Chapter 18
The pale pirate suddenly lunged forward, his body low to the ground and his long arms trailing behind him, straight towards Raphaelle. Tolas, with a furious cry, tried to intercept him with a sword swing towards his head, but Zedek twisted his body like a snake and easily dodged the blow.
In the same movement, his saber skimmed the deck towards the bosun's ankles, who had to jump to avoid it. Continuing his motion, Zedek raised his right arm, tracing an arc that rose towards Raphaelle's face, who parried the blade at the last moment with her dagger.
But Zedek hadn't finished his assault. Taking advantage of his momentum, he continued his rotation and, using his heel, managed to land a blow on Tolas's neck, sending the young man to the ground.
At the same time, he struck a violent blow with the hilt of his left saber on Raphaelle's skull, slightly stunning her. In a flash, the pale man spun his right saber in the air and followed up with a strike directly towards the young woman's back.
Fortunately for her, Tolas pushed off the ground and spun around, sweeping the pirate's supporting leg, throwing him off balance and deflecting his attack by a few inches. Without hesitation, the wolf grabbed Zedek's long arm and pulled forward while spinning around.
Carried by his own imbalance and the momentum exerted by Raphaelle, Zedek passed over the young woman's shoulder and crashed heavily on his back, dropping one of his weapons.
The pirate visibly gritted his teeth, refusing to make a sound upon impact. Raphaelle tried to stab him, but Zedek, more reactive, managed to grab the young woman by the throat despite laying on his back. He began squeezing with all his might, his long fingers almost encircling the marine's throat. As Tolas was getting up to attack him, he tried to lift his other hand to gut Raphaelle.
She was far from giving up. Taking advantage of Zedek's fully extended arm, she firmly grabbed the pirate's forearm while digging her nails into it. She followed by delivering the hardest knee strike she could muster to his elbow. Leveraging in the opposite direction, she dropped with all her weight and snapped Zedek's left arm clean. The sound of the crack almost turned Dande's stomach. The pale pirate's eyes bulged, but he bit his lower lip to prevent himself from screaming.
Tolas, now just above Zedek, swung his weapon with all his might towards his chest but suddenly, Raphaelle threw herself onto her friend. Less than a second later, the tip of a rapier stopped right where the bosco's head had been. The two sailors rolled off to opposite sides and got up to see Lowell standing behind them, raising an astonished eyebrow and bringing his rapier back in front of him.
"It seems you were right, my dear Zedek," acknowledged Lowell as the other pirate slowly got up, "these kids are anything but ordinary."
The pale pirate, full of rage, breathed heavily between his teeth, and his body was visibly sweaty. Raphaelle ran a hand over her throat and winced in pain. Zedek had an inhuman grip; she had come dangerously close to having her windpipe crushed.
As she looked at the pale pirate again, her eyes were drawn to a small reddish puddle forming at Zedek's feet, and she couldn't help but smile. His wounds must have reopened when she had slammed him to the ground. If Lowell hadn't intervened, she was sure they would have succeeded in killing him.
"Should I hold your sword for you?" Lowell asked Zedek in a playful tone.
"I'll kill her…I’ll kill her...” the pirate muttered, breathing harder and harder without listening to his companion.
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"Perfect, then I'll play with the captain's gift then." Lowell began, assuming a combat stance.
"Wait."
Lowell and Zedek stopped moving, keeping their eyes on Raphaelle and Tolas. Scornwallis approached them, taking his time to observe the two sailors. When he reached behind his two men, he ran one of his hands down Zedek's back, who trembled in pain but didn't dare move. He then withdrew it, stained with his subordinate's blood, and brought one of his fingers to his mouth. At that moment, Raphaelle thought she saw Scornwallis's blue eyes begin to shine before returning to their normal color. He placed his hands on Zedek's and Lowell's shoulders and, effortlessly, forced them to lean towards his perpetually fixed smile.
"I forbid you to separate these two. I want to see them dance together."
His hands suddenly tightened on their shoulders and Zedek's face contorted in pain while Lowell's eyes widened.
"Besides, I need to check something. There's something about this girl... I don't know why, but she reminds me of someone." explained Scornwallis.
"Of course, Captain." replied Lowell with a satisfied tone.
"It shouldn't be too difficult to bring them back alive, right?"
Scornwallis's posture remained unchanged, but the pressure he exerted on his lieutenants visibly intensified. The veins on Zedek's forehead became more apparent, while Lowell's legs began to waver. The pale pirate let out a small sound of pain, causing the two marines to gulp. The masked pirate eventually nodded his head up and down, and Scornwallis released his grip on him, but he continued to exert pressure on Zedek, who lowered his head to hide his expression.
Several seconds passed, during which Zedek's body began to tremble more and more until he finally attempted to place his valid hand on Scornwallis's, whose smiling expression remained unchanged.
"...Yes...yes, Captain." the pale pirate finally managed to say with difficulty.
Scornwallis finally released Zedek's shoulder and turned around, running his blood-covered hand through his hair.
"Alright, get to work."
With these final words, Scornwallis began scanning the deck, seemingly unaware of Dande's presence a few meters away from him.
His attention eventually fell on the two Ermythians who had approached the girl's body in hopes of escaping with her. The absolute terror that crossed their faces when they saw him approaching tore at Raphaëlle's heart. She knew perfectly well that she couldn't do anything to stop Scornwallis from attacking them as long as Zedek and Lowell stood in front of her. The captain had begun to approach his future victims with a nonchalant step, his fingers twitching in all directions like red and white spider legs.
"Dande!" Raphaëlle exclaimed. "Do something!"
The pirate, who had remained silent and hadn't dared to move an inch since the beginning of the fight, lifted his head to look at Raphaëlle and then at Scornwallis, who still ignored him. With a trembling hand, he grabbed Monigam's blunderbuss from his belt and aimed it at the captain.
Scornwallis, who was now standing in front of the two Ermythians still kneeling on the ground, grabbed the old man's face in his hand and began to squeeze harder and harder, causing him to scream. The young Ermythian tried to lunge at him, but the captain grabbed her by the throat and slowly began to lift her with one hand, letting her scrape his arms with her small, bloodied hands without flinching. Dande, absolutely terrified by this show of strength, felt his will falter and lowered his weapon.
"Dande!" Raphaëlle insisted, almost stamping her foot in place.
The man looked into the wolf's eyes for a second before turning his head as if he refused to see what was about to happen. She recognized the emotion she had sensed behind those eyes. Locked in the hold of the Altaïr, waiting for Dokland to return, she must have had the same expression as him. But more than fear, what she felt in the pirate at that moment was weakness. The man who had killed Monigam, who had helped them infiltrate the abandoned barracks, and who had shown them the way to the hidden tunnels of Ermythie no longer existed. Only a man paralyzed by fear remained, incapable of saving anything other than his own life.
A shadow passed over Raphaëlle's face. She felt the heat of rage slowly filling her heart. Dande was a coward; she didn't know why she had imagined she could count on him. She could only rely on herself to save them. No one else.
"Raph'! Let's go!" Tolas suddenly exclaimed, passing in front of her.
The sight of her friend's back as he rushed ahead to attack Lowell was like a ray of light in the darkness. Shaking her head, she followed him, revitalized.