoreShit, none of us are winning. Even if I somehow manage to beat this guy, everyone else will die! He grits his teeth but stands back up. “Fine, we’ll leave, now leav--”
Before he can finish Hunter presses two fingers against his lips and blows a sharp high pitch whistle. The sphinxes stop fighting and turn to their leader, most of them taking to the air to avoid whoever they were fighting. “Ignore them, the navy is coming and we to load the cargo. If they try to fight you, kill them.”
There are a few quizzical looks pass through them, but they follow the order and head for the ship. Hunter grabs his two swords from the ground and sheath them. “That’s it?” Hunter raises an eyebrow and faced Captain. “All that and you’re just going to let us walk?” Captain asks.
“Not everything has to be solved by death. Really the only reason I’m letting you leave with your crew is because I have a time limit I have to respect.” Hunter starts walking to the ship. “Also, if you ever happen to get between me and my pay again, the only solution will be death.”