Fritz ignored the jarring notes coming from below and continued climbing the stone cliff face. His graceful hands easily found the handholds and he pulled himself up, breathing in time with the thrumming beat of the enchanting melody. Something twisted and turned in the back of his mind, but he added that sensation to the things he was already ignoring.
Nothing mattered but reaching the peak of this tall pillar and finding the singers. He needed to see them, behold them, up close. He was sweating from the endeavour, his hands ached and he would have been panting if he wasn't still holding his breath. He persevered, redoubling his efforts, afraid the singers would flee or fly away before he got to see them with his own eyes.
In the shadow of the bent branches of a small tree, stuck out at an angle from the peak's plateau, he crested the last ridge and almost gasped when he saw the singers.
They were beautiful, their chests and thighs were bare, their smooth skins shaded in hues from alabaster to oak, and anything in between. Lovely faces, regal, pointed, with yellow or blue eyes as bright and intense as a hawk's. Those wonderful eyes weren't looking his way, engrossed as they were in their weaving. That was fortunate, he thought. He didn't know what he would do if one of their gazes locked on his, he would likely be struck as still as a statue.
What captured him most of all, was the song, their song, that they sang to each other as they wove the handfuls of seafoam they scooped from driftwood baskets. That song was still pulling at him, drawing him closer as he slipped around the tree's gnarled trunk, hiding and watching the sirens work. His own Dusksong complimented the rhythmic hypnotic tones, but couldn't hope to match their peerless voices and the clarity of their high, soothing notes.
The wonderful, rapturous song continued and he prepared to step forward and introduce himself to the beautiful monsters. However, something caught his eye, not their unblemished skin but their hair, it had an odd texture. Not braided but.. feathered? The twisting feeling in the back of his mind pushed at him again, and the world spun for a second. He focused on the strange feeling and found it slipped into the forefront of his thoughts.
Enchanting. Sirens. Song. Monsters.
Fritz stared harder at the women, this time not with appreciation, but with suspicion, squinting as though he were trying to see through a sheet of rain. Something creaked in his mind then there was a crack and his vision misted, then changed.
Insistent incongruities he had been ignoring were evident in an instant. The creatures before him weren't women and they weren't naked. They were covered in feathers in similar hues to their previous glamour, save their strange too human, yet still beastly, heads and arms. They had wings sprouting from their backs and long, yellow-scaled legs that ended in four vicious black talons. Skilled hands with cruel nails wove the seafoam into strands of glittering silk and hung them from the branches of another tree.
Fritz immediately slunk backwards behind the trunk of his own tree, and wondered why he was up here and where his team was. His palms felt raw and his arms ached. He soon realised what had happened and nearly slapped himself for his idiocy. He should have been more prepared, should have focused his mind far before he had got within hearing distance of the siren song. Peering over the cliff he saw his team still gathered at the bottom of the island, waiting for him to return, and thankfully unaffected by the siren's enchanting voices and their song's enthralling notes.
Fritz had to stop himself from sighing in relief at the sight of his friends, safe as they were. Though he wondered why they didn't find themselves climbing as he had. Were they just less sustainable to the influence? Did his, still humming, Dusksong cause him to be caught up in the enchantment easier? Maybe. Though he suspected that his powerful senses had been more to blame than his faerie magic. It was a subtle weakness of Perception, but a weakness nonetheless.
Pulling himself free of his ruminations, Fritz considered his current predicament. Luckily he hadn't been noticed as he had instinctively stayed in the shadow of the tree he now lurked behind, his Cloak of Dusk obscuring his presence. What should he do? Fight them alone? Could he slay some and drive the others off without his team's aid? With his new defensive Passive, he felt sure he could make an excellent showing of his skill. Though it might drain him terribly, that and sliding into shadow was an uncomfortable, bitterly cold ordeal.
For now, Fritz decided to wait and watch for a while longer while he drew his plans against these bird-like foes. And if he saw an opportunity he would leap on it like a starving blight hound. He made to motion at his team as he poked his head and hand over the cliff and found that they couldn't see him, likely due to his Cloak of Dusk. He was loath to suppress the power lest he reveal himself to the monsters, so he settled on another course of action.
Picking up a pebble he used his bone blade to carve a message, the glyph for safe on one side and wait on the other. It was surprisingly easy to get the lines right enough to be legible and he smirked at his small triumph. He dropped his stone signal to his team, who startled when it clacked on the rock in the midst of where they were standing.
