Here we go
Beta: College Fool
Cover Art: Dishwasher1910
Book 8: Chapter 11
As the sun rose over the horizon, the Mirage Isles awoke with a curious silence. Crews moved about cautiously, fishermen took to the docks and while everyone continued as normal, there was an air of tension that could be felt on the wind. They Greycloaks surely felt it, but there was little they could do. The large tented tavern was quiet. Not silent, but its loud conversation, music and the clanking of flagons had been replaced with muttering and discussion as crews took tables to themselves and planned out their actions in the upcoming attack.
I checked my gear for what had to be the fifth time. Tested Crocea Mors, loosed it in its sheath, made sure the scabbard was attached firmly – but not too firmly – to my belt, and then tightened it a little more. By now it had become a nervous impulse, and one that would have had me called out if everyone wasn't doing it. The only ones speaking were Adam, Blake and Weiss, who were going over the battleplan ahead.
"Us getting out is more important than anything else, even dealing with Raven or helping the other crews." Adam tapped a finger onto a hastily sketched map he'd cut into the table's surface. "Once we have the supplies, we're going to have to get them down the spire. That's going to be difficult enough, but I wouldn't put it past some to shy away from the fighting and try to ambush us and steal our goods."
"Is there no honour among thieves?"
"There is normally, but this isn't exactly a normal situation."
"Everyone is out for themselves," Blake said, "So we should do the same. Once Weiss has begun the attack with her portals, she should be taken to the ship. If she can open another portal from there to one of the cliff edges, we can get the supplies loaded on board before the others can do anything about it."
"What will that mean for the other crews?"
"Does it matter? We only promised to help silence the spellcasters and for you to open some portals to start the fight. Once that is done, we've achieved everything they wanted. What we choose to do after is our business."
"Every single person here would stab us in the back if it benefitted them," Adam said. "Don't hesitate to do the same to them."
That was depressing. Not inaccurate, though. Despite the promise of co-operation, there was little to no mingling between the individual crews. Not a single Mage had come to Weiss to offer their support in opening the portals and I knew I'd seen one or two among the crowds. No doubt they were keeping their hands close to their chest to better their own odds. It was obvious from the way everyone was scheming, including us, even though the plan had been made last night. They were looking for their edge, the plan that would give them the greatest chance of success while leaving all the other crews to flounder.
I wouldn't be surprised if some hung back when the fighting started and instead made for the tavern, trying to loot it for enough supplies to take a ship and run while we kept the Greycloaks busy. It would only be the smallest vessels capable of that however, so I wasn't too worried about it. The larger ones, and thus the strongest crews, would have to fight and win their supplies through conquest.
More a concern was how we were being split up. I could see the necessity; Blake and Ruby would be able to sneak up with relative ease, while I was likely to fall off the side of the mountain. It didn't mean I had to like it.
Faith, I told myself. Have some faith in them. I need to focus on my own task…
"Everyone knows their positions?" Adam asked, looking to us.
There were nods, murmurs of assent and the quiet surety of weapons being loosened and tested once more.
"Good. My men know what to do."
"The question is where they can accomplish it all," Weiss said.
"We'll just have to see, won't we?"
And that was that. With little more to say and no way of speeding up the time, we sat in uncomfortable silence, flinching at every sound, click or rustle of leather against steel. My eyes scanned my Guild, the spire and then my sword, Runes flickering through my mind as I considered my options.
At the stroke of noon, the great gates atop the spire rumbled open.
/-/
It seemed impossible that Vernal and the Greycloaks hadn't sensed something was up. As they came slowly down the winding path around the western spire, the crowds below waited as they had all the days prior for the day's food and drink. The Greycloaks already on the docks were awaiting relief. The tension that had been present before had leapt to a fever pitch and hands were on weapons, my own included.
A quick glance up and to the side revealed the upper levels of the spire, upon which, if I looked closely, I could just about make out two figures slowly scaling the rockface. The Greycloak cloaks we'd taken earlier let Blake and Ruby blend into the rock, but if even a single person were to look over the edge or walk out onto the rope walkway Weiss had opened a portal up to, they would be seen and killed.
Yang elbowed me in the side. "Don't look. You'll give it away."
