Elias was curled up in the fetal position, shaking uncontrollably. He almost thought Kristen was dead. He peek out over his arm.
Dum'lo was impaled. A sword was pierced through his jacket- blood hasn't even come out yet.
"For... Jillhall... For the Dragon..fin" Dum'lo muttered as he collapsed. Behind him was Tsuni; That guy with blue skin claiming to be an elemental.
As he fell, his boomrod slid over to Elias and Kristen. She hastily grabbed it and pointed it at Tsuni.
"Stay back, man!" She shouted. Tsuni put his hands up to surrender.
Elias slowly stood up, and pulled out the sword he was given, wrapped to his waist. Tsuni looked over to him in fear.
"Look.. I'm not working with these guys..." He said as he looked back down to Dum'lo's body. Blood began seeping out, soaking into the wet deck.
They stood there for a while, trying to determine what to do next. The rain was coming down hard now. Elias and Kristen were soaked. The only way to hear themselves speak was if they shouted.
"Okay then.." Kristen shouted. She lowered the weapon.
"We need to warn the Captain... half the crew is planning to overthrow him!" Tsuni yelled
But it was too late. A noisy ruckus could be heard on the lower deck. Screaming, clanking of swords and the popping of boomrods could be heard.
"Oh no.." Elias said under his breath.
Tsuni pulls his sword from Dum'lo's corpse and hops down the stairs. Kristen promptly followed. Before she reached the steps, she turned back.
"Elias... I know you're scared." She hollered through the noisy rain. "Im scared too! Literally i feel like im going to soil my pants!" She continued "But this is life and death! If we dont fight-" she stopped for a moment.
Elias was hit by those words. Kristen was afraid.. but she was going in anyway.. a surge of confidence but also nihilism went through him. 'If i don't fight- I die.. If I fight- I might die..'. The latter sounded a bit more survivable.
Elias gripped the sword tighter and began walking towards the stairs with Kristen.
"We watch each others backs down there, alright?" Kristen said as she grasped his arm. She looked at him deeply. Her face was soaked and fear was in her eyes as well.
"I'll try.." Elias said back to her. He put his hand on her arm to assure her that this was a promise.
They headed down the steps, crouched to avoid boomrod bullets.
They got to the lower deck, it shook as people ran across, or fell to their enemies. Right as they got up, they were assaulted. One of the crew began violently swinging at them. Kristen and Elias didn't swing back, but did their best to dodge. Elias trips and falls onto his rear, but he held up his sword.
The pirate stopped for a moment to monologue.
"The idol is ours! You can't stop the full might of the Dragonfin!" He shouted and continued to swing, aiming for Elias in his defenseless state.
Kristen threw her sword up and was able to parry him. The guy was stunned, allowing Kristen to push his sword and slice back. He was hit. Gashed across the chest and abdomen. The guy dropped his sword, held on to his stomach and wobbled off until he dropped to the floor.
Kristen turned around and lent Elias her hand to help him up.
"G-good job" Elias said as he got up.
Kristen didn't say a word. They stood there for a moment as the crowd fought around them. She looked as if she was trying to smile, but she was visibly uncomfortable.
"Uh..are you okay"
She suddenly turns and vomits across the floor. She wipes her lips and returns to Elias.
"...Lets go find the Captain..." she said.
They both barreled through the crowd. Luckily for them, it seemed like everyone was occupied fighting their own adversaries. Elias felt relieved until he lost Kristen in the crowd.
"Kristen!?" He shouted. It was no use. She wouldn't be able to hear
"KRISTEN!?" He kept going anyway.
"Elias!" A voice called back, but it was Adira. Though Elias still couldn't see her.
Suddenly a great force pummeled the back of Elias's head. He toppled forwad, hitting the ground. Turning around quickly, he found a Spiran towering over, his sword hurtling down towards him.
