by Shawn Wyatt
“Done.”
About that time, Bastion stepped out of the workshop, his arms laden with armor pieces and a look of triumph on his face. “They’re done. They’re ugly as sin, but they’re done.”
I took a chest piece from him. The armor would never win a beauty contest, with one side held together with nails. Bastion had pierced the other side so straps could be inserted through it to adjust the fit. The armor was unshaven and clunky, but enough to deflect a blade and cushion the blow from a blunt weapon. “They look good,” I said. “Nicely done.”
He gave me a thumbs up with his one free hand. “Everyone try them on,” he said. “I can make some last minute adjustments if I need to, but they’re about as good as they’re going to get with the limited materials and supplies we have here. But they’ll do.”
Wish eyed hers with disgust. “A girl is really supposed to wear this stuff? Do you think you could add some more studs and rivets to it?”
“Not a chance,” Bastion said. “Unless you want to get in there and hammer them out yourself. I’m not your personal punk-rock fashion supplier.”
“Fine. Then I guess they’ll do.”
I laughed. Wish would not be happy until she had her personal gear back, but with the armor on my body, I felt more protected than I had in days. It wasn’t much, but it would give us what we needed to take on the pirates, get our equipment back, and finally get back on our feet.
Chapter Seven: The Pirate King
Roxy stood on the beach and shook her head in disbelief. “You all are absolutely insane. You’re going to row out in a dinghy to assault a flagship?”=
I grinned. “They won’t ever expect this.”
“No, they won’t. Because it’s insane. They’re going to kill you.”
I shrugged. “I’ve survived worse.” I looked at the group of fighters around me. Bastion's armor fit like a burlap sack, it provided protection we hadn’t had before. Evey brandished a dagger and a bow Roxy had given her. The weapon had seen better days, its string frayed along the length, but it was better than nothing.
Bastion wielded a length of metal pipe. Not quite a cutting edge, but he could still make it hurt. Wish had no need of weapons; as long as she could summon her Spirit Wolves, it didn’t matter whether she had anything physical to fight with or not. Quinn bore a pair of short swords he had found, but I had never seen him fight. I didn’t know how useful he would be once things got hairy.
Roxy shook her head. “All I can do is wish you all the best of luck. And tell you that I’m not saving your beds here in the inn. Truth be told, I don’t really expect to see you again.”
“Come on, Roxy. After all the resourcefulness we’ve shown, you don’t have any faith?” Bastion stowed the last of the supplies into the boat and stood up. “I didn’t make all this armor just for us to die out there.”
“I don’t think you understand what you’re walking into. This isn’t some random galleon with a crew of fifteen. This is the Privateer’s Fall. The Pirate King himself lives on this ship. His strongest fighters are on this ship. I’m sure you five are strong, but you aren’t that strong. And you don’t have the best equipment. This is a suicide mission.”
I glanced at Evey. “Now where have I heard that before?”
The Beast Tamer laughed. “We already have an inside man, Roxy. They’ve got Boris on that ship. And he’s already taken out at least two of the pirates.” Her eyes flared crimson as she activated Bestial Rage again. “Might be three by the time we get there.”
The innkeeper didn’t believe us, and I suspected nothing we said would convince her. “If you’re going through with this, then I hope you succeed. Getting the pirates out of Tarawi would be a huge win and help morale around this place. One piece of advice: approach from the bow. It sits higher above the water. As dark as it is right now, they won’t see you.”
“Thanks, Roxy,” I said. “Everyone ready?”
Wish shot a skeptical look at the dingy. “We’re going to get soaked in that thing.”
“Yeah, probably.”
“I hate the water.”
Why was I not surprised? “This is the water realm. I don't think we can avoid it. Now, everyone in. Bastion and I will take the oars. I’ll sit at the front, he’ll be at the back.”
