Freedom Through Harmony

by Electricut

Chapter Thirty-two

Chapter Thirty Two
Unknown Waters; HMS Dragon’s Fang & HMS Longsword
Spike

“Well?” He said, growing impatient. “Last chance. Get going, or we’ll have to send you off in a somewhat more... unfavorable direction.” At this, I became painfully aware of several cannons mounted at various places on deck and in windows below decks.

None of us moved. Retreat wasn’t an option any longer- we knew that Fafnir had been right, and something in that ship needed to be re-appropriated. Just as the captain was preparing to order his men, another shape landed between him and the hooded figure, putting him in a powerful headlock.

“Here’s another offer for ya.” Fenrir said between clenched teeth. I had to wonder how he managed to get over there without anyone noticing. “You tell all your men to drop their weapons, and take us to the kid down below. Don’t be mistaking us, mate, our guys are more than capable of taking down yours.”

In response, the captain spat defiantly, then screamed one word to his men:

“Fire!”

A deafening series of blasts erupted from their ship, and before the rest of us could get to our battle stations, the Dragon’s Fang was ripped to pieces. I stumbled, then scrambled for the railings to retrieve my knives. All pretense of our own peaceful intentions were gone, and I planned to get over there and stop what was left of our ship from taking more damage. In a blur of movement, Fafnir rushed past me, scooped up his weapons, and launched himself at the enemy ship with a powerful jump. He grabbed ahold of their railings and pulled himself up, already batting away blades with his spear.

I stood and moved aside as our gangplank was thrown across the gap, Faslot leading a small charge. Luckily, Fenrir’s first move in the fight had caused chaos to erupt over on their ship as well, and no-one had a change to disengage their ship from ours. Most of the rest of our men had already rushed across to overtake their crew, and only Irath and I now remained on the Dragon’s Fang. He stood where he had before, sword drawn, though made no move to attack.

“Captain!” I called, moving to his side. “We have to move! Their crew is much bigger than ours, and they could well be preparing another volley! We’ll have to overtake their ship if we’re to have a chance.”

He turned to me. “And abandon ours? We’ve lost much of our vessel, and it’s likely we won’t be bringing her back. Would you have me leave my honor with her broken planks?”

My fist clenched. Him and his pesky honor... I know he wants to remain an honorable warrior, but it’s going to get him killed one of these days. “It’s not over yet, captain.” I lied. “We can still save her if we prevent any more damage. But they’ll just try harder if there’s anyone left on board.” Seeing the logic, he nodded reluctantly and joined me in charging to the opposite ship.

All around us was utter chaos. Swords clashed, blood spilled. I clenched my knives and looked around for a target to disable (I hoped to leave a few alive for interrogation, if not just to avoid taking lives needlessly), but saw none of the others unengaged already. That is, until my sights settled to the figure standing alone at the head of the ship.

It was the same black-cloaked individual I had seen before, and at this distance I was able to make him out more clearly. While none of his features were visible like this, I could see that he was rather tall and bulky- I could tell he packed some muscle beneath his cloak. I could see no weapons about him, though.

I charged at him, though I was slightly apprehensive. He showed no alarm or emotion about the bloodbath around him, and only looked on with mild interest. Upon seeing me approach, he cocked his head to the side slightly, unfolding his arms. Finally, upon reaching him, I just stopped, suitably intimidated by his calm inaction.

“A party of people from far away, all the way out here.” He spoke in a deep, smooth voice. “And by the looks of you... you’re Goldoan, the lot of you. So this must be what Four meant, flames of war would hinder my mission... Still don’t understand why he couldn’t just say that.”

“And you?” I barked, turning slightly to make a smaller target, and settled into my battle stance. “First you’re traders, now it’s clear you’re trained warriors. What is your purpose here? And what are you hiding?”

He chuckled disconcertingly. “The people you refer to- the sailors here- are nothing more than small-time pirates, who had a stroke of luck in a raid. Even more lucky than the prize itself, their action attracted my attention immediately, and I found myself serving them for a time, in exchange for its transfer to me. I- you see- am worth much more than any of them, and they wouldn’t have gotten half as far with their prize were it not for my guidance.”

“So they bought you.” I said. “What is it they have that you want? Perhaps we can make another deal.”

