Chapter 20: The Battle of Booty Bay
The battle had been raging for nearly half an hour now, the large Bloodsail ships clearly outnumbered by the resistance they encountered. They were, however, largely manned by expert marines formerly of the famous Kul Tiras fleet. Cannon fire rang loudly in Arrien's ears as she observed the chaos before her, causing quite a bit of it herself. Her warblade swinging wildly in one hand, she ran through a Bloodsail with ease before leaping backwards and summoning forth a ball of fire to throw at the back of yet another, who jumped overboard in an attempt to extinguish himself. The moon was shining overhead, and Tilanne was using this to her advantage. Arrien could see brilliant flashes of moonfire all around her, consuming many a pirate in iridescent white light. She nearly tripped over one of the druid's victims, a thin trail of pearlescent fire drifting forth from his motionless lips.
Across the deck, Arrien saw a pirate sneaking up on Tilanne, weapon drawn. The mage tried to shout at her friend, who was quite involved in her present fight, deflecting blow after blow of a Bloodsail's blade with her staff, getting in a few good prods here and there for good measure. Arrien's voice fell before it even came close to reaching the druid, and her warnings went unheeded. Suddenly, an orb of pure shadow slammed into the back of Tilanne's ambusher, causing the pirate to yell out suddenly in pain. The buccaneer Tilanne had been dueling also was suddenly hit by a similar ball of shadow, knocking him off-balance and allowing Tilanne to get one good swing at his head, at the very least throwing him into unconsciousness. The druid whirled about to see Heathcliff standing above her on the stairs leading to the poop deck, smirking at her as he pointed his finger to the ambusher behind her, who now had Heathcliff's imp attached to his face and was writhing about on the deck, attempting to extricate himself. Tilanne nodded to him, quickly, but gratefully, and called forth a sparkling ball of green energy, letting the fury of nature's wrath fly at a pirate who had sneaked up on Heathcliff, who was still rather amused by his pet's actions.
Friends seemed to come from the most unexpected places, Arrien thought to herself as she conjured a number of bright violet arcane missles, sending them flying at various targets. The mage leapt up onto the rail and wrapped an arm around one of the ropes as she looked out at one of the Bloodsail ships, an intricate spell forming on her lips. To her satisfaction, she saw a small spark in the lower decks of the ship where the cannons were kept, which suddenly grew into a ring of fire, a brilliant plume jutting forth from the center where the spark had originated. The ship exploded seconds after, flames consuming it from bow to stern. Arrien let loose a loud laugh as she watched the boat burn, completely taken out of the battle. Her elation was short lived, however, as she felt ice cold hands grip at the back of her shirt, yanking her back off the rail. She turned about to see that she was being held aloft by a large, dark blue, shapeless creature with glowing yellow eyes. Arrien was face-to-face with Lester's pet demon.
A sensation of pure agony erupted through the mage's body and she let out a scream, unable to think of anything but the pain and wanting to lash out at the demon, to destroy it, but was completely helpless, her body twitching from the pain until it finally ended.
"Wonderful creatures, Voidwalkers... don't you agree?" Arrien snarled as she heard Lester's cold voice speak from near her, "you know, it was fragments of your friend Giles's soul that helped me summon forth my friend here." He walked around so he was in Arrien's sight, the burn wounds she had given him earlier not looking any more attractive than they had when she left him. "You must be so proud."
"You're a coward," Arrien growled, spitting at Lester, smiling satisfactorily as it hit him square in the eye, carrying that satisfaction with her as she heard the demon's deep voice speak something that sounded like a curse and another wave of torment filled her body.
"I could watch him do that for hours... it really is entertaining to watch you squirm," Lester smiled sadistically as Arrien's body still twitched slightly after the pain left her. The mage grit her teeth together, not allowing the warlock the satisfaction of seeing her in pain.
"I'll take you down... send you... crawling back to Falrevere empty-handed..." Arrien growled, waiting for the next wave of pain, but it never came. The next thing she knew, hot energy seethed against her back, and the voidwalker's grip on her loosened, allowing her to stumble forward, loose. As she fell, she saw anger contort Lester's face as his pet lunged forward at Tilanne, who let free another column of moonfire at the creature, which bellowed in protest. Heathcliff's imp leapt onto the blue beasts's back, casting small fireballs directly onto the other demon's skull, cackling madly the entire time. The mage drew herself to her feet, just in time to see Lester beginning to cast a spell in the direction of the interlopers. Arrien swung with the broad side of her blade, catching the warlock in the side of the head and spoiling the spell. "You will give me the satisfaction of single combat," she growled, throwing her weapon to the side and fireballs erupting forth into her waiting palms.
Lester spat out a bit of blood from the strike, and glared at the mage, "So be it," he snarled, letting loose a bolt of shadow at Arrien, who easily deflected it with a crackling purple shield of energy. She let loose the fireballs, which Lester dodged bodily, summoning forth a wreath of green fire which he swung at Arrien, the flames striking at her like a whip and catching her in the leg, though most of the damage was done to her skirt. The mage extended her hand and an icy wind swirled forth, extinguishing Lester's flames, striking the warlock with small shards of ice. She saw him raise a hand and crackling green energy issued forth, striking one of the Bloodsail Buccaneers in the back. The pirate flailed in pain, wounds sprouting forth suddenly, while Lester slowly appeared to regain a less injured appearance, though the burn wounds did not heal even by the time the pirate dropped to the deck, dead.
"You are weak," Lester said to Arrien, firing forth a series of shadowbolts, which were met in the air by Arrien's own arcane missiles, "you cling tightly to your friends... they would serve so much better as pawns, as tools to use to gain power. It is what I've done all my life, and look at me now..."
"Pathetic and alone? Don't get me wrong, the scars look almost dashing, Lester, but... you seem so very lonely. Did your father never hug you?" She found herself gaining more confidence, smirking despite the battle that she was engaged in. More arcane and demonic energies clashed, "Or did your mother just not tuck you in tightly enough at night?"
"You dare speak of my parents?" Lester spat, "Yours probably coddled you day and night, not bothering to teach you the harshness of the world... they made you soft." One of Arrien's fire blasts caught him in the side, causing him to growl in pain as he patted his robes to extinguish them.
"Soft? No... they taught me love," Arrien spoke confidently, smiling coolly, "and quite the contrary..." Arrien suddenly vanished, reappearing behind Lester a second later, finishing her sentence, "it made me strong." Lester whirled about, just in time for Arrien to deliver a kick between his legs, sending him reeling backwards as she conjured a number of fireballs, letting them fly and knock Lester on his back, his robes aflame. He scrambled backwards, panic in his eyes as he looked up, trying to extinguish himself.
"This isn't over," he yelped, shadows enveloping him and pulling him into a void. Lester was gone. Arrien cast a glance around her, and saw that a good number of eyes were on her. The battle was finally winding down, and she could see three of the original six Bloodsail ships retreating away from the rising sun. Tilanne smiled at her, a few holes torn in her robes and a bit of her own blood spattered on her cheek. Heathcliff didn't look much worse for wear, his shoulder-length hair tousseled about messily and a burn mark on his forearm. Arrien paused to think on Lester's words and realized that, though the war against his kind may not be won, this battle was. She let out a cheer, which was echoed by everyone around her, including Heathcliff's imp minion. Arrien turned towards the sun, feeling that she had honored the memory of all those she had lost, finally setting their souls free.