The boats sailed through the ashen fog, the waves gently lapping against the wood, and in a few cases, painted steel. The dwarven iron ships were triumphs of engineering, not particularly large, but packing enough ballistas and steam powered weaponry to wreck a coastal town. It was crewed by six dwarfs, consisting of a helmsman, navigator, and four gunners, and could carry twice as many as passengers. All of them wearing plate armour and either mauls or waraxes. Their equipment and tactics were not suited to the jungle, but dwarfs have never been the most flexible of people.
Next are the merchant ships, both fast and large, but with little weaponry to speak of. The sails had been changed, coloured silks being deemed to valuable to risk damage. The merchant ships move quickly, but cannot carry many people, the hold being oddly shaped to make stowing away difficult.
Finally, are the ice breakers. Huge ships with metal prows that seemed to drive the water out of the way instead of gliding across it. The majority of the troops are on these ships, having the largest holds and being more like battering rams than boats.
"They will all burn." The Cannibal commented, standing atop the gates to oversee the battle. The minions would be useless, well even more useless. They had no mind guiding them, and the water rendered them unable to fight. It was just them.
A small boat rowed from one of the larger ships to the shore, a small group of dwarfs pulling them self out and heading up the stairs, leaping over a large boulder to get the mechanism.
"Elina." One of them shouted, having gone to secure the stone corridors. "How's the inside of this thing?"
"It's not damaged, but some key parts are missing captain." She yelled back, relaying the components afterwards.
"How key?" She was asked.
"Won't open without them." Elina stated, glancing into her pocket and pulling out a piece of paper. "We might be able to use some spares from the ship if we're lucky."
"I'll send a couple of men back to the ship, see what the engineers can rustle up."
Elina sat down against the large wheel, beginning to write his letter.
To Varren.
She crossed it out.
To my love, Varren.
She crossed it out again. There was the sound of something hitting the stone from outside, causing him to glance up. "Probably dropped an axe." She commented, before writing again.
My dearest Varren.
Yes, that seemed right. There was another thump, and she looked up, seeing something in the shadows for a moment that made her stand up.
"Captain?" She called out. No reply. "Captain?" No reply. She started to walk towards the door, glancing outside. Something was wrong, there were no guards left. She went back inside.
Click.
"Captain?" She shouted, drawing her axe, the swell of burning beginning to flow into the area.
Click.
"Captain?"
There was a hand on her shoulder, and she swung around to face it. "Oh thank the gods." It was the captain.
"Run." He whispered before collapsing, his back half being burnt, the armour having fused to the skin.
She turned as fast as she could, her short legs carrying her as fast as she could. She got through the first doorway, running down the stairs, using the boulder that was now at the side to bounce off and turn quickly. She reached the beach, waving her hands at the incoming boat.
They were close when the sound of hissing filled the air, a sound she easily realised. The pressure in the ships were getting to high, despite the vents being open to realise the steam. There was a distinctive crunch before the ships stopped, and flame slowly seeped over the metal, boiling everyone inside.
Then came another familiar sound, that drew her back to her mining days, stones grinding against each other, though there wasn't the sound of of picaxe or shovel. She glanced behind her, the boulder had moved, arms and legs jutting from its massive form while a small head could barely be distinguished, a pair of half-lights hinting where the eyes would be.
It moved with a terrifying speed, reaching her in a few seconds and smashing her to the ground, grinding her bones to a pulp while her blood stained the white sand. A large, grey lizard came out from the building, spreading a set of wings, before being followed by a more humanoid figure with green scales.
"Ready son?" The larger creature hissed, with the green one giving a nod before the pair went to the air. The pair went to the other side of the gate, the green lizard reappearing with two figures and the larger one carrying four, dropping them onto the decks of a ship before returning to pick up more.
The Cannibal landed on the wood, his armour making him thud loudly as he drew his mace and began clearing the deck, spreading viscera and blood with each swing. He glanced behind him. Huntsman, Alchemist and son, Shield Bearer, and one like him, clearly on a high from a piece of crystal in her pocket as she beat the last crewman to death with a bladed staff.
"Alchemist, you and your boy sink the ship. Shield Bearer, you know what to do." There was a slight pause before a strange red dome appeared around the ship, the arrows that hit it slowing to halt, but staying in midair.
"That leaves the three of us." She commented, looking with slight amazement at the arrows. "What do we do?"
"We have fun." He murmured, turning to see the crew from below deck make their way up, his helmet hiding a curved smile.
The battle would not last long.
Lo looked at the small blueish crystal that rested in the vial, tilting it so the light bounced through it at different angle before removing the cork at the top. It was the last of the sample, her having given the rest to Kira as a way of paying for the favour. She'd messed with the magical goods before, but well, this wasn't magical. Well it was, but it was solidified magic, the physical embodiment of something not bound by physics or reality. It did not make sense.
It was her job to have it make sense. And find a way of manipulating it to her advantage of course.
There was a knock at the door, or the arch with the curtains that acted as a door. Her new "protector" or as Lo called it "defensive stalker" came in, followed by Lilith, a cheerful smirk on her face.
"My Qu." Mirah began, before Lo interuppted her.
"Stop calling me that." She rushed out, sounding slightly flustered and putting the vile on her bedside table. "Please leave." Mirah gave a dignified look of annoyance before leaving the room, just leaving the other two. "So?"
"So what?" Lilith questioned. "Can't I visit a sick friend?"
A curious look crossed the elf's face. She had never considered Lilith as a friend before. "I suppose." She murmured. "Anything you'd like to ask?"
"I'm guessing your doing better?" Lilith replied, finding a chair to sit on in the corner.
"Well, it's been four days." Lo shrugged.
"Have you tried walking again?"
She looked down at her feet, twitching her toes lightly. It was an improvement from the day before, which made her smile. "Soon."
"An improvement?"
She nodded. "The first of many."
Lilith frowned lightly. "Meaning?"
"I'm not going to let her, or anyone get like that to me again." Lo replied quickly and in a determined manner. "I had my new bodyguard tell Grubby to make me a weapon, something small like a dagger."
Lilith's brow dipped again. "And that helps how? Surely you could just use a spell?"
Lo took a pause. "There are certain, people within the tower who are capable of incapacitating me, or at least stop my casting."
"I assume you have worked made the link between those people?" Lilith inquired, to which Lo nodded.
"My scapegoat either does not know, or does not care, as for her, she will not find out."
The elf shuffled so that her legs fell of the edge of the bed, and attempted to stand, succeeding with Lilith's help. "It seems rather cruel."
"A necessary cruelty. If she finds out that her father is under her nose, then one of two things will happen. Firstly, she may get ideas above her station, start thinking she should have preferential treatment. Though that's not the one that worries me."
"Then what does?" Lilith asked, helping her to move around a bit.
"Kira is smart, not as smart as she think she is, but smart none the less. She'd be able to work out that he's too old, and that's a problem. There's a reason I keep the people seperate from him."
"I think you may be over thinking this." The succubus replied, letting go of the elf when she seemed capable of walking in her own, leaving the room for a brief moment till Lo was properly dressed and heading to the library.
'No, no I'm not." Lo murmured, looking at the small vials. "In fact, I have a plan."
"Oh, do tell." Lilith smirked.
A/N Sorry it took so long. I rewrote this chapter twice, stopped writing entirely for a month, and rewrote it again.