“Hmph. What they took isn’t the object I seek, but a way to it. And I see no sense in changing sides, when...” He rolled his head around once, giving off a slight crack, “when I can merely take my prize and go. They failed their end of the bargain, but I’ll still have my payment for holding up mine.”

As neutral as he seemed to be remaining with his words, I couldn’t think of him as anything but an enemy. Dark intentions, anger, hate, deceit- I could just feel all of these things emanating from him. No doubt about it- this man was not one to be trusted. “What is it you’re taking?!” I repeated.

“A prisoner, if you must know. Now, boy. I know you hold no allegiance to me, but neither do you to the men who owe me. Surely you should see it best to remain neutral in this conflict, one that ought not to have concerned you in the first place?”

“No, I don’t.” I ventured. “It may be the majority opinion of Goldoa to remain neutral, sure- but that’s just it. The fifteen of us were selected specifically for not having that mindset. I know darkness when I see it, and I don’t plan to just sit by and let it have its way.”

He sighed, then raised his arms from his sides slowly. “So that’s your final word on the subject? You’re going to try and stop me form collecting my target just because I spook you, even when you’re ignorant of all other factors?”

I flashed him a dark smile. “If what you were doing was right, you would have defended yourself by now.”

He grunted, clearly finished with the conversation, and two katanas jumped to his hands, seemingly from beneath his cloak. With a snap of his wrists they jumped to life- each cackled with energy, one a pale blue, one pink. Without another word he launched himself at me, and I had to work fast to deflect his whirling blades.

For his bulk, he moved with surprising speed and grace, and I had to stay at a distance to parry his hits with my shorter weapons. The lightning-fast movement of the bright, colorful blades only added to the confusion and chaos of the battle. He spun backwards and slashed horizontally with both blades, and I was forced to stumble back to avoid them. All of a sudden, he backed up, then leapt clear over me and onto the decks.

The battle had run its course by now. Despite our best efforts, and the fact that very few- if any- of the pirates remained alive, at least two more volleys of cannonballs had been shot off, and the Dragon’s Fang was just barely staying afloat.

My opponent looked around, several other Goldoans leveling weapons in his direction. He raised his arms slightly in defeat. “Well played, dragons, well played. I would have liked for this skirmish to go in a different direction- it was quite the artifact I had my eyes on, too. But I’m not stupid. One or two, yes, but I’m not about to take on ten Goldoan dragons all on my lonesome. Might have been a good prize, but it’s not that valuable. Ta-ta then, mateys. Have fun with your new toys.”

With a flourish of his arms, he planted his hands on the deck, and a strange dark energy enveloped him. In a moment it was gone, as was he. I released a pent up breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, and vaulted over the rail to the lower deck to join the others. Everyone seemed to walk in a daze, getting wounds patched up or moving the limp bodies of the pirates to the side. While we had won the battle, I saw that the pirates weren’t defenseless themselves, and had done a lot of damage to several of us.

I moved over to Fafnir, who was leaning on the edge of the ship, a forlorn expression on his face, stray droplets from the waves below washing away the sweat from his forehead. He made no indication that he had seen me approach, but spoke as I came up next to him.

“... We lost two men today.” I respectfully said nothing, unable to think of a good response. “... Faslot... He was one of them.”

At this, I had to admit I was surprised. Faslot was a great fighter, and I wouldn’t have thought any old Beorc could take him down easily. To think such a solid fighter and clear-thinking friend was gone... “I’m sorry...” was all I could think to say.

Fafnir looked up to the black night sky, eyes not resting on anything in particular. “He took on the captain, plus two or three other crewmen all by himself... He took ‘em all down with him, at least.” His head leveled again, then he shook it as though waking from a daze. “No. He wouldn’t want us to spend too much time moping about his death. He’d tell us to get back on our feet and finish the job at hand, and mourn later.”

I nodded, glad to see him recovering himself. Fafnir was never one to get too upset about anything, and it was always strange to see him down in the dumps like that. “He won’t be forgotten, I can tell you that.”

He nodded, giving me a thankful smile. “Hey, you wanna go see what that crying was all about? Whatever it was, they sure were keen to guard it. C’mon, let’s go investigate.”

Comments

[Chrome_Twilight]

This is one of the better stories I've read on this site. Great work!

[N Harmonia Greatfield]

Man I thought the lightnings were psionics