by Skyler Grant
“Fire is usually one in any system.”
“Your Goddess does have one of the classics covered. Fire beats metal, which beats wood, which beats earth, which beats water, which circles back to beat fire.”
“I’ve been getting an earful about that last one.”
“This isn’t a smart place for you or her to be and Atlantia is the last Goddess you should be seeking. At any rate, those are the five elements. Add darkness and light countering each other to get seven. Are we going to have sex before or after I wash off the blood?”
“Err… after?”
Life had gotten really weird.
Cobalt led the way into her cabin having shed the last of her attire, although she still held her gun and sword belts in her hands and I noted how she carried them into the bath.
Apart from the ability to fly, her ship had more modern plumbing than anything I’d seen elsewhere in the game. It was quite miraculous in a way.
She said, “So to get through a giant wall of water we need…”
“Earth magic. A lot of earth magic. I can see where a guy named Stonebeard might be of help, but I don’t see why you need me.”
“His ship had an earth engine, but it’ll be cold. Worry about that later, for now get in here and fuck me, I’m not going to get clean twice.”
Well. It wasn’t exactly the most nicely worded of offers, but then it didn’t have to be. I again found the sex very nearly brain and body breaking and wondered if this was a bit like what all the corpses she left behind felt in their last moments—somewhat befuddled by what just happened, and how they had been so over-matched.
Once we had gotten dressed again she seemed considerably refreshed. In comparison, I limped as we made our way to the bridge. “Can I ask you something indelicate?”
“Never ask if you can ask something indelicate. It sets your question up to be far more interesting than it will actually wind up being.”
Rude. “It’s a good question.”
“Let me guess. How many lovers have I had?”
“No…”
“How did I learn that bendy thing?”
“No… although I like that quite a bit. Why are you so overpowered?”
“Excuse me?”
“It means so kickass.”
“I know what it means. You’re level ten and you have a unique flaming divine weapon.”
“That was a gift.”
“Right. From your Goddess of sex. Who you are totally bonded to despite having what is no doubt a pathetically low Luck? Please. And you’re calling me overpowered?”
“Could we stop turning this back on me? And you are way too familiar with my sheet. I can’t even see yours.”
“Not going to either. Overpowered. Hmph.”
“I’m fairly sure you could kick my ass.”
Cobalt turned to face me with one hand on her hip. “Fine. You want to have this conversation now, we’ll have this conversation now.”
“What conversation is that?”
“The, I can kick your ass conversation. The, I’ll always be able to kick your ass conversation. The conversation where no matter where you go and how many divine trinkets your Goddess throws at you in a desperate effort to overpower your cute paladin ass, at the end of the day I’ll still be able to kick it around the room.”
That was a lot to take in. I thought to Yvera, “Hearing this?”
Yvera’s heated tones echoed in my head as she answered, “Every word. I can’t tell if she is telling the truth or not.”
“How could she be telling the truth?”
“It’s a big weird world, Liam”
That little head conversation wasn’t being exactly helpful and the silence after Cobalt’s speech was already stretching to awkward levels.
“Is that really a conversation? Or even true?”
Cobalt’s eyes locked with mine and again I was reminded of how incredibly blue they were. “It’s true. You don’t get the why, not now and probably not ever, but I promise you Liam, it’s the truth.”
“Okay. I’m still not sure I buy the always will thing, but you sure can right now. Why so defensive?”
“Guys pretty much hate that.”
Did I? I had to think about that. Right now the other women in my life were Yvera, who was quite literally my Goddess, Elsora who was smarter than me, Maria who always managed to make me feel I was doing something wrong, and Ashley who generally had made of herself a badass I could only aspire to. Maybe I should be feeling overwhelmed by the company I kept, but mostly I just felt pretty damned lucky.
“I think I’ll find it sexy instead.”
Cobalt shrugged before beaming a smile and turning back towards the bridge. “Sorry, I thought you were just headed for a freak-out.”
“I would like to know the why, though.”
“I’m a woman with a lot of secrets, Liam. That is another thing that isn’t open to discussion. I know that isn’t fair when you quite literally can’t tell me a lie that I’d believe.”
“Can you at least tell me what that’s all about?”
“Advanced seduction merit. It sucks.”
“I think it seems useful.”
“Oh, it is useful, but trust me, nothing kills relationships faster than an unerring ear for the truth.”
We entered the bridge where Riggs and Lea were already studying a map on a table.
“What have we got?” Cobalt asked.
“Secret dock beneath Fort Crag,” Lea said.
Cobalt smiled. “That will be fun and messy.”
“What is Fort Crag?” I asked.
“Outpost for Theys. Multiple towers with heavy cannon and a formidable garrison,” Riggs said.
Cobalt’s good spirits only seemed to grow, although I noticed Lea frowning at her.
“Stop smiling lass, they’re good enough that you need to take things seriously,” Riggs said.
“It’s been awhile since I had a good workout,” Cobalt said.
Lea said in a firm tone that brooked no argument, “You’ll go in with a plan or we won’t take you.”