I doubted Vernal would be able to see me and figure out where I was looking, but I followed Yang's orders nonetheless, looking back to the front ranks themselves as Weiss, guarded by Ren and Nora, slipped around to the far edge of the decking, closest to the ships without crossing the killing line the Greycloaks had set up. Her rapier was in hand and her eyes were affixed not on Vernal and her procession, but the space behind them, as far up the hewn path as could be seen from the decking. Weiss was mumbling to herself, no doubt arcane or mystical calculations. Or even just reminding herself of all the detail she needed for a portal.
It was frustrating that we'd have to leave Ren and Nora with her, but Weiss was too much a tempting target for any of the other pirates here, and there was also a chance some would try to attack Adam's crew and steal their ship. We had to leave some guards behind.
"Alright, you scum!" Vernal called once she and her procession reached the decking. Their barrels and crates were laid down and she clambered atop them, crossing both arms under her breasts and sneering down on them. "Today's gift from your betters has come. But Raven wasn't pleased to hear about you morons attacking us yesterday. Displeased enough to cut your booze allowance a little. That's why you're only getting half as much drink today."
I'd thought there were less barrels but hadn't been sure. Others muttered angrily.
"Quit your whining. So what if there won't be enough for all of you? You can either suck it up and go thirsty or prune your numbers a little. Either way is fine with me."
The crowd bristled, hissed and shouted out angrily, but made no move to begin the attack. What gave? It was noon. Vernal was here. This was the moment that had been planned for and everyone was straining, hands shaking on weapons as if they couldn't want to draw them and start the killing, and yet nothing. No one moved a muscle.
No one wants to be the first, I realised. The first to attack would surely be the first to die considering how powerful the Greycloaks were. These were Heroes one and all, while the pirates were more a smattering of any Class but were predominantly weaker than Heroes because they went after weak prey and Labour Caste trading vessels. The spirit was there, but the courage was not. I wasn't sure why I'd expected better.
I nudged Yang and whispered, "Follow my lead."
Yang nodded back, sticking close as I pushed from the back of the crowd toward the front. People gave way, happy to let someone else draw the brunt of Vernal's ire. Though she hadn't seen me, there was no missing the stir we caused as we pushed through. People giving way and moving aside as Yang and I came close, me keeping my head down.
"Something to say?" Vernal taunted. "If you want to complain then come out and do it. I'm right here. Or is there not a man among you with the balls?"
I cleared the line of pirates with Yang beside me. We stepped across the six or so metres of empty space between the two parties and came to a stop only four or so in front of the Greycloaks. Their hands had fallen to their weapons at our approach, but Vernal was as cocky as ever, barely paying attention as she lauded over us.
"What's the matter? Can't find the words?"
Crocea Mors hissed as she slid free of her scabbard. It was answer enough and Vernal tensed, eyes narrowing as she took in the weapon. Beside me, Yang fell into her own stance and tossed her hair back.
"I've been looking forward to seeing you again," I admitted.
"Do I fucking know you?"
It was just like her not to recognise me, even after everything she'd put me through. I glared up at her and shifted from a Blacksmith into a Swordmaster. The small pain in the back of my skull was worth the way her eyes widened. She recognised me now. How could she not?
"Shit," she hissed.
It was all she had time to say as I closed the distance with `Piercing Thrust`.
Vernal and I tumbled off the barrels and down into the Greycloaks, who reacted slowly to the sudden assault. By the time they'd realised they were under attack, their attention was on me, which let Yang slam a fist down and shatter the decking under her, sending out a spiralling crack that dropped six of them into the water below.
"CHARGE!" Adam screamed.
"RARGHHH!" Emboldened, the army surged forward.
As per the plan, half would storm the Greycloaks holding the docks and half Vernal's relief party, while a smaller group would come rushing down the path from behind thanks to a portal from Weiss. I didn't see any of that, too focused on driving Crocea Mors down against Vernal's curved blades, trying to split her head in two. I pressed down, resting all my weight on the sword. Even if she was a higher Level, she couldn't keep up with my A-Stat Strength. The blade inched lower.
