by Ben Wolf
Brink approached the bars. His lupine snout twitched, and his nostrils flared. “I take it neither of ye gentlemen feel well this mornin’?”
Calum glanced at Axel, whose posture straightened, even though it must have racked every inch of his back to do so. Calum had nothing to prove, so he stayed hunched over.
“I regret that Krogan decided to put ye in with that bunch over there.” Brink motioned toward the men in Yurgev’s cell, all of whom now glared at them through the bars with bitter eyes alongside Yurgev’s bruised face. “But what’s done be done. Krogan has forced my hand, and so have you.”
Lilly’s hand touched Calum’s shoulder. Any other day it would have felt good, but not after last night’s events.
Brink nodded to Krogan, who stepped toward their cell with his keys out. “I’m afraid, in this case, it be in the ship’s best interest to terminate yar stay with us.”
“Over a little scrap?” Calum protested. “Are you serious?”
“We didn’t even start that fight.” Axel pointed at Yurgev’s cell. “They did.”
Brink held up his hand and shook his head. “I’ve made me decision. Can’t tolerate fightin’ amongst the crew. There be six o’ them and three o’ you. Simple math, really.”
Calum’s fists clenched. He wasn’t just going to give in. Even though he had no hope of overpowering three Saurians and a Werewolf with just his fists, he’d already decided to fight every step of the way.
“What are you going to do to us?” Lilly asked.
Krogan inserted the skeleton key into the cell’s lock and smirked at Calum.
“I be a merciful master.” Brink brushed some hairs off his cape. “We’re gonna toss ye overboard, an’ ye can take yar chances in the lake. The Overlord will decide yar fates.”
Axel stepped toward the cell door with his fists balled tight. “That’s a death sentence, and you know it.”
Krogan twisted the key and the lock disengaged. Calum wanted to charge the cell door and knock him on his back right then and there, but he knew that tactic wouldn’t get him anywhere, so he waited.
Brink shrugged. “When ye’re a pirate, that be as merciful as it gets, friend.”
One glance at Axel’s eyes told Calum he was considering an attack on Krogan, but his posture betrayed the reality of their shared situation. Resistance just meant they’d be more tired and more injured when it came time to swim for their lives.
Krogan hooked his keys on his belt, removed his whip from the opposite hip, and pulled the cell door open, his eyes fixed on Axel. “C’mon, now. Don’t give me any trouble, and I won’t give it back to you twicelike.”
Axel set his jaw and didn’t move.
A loud thud sounded from behind Brink. A contorted human body tumbled down the stairs, and both Brink and Krogan whirled around.
Something thudded on the deck over their heads. Men screamed, and metal clashed.
“Lock that cell, Krogan!” Brink growled and charged up the stairs, but his furry form promptly tumbled back down and crashed onto the floor. He cursed, hopped to his feet, and bared his jagged white teeth.
“Cap’n?” Krogan slammed the cell door shut and locked it. “You alright?”
Brink waved his arm and shifted the cape off his shoulders so it hung along his back. “Of course I be alright. Rally the men. We need to mount a resistance immediately.”
Calum glanced at Axel, who shrugged. Lilly did the same. Whatever it was, it was bad for the pirates, so hopefully it was good for them—if they could get out of this cell.
Another thud sounded, this time above their cell. Two more thuds in quick succession followed. Krogan charged up the stairs.
“What in the Overlord’s name is going on?” Lilly asked.
Calum scanned the ceiling, but it gave him no answers. “More pirates?”
A roar sounded above them, then Krogan tumbled down the stairs just as Brink had. He landed face-up in front of his captain with a large broadsword protruding from his chest.
A familiar broadsword, one with a blue blade and a silver hilt, far too large for most humans to wield.
Calum’s breath caught in his throat. Impossible.
Dark-green feet, legs, and a strong, scaled torso covered by a Blood Ore blue breastplate descended into the brig. A dark-green hand wrenched the broadsword from Krogan’s chest.
