Chapter 32: The Ship Breaks (Part 1!)

A combined effort can stop any evil force. Well, as long as the evil force is a little bitch.

“Go!” They yelled, starling the soldier, causing him to drop his sword to the ground. Vega rushed at him with her pickaxe, jumping high and swinging down. He stumbled backward as Vega’s strike hit the wooden floor. She tried to wrench it out, but was struggling.

“You’re kidding? Whatever. Take this!” Skaldi shouted, throwing three quick knives at the soldier. He picked up his sword and blocked the first two. However, the last struck his thigh. Falling onto his knee, he struggled to stand up.

As Vega kept trying to pull the pickaxe, the soldier swung at her. She blocked it with her metal arm, sliding back from the impact.

“Don’t worry Vega. Watch this!” Skaldi threw all of his knives, in a whirlwind of iron and edges. And all of the knives missed. In fact, they all hit Vega.

“...I’m still watching!” Vega said with encouragement. The soldier pushed on his knee, finally standing up.

“~Son of a bitch!~” As he cursed, Skaldi hopped onto the soldier’s back, grabbing him with his arms and legs.

“Sleepy time.” The elf pulled at his neck.

“What are ya doing?” Vega beckoned, very much confused.

“~What the fuck are you doing?~”

“Shut up. I’m trying something.” Skaldi twisted at the neck of the soldier, but he wasn’t budging.

“Wait… are ya trying to choke him?”

“~Wait, he's trying to choke me!~” The soldier said while laughing.

“Shut up you two!”

“~Haha! That’s hilarious.~” The soldier didn’t even seem inconvenienced by Skaldi’s attempts.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure ya got this. I believe in ya.” Vega assured while pulling out Skaldi’s throwing knives.

“~Is this real or is this a joke?~”

“Do ya-ya need help or-?”

“I got it!” Skaldi used his elbow this time.

“~Nope! He does not got it!~” The soldier swung his body against the wall, splating Skaldi against it. “~He does not got it.~”

“Damn it…”

“~Haha. Alright, give up man.~” The soldier aimed his sword at Skaldi's eye. The elf held his hands up, and his brows bent down.

“Okay. I could use a little help, scarecrow.” He turned his head to the left, trying to face Vega.

“Don’t worry! I got this!” Vega heaved the mermaid into her arms and seemed like she was going to throw directly at the two before her.

“Wait!”

“~Wait wait wait!~” Both Skaldi and the soldier tried to negotiate with Vega’s plan of attack. Skaldi because he didn’t want to cause any undue harm. And the soldier because he didn’t want to damage the cargo.

“Don’t worry-worry Skaldi, I’m perfectly equipped for this situation.” Vega responded quickly, as her feet wobbled on the floor.

“I don’t think you are!”

“~Please don’t damage the cargo. I’ve been saving up for buying a slave, like, at a really good price!~”

“I think I am!” The scarecrow yelled as she swung the mermaid at the two, flying through the air. The redhead dove to the ground, narrowly missing a collision with the very much confused mermaid.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Did I say the mermaid was conscious and aware the whole time?

Because it was.

The tail of the mermaid struck at the belly of the soldier, causing him to yelp out a sort of honking.

“~Hounk!~” Yeah like that.

“Touchdown!” Vega congratulated herself. The soldier rose up, carrying his stomach in his arms.

“~Hmph. You’ll pay for that!~”

“Whatever balta guitin ous is, we don’t know what the fuck it means!” Skaldi screamed while sprinting at the soldier, tackling him again into the ground. Grabbing one of his arms, Skaldi used his off hand to punch the face of the soldier.

Crunch!

“Ouch! Ouch! Ouch ouch…” Skaldi punch managed to deal himself damage. Because… the soldier was wearing a helmet.

“Hold on! Let me try.” Vega scooted beside Skaldi, who was still massaging his knuckles.

Crunch!