Cursing, Vernal spat into my face, catching my eye. I hissed and faltered for a second, which was enough for her to roll and drive a knee into my side, dislodging me. Crocea Mors slammed into and through the decking. I had the presence of mind to roll in the other direction, tearing my weapon out the shattered wood as I did. Coming up, I saw both weapons hurtling in.
I stepped to the side and brought up my own to parry, then twisted back and tried to score a blow on her in turn. Vernal was faster than me. Almost as fast as Blake. She snaked back and then struck again, driving one weapon up under my guard and into my side, where it slipped past my breastplate and into the meat of my flank.
Past the pain, I managed to slam my elbow down and pin it against and into my side. Before she could draw back and gut me, I brought Crocea Mors down on her hand, forcing her to be the one to let go. She did so, content to still have one weapon that came around for my neck.
"Dividing Slash!" I roared, eyes blazing with light as my hands moved of their own volition. My sword cut into hers and shattered it immediately. Vernal gaped like a fish and nearly lost her head for it as I came back around. As it was, she stumbled back and dodged by a hair's breadth, then kicked back and drew a much smaller knife form her belt.
"The hell are you!?" she howled. "You're a Blacksmith! You're nothing!"
"I'm the man that's going to kill you," I said conversationally. Vernal was more powerful than I was but wasn't going to be able to fight me with that little thing. I stepped forward and brought Crocea Mors up.
"Fuck this." Vernal turned and ran.
I chased after her.
The attack was in full swing now, the ambush from behind having slammed into the back of the Greycloaks and pinning them down on the deck. The party guarding the docks was being pushed back, several thrown into the water and then killed just as the pirates had the day before. There was no easy escape for Vernal, but she cut back toward the path up the spire, heedless of the people in her way.
One pirate was brought down before he knew she was there, her knife plunging into his skull. She rode his body down, disarming him and flinging the man's sword back into my face. I swept my own up to deflect it and kept going, closing the distance if only because she had to stop to kill those in her way and I didn't. The Greycloaks were being pushed back. Individual quality didn't mean much when it was almost a thousand against one hundred, and when the hundred had been split up, ambushed and also attacked by several high-level Heroes.
Vernal attacked like a mad hurricane, slashing and striking out at anyone that got in her way, killing and maiming indiscriminately. At least twice she took down a Greycloak, stabbing them in the back and twisting their bodies so that they were facing me, forcing me to cut them down or push them aside. I closed the distance and caught her hood.
She slipped down and under, ditching the cloak and charging on, slipping under the weapons of two people locked in combat and breeching the lines. Free from distraction, Vernal was able to put her naturally higher Agility to good use, tearing away up the path.
"Damn it."
"Jaune! Forget her!" It was Pyrrha who shouted, turning aside two opponents and kicking one off the path and into the drink. The other was disarmed and run through. "She doesn't matter."
I glared once more in the direction Vernal had fled and cursed. Turning back to the fight, I crashed into the faltering Greycloak lines from the back. I'd have liked to say they cracked under my assault and surrendered, but they didn't. I was one man and there were still twenty of them standing.
The bloodshed was immense; worse for the discrepancy of levels. Each Greycloak took down five or six pirates, sometimes more if they had their backs to a wall or another ally. The steep path was already slick with blood, bodies and bits of gristle and I almost slipped more than once. Luckily, most of my enemies were looking the other way, engaged with pirates or Guildmates as I attacked from behind and cut them down with my prodigious Strength.
It felt like it took half an hour, but it was probably only four minutes at best. The second the last Greycloak was stabbed and toppled off into the ocean below, one of the Captains from the Council was barking orders. "Secure the ships! Get them ready to sail. Captains and crews up the path. You dally and the Greycloaks will close the gates and blast us to the bottom of the sea. Push!"
Pyrrha, Yang and I did so without hesitation. We had reason to want to reach the top first and make sure Blake and Ruby were okay. Bolstered by our lead and not having to be the first to hit the enemy line, the pirates behind us followed. No one quite wanted to be at the front, but those behind pushed and the unruly mob was forced up the spire whether it liked it or not.
"The alarm hasn't been rung. Ruby and Blake must have dealt with the lookouts."
