Thank you all for the reviews! I wish I could spread them out on my bed and roll around in them, I love them so much. Actually, that sounds creepy. I take it back, but I still appreciate you all taking the time to review. ;P Sorry that this chapter came out late. Again. I keep getting distracted! Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this one. I think it turned out pretty good. Lots of action and a pinch of drama.
Lyra sliced through one royal guard after another, wondering just how many of her brother's men she would have to cut down just to get one damned ship. Ben's rifle had fired so many rounds in quick succession that the barrel began to glow a dull red and she imagined his shoulder would be black and blue tomorrow from the kick. That was one reason she preferred a pistol. "You'd think these bastards would get tired of dying and bugger off!" The ex-soldier's comment made her grin, but as she opened her mouth to agree her words were swallowed up by a loud explosion from only a few yards away. The blast knocked her on her backside and even managed to singe her hair and clothing, but she was otherwise unharmed. When the smoke cleared, the king's men lay scattered and moaning. Ben and Boy finished them off while Lyra lurched to her feet and fired three shots into a corpse nearby out of anger. "Told you to mind those barrels," grinned the rifleman.
Lyra scowled at him and he threw his hands up in defense. She couldn't stay mad at him and ended up cracking a smile as she holstered her pistol. "Walter! What kept you?" The princess' eyes darted towards the now opened doorway of a nearby warehouse at Ben's surprised words. Sure enough, the old knight ambled towards them and despite his casual pace, he spoke with haste. "We have to hurry. They're going to be following us after all." Lyra's gaze shifted towards the warehouse behind him and quirked a brow upon finding it empty. Ben was quicker to ask the question she was just beginning to articulate; perhaps spurred on by his growing affection for the rebel leader. "What about Page?" "She's staying behind," he answered as they followed him towards the dock, "Someone needs to organize things here. Now, come on!"
Walter sped up as a roar of voices erupted just beyond the barrier of factories and warehouses. Royal guard reinforcements were on the way. Lyra ignored the need for urgency, however, and twisted her face into an expression of disbelief when the man stopped beside an overturned rowboat. Surely he didn't expect them to make it all the way to Aurora in that. "Well, it's not much, but at least if floats. That's what counts," he said, unknowingly answering the princess' silent query. Ben, obviously harboring the same feelings on Walter's choice as Lyra, moved past the old knight and approached the last remaining ship in port. "Or, you know, we could take this one and then not drown as soon as we leave port," he smirked. Chuckling, Walter nodded. "Even better. I've got a good feeling about this voyage."
His young protégé did not share the sentiment. Lyra had been hoping that Walter would also choose to stay behind with Page. Unfortunately, he was determined to come along, but she supposed she couldn't blame him. If he didn't, she was bound to offend any natives they might encounter and though Ben was quite charming in Albion, he could easily be mistaken for a buffoon anywhere else. Of course, should one ask Page, she would tell them outright just what a nuisance he was!
Boy was the first across the gangplank, followed by Ben who turned to watch his companions board. Lyra paused to inspect the ship and realized that it was one of Reaver's. Suddenly the fact that it was the only ship in port, and an unguarded one at that, seemed less convenient and more suspicious. She dismissed the thought for now and started up the plank. Ben offered the princess his hand, somehow concluding that she needed his assistance despite the dozens of men she had just killed to get to this ship. She ignored the gesture rather than berating him for the unnecessary display of chivalry. He was just trying to be helpful, after all.
Lyra heard Walter chuckle behind her and could only imagine the look of disappointment on Ben's face due to her snubbing his kindly offer. "Since when did I become so unpopular with the fairer sex, Walter? First Page, and now even our courageous leader," the man said, feigning hurt. The knight laughed again as he crossed the gangplank and patted the blonde on the shoulder. "Page and Lyra aren't exactly your typical females, now are they? You can't expect that malarkey our mothers teach us about treating women like delicate flowers to work on one that could give you a good thrashing in a fight." Walter then bent down slightly so that his next words were only audible to Ben. "Her mother was ten times worse, if you can believe that."
Meanwhile, as the two men went about getting the ship ready to sail and sharing their more agreeable experiences with women, Lyra made her way to the captain's quarters. If her hunch was correct, she would likely find proof of her suspicions in the cabin. Sure enough, a small bit of parchment stood out on the captain's desk. Picking it up, the princess saw only two words written neatly at the center: You're Welcome. She smirked and crumpled the slip of paper in her hand. Though it would certainly appear to be so, the ship was in no way a gift or a bonus to their deal. It was merely further proof of just how little faith Reaver had in her ability to succeed. He obviously felt that she needed all the help she could get. She couldn't wait to prove him wrong, but she supposed it was better to accept her idol's charity than to attempt their voyage in a shabby rowboat.
Emerging from the captain's quarters, Lyra found Walter and Ben were prepared to depart. "Alright. Let's get underway. I hope you two know what you're doing because I certainly don't know the first thing about sailing," she said, moving towards the upper deck to keep an eye out for their pursuers. "I know a thing or two. I spent some time on a ship before I met up with Swift," Ben admitted, though he didn't go so far as to say just what kind of ship it was. "Aye, and I spent a good portion of my service to the old Hero Queen in her royal fleet. Now those were the days." Walter's fond memories not only brought a warm smile to his face, but also to Lyra's. She often wondered what he was like in those days; before age mellowed him somewhat and made him into less of an adventurer and more of a strict mentor. He was always telling stories of her mother, but rarely divulged anything regarding his own life before he met up with her.
