by Scott Baron
He didn’t call out to the boy. There was no time, and no need. All Hozark and Demelza did was charge ahead as quickly as they could.
A jolt threw them against the wall, as it did all of the combatants.
“We are aloft,” Hozark noted with annoyance.
Demelza grabbed her skree. “We are aboard Darvin’s ship,” she transmitted before he was out of range of their friends. “The boy is here. We will need a follow craft immediately.”
This was quickly becoming a clusterfuck, and it was only getting worse. If Darvin took the ship out of the atmosphere, he had the advantage of numbers.
Magic was simply too dangerous to use in the confined spaces of a ship in space. One wrong move and you risked killing not only your enemy, but yourself and your own crew as well.
“Coming for ya,” Bud transmitted back. “Just hang in there. Laskar, we need an emergency evac. Pick me up now!”
“On my way,” the copilot said.
It was an open skree, and Hozark and Demelza heard what was going on, as did Lalaynia and her people. Bud was scrambling to track them if he could. Lalaynia’s ship was too far to reach and too big to set down and retrieve her in that part of the township.
It looked like it was all up to Bud. Hozark hoped the former pirate was up for it.
When Captain Darvin took the fight to the air, several squabbling factions on the surface saw that as a green light to spread their fighting into the skies as well. A violent snowball effect that was an unintended side effect of the Outlander captain’s surprising maneuver.
In no time, multiple ships were aloft, and they were bombarding one another with massive magical fusillades.
Hozark and Demelza powered their way through the fighting men and women on the ship, flinging them aside like they were toddlers, not armed pirates. It was moments like this that the Ghalian prowess was on full display for all to see, and it would only serve to bolster their reputation by those witnesses who survived.
Down on the surface, Henni was still fighting with vigor.
“Henni, come on!” Bud called out.
She didn’t seem to hear him.
“Henni! Let’s go!”
She looked up from the latest man she had slain. A little splash of blood colored her cheek, but for some reason, Bud thought that it was almost cute. While terrifying at the same time, of course.
“Go on. I’ll catch up later,” she called back across the lava separating them.
“I can’t just leave you here.”
“You have to. Now get going. I’ve got stuff to do.”
With that, she turned and raced off to find another opponent to take her aggression out on.
Laskar swung in as low as he could, but Bud still had to scramble to the top of a small structure to reach the open hatch. With a powerful leap, he made his way into the ship and raced to the command center.
“You got ’em still?” he asked.
“Tracking them visually,” Laskar replied. “But they’re moving fast. I’m afraid once they hit space, they’ll jump.”
“That’s not good.”
“I know.”
“We’ve gotta stop them.”
“I said I know, Bud. Now, hang on.”
The ship raced up while massive bloodshed occurred throughout the streets of Drommus. The ground fight was brutal and fierce, but, gradually, it was beginning to come under control as the township enforcers rolled into the fray before it got even uglier.
But the real ugliness was going to take place in space above.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Captain Darvin’s battle-scarred pirate ship was actually a rather fast and maneuverable vessel, it turned out, much to the surprise of the pirates observing its quick departure from the ground.
Of course, his own crew were among those watching the ship zoom off into space, and though they kept right on fighting, as one would expect of Outlanders, from that moment on, they battled with a question in the back of their minds. Would their captain come back for them, or were they stuck on Drommus?
Some might have been able to find work aboard other ships, but typically an Outlander crew was an entirely Outlander crew, and they did not mix well with others.
But returning for his men was not something Captain Darvin was worried about at the moment. All he cared about was getting his ship and his cargo to safety, off of Drommus and away from whatever madness was going on down below.
His plan was simple. Hit space and jump away to some quiet spot where he could assess both the number of men left behind on the surface, and the options he had before him. But as he cleared the atmosphere, those plans very quickly became moot.
The ship banked hard, and unlike some better-equipped vessels, its gravity spells didn’t completely counter the effect. As a result, the combatants in the corridors were thrown against the bulkhead. Hozark just happened to wind up beside a window.
What he saw shocked him.
“Council ships!” he said, just as the others with a view were noting the same thing.
“What? Here?” Demelza asked, leaning toward the window. “What would the Council be doing at Drommus? It’s madness.”
“Madness, but apparently our new reality,” Hozark replied as he studied the formation of the ships blocking their way. It was one he’d seen before, though not from this unfortunate perspective.
“They’re casting a jump-blocking web,” he said. “We’re stuck here.”
The men and women who had been fighting to the death moments before had all come to an unofficial pause as the reality of the situation set in.
“We can’t jump?” one man said.
“We’re trapped!” a short, sword-wielding woman replied. “The Council of Twenty is attacking Drommus!”
They all realized what that would mean. If the Council actually did attempt to take out the planet’s defenses, it would all go up in a massive blast, themselves included. But Hozark didn’t think that was what was happening. The blocking spells were the first hint.
“If they wanted to attack, they wouldn’t have blocked escape. Less ships to fight is an easier battle,” he announced to the surprisingly quiet pirate forces.
