Fairy Opera Chapter 11: Broadside

 

Broadside

The Imperial frigates gained on us. It seemed only a few hours until they would catch up.

I stood at the aft of the ship. “Why can’t you use magic to push us faster?”

“Do you know how much energy it takes to move an object this large?” Orion shook his head. “No. It would take twenty people to accelerate this ship by one or two knots.”

“Oh. So we’re screwed then.”

Orion appeared to be organizing his scrolls. “Maybe. If I can find a spell among the ones that I own, we may be able to beat them.” The scrolls hovered in front of him, going back and forth around him as he read them.

I leaned on the railing and watched the Imperial frigates in the background. They were out of firing range but that would change soon.

Orion handed me a telescope. “Here. Do you recognize that figure on the deck of the middle frigate?”

I looked through the glass. “That’s Arbos. He’s back.”

“Right. It looks like he wasn’t beaten for long. He’s got soldiers to back him up this time.”

Jak approached us. “The training of the sailors is going well. It seems we’ll have a fighting force in no time.”

“Hurry. We’ve only got a few hours before they catch us.”

Jak nodded. “I’m working on it.”

Across the deck, the new sailors were training with swords. Jak had accessed the ship’s armory. The pirates had all been armed as well. We had about thirty slaves on board the ship, with enough weapons for them all. But there were three fully loaded frigates chasing us. We were at a disadvantage.

“Got it!” Orion pulled out a scroll from among the ones he was looking over. “This is what we need.” He held the scroll out. “Null Bravos. Null vision. Set distance two miles. Accuracy update. Set parameters two nine seven. Burn hotter, sticky. Fire.”

A small orb of fire shot out from Orion’s hand and flew towards the middle Imperial ship. The fireball caught the sails and started to spread. Through my spyglass, I could see the sailors attempting to put out the fire.

It seemed that the other side had the same idea. A few fireballs flew in our direction, hitting our sails.

“Rock!” Orion tossed me a scroll. It merged with my scroll pocket—I still didn’t know how that worked—and became available to me.

Ruby flew around my head. “Orion know what he’s doing. Trust him!”

“Gotcha.” I read the scroll. “Null Aqua. Spray, wide.” A blast of water sprayed from my hand and coated the sails. The fires were suppressed in a few minutes. I felt the drain on my energy reserves and felt a hunger pain.

We continued to exchange long-distance attacks. The crew of the Grand Mahogany worked hard to keep the rigging from bursting into flames.

Orion fired shot after shot at the enemy ships. He held out his hand. “Chocolate! Find me chocolate!”

One of our sailors rushed down into the hold and reappeared with a large box of chocolates. He handed them to Orion.

Orion ate with one hand and fired fireballs with the other. I ran up net to him. “Give me a scroll so I can attack too.”

Orion shook his head. “I can’t. I only have one of them.”

“Give me the scroll for a second. I can memorize it.”

“That’s right.” Orion handed me the scroll. I read it, it was pretty short, and memorized it within a minute. I handed the scroll back to Orion.

We both started shooting fireballs at the pursuing ships. One of them couldn’t fight the flames and started burning profusely. The skysteel engine, heated by the flames, caused the ship to rise with uncontrolled buoyancy. The ship turned upside-down and dumped its sailors to the skyfloor.

The other two Imperial frigates continued their pursuit. The one that had been destroyed was not the one with Arbos on it. The exchange of fireballs continued. Our sailors rushed back and forth, putting out fires everywhere.

The Imperial ships came within striking distance.

“Load the cannons!” Jak shouted at the sailors.

Orion held out his hand. “I think we have something better than mere cannons. This is a relic ship, after all.” He ran into the control room. I followed him.

“Ship! Speak to me!” Orion spoke in Scode.

The ship’s console lit up. “What can I do for you, captain?”

Ruby flew out from my pocket. “I know a bit about relics, Orion-sage. Let me handle this.” She flew up to the console and spoke in Scode. “Engage railgun.”

“Rail …” Orion seemed to have missed the word.

The console spoke again. “Railgun engaged.” A window opened up above the console, displaying the two Imperial ships that were chasing us. “Target located. Firing.”

A gigantic gun rose from the Grand Mahogany’s deck and aimed at the Imperial frigates. With a blast of energy it fired a beam of pure light at the frigate on the left. The frigate exploded in a flash of fire, leaving nothing behind.

The railgun fizzled. “Gun disabled.” The console showed a blinking red light. “Maintenance needed. Gun in improper condition.”

Orion cracked his knuckles. “Looks like we’re going to have to deal with this last ship the old fashioned way.”

The Imperial frigate came into cannon range. Both our ship and the frigate fired at the same time. Wood splinters flew everywhere. The Imperial frigate pulled up next to us and deployed boarding parties, swinging on to our deck on ropes. Swords clashed. The deck became a battlefield. Smoke billowed.

