Chapter 32: The Ship Breaks (Part 2!)

“~Sirs! The mermaids have escaped!” A sailor from the Barbed Lass told, urging the officers to climb back aboard. “~They have taken the map as well!~”

“~Scale skinned bastards.” The younger officer scoffed as he hurried back onto the boat. “~You two stay here. Who knows what the mermaids have planned…~” Florato and Amir took this as a sign that Skaldi and Vega had finished with the sabotage.

“~You best leave.~” Amir motioned one of the soldiers back onto the Barbed Lass, but he refused to move.

“~No way. We have to bring you back Amir.~”

“~But I-~”

“~No buts. Ani Arma would have some words for you…~” Amir didn’t like to imagine what his adoptive father would have in store for him after all this time. The soldiers remaining on the Pinnace formed a shield wall around the three, mistaking them for people they needed to protect. Amir, Florato, and Valiato’s hands went to their weapons.

“Bolato, now!” Florato called, as he rushed out from the lower deck, clad in steel. Appearing more as a boulder of metal, the sneak attack caught the four Tripolians soldiers off guard, with the elder officer dashing away from his charge.

The plan was simple. Knock the Tripolian soldiers off while making sure no one else entered into the fight. Vega and Skaldi’s sabotage went off and succeeded.

One problem, Valiato was meant to hide in the lower left when the fight started.

“Got it.” Bolato held a poleaxe, fashioned out the remains of a ship’s anchor. Extending his arms forward, the same four soldiers were quickly knocked off their feet.

“~What the hell?~” The younger officer spoke out, now fully back on the Barbed Lass. He wasn’t saying it because of the sneak attack, he was saying because Vega had cut through all of their sails. Falling face first on the ground, the scarecrow took a moment to be proud.

“Yes. I have sabotaged and gone undetected.” She told herself.

“~...Is that thing alive?~”

“Time to make my amazing escape…” Vega’s voice drifted off as she noticed all the Tripolians surrounding her. “Huh… guess stealth mode is going to cut-cut it. Hmm, how about attack mode!” Flourishing her pickaxe over herself, Vega angled it to protect herself from oncoming blows. The blows wouldn’t yet happen because the Tripolians were terrified at… well, Vega.

Luckily, the fight on the Pinnace was more than life-threatening enough for all on board. Bolato wrestled with a soldier equal in both size and experience, wearing tiny medals in his hair. They both locked their weapons against parts of their body, Bolato on the soldiers neck and the soldier along Bolato hips.

Their battle was like two mountains of metal trying to either topple the other. Valiato, swinging her sling so fast that it cracked like a whip, pelted a soldier in the head, knocking him out.

The actress held her dagger forward in right hand and wrapped her left hand in a thick blanket, acting as a makeshift shield. She had no clue of the motion of combat. There was no line to read, no great declaration. No stabbing underneath the shoulder.

Florato had hoped that Amir would lead this dangerous dance, just as they danced back in Vein Xinyuai. Her hopes came true as Amir took out a javelin from Bolato’s back and skewered one soldier in his armpits, where he didn’t have much protection.

A blood leak came out, like the opening of champagne. The soldier tried to plug up his wound but Amir gave him a solid kick to his chest, knocking him backward, flying off the ship.

Bolato was also aiming towards a quick end to this battle, knowing the longer they took, the more chances of additional soldiers hopping down to attack. Despite this aim, the Tripolian officer wasn’t going to let him overpower his soldiers. The officer threw a heavy dart at Bolato’s calf, which was only protected by light padding.

Buzzing through the air quickly, the dart pierced ever slightly into him, forcing Bolato to go on one knee, giving his opponent a chance to push him on the ground. From there, the soldier fighting him grabbed a dart from his belt and went to stab through Bolato’s helmet. The both of them grabbed hard and fast onto the dart, fighting for the other person’s life.

Unfortunately for Vega the sailors didn’t stay amazed for long, as they brought out swords and bows to hack her into her base components. She was quick enough to dodge plenty of the melee attacks, but the skill of Tripolian archers surpassed even the most agile of fighters.

While her jacket had metal scales to protect against blunt force and cuts, they weren’t durable enough to shield her from the fire of all the sailors. Of the axes that struck her, she recovered fast. But three arrows were struck in her stomach and two in her chest and shoulder, making her movements stiff and rigid.

Although she knew she had sabotaged the Barbed Lass’s ability to move, she needed to ensure that the soldiers would be too occupied to attack her friends. Seeing a torch at the side of the ship, Vega got an idea.

Rolling towards it and tossing it to what remained of the ship’s sails, she gambled with her play. Luckily, the sails got just enough fire to change the sailors’ attitude from focus to panic. Just enough of them turned their attention away from Vega for her to pull out arrows from her body and a bottle.

A bottle of Desert Mirage was held in her hand as she reached for another torch. A few Iozian bandits tried to swing axes down at her but she rolled backward onto her feet standing up. Finally grabbing a torch, she tried a small rag at the end of the bottle and ignited.

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

“Here’s a present for ya!” Vega gleefully told as he leapt high into the air. At the peak of her jump, she tossed down her improvised weapon as the ship’s deck erupted in flame.

A thick blue flame expanded across the boat as the alcohol spread across the deck. Burning hot but little of the wood became consumed with fire. Not an effective weapon for damage, but for spooking a mass of foes.

No one got hurt. Well, they got hurt psychologically.

With screaming men and commanding voices all around her, Vega just gave the sight a big ol’ smile.

“Man, I love helping people.”

“I need help!” Florato shouted out, as two sailors hopped down from the Barbed Lass. They immediately swung at her, one with a spear and the other with an ax. Bolato was too busy trying to stay alive while the officer was giving Amir a lot of trouble with his darts.

