Kalikekeztra could feel her heart quickening, her palms sweating, and could even taste the anticipation in the air. She wasn't nervous, far from it, but was simply awaiting the prospect of the coming battle.
Though she enjoyed small scaled conflicts like the one at the temple, or even testing her mettle sparring against Selexia, it was the true skirmishes and warfare that excited her the most. There was something about being on the front line of a battle, leading your troops and cohorts to victory. Where no matter how fierce you are on a personal level that you could be overwhelmed by a determined enemy. You had to trust in your battle brothers and sisters to cover your flank and they had to trust in you to do the same. True, some soldiers had to be sacrificed to achieve victory, but wasn't that the point? To work together with your fellow warriors to triumph over your foes. To sacrifice for the greater good. To achieve something that separately as individuals you were doomed to fail at? Sure, people could collaborate on something more benign like an art or a construction project, but to risk one's life or form in battle is where true creation was at. Even though Keke had no idea who was attacking them or why, she still savored the passion and the bloodlust welling inside her for the coming fray.
Keke's companions however did not seem to share her opinion. While Vikokima took a defensive stance with a cutlass, half hiding in the shadow and half guarding the cabin they had arrived in, Selexia seemed to be in a panic.
Even through her hazy memory of her friend, Keke recalled that the Succubus shied away from mass battles. While she was a dangerous enough opponent and savored bloodshed well enough, Keke remembered that Selexia preferred ambushes and small melees than the bloody chaos and carnage of a full scale war. Something about loving the control or something of that sort Keke mused.
"What's going on? Why are they attacking us?" asked the Succubus in an irritated voice as the ship was shaken by another loud crash and cracking of wood.
"I doubt its pirates or the like, they would shy away from a War Kaylon," commented Vik coolly as he eyed the corridor. Several soldiers marched past further down the hall, but none came their way. "Perhaps we strayed too close to Thyatian waters?"
"Well perhaps we should teleport out of here, and come back when its safer," said the Succubus in a demanding voice.
"Agreed," nodded Vik. While Keke preferred to join the battle, regardless of the side, she nodded reluctantly to give her approval.
"Keke, you said that the Prince isn't here right?"
"That Javindar fellow and my sword aren't here," sighed Keke.
"Alright then, no need to waste our time here. Gather, " said the Succubus with a sigh of relief. She linked hands with Vik and Keke, and her eyes began to light up to an almost luminescent level as she began her teleport ritual. To her knowledge, Keke didn't think Succubus could do such magic, and oddly enough even through her broken memories, she never recalled Selexia possessing such skill from her past. While her friend was remarkable, it was still something to inquire about later, after they recovered her blade.
"My magic is still low from the last teleport, but I should be able to…wait….it's not working. Why isn't it working?" said Selexia as she released her grip and almost fell to the ground.
Vik stepped over the stunned Succubus and uttered a short arcane phrase and runes floated before him. He studied them briefly, nodding at their meaning, before waving them away with a swish of his backward hands. "There's a powerful dimensional anchor around us. Whomever attacked us, was prepared for our escape attempt."
"Our escape attempt? Our escape attempt! They knew we were coming!? " said the Selexia in disbelief.
Keke shook her head. "Calm down. It's doubtful it was meant for us. That was probably for Prince Javindar. They did not want him to teleport out of their trap."
"Aye," agreed Vik. "The Prince is known to travel with a wizard at his side. If I recall, a competent enough arcane caster that specializes in enchantments and utility spells. Do not underestimate him."
"Who cares about his pet wizard. What are we going to do right now? I could shape change, but that doesn't mean much if they're going to kill everyone aboard. Or what if they simply sink us? I could fly, but do they have magic against that as well?" asked Selexia as she struggled back to her feet.
"Given the magical suppresion properties of the Sea of Dawn and the arcane wards and anchors already cast on us, an obvious show of magic is ill advised. I suggest we wait out this fray and assume…" Keke listened for as long as she could, but the scent of blood was too much for her. She simply walked down the corridor towards the din of battle. She knew she shouldn't be watching or even taking part, but the battle lust in her was too strong, it was calling her. Besides, their route of escape was cut off. What better reason was there to fight?
"Keke? Keke! Where are you going?" demanded Selexia from behind her.
As Kalikekeztra made her way on deck, she was greeted by frantic shouts and bloody screams. While naval warfare wasn't her forte, she had engaged in enough skirmishes on the Styx to be comfortable with it. Whether it was against Demodand raiders, rival demonic fleets, or even the Baatezu Armada, Keke had pitted her fleets against all of them. While she didn't always end up the winner, she sent enough of her foes to the dead book that made her a respected foe. She was a master of warfare after all.