Bert picked up the pebble, read both its sides and quickly whispered something he couldn't hear then raised his arm and gave a thumbs up. The team seemed to relax and sit or lean against the cliff, a sure a sign as any that they understood his orders. With his team's fear allayed for now, Fritz turned back to the monsters behind.
There were six sirens, one for each of his team, and they seemed to sense something was amiss even if they were unsure of what troubled them. Maybe it had been the clack of the pebble's fall or perhaps it was just instinct that had alerted them. Often one would stop weaving and stare around warily before another would nudge it, and chidingly trill at it to resume its task.
Why they wove the silk who could say, they didn't seem to wear any of it, content to have their feathery hides keep them warm on these mild peaks. Soon Fritz's interest in watching the sirens waned and he almost wished he could see their lovely illusory forms again. He shook his head, the thought was unbecoming of a gallant gentleman like himself.
Soon one of the stick racks of siren silk creaked with the weight of the gleaming threads. Two of the sirens stopped their work and each began piling the thread into primitive baskets. They leapt, then flapped their wings and hovered for a moment. Gripping the basket's thick handles with their talons, they soon took to the sky. Fritz's hair was ruffled by the sudden gusts from their wings and he watched them as they flew towards a tall pillar of stone about a mile away from the large island where he had sensed the Stairway.
When he searched the sky he could see another pair of sirens carrying baskets toward the same pillar. An interesting, if vexing, development. It seemed the true riches may be stored some distance away from the escape route. It became a choice. They could raid the pillar for the hoarded silks, or they could simply kill sirens and loot what they were weaving in the moment. Though something about that plan didn't sit right with his thief's heart. That, and he got the impression that maybe there was more to the making of sirensilk than just those long and wonderful lines of gossamer.
Making his decision, he clambered down the sheer slope to inform his allies of his ideas, and perhaps hear their thoughts on the matter.
Fritz slipped into view as he left the shadows, and his team greeted him with nods and waves.
"What did you see?" Cal asked eagerly.
"Why did you ignore us and start climbing without warning us first?" Lauren added huffily.
"Sirens," Fritz stated. "As for ignoring you, I may have been caught up in their song due to my much-refined hearing. Fear not, I was able to break its spell on me, and now I should be able to notice its sonorous seductions far sooner."
"What did they look like?" Bert asked eagerly.
"Like bird ladies," Fritz said with a sigh, then he regaled them with his observations, and how they had woven the thread and flown it away. He pointed to the large pillar of stone that was seemingly serving as some kind of repository.
"You said it was just threads?" Lauren asked.
Fritz nodded.
"Well, maybe they weave it into bolts of silk cloth there?" Lauren theorised.
"Could be true," Fritz allowed. "The question is: are we happy just picking off sirens and gathering the thread or do we want to try to raid this supposed silk vault?"
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"Do we have an escape route?" George asked sensibly, putting the damper on the team's greed.
"I believe the Stairway is on that larger island, there," Fritz said with a vague wave. "I propose we raid the silk, stuff what we can in our packs. Then start a commotion, or say, start a fire and use the ensuing distraction to make our way to the Stairway."
"Shouldn't we at least test ourselves against the monsters, so we know what we're up against?" George asked.
"Might give our presence away," Lauren said.
"We're likely to be spot-" Bert began before he frowned and turned around. A sweet song drifted on the wind, enticing and entreating Fritz to look its way.
There a hundred feet across the sea on a section of jutting stones were three women. They were beautiful and each waved their arm in the air in greeting, their mouths open and calling for the team to swim to them. Fritz had felt the song before and recognised its enchanting effect. Immediately, he embraced that twisting in the back of his mind and pushed with it. The world wobbled for a second and his compromised senses rioted before being restored to reality.
Fritz cursed himself, they had been caught off guard and none had yet taken the remedy meant to help them. Neither had they deafened themselves with the earplugs of cloth they had fashioned the night before. He should've insisted they do so as soon as they started swimming from one island to another.
After shaking his head, he quickly seized Bert's shoulder and shook him. His friend had begun to walk towards the sea with one of the widest grins Fritz had ever seen plastered on his face.
"Fritz, you fool, stop shaking me! There are some bare beauties in need of help," Bert exclaimed, scowling as Fritz tried to spin him away. "They've even lost their clothes, how terrible!"
"Yes, we must help them at once!" Lauren said loudly, her eyes wide and an eager smile on her face as she stared at the singing sirens. "I can't countenance leaving such lovely ladies in such a delicate state."
Cal looked on mouth agape, nearly salivating, while Rosie and George stared on in mild confusion and placid calm. His whole team had been captured by the soft, song before he could even blink.