“Hang on,” a young pirate said, peering out the window. “Not all of those are Council ships. I see some Tslavar mercenaries as well.”
This drew a loud chorus of angry slurs against the green-skinned muscle for hire. Of course the pirates had run up against them. It was only expected that raiding, pillaging, thieving types would occasionally clash in the pursuit of a prize.
But this was different. This time, the green bastards had been brought on as hired help to do the Council’s dirty work.
“Mercenaries means an invasion,” a man said.
“No, it means they’re going to try to take out any ship that tries to flee. Blast them out of the sky.”
“I am afraid you are both incorrect,” Hozark said.
“Oh yeah? What do you know about it?” the man asked, with just a hint of menace to his voice.
Someone was behind all of this, and seeing Wampeh was pretty unusual. Maybe these strangers had something to do with this.
“I know they are not attacking Drommus,” Hozark said. “And I know they are not destroying these ships. At least, not yet.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because, if you would just look out the windows you would see that while you’ve been arguing amongst yourselves, they have launched boarding craft.”
A look of shock was universal on all the pirates’ faces as they verified what the Wampeh was saying.
“And if you look carefully,” he added, “you will see they are coming right for us.”
Suddenly, the fight amongst themselves was backburnered, if not outright extinguished.
“What do we do?”
It was not remotely what Hozark had come here to do, but all of their fates were now intertwined, and Happizano’s rescue would have to wait. There was no rescuing anyone if t
hey were all captured or dead, after all.
“We form into teams and repel the boarders,” Hozark shouted out in his best pirate roar. “This is what we do. Close quarters, no prisoners, and no magic. That puts the Council at a disadvantage. They can’t cast against us. Not in here. So fight like your lives depended on it. Because they bloody well do!”
The men and women roared in unison and quickly put aside their previous fight to join forces as they geared up for a new one. One against their common enemy.
“Nice speech,” Demelza said. “You know, you might have a calling as a pirate, if you ever decide to retire from the order.”
Hozark chuckled. “But, of course, no one ever retires from the order.”
The boarding ships pursued the fleeing pirate craft as it did its best to prevent them from latching onto its hull. Once that happened, they would breach and be inside in seconds. The longer they could hold them off, the better positioned and prepared the pirate crew could make themselves.
“Look at the markings on the Tslavar ships,” Demelza said when she got a good look at them out of the nearby window. “Their markings are obliterated. These Tslavars are not flying under any known colors.”
“A secret force, then,” Hozark mused. “Suddenly, I find myself wondering if this is not all related to young Happizano after all.”
“But would the Council come all the way to Drommus just for a child? It seems so unlike them.”
“It is. But the Council activities we have seen of late have been anything but normal.”
“Agreed. But another question then springs to mind.”
“I believe I know where you are going with this,” Hozark said. “If they are here for Happizano, how could they have known where he was? Even if he had slipped up and told Darvin who he was, that man wouldn’t have a clue as to who his father was, or what his value is to the Council.”
“So we are back to the question. How could they have known where he was?” Demelza wondered. “Yes, he stands out somewhat, and perhaps if someone knew he was missing––”
“We will need to figure this out later, Demelza,” Hozark said as the roar of a boarding party reached their ears. “We have company.” He turned to the pirate group at his side. “They’re coming! Swords and blades at the ready. Remember, this is what we do!”
The pirates refrained from their cheers. The time for pep talks was over. It was now time for bloodshed.
A few stun spells shot harmlessly down the corridor but hit no one and fizzled out against the far bulkhead. As soon as their forces were in close proximity, no magic whatsoever could be used.
“Here they come,” Hozark said. “Ready, everyone!”
The Tslavar boarding party was prepared for this battle. They all wore practical garments, reinforced against blades instead of magic. And they carried shorter than usual weapons, all the better to fight in these close quarters.
Unusually, though, was the Council goon advancing with them. He wasn’t one of the Twenty, but he was definitely a power user. The one who had tested the defenses with those stun spells, no doubt.
They were prepared for the fight in space, or on the ground, it seemed. Not a good sign at all.
Throughout the ship, more and more boarders breached and began their attack. The fighting quickly grew to a fever-pitch as blood flowed freely within Captain Darvin’s compromised vessel.
Outside of the ship, the residents of Drommus had come to a similar conclusion as the pirates aboard the ship. Namely, that the Council was up to something, and they all had to fight together to stop them.
Especially as none of them particularly wanted to die in a fiery ball of death if the fail-safe on Drommus triggered, denying the Council of that world, but at the cost of all their lives.
The space battle was fierce, with pirate craft engaging Tslavar and Council ships alike. And unlike the fighting within Darvin’s craft, magic was very much in use outside of the ship.
It was a swarm of confusion and death out there, and in the black of space, where there is no up or down, the conflict seemed even more chaotic. No one was fighting on the same plane. What was left for one ship was down for another, and up for yet another.