Watching their dynamic was already making me miss Walt and Ashley. Hopefully they had been able to make it back to the ship.
“So do we even need to worry about the garrison, if it’s just the dock and his ship we are after?” I asked.
“Liam, if anyone else but me were here you’d probably be figuring out a plan to sneak through that garrison and unravel the secrets hiding away so you could spirit away the ship beneath their noses. But I’m here, so we are going to butcher the entire garrison and then figure out the damn secrets,” Cobalt said.
“Counteroffer,” Lea said. “You go on a more measured murderous rampage and while they are all very distracted, me and Liam will figure out the secrets, steal the ship, and we’ll make our escape on it together.”
Cobalt gazed around as if hopeful someone else would chime in support of her original plan. None of us did.
“Fine, I’ll probably finish before you anyways.”
I was very glad Ashley wasn’t here, she’d surely have found a way to turn that back on me.
“Please, we both know Liam will finish first,” Lea said.
As the group snickered I reflected that threesomes weren’t just complicated, they also doubled up on the people who could make jokes at your expense.
“Riggs. Plot us a course,” Cobalt said.
“Do you know if my people made it out of there okay? Things were fine on the shore, but in the water we were getting chewed up,” I said.
Cobalt looked towards Lea, “Anything?”
“There was a big fight underway as we left. Last I saw it looked like the losers were breaking off and making a quick escape.”
“Sounds like my side,” I said.
“Surprised you didn’t bring more firepower. I mean, it’s their home port,” Cobalt said.
“Yeah, well, unfortunately they weren’t idiots.”
“How do you want to make your
entry at the fort?” Riggs asked.
“High altitude pass and jump will work for me,” Cobalt said.
“Just because you can survive it doesn’t make it best. If you are going to be a distraction you’ll need something flashier,” Lea said.
“I can toss a few high explosive shots down first. That will get their attention,” Riggs said.
“Explosions! I love it. We rain down a little fire and death out of nowhere, and then a little me right behind.”
I wondered which was likely to kill more people. I suspected it wouldn’t be the explosions.
I told Lea, “I can’t handle a jump down from an airship. I don’t suppose you have any sort of teleportation magic?”
“I’m more the scrying sort. You want to see what’s going on the other side of the world, I can help. Getting there is why we have an airship.”
“I don’t think just having a look is going to be much help.”
“She’s a pro lad,” Riggs said. “Not our first raid. Usually Cobalt goes in and raises a fuss and every eye in the place is looking the wrong way, letting you just coast in behind.”
Lea frowned and said, “The Theysian military is good. Smart. They’ll be watching their backs. I’m good too, though. Everybody slips up and as soon as I scry an opening we’ll throw some fog, then move in fast and low, hit the ground and hope we can go unnoticed.”
“You know I have a flaming sword, right?”
“You know you can in fact wield other swords, right?”
Now that she mentioned it, that did make more sense for a stealth mission. That’s the bad thing about a kickass weapon, you don’t even think of putting it away when something else might be more effective.
“Sounds like we have a plan,” Cobalt said. “Riggs, get us there and bring the boom. Liam, Lea can help you to find a less impressive sword.”
“Sure. Don’t turn that into a double entendre.”
“Don’t fish for dick compliments, Liam. It’s tacky and you’ll never be happy with the results,” Cobalt said.
“Seriously. I mean you’re no elf,” Lea said.
“Do elves have… no… not going there. So sorry I brought that up. Let’s get ready to kill a fort.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The Vainglory made much better time than we would have achieved with an oceangoing vessel. Lea helped me to find a less glowy longsword, although I kept Intemperance as well. The ship’s armory wasn’t large, but then it hardly needed to be with a crew of three. The clothes stores were rather more impressive, from which we each claimed a cloak in the Theysian colors that might allow us to pass at a distance as someone belonging in the fort.
We made our way out on deck just as the fort was coming into view. It was an ominous sight, a small island dominated by bleak grey cliffs atop one of which were solid towers. The opposite side of the island held the docks where several formidable warships could be seen, none the match of the Ebon Star, but still worryingly effective.
I glanced over towards Lea and asked, “Is that many ships normal?”
“How would I know? Do I look like an expert on Theysian naval deployments?”
Cobalt came up from below decks. I’d expected her to have dressed for war given the fight that she was going into. Given her complete lack of clothing she seemed dressed for a far different battle. It was a stark reminder that at this altitude it was really damned cold.
“Really,” Lea said. “You think that is a good idea.”
“I’m going down to cause a distraction. This is distracting.”
I couldn’t argue there. I might think she was totally insane, but I was distracted—wow, was I distracted.
“Liam, tell her she is being an idiot.”
“You’re being perky.”
Lea glared at me which seemed unfair. I’d said what she wanted.
“Not a discussion, Lea. I’ve been looking forward to a good workout for awhile and this is going to be fun.”
The Vainglory moved into position just over the northern edge of the fort and I heard the faint clicks of gears with Riggs positioning the cannons.
