Captain's Journey

by Sphinx_Herald

Chapter 22

She rubs her eyes and grabs the helm once again, the small island sticking out in the distance. She rolls up the maps and tucks it into her belt. With a small turn she sends the ship toward one of the sandy beaches. As she gets closer she is able to make out more of the island. To one side are large sheer cliffs, to the other thin sandy beaches stretch across the water’s edge. A small forest sit in the middle with a small mountain sticking out of the vivid trees. She spots a small dock with a gunboat tied to it. Maybe I should make sure they can’t leave either.

With a sudden turn she sends her ship on a collision course. She rams the ship, sounds of splintering wood coming from both. She opens her eye and examine the ships, neither are sinking, the other one might have a slight leak but that’s the worst of it. Well, that was anticlimactic. She jumps from the bow of her ship to the other and then from there to the dock. They still won't be going anywhere with those ships tangled together. She unfurls the map. Let the hunt begin, she marches into the forest.

With the map, compass and the mountain as a reference point she has a relatively easy time navigating through the wooded area. She passes by a couple of animals that were caught in traps set, most likely, throughout the forest. She walks for about an hour, all the while the burning in her shoulder grows worse and worse. She sighs and sits down at the base of a tree and picks out a fruit from it’s branches. I’ve waited three years, a two minute rest won’t hurt. She looks at her wound, the bandages are stained red again. I’m not in the best of shape, perhaps I could have used a little help. No, I have to do this myself. She finishes the fruit and begins walking again.

Birds chirp over head and she hears a monkey howl from somewhere in the distance. If it weren’t for the fact that she’s looking to get revenge and also what happened last time she was in the jungle, she’d be enjoying it. She steps on a tripwire, she feels a snare tighten around one of her hindlegs. She yelps as she is lifted off the ground. She twists around until she sees the rope holding her up, she takes her sword in her magic and cuts the rope. She falls to the ground landing on her uninjured side, with a groan she gets to her hooves. She scans the surroundings for anypony, making sure no one was there. Great, I set off a trap now they know I’m here… Actually they must have known when I blew up the boats, so why aren’t they coming after me. They might be setting up a trap for me. She continues to make her way to the mountain.

Once she comes out of the foliage, she spots a cave entrance to her right. She jumps back into the brush when she sees minotaur holding a warhammer standing in front of the cave. However, she was not fast enough, the minotaur had saw her for a moment. With a bellow he charges at the brush. Starry jumps back in time to avoid being crushed by the hammer. “Out of my way, I have to settle something with the unicorn,” she says to him.

The minotaur turns to face her. “You want to see the boss, then you’ll have to go through us.” A shadow falls over her, she rolls out of the way as the bat pony slashes the air a few inches above the ground. She gets to her hooves and hears stomping coming from her right. She rolls out of the way of the hammer once again. She jumps out of the rolls and lands on her hooves. She draws her sword in time to parry a strike from the bat pony. In the corner of her eye she spots the hammer coming at her, it’s too late to dodge, she braces for the surely fatal blow.

A sound similar to a bell from a church rings out through the clearing. Captain flashes her a quick grin and pushes his sword forward sending the hammer back to the minotaur's side.

“Captain, how did you--”

“Willow is a great tracker, isn’t that right?”

“If you say so,” says the deer from the edge of the clearing. The minotaur jumps back and the bat pony takes to the sky.

Starry looks over at Willow for a second then back at Captain. “No, I won’t let you take this away from me, I won’t let you fight--”

“I won’t, I’m just here to make sure there’s nothing between you and your target. Anyways, I don’t think you’re after these two, so I’ll take them.”

Starry stares at him for a few seconds then gives a grin of her own and nods. “Thanks.”

“I just ask one thing, make sure you kill the bastard.”

“Don’t worry I will.” She runs to the entrance.

“No you don’t!” The minotaur goes to cut her off but Captain throws his sword and breaks off one of his horns. He screams in pain and holds the stub, the sword wedges itself into the stone wall. The minotaur stops screaming and focuses on Captain.

“Do you really think you can take the two of us on your own with no weapon?” the minotaur shouts at him with anger blazing in his eyes.

“Willow, do you want to fight the bat thing?”

“N-not really.”