We'd certainly have been sitting ducks if she hadn't, what with the east angle to fire spells and missiles down on us as we wound around the spire, cutting through tunnels occasionally and then out into the noonday sun again. We crossed the bridge that Blake had taken me to before, the one she'd lost her mother on. It was still standing, Vernal not having cut through it. Of her, there was no sign, but I knew she'd be raising the alarm the second she reached the top.
Haste was all we had left. If we struck hard and fast enough, we could secure the supplies and get down before anyone else. By the time Raven arrived, she would be too busy dealing with the pirates to stop us.
The gates were still open when we crested the final turn of the spire. They were simple and squat fortifications only about four metres high and with no fortifications to speak of. The gates themselves were wooden logs stood vertical and lashed together, and while there was a tower on either side, those too were of wooden construction, shielded from the elements by thatch thin wooden roofs. A bell hung in one but had not been rung.
As we pushed through, I caught sight of several Greycloaks that lay face down in the mud. Only about ten or twelve in all. I scanned the area and saw two more by the drawbridge leading to the eastern spire. Their hoods were down.
"Over here," Blake called, waving.
Ruby stood beside her, leaning on her scythe. It was coated with blood.
"Nice work!" Yang cheered, scooping Ruby up into a tight hug. "You managed to get all the spellcasters and sentries at once?"
"It wasn't as hard as you'd have thought," Blake said. "They were all looking out, and even more distracted when the fighting started. I walked in and killed those on the alarm tower while Ruby attacked the spellcasters from behind when they came to the cliff's edge. They didn't even look at us twice. I was as good as a Greycloak to them."
"I just knocked most of them off," Ruby said. "They weren't paying attention. One got past, though. Came through the gate and ran by while Blake and I were looking for any survivors."
"Vernal." I looked over to the eastern spire and winced. "Raven is going to know."
"Doesn't matter." Blake gestured to the pirate captains, who were shouting orders and moving their men around. A veritable army took control of the gate that looked over the drawbridge, bows, crossbows and all manner of ranged weapons trained on it, ready to pepper anyone who attempted to cross from east to west. "They'll keep any reinforcements ready and we just need to get supplies down to Adam's ship. With our Strength, we should be able to carry several apiece."
"Right."
The five of us ran away from the bridge and over to the large building that marked the store rooms. There was a huge door of solid oaken construction that was barred from the inside. They were hacking and cutting at the door with all manner of weaponry, while some came forth with torches, intent on burning it down.
"Fools!" someone yelled. "You'll torch the building the and supplies with it!"
"We need an entrance," Pyrrha said. "I've got an idea." The Champion hurried off back to the main gate and we followed along. She drew her sword and cut the lashings holding the gate together. It didn't fall but did splinter just a little. When she wedged her sword between the last post and the one next to it, we caught on.
With Yang, Pyrrha and I working together, we managed to break the last log free. It fell with an ominous crack, partly rotten on the side where it had been lashed to the other, but still in one piece on the others. It had been treated against the elements on those sides. Picking it up between us and letting it rest on our shoulders, we carried the impromptu ram back toward the door. The pirates noticed and shouted for the others to move, making a path for us to walk down.
"On three," Yang said. "One. Two. Three!"
The ram slammed into the door, carried by our charge. The frame shook and the panel before us splintered.
"Again!"
We backed up a good ten feet and waited for Yang to count down again, then rushed forward and drove the ram into the door. It would have been slow progress to anyone else, but with our combined Strength, we delivered it with the force of a ballistae. The wood shattered further, spiderweb cracks reaching up and away several feet.
"Again!"
The third blow shook the door even harder and, since we were striking it in the middle, caused it to bow inward a little. "The beam is starting to break!" I yelled. "One more should do it!"
"One. Two." We all tensed. "THREE!"
The log struck the door centre-mass, and it crashed open as the beam within splintered and was pushed aside. The force of our charge carried us in a fair way, past the door as it rocked back and struck the walls on either side. We were followed by the cheers and stampeding feet of those around us, into the dark warehouse. We shrugged the log off our shoulders and let it fall. It did so with a loud splash.