“Oh, that’s not-not good.” The scarecrow’s punch shattered her left hand. She was fine, in a good mood actually, but the soldier didn’t seem to get closer to being knocked out.

“~I don’t get paid enough to deal with this.~” The soldier tried to push the two off, but the two just ended up curb stomping him into being unconscious. A lot less heroic takedown, but a takedown regardless.

Skaldi breathed hard and fast. Vega finished the rescue using her remaining hand. The elf, surrounded by a pool of his own sweat, wiped his eye with the back of his palm.

“...I’m starting to think-think we should train…”

“You think?” Skaldi chuckled out. “Hell, if the other guys got here, we would have been finished.”

“Sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.” Skaldi instinctually replied, sort of amazed by his quick reaction. He chose his next words carefully. “I got problems. You got problems. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be fixed.” He finished and sucked air through gritted teeth.

“Speaking of problems, how are we-we gonna get out?”

“What?” Skaldi didn’t quite hear what Vega had said.

“It’s nothing. I think I got something…” The scarecrow muttered to herself, looking at the soldier’s outfit…

After much carsouling, singing, and retelling the tales of the great Amir, that very same Amir wanted to go to sleep and never wake up.

Florato and Valiato, holding each close, felt very alone and very scared. Amir, pushing through the crowd of sailors and soldiers, took a seat beside them. Having the expression of a man ready to go to bed, Amir leaned on them both, as one would to a couch.

“~Don’t complain, all will be explained later.~” He closed his eyes in a sort of mournful way. The girl wasn’t keen on arguing with her father but Florato held a silent conspiracy. Was Amir really the adopted son of Ani Arma? She couldn’t confirm her suspensions just yet, so all she could do was wait for the sabotage to finish.

“Hey-hey fellas!” Florato saw a most unsettling thing. Vega, in her profound intelligence, decided to use the armor of the man she and Skaldi knocked out. And thought that it would be enough of a disguise to work.

Vega didn’t consider wearing the mask of the soldier, so the other men could clearly see through her deception.

Well, I say could because they didn’t. With both the combination of night and the exhaustion (yes, again) of the sailors, no one detected her. All they really did was muster up a quick wave and return to looking down at the party.

“~What the hell is she doing?~” Florato froze as her eyes expanded wide, like a flower blooming. Her heart could not take so many inconveniences.

“~She’s doing the best she can.~” Valaito smiled up at Vega, curious at how she was going to get out of this situation this time.

Climbing up the ship’s rigging and standing on top of the ship’s nest, Vega found a sailor smoking. He was looking up at the stars, much like a babe to a mother.

“My turn.” Vega whispered into his ear, causing the sailor to turn around in surprise. Looking up and down at Vega, the dreary eyed sailor took a moment to consider his options.

“~Hmm. Okay.~” He nodded, bowed, and climbed down. He knew obviously

The ship was being sabotaged. And he knew that it would be best for him to get the fuck away from what she was doing, since she was also wearing the armor of his crewmate. So, in his own words…

“~I’m not going to even try.~”

“That was easy.” Vega commended herself and got to work, pulling out a carving knife from a pocket. Dragging the blade along the ropes that held the ship’s sails, she intended that the Tripolians wouldn’t be able to follow them and recapture the mermaids.

As the sounds of the mermaids swimming by became ever distant, Skaldi wondered if he should toss his stolen stuff and leave. But he caught the glow of some fine looking papers.

Not only that, but important papers. A series of battle maps and logs detailing Operation Stomach Breaker.

“Hmm. This seems… too expensive not to be important.” The elf stuffed one of his bags and prepared to jump.

Speaking of which, Skaldi made his fabulous escape.

Haha, no. He jumped through the hole in the ship while carrying enough loot to bury him. With a great crash in the cold as corpse waters, Skaldi flapped about with pounds of loot tied to him.

“Holy shit. Someone help me.” Skaldi yell came out as a waterlogged yelp, only answered by Florato looking over the ship’s side.

“Oh you gotta be kidding me.” The actress was in no mood for further mishap.