Accidental Champion Boxed Set

by Jamie Davis

  Fire and smoke rolled back to the stern from the main deck. One of the gunpowder kegs for the cannons must have ignited. Fortunately, it had managed to kill most of the raiders who’d been massed on the main deck. They had driven the surviving crew members back against the forecastle and took the brunt of the blast for the crew.

  Some of the crew were fighting the remaining raiders, while the others were fighting the fire. There was no organization to anything they were doing, though. It only took Cari a split second to realize no one was left in command. She didn’t know where Mr. Bowcott was, but the captain was dead, as were the bosun and the helmsman.

  Over on the raider ship, she saw the pirate captain shouting orders, and the few remaining crew members on board hacked at the lines tying the ships together. If they managed to cut themselves free, the survivors of the Bonnie Beth would die when the ship burned and eventually sank.

  Cari had to get the situation under control, or they were all going to end up floating out here on bits of charred wood.

  She sheathed her sword, sprinted to the front quarterdeck rail, and sprung off it over the burning main deck. Before she fell into the flames, Cari grabbed at a line tied off from the mainmast and slashed it free with a sweep of her dagger.

  She swung out over the flames to the far side of the main deck. Timing her release so she cleared the fire, Cari let go of the rope and landed with a tumbling roll. She popped back to her feet as soon as she landed, looking around for nearby raiders.

  One of them stood over Percy with his cutlass raised to kill the boy.

  Cari’s dagger thrust took him in the left kidney, and she drove the blade up and to the side, severing one of the great vessels in his abdomen.

  The raider crumpled to the deck with a single, choked-off scream of pain.

  1,200 experience points awarded.

  Cari offered a hand to help Percy to his feet.

  “Where’s Mr. Bowcott?”

  “He’s unconscious up on the forecastle, miss.”

  “We have to get out of here, or we’re all gonna die on this ship. We’ve only got one option. Run up to the forecastle and get someone to bring the first mate to the rail. Send everyone else to me.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to capture us a pirate ship.”

  Quest accepted: Capture the raider ship.

  Cari waved her sword in the air over her head as she raised her voice over the shouts and screams.

  “Men and women of the Bonnie Beth, listen to me. Rally to me. We must take the fight to them, or we’ll all surely die here. Follow me!”

  A ragged cheer went up from those closest to her. It would have to do.

  Cari ran to the rail, planted her booted foot on it, and vaulted across the gap between the ships. Only a few lines still held the two ships together.

  She kicked downward at an axe-wielding raider below her as she landed. Her boot caught him in the face and he fell backward.

  After drawing her sword, Cari stabbed down at the raider on the deck beside her. He spasmed once, then lay still.

  1,200 experience points awarded.

  A thump beside her, then another, announced the arrival of two of her crewmates from the burning ship.

  Cari pointed along the rail with her sword. “Stop those men from cutting us free. We need to give our survivors time to come over.”

  “Aye aye, ma’am.”

  Both men ran forward and attacked the two raiders cutting at the lines that tied the ships together.

  More survivors from the Bonnie Beth came over, and she sent some of these arrivals to help the first two. The rest she formed into an expanding defensive semicircle around their little beachhead on the raider ship.

  When she had fifteen armed survivors standing with her, all wounded in one way or another, Cari made the decision to try for the raider’s quarterdeck and take control of the ship.

  “Come on, let’s take them!”

  She ran toward the stern, hoping the others would follow behind her. If they didn’t, this was going to be a short fight.

  Cari reached the staircase leading up to the quarterdeck at the stern of the raider ship and raced upward, taking the steps two at a time. With a slash of her sword, she swept the legs out from under a raider trying to defend his position at the top of the steep stairs. As he fell to the wooden decking, a slice of her dagger laid open his throat, and she leapt over him to the quarterdeck.

  1,200 experience points awarded.

  A shot rang out to her right, and she was knocked sideways into the rail, almost tumbling over into the sea.

  Health damage: Health -22

  Cari pressed her forearm to her side. She’d been shot. Every breath felt like inhaling fire. She must have broken ribs at the very least.

  Another crack.

  Something whizzed past her face, buzzing like a bumble bee.

  A raider officer raised the pistol like a club over his head and ran at her.

  She sheathed her dagger and drew one of her own pistols, using the side of the hand holding her sword to lever back the hammer.

  Leveling the pistol at her attacker, Cari fired point-blank into the raider’s face. The bullet took the top of his head off after passing through his left eye.

  1,500 experience points awarded.

  Level Up!

  A surge of the remaining raiders stopped the rest of the Bonnie Beth’s crew following her from the main deck. They fought to put down the raiders in front of them, trying to reach Cari on the quarterdeck. More of her escaping shipmates crossed over the narrow gap between their burning vessel and the raider ship.

  Cari realized she was cut off from aid and stood alone on the quarterdeck. She felt the blood seeping from the bullet wound in her side. She had no idea how serious the internal injuries might be.