Elias didn't even have to think. His torso rolled to the side, avoiding the blade, his shirt getting caught and torn. He found his way to his feet and held his sword up with two hands. He kept his body lowered as they faced off.
*swoop* He swung and missed
*fwoosh* The other guy swang and Elias dodged.
They circled each other slowly, waiting for the next move. This time Elias felt like his fear was somewhat helping him. He was light on his feet, extremely alert of his surroundings, and he felt stronger than ever. Though he still didn't know how to fight with skill.
Elias began swinging violently, trying to pary and strike all at the same time. The sword flew through the air in figure eights, and his enemy was pushed back. They were reaching the side of the ship.
The guy gave him a look of surrender, putting his arms out. His soaking face and arms dripped with rainwater. Elias was just about to lower his sword, but someone shot him, and he plummeted off the ship into the ocean. Elias turned around to find Adira coming out of the crowd.
"Elias-" She attempted to tell him something
"Where's Kristen!?" Elias interrupted her, walking passed, and looking into the battling crowd. The fight seemed to be dying down just a bit, but Elias didn't know who was winning.
"KRISTE-" Elias hollered but was interrupted by Adira. She held him by his arms and looked him in the eye.
"Elias we have to jump ship" She said.
Elias looked at her. She was wearing two 'wings'; typical parts of a sky diving wingsuit, usually used by official field explorers and Librarians.
She pulled out two more for Elias to equip.
"Im not going without her!" Elias yelled
"Elias she's probably down in the ocean by now! Lets go!" Adira tried pulling him, but he escaped her grip.
Elias ran back into the crowd shouting her name. Adira ran after him. For a moment she realized what he was doing. Running into a bloody fight unprotected. He wasn't himself at that moment.
After a few minutes of trudging over knocked out pirates or corpses, the fight seemed to have cleared up, allowing them to see better. Kristen was with Flecks in the distance. Fleccks seemed gravely injured. They were surrounded by four Dragonfin pirates. One a small Spiran woman, the others were tall muscular Grolobbs.
"You take the Spiran, I take the Grolobbs." Adira whispered to him. Elias nodded.
They both charged in. Anger erupted from Elias's gut and he screamed as he ran in, holding the sword forward. It went straight through. Elias tried to pull out, but the woman turned and used her knife for a last ditch attempt to kill him.
Elias gets gashed across the arm, but shortly after, the woman fell over on her face, pushing the sword out of her back.
Elias stood back to observe the scene. Kristen didn't have her sword. Adira took out those three Grolobbs without a scratch, and Flecks was bleeding out from his arm. The rain storm was beginning to calm down to a drizzle.
Elias and Kristen ran over to each other and hugged tightly.
"Im sorry.. i didn't keep up" Elias said
"No..it was me.. i was going too fast" Kristen argued as they continued the embrace.
"Uh guys.. im bleedin out here!" Flecks shouted from behind.
"Not to mention the Dragonfin ship is on our tail." Adira called out. "We have to jump off!"
Flecks looked over to her.
"Wait what!? We aren't jumping ship!" He yelled
"THIS PIECE OF CRAP WONT SURVIVE ONE CANNONBALL!" She fired back at him loudly. She was serious.
"No, Adira. We aren't jumping." Captain said as he approached. Walking over the corpses of the pirates. The scene was disturbing. Only about five Cloud Cleavers were still standing. Tsuni being one of them.
The Captain held his longsword tightly. It was soaked in water and blood. He had an intense look on his face combined with a look of fatigue.
"We're going... to raid that damn ship, even if it kills me." He lifted his sword up, pointing to the sky at the side of the ship. He almost looked drunk.
Loud howls and screeching could be heard in the distance.
"Skawww"
"Wkrooo!"
They sounded like animals, but people at the same time. The Dragonfin were probably getting close again.
"Prepare yourselves guys.. We're getting that book back." Captain Rae said with confidence. Kristen, Elias, Tsuni, Adira and Flecks stared at him with worry.
This wasn't going to end well.
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