Quinn and the girls piled into the boat. Bastion and I shoved it into the water and leapt aboard, oars in hand, and began to row. I would never have been able to handle a boat that well in reality, but I suspected the game assisted vehicular movement. The small dingy glided through the water with ease, and our oars made barely a splash as they broke the surface of the water.
“When we get aboard, our first step is to find our equipment, then Boris. And then we find the Pirate King. Got it?”
“I’ll be able to tell where he is once we’re closer,” Evey said. “The growls will lead us to him.”
With the moon hidden behind overcast skies, the darkness swallowed us. In what seemed no time at all, a shape loomed ahead, one shadow against a sea of them. The wind had picked up and smaller waves slapped against the hull of the massive ship. At the top of the shadow, some fifty feet over our heads, lanterns hung from the edge and marked the side of the deck.
Roxy hadn’t been joking. The Privateer’s Fall was huge. Easily the largest ship we had seen on Tarawi so far. “Here we go,” I said. I reached for the hull, ready to make my own handholds if necessary, but a line of ringlets provided easy access. I climbed out of the dingy and onto the side of the vessel and resolved to not look down.
I hated heights. I didn’t need to look back and see darkness underneath me. One hand, then one foot, then the other hand, then the other foot. I repeated the pattern to myself as I scaled the side of the vessel. My heart pounded in my chest. I’d rather face down any monster than tackle heights. At least I could shoot a monster.
Light fell across my face and I froze, the deck less than two feet away. I pressed my body close to the hull and strained to hear any sound, any hint that someone lay in wait above. I could hear footsteps in the distance, but none close. The ship didn’t seem too active at this time of night. I heaved myself onto the deck and looked around.
The deck of the Privateer’s Fall could have been a city block. It had been delineated into three sections. The stern sat higher than the other decks, the ship’s wheel at a place of honor in the center of the space. Someone had tied the wooden contraption in place with ropes to hold the rutter still.
Three huge masts bisected the center of the ship, each the size of a redwood. Rigging dripped from the sails, cinched and secured with the vessel anchored. Various hatches led to spaces below the deck. Barrels of gunpowder and cannonballs lined the taffrail in neat groups between rows of cannons. I could see no one, but lanterns moved across the center of the deck without a sound.
The stern held more pirates, their presence marked only by the lanterns they carried. The men moved in tight formation, with all the precision of military training. They stared out over the seas, their watch kept. If we had approached from that side, we would have been discovered the moment we set foot onboard.
I leaned back over the edge and signaled. Far below, Bastion began to make his way up the side of the ship. I crouched low behind some of the crates and held my breath. No pirates should come this way, but I didn't want to take the chance. The time it took for the entire party to make it onto the deck felt like hours, but we had no choice. We had to move slowly. Too much noise would draw attention.
Quinn was the last to climb up. When he finally set foot on the deck, I let myself breathe a little. I started to fill the party in on the pirate's locations, but the explanation was short-lived.
A patrol of three men walked on an intercept course with our hiding spot.
“Take them out,” I whispered. “Fast and quiet. We don’t need to pull the rest of the ship with them. Not yet.”
Evey had already vanished from sight. The large crates and barrels provided ample cover, but she didn'
t need them. Her Forest Walk ability and the shadows on deck made it too easy. One of the men went down with a soft grunt. His companions turned at the sound, and Bastion and I leapt from our hiding spot and attacked.
Bastion cracked the first across the skull with his pipe. The man crumpled. I landed a hard right hook on the last man’s face. He staggered and shouted in surprise. Evey appeared from the shadows and brought the pommel of her dagger across the base of his skull.
“Thanks,” I said. “I thought he’d go down.”
“The surprise attack hurt him, but you have no weapon and your strength score is abysmal. Physical attacks aren’t your forte," she said.
“I can’t exactly set him on fire. That would draw attention.”
“Then you should have stayed back and let Bastion handle it.”
I tried to open my mouth to object, but my muscles wouldn’t move. Every limb froze in place. My lungs screamed for air like a giant hand had wrapped around my chest and squeezed. Evey and Bastion had the same look of surprise. I heard a thud behind me, but my head would not turn to investigate.