Magnus stood at the base of the stairs, glaring at Brink with all the fury in the world.
Chapter Eight
As soon as Magnus swung his sword, the Werewolf snarled, dodged the blow, and disappeared into the plentiful shadows below decks. All that remained of his presence were his black hat and cape.
Magnus growled. He should have drawn the Werewolf up to the ship’s deck, where the sun now shined, instead.
“Magnus?” Calum called. “Is it really you?”
Magnus held up his hand. “Stay clear of the bars. This Werewolf and I have a score to settle.”
“Brink,” the Werewolf said. “Cap’n Brink. We be old friends now, Magnus.”
A dark blur ratcheted out of the shadows and past Magnus. He whipped his sword at Brink but missed. The solitary lamp in the brig dropped to the floor and shattered, and its flame extinguished.
Even in the lack of light, Magnus could see well enough to locate the cell keys on the dead Saurian’s belt. He snatched them into his left hand and clamped his fingers around them. If Brink got ahold of those keys, or if he had his own set, he might be able to get inside the cell and kill the others before Magnus had a chance to do anything about it.
He snapped the metal key ring with his fingers and tossed them up the stairs and out onto the main deck. It meant his friends would stay locked up, but against a foe as dangerous as Brink, they would be far safer that way.
“Your crew is dead, Brink.” Magnus’s head swiveled in the darkness. “All of them.”
Behind him, the hatch at the top of the stairs smacked shut. He lashed his sword at the sound but failed to hit anything.
“We can stay down here for eternity if you wish, but we both know how this ends: you scratch me up, perhaps bite me a few times. It will hurt, but I will heal. Quickly.
“Then, at some point, I will catch you as you run past. Maybe clip you with my sword. I will eventually find you in the darkness, and I will kill you. You will pay for enslaving my friends and for hurling me into the lake.”
A growl reverberated throughout the brig. Something chomped down on his shoulder, and pressure stung Magnus’s nerves. He winced and jerked forward. Brink rolled over his head and disappeared into the darkness again with another growl.
“Go ahead. Get as frustrated as you wish.” Magnus shook his head and dabbed at the blood that oozed from his shoulder. Nothing the veromine in his body couldn’t repair in a matter of hours.
Still, knowing that Werewolf teeth and talons could penetrate his scales didn’t set him any more at ease. He hadn’t learned that back in Reptilius.
“You have nothing left, except your ship and your life, and I will not allow you to take anything else from my friends or me.”
A half-howl, half-laugh echoed throughout the brig. “That’s what ye think.”
Wood snapped to Magnus’s left.
“He’s punching through the ship’s hull!” Axel yelled. “Right here between the cells!”
Magnus charged toward the spot, but a blast of lake water sprayed his face.
More howling-laughter. “I hope ye be ready for another plunge in the brine, Magnus.”
Magnus jabbed his sword into the gap between the cells but only struck solid wood. Brink had snuck past him again.
Water began to collect at Magnus’s feet. “You really intend to sink your own ship out of spite?”
Brink laughed again from somewhere in the shadows. “If it means ye and yar friends go down with it, then aye. I can replace me ship. Can ye replace yar friends?”
Magnus glanced back at the trio, all of whom wore worried expressions.
“They will not go down with your ship,” Magnus assured both them and Brink.
“A chance not, but they die the moment ye let ‘em out. Or they drown. Yar choice.”
Magnus scowled at the darkness. He needed to take action—extreme action—to reclaim control of this situation. And there was only one way to do that.
He sheathed his sword, raised his arms into the air, and intertwined his fingers. In one mighty blow, he smashed through the brig’s wooden floor. Underneath, he recognized familiar gray wood—the hull. Another comparable blow gashed a hole into the ship’s hull, and more lake water splashed up into his face.
“What are you doing?” Axel gripped the cell bars, frantic at the water swirling around his knees. “You’re gonna drown us!”
Magnus faced him. “Trust me.”
The water level rose to Magnus’s thighs. Brink launched toward him from the shadows and knocked him to the floor, then vanished again.
