“Get ready.” Jimbo gulped as his arm reeled back to throw the mysterious artifact. As soon as it left his hand there was a click from beside him, and the heavy mechanism in Cira’s hand kachunked.
“Jimbo.” Screams ensued from the royal gunmen’s side as a feathered hat hit the floor along with one of their captains, a thick steel bolt stuck halfway through his collar. Blood poured from his wound as the surrounding armored men dropped their guns and scrambled to apply emergency aid. “Quickly.”
Cira held her crossbow out and he loaded up another heavy bolt at her command, “Holy shit, you got the—” Jimbo was cut off by a shattering impact as the cove was bathed in light from the direction he threw the bomb in and recoiled to shield his eyes, “Gah, what the—”
Click. “Another!” Cira had no time to dally as screams erupted from further down the cove again. Another man dropped, this time impaled clean through the hip. He cried out in pain as he hit the ground, demanding those around him help.
The explosion of light receded slowly back toward its origin and the advancing frontliners still stood with their muskets against their shoulders, but visibly dazed.
“God damn, Dreadheart.” The ranks behind the front line fell into disarray as two of three captains were down. Many swarmed to protect the last as he barked orders to find the sniper. There was a new group of gunmen forming at his command with their barrels turned to the patch of foliage Cira and Jimbo hid within.
The one with steel through his hip fired a pistol, screaming into the cliffside while he bled out on the wood planks. His bullets pinged off the rocks to Cira’s left and right with scary accuracy and Jimbo complained, “Why not kill him at this point? The bastard just gave us away.”
“Three of their captains,” click, “Require serious medical attention. If they’re playing at royalty, I'm sure they’ll care to do something about that. A great deal of their manpower is wasted while their chain of command has been dissolved.”
About ten seconds passed since the bomb went off and the veil of light had dwindled to a point and faded away, revealing six legless men on the boardwalk, half of them were still conscious and writhed on the ground while Cira’s crew ran up and scooped their rifles off the ground. She winced when one of them turned the gun around and stabbed a bayonet right through the black and gold armor.
Dammit… I knew it would come to this. Who’s to say those captains will even survive the wounds I personally inflicted anyway? And how many of my men are already dead?
The Stick Brigade was dumbfounded by their sudden sorcerous support, but as soon as they could see again and stopped panicking, they took advantage of the situation, a few of them stopping to look at the deep horizontal cuts in the surrounding rocks and gash in their barricade.
“At a point, ya know,” Jimbo said, “After you make enough cripples, I think it’s worse than killin' ‘em outright.”
The royal gunner’s legs were all severed at the knee and cauterized from the light, so the ones who weren’t conscious to resist were spared the bayonet and ignored. Of course, their armor was valuable, so Cira had no way of knowing their fates once they were dragged behind the barricade.
Cira couldn’t look away, but she also couldn’t keep staring and turned to Jimbo with a scowl, “You don’t have to tell me that. This is not what I wanted to do when I woke up this—” A bullet whizzed past her face and embedded itself into a tree trunk beside her.
“We gotta go,” Jimbo turned serious again and pulled her through the thicket. Her crutch almost slipped out of her hand as she hopped behind him on her left foot, practically throwing the crossbow over her shoulder. “We can get to the armory from the roof.”
Cira liked the sound of that but couldn’t expect it to be anything like her own. “Let go, you fool, I’m gonna fall!” She yanked her hand away and managed to keep most of her speed as she slipped and started sliding down the hill with the crutch as a makeshift rutter—it was all she could do not to fall on her ass. Bullets whizzed past them and took out plants or scattered pebbles into the air while they made the short dash to the nearby building. The terrain was steep and rocky as Cira regained her footing and they passed a short switchback to the end.
“You’ll have to jump. Get ready.” Jimbo pushed a hanging branch out of the way and bounded off the ledge, rolling over his side onto the wooden rooftop below. “Come on!”
Good grief. Cira shook her head with a sigh and took a leap of faith, tossing her crutch in mid-air and trying to roll off her good foot once she hit, only to hurtle into the hard roof anyway. “Urgh… cursed clouds, I haven’t felt this much pain since the other day.” Cira wheezed on her back while Jimbo hastily pulled her up.
“No time to cry, we’re moving.”
“I’m not crying!” She huffed, puffed, and hobbled back up with her crutch. There was a square hatch opened up that led to the room below and he practically pushed her down it, “Hey, what the hell?”