A voice crept out of the shadows behind Evey. “Well, look what I found. Should we keel haul them?”
“Better idea's to let the boss now.”
“Of course it’s a better idea to let the boss know, you idgit. I’ll hold them here. Go wake everyone up.”
Outside my range of vision, someone scampered away.
Great. Pirates with crowd control abilities. A man stepped out of the darkness draped in robes, the jolly roger emblazoned on his chest. The creases of his robes glowed with the faint, tell-tell light of enchantment. Whatever he cast held me completely in place.
The man narrowed his eyes as he examined us. “So you five aren’t random townspeople. You’re players.” He shook his head. “Haven’t seen many real people lately. It’s a shame. Look, here’s some advice. Do as the boss says and you’ll get a fair shake. The Pirate King is a fair sort. Harsh, but fair.”
The pirate recast the spell at least twice—a long enough break for us to draw breath and no more—before I heard more voices approach.
“Sorry about this,” he said. “I know it’s not comfortable to held in one position like this, but I can’t take the chance to let you get in a more comfortable pose. You’re accomplished fighters. It would only take a split second for your Invoker back there to bring out her spirits, and this spell wouldn’t work on them.”
Was he actually apologetic about this? If he had been in the employ of the Pirate King and had not seen real players for a while, I supposed it was possible. Too bad it didn’t seem to buy us any goodwill with the man.
A pirate appeared with a dim lantern in his hands. “See, boss? Told you we had ourselves a catch.”
No one moved for a moment, and then a woman stepped forward. The paralysis spell loosened by a hair, enough so I could speak. Eyes the color of a stormy sea swept over the party and cast a look of disdain toward Wish and Quinn. Her fiery hair tied in a ponytail hung to her waist. The woman was at least six feet tall, if not a bit more, and hard muscle wound tight under her skin. “You made a catch, all right,” she said. Her voice was hard. Strong.
The woman looked like an Amazonian princess. Or maybe a super model. The men around us gazed at her with admiration and adulation, but something else lurked beneath their gaze, something they dared not show.
When she moved, the closest pirate flinched. The movement was almost imperceptible.
These men were afraid of her.
The woman peered down at me, and, after a moment, grinned. “You’re the first man in a long time that met my eyes,” she said.
“I make it a point to look my captors in the face.”
She laughed. “And you have a sense of humor, too. I assume that means you’re the leader?”
I didn’t answer her question. Across from me, Evey’s eyes turned red. She had activated Bestial Rage. In the distance, somewhere below the deck, I heard a roar.
The woman sighed. “Someone go find out what the problem is now. If someone is provoking that bear again, put them in the cage with it.” She turned her attention back to me. “Now, back to business. How dare you come aboard my ship without permission? What purpose brought you here?”
“I’m looking for the Pirate King, Scar,” I said.
A thin smile crossed her face. “You’ve found her.”
I blinked in surprise.
“Every pirate ship in this realm belongs to me. Every one of these men answers to me. I am the Pirate King, but you may call me Scarlet. And you have violated the sanctity of my flagship.” She raked her gaze across us all and stopped on Quinn. “And you. I upheld my end of the bargain, but now you betray me?”
“What is she talking about?” I asked. I received no answer.
“Bring him here,” she ordered. Two pirates stepped behind me and grabbed Quinn from his hiding spot. “You betrayed me. You understand the penalty for that, don’t you?”
“Dear Scarlet, you know I would never do such a thing. There is no betrayal here. Just a conflict of interests I hoped to have sorted out before you discovered us.”
If looks could kill, Scarlet’s would have withered Quinn on the spot. “Shut it, Bard. All the flowery words in the world won’t get you out of this. Bind him.”
The pirates chained Quinn and tossed him to the ground. He cast a remorseful look toward me, but the realization that he knew Scarlet burned like a hot coal in my chest.