A splash? I looked down and lifted my foot, unsure why I was standing in what felt like a puddle of water. Had the food rotted? There was already a pungent smell on the air that made me gag. Others cried out and covered their noses.
"Why is it so wet in here?" Yang hissed. "And what's that smell?"
The torches they'd been planning to use to burn down the door were brought in, casting flickering orange light about the warehouse. Into the shadows that delved far back, all the way to the back wall. The building was empty. There wasn't a barrel, crate or box in sight.
My foot bumped against something. I looked down and found a man looking up at me with wide open eyes and a bloated face. "Argh!"
"Jaune?"
A torch was shone in my direction, casting light across me, the body and further – further onto more bodies. Five, ten, twenty… a hundred or more. Face up or face down, they covered the floor. Greycloaks, as evidenced by what they wore. They were all dead, and we were standing in a pool of human blood so thick it reached up to our ankles.
Ruby threw up, bending double and heaving her breakfast down into the mass, splashing it even further and causing her to falter. Yang caught and dragged her back, while I – and a fair few of the pirates – tried desperately to hold onto our own. The bodies were floating in a sea of blood like chunks of grisly meet in a stew.
"What happened here?"
"Where are the supplies?"
"You lied to us!"
"Stay calm!" A pirate captain roared. "Obviously, the Greycloaks moved the supplies onto the eastern spire. We'll just need to breach the manor and take them ourselves."
"Are you mad? That's where she is!"
"What other idea do you have? We need the goods or no one will be setting sail. B'sides, these guys are all dead." He kicked one of the bodies. "That's a fair lot of them dealt with already." He strode through the blood and guts until he was stood in front of us, orating to all those who had crowded into the warehouse. "The bitch is only one person. Even if she's tough, she can't be everywhere. We'll storm the manor, take the supplies and sail out of here. Sound good!?"
The crowd roared.
"Who's with me!?"
The crowd roared again and stamped their feet.
The captain opened his mouth to shout out his orders, but his voice didn't come. He appeared confused. Leaning forward a little. His head fell, dipping forward and then falling further, off his neck entirely and down into the blood, where it splashed and submerged. His body followed, crashing forward over his own severed head.
Torchlight reflected off a red blade behind him.
"Three days." Red eyes flickered in the dark. "It took you three days to muster the courage to attack. I'm disappointed. I expected you to do it on the first." Raven stepped into the light, eyes burning. "I am not a patient woman."
My legs wouldn't move. I was paralysed with fear.
"She's just one woman!" a pirate screamed. "Attack! Swamp her!"
Driven by fear, or perhaps thinking they could win through numbers, those in the front charged in with weapons bared, screaming at the tops of their lungs. They splashed through the blood and gore toward her, cutting off any view of her at all.
Red light streaked through them. Ten people were cut in twain in a single blow. Their legs kept moving, splashing down in front of Raven while their upper halves were knocked back. A second swing tore through four more, while a twist and a third saw her long blade tear through eight, armour, skin, muscle bone and all those behind them. It was as if she didn't feel the resistance of their bodies.
Twenty fell in less than five seconds. And then she was moving, gliding through the air and landing in the middle of a pack of pirated who screamed and tried to back away. Two slashes, one before her and one behind, scythed them down where they stood, and then she was moving again, cutting through six more with one swing and running two people through at once. Her free hand caught another by the neck, crushed his windpipe and then tossed him aside, bearing three people into the blood.
It was a massacre. An unbridled slaughter.
An arm wrapped around my chest and hauled me back. Blake, I realised, just as she hissed into my ear. "Come on. We're leaving."
The words spurred me into action. I turned, half fell and caught myself on the blood-soaked floor, then ran after Blake and Pyrrha. Yang and Ruby were already outside, and Ruby was clutching not her scythe, but the dagger I'd forged for her and which Blake had initially stolen.
"No." I caught her arm. "Absolutely not."
"We're going to the east spire," Blake said, already running, trusting us to follow. We did. "The supplies must have been moved there. We can use the rope pulley to get them down."
"What about Raven!?"
"What about her? The pirates aren't going to keep her busy for long."
