Mother knows best

-Excerpt from the play “Ensnared” by the Round Eared Rat Company

The bleating of doori echoed across the ocean, silencing all other sounds. Rose smiled, releasing the build up of energy in her chest.

She wasn’t sure why she knew that blowing herself up was no longer required, but she felt it in her bones. A moment later, there was a booming crack followed by a shower of splinters as one of the remaining two ships was smashed in half.

Commodore Foulter’s eyes widened as he turned to the wreckage. However, he never removed his hand from her chest. The frost continued to spread, now covering her entire torso and beginning to reach her neck and arms.

She redirected the divine energy to instead slow the spreading frost by continually chipping away at it, but her control wasn’t the best. While she’d grown used to wielding the energy during the battle, finer applications like this still eluded her.

Rose was better at facing problems head-on. That was why she was good at fishing, other than her average patience. Once you did manage to get a bite, it mostly came down to a battle of strength and reflexes; a battle she won almost every time.

From the wreckage of the ship, she saw something that made her laugh and sigh in relief simultaneously. An overly handsome man dressed in gaudy armour was leading a charge of the biggest doori she’d ever seen. Across the surface of the sea.

Putting aside her shock and urge to burst into raucous laughter, she then noticed he was wielding a sword far too big for any one person to actually use for combat. If not for the fact that he was clearly on her side—or at least the side of the Emerlan Isle—Rose would’ve been tempted to test his mettle herself.

If only to see how he planned to use the blade without falling over.

They weren’t actually charging towards her. At least not at first. The man in the lead seemed to spot the frozen island on the sea and shouted something she couldn’t hear.

The group of doori instantly changed directions and began charging towards her and the commodore, making her opponent snarl in frustration. But he still didn’t remove his hand.

Was he really that obsessed with making her a part of his collection, whatever that meant. He was too creepy.

Even so, his frost was working fast. Her entire upper body aside from her head and almost all of her legs was now frozen solid.

She felt her thoughts slowing a little as the cold reached her brain, but the divine energy kept her going. Perhaps this new arrival would be able to defeat the commodore, but Rose wasn’t sure she would be able to participate in the final battle.

A real shame. She would’ve liked to see the expression on Commodore Foulter’s face as he was dropped into the sea to feed the fishies.

As the frost covered her face, she saw the man with the comically large sword bark something at the others behind him. All of the doori-riders except for two split off and made a beeline for the final intact ship of the trio.

The man and his two remaining followers crossed the sea on the backs of the enormous doori. Even the largest ram in her mother’s herd was only half the size of the gargantuan beast the handsome fellow rode.

Where had they come from? She’d honestly never seen or even heard about such large doori on the Emerlan Isle.

The frost finished coating her body, but for now she remained conscious. But she could feel the cold continually seeping in and her thoughts grew sluggish.

Stolen novel; please report.

The last thing she saw was the man standing up on the back of his doori and carving down towards the commodore as they reached each other.

Maybe mother was right… Doori are awesome as heck, Rose thought as she passed out.

***

Prince Everyn was a lot happier than he’d been an hour ago. When he first saw the explosions out to sea, he thought he’d missed his chance to be the glorious hero of his homeland.

He had silently cursed whoever had stolen his thunder, despite being somewhat thankful that they had come to the defense of Fairwater Bay. None of his followers had known his thoughts of course, as that would be poor leadership.

So when he’d carved one of the two intact ships in half, thanks to the immense momentum the charging war-doori generated, he’d been ecstatic. Not because he’d sent hundreds of the invaders to a watery death, but because he realised the battle was far from won.

In the distance he’d spotted Commodore Foulter—it could only be him, due to the excessive quantities of frozen water he saw—fighting against what looked like… a teenage girl?

Or at least he thought so. It was difficult to tell, because he soon realised that the commodore’s opponent was rapidly being turned into a frozen statue. Which in a rather twisted way, made Everyn even happier.

Not only would he get to participate in the battle, he would even get to arrive at the perfect moment. A heroic entrance worthy of his grandeur.

He urged his doori onwards, pushing more energy through its body to help it stay stable as it charged across the ocean. In a strange way, the bovines were perfectly suited for this task.

They’d evolved to walk in the steep, rocky hills of the Emerlan Isle. As such they had a natural ability to use the tiny amount of arcane energy they possessed in order to maintain their balance.

Naturally, improving that ability through selective breeding and training was one of the core principles the royal family kept to over the years. That cumulative effort through generations was showing its worth now as the colossal beast and muscle bound prince tore across the waves.

The commodore finally took notice of them as they drew nearer but he didn’t remove his hand from the girl’s chest. The reason was clear; she was nearly dead.

Everyn clenched his jaw. No matter how much his pride had been wounded by not being the first to arrive, he would not allow a hero of his homeland who had fought for their people to die such an ignoble death.

He raised his sword in both hands, his grip tight and unyielding as he approached his foe. He stood up in his stirrups, his balance unaffected by the shaky footholds. He had trained for this.

He was born to be a hero.

The massive war-doori slightly altered its course at the last moment, swerving to rush right past the commodore. Just as planned.

Right as Everyn passed Commodore Foulter, he swung his mighty greatsword with all his strength, imbuing the blade with his arcane energy. The edge was deadly, sharp enough to slice through a steel wall.

But right before it could carve the bastard in twain, Commodore Foulter removed his hand from the fully frozen girl and smirked. “The little prince has joined the party, how exciting,” he sneered.

Right before his blade cut through, a wall of ice exploded out from the commodore’s hand to block. Everyn’s sword smashed into the ice, carving through most of it but not quite all the way.

Unfortunately, while he’d been stopped in his tracks, his doori continued to charge. The beast ran past the commodore and the prince was forced to leap off and land awkwardly on the sea.

He just about kept hold of his blade. He scowled fiercely at his foe as the wall of ice cracked and fell into the churning waves.

“A bold attempt, but you’re not even a match for this little brat,” the commodore said, drawing his cutlass. “What gave you the guts to face me, Everyn?”

Everyn clenched his teeth. This bastard wasn’t showing him any damn respect. He was the damn crown prince of the Emerlan Isle!

The prince wouldn’t be satisfied until Commodore Foulter was kneeling at his feet, begging for mercy. But first he would need to cut him down to size.

Without delay he raised his sword and stepped forward in the same fluid motion, not giving the annoying bastard time to insult him again. The blade hummed with arcane power as it carved through the air, Everyn’s gaze focused on his target.

This time he held nothing back. He intended to sever Foulter’s head in a single clean slash. Right before his sword cut into the man’s flesh however, a spear of ice burst from beneath their feet and smacked his blade off target.

In that same instant, the commodore took advantage of his open guard and punched Everyn in the gut. The force behind the blow wasn’t that heavy, but he felt tiny needles of ice pierce his flesh as the commodore’s knuckles smashed into his skin.

That didn’t do much either… with a single punch. But Every refused to back down.