She managed to keep from falling on her face, but it was another tumble into the armory. Jimbo hopped down right after her and closed the hatch on his way. Looking around, there were swords on their racks and guns piled up in the corner. “Didn’t even give ‘em time to make it here.” Jimbo shook his head at the senseless invasion. They had likely started firing from the air and immediately threw the hideout into a panic.
“You have a good way out of here, right?” They could hear bullets hitting the walls outside and after only a few seconds the clanging of swords started against the door.
“Course I do, now grab what you need. I’ll throw some bundles together for the guys.”
Cira looked first to the swords. They all looked much the same, but the ones she picked up had minor variations in weight. None were worth much money or had any effects, but of the few with sharp edges she picked the one that felt the most like Tide Quencher in her hand. It was a cutlass this time, and she thought its broad blade fit the Dreadheart theme a little better than the saber she settled on before. It even had a curly hand guard that looped over her fingers.
“Okay, then… How about guns?” Cira saw a slingshot as well with spiked balls next to it in a bowl, but that would be impossible to operate with a crutch. No, slingshots weren’t the right choice—she had been enjoying her upgrade to crossbows. Guns were a foreign object to her, though. She had a basic understanding of how they worked but hadn’t even seen schematics for one before.
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From her knowledge, the most rudimentary ones were the biggest pain to operate. She had seen Wick’s men outside pouring powder down the barrel and packing it down, and while the flintlock pistols seemed marginally easier to deal with, the whole process was unwieldy. Cira looked around disheartened as she saw only guns of similar make.
“Hey, they make guns that hold multiple shots, right?” Cira asked in between the loud blasts and clanging from outside, “You got any of those?”
“Like a revolver or something?” He shook his head and Cira frowned, “Not unless you want a flare gun. Repeatin' weapons are easy enough to steal but keepin’ the ammo on hand is tough. You don’t see ‘em much around here.”
I guess pirates aren’t much for industry then. Checks out. “Fine, then. Help me load like six of these.”
“Seriously—ah, course you are. Gimme a sec.” He used his arm to shovel a pile of pistols off a table and into a burlap sack with an embroidered potato on it. There were a few similar sacks full of weapons by this point and Jimbo spent a minute or so getting Cira locked and loaded. She holstered them all under her coat, two layers of three on her right side to be grabbed by her free hand. They were neither comfortable nor inconspicuous, but they would come in handy. Next, Cira got her new sword situated on her waist.
“What’s your plan to get out of here?” The sounds coming from the door were like the men of Heron Village felling a tree. Eventually their blades would chop right through and reach them.
“The door’s rigged to blow.” He said with a smug grin like it was some brilliant plan, “We’ll run over to our guys under cover of the smoke.”
“That’s your plan?!” She stared at him aghast.
“You got a better one?” There were heavy footsteps on the roof now and more clattering of swords from the hatch above them. “I’m all ears.”
Without a better idea this time, Cira bit her lip in frustration, “Let’s get on with it then.”
Jimbo weighed himself down with sacks full of guns slung over his shoulders and carefully approached the door to grabb a spool of twine and unwound it across the floor. Holding the end in his hand, he lit a match and set it alight before resting it back on the floor. They were trapped like rats as the sounds of slashing swords got louder still. They heard the door splinter and a bullet whizzed past them into the back wall. A small beam of daylight shot through the room as the fuse burned across the floor at a snail’s pace.
There were only a few more feet until it reached the door and Jimbo turned back and covered himself, “You might want to look out. And be ready to run for it.”
Cira hid inside her coat, only peeking out a little bit to watch the fuse make the final stretch to where it disappeared into the door. Are there explosives inside the door? Was this Jimbo’s genius idea or Don’s from long ago…?
“Shit!” Jimbo was alarmed and turned to the door with wide eyes, “Why isn’t it—Gyahh!!”
As soon as he doubted the rigged door it went off, probably burning his eyes if not sending shrapnel into them while Cira untucked herself safely from her coat, “You idiot!”
Even I know to be cautious with explosives. Cira pulled Jimbo into the black smoke of fresh flames hopping on one foot until he gained his bearings. She was blinded by the shroud of smoke and nearly tripped pushing her crutch into what she assumed to be a wounded person in the doorway.
“Hurry!” Jimbo pulled ahead and dragged her in the right direction.
“Fire!” Cira heard a shout from the royals' side and a volley of gunfire went off. Some hit the armory they escaped while others shot right past her. She heard Jimbo grunt, almost losing sight of him before they began to reach the edge of the smoke.
“Those bastards got our captains! Don’t let them get away! Fire!” Another command came right before more shots went off and Cira felt a searing pain in her arm, causing her to stumble to her knees which was a whole ‘nother pain she didn’t have time for.