We weren't the only ones to have had the good idea, either. People streamed with and behind us, crashing across the bridge and rushing toward the manor. As we crossed it, Blake pushed her way to the side and dragged the lever down, drawing the bridge up. Those on it scrambled and fell onto our side, while those on the far end cried out for us to drop it and let them across, even as agonised screams sounded from the slaughter beyond.
"What are you doing!?" Ruby gasped, trying to lower it again.
In response, Blake took hold of the mechanism and snapped it, locking the bridge in place. "They're going to buy us time."
"Y-You're killing them!"
"They were dead the second Raven was there. We're dead too, unless she's kept busy." Blake was moving again. "This won't stop her. She can open a portal here the second she's done with them. We have to move!"
The betrayal left a sick taste in my mouth, but I followed anyway, hauling Ruby along lest she have some terrible thought of going back to try and save the others. There was no helping them now. We had to help ourselves instead. Weiss, Nora, Ren and Adam were down below waiting for us. If we didn't get the supplies, they'd die as well.
"Don't bother fighting any Greycloaks," Pyrrha said as we dashed up the stone steps. "We just need to find these supplies and get them out. Everything else is secondary."
The moment we reached the entrance and stepped in, I knew that was no longer necessary.
"Fuck," Yang hissed. "Here too?"
Ruby retched again but had no more vomit to give. The floor wasn't quite an ocean of blood, but it had collected in the flagstones to make square patterns on the floor, and there had to be six dead Greycloaks in the entranceway, cut down with their weapons beside them. I doubted the pirates ahead of us had managed that.
"What did this?"
"Raven did…" Everyone looked to me, appalled. "She doesn't need the Greycloaks anymore, and she's spent over a decade fatting them up. But you don't fatten pigs forever. Sooner or later, it's time for the slaughter."
"This is the face of loyalty," Yang whispered. "With her, I'm not surprised…"
She wouldn't be, knowing that Raven had killed even Summer Rose, her best friend. Compared to that, cutting down the Greycloaks who followed her wouldn't even register. How much more powerful would she be now?
I didn't want to find out.
"Blake, do you know where the supplies might be?"
"No. I mean… they could be anywhere."
"The pantry," Pyrrha said. "The Greycloaks have to have their own, right? Where would they keep their cooking supplies?"
"The kitchens. Follow me." Blake rushed off to the side, opening a wooden door and pausing for a second, before she stepped over another body. The corridor we were led through was coated in blood that had splashed up the walls and across the floor. Greycloaks lay where they'd fallen, great cuts rent through their bodies. Some hadn't even drawn their weapons, never expecting the betrayal until the final moment.
The dead were found everywhere. Raven hadn't summoned and killed them en masse, bit stalked them through the manor. There wasn't a corridor or room they passed through that didn't have at least one body in it. There were usually more. In the distance, the sounds of screams still came from the western spire.
We passed a long room filled with beds. A quick glance in revealed that some Greycloaks had been killed in their sleep, their bodies still in their bunks, but arms dangling down limp and blood dripping off the sides. As they went deeper, the signs of battle increased. Not all had been caught by surprise and it looked like the further away from the sleeping quarters they got, the more warning the Greycloaks had received. Bodies lay in formation, some having banded together to try and hold their ground. Arrows, bolts and evidence of spell fire could be seen on or in the walls.
It hadn't mattered for them. Raven was in a league of her own and had only grown stronger for the fresh slaughter. With more blood being spilled now, her level might grow even stronger, and although the pirates were individually quite weak, there were a good seven to eight hundred who had come up with us. That was going to make a difference.
"It's getting dark," Ruby whimpered.
"What?"
"Outside." She pointed to a nearby window cut into the stone wall. "It's getting dark…"
It was. Despite the lack of clouds in the sky, the sun had dimmed over the Mirage Isles. An act that should have been impossible, but which I'd seen before both in Atlas and over Vacuo. A heavy presence tickled at the back of my mind and my muscles felt weak.
"We're running out of time." I didn't have to say until what.
"The pantry is just ahead," Blake said. She pushed through a door and into what was obviously a kitchen. Fire pits and cupboards lined the back wall and there was a thick wooden door leading further, with several sacks outside it. Blake rushed to that and drew it open.
