Elizabeta
"What the hell is happening on that ship?" Feliks asked, wearing a baffled expression. I could not disagree with his question, because the sight of Kirkland's ship was blocked by smoke. We heard screams, explosions and clanging sounds but couldn't see anything.
Before I could voice my worries, I heard Kirkland through the patch. He mentioned underwater cannons which had damaged their ship greatly. Unfortunately, their vessel was not the only one that was targeted; only seconds after his exclamation, our ship started shaking too. But the impact was not triggered by any bombs, cannons or explosions; but by the ocean's waves.
"Seriously? What now?" Feliks muttered, holding onto the railing next to me.
"It seems as if they are only attacking Kirkland," I noticed, regretting the words I used only seconds later. The blonde admiral's ship was under attack for the purpose of distraction. We did not realise it until foreign pirates entered our deck and surprised us with their filthy presence.
"Oh shit," I cursed while Feliks looked at the new guests with a critical expression.
"Seriously? That outfit? I thought the Edelsteins had enough money to occupy a good designer who at least had a little sense of fashion."
I was not the only one whose widened eyes focussed on Feliks after hearing his remark. Even if I was used to this kind of exclamations from him; listening to his critics in the middle of a war was surprising – although I was certain that he tended to hide his fears with those expressions. His eyes were still judging our enemies, who grew angrier the more they were stared at by a rather sassy Feliks.
I could have smiled or laughed because the scene was too funny to watch, but decided against it due to the current circumstances. There was neither time nor the right moment to laugh at those who were capable of killing us.
"My my. What do we have here? Dear Lizzie, her father and the crew."
That voice . . . It had the same cruel ring in it as it always did whenever I heard it. The face of Captain Roberts greeted us. It was his ship that attacked us, but I had not recognised any of his crew members. Either he had some of Edelstein's members on his ship or new recruits.
"Oh," Mathias – who had placed himself next to me and my father – uttered before he started swinging his axe. We did not waste any minutes and ran forward in order to attack the notorious captain and his damned crew. I wanted to target Roberts; he who had caused so much trouble and pain. Yet I was stopped by one of is lackeys. "Don't stand in my way!" I screamed before knocking him down with all the energy I had left in my body – which was a lot; my father had always told me that I had fierce strength. I quickly looked around: everyone was fighting and so far, my crew was doing fine. Mathias was throwing the enemies across the ship as if they were mere pillows, while every single strike of Feliks against the pirates was accompanied with a judging look or comment – a tactic to distract the enemies and which had worked more than once.
As some minutes passed, my high spirits left me. There were too many enemies attacking us and Kirkland's and Antonio's ship had not reappeared – smoke was still preventing us to see what had happened. My eyes focussed back on the persons in front of me. It were two tall men; one holding a pistol, while the other was swinging his cutlass. I wasted no time in fighting and I had one great advantage: those two underestimated me, the one with the sword wanted to have some fun with me. The other one would wait until he could finish me off with his pistol. To their dismay, I had already analysed their moves. The tallest of them – with the cutlass – attacked me, but I ducked and kicked him in the gut before caressing his throat with my sword. My hands did not let go of him when he fell; I used him as a shield, causing the other pirate to shot at me. I pushed the dead body forward when I rushed towards the shooting enemy, making him step behind – which to his dismay was the railing of the ship. He fell behind into the ocean, a little shocked by my bold move.
As I observed the falling figure, I noticed the raging waves that clashed against my ship. Nervously I moved my head, to properly see the movements of the ocean: I was confronted with the sight of mermaids and sirens, which were drowning the enemies. Kirkland's ship came into view – after the smoke had ceased – and I saw a blue veil around his vessel.
"A protection wall?"
I was astonished and happy at the same time. The creatures of the ocean had come to help us.
"I never thought you would use the power of the mermaid," someone behind me mumbled and I immediately knew who was gracing me with his presence.
"Roberts," I hissed darkly, turning around, only to be stabbed in the stomach. I had let my guard down; giving him a chance to attack me so openly.
"Y-you…" I could not finish my sentence without coughing up blood. That idiot had hit me fatally and my feet could not hold my weight anymore.
"Yes, I!" he spoke harshly, "I never thought you would succeed in stealing the amulet. And then you rescued your father and manipulated a kingdom to wage a war against me and my allies."
His frown grew. "You had dared all of that, you little hussy," he almost shouted, "I will not lose to you or your so-called friends."
Panic claimed my body as I remembered the moment where my father had been abducted. It was the same scene; a déjà-vu. Instantly, my eyes searched for him, fearing that Roberts had once again taken my father. The blood leaked out of my clothes, the pain growing stronger while I felt drowsy. Would this be the end? No, it could not be. A little spark under my chest and on my arm appeared and I was not sure if I was imagining it or not, but the feeling of warmness ran through my body. Someone was healing me. Of course! The patch I had received from Sakura.
I laid my hand on the patch on my arm, feeling weak due to the critical condition I was in. "Thank you, Sakura," I whispered.
"You are badly hurt Elizabeta," she answered and at that moment, Gilbert interrupted the conversation rather loudly. "What!?" He must have heard Sakura's reply and put his hand on the patch to contact me. One could almost hear his shouting and cursing from his location without the use of the patch. His voice was loud enough for it.
"You are communicating through that?"
I eyed the evil captain again who pointed his sword on the patch.