"Bert, focus and take your tonic. All of you! Take the damn tonic!" Fritz commanded. His words registered but they all soon turned back to staring at the sirens. Bert even went so far as to shake Fritz's hand off his shoulder and step forward into the sea.
Fritz pulled on his humming Dusksong, though not to use one of his Abilities and forced it into his voice, hoping to give it a jarring cadence that broke through the song's just for a second.
"Take the tonic!" He repeated, his tone taking on a keening hiss that startled them out of their dazed states. Bert stopped in his tracks and his hand went to his now furrowed brow. Closing his eyes, he groaned, like he was recovering from a long night of heavy drinking.
George frowned and his hand went to his pouch and took out the vial filled with a pale green liquid that was said to help with confusion. Rosie soon followed. They each grimaced as they drank, but soon their eyes cleared and they shook their heads, banishing the enrapturing music and seeing the sirens for what they were.
The only two who ignored Fritz's command and kept moving were Lauren and Cal, trudging forward as if sleepwalking.
"Bert, grab Cal and feed him the tonic! George, same for Lauren," Fritz ordered as he sloughed off his pack and pulled the raider's quiver from it, slinging it over his shoulder and preparing to retrieve the bow from its hidden space.
His team acted slowly as if moving through mud and fog, while they had mostly shaken off the song it had still left them disorientated. Bert seized Cal by the arm and dragged him back from the sea while George stood between Lauren and the sirens while he scrambled for another of the vials.
Shadows flitted overhead and with a gust of air and a terrible shriek, four sirens landed, surrounding him and his team. One was coloured like a dove with pure white feathers and pale skin. Another appeared more like an eagle with tawny feathers and tanned arms and face. The next resembled a seagull, all greys and whites, and the last a storm hawk, dark of feather and complexion with those same lightning blue eyes.
Razor talons and sharp nails tore out at Fritz. He could already feel bloody slices cut through his flesh and he dodged backwards with his preternatural grace and prodigious foresight, foiling the swift raking assault. He abandoned his previous plan and stepped forward, drawing Quicksilver upward in a glittering arc, severing an all-too-human arm and bisecting the tawny wing behind. Bloody feathers fell and the siren screeched in fear and surprise. In its retreat, it tripped over a jutting stone, then toppled into the ocean where it writhed in the current pulling it away.
He turned to the next monster only to see that although he was unharmed his team weren't so lucky. Bert's arm, raised to block, burst with blood as the pale siren's nails carved through his Tough Skin and caught on bone. He grunted, but instantly replied to the monster's blow with a right hook, roiling with nigh invisible waves. The punch caught the siren on the cheek and swept it off its taloned feet. It was flung sideways with immense force, straight into the cliff where it impacted with a sound reminiscent of cracking an egg.
Sever screamed and the dark siren shrieked with it as its body was cleaved in half vertically by George's copper greatsword. He wiped the blood from his eye, a gash on his forehead spilling red down his face.
The last of the remaining beasts pressed long nails into Lauren's shoulders and attempted to drag her into the ocean. She barely resisted as confusion and pain alighted on her face as she frowned at the hands digging into her and the blood trickling down them.
"Ow, stop! Unhand me!" Lauren cried.
The siren seemed to smile, baring its fangs like those of a shark, if much smaller. When Lauren began to thrash and try to throw the siren off it made to bite her neck, only to be met with the flash and roar of sudden flame. The siren was immolated, its feathers the perfect fuel for Lauren's clinging fire. It barely got to shriek and stagger back before it screamed into a conflagration and its body blackened before their very eyes.
With the four monsters close by dealt with, Fritz stared to the island for the ones who had been singing and had distracted them enough for the ambush. The singers had disappeared and he quickly looked up to see them diving. They were dark shadows against the blue sky, swooping with talons outstretched.
"Duck!" Fritz ordered as he himself stood tall to trick them into targeting him rather than his team. A stupid proposition for a Scout normally, but with his Danger Sense he had full confidence in dodging the swiftly approaching talons. His team obeyed throwing themselves at the stone.
As they dove the sirens screeched in unison, the high notes rattling his ribs and unexpected terror blooming in his chest at the soul-piecing wail. He fast threw off the fear and readied himself to slip past the strikes.
Fritz could feel the talon coming, splitting his shoulder and scoring the bone. The wind whooshed as a siren passed him in a flicker of feathers. He had thought that he would be able to dodge, but the slicing strike came too swiftly. Fritz found himself immersed in a bleak chill as he shifted into shadow, his Umbral Phase activating as a talon slid through his body as if he were a shade.