An Imperial marine faced off against me. Without pulling out a scroll, I recited a spell. “Null Bravos. Set parameters two one five. Burn hot. Fire!” A fireball flew from my hand and struck the marine in the neck. The marine flew backwards and landed on his back. I took the opportunity to finish him off. I felt like I was about to throw up. Killing people really felt horrible.

Two more Imperial marines approached me. I took them both down with fireballs. I started to feel ravenously hungry. The next time I cast the fireball spell a wave of sleepiness came over me. I refrained from using any more spells, slapping myself in the face to keep myself awake. I needed food.

But now wasn’t the time to eat. Another Imperial marine approached me. I took a defensive stance. The marine held a cutlass and swept it through the air with the skill of a performer.

We clashed. The marine flicked my sword out of my hand, catching me on the shoulder. I backed away. No magic, no sword. The marine seemed to have the upper hand against me. I had no way to defend myself.

“Here, Rock!” Tae leaped between us and sliced the marine’s hand off. Blood flew everywhere. The marine had let his guard down. He backed off, staggered, and then fell off the side of the ship. His screams echoed as he plummeted down to the skyfloor.

Tae walked up to me. “You’re in bad shape, Rock. Stay out of the fighting for now.”

I picked up my sword. “No. I’m staying in the fight. I need to protect the people I love.”

Tae looked around, at the battle before her. “Okay then. Let’s go.”

Arbos, fighting in the middle of the deck, slew one of our sailors with a single stroke. The demi-human fell backwards and hit the ground. Blood pooled beneath his body.

Arbos looked up at me. “You, boy. You stayed back the last time we fought. I’m going to test your mettle.”

I was injured, out of magic, and tired. There was no way I was going to defeat Arbos.

Tae came up next to me. “We’re fighting together. That’s how we’ve always done it.”

Arbos chuckled. “Well then. I can handle two amateurs.” He twirled his sword. “Come at me.” He made a motion with his hand.

Tae attacked first. With a strike at Arbos’s neck, she tried to speed past his defenses. Arbos blocked, sending sparks flying. Tae then twirled her body and attempted a flying kick. Arbos grabbed Tae’s foot. Before Arbos could hit her with his sword, I charged him and tackled him to the ground. Arbos pushed me off and performed a backflip to regain his footing. He held his sword out at us.

“You’re good, but not good enough.” He pulled out a second sword. “Come at me!”

Tae and I looked at each other. We came to the same conclusion. We split and approached Arbos from both sides. On Tae’s signal we both attacked.

Arbos blocked both of our swords at once, one with each sword in his hands. He twisted his body, ducking underneath my next strike, cutting me in the leg in the process. Blood splattered from the wound, but it wasn’t deep.

Arbos took up a fencing stance. While I recovered, Tae engaged. She parried, struck, parried again. The clash sounded above the noisy battle.

Arbos managed to land a strike on Tae’s shoulder. She fell backwards, arms flailing, dropping her sword. Just as Arbos was about to strike the fatal blow I rushed in and deflected Arbos’s sword.

Arbos backed off. “Your teamwork is good. You seem to have worked together before.”

“Yeah, we fought a lot as kids.” I took up a martial stance.

Arbos flicked his blade. “It looks like I might be losing this battle.” He stepped towards the side of the ship, towards a hole in the railing. A small dinghy rose from beneath the Grand Mahogany and Arbos stepped onto it. “I’ll be seeing more of you for sure.” His ship floated away. The last of the Imperial marines also fled the ship.

Jak approached me, his body covered in blood. “We lost some good sailors today.”

Tae stamped her foot on the deck. “But we also made those Imperials pay.”

Jak looked around at the devastation. “It was a heavy price to pay.”

The remaining Imperial frigate pulled further away. It listed heavily, and most of its sails were torn.

“Should we pursue?” Tae watched the retreating Imperial vessel.

“No.” Jak shook his head. “We’re in no condition to chase after any vessel.”

Tae sighed. “Then we’ll have to deal with Arbos eventually.” She turned away. “He’s coming for us, I know it.”

Jak raised an eyebrow. “We need to get this ship fixed. You know, because a bunch of holes were just blown in our broadside.”

“Yikes. That’s going to cost a lot of time and money.”

Orion approached us. “On the contrary.” He took out a scroll. “I just finished tweaking a repair scroll.”

Ruby flew around Oroin’s head. “You fool!” She kicked him in the forehead with her small legs. “You know that modifying Scode spells can lead to disaster!”

Orion nodded. “I know. But we’re short on time and don’t have the luxury of layin in port while the Grand Mahogany is being fixed in the traditional manner.”

Ruby sighed. “Then go for it. You seem to have already completed the modifications.”

Orion turned to Jak. “Lead me to all the holes in our hull. I’ll repair them. Also bring as much food as you can comfortably carry. We have spare wood laying around, right?”

Jak nodded. “Okay. I’ll come with you. I have a bit of experience with skyships.”

Jak and Orion left the deck and climbed down into the hold.

I looked at Tae. “We’ve got a lot of injured people to take care of.”

“And a lot of dead bodies.” Tae grimaced. “That’s going to be tough.”