  The raider captain sneered at the wounded girl who had dared to stand against him on his own ship. He raised his sword overhead as he charged at her.

  Cari drew the second pistol, planning to dispatch the lead raider the same way she’d killed the previous one.

  He moved too fast for her, though, and chopped down at her with his cutlass blade. She had no choice but to try to parry his sword with the pistol.

  She managed to bring the pistol over in time, but the jarring hit of the cutlass on the pistol barrel knocked it from her hand to fall spinning across the deck’s planking.

  The raider danced backwards, avoiding a return attack from Cari’s rapier blade.

  Her sword cut nothing but air and swung wide as she fought to pull the wild swing back under control.

  Pain from the wound in her side lanced through her. It was difficult to move the way she wanted to in this fight. She’d have difficulty scoring any kind of killing blow.

  Her only chance was to make enough light hits to power up her burst of speed and take him down that way.

  Cari assumed a defensive posture, taking a cue from competitive fencing. She only needed a light touch to score a hit.

  All she had to do was draw a little blood each time. Oh, yeah, that and avoid getting killed in the process.

  The captain laughed and charged forward again, seeking a quick kill.

  Cari used her blade’s defensive bonus and inherent quickness to deflect the incoming attacks until she saw her opening.

  There!

  A lunge and a flick of her wrist left a deep gash in the raider’s cheek.

  Blood streamed down the side of his face.

  The power-up bar on one side of her vision filled a little.

  “You’ll pay for that, girl!”

  “Worried you’ll be too ugly for your raider hags to sleep with you, pig?”

  Taunt engaged.

  The raider captain snarled something incoherent and charged back in at her.

  Her taunt had worked just the way she’d wanted it to.

  The raider’s attacks, uncoordinated by his blinding anger at her words, missed again and again. It only
made him growl and get more enraged.

  Once again, an opening in his defenses appeared.

  Cari used an unconventional attack, hoping it would anger him more.

  She feinted with her blade and then spun in place, leveling a roundhouse kick at his chest.

  Cari felt the foot connect, knocking the raider back onto his butt. The progress bar filled some more.

  The exertion of the kick and the contact with the raider jarred her and sent spasms of pain throughout her whole body.

  Health damage: Health -8

  Cari’s broken ribs must have gotten worse from the effort of the attack. She coughed once, spat on the ground, and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

  It came away covered with blood.

  Cari looked down and realized she was bleeding internally.

  A quick check of her health status revealed significant damage.

  Health: 40/80

  Cari had to work fast. If her lungs filled with blood, she’d never last long enough to defeat the captain.

  It might take one more hit to finish filling her power-up progress bar. Maybe.

  She had to try to score a solid hit with enough damage to complete the power play.

  Maybe it was a flicker of the captain’s eyes as something else drew his attention, or perhaps the tickling sensation raising the hair on the back of her neck. Whatever the case, Cari realized at the last instant, via her prescience skill, someone had gotten behind her and was about to attack.

  She dropped to her knees and twisted her body backward in a reverse lunge.

  A cutlass cut through the air a scant inch above her face as she leaned back. A raider had gotten behind her.

  She extended her blade out from her arched body and slashed into the groin of the surprised raider.

  The spurt of bright red blood showed she’d connected with one of the femoral arteries, slicing the large vessel open with the tip of her blade.

  The man dropped his cutlass and clutched at his crotch, trying to stem the flow of life-giving blood as it spurted out from his body. His eyes glazed over and he fell to the side.

  1,200 experience points awarded.

  She’d avoided the sneak attack, but most important of all, her power bar had filled and now flashed green.

  Power-up active — Unleash special innate skill — Burst of speed.

  Cari had powered up just in time.

  The captain saw his opportunity as she recovered from her most recent attack. He charged in to finish her off while she was overextended backwards.

  It would have worked, too, except now she was too fast.

  The familiar stopwatch tick, tick, ticked around in her head, letting her know how much time she had left: forty seconds.

  Cari rolled out from beneath the captain’s slow-motion attack, groaning in pain as she pushed herself up to her feet.

  The surprise showed in his eyes as she dodged his blow with impossible speed. The captain struggled against his forward momentum to turn and meet her in the new position beside him.

  It was too late.

  Cari lunged forward, piercing the captain’s side and running her blade through his entire torso, skewering both his lungs and his heart in one shot.

  Withdrawing, she pulled her sword free from the raider’s corpse.

  2,500 experience points awarded.

  Clamping her elbow against her side, trying to splint the broken ribs beneath her wound, Cari ignored the pain shooting through her torso and charged at super-speed down the steps onto the main deck. Like a roving blur of death, she wove her way through the remaining raiders, dropping one after another before they knew what hit them.

  The visual display showed the message for experience points awarded. It flashed eight times with the same message before her power-up combo timed out.

  1,200 experience points awarded.

  The remaining raiders, no more than ten in number, ultimately surrendered, dropping their weapons and falling to their knees.

  The cool-down period hit Cari, and she collapsed to the deck in front of Percy. The boy stood over Mr. Bowcott’s wounded body, a bloody cutlass in his hand.