”Shit!” She looked down and saw blood begin to pour, but it was more like a slash along her bicep. It only grazed me. I can tough it out for a few minutes. The amount of blood coming out was a concern, as it had become far more precious to Cira as of late, but she’d seen worse. “Who the hell is shouting orders over there?”
She took a pistol in her free hand and tried to look back as they scuttled away but the smoke hadn’t fully cleared yet. All she saw were the shrouded barrels of the enemies’ guns and their steadily marching feet. Cira and Jimbo were closer to the barricade now and rifles sounded off again as bullets flew right over their heads. This time from the other direction.
Support had finally come for them, “Cap’n, we’ve got your backs!” Cira looked up and was surprised to see another familiar face. Was his name Tom? I was wondering where the last man was. He drank with them at Milty’s and readily joined the deritium raid. It was the last member of James’ crew.
Two unfamiliar pirates emerged from behind the barricade with rifles trained behind them, “Hurry up, we got you!” A man in stripes waved them on and pulled Jimbo in when they got close, “Shit, the captain’s been shot!”
“Oh, it’s not…” Cira was going to assure them it was no big deal but trailed off when she realized they weren’t talking about her at all. As they ripped the bags of weapons off Jimbo and sat him down, her eyes went wide and she watched a thick trail of blood soak through his shirt, leading from his chest. “J-Jimbo! Shit, shit, shit!”
Cira rushed to put pressure on the wound, pulling some fabric from her severed sleeves out of a coat pocket and pressing it down. Wait. How is it any different if Jimbo dies? Many lifeless bodies of pirates who claimed the Dreadheart banner laid around her. The docks were stained with their blood, and she could see it pouring through the cracks only to disappear into the clouds.
I’ve basically killed them all with my own two hands, haven’t I? What right do I have to get upset about one in particular? Just because we’ve had some fun and he’s helped me out a lot. Does it make me a terrible person to care more about his life than the piles of bodies around me? I just… don’t want him to die. Is that so wrong?
Jimbo looked up with a truly frightened expression and spoke softly to her, “that face you're makin' is kinda freakin’ me out.” Cira’s eye twitched. “I’m real flattered that you care ‘bout me so much, but I got strong bones. Bounced right off.” He winked and gave her a shit-eating grin as blood soaked the fabric, continuing to pour right through the floor.
Cira scoffed and reeled back, gaining her composure, “Don’t give me that shit, you moron! If you’re so damn tough, why don’t you burn it shut?” While her cheeks flushed in embarrassment, she reached into a pouch at her waist and pulled out a knife with a small crimson jewel beset in its pommel before handing it to Jimbo. “Here you go, prick. Only needs a little mana.”
Aside from Tom laughing, they all looked at her like she was crazy. The one that pulled him in earlier spoke up, “Hey, Captain. Who’s this broad?”
“Watch your mouth, idiots.” He readied the knife and Cira watched it start to glow then removed the rag, tossing it away. Blood gurgled from the wound until Jimbo pressed the blade firmly into his skin. He winced as his skin sizzled and the burnt odor that filled the air was less than pleasant. “This here’s Captain Dreadheart. The two of us came to bail you boys out.”
Cira took the knife from him while it was still hot and pressed the other side into her graze wound. The others all blinked at her in disbelief, starting with the first man in stripes, “Seriously…? Her?”
Another younger man piped up behind him, “I expected her to be way bigger.” Cira eyed him with confusion until a third with dark hair spoke up.
“I’d say she’s plenty big if you know what I—” Smack!
“I said watch your mouths! This is no time for games.” Jimbo’s scolding was cut short as another volley of bullets pounded their barricade, “We need to turn this around. How about a few words from the captain?”
He turned to her and so did any other pirate within earshot. The barricade led to an enclosure and now she could see at least forty or fifty pirates that were scrambling to figure out what to do with nothing but a sword at their waist when they stopped to hear her speak.
Jimbo sneered while Cira could only sigh at all of their awe-stricken faces.
“I-it’s her!”
“The scourge of Uru!”
“I’ll never forget that face as long as I live!”
Oh, please do… Cira lamented.
Evidently many had either heard of her exploits or witnessed them with their own eyes down in the deritium chamber. Now Cira held their rapt attention and there was nothing she could do about it. What am I even supposed to say? The odds aren't exactly in our favor here.
“Men.” They all shuddered at the illustrious pirate’s cold tone, hanging on her next words. “We’ve lost too many already. Grab some weapons and don’t let me catch any of you dying today.”