Over the confusion and chaos of the deck, she could see that they were caught in open waters, pinned between two similar ships who were circling them from afar with another vessel approaching from the horizon at a distance that normal men could not perceive. Judging by the Gold Eagle's tactical position, the attackers must have used magic to catch them off guard, or most likely used guile. Given their lack of flags, she guessed the later. What was more intriguing was that the enemy appeared to be harrowing their vessel with weapons of incredible accuracy and even more incredible range. She counted two direct hits, that cratered their hull even though they were over a thousand feet away. The best ballista she'd ever seen had only a practical range of five hundred feet and that could barely hit the side of a barn. Was it magic? Her question remained unanswered as three plumes of smoke erupted from the broadsides of one of the war galleys. A few seconds later the water surrounding the ship geysered upwards in three corresponding pillars, accompanied by the roar of thunder. Whatever they were using, didn't seem to behave like magic. A new weapon then? Even against her battles against the diabolical Baatezu, she had never encountered a weapon of such power and range. The prospect excited her.
"Get below decks woman!" shouted a lightly armored marine as he jostled Keke to the side, interrupting her thoughts. The shapechanged demoness had no intention of leaving the battle and easily resisted his push.
The marine looked at her in surprise. He pushed once more, but Keke was again too stubborn to move. He was about to shout something, but Keke's world exploded in thunder and splinters as the roar of the enemy's mysterious weapon crashed down near her. The demoness was thrown back by a shower of metal and wooden shrapnel.
Keke struggled to her knees, her arms and hands cut and bloodied as she flipped the shredded corpse off of her. Though her skin was resistant to most weapons, the enemy's weapon easily tore through her resistance. She guessed she might have even been slain if it weren't for the pushy soldier shielding her from the main blast. Keke smiled in excitement. This was going to be a good battle.
Though she had weapons on her, she wasn't sure how to access them without dropping her magical guise. She didn't want to reveal her hand, especially since the enemy was at range. No need to attract unnecessary fire. That was fine though; she could scavenge or at worse improvise. She grabbed the slain man's sword, a weird blade with serrated edges as well as grabbing and donning his bloodied cloth and metal brimmed helmet. She wasn't sure how effective the helmet would be against the enemy, since it certainly didn't help its previous owner.
Armed and partially armored, Keke was prepared to do battle. However, the ship's defenders weren't so enthusiastic. Judging by the uniforms of the dead, many of the officers appeared to have already been slain. About a score of rowers appeared to have abandoned their posts, fighting with many similar minded marines for the few spots on the ship's two life rafts. The remaining rowers still at their benches appeared stunned, unsure of what to do next. The ship was dead in the water, as the two circling war galleys tightened their courses and closed in, firing towards their prey. The battle was over before it started.
"No," whispered the Marilith Kalikekeztra. She was a general of Abaddon, she wasn't going to surrender without a fight, regardless if this wasn't her battle. While she was still cloaked in her guise, she summoned all her demonic presence and let it flow through her mortal form.
"Get back to your posts! "she shouted as about a dozen rowers and marines struggled to lower a raft into the waves below.
The men stopped briefly staring at her, before ignored the babbling servant woman and her vaunted 'demonic presence' as they continued to push amongst themselves, literally biting and clawing their way for a berth on the raft.
Keke frowned and decided to take a more personal touch. If she could deal with a crew of Dretches and a horde of mindless Manes, she could deal with these fools. She walked calmly towards the nearest raft, bowling aside all who stood in her way with her vast strength. When she reached the escape vessel, she calmly gripped the boat and hefted it vertically over her head, snapping the remaining ropes that lashed it to the main hull. Even though a few rowers and marines were struggling to hold onto the vessel, Keke tossed it and the hapless crew about fifty feet off the deck of the ship smashing the small vessel into flinders as it struck the water.
"Get back to your posts !" she repeated with a more menacing tone towards the crew surrounding the remaining raft. The crew didn't know who she was, but promptly did as they were told.
"Marines, get behind cover in the fore castle and the rails! Rowers, set down your oars but be at the ready, else I'll throw you overboard as well!" she growled to the frightened crew. The men did as ordered, and the ship fell still.
Keke scanned the remaining marines, and finally saw one with what appeared to be flags and flares on him. "You, signal guy. Light up some surrender flares. We'll draw those bastards closer before striking."
"But..but…that's not surrendering. That's against the rules of warfare…" protested the man nervously.
"I'm sure not flying your flag is against your rules too," glared Keke. "Unless you think those are just really well equipped pirates."
The man nodded quickly in agreement and began setting flares, releasing a large white plume on the deck. Both war galleys ceased their bombardment temporarily but continue their cyclical pattern.
"Come on, " whispered Keke with clenched teeth. "Take the bait before your fellow arrives you cowards."