The prisoners in the other cells rattled their bars and shouted as the water rose to their waistlines. So much for listening for Brink’s next attack.
“You’d better do something quickly, Magnus—” The water had already reached to Calum’s chest, yet his voice remained surprisingly calm. “—or we’re gonna drown in here.”
Magnus clenched his teeth until he noticed a splash in between the cells where Brink had punched the first hole in the hull. A furry brown tail disappeared under the water. The captain had abandoned his ship.
Amid the rising water and shouts of the prisoners, Calum, Axel, and Lilly gripped the cell bars and floated with just their heads above the water line, but they didn’t have much space left to get air.
Magnus dove into the water as it rose almost to his neck. He zipped toward their cell, and instead of fiddling with the keys in the lock, he grabbed two of the bars. With one yank he ripped them out, creating a wide opening for them to escape.
Lilly swam out first, followed by Axel and then Calum. When Calum surfaced above the water again he said, “You have to get the other prisoners out.”
Before Magnus could respond, Axel floated over. “No way. Half of them tried to fight us. We’re not freeing them.”
Calum shook his head, indignant. “They’re all here against their wills. We need to let them out, and at least give them a chance at freedom. You wouldn’t want to die in a cage in a sinking ship.”
“They deserve whatever they get.” Axel glared at him. “We let ’em out, and they’ll come after us again. Lilly, too.”
“Then we’ll stop them again, like we did last time, only now we have Magnus back. With him around, she’s safe, and so are we.”
“And I can take care of myself,” Lilly added, though of the three, her anxious water-treading and shuddering voice demonstrated the most anxiety about the possibility of drowning.
Calum refocused in Magnus. “We’ll work on getting the hatch open. Get them out.”
Magnus nodded and dove into the water again. Within moments he wrenched the cell doors from their hinges, and the prisoners spilled out after him. When he made it back to his friends, he realized they hadn’t yet gotten the hatch at the top of the stairs open, and now the brig was totally submerged.
They were trapped with no air.
Magnus positioned himself under the hatch with his back against it and his feet on the stairs. He heaved against the wood above, and it snapped from the pressure. Sunlight streamed into the brig, and the prisoners began to scramble out.
Again, Lilly went first, and then Axel and Calum, followed by the rest of the prisoners, and Magnus brought up the rear.
Water equalized everything.
It had almost drowned all of them, including Lilly’s friends and the other prisoners from below. Lilly kept an eye on the ones who’d come to blows with Calum and Axel especially, but the big guy, Yurgev, wasn’t among them. Had he drowned before he could make it out in time?
“Everyone to the lifeboats,” Magnus said. “Divide as evenly as you can.”
Lilly grabbed Calum’s wrist before he could leave. “I know where our armor and weapons are. If we hurry, we still have time to get to them.”
Calum nodded, then told Axel their plan.
“Go on, then. Magnus and I will handle things here. And hurry.” Axel began to work on one of the ropes that secured the nearest lifeboat to the ship.
Lilly led Calum up to Captain Brink’s quarters. The curtains at the window were drawn shut, and none of the candles on the desk were lit.
The ship pitched to the right under them and Calum caught Lilly in his arms. He promptly set her back on her own two feet, saying, “Sorry.”
The way he said it made her think he was apologizing for something else entirely.
“I’m the one who should be sorry.” She hoped he would understand her meaning. “Come on. Our armor and weapons are in the captain’s closet.”
Calum pulled the door open. Sure enough, a pile of armor parts and weapons lay inside with Lilly’s armor on top. Calum handed her a few pieces and then dug for his own.
“Good to get this stuff back again.” Lilly stepped into her leg armor. “I felt exposed without it.”
“You were exposed without it, almost entirely.” Calum slid on his breastplate then picked up one of his greaves.
“You didn’t seem to mind.” While Lilly fastened her own breastplate over her undergarments, she stared at him to gauge his response.