Spinning, Fritz tried to slash the beast as if flew by, but in that moment his blade was just as insubstantial as he was and didn't so much as part its plumage. The other two sirens darted by in quick succession. Sparks flew as one of their talons struck Rosie's helm with a clang. The other beast let out a cry as it thumped into Bert. He had leapt for it and its long claws buried themselves into his flesh.
The siren tried to escape but found its talons stuck within the madman. He grinned bloodily and spat red into its eyes as he spun, throwing it at the ground and landing on top of it. The beast's bones broke from the brutal maneuver and it soon died when Bert's fist came down on its head in a solid hammer blow, shattering its skull.
The two untouched sirens wheeled around in the air, coming back for a second swoop. Bert made to stand but found the monster he had recently killed was stuck to him, its claws still hooked in his flesh, and talons buried deep.
Fritz rapidly planned as he turned to face the next assault.
"Lauren get up and use your ring on my mark," Fritz ordered. "Then let loose. Everyone else, stay down!"
Lauren nodded, frowning but steeling her resolve and watching the beast's swift approach.
"Now!" Fritz cried activating his own ring in tandem.
The protective second-skins, his nearly invisible and hers of made water, slipped into place and within a heartbeat the talons collided with their barriers.
Fritz was more ready this time and timed his slash nearly perfectly, hacking a wing right off the siren that had targeted him while a flash of flame billowed over the one focusing on Lauren. The de-winged beast tumbled out of the air and the other went up like an oily rag and joined its kin crashing into the sea.
With the last sirens dying or drowning the shrieking had been silenced, leaving them in a sudden lull filled only with sizzling and the slapping of waves against stone.
"Yeouch," Bert yelled as he tore the siren's claws and talons from his chest and dumped the broken body on the ground. His wounds bled freely but already the flow was beginning to slow.
"Everyone okay?" Fritz asked, looking over his team as they also searched the area for foes.
There was a chorus of yes's and Lauren grumbled under her breath and winced as she prodded the holes in her shoulder with a finger.
"These better not scar," she groused, pulling a tin of healing grease from her pouch and applying it liberally.
"I'm sure the Well will deal with it," Fritz said assuredly, throwing Bert another tin of the grease as he slathered the last of his own tin on a wound that went almost all the way through his side.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay, Bert?" George asked. "Those gashes look mighty vicious."
"I'll be fine. Take care of that cut on your head before worrying about me," Bert replied with a wan grin.
The man did so and after the team piled the non-charred or lost-at-sea sirens in a pile.
"Look a bit different without the illusion," Cal said sheepishly.
"Far less alluring," Lauren observed.
"Less naked you mean," Rosie stated with an attempt at a smirk.
Lauren flushed minutely, but ignored the comment, instead explaining, "Apparently, the feathers are worth something. Though I'm not sure I have the stomach to pluck them."
"Don't you dare say a thing," Fritz said, cutting Bert off before he said something improper.
"I wasn't going to say anything," he replied innocently, which only made him sound more guilty.
"I'll do it," Rosie offered. "Pluck them, I mean. Won't be too hard, they're just big seagulls. With odd hands and heads."
"Yes, of course," Fritz agreed, kneeling down with Rosie as she started to tear feathers from the tawny siren. "We should take what we can."
With that the team got to work, although Lauren had been somewhat right, their human-like features did make him a little queasy as they stripped the feathers. However Rosie had been even more correct, they weren't human and shared very little resemblance to people without their illusion. Even their faces, on closer inspection, looked wrong, far too avian. They were thin, almost skin and bone underneath their plumage, without the smoothness or curves of their disguises.
They were monsters through and through and bore far more resemblance to birds than he had suspected. Though there was still some uneasiness, made even more apparent by Bert not suggesting that they cook the sirens up for lunch. Fritz supposed that was a step too far, for everyone.
Soon they had three small sacks stuffed with feathers, and Fritz checked the island's peak for silk threads. Finding none he climbed back down. With the grizzly work all done, they flung the sirens into the sea and discussed what to do next.
"Are we still all for robbing them of their silk? Now that we've fought them and have some of their measure?" Fritz asked.
The team nodded and agreed.
"I'll have them pay me back for these wounds," Lauren said, glaring into the distance. "And scar-erasing cream can cost a fortune."
"It is lucky, then, that they possess a fortune," Fritz said. "Let's go pillage that pillar and steal those silks."