Chapter 18 - Distraction

The next evening, Tilanne and Arrien found themselves on board the Devil Shark under the command of Commodore Lester Zank. They co-operated with each of his orders, quietly working amongst the other crewmembers, though quite certain they were under much more scrutiny by their commander.

"Have you heard the noises coming from Lester's chambers at night?" Tilanne whispered to Arrien, whipping her long braid over her shoulder as she tugged firmly at a rope, adjusting one of the sails, which, she did not know, as Arrien was still teaching her the finer points of sailing. The art was entirely lost to her and she reminded Arrien again and again that, although she found the sea beautiful, she was much more interested in being closer to the land and the plantlife it contained.

"Yes...the low grumbling that sounds like talking in some odd language?"

"It sounds like Eredun... the language of the demons. I've heard it spoken before, at a rather dark place in Desolace," Arrien tilted her head in curiosity at the unfamiliar name of this place, but Tilanne continued without explaining, "it sounded rather like a Voidwalker."

"Which is...?"

"A large, blue demon... enjoys torturing other lifeforms and draws energy from their lifeforce. I've seen the practice... it's not very pretty," she sneered slightly.

"But the people of your land that you've told me about seem so... peaceful, not the type to go and summon demons," Arrien said, looking over her shoulder to see if Lester was approaching.

"My ancestors were the type... and there are still remnants from their follies," Tilanne sighed, wiping her brow, satisfied with the new positioning of the sail. "It seems Lester managed to summon a demon in the past week, and that impressed the Duke considerably. Of course, the question that follows is as always with warlocks... does the warlock control the demon, or the other way around?" The red-haired mage found herself shuddering at this implication. The last thing these bloodthirsty brutes in the Buccaneers needed was an even more bloodthirsty commander. At least Falrevere was somewhat sane, as opposed to Lester, who was proving to be more and more of a threat, which Arrien herself was not powerful enough to deal with. Tilanne had added that with a demon at his disposal, her powers granted by Cenarius wouldn't even prove to be enough of a challenge. The Night Elf also pointed out that the last time they had fought, she had the element of surprise against Lester, who she was sure wouldn't underestimate her again. Arrien looked towards the bow of the ship and smiled, seeing that land was beginning to come up on the dark horizon.

"Oy!" The shout came up from the crow's nest, "There's a ship approaching us from the aft, gaining quick! Looks like a goblin steamer!"

Commodore Lester rushed to the aft of the ship and smiled predatorily, "Well," he spoke loudly enough for all to hear, "we can't have them rush up to Booty Bay and let them know that there are six ships of the Bloodsail Buccaneers heading their way, now can we? Signal the other ships to intercept... we have a small fight on our hands, it seems." Tilanne and Arrien shared a look. This was the distraction they'd need. It was a shame that it came along with more bloodshed. It was mere moments before the goblin ship was positioned between two of the Bloodsail vessels, who immediately opened fire. Surprisingly, the goblin ship had been ready with goblins armed with grappling hooks, who boarded the Devil Shark and put up a rather valiant fight. Tilanne and Arrien managed to mostly avoid the battle, Tilanne taking on her panther form and slinking off into the darkness after telling Arrien to meet her at the bow of the ship in a few moments.

Arrien decided to use these few moments to begin using her talents, firing off blasts of fire, not at any specific target, and especially not at the goblins, but at the Devil Shark herself, causing a great deal of destruction to the ship and even lighting one of the main sails ablaze. She let out an almost sinister giggle as she watched the blaze consume the cloth, but was cut short when she was knocked to the ground by one of the Bloodsails slamming into her. She extricated herself quickly and saw that the pirate had an enormous, sleek black wolf at his throat, snarling and biting. Arrien cringed, seeing the pool of blood emanating from the man's ruined neck. A dark form knelt beside the wolf, gently stroking it and murmuring to it in a language Arrien recognized, but couldn't place. The form rose to its full height, revealing a Night Elf woman in dark leather armor. The red-haired mage couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was, her light purple skin offset by markings over her glowing eyes. Her dark hair flowed down to her shoulders and she had a very athletic build. The Night Elf woman looked up at Arrien and began to notch an arrow into her longbow. As Arrien realized that, as an apparent Bloodsail, she was this woman's next target, she panicked, and began to shout a protest as an explosion rocked the deck, sending the Night Elf woman tumbling backwards, falling off the deck into the water below. Her wolf regained its footing quickly and emitted a sharp bark, followed by a series of whimpers before diving after its master.

Arrien, meanwhile, was knocked off her feet by the blast, and slowly regained her footing, feeling something hot and wet trickle from her forehead. As her vision returned to her, she realized that it was somewhat obscured by a small bit of blood that had dripped into her eyes. The mage began to rush toward the bow of the ship, looking for Tilanne frantically, the sounds of the battle raging all around her.

"Looking for someone?" She heard a voice call from behind her. She wheeled about to see Lester, his rapier pointed at Tilanne's throat. The druid looked more annoyed than frightened for her life, and almost seemed a bit bored.

"What are you doing up here, attacking your own crew, Lester?" Arrien demanded.

"I was wondering the same thing when you lit the sails on fire... and that is Commodore Zank to you, by the way," he stated calmly, a fire of insanity dancing in his dark eyes, "we'll have captured the goblin ship in no time..." he paused, hearing the sounds of the battle beginning to die away, "in fact... it sounds like we've already nearly won. Oh, I'm going to enjoy killing the both of you... then I'll start to get to work on reshaping the direction the Buccaneers are heading... start training more in my arts."

"Falrevere wouldn't allow that!" Arrien protested.

"Oh, but it was his idea," Lester smirked, "he wants a number of warlocks to go along with his fighting men... since we're far less afraid of doing dirty work than you pitiful mages." The ship had almost grown silent, with the exception of the cries of the dying and the crackling of the fires started by gunpowder and Arrien. The mage noticed that one of the fires was following a trail of gunpowder that came near her foot, then looked back up at Lester and smiled confidently.

"I think you underestimate our willingness to fight dirty, Lester," Arrien grinned.

"I told you, you insolent peasant... that's Commod---" he got no further, as the fire entered Arrien's field of vision and she made a swift hand gesture, commanding the fire to form a small ball which quickly flew into Lester's face. The warlock cried out in surprise and pain and dropped his rapier, which clanked harmlessly onto the deck. Arrien grabbed Tilanne's wrist and looked over her shoulder, where she could see the city lights of Booty Bay in the distance. She turned back around to see Lester snarl at her, the left side of his face a bloody, charred mess. He began to lunge for the pair, but Arrien closed her eyes and concentrated on the distant shore, gripping Tilanne tight against her, and Lester found himself stumbling forward through thin air, a loud curse escaping his lips into the night.