He nods at her, “Yeah, I can take the two of you,” he says with a wicked grin.

---

Starry comes to a stop in the middle of a large chamber. “Come out here!” She searches the shadowy corners for any sign of movement.

“Can it be?” A shiver runs down her spine as she recognizes the voice. “It is, you’re alive! Incredible, I thought you died the second you hit the water but here you are,” he says, his voice echoing off the walls of the cave.

“Show yourself.”

“Normally I would try to get you to join my team for surviving something like that, but here you are… trying to kill me again. Do you think it will end any differently than last time?”

“You killed my parents, I’m here to repay the favor.”

“That’s right, I did do that didn’t I, Starry? Yes, I know your name, I don’t think you know mine however. Would you like to know it?”

“Stop toying with me you stupid shi--”

“Now, now didn’t your parents teach you any manner or did I kill them before they could? My name is Revolt, remember it well, it’s the last name you’ll hear.” A curved sword comes out from a shadow, Starry parries it away and fires a bolt of magic into the shadow. “Oh, so you’ve gotten better, this might be fun.” A brown stallion walks out of a corner.

---

Captain sidesteps out of the hammers way as it crashes into the ground. He ducks under a strike from the bat pony and roll out of range of the hammer again. The minotaur glares at him, streams of steam shooting out of his nostrils. “Would you stand still and let me kill you?!”

“Doesn’t sound as much fun as this.”

The minotaur lets out a battle cry and charges again. Captain rolls out of the way, the hammer slams into the wall leaving a small dent. A shadow falls over Captain as the bat pony strikes from above, he steps out of the way at the last second. “I don’t like you, bat thing. You’re doing little more than annoying me." Captain jumps out of the way as the hammer soars past his muzzle. A shadow falls over him once again. Stupid bat thing, he'd know how out classed he is if he saw Gale. The bat pony dives down to strike at Captain. Captain turns and in the blink of an eye delivers and full force punch to the bat pony’s face, several loud snaps are heard and the night creature falls to the ground. Captain jumps back as the minotaur’s hammer is brought down on his dead comrade.

“Would you stop moving and die, you stupid mule!” He swings his hammer at Captain again. Captain punches at the hammer, stopping it as a ringing resonates throughout the clearing.

“I’m not a mule.”

The minotaur blinks a couple of times as he realizes that Captain stopped the hammer with his hoof. The minotaur takes a step back and readies the hammer. “Really, then what are you, mule?“ He swings his hammer again and Captain meets it with a punch.

“I am a legend.“ The shaft of the hammer snaps in two.

---

Starry jumps up as the curved blade strikes the ground below her. Once she lands she send her blade flying at her opponent, which is parried away. Revolt continues to walk toward her as he launches another attack. Starry meets the blade halfway across the chamber with her own, sparks fly as the sword dance in midair. Revolt fires a bolt of magic at her, she manages to dodge but at the cost of a bit of concentration. She manages to recover and blocks Revolt’s sword a few inches away from taking off her head. She spots him running around her, going to try and flank her. She sends her sword flying at him and rolls out of the way as his blade crashes into the ground with a flurry of sparks.

An orange aura surrounds her sword and he rips it from her magical grip. “Oh, this looks familiar, I think this is the sword your father didn’t know how to use. Well, it seems the apple fell a few inches from the tree in that case. Oh, and it’s lighter than mine, I’ll trade ya.” He strikes with the small blade. She focuses on the curved sword next to her and lifts it to block, but not fast enough. She feels a sting and some warm liquid running down her cheek, not a deep cut certainly not meant to kill, just a taunt. She picks herself off the ground and brings the sword out in front of her. The assassin smiles and begins unleashes a flurry of attacks. While the strikes might not be as forceful they’re faster, a lot faster. After every strike she barely has time to recover before the blades strike against each other again.

She fails to notice Revolt making his way around her again. She freezes when she hears him charging a spell right beside her. She tries to bring the sword around but it’s sent skittering across the floor, she’s defenceless. He fires the bolt of magic into her left shoulder, she screams in pain and is sent tumbling across the cave floor. Blood pours freely out of the recently reopened wound leaving a trail of deep red to where she lies. He walks up to her and holds her own sword to her temple. “I think it’s time you joined your family.” The sword plummets at her.

