The other captives had filtered out of the brig, happy to at least get a chance to truly stretch their legs. Leaving only Illaria and her adoptive parents standing in the brig. Alvec’s ice gave a soft chill and dampness to the room. She took a deep breath as she looked them over. They were, near as far as she could tell, physically fine. She could see no apparent wounds, and their clothing was plain but clean.
“Ma, Pa, don’t you be believing a single word that bastard may have been telling you. I never stopped searching for you,” her mother moved forward, throwing her arms around Illaria and pulling tight.
“We never did, dear.” She said.
“Clearly, you’ve been keeping yourself very busy, though; I dare be saying your swordsmanship was absolutely resplendent,” her father said, stepping forward and clapping a hand on her shoulder. They were both humans, unlike her, and even her father, a tall man, was only just as tall as she had grown. Their hair was grayer than she remembered, and her heart ached over their lost days.
“Aye, I joined the Blue Banner army. The Coffin Flotilla, to be exact. Figured it would be my best pathway to finding Crowley and either exacting my revenge against him or rescuing you.”
“So those were your brothers in arms with you?” her father asked.
“No, not exactly. You see, Cellocht invited Bait, who would be the goblin with a gun, and myself to his hundredth birthday party. We were given shore leave and told to honor the Blue Banner’s name. We met the other three there and have been traveling together since then. We’d come to re-enlist but were asked to stay free agents for now. A certain someone needed individuals he could trust that wasn’t under someone else's command at the moment. So tell me, are you ok?” The words flowed out of her like a storm-swollen river rushing to the coast. They were still in the middle of danger, and she didn’t know how many seconds or minutes they might have before something required Illaria’s intervention.
“We’ve been taken well enough care of. There was little abuse, so long as we kept our heads down and did what he asked. Though, that may have been because we had no real hope of escape. I dreamed of escape, of fighting back, stealing a boat, and returning to the mainland... but out here on an island full of his dastardly pirates, what chance did I have? Even if I’d gotten a sword, the odds of getting away were always too dim. So we kept our heads down. He left us largely alone so long as we reviewed his books and his hauls,” her father said as he stepped back from his daughter and wife, looking at his sword hand with a pained expression. “I always wished I could have done more.”
“It’s alright, Pa, we all did what we could to survive. It would have been suicide, no matter how good you might be with a blade,” Illaria assured him. A voice invaded her mind suddenly.
“Illaria, we’re going to need you on the main deck. We’ve got company.” Alvec said to her.
“Nine hells, I’m sorry, I’ve got to be getting topside. Stay down here where it's safe. As soon as it's clear, I’ll return for you both,” she said, pulling them into a brief hug before she headed for the main deck. She ran, her long red hair whipped back by the motion. She drew her blade, which flashed with golden light as she arrived on the deck to see her companions taking up fighting positions.
Crowley and the Erinyes had returned, with backup this time. Her fingers tightened her grip on the handle until they ached. He wouldn’t be getting away this time. She could hear him shouting something in a language she didn’t speak. Probably orders to attack them. The bastard wasn’t getting away this time.
Alvec cursed his no-good devil-fucking grandfather Iridel. He spoke the hell tongue proficiently due to Iridel’s insistence he learn it. “I’m telling you, this is a bad play,” Crowley shouted above the rushing wind.
“And I’ve told you that we can not allow him to escape,” the Erinyes said.
“Look, we had to retreat from them just a few minutes ago. Do you really want to try our luck when they are all together this time?” Crowley replied.
“We have reinforcements, and he has worn through some of his spells. We may not find a better time to strike yet.”
“Damn it all, we could just go after the other one. Rally some of your troops, and I rally some of mine. We take the other with overwhelming force.”
“I believe that he will make the better sacrifice,” replied the Erinyes
“Fine, let's get this over with,” Crowley snarled back at her.
Well fuck. None of that was good. Considering the number of “he’s” in the party, there were only three possibilities about who they could even be talking about, and to his knowledge, only Alvec had any connection with the hells. Without a doubt, they were after him. For some sort of ritual, by the sounds of it. The Erinyes dropped Crowley onto the deck before soaring up high, her bow blazing with hellfire.
His feet had only just touched the wood before Illaria bore down on him with a series of vicious swings. The pair danced along the eastern edge of trading blows. Three other devils with spears and the strange shadow image of Crowley also joined the fight. The shadow rushed to pressure Illaria from behind but found its line of attack cut off by Naya, whose whirlwind of steel was too much for the shadow to slip by.