Inside, several sacks of what looked like grain and vegetables lay neatly atop some crates and three barrels, two sealed and one open. Stepping over, I leaned over the open one to see crystal clear water inside. Just in case, I tasted it. "It's water. Fresh." I shook the other barrels and was rewarded with the sloshing sound of liquid inside. "Sounds like more. Water or beer."
"Good enough for me." Yang stooped and picked up both the sealed ones under her arms. Pyrrha had located the cork for the other barrel and sealed and hoisted that, along with several burlap sacks of carrots, leaks and other assorted vegetables with her other arm. That left me to crack open and peer into the nearest wooden crate. It was full of meat wrapped in what looked to be linen, mostly salted and stinking of the sea, but fresh and likely to keep. I put the lid back on and picked it and the crate below it up.
Being physically weaker, Blake was still able to collect several bags full of produce. Enough to make Ruby look pathetic by comparison. She had a single bag of potatoes held between both hands. "Will this be enough?" she asked.
We looked to Blake for an answer.
"It should be. We don't have to stay well-fed. Just full enough to ward off starvation. The water is more important, but three barrels should be enough."
"You know how to use the elevator. Right? And where it is?"
"Yes. It's outside. Come-"
A piercing scream cut Blake off. Sudden and sharp, it cut off without a sound barely a second later.
That hadn't been from all the way across on the western spire. It had been here, in the manor. My face paled.
"She can't be done already!" Ruby whispered.
"We're not waiting to find out. Let's go."
The halls were eerily silent as we made our way through, the only sound out footsteps until – with sudden clarity – a scream would echo somewhere in the distance. It could have been Vernal since she'd been seen heading this way, but I somehow doubted it. Vernal was strong, but she couldn't bring forth the kind of mind-numbing terror present in those screams.
Had Raven really killed over seven hundred pirates in a little under ten minutes?
It didn't seem possible.
But then, she'd already killed all the Greycloaks. Or most of them. She'd been planning for this very event, no doubt hoping there would be a third faction in the army from Vale for her to feast on. If she could have taken her fill of them as well, there was no telling how many levels she could gain. Power through slaughter; power enough, perhaps, to challenge even Salem.
Once she was done with everyone on the Mirage Isles, she would summon her. I was surprised she wasn't here already. The night sky was roiling, despite it being midday, and every shadow cast in the corridors we ran through moved as if it had a life of its own, defying the light that should have pushed it back and sometimes pointing in the opposite direction to what it should. My own was swirling beneath me, spinning around my feet as if a torch was circling a halo above me.
"The elevator is behind the manor," Blake said. "Once we're outside, cut to the left and hug the building. There's a small gate in the wall leading to a wooden platform. You can't miss it."
The five of us burst out the corridor and into the main lobby by the entrance, which was now covered in fresh blood. Already moving, we leapt down the stairs and onto the floor, only to stumble and come to a halt, eyes wide and hearts hammering.
The doors had been closed. Leaning against them, one foot pushed up on the wood, a woman covered head to toe in blood stood, viscera and gore dripping from her hair, clothes and the long, bright-red sword in her hand. In her other hand was the hair of a man whose eyes and mouth were frozen wide open. It was one of the Captains from the Council. One of the strongest.
With a negligent flick, Raven tossed the man's head away. It splashed into a puddle of blood and rolled onto its side, staring in terror at us.
Raven's eyes burned constantly. Lit with some infernal flame.
"Leaving so soon?"
You crazy, Raven. Crazy.
Yep. Raven has slaughtered the Greycloaks and the pirates. For reference, although the level would vary wildly, you're probably looking at an average of 25-40 for the pirates. With the stronger ones like the captains being on the upper. By comparison, most of the Greycloaks would be around 45-60. That's not a hard rule, since pirates who fight more and harder enemies would be higher level, etc, but if you're looking to figure out how Raven could slaughter that many people, it's worth keeping in mind she out-levelled them by a factor of four or more.
I'm sure we all remember walking through weaker areas in WoW or other mmo's and basically killing anything we accidentally clicked on. Or mages just spamming arcane blast and everything around them dying in one hit. Kind of the same thing here. Raven going all-out could cut through entire ranks of opponents.
Next Chapter: 6th May
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