Ambush
Nanami was awake and sitting up. So were Jowy and Riou, both their expressions awake and alert. From outside the cabin, the running footsteps of soldiers could be heard. "Pirates!" a man cried. "Pirates have surrounded the Lino En Kuldes! Take your weapons and defend the ship!"
Without wasting anymore precious time, all three of them grabbed their weapons and quickly ran up to the deck. Once there, they met up with Tir and Gremio.
"What's going on?" Nanami asked as they approached.
"Pirates," Tir replied quietly. He gripped his Bo-staff tightly. "They've ambushed us. We're surrounded."
He was right. A fleet of ships were blocking the ship's way: four huge ships, though none of them were nearly as big as the Lino En Kuldes, and five smaller vessels, all bristling with mad-hungry pirates and their arms.
"What do you mean you saw Yanjing's Ship?!" they heard a voice boomed.
The navigation room's door burst open and Admiral Bernadette marched outside, her face like a thundercloud. "Where is he?!" she thundered.
A soldier gave her a spyglass and Bernadette raised it to her eye. Nanami tilted her head at the direction where the female admiral was looking at and saw the small dot-shape of a ship far away across the sea.
"Cowardly fool," Bernadette hissed. She gave the spyglass back to the soldier. "I don't get it" – she sighed in frustration – "just what he is trying to gain by attacking us now?"
"Maybe they want something from us." An elderly man dressed in a green wool robe approached them. He whistled at the sight of the pirate ships. "Looks like we're going to have an interesting battle on our hands," he said with a wide smile, apparently not paying attention to the situation they were in.
"Father, what are you doing here?" Bernadette asked him, her voice stern. "You're supposed to be resting at the cabin where it's safe."
Skald Egan, ex-admiral Skald Egan of the Island Nations Federation Fleet, grinned widely. "Who do you think you are – my mother?" He thumped himself on the chest and said proudly, "I may be old but I still have the Egan warrior blood in me."
Bernadette rolled her eyes and then noticed Nanami and the others. "And what's your reason for being up here?" she demanded. "Not the Egan warrior blood excuse, surely."
"We came to help," Jowy said.
Her reply was automatic. "It's too dangerous."
"We've fought in bigger wars before," Tir protested. "A battle like this won't be too difficult for us."
"Let them fight, Bernadette," her father said gently. "We can't stop them. And we need all the help we can get."
"But—"
"Head's up, people," the ex-admiral said, pointing at the sky. A bird the size of an eagle was flying toward them, carrying something small in its claws.
The bird hovered over them and dropped a scroll. Bernadette caught it and opened it. "To Bernadette and Skald Egan, from the Pirate King, Yanjing. I have surrounded your so-called great ship and therefore I claim the Lino En Kuldes as my own. Give up the map and the ship to me and I will let you go free. If not, then die."
"That's a very pleasant negotiation," Skald Egan remarked. "I wonder what he meant by 'giving up the map'?
Bernadette rolled the scroll up again and ripped it to pieces before throwing it to the sea. "Are our warriors ready?" she asked the nearest soldier.
"Yes ma'am," the soldier replied.
Nanami felt a hand on her soldier. She looked back. Riou was staring at her, his eyes determined. "We have to tell them about the map," he said.
Bernadette had heard him; she looked at them sharply. "You know something about the map?"
Nanami gulped. "Yes ma'am," she said nervously. Searching her pocket, she took out the treasure map and offered it to Bernadette. "I think this is the map the pirates are after."
Bernadette looked at the map. She frowned. "Are you sure this is the map?" she asked, looking up.
Gremio nodded. "That map was the reason why Veron had attacked the inn in the first place," he said. "It may not look like it but it's a piece of treasure map. At least that is what we think."
"I see."
"Are you going to hand it over to the pirates?" Tir asked.
Bernadette looked at Tir as if he had asked her to drown herself in the sea. "Are you mad?" she yelled. "Of course not!"
"But if you don't then the pirates will—"
Skald Egan laughed. "You're one funny kid, my boy," he said.
Tir frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Pirates like Yanjing never keeps promises," Bernadette explained. She gave back the map to Nanami. "And when I say never I mean never. Besides" – a half smile lit her face – "that bloody fool Yanjing has been yearning for the Lino En Kuldes since the day he laid his eyes on it. How will we be able to go back to Obel without a ship?"
"Oh." Tir's face went red. "I haven't thought about that," he said quietly.
"So we're going to fight?" Jowy asked.