Lea began to wave her arms through the air and soon her flesh began to glow with a number of blue runes, wafting wisps of energy tracing the movements as portals began to open into the air reflecting the portions of the fort below. Each individual scene began to zoom out and away and then one centered on what must have been a sentry at their perch.
The deck beneath my feet trembled as the cannons fired, a piercing wail filling the air three times in quick succession, and then after a pause of a few seconds three times again.
Below were brilliant flashes of light and a deafening roar as the world seemed to tear itself apart.
“That’s my cue,” Cobalt said as she turned and without a second thought leapt off the railing into the madness below.
“She did not just do that,” I said. “I mean, I mostly thought she was joking.”
“She is very nearly as good as she is overconfident,” Lea said, sounding distracted. “Keep watch on her. I’m finding us an opening.”
A scrying portal appeared before me fixed on Cobalt. Curled into a crouch, she was still falling through the air. When she hit the ground I’d expected to be greeted by the sound of breaking bones, but instead she easily got to her feet. Around her were bodies torn apart by the explosions. Soldiers were swarming from stone walls that looked to have been little affected by the blasts.
Perhaps they were distracted, perhaps she was simply so good. She sprang towards the first soldier and delivered a savage punch to the throat that sent him crashing to the ground. Another flicker of motion and she had his sword in hand and was killing the next soldier.
There are times that you realize that you’re just pretending at something, that you’re truly just a gleeful amateur at something others have gained a genuine mastery of. I’d felt like that in Cobalt’s bed the other night, and now I felt that same sense watching her kill. Maybe I was expecting some sort of eroticism from watching her kill. If it was there, it was buried beneath fear. She had made murder into such an art she could do it effortlessly without tools.
Five men lay dead at her feet by the time they brought guns to bear. Snipers who had already proved to be my bane seemed to trouble her far less even though one bullet grazed her thigh and another took her in the shoulder.
Lea called out, “Stretch of wall on the east side of the southwest tower.”
“What is she?”
“The boss? Scary. Killing them all without a scratch?”
“Few wounds from bullets, but nothing major.”
Lea’s eyes snapped to the portal showing Cobalt and studied it for a moment as her lips pursed into a frown. “That’s not right.”
“What?”
“She shouldn’t be hurting before they break out the area of effect.”
“She isn’t, much.”
“That fort is full of guns. Change of plans,” Lea said as her hands again began to move and scry windows rapidly shifted their focus. “When we hit the ground I’ll find the ship. You need to get to those buildings near the western wall.”
Cobalt was moving with a limp, but still had managed to claim a gun from a corpse and squeeze off a shot that took out a sniper targeting her.
“And do what?”
“They are the gunpowder magazines. Do your fire thing and blow them to hell. That will take some of the heat off her.”
Drawing aggro was kind of my thing, but I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with an entire fort of aggro. I also wasn’t about to complain and leave my naked and bleeding lover to take all of it, even if that was what she’d wanted. This sucked.
The air began to fill with a thick fog and through it we were approaching one of the fort’s towers.
“Then what?”
“I don’t know. We’ll figure it out. No time for chatter, bounce time.”
Well, if this entire trip had been for anything it was making me appreciate how my
own group could stick to a plan and how we geared up instead of down for fights.
The scrying windows blinked out of existence and Lea was running towards the side of the ship to leap over the edge. I rushed to follow.
It was only a few feet until my feet met stone below and above us the Vainglory was already gaining altitude and making an escape.
I could barely see Lea through the heavy fog. She flashed me a smile as pulled her cloak tight around her and vanished into the mist. I pulled my own coat around me and set out.
It wasn’t long until I found my first Theysian, standing at the wall and looking outwards although they spared a glance at me in passing. I checked his stats to get an idea what I was dealing with here.
Theysian Scout
Level 15: Type: Human HP: 200/200
Low ranking members of the Theysian military are often assigned to keep watch for threats. While primarily there to alert others to danger they have basic training with both sword and rifle and it would be a mistake to underestimate them.
Fantastic, this guy was probably one of the lowest levels they had and he still looked like a fair fight, if we had to go one on one. Fortunately my cloak seemed to pass inspection as he turned his attention back outwards.
I kept my head lowered and crept as best I could through the fog in what I hoped was the right direction. The occasional gunshot, scream, and sound of clashing swords came from the north where Cobalt had landed.
Stealth games were never my area of strength, I am more of a run in and punch them kind of guy. Fortunately that fog the Vainglory laid down was simplifying things a lot and even when I drew the attention of a soldier, pulling that cape tightly around myself and moving on was enough for them to return to their rounds.
Shortly after a flight of stairs I finally found the buildings that Lea’s scrying had identified. The gunpowder magazines were squat, ugly buildings built against the wall with little else surrounding them. Unfortunately they were also guarded, a group of five alert sentries standing near the doors. It made sense, the fort was under attack, of course they were going to guard a major vulnerability. I was getting tired of smart enemies, I missed fighting goblins. I was usually cleverer than a goblin.