“We trusted you,” Evey said. Her voice had an odd echo to it, and once again I heard Boris roar. Followed by a scream. “We trusted you, and you do this?”
“Please,” Quinn said. “You don’t understand. Scarlet had captured my friend. I made a deal to bring all newcomers to her in exchange for my friend's freedom."
“Don’t make me say it again, Bard. Quiet.” Scarlet grabbed his face in her hand and turned it toward her. “And when you refer me to, you will use my title. Do not think that a single night in the sheets gives you the right to be so familiar with me. Take him away,” she ordered.
I watched Quinn be drug away by the pirates. He remained still, his head hung in sorrow.
The Pirate King looked at me once more. “You came from another realm. Maintain your silence all you want, but my men saw your airship appear in the sky above and fall into the sea. And since Toris was the only realm close enough for you to have made the journey, I will assume that’s where you started.”
“And if it is?”
“Then I would like to know more. We have been stuck on Shella since the incident in the city square. I have questioned other players about this, as well.”
“We?” I peered at her once more. “You are a player? The Pirate King is an NPC.”
“Not anymore.” Scarlet let her hand fall to the wicked, curved blade at her side. “I needed a position of power to guarantee my security. Getting close to the Pirate King wasn’t hard. Slitting his throat in his sleep was even easier. And if you have ever studied history, then you know that’s how you move up in the pirate world.”
No wonder these men feared her. Scarlet would do whatever she needed to survive. “Let my friends and I go and I'll tell you what I know."
She laughed again. “And give you the opportunity to escape in the mean time? I don’t think so.”
Before I could respond, an explosion shook the entire vessel and almost knocked me to my knees. Shouts erupted from the far side of the ship.
Scarlet’s voice barked out over the chaos. “Report!”
“Ma’am!” One of the pirates sprinted from the opposite end of the deck. “A Ship Killer has surfaced off the starboard side!”
Chapter Eight: Arciteuthis
Scarlet cursed in ways that would make even the most sea-weathered sailor blush. "Find out what damage we sustained in that attack," she snapped. "And ready the cannons." The Pirate King—or was it Queen now?—took a moment to compose herself before she turned back to face me. "We have a lot of unin
vited guests today, it seems. But you don't need to worry. My men will kill the beast."
I didn't know what a Ship Killer was, but its attack had rocked the Privateer's Fall like a toy ship in a bathtub. I'd heard the fear in the pirate's voice.
"Tell me how you traveled between realms," Scarlet said.
I fought to keep my expression neutral. Every instinct screamed to search for the enemy. Scarlet might not have been a friend, but she hardly seemed as dangerous as the monster that lurked in the darkness.
“You can refuse all you want. We have nothing but time.” She held her blade up to her face and stared at her reflection.
The hull shuddered under another attack. Somewhere in the void beyond the lantern, a man screamed. Time was the one thing we did not have.
“How long does this paralysis spell last?" I asked.
Scarlet laughed. “You think you can take me down? You might be strong, even over level 20. But so am I. Your party is not the only group of players that understand the nature of this world.”
Men scrambled across the main deck, their arms loaded with bags of gunpowder. A moment later, a line of cannons thundered in the darkness. My ears rang at the sound, but silence had fallen over the waves.
A satisfied smirk crept across Scarlet's face. “See? My men have already killed the beast.”
A mottled tentacle as thick as a redwood slammed onto the deck. Ichor seemed from the purple skin and sizzled against the wood. With a flick, the appendage sent men flying off the ship and into the waves beyond. A name floated in the air above the limb.
[Withered Arciteuthis, Level 24]
A ball of fear slammed into my gut. Withered creatures had significant damage resistances and took a concerted effort to kill. And this one out leveled us all.
Scarlet cursed again. The attack had sent her men into a panic.
“Stand your ground and fight, or I will take care of you myself!” Her voice echoed across the ship. The sound carried an almost physical force with it, and her words brought the men to a complete stop. They turned back to fight, their postures fearful but determined.