"Uh-huh." A red light that bore the symbol of a rage rune glowed vividly on the elderly man's left hand. "Is everyone one here ready?!" he shouted. All the soldiers at the deck raised their weapons in the air made loud, bloodcurdling war cries in response. He smiled. "Okay then. There is no turning back. The battle will start right…about…now!"
At the word 'now', Skald Egan raised his hand and his rage rune's fire wrapped around one of the bigger enemy ships, consuming it. The men onboard screamed, pushing their way to jump into the sea to save their own lives.
"Whoa," Jowy gasped as he watched the burning ship in awe.
"Are you alright?" Bernadette asked her father worriedly. "You shouldn't have used that amount of power."
"I'm fine I'm fine," Skald replied impatiently. "Will you focus on the battle? It's not over yet you know."
After the destruction of one ship, the rest of the pirate ships started advancing toward them. Seeing this, Bernadette quickly raised her right hand and the blue light of her flowing rune shimmered brightly. A second later, the air magically went cold; frozen water shards formed on top of the area and fell, hitting the enemy fleet like bullets. Two of the smaller vessels took heavy damage and sank slowly into the deep sea.
Skald Egan smiled. "That's my daughter," he commented proudly.
From the crow's nest above, a man screamed as ten long, black tentacles suddenly darted out of the water without warning. As soon as they appeared, they began grabbing a handful number of soldiers and then throwing them into the sea.
Gremio rolled aside as a tentacle tried to grab him the same way it did to the soldiers. Once out of its way, he thrust his axe with all his might to cut the tentacle.
Down below, something screamed in pain. Its head rose up, revealing the sea monster's hideous appearance: a huge head covered with a hard shell the size of a war ship, and large brown jelly-like eyes with slimy liquid oozing out of them.
The sea monster shrieked.
"Attack the tentacles!" Bernadette ordered the archers and rune mages who had arrived at the deck. "Ignore the head – the tentacles are its weak points!!"
Arrows were shot, and fire and lightning lashed out from the rune mages' (Skald included) hands, all aimed at the tentacles. A soldier ran to Bernadette, carrying with him a box full of sharpened, high-quality knives. When he reached her she took two knives, aimed and threw them at the tentacles. She took two knives again and threw. Each shot was a bull's eye.
The sea monster shrieked again. All nine of its tentacles (minus the one that Gremio had cut), went for the archers and mages. But before they had the chance to attack them, Riou, Nanami and Jowy blocked their path; the three of them were locked in combat with each of the three tentacles that they had blocked. The rest of the tentacles were stopped by Gremio, Tir, Bernadette, and the rest of the warriors. It was a heated battle: them vs. the giant kraken's huge nine arms.
Jowy was the first to kill his prey. He leaped high up when the tentacle tried to grab his leg. When he landed, his staff pierced through the tentacle. The kraken's arm tried to thrash and struggled, but Jowy wouldn't let go. At last it lay still.
Riou was next. Using his tonfa, he continued hitting his opponent in the same spot while simultaneously avoiding the tentacle's attacks. The tenth hit was the finishing blow – the tentacle snapped.
The sea monster screamed. Its head went down to the sea, then the tentacles. Its huge figure could be seen swimming away from the Lino En Kuldes.
There was silence.
"We did it." Nanami breathed out and fell to her knees. Though she didn't manage to defeat the tentacle that was her foe, she did manage to hurt it badly.
Riou went to her. "You alright?" he asked, offering his hand.
"Yeah," Nanami replied. She took his hand. Slowly and gently, he pulled her up. "That was the first time I saw a kraken."
He nodded. "Me too."
Skald Egan approached them. "For youngsters such as yourselves, your skills are very impressive," he said. He smiled gently. "Even better than most of our soldiers here," he added.
"Uh – thank you," Tir said.
"Once this is all over, Bernadette and I will immediately take you the King. No doubt he will reward you for your services."
"Most of our soldiers are injured, and the archers are running out of arrows," a man was saying to Bernadette. "The mages are fine but our morale is low. I hate to say this but there is a high possibility that we might lose in the next battle."
"I see." Bernadette looked tired, as if her youth had been taken away from her. She shook her head. To the man she ordered, "Tell the soldiers, archers and mages to prepare for the next battle."
"But—" The soldier's face suddenly turned pale white and he pointed at the sky.
Bernadette frowned. "What's wrong?" She looked at the direction the soldier was pointing at. Slowly, her eyes widened. "Rubywing?!" she shouted incredulously.
"Rubywing?" Riou asked, puzzled.
"No way!" Skald Egan exclaimed in disbelief. "You sure?" he asked Bernadette. She nodded. "Is Lazlo with him?"
"I don't know," she replied.
