by H. D. Gordon
Another blast followed on the heels of the first. Now I did lose my balance, and Captain Amadika gripped my left arm just in time to keep me from falling.
When I looked up, I saw her expression was pinched in anticipation, but she did not look shocked, as I was sure I must have.
“What the hell was that?” I asked, as she released me and headed for the door that led out of her quarters.
There was more shouting from above, and more blasts as well.
“We’re under attack,” she said.
“By who?”
Before she disappeared out the door, leaving me to gawk at the space she’d vacated, she said, “Oh, it could be any number of people. I’ve got oceans full of enemies.”
I tried not to let the idea of the ship sinking and the ocean swallowing us whole paralyze me, calling out to her that this would have been useful information to have before we got on this cursed boat with her.
14
I found Vega and Asha where I’d last seen them.
The deck of cards they’d been playing with was scattered across the floor, and both of them were on their feet, gripping the side of the ship for purchase.
“What the hell is going on?” Asha asked. “The captain just came through here as if her tail was on fire.”
“The ship is under attack,” I said.
“By who?”
I tossed up my hands. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Fucking pirates,” Asha mumbled, climbing the stairs that led to the upper decks. When she looked back and saw that Vega and I weren’t following, she snapped, “Are you two coming, or what?”
I shrugged. “Whoever it is, it’s not our fight.”
Vega didn’t speak, but his immobility suggested he agreed.
Asha rolled her eyes as if I were simple. “If the ship sinks, and we’re on it, that’s a definite problem for us.”
I didn’t want to admit that I was scared out of my wits at that idea, so with a scowl, I followed the Demon to the upper portion of the ship.
When we arrived up top, we found ourselves in the midst of utter chaos.
The pirates were running around, doing all sorts of things, cursing and loading canons and pulling on ropes and swinging from masts high above. Night had fallen, and overhead, a million stars looked down in glittering indifference. Captain Amadika was behind the wheel, whipping the vessel this way and that.
And sure enough, right on our tails, with their own canons poised in our direction, was another ship of pirates, a black flag flapping in the wind high above their sails.
I tried not to let my eyes bulge out of my head, but the sight was terrifying considering that there was no land in sight, that there was no land for miles and miles. Panic threatened to crash over me in a wave, but I gritted my teeth against it.
Asha wasted no time in climbing one of the masts and flinging bolts of lightning at the approaching ship, to which the pirates aboard our vessel cheered her on. My supernatural skill was all but useless, so I settled for gripping the deck and trying not to act like the insanity was getting to me.
Vega, moving with swift precision, unfolded a bow and arrow that I hadn’t even known he’d had tucked into his armor, and began firing off arrows that went right through the necks of two pirates on the other ship.
Still, the other ship gained on us, clearly a fast vessel that would catch up soon if we did not stop it. With my superior eyesight, even in the darkness I could see that there were three times as many pirates on the other ship as we had on ours, and those were just the ones who were above deck. If they caught up to us and were able to get ropes and ladders on board, we would find ourselves in an even tougher situation.
An idea struck me, and I ran over and snatched up one of the lanterns that was swinging harshly in the wind. Stumbling and almost falling flat on my face, my stomach lurching with a promise of renewed nausea.
I managed to reach Vega. The Valac warrior was still firing off his arrows, and I opened the door of the lantern and grabbed the tip of one of them. I dipped it in the oil of the lantern and lit it on fire. Then I nodded toward the billowing masts of the other ship.
He didn’t say anything, of course, but he sent the flaming arrow flying toward those masts. I decided that when we reached blessed land I would make him teach me how to use the weapon, as it was clearly a valuable skill to have.
His aim was true.
We both watched, our faces tilting up to follow the path of the flaming arrow as it landed dead center of the foremast. The fabric lit up in a burst of flame.
As the pirates on the other ship scrambled to put out the fire, Vega nocked another arrow, held the tip out for me to ignite, and sent it flying after I’d done so. This one struck one of the other masts and had the same magnificent effect.
“Bloody brilliant!” Captain Amadika called out, and cackled as if this were all some wonderful adventure.
The words had only just left her mouth when another huge blast was followed by screams and curses, and a canon ball that was the size of a ripe melon came sailing onto the deck, shattering the wood in its path. The already chaotic scene turned gruesome as the canon ball struck one of the female pirates in the leg, the force of it sending her body up into the air in a spiral.
It didn’t stop there. Before the first female even hit the deck, the ball struck another behind her, and the second female’s body went flying back into the mast of Amadika’s ship. The sound of the old wood cracking rang out through the night, a single terrible note in a symphony of commotion.
There was a curse from up above, and I looked up just in time to see Asha’s arms flailing. The magic that was sparking around her fingers died out as a look of panic came over her pretty face. I’d never seen such an expression on the Demon before, but there was no time to dwell on it before she lost her balance and started falling.
Falling from fifty feet up, at least.
She’d climbed high, and if she survived such a fall, she would be plenty sorry for it.