She managed to block plenty of their attacks, but her blanket was slowly ripping. Florato knew that just being defensive wouldn’t tire them out as each sailor traded space to allow the other to recover.

A stone struck the arm of the axe sailor. The three turned to see Valiato, who was wasting no time to throw another rock from her sling.

Amir deflected one of the officer’s strikes, allowing him the chance to yell out to his daughter.

“~Get out. This fight is not yours!~” He cried out, trying to concentrate on the man he was fighting. But the two sailors were overwhelming Florato, as the spearman managed to draw blood from Florato's arm.

Valiato didn’t want it to happen. She couldn’t let it happen.

As she swung her sling a great snap broke through the commotion, with a rock colliding into the back of the spearman’s head. It was swift and almost as if he were in a sweet sleep. With a wet thud, the sailor rested on the ground.

The blood dropping out of his ear made sure everyone who saw knew one thing. Valiato killed a man.

The girl stared down at her victim. She didn’t want to think of the word, she was defending her friend. She tried to think of the word opponent.

“Valiato! Move, now!” Florato called out, breaking Valiato from her trance. She saw the actress standing in front of her, as her two hands were holding the axe head. Her fingers bleed into her honeycomb hair, turning it into a blood stained hay. The axe sailor elbowed Florato's cheek, knocking her aside. Valiato couldn’t move. Valiato couldn’t believe it.

The world wouldn’t wait for her to truly think about what she had done, as the sailor with his axe cleaved into her arm. Most of the strike was absorbed by her scalemail armor, but a shallow yet wide slice broke through.

For Valiato it was far less grim, at least she believed. The shock was getting to her perspective. She felt like she was marching through shoulder high mud. And her arm didn’t even exist, only a cold absence.

Like a present box opened to reveal there was no gift. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t tell what it was. Whatever was happening to her, it would end soon. At least she hoped.

The sailor had to kick the girl to pull the axe from her arm. A grisly pouring of blood came out with it. She fell back, sort of the same manner Skaldi did when he got injured. Like a downed bird, suddenly flung from another world into one of moist wood and panting lungs.

For Bolato, Valiato’s wounding burned a fire in him, one that fueled him just enough so that he could throw the soldier off the deck and into the water. The water framed liquid bars, a cage that the Tripolian soldier would never escape.

For Amir, that act against his daughter caved in his chest, blurring his focus. His sloppy movements found strange success, as his javelin found its designation in the officer’s neck. He didn’t even realize it, but his feet were stomping towards the last remaining sailor.

Sadly for all that watched, they knew they wouldn’t be fast enough. The sailor raised his weapon high, like a vulture ready to eat. Almost on queue, the fire on the Barbed Lass rose high behind the sailor, as he casted a black shadow over the fallen Valiato.

Amir believed this would be the end.

“Get your hands off of her!”

Like thunder at night, Skaldi’s voice pierced. His newly acquired glaive held in his two hands, separated the sailor’s head from his body. His swing almost looked beautiful, like a painting in motion.

Even such a vicious thing like a decapitation had its beauty. Vulgar of course. But no one shuttered or shivered.

“Vega! We have to go. Now!” Skaldi without missing a beat ordered the scarecrow down. As his eyes took in the destruction of the Barbed Lass, he considered giving her a compliment. But Amir’s immediate shift from fighter to healer alerted him that he shouldn’t waste his breath.

Vega leapt down from the inferno and back onto their ship. Bolato stood guard just in case any archers would fire down. He knew that they wouldn’t, but he couldn’t bear to see Amir’s panic.

The actress operated the ship’s wheel as per Bolato’s instructions. Her hands fidgeted for a minute until she could only see the burning ship over her shoulder.

The girl’s eyes weren’t opening and Amir’s eyes weren’t closing. He worked to stabilize her.

Vega stood alone. No one was speaking. Even to her keen senses, there wasn’t any music on this ship. Not even the groaning of the wood meeting the sea created no pleasant ideas in her. Even though she was surrounded by people, all around her was a wasteland.

Vega felt angry. Vega felt sad. Vega felt… unhappy.

She knew that this day came at a heavy price. But what did they all pay for again? Vega climbed on to the side of the ship, searching for the people they had saved.

A mermaid tail peered out from the water. Then another. Then another. A whole family of mermaids swam alongside the ship. The scarecrow didn’t want to talk, her soul wasn’t into it.

Helping people sometimes gets people hurt. It made sense but it didn’t. How could such a good thing create so much bad? How could so much life create so much death? How could a fertile valley turn into a waste?

Right there, she remembered Ren. Where they had hid him during the attack. She silently carried him from his tub and placed him beside his fellow mermaids.

All of them were too tired for any speech, only a few hands were placed on his shoulders.

Ren spoke, breaking the rotting silence consuming Vega’s soul.

“~Thank you. This means a lot to us.~”

No response.

“~We’re going to stick by you guys. At least until those raiders are gone.~”

No response.

“~If you have anything we can help with,just let us know.~” Ren’s cheery attitude made her really horrible. How can someone be so happy in a world like this?

For the first time, a fake smile came to her face.

“~Ok. I’ll see you tomorrow.~” Vega climbed back up, nodded to the others, and returned back to the lower deck.

Her head felt heavy and her eyes wished to shut. Making a pillow from the hay feed of the centuries, she laid her head on it and stared up. Not into the roof, but past it. Like she was training her eyes on some all seeing entity that had driven her here.

First Skaldi, now Valiato. Who else would get hurt in her pursuit? Would her desire for the voice and Kaliber lead to such pain? She questioned herself.

She knew she couldn’t control the world and its wars. And she hated that. A combined effort can stop any evil force, until that effort breaks.

Vega needed to go to sleep. But, as everyone knows, scarecrows can’t sleep.

The scarecrow cried.