The three devils, each standing easily eight or so feet tall, unclothed bodies with bright red insectoid exoskeletons brandished black barbed spears. They quickly converged on Sarbie. Panic filled her face, quickly replaced with pain as she was skewered. Her legs shook and wobbled as blood gushed from wounds in her gut and shoulders. She rolled with it just enough for the spears to miss most of her vitals. She screamed as she called on Kushang’s healing might, for the first time needing it to save her own life. Positive energy burst from her, and her wounds glowed with white light as they healed. Despite throwing all of her will behind it, the wounds were too deep to recover with only one application. Her knees stopped shaking, though as she no longer felt so much pain, she thought she’d puke.
Alvec rushed forward and took careful aim. He’d already used most of his good defensive spells in the brig, and most of his higher circle spells were already spent. The best he could do was try to blind them. A blast of white-hot sunlight flared into existence between the three of them. All of them howled, but only one of them was clutching at his eyes with a free hand. Alvec grimaced as he ran to take up position beside Sarbie. As he arrived beside her, three arrows slammed into his back. They splintered on impact as small plumes of hellfire exploded from their tips. The attack had done little more than bruise him a little. “You’ll have to do better than that,” Alvec shouted in celestial to further taunt the devils.
Alvec wasn’t the only one concerned about protecting their newest companion. Echo broke from Naya and bounded over to one of the ones that wasn’t blind. He snapped his jaws and grabbed the legs from under one of them. His teeth punctured the exoskeleton and drew sickly green blood from the wounds, which splintered from his toothmarks like spiderwebs.
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Mavec joined the fight, while Rem and Piquora did their best to keep the ship flying in the right direction while maintaining altitude. The cannons booming from below him filled him with anxiety, but he’d crunched the numbers; they were high enough now that the pirates would be unlikely to be able to tip their cannons high enough to get the correct trajectory. He let his racing mind fuel his spell as he pulled the practiced trigger in his mind, and lightning uncoiled from his outstretched right hand. The bolt slammed into the devils, attacking Sarbie.
Bait carefully aimed at the winged devil flying above the crow's nest. He stuck his tongue out to feel the influence of the wind. He squeezed the trigger before hastily reloading and firing again. The bullets found their mark, and she shrieked in pain before fixing her eyes on him.
Illaria and Crowley continued to move away from the crowd. “Give it up, girlie; I won our first match; I’ll be winning this one as well.”
“This time, I’ll be more than sticking your sword to the ceiling,” Illaria taunted as the pair traded blows. Her sword flashed golden red with magical power as she deftly parried his strikes and returned her own. He was slowing down. Cutthroat Crowley was slowing down. She would win, to make him suffer for all he had stolen.
Meanwhile, the devils continued attacking Sarbie. The blind one and the one not pinned down by Echo thrust their spears at her. This time, she managed to dodge out of the way of one of them; the other would have pierced her, but Alvec’s tail wrapped around her waist and tugged her backward. He moved forward simultaneously and slammed his buckler into the spear, knocking it away. A moment later, he risked a spear to cast a spell at the one who wasn’t blind. A sickly green ray of light erupted from his free hand as he narrowly dodged a spearhead aimed at his throat. The devil’s strength drained away as Alvec’s magic took sway, leaving the spear heavy and slow in his hands. The Erinyes rained down arrows onto Bait. Each of them found their mark. Unlike Alvec, the hellfire burned him badly, ravaging his small body. He felt weak as he ground his teeth and forced himself to remain standing. No room for Bait to die here. He returned fire as fast as he could. In a duel between the two strongest ranged fighters, Bait was sure he would come out on top. No stupid devil woman with pointy sticks could beat boom-boom and lead.
Sarbie moved behind Alvec and took a quick headcount of all the creatures within her range before she once more called upon Kushang’s healing prowess. She excluded her the enemies and made sure the rush of positive energy made its way to Bait and her allies. The arrows in his small body were pushed out by the healing and clattered on the floor. It felt like the second time in as many days she’d been on Bait healing duty.
Naya pushed her assault unaided. She could use help, to be honest. The double-bladed sword vs her twin scimitars meant that both were slashing and twirling a dizzying amount. Blood and shadow shed by each of them in equal measure. The magic of the spirits empowered her enough to withstand Shadow Crowely’s assault, but it wouldn’t hold forever. Its devilish origin, however, meant that it was equally as hardy, if not more. She’d have to hold the line till someone else could get free.
Mavec rained down another lightning bolt while keeping his distance from the fight. To him, from his vantage point a little higher up, it looked like the tide was about to turn. Illaria looked to be winning, and if she or Bait managed to take out their opponent, it wouldn’t be long before they helped route the rest of them. Echo maintained his grapple, keeping the devil pinned even as it turned its spear against him, stabbing into his underbelly. He crunched his teeth harder, and more green blood wept out of the wound onto the wooden deck.