The princess didn't have long to ponder Walter's past before she spied several guards filter through the same warehouse from which the old knight had appeared. Scouts, obviously. They had probably expected a small army to be roaming the docks since so many of their comrades lay dead in the streets, but they quickly scrambled back into the building upon seeing only the three of them on the ship. "Let's move! We're about to receive one hell of a bon voyage," Lyra yelled to her companions as she took out her pistol. Ben rushed to raise the anchor and Walter took the helm. The ship slowly slipped away from the dock; they weren't going to get any real speed until Ben unfurled the sails. He had only just started when she shouted, "Here they come!"
Lyra punctuated her warning by firing into the crowd of soldiers that spilled forth from the warehouse. Rifles and swords raised, the men yelled ferociously as they bravely ran towards the ship even with the princess picking them off one by one. A bullet caught her in her right shoulder unexpectedly, but she spared nothing more than a small yelp before continuing to fire on the band of guards. Inevitably she was forced to give up her pistol in favor of something a bit more effective on large groups. Tossing the spent firearm aside, Lyra concentrated all of her Will into her gauntlets. Her left hand burst into flame while her right swirled with vortex and once she had poured sufficient Will into each, she directed the fiery tornado towards the enemy.
Wasting no time to watch her spell toss the bodies like rag dolls and burn them to a crisp, Lyra quickly forced more Will into her right hand. The swirling vortex was born anew, dancing on her palm as she spun deftly on her heel and thrust it towards the sails a mere split second after Ben had managed to free them. The gust caught in the billowing fabric, pulling it taut, and propelled the ship forward at a high velocity. All four passengers were jerked off their feet by the sudden movement as the vessel nearly bolted out from under them. "Good thinking, girl," Walter praised, struggling to reclaim the wheel with a laugh. "One more of those and we ought to be well out of reach. What d'ya say, Princess? Anything left in those magic fingers?"
Lyra nodded to Ben and got to her feet as her hand was incased in the same, swirling aura. She cringed when a pain shot through her shoulder, reminding her of the bullet lodged somewhere amid the flesh and bone. The vortex nearly ebbed, but the princess stubbornly persisted and ignored the pain. "Make it count. The second wave is readying their rifles," said Walter, griping the wheel firmly this time. Ben braced himself as well, abandoning his rifle to hug the main mast. Taking a deep breath, the princess swung her arm towards the sails one last time and then collapsed on the deck, griping her right shoulder. The ship lurched forward again, shooting out of port and into open waters. It put them well out of any rifle's range.
"Well done," the old knight said, "That gave us a damn good head start, but your brother isn't likely to give up so easily. He's got an entire fleet at his disposal and I wouldn't doubt that he'd send the whole bloody armada after us." Lyra and Ben joined him at the helm and gazed towards the horizon. "And if he does, we'll know that there really is something in Aurora he doesn't want us to find," she said, stroking Boy's head lightly. "Aye. It'll take a few hours for them to organize themselves and ready their ships, but we'd better keep watch off the stern. It'll be nearly daybreak before we even catch a glimpse of Aurora." Ben was about to comment on their current situation, namely the fact that this particular ship wasn't built for sea battles and didn't have a single cannon, when he noticed something dripping from Lyra's right hand. He followed the crimson trail up her arm and only then did he realize she had been hit.
"You'd better let me take a look at that shoulder, Princess. You're losing a lot of blood there," he said with a frown. Walter's head snapped around, his eyes widening when they fell upon her blood-soaked blouse. Lyra scowled down at the wound and tugged at the wet fabric. "It looks worse than it is," she said, fearing she was going to be treated like a child with a scuffed knee. But then something unexpected happened. The old knight's expression shifted from concern to indifference and he turned away without comment. Though that is the reaction she thought she preferred, Lyra felt strangely abandoned when her mentor hardly acknowledged the injury.
"I'm no Jasper, but I think I can remove the bullet." Ben's comment as he inspected the entrance wound pulled the princess back to reality and she tore her eyes away from Walter. "Leave it. Just sew it up and I'll be fine," she said coldly. The rifleman quirked a brow and frowned again. He took another look at the hole and shook his head. "I don't think that would be such a good idea. Especially not aboard a ship destined for foreign soil. Infection can set in quick out here…" Cringing when Ben's finger grazed an especially tender area of the wound, Lyra swatted his hands aside and stepped back. "I'll do it myself." With those words her left hand glowed red as the gauntlet absorbed her Will and she pressed the flaming digits against the damaged flesh. Her teeth ground together as the opening was seared closed, but she managed to contain a scream.
Ben stared after the princess as she sauntered into the captain's quarters and slammed the door. He then looked to Walter who kept his eyes glued on the horizon, refusing to acknowledge that anything odd had just occurred. Smirking, the soldier shook his head and moved portside to keep a lookout for any pursuing vessels. Those two were as stubborn as the day was long, but they obviously cared a great deal for one another. Ben wasn't quite sure what happened between them since the day they showed up at Mourningwood Fort, and he knew something had considering these odd little tiffs they were having, but he was certain they'd work it out eventually. Maybe if he could locate some booze on board later on, he'd get them drunk and talking. Nothing like a bottle of rum to wash away any ill feelings.
Ah, Ben. Hooch doesn't solve everything, but I suppose in this case it might. Hehe. Well, there you have it. They're well on their way to unknown shores, but Logan's armada will be dogging them every step of the way. Next chapter: cannonballs, shipwrecks, and eerie caverns galore! Onward to Aurora!