He glanced at her then broke eye contact. “I—uh—”
Lilly stifled a smile and slung her cape over her shoulders. “You don’t have to be embarrassed, Calum. You weren’t dressed in much more than me.”
Calum slipped on his gauntlets and brandished his red-bladed sword. “I think we’d better get going.”
The cabin door shut and the room plunged into darkness. A man’s heavy breathing sounded, and a large shadow advanced toward them, holding a gleaming blade.
“Stand back, Lilly.” Calum extended his arm and physically pushed her back. “It’s Yurgev.”
He hadn’t drowned after all.
Metal clanged against Calum’s blade, then twice more in quick succession. How Calum had even seen to defend against them, Lilly didn’t know. She backed away from the fracas toward the curtains.
“I’m gonna kill you first,” Yurgev said to Calum. “And then I’m gonna move on to your little girlfriend.”
Lilly’s jaw hardened, and she drew her sword. Her bow was still in the captain’s closet. She regretted not grabbing it first, but now it was too late. She’d had to make do with her sword.
As she pulled the curtain open to drench the space with more light, she noticed a stream of water trickling toward her from under the cabin door. They didn’t have much time.
Calum blocked a savage blow from Yurgev and staggered back toward Lilly.
She stepped to his side and nudged him. “We’re doing this together.”
Calum nodded. He leveled his sword.
The ship pitched to the left, and all three of them lost their footing. Lilly recovered first because she took to the air, but Yurgev wasn’t far behind her. He jabbed his sword at her and missed, then he swung it again. The blade should have connected with Lilly’s sword, but it never made it that far.
From the shadows, a dark blur slashed at Yurgev. He dropped, his throat split open, facedown on the water-covered floor. His blood tinted the water red.
Now Captain Brink stood before them, his amber eyes burning with revenge.
Chapter Nine
Lilly ran through the list of possibilities in her head, but in the end, the simplest explanation also made the most sense: Brink must’ve swum around to the side of the boat and somehow found a way back inside his quarters.
It didn’t matter how—what mattered was that if they wanted to get off the ship alive, they’d have to get past Brink.
Lilly shot toward him.
“Lilly, no!” Calum reached for her, but she zipped past him.
With o
ne swing of his arm, Brink sent her careening into the wall. Her body smacked against it, and she slumped down to the water-covered floor. The blow might’ve killed her if not for her armor.
She didn’t move, except to grope for her sword, now hidden somewhere under the ever-rising water.
Then Brink charged Calum, who barely dodged his first attack but fell under his second. Calum slapped the water in search for his sword, but Brink kicked his ribs. He rolled over on his side, his teeth bared.
Brink turned back and started toward Lilly. “Ye, m’dear, be the reason me ship is goin’ down. I should’ve killed ye last night when ye asked.”
Lilly tried to back away, but the cabin wall kept her from moving anywhere. As she did, her hand brushed against something under the water.
Brink stalked nearer. “I think, for me next ship, I won’t be takin’ anymore slaves. I’ll just kill ’em from the start. I guess in this age a pirate cap’n needs to be more ruthless to maintain order. I shall not repeat this mistake.”
Lilly’s fingers coiled around the hilt of her sword. She didn’t dare glance at it for fear of giving it away.
As Brink raised his claws to strike, Lilly lifted her sword out of the water and sprang forward. The blade pierced deep into Brink’s chest, and he dropped onto his back with his eyes wide and mouth open.
Lilly stood over him as water splashed over his astonished face. “I waited for you to come to me this time. Thanks for the advice. It worked.”
Brink coughed, and then he lay back in the water. His amber eyes shut for good.
The cabin door burst open, and a cascade of water streamed inside. Lilly wrenched her sword from Brink’s chest and pulled Calum to his feet. “Come on. We have to grab the rest and get out of here.”
The ship pitched toward its stern, and they slid toward the cabin’s windows, now submerged in lake water. Calum recovered his sword, sheathed it, and together with Lilly he darted over to the closet. They collected Axel’s armor in a sack, she grabbed her bow and arrows, and they clawed their way back up to the door.