The Erinyes again rained arrows down on Bait. One of them pierced his neck, and the goblin went down, falling to the deck with his gun still in hand. “Shit.” Mavec shouted, “Bait’s down.” From this distance, it was hard to tell if the little guy was still alive.
Crowley continued his assault on Illaria; the news that Bait had fallen only drove her to fight harder. He swung at her, overextending himself, and with the ease of drawing breath, Illaria slapped his steel wide, leaving him exposed. With a single fluid movement, she carved her blade into his shoulder, biting deep into his chest. She slid forward, dancing past him, and with a final twirl of her blade, brought it clean through his sword hand. The twin blade and his right hand landed with a thunk the boat, and Crowley stumbled forward, clutching his bloody stump to his bleeding chest wound. He tumbled over the side of the ship, fading into the dark skies of the pre-dawn. She wanted to scream in joy; she’d done it. She’d bested the dread pirate in single combat; she’d taken her family back and crippled him all in one decisive battle. There wasn’t time to celebrate, however. Her allies were looking harried. She dashed forward towards Naya first, feinting as she did so; she baited the shadow version of Crowley to swipe at her.
With practiced ease, she parried the blade. She brought her own through the shadowy demon before sprinting off toward the other trio of devils. She used her agility and skill to trick each of them into taking a stab at her, only for her to parry again before landing her own hits. In moments, she’d sliced every enemy she could reach with the same gambit.
Sarbie rushed over to bait; everyone else was okay for the moment, which meant she could spend a second casting a spell rather than just pulsing out positive energy. She slid on her knees beside him and grabbed the arrow protruding from his neck with both hands. She wrenched it out of his neck and tossed it aside before placing both hands over his neck and pushing the magic into his body. His eyes fluttered open, and she clasped her bloody hands together in silent prayer. Bait rolled onto his stomach and lined up a shot. He squeezed the trigger twice, and two more bullets found purchase in the dumb devil. It shrieked once more, and the space around it blurred and ignited with flame as it disappeared from sight with a pop of air.
It took only moments more for Naya to triumph over the shadow, bringing her twin blades through its neck cleanly. The other devils had no better luck escaping as Alvec buried his dagger deep into one of them, and Mavec expended his last lightning bolt on them. The boat was quiet for a moment as the party, battered and bloodied, exchanged looks.
Bait fished a piece of cheese out of his garments and began snacking on it. Sarbie stood up and stumbled to the side of the boat. She leaned over it and threw up. Alvec was quickly at her side, pulling her hair back and placing a hand firmly on her back.
“It's ok, we’re all alive,” he assured her while plucking his wand from its container with his tail and activating it on her. It was best to heal the cleric first. A few minutes were spent patching their bodies and clothing with magic before they all settled in.
Illaria went to the rear of the boat and stood at its edge. The sun's light had pierced the skyline, and a cacophony of cannon fire was near deafening even at this distance. Dozens of ships engaged each other as the Blue and Red Banner's combined might slammed against Crowley and his infernal benefactors. After the long night they had experienced, she wasn’t sure she’d have been much help even if she could have turned the boat back around to rejoin the fray. It was only about an hour or so of sailing through the skies before Bait loudly announced they had found the rear command of the Blue Banner. In that time, Alvec had done as he had planned, dying the flag white. In addition, while surveying the battlefield, he came across Crowely’s severed hand. With his alchemy kit already out, he decided it would be an excellent chance to practice preserving tissue. He grabbed a jar from his kit and placed the hand inside it, filling it with various solutions before placing an airtight stopper on the top. Maybe they could put this in a museum, or someone might want it as a conversation piece. The hand of Cutthroat Crowley.
The ship sailed over them, flag raised, and landed hard on the water. In minutes, LuCol was there to confirm that they had pulled off their mission. Turncoat wasn’t far behind him. The strange green-skinned man literally kissed the deck after boarding. He made the rounds, thanking all of them. The Audacity and all aboard returned to the shores of Ac-Aziza. The ship was ordered to return to dock and await further instructions. None amongst the them disagreed with the orders. Turncoat anxiously awaited them, he gave them all a round of rousing bear hugs as a round of thanks. With no quarters prepared for them within the camp, most of the party stayed aboard the audacity. Bait snuck away, following Turncoats instructions to find the Blackpowder clans small encampment. Illaria spent her morning regaling her parents with her many exploits. Naya and echo snoozed aboard the deck of the ship, and the wizards and cleric set up in one of the cabins fading into a gentle sleep as they awaited the conclusion to the battle.