My body moved without conscious direction from my mind. If I’d been any slower, I would not have made it on time, nor would I have if not for my supernatural speed. In one moment, I was watching the Demon tumble, and in the next, I was standing in the spot where she would land, my arms waiting to receive her.
Clearly, I didn’t think the move through, because despite the enhanced strength that my Wolf blood afforded me, rather than catching her in my arms, I absorbed the impact with my entire body.
I caught her, but I fell back on my bottom as soon as she hit me, taking the worst of the fall as my back hit the deck.
Time was moving quickly, as it always seemed to do in high intensity situations, but I didn’t miss the look of absolute shock that came over Asha’s face when she realized what I’d done.
Before we could find our feet, the tip of a sword was thrust in our face, and we looked up to see that the assailing pirates had managed to board our ship.
I’ll give this to Captain Amadika’s ladies, they may have been mere humans, but they knew how to handle their blades.
Men from the other ship were swinging over on ropes, ugly and aggressive, knives and swords in their hands or clenched between half-rotten teeth. The sound of their boots striking the deck and the grunts and growls of the others filled my ears as I stared at the tip of that blade.
Then, there was a flash of dark blue and gold, and the hand that held the sword aloft in front of me was severed from its wrist. The man who’d been wielding it let out a blood-curdling scream that was swallowed up by the rest of the insanity taking place at the moment. Warm blood sprayed my hands and my face, its scent distinctly human, bringing back memories of The Ring in an unexpected rush that threatened to freeze me where I was.
Not again, I thought in a panic, as my muscles began to seize up, my body preparing to shut down and shun any orders from me.
Just as I was sure I was going to tumble over the edge of that same abyss into which I’d fall
en on my last mission with Goldie, something struck me across the face hard enough to whip my head to the side and sting the skin on my cheek.
I blinked, and saw that it was Asha. Asha had slapped the veritable shit out of me, and now she was shaking my shoulders as though trying to rouse me from a deep sleep.
Though I did not appreciate the method, it seemed to work, and my body snapped into motion. I could feel the blood of the sailor whose hand was severed still on my face, but there was not even time to wipe it off. Instead, I took right to fighting the males who had boarded the ship, shifting into my Wolf form and sending several of them scrambling off the ship and into the water at the sight of me.
I bared my teeth and snapped my jaws, leaping into the fray and sending the men scattering. I was much faster in this form, and I saw with clarity as Amadika fought off one of the other pirates, and another one snuck up behind her. The power coiled in my legs and I leapt, tackling the one who was sneaking with a snarl that rose up into the night.
My teeth aimed for his throat, my instincts telling me to kill the bastard, to sever the artery in his neck and stand triumphant. But some other part of me, the part that had spent a short lifetime killing for the entertainment of the fortunate, recoiled at the thought.
Instead of killing the man, I bit him hard in the shoulder. I was strong enough that I was able to drag him over to the edge of the deck, and when I released my hold on him, he jumped over the edge just the same as some of his wiser companions had already done.
With the help of Vega, Asha, and me, we sent the men running back to their own vessel, which was currently blazing with several fires from the flaming arrows Vega had shot. The men who had stayed aboard their ship were running about with buckets trying to quell the flames.
Before we sailed away, I caught a glimpse of their captain, an ugly male with a scraggly beard and deeply pockmarked face. He was looking at Captain Amadika, and even at a distance and under the darkness of night, I could see the promise in his eyes that this would not be the last time they met.
But, for now, it seemed the battle had been won.
The last of the men pirates took their leave, or were skewered by the females and tossed overboard like no more than scraps of garbage. I watched as the women did this without blinking, wondering what kinds of lives they must’ve had to lead in order to be so shamelessly ruthless and brutal. As someone who’d led a similar existence, I felt a pang of pity for them, and perhaps a bit of kinship, despite our very different races.
I hadn’t yet shifted out of my Wolf form, because I was distracted by everything going on around me, so when Captain Amadika came over and patted my head, I snapped at her, and almost removed the fingers from her right hand.
Silence fell over the ship as the other pirates and my companions stared at the two of us. But then, Captain Amadika started laughing, and when she patted my furry head again, I decided with some effort not to bite her.
“Now that’s what the hell I’m talking about,” the captain called out, saluting to the still-blazing ship that we were now leaving in our dust. “You should think about staying, Miss Rukiya. We could use a Wolf on our crew.”
Then the pirate captain tipped her head back, dreadlocks swaying like ropes in the breeze, and howled up at the moon.
The rest of the pirates joined in, howling like a pack of Wolves, their voices swallowed up by the vast sea around us.
15
By the grace of the Gods, we were not attacked again.
After the chaos had faded, and the women on the ship set about various tasks of repair, I retreated to the lower decks and found a nice corner in which to lie down.
I found that in my Wolf form my nausea was not so bad, and so I remained as a Wolf for the remainder of the trip. This also warded off any prodding or teasing from the pirates, and was more comfortable as I slept on the hard wooden floor below deck. Resting my head between my paws, I curled up among some crates and a few old sacks, and fell into a dreamless sleep that I was more than grateful for.