There is a flurry of feathers and the sound of metal striking metal and the sword is sent flying into the air. The assassin tumbles into a nearby rock. Arrel catches the sword and drops it by Starry and lands between her and Revolt. “She already has one.”

“Arrel, what are you doing here, I thought I asked you not interfere.”

“You might not care what happens to you, but we do… I do. I don’t want to run the risk of losing you.” He walks over to her and helps her up.

“Arrel…”

Revolt starts laughing, not a happy laugh but a mocking one. He grabs his own sword once again and fixes his gaze onto the two. “That’s so very touching, not quite as much as my sword will be to your skulls but still very touching.”

“I’m guessing he’s the one that hurt you, how about we show him not to mess with anyone in the crew,” Arrel says as he draws his sword. Starry picks her sword off the ground and stands next to Arrel.

---

The minotaur gets out of the way of another punch from Captain which is now heading for a tree. The hoof impacts the tree and rips out a large chunk of trunk. The minotaur regains his composure and charges the earth pony with a punch of his own just as Captain does the same. Their punches meet with a loud snap and the minotaur’s arm gives out, he is sent flying it the stone wall of the mountain. His arm hangs limply at his side as he pushes himself off the wall. He shakes his head to get rid of the throbbing pain, to little effect, he opens his eyes as Captain unleashes another punch.

The minotaur, quite literally, trips out of the way. Captain punches the rock at full force, large cracks spread across the wall, dislodging his sword from the rock. The sword falls to the ground behind the minotaur, he scrambles to pick it up with his good arm. A shadow comes over him as Captain prepares another fatal punch. Forgetting the sword the minotaur rolls away as Captain’s hoof crashes into the ground, cracks form around the point of impact like a spiderweb. Captain picks up his cutlass again and goes to the minotaur.

The minotaur desperately looks around for some way out. He is used to seeing scenes like this, though he’s the one usually causing the destruction. He sees Willow, with a look of shock and fear on her face. He jumps to his hooves and lunges at the deer, but she easily dodges and runs off into the foliage. He turns around just as Captain delivers the last blow to his chest, he is sent crashing into a tree. Ribs shatter, and blood streams out of his mouth, nothing works. His legs won’t move, arms won’t lift, eyes won’t open.

Captain looks over to where Willow disappeared. “You alright?”

“Y-yeah, just… w-what the bucking Tartarus are you?”

Captain shrugs and sheaths his sword. “A captain, soon to be a legend.”

---

Revolt launches a magic projectile at Arrel, he takes to the air and circles him. Revolt parries away a magic bolt from Starry and sends his sword at the pegasus. Starry’s sword meets it midway in a shower of sparks. Arrel drops into a dive, going well around the fighting swords, Revolt brings his sword back and blocks Arrel’s slash. Starry charges another spell on her horn, sweat drips down from her muzzle to the ground. Her injuries and the fact that she’s trying to manipulate a sword at the same time as charging spells are starting to take it’s toll on her stamina.

She fires her spell, a wave of nausea washing over her as she does so. She staggers a little, Revolt slashes at the spell with his sword causing a bright flash and a small cloud of smoke to form around him. With a flap of his wing, Arrel gets rid of the smoke, he dives down at his target. Their swords clash before he can make it too close to Revolt. Starry fires at him again, missing pretty badly, she staggers and falls down.

Revolt charges a spell of his own and sends it a Arrel, he dodges and sails around the cave again. Revolt fires off a volley at him, none of them manage to hit. Starry focuses what little energy she has left into the sword and and sends it rocketing at the distracted stallion. It sinks into the back of his neck cutting his breath short, his magic fails and his sword clatters to the ground.

“Are you okay?” Arrel asks while hovering a few hooves away.

“Y-yeah… actually no, I really need help.”

“You two done?” Captain calls from the entrance.

“What do you think?”

Captain walks into the cave and quickly finds Starry. He walks to her and picks her up onto his back. “This really isn’t your week is it?”

Author's Note:

Gosh, college is starting to get hard now. Have a pretty big project to finish this weekend. However, that is not enough for me not to post an update! Anyways, new chapter, yay (other generic stuff). Hope you all enjoyed, give some feedback, likes, dislikes, ect... Until next time,
-Sphinx