Suddenly, as if answering her taunt, one of the ships broke its encircling pattern and made its way cautiously towards the Gold Eagle.
Keke watched and noted that the approaching galley was not only the same class of vessel as the Gold Eagle, but was practically the same ship."Are you guys in a civil war or something?" she asked to the marines huddling behind the rails. "That ship looks awfully like this one."
The marines weren't sure how to respond to the woman that suddenly took charge of their vessel after throwing a thousand pound escape raft over the deck. One of them managed to gather his courage and peaked over the rail before ducking underneath again. "I..I can't believe it. That's the Silver Hawk."
"Silver Hawk? Copper egg? Iron Feather? Is that supposed to mean something?" asked Keke, genuinely confused.
"It's a Ghatian vessel. It's been a tradition to name all of our vessels after birds. Or more accurately one of our mothball ships we sold to the Great Khan a few years ago. I recognize the battle scarring on the hull," explained the soldier.
"The Great Khan? The horse guy from the south? Isn't he your ally? He's on your…err I mean our side right? Why is he attacking and why isn't he on a horse?"
"This confuses me as well m'lady," said the marine. He glanced at Keke, briefly meeting her gaze before looking down again. "If..If I may be so bold to ask ma'am….Err are you a servant of holy Puranas sent to protect us?"
Keke eyes grew wide at his statement. "Eh? Me, a servant of Puranas? What gave you that idea? "
"You..you came to us in our greatest need. Punishing the cowards, and leading us in battle. Surely you are a servant of the gods," said the soldier with head still bowed.
Keke almost laughed at the suggestion, but thought it would be bad for morale. "Sure, let's go with that story. I'm here to lead you to victory or at least to a glorious end. Umm…that's all a soldier can wish for right? A glorious end in battle, defending …defending what's right and punishing the wicked."
There was a murmur of agreement amongst the huddled marines and a chorus of approval greeted her statement. She had heard it before, but couldn't remember where, and simply pieced it together the best she could. Keke was surprised her improvised speech worked, and was fortunate since the Silver Hawk now drew close to their vessel. While the Gold Eagle's crew had been in shambles a moment ago, their training and discipline resurfaced as they waited as per Keke's orders. Keke wasn't surprised though, often even the most elite troops would lose their morale and their direction once their leaders were slain. She was just lucky to step into the role when they needed it.
"Throw down your weapons, and prepare to be boarded! " shouted a heavily accented voice. As a greater outsider, Keke could understand practically all mortal languages, but found this particularly one harsh on her ears; very guttural, a cross between the version of common tongue used in the Eastern Realms and Black Orc speech. Before she could further contemplate the attacker's linguistics, heavy grappling irons were thrown towards the Gold Eagle and snagged on its rails as a heavy spiked gang plank dropped and sank into its decks.
"Khanhai!" shouted the boarders as squat swarthy men in lamellar armor rushed across. Keke noted with amusement that one of them lost his balance and fell overboard with a sploosh, even as the rest of the soldiers stormed the Gold Eagle.
Kalikekeztra broke cover and stood before the onrushing horde with serrated blade in hand. "Bravery! Valor! Glory!" she shouted in her loudest and clearest voice, recalling the motto of the accursed Bey Javindar.
"Bravery! Valor! Glory!" Her theatrics seemed to have the desired effect as the Ghatian marines followed her lead, echoing her battle cry. The relatively heavily armored Steppe warriors were thrown into confusion as the marines pushed back hard with Keke at the forefront.
Given the tightly pack nature of the boarding action, Keke was limited to fighting in rank rather than sweeping through her foes with her strength and agility. She considered dropping her guise now to sow fear against both 'friend' and foe, but there were still two other war galley's out there, and decided to battle in her current form. Her first few swings were more club swats than sword slashes, but Keke quickly got the hang of her weapon. It was an archaic thing that seemed to do better when you used it in a sawing motion, but it did its job sufficiently enough when she managed to saw a boarder's arm off.
As the first wave of attackers were driven back or into the water, the enemy began to respond with volley after volley of withering bow fire. Though they were caught unprepared, about a dozen of the enemy managed to take sniping positions on the ships fore castle and began raining arrows down on them with their recurve bows. Despite the small number of archers they decimated the Ghatian marines and pushed them back once again, allowing a second wave of boarders to storm across.
Keke herself was struck in the shoulder with an arrow. Her enchanted hide saved her from the normally fatal blow, but the force of the arrow still pierced her skin, bloodying and staggering her. Several of the marines threw their shields before her, deflecting more of the deadly arrows as the Ghatian ranks were pushed further back. Seeing how precariously the tide of battle hung in the balance, Keke pushed back her defenders and threw herself directly at the massed ranks of her foe. Abandoning the file of the Ghatian soldiers, she leapt into the fray, braving the enemy's wall of spears.