When I awoke an indeterminable time later, forgetting where the hell I was for one terrifying moment before the rocking of the ship reminded me, I blinked down and saw that Asha had come to sleep beside me at some point, and was currently resting her head on the soft fur of my back, her arm draped over me.
For whatever reason, I was careful to only move my head as I looked around for Vega, who was propped up in the corner across from us. With his helmeted mask, I couldn’t tell if he was awake or not, but his hand was resting on his sword, and his shoulders were as rigid as if he were looking right at me.
Resting my head back down between my paws, I slept a little longer, keeping still so as not to stir the Demon who was asleep across my back. When I opened my eyes again a little later, the smell of fresh meat lulled me to consciousness.
I lifted my head, and saw Asha standing over me, looking down at me with an unreadable expression on her face. She dropped two freshly dead seabirds in front of my muzzle, and I blinked up at her as my stomach growled audibly.
The Demon gave her characteristic smirk. “I thought you might be hungry,” she said, and retreated back up the stairs that led to the upper deck without waiting for a response.
She was absolutely right about that, and I wasted no time tearing into one of the seabirds, taking it between my paws and digging in.
When I finished the meal, I went in search of water, and found Vega near one of the casks, getting his own drink. I watched in silence, my head tilting and ears swiveling as he poured the liquid through the tiny holes on the mouth of his mask and gulped the water down.
After a moment, he seemed to notice me. I glanced over at the barrel, my ears swiveling, and back at the Valac warrior. I’d spent most of my life around other Wolves, who could communicate telepathically, and so I’d not realized how frustrating it was not to be able to communicate while in this form.
Just when I was about to shift back into my mortal form and fetch some water myself, Vega grabbed a bowl and filled it with water from the barrel. He set it down in front of me.
Surprised, I lapped at the water until I’d had enough, and Vega watched me in that silent way of his.
After this, I had to relieve myself, and there was no choice but to shift back into my mortal form, so I did so just for long enough to take care of business, and then I shifted back. It seemed my Wolf already had its sea legs, while the nausea in my mortal form was unrelenting if I wasn’t constantly sniffing the powder the captain had given me.
I was just beginning to think that the voyage would never end, that I would die on this wretched ship, when Asha came down the stairs, a wide grin on her face.
I lifted my head from where it had been resting between my paws, my ears perked up with interest. Even Vega seemed to sit up a little straighter as Asha approached.
“Come on up,” she said. “You guys are going to want to see this.”
When Vega and I only looked at her, she added, “We made it. We’ve crossed the Seventh Sea.”
These words were like music to my weary ears.
“You’ll have to swim from here,” the captain said nonchalantly, as if it were a comment on the weather.
“What?” Asha said. “You promised to take us across the Seventh Sea. All the way across.”
“Ay, and I have.” Captain Amadika pointed toward the shoreline a couple hundred yards out, where a bustling port town and sandy desert stretched away as far as the eye could see. “This is the end of the line.”
Asha looked about ready to pummel the captain, but I held a hand up to hold her back.
“Why can’t you take us all the way to the docks?” I asked.
Amadika narrowed her eyes a bit but answered, “The Dead Pirates are not allowed to dock there.”
I glanced at the expanse of blue water between us and the land, and fought back a groan of frustration. The sun had risen on another day, and it glistened on the surface, which churned with its endless tides.
“Fine,” I said, and nodded at Vega and Asha. “Let’s swim.”
A few blue sparks appeared at Asha’s fingertips, and she bared her teeth in a wicked grin at the pirate captain. “Or, I could shock some sense into this bitch,” she suggested.
Of course, because the two of them were more alike than either cared to realize, Captain Amadika did not take kindly to this.
“Watch your words, Demon,” she said. “I already hate your kind enough as it is.”
Asha tipped up her chin. “And, yet, here you are, as cursed as a fallen angel, because you made a deal with one of my kind.”
The two would have come to blows if I hadn’t stepped in between them. I was running out of patience, and since I’d shifted back into mortal form, the nausea was starting to return.
“We’ll swim,” I said, forcing my way between them and shoving them both back.
With a curse, Asha spat on the deck and stalked away, going to grab her belongings before we took our leave. As she did this, the captain took a moment to remind me of the deal we’d made.
“Don’t forget, Wolf,” she said, nodding toward where the old scroll was tucked beneath my jacket. “You owe me a map.”
I raised a brow at her. “Does that mean you think we’ll make it back?”
Captain Amadika offered me a smile then, and I was sure it was the first real smile I’d seen from the pirate. There was no malice behind it, and for a flash of a moment, I thought I got a glimpse of the girl beneath the hardened woman, of whoever she’d been before life had turned her into a terror who roamed the seas.
“Rumor is,” she said, a couple gold teeth flashing in her mouth, “you’re the one to bet on Rukiya Moonborn, even though the odds are stacked way out of your favor.”
When she held out a gloved hand, I gripped it and shook, a small smile coming to my face as well. “Yeah, well, that’s the story of my life in a nutshell.”