"Lazlo," Nanami said thoughtfully. "Why does that name sound familiar?"
"Bernadette mentioned him before we left Nirva Island," Jowy quietly reminded her.
"Look!!" Tir shouted, pointing at a cloud.
Something dark fell out of the cloud. Gracefully and efficiently, it raised its bat-like wings and soared through the air. The dragon was twenty-feet tall, with red scales so dark that they were almost black. His claws were metal silver, only much harder. Riding on its back was a woman with long, dark hair.
"Lyon?!" Skald Egan exclaimed. "I thought she was afraid of heights!"
Their appearance, or rather the dragon's appearance, had a huge impact on the enemy spectators. Men were pointing and screaming while others uselessly shot arrows at it. All the pirate ships began to change their course. They were fleeing away.
The dragon roared. He hovered over one of the bigger enemy vessels, opened its jaw and breathed out flames. It was a spectacular sight: the ship's sails burned like bonfire!
"Show off!" Skald Egan shouted at the dragon, grinning widely. "Showing off your dragonian skills won't be enough to impress the ladies!"
Rubywing had heard him. He flew toward the Lino En Kuldes.
"Put down your bows," Bernadette told the archers. "The dragon is on our side." Like her father's, her grin was wide. "Let's make room for him. I don't want any of us getting squashed when he lands." Everyone obeyed and moved away to make space for the dragon.
Carefully, the dragon landed on the cleared space. The woman whom Skald had called Lyon jumped off its back. "Is everyone alright?" she asked, her face worried. She was clad in a unique pink and black garment and wore black boots decorated with gold leather straps. At her mid-twenties, she had large dark eyes, ivory skin, and a soft full mouth. A sheathed nakamagi lay fastened on her belt.
Skald shrugged. "A few injuries here and there but nothing too serious," he said.
Lyon sighed in relief. "That's good to hear," she said. "I was afraid we came too late."
"Forget about that. How did you know we were in trouble?"
"I didn't," she said, and nodded at the dragon. "You should ask him that question. He was the one who took me here."
"We're forever in your debt, Rubywing," Bernadette said, gently stroking the dragon's head. "You've grown since we last met," she said observantly.
Rubywing screeched and straightened himself. Riou held his breath when he saw the dragon's eyes. They had no pupils – the dragon was blind.
Skald chuckled. "Lyon, Rubywing," he said to the newcomers, "let me introduce you to our new friends." He beckoned Riou, Nanami, Jowy, Tir and Gremio.
"Hello," Lyon greeted as they approached.
"They're extraordinary warriors," Skald said excitedly. "You should have seen them when they fought the sea monster. Particularly this young lady here-" he nodded at Nanami. "Frey still uses a tri-nun chuck doesn't he? He's going to have a serious competition coming his way."
Nanami blushed scarlet, not knowing what to say.
"You fought a sea monster?" Lyon asked, her voice filled with awe. "What did it look like? How big was it?"
"It looked like a giant kraken," Riou answered. "Only, it had a shell around the head. It was as big as the Lino En Kuldes. I've heard stories about them but I never thought they actually exist."
Lyon smiled. "I thought the same too once," she said. Then her face turned serious. "I should report this to Frey," she said. "We're sailing back to Falena in three days time. It would be too dangerous to sail when there's a giant sea monster roaming about." She bowed and climbed up the dragon's back.
"I thought you hated flying," Bernadette said.
"I do," Lyon replied, frowning. "But I'm trying to get used to it. If Frey can do it then so can I." She then added quickly, "I have to hurry. If Lazlo finds out we flew here without him knowing, he'll probably skin us inch by inch."
"Then you two better hurry," Skald told them gravely, his eyes dancing. "Good luck."
Lyon nodded. "Do you want me to send help?"
"No thank you," Bernadette replied, smiling. "We'll be fine by ourselves. The pirates are long gone. They wouldn't dare attack us."
"Okay then," Lyon said as she climbed up Rubywing's back and settled in front of his wings. "See you in Obel." The dragon leaped up and forward, soaring into the air.
"Tell the crew to get back to their positions," Bernadette told her lieutenant. "We're sailing to Obel immediately."
"Yes ma'am." The lieutenant saluted and went away to the navigation room.
"Today was a real eye opener," Jowy said, "right Riou?"
"Yeah," his younger friend replied. He looked at Nanami. "You sure you're alright?"
"I think so," Nanami said. Her eyes were strangely unfocused. "I just need a bit of re—"
"Nanami!!" Riou yelled when she collapsed.
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I've changed the name Kraken to Sea Monster.
Sincerely,
DarkAngelScythe