While a normal man would be pierced a dozen times over, Keke's supernatural agility dodged most of the deadly spears. One struck and grazed her flank, while another managed to pierce her leg, but her blood lust was too much to be stopped. After breaking through their ranks, Keke became a whirlwind of violence.
The demoness Kalikekeztra was in her glory as she first bashed a soldier's helmet and head in with her crude blade. As the man fell back, she snagged his spear, and tucked it halfway underneath her free hand's armpit, a technique she learned in the phalanxes of ancient Mycenia, allowing her to use the two handed weapon one handed in a clumsy but effective fashion. Doubly armed, she swung around in a deadly arc, upending another soldier with the rear haft of the spear, while piercing another a warrior properly in the chest with the spear point. As the pinned soldier struggled, she finished him off with a sawing motion with her serrated blade, spraying the back rank of soldiers with a grisly geyser of blood. Before the Steppe warriors realized the horror that fell on them, she surged ahead once more knocking one of them over the deck with her wounded shoulder while bringing her knee upwards and smashing the soldier in front of her. The hapless warrior was thrown back past the gang plank, striking the hull of the Silver Hawk before splashing into the water below.
That was enough for the soldiers of the Khan. As one they broke and began to scramble back to their own vessel. The Ghatians surged forward cutting them down, but Keke wasn't done though. She easily bounded upwards, landing on the spiked gang plank before springing upwards, snapping it in the process, and into the ranks of the now stunned enemy archers, impaling one with her spear before she landed. The archers fell back , in a practiced manner but could not stop her fury. Keke impaled one clumsily with her serrated blade, breaking off half the weapon's teeth in the process, even as she savagely bit one in the throat, almost severing his neck in the process, while sending the remaining archers fleeing and tumbling off the fore castle.
"Rowers! Double speed! " she shouted at the Gold Eagle as blood dribbled from her lips.
The Gold Eagle's rowers lowered their oars into the water, and rhythmically began sweeping the water in unison. The remaining grappling chains grew taut, locking it with her sister ship. It looked as if their efforts were futile, but a loud crack and a splintering of railing freed the war galley, sending it surging forward.
Keke knew the battle was far from done. While it had temporarily evaded the Silver Hawk, it was far from out of commission. Also there was another galley in the vicinity as well as one approaching from the horizon. With the fore castle cleared, she hopped to the side of the boat, grabbing and embedding her fingers into the hull with her great strength. She then began kicking and snapping any oars her legs could reach, breaking a half dozen before she launched herself into the water.
"A quick swim and then I'll be aboard the Gold Eagle. We'll set up some more smoke to evade whatever their weapon they're using and then…."
Keke didn't finish her thought as a great force seemed to snag her in place right above the waves. She wasn't sure what was happening, even as she was raised upwards before being slammed hard into the deck of the Silver Hawk, smashing her head first through its heavy hull.
Bruised and stunned, Keke managed to pick herself up and scanned angrily around for her foe. Most of the deck had cleared, but she saw a young man in silver gilded lamellar armor standing before her unflinching. At his side was a wizened looking fellow, with a long wispy beard in yellow robes adorned with strange bearded snakes.
"Aurumgar, what manner of creature is this?" said the young man as he glared down at the battered Keke. "It looks human, but surely it isn't."
Keke hissed as she launched herself at the pair. While her sword had broken and spear had snapped, she was fully ready to tear them apart with her hands and teeth. Just as she was about to tear into them, the old man snagged her easily by the neck, almost breaking it and lifted her up as easily as the great force that had grabbed her earlier. Though magic wasn't her specialty she began to his, ready to unleash a wall of blades against them, but before she finished her spell, she was driven into the deck by the old man, smashing through the hull once again.
"I am unsure Prince Vleda. My magic does not detect any noticeable aura from it," said a dry voice from above as Keke attempted to regain her bearings. She attempted to stand, but found it difficult since many of her bones appeared to have been broken. She would have crumpled into a heap, but pure instinct and her lust for battle drove her on. While blood obscured her vision and her legs were broken she clawed at the hull, attempting to scramble at her tormentors.
"Remarkable, it's still alive."
"Should I slay it, or do you wish to study the creature?"
"I'm intrigued. I had my doubts, but father was right. The Ghatians do consort with demons it appears. Or at least creatures of a supernatural nature. Spare it for now, and give me a report later."
"Yes Prince Vleda."
Though blinded, Keke once again felt herself lifted off the hull again. She wasn't sure if it was by the old man hand or by his magic, but she was too beaten to care at this point.
"Oh, and Aurumgar. Try to not smash through the hull again. These ships are expensive."
"Yes my Prince," replied the voice before Keke felt herself crushed against the hull once again.