The last of over a dozen fruit dropped out of the bottomless bag as Iris held it out and shook it upside down. It dropped onto a sizable pile of fruit, half-crushed flowers, and the large chunk of bark from the inside of the tree. Beside the pile were three cautiously placed eggs, each about the size of Killup without accounting for his wingspan.
Iris, Adan and Killup stood in the Galley before Autumn’s critical glare as she took slow steps around the pile of goods and thoughtfully rubbed her chin, “acceptable.”
While Killup jumped in excitement and Adan showed no reaction at all, Iris let out a sigh of relief that turned into a wince. As the gargoyle and the metal man got to work finding somewhere to store the new ingredients, Autumn gave Iris an appraising look.
“You doing okay?”
“Yeah,” Iris said, grimacing as she rolled her shoulder, “I took a hard fall on the way back. I’ll be fine.”
“Go see Titus.”
“He’s busy—”
Autumn picked up a ladle and brandished it towards her, “go, before I give you a better reason to.”
Iris groaned and rolled her eyes, “fine.”
A few moments later Iris was gently knocking on the door to the infirmary. Titus called out from within for her to enter, which she did so hesitantly.
“Hey, Titus, you got a minute?”
“Where are you hurt?” he asked nonchalantly as he moved between his unconscious patients, still tending to their injuries.
“Around here,” Iris gestured to her entire torso, “harsh landing.”
“Sit down, I’ll be with you in a minute.”
After Titus finished his rounds on his patients, he approached Iris and looked her over. After a moment he placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned her forward slightly, peering at her back with a blank expression.
“What exactly are you doing, anyway?” she asked.
“Watching your blood flow, mostly.”
“You can see my blood?” Iris asked in surprise.
“Yep,” Titus said, removing his hand so she could sit upright again, “it’s part my newest ability evolution. You’re not the only one leveling up out here, you know. Did you even know I reached the threshold for my second thread?”
“Really?”
Titus nodded, “after the balrog attack. All this healing goes a long way towards leveling up. I already had an ability for detecting internal injuries, but seeing blood flow in this fine of detail is invaluable. You have to know what you’re looking for, but with the right knowledge it can tell you all kinds of stuff about a person’s condition. Anyway, your spine’s broken.”
“What?!” pain shot through her back and cracked her voice mid-shout.
“It’s just a few minor fractures,” Titus chuckled, “everything’s still where it’s supposed to be, otherwise you wouldn’t be walking. Bones heal slowly, though — if you have the luxury of time to do it correctly, which we do. I’ll start the process now, you’ll have to rest through the day and night and then see me again in the morning for the final touches.”
Iris groaned, “go ahead, say you told me so.”
“Told you what?” Titus said as he slowly passed a glowing hand down the length of her spine.
Iris winced at the sharp sensation of the healing magic, “that I can’t go more than two days without getting hurt.”
“If I mocked my patients every time I was right, they’d stop coming to me when they’re hurt.”
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Titus repeated a few more passes over her spine before sending her on her way. He called after her as she reached the door way, however, just before she was about to blip away.
“Was it fun?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“The landing.”
Iris laughed, “it was a blast until the very last second.”
Titus smiled, “I miss being out there. They never let me leave the ship, and even when the fight comes to us there’s too many injuries for me to even think about jumping in the fray. These pirates —” he shook his head, “literally zero sense of self preservation, I swear.”
Iris smiled apologetically, “think of it this way, when you do finally get a chance to fight again, you get to make up for lost time.”
“Oh, I’m going to.”
They exchanged a cheerful glance before Iris blipped away.
Iris had expected to be put to work when she returned from the mission, but with the healer’s instructions to take it easy for the evening she didn’t have much to offer. When she checked in with her boss, Nelson, to let him know she’d be out of work until at least tomorrow, he informed her she wouldn’t be needed anyway. Repairs — at least as many as were needed to set sail again — were complete.
The ship itself was in pretty bad shape, at least as it appeared from the outside. Several large breaches in the hull were still open along either side of the gun deck, with only a few planks nailed into place up to shoulder height so no one would could fall out. Several sections of the main deck were still stained deep red with blood, and one large area was still missing several planks from its top layer. That was to say nothing of the broken mast that had been discarded to the swamp below, or the trails of splintered wood that wound their way around the ship as the lingering wake of the mutated quartermaster.
The final preparations were being made for the ship take flight, and a special team had been put together to facilitate the process. The team consisted of Misty, most of the sail workers, a few cannoneers, a collection of the crew’s physically strongest members, and the Shark Titan himself. It was early evening by the time the plan was set into action.
The cannoneers fired special projectiles lined with hooked spikes and tethered to heavy chains, launching them over branches in front of the ship where they wrapped around and secured themselves like grappling hooks. The strongest pirates then took these chains in hand and pulled them taut while they waiting for the others to get in position. Misty stood at the bow, commanding as many vines as she could manage to wrap around various points of the ship and pull themselves taut as well. Finally, with the first mate at the helm, the Shark Titan descended to the bowels of the ship.
With the hydra once again starved and weakened and the future of his quest on the line, the Shark Titan was willing to risk a last resort. Activating a secret panel within the observation deck of the hydra’s chamber opened a hatch in the floor that lead to the chamber itself, which he splashed into.
The hydra immediately struck with its last remaining head — which had eaten the other two to conserve energy. The Shark Titan deftly dodged with his unmatched underwater agility, and the ship shook as the hydra slammed into the hull in its pursuit. The captain continued to dodge strikes and charges as she swam towards the bow of the ship, baiting the hydra into a lunge that slammed into the front of the hull.
Up above, the rest of the team felt the ship lurch forward. That was their cue, and the pirates braced themselves against beams and walls as they pulled hard on their chains as the same time as the vines pulled on the ship. They timed it as one long, hard heave, and then relaxed for a moment until the next lurch came. With each lurch and heave, the ship moved forward a few inches, then a few feet, until finally it tipped forward and began to slide on its own. The last of the vines and ropes that helped support it on its perch snapped under the weight, and the loud scraping of the thick keel against the bark of the tree branch thundered through the air.
The pirates held tight to their chains and braced their backs against walls while crew mates held onto their limbs and ropes tied around their bodies to lend their strength as they held the chains for as long as they could. It was only a few seconds before the first of the pirates released their grips and their chains escaped, leading to a cascade of others doing the same. Combined with the vines, which held tight to the ship until they snapped from its weight, it was enough to swing the ship forward slightly before it was truly cut loose from any support — just enough to avoid a vertical nose dive towards the ground.
Dorragth and the quartermaster — only half recovered from his transformation and still covered in full body bruises and bandages — joined the first mate in pulling one of the chains extending from the quarter deck beside the helm. Their combined strength was barely enough to actuate the machinery and launch the ship’s wings, which quickly filled with air and began their wave-like flapping motion.
The ship still tipped slightly forward and plummeted hundreds of feet in the process, but soon shook and rattled as enough of the downward speed was converted to lift and ultimately forward thrust, leveling it out in the sky less than a mast’s height from the canopy of the swamp.
Only a few moments into flight the ship had settled into a gentle meander and soon began to climb higher in the sky. Not long after the ship was stable, the captain emerged onto the main deck from a stairwell. He was leaning heavily on the wall and hopping forward as he trailed a thick pool of blood from the stump that remained of his right leg.
“Oh, captain,” the first mate groaned when she saw him.
“That bastard hydra!” his shout cracked through the sky.