"Roberts is standing in front of me . . . Sakura can you heal me faster?" I whispered, trying to avoid speaking to loud. I did not want Roberts to hear me. "I think he will kill me before I have time to react."
My voice was not low enough and the enemy pirate had heard me nonetheless. "If you are calling for back up through that, then I better cut off your arm," he concluded before lifting his sword.
"Hands off my daughter!"
I shot up to my legs – although the pain in my stomach forced me to the ground again – seeing that my father had intervened. He had come to save me!
The cuts on his arms and face displayed his efforts of the fights he had gone through. And now he stood in front of the man that had abducted him and blackmailed me.
"How dare you hurt my little Lizzie," he panted, blocking the strikes from Roberts. He kept on defending and fighting, but his stamina was not as strong as his eyes which screamed determination.
In all the sudden, a roaring scream echoed through the area; a strange and terrifying sound that stopped everyone from fighting – even Roberts and my father. An unsettled feeling filled my stomach . . . This was not human . . . Something had happened and it was not human. Fear dominated my thoughts . . . It sounded like a giant animal from hell. I lifted my head to the sky and was not prepared for the sight that would confront me: Giant dark blue wings, white horns, and a scarred mouth that spit blue flames.
"A-a Dragon?" I whispered to myself. In all seriousness, Gilbert had unleashed the dragon. But it was too early!?
It was a mighty and proud creature but looked beautiful nonetheless. It possessed the same eye-colour as the youngest Prince in the kingdom. The family was bounded to it; not only by blood but with that certain blue colour too. "How fascinating."
The healing process on my wound was making progress. I did not know why but suspected the dragon's presence which might have caused the magic to flow stronger. Expressions of fascination and wonder around me were uttered by my crew and the marine, while the enemies were scared and shocked. And they should feel frightened!
After the dragon's roaring, the mermaids and sirens mimicked the sounds before some of the ships were set on fire. Blue fire. The dragon was attacking the enemies, who in return targeted the flying creature with their cannons.
"This is our chance!" I screamed to my crew, who understood the situation and continued the fighting. One could see the fear in the enemies' eyes. Roberts knocked my father down before running away. He still was the same coward as weeks before: Fleeing when his victory was at risk.
"Is everything all right?" I hear someone call. It was Gilbert and I did not waste any second to answer him. "Yes . . . My wound is healing quickly," I replied breathlessly, "I did not think you would pull that trick."
"Well you were in danger; of course I will use my strongest weapon."
I smiled. It was an expression that warmed my heart.
"Still, we need to end this war as quickly as possible," he informed me, "Sakura is controlling this vast area of the ocean, all the inhabitants of the sea . . . But her energy is limited. The creatures are protecting you, so your defence is secured. It is your job to uphold the offense."
"Understood," I said looking for the fleeing captain. "Get him," my father murmured. He had quickly recovered from the fall and I nodded. My eyes wandered around and I caught Roberts figure immediately; the man was desperately trying to jump on his ship. Although he succeeded, I dashed forward before grabbing a rope and swinging myself on the other vessel. My wound had completely closed but I was sure that a scar would remain.
The roaring dragon circled in the air, greeting every enemy ship with fire. The horizon that was filled with lots of ships was cleared. So, those cowards had decided to retreat due to the dragon's performance. If we succeeded in kettling the remaining pirates, we could win this war. I hoped that Natalya was doing fine on her battleground . . . But she had to. Toris had informed us of their victory.
"Wait!" I screamed and Roberts stopped dead in his tracks. He was scared . . . good.
"Fight me!"
He turned around with a smirk, which disappeared as something big crashed behind me. Strangely enough, I was not scared; I somehow had the suspicion that it was the dragon that stood behind me.
Without thinking, I rushed to Roberts and noticed how his hand was clutching his right arm. So my father had hurt him badly during their clash. Seeing that he was right-handed, he would have problems in handling my fierce blows.
"Take this, you idiot!"
If my father had seen me, he would have described me as a woman who went berserk. I did not care; my friends, my father, a whole kingdom, the inhabitants of the sea and a dragon were on my side: Their presence alone and the feeling that all of them believed in me and my crew was enough to heighten my spirits. I would defeat that coward.
Even if he managed to block some of my strikes, he could not block them any longer. My blows were far too aggressive for him to stop. Aside from my sword, I used my left fist to punch his face several times.
I suddenly felt someone grabbing my hand.
"That's enough Liz."
I looked up to see Mathias grinning. "I know you want him dead, but I think it is better to prosecute him, put him in jail where he and his friends are waiting for death to take them."
My eyes wandered back to the unconscious form of Roberts. I was not sure how I did it, but his face was full of blood, his body adorned with wounds. The sword in my hand was soaked in blood. "Oh . . ."
"Don't worry about him now . . . we will take him to the prince," the blonde concluded before watching the fleeing ships, "It seems that they are afraid of us."
"Indeed."
"The only one that needs to be defeated is Edelstein. If we take him down, we will have power over Eastdorn and their royal family."
I nodded, if this was the only required step to win, then we would finally be at peace.
[A/N: Poland judging his enemies by their clothing is my head canon xD. He has a great sense of style and seeing that he has to fight against people who have no talents for fashion is bugging him. Finally, the dragon has shown itself :D *it was about damn time* . Roberts was weakened from the fights before and badly hurt by Lizzie's Dad. In addition to that, he was pretty scared by the dragon and internally gave up.]