  “Miss Dix, that was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. How did you do that?”

  Cari gasped, trying to catch her breath from both the exertion of her burst of speed and the injured ribs. “Just something I learned along my travels. Who’s the most senior man we have left?”

  “That would be Marlin Dawkins, ma’am. He’s the assistant bosun’s mate.”

  “Tell him to gather and secure the prisoners, cut the Bonnie Beth free, so she doesn’t burn this ship down with her, and find me a healing potion.”

  Quest completed: Capture the raider ship.

  4,000 experience points awarded.

  Her orders given, Cari succumbed to the pain and fatigue, a wave of darkness closing in around her.

  Percy’s words filtered through to her sleepy ears just before she fell into unconsciousness.

  “Aye, aye, Cap’n Dix.”

  Chapter 25

  Distant shouts, plus orders barked and repeated overhead, awakened Cari. She opened her eyes and didn’t recognize where she was. The cabin was spacious, decorated with gaudy paintings of dancing girls and gilt paneling everywhere she looked.

  “You’re awake, ma’am.”

  Her eyes tracked to find the source of the voice.

  Percy sat on a stool a few feet away, next to a large table, or maybe it was a desk.

  “You had me worried, ma’am. Even when we found the healing potion you requested and managed to wake you enough to make you drink it, you fell right back to sleep.”

  “Where am I?”

  “In the captain’s cabin. Aboard the raider ship Bloodletter. Mr. Bowcott and Mr. Dawkins have her underway again, on what they think is a general heading for Tandon town.”

  Cari sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bunk. It was easily twice the size of the bunk in her previous cabin aboard the Bonnie Beth.

  “How long have I been asleep?”

  “A day and a half, ma’am. While you were asleep, we made all the necessary repairs and we’re underway again.”

  She groaned as the pain in her side flared. It wasn’t as bad as it had been during the fighting, but it still smarted quite a bit. She placed a hand on the wound. Someone had bandaged it, pulling the wrappings tight, no doubt to help hold the broken ribs in place.

  Cari blushed as she realized the bandages wrapped all the way up to her breasts. She hoped it was one of the Bonnie Beth’s few female crew members who’d done it since they would have had to remove her shirt to accomplish the task.

  There was a light knock on the door.

  “Come in,” Cari called out.

  Mr. Bowcott stuck his head around the doorframe then stepped into the cabin.

  “Ah, you’re awake, Cap’n. I’m glad to see it. How do you feel?”

  “I’m well enough.” Cari stood and winced a little at the movement. “How are the rest of the crew?”

  “I’m happy to say everyone who we got over from the Bonnie Beth survived. As you ordered before you lost consciousness, we searched the ship and found a cache of healing potions. After we administered one to you, we divvied up the remainder based upon the injuries each man had. I hope that was alright? There were some who wanted to keep giving you potions until you woke up. Once I was awake, I said that wasn’t what you’d ordered us to do.”

  “That makes sense. I didn’t need the additional healing, and you used the rest to save the other crew members. Good job.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am. Did Percy tell you we’re back underway to Tandon?”

  “Yes, he did. Hopefully, the authorities there will know what to do with the prisoners.”

  “Prisoners, ma’am? There aren’t no prisoners.”

  “What happened to the surviving raiders? I ordered them secured.”

  “Aye, we secured them, tried them, and pitched every la
st mother’s son overboard with a cannonball chained to their feet.”

  Cari’s horrified stare must’ve seemed strange juxtaposed against Mr. Bowcott’s beaming smile at his pronouncement.

  It took the man a few seconds to recognize the look on Cari’s face.

  “Did we do something wrong, ma’am? That is the customary treatment for raiders taken at sea.”

  Cari recovered her composure and steeled her features so she didn’t show her emotions so plainly. It took a bit of work to wipe away the image of men and women sinking to their deaths, drowning as they struggled to reach the surface.

  “No,” she finally said. “No, you did what you thought was right. I didn’t make my orders clear. Were the raiders the only people aboard? They had no prisoners of their own?”

  “Only a young girl we found hiding here in the captain’s cabin. She couldn’t have been more than four years old, so she obviously wasn’t a raider herself. A few of the female crew members have taken her in and are tending to her. Don’t worry, they’ll keep her out from under foot.”

  Cari was glad her crew hadn’t killed the raider child, too, given their bloodthirsty moods. That might have broken her. People lived hard lives here in Fantasma and made hard decisions because of it. She had to remember that. It puzzled her why the raider captain had brought his daughter aboard in the first place. Maybe it wasn’t his child but one taken in a raid on shore or during the capture of a ship.

  “Good, perhaps we can figure out if the child was a prisoner or not. Maybe she has a home and a family somewhere looking for her?”

  “She don’t talk much, ma’am,” Percy said. “She asks for her mum and dad, but that is all.”

  “Well, we’ll follow up on that later. For now, Mr. Bowcott, we need to continue to Tandon as planned.”