It was mayhem. Unorchestrated chaos. And it was only getting worse.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Hozark and Demelza were fighting in an environment they were amply skilled for, but tended to avoid at all costs.
Wampeh Ghalian were loners. Silent, solitary killers. Melees were not their engagement of choice. There were simply too many variables. Too many things that could go horribly wrong, and not because of any intentional act, but because of the chaos of dozens, hundreds, or more people fighting in close proximity.
It was the type of situation where even the most skilled fighter could fall from an errant blade.
In an open environment, at least they could draw upon their myriad killing spells to create space around themselves and shift the tide of battle. But within the confines of a ship, all of that magic had to be withheld.
Hozark and Demelza both were feeling the frustration of being unable to unleash the force to end this engagement, despite their training. No one observing them work their way through the enemy would have known that both were actively restraining themselves from using that power.
But they had training aplenty, in more techniques of death and mayhem than those attacking them knew combined, and it was those other forms of combat they were using today.
Hozark had snatched up a sword from a fallen man and was now swinging it with skill as he and Demelza plowed through the boarders. His vespus blade was still safely on his back, where he wished to keep it sheathed until it was absolutely needed.
A glowing blue blade in a Ghalian’s hand would be something of note, and he wished to go unnoted. At least, as long as he could.
Demelza was working her way through the Tslavar mercenaries at his side, the two Ghalian instinctively protecting each other’s flanks as they battled.
She was putting on an impressive demonstration of sword and dagger play with the fine set that Master Orkut had lent to her for her quest to help his friend. If Visla Jinnik was in need of assistance, despite her significant skills, she would need all of the advantages she could get, and the master swordsmith had just the thing.
“The boy,” Hozark said to her as he ran his sword deep into the chest of a particularly stocky Tslavar invader. “This battle will go on for some time. We must retrieve him.”
Demelza spun, her blades ringing off the cudgel that had just come flying toward her head. With the sword locking up the attacker’s weapon, she was free to slip the dagger in her other hand in between both his armor plating and his ribs.
The Tslavar let out a pained groan, then fell as she expertly twisted the blade, sending its point on its deadly way, piercing his heart. She pulled it free immediately, spinning back to block another attacker. As she did, Hozark liberated the man’s neck of his head.
“A persistent lot,” she noted.
“Indeed,” he replied, watching the continuous flow of mercenaries pushing against the pirate defenders. “And well-armed. But these men and women are handling themselves admirably, and we have work to do. Happizano was taken this way.”
Hozark did not need to say anything more. Demelza was immediately behind him as he moved, expertly slicing where others slashed, parrying and dodging where others swung wildly.
The pair did all they could to avoid further engagement, opting for a speedy course rather than the bloody one. Yes, they could drop a sizable amount of Tslavars on the way if they wanted, but the delay could prove far, far too costly.
The path of least resistance saw them rushing through row after row of pirates, the swarthy men ready for action, forming a rear guard to protect their captain and the control center of the ship.
They may have seemed to be standing around with nothing to do, but all of them had their weapons ready and their eyes and ears alert. It was a boarding attack
, but they were not the ones carrying it out, and they knew full well that at any moment a section of the hull could part, allowing the enemy to drop down into the midst.
“We need a dozen reinforcements near the galley area,” Hozark said as he and Demelza pushed through the ranks. “Don't just stand there. Twelve of you, get moving.”
“We’re supposed to stay here. Captain’s orders.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Hozark said, slipping into full pirate brogue. Minus the ‘arr,’ of course. “If this ship falls because you lot ignored the bastards ransacking the deck and killing your friends, all in favor of standing in an empty corridor in case something might happen, I’m sure Captain Darvin’ll be very interested to hear of your decision.”
A look of doubt flashed in the men’s eyes. Fear of displeasing the captain was deeply ingrained, and they had just been expertly placed between a rock and a hard place. All it required was a little push to help them to the logical decision.
“Oh, fer fuck’s sake. Fine. Look. I’ll go tell him personally, okay? Just hurry yer asses up and get out there. This is on me. If he wants to take it out on anyone, it’ll not be you,” Hozark said, walking through the last line of defenses before the command center, heading right for the door.
It was all bluff and bluster, but it was working, though it shouldn’t have. He wasn’t a member of Captain Darvin’s crew. He was just one of the other pirates who was suddenly fighting their common enemy. And yet, with a firm, confident, authoritative tone, Hozark knew he could sway just about anyone.
Act as if it’s a given that others will do as you say, and quite often they will.
“You heard him. They need our help,” one of the men who had been on the fence said, his decision finally made for him.
There were leaders, and there were followers. And once the followers started falling in line, critical mass was quickly achieved.
“Let’s go, lads!” another said, rushing off without a further thought, his short sword held at the ready.
More than twelve wound up racing to join the fray, but that actually didn’t much matter. Hozark had simply picked a number that would be enough to make an impact, but not so high that it would appear as if he was trying to thin their ranks.
