Fairy Opera Chapter 7: Attack

 

Attack

We caught several skyfish. This time, Orion used a continuous fire spell to cook the fish. As he cooked, he explained.

“Now, what we’re doing here is a tradeoff. By using this spell to cook our food, I’m using calories that I’ll have to recover from the food itself.” Orion continued to cook the fish. “But cooking food makes the nutrients more available to the body. Thus, if I manage my calorie input and output correctly, I can get a net gain.”

“And we’re going to gain more benefit as well.” Jak nodded. “That’s quite a handy thing.”

When the fish was cooked, we all partook and finished it, striping it to the bone. Orion ate the fish’s head. By the looks of it, he enjoyed it.

“The eyeballs are the best part.” He chewed with a content expression on his face.

We traveled throughout the day. Orion gave Jak and Tae lessons on magic, while I listened in. Mostly he was teaching them basic words and how to put them together. Because I already knew the language through my crest, I was able to watch without interfering.

Night fell again. I took first watch. About half an hour past sunset, Tae slipped across the deck and came up to me.

“Can’t sleep?” I turned to her.

“I feel something strange in the air.”

“Yeah. I do too.” I looked up at the stars in the sky. “It’s like a gathering of the clouds.”

A shadow fell across the small boat. Something bright popped into existence right next to us. It was a ship! It had been hidden by darkness, but was now lit brightly by torches. The skull and crossbones hung from the top of the mast. Rigging creaked, and the ship came alongside us. I shouted to wake up Orion.

“We’re under attack!”

Ropes dropped down next to our small boat and several men slid along them, their boots hitting the deck. They held crossbows.

“Wake up, prey!”

Orion jerked awake. He held out his hand. “Null Bake!”

Jak pushed Orion’s hand aside. “They have us. If you kill one of them, they’ll just get angry.”

The spell in Orion’s hand fizzled. Orion dropped his hand.

The two men who had stepped on board pointed their crossbows at us. The ship that had pulled up beside us was gigantic, about twice the size of the fishing vessel that Tae and I had served on.

The pirates, which is what I assumed they were, herded us onto the climbing rigging on the side of the pirate ship. We climbed up onto its deck.

A dozen pirates holding swords surrounded us. The center opened up, to reveal a man wearing a tricorn hat and holding a walking stick, his face illuminated by torch fire.

“Ah, what a lovely windfall.” The captain, which is what I assumed he was, approached Orion. “You’re an old man. You won’t be worth much.” He then walked up to Tae. “But you. You’re a pretty young lady. You’ll be worth quite a bit.”

Tae grimaced. “Get off me, you filthy pig.”

The pirate captain slapped Tae across the face. “You’d best stall that tongue of yours if you want to live.” He licked his lips. “In any case, welcome aboard the Grand Mahogany. You’ll be treated to the best that a slave ship can offer until we sell you in the markets of far-off lands.”

Ruby, hidden in my shirt, spoke. “Rock. We’re in big trouble, but you can trust me. When you get somewhere where you can’t be seen, release me. I’ll figure out a way to get you out of this.”

“Okay.”

The captain bowed. “My name is Captain Morgan. It is good to make your acquaintance.” He waved his cane. “Get them to the cells!”

The pirates dragged us with rough motions down a set of ladders and into a hold that was filled with cages. Half of the cages were occupied by malnourished, sad-looking people. Plus a few demi-humans. I had never seen a demi-human before. They were like regular humans except for their animalistic facial features. All the captives watched us as we walked past.

The pirates shoved us into a dirty cage and locked the door.

“What now?” Jak turned to Orion.

Orion snapped. “We can blow this place to smithereens.” Nothing happened. No scroll appeared. “Huh?” He snapped again. “There’s no scroll.”

Ruby flew out from my shirt. “This ship is a relic. It’s got a magic suppression field in it.”

“A relic!” Orion looked surprised. “From the golden age?”

“Most likely.” Ruby flew up to the bars. “I’ll do my best to sneak around and find out more about our captives. Just stay alive here and I’ll figure something out.”

I sat against the wall. “Well. We’re definitely not doing too hot here.”

Orion sighed. “Yeah. I never expected to be separated from my magic.”

Jak walked up to the bars. “It seems that these slavers aren’t actually from the Empire. Their accent is different. I think I recognize it as Salurian.”

“You do?” Orion laid his head back. “But that doesn’t tell us anything we can use.”

We were stuck, of course. No magic meant that we were sitting as equals to our captors.

We waited for about an hour. Then a pirate arrived with some food and water. He placed it on the ground through the cell’s feeding hole. Tae took her share first. “This stuff is bound to be drugged.” She sniffed it. “Yep. Drugged. We’d do best not to eat anything here.” She took the food to the small barred porthole at the top of the cage and tossed the food out. “Here. You too.”

Jak shrugged. “I’m hungry, but I’m not that hungry.” He tossed his food out the window as well.

I did the same, and Orion followed. He rubbed his stomach. “Well, for the time being, we’re going to have to conserve energy.”

We waited for several more hours. Then Ruby reappeared through a small hole in the roof. She fluttered down and landed on my shoulder.

“I found out who these guys are. They’re Salurian slavers who are working the Green Passage.”

Orion slapped his forehead. “Oh, of course. The Green Passage. I knew we were going to have to traverse it, but I never thought it would matter.”

Tae turned to Orion. “You deliberately led us into pirate infested air without warning us?”

“I thought that a ship as small as ours would escape detection.” Orion sighed. “I was wrong.”

Ruby kicked her legs back and forth. “And I also found something interesting.” She pulled a single key from her back that I hadn’t noticed before in the dim light. “We’re getting out of here.”

The door to the cell block opened. Ruby flew into my pocket and turned into a gem. The key was left in my palm. I hid it between my coat and my shirt.

The pirate looked into our cage and leered. “You have a nice dinner?” He laughed. “I hope you don’t get indigestion!” He rattled a sword against the bars and then moved along to the next cage.

Ruby came out. Without speaking, she communicated what she was about to do. She flew out of the cage and, quietly, unlocked the door. Orion and Jak looked at each other and nodded. They left the cage and assaulted the pirate from behind. I went the other direction and hid next to the hatch that led upwards.

The slaves in the cages started to notice that something was happening. I put my finger in front of my lips, and they remained quiet.

The pirate jailer that Orion and Jak had subdued lay unconscious on the floor. Orion and Jak turned to me.

Tae dragged the body back into the cage and hid it beneath a straw bed.

Ruby flew to me and hovered in front of my eyes. “Good. There are too many pirates on this ship for you to take them alone. We’re going to have to come up with a plan.”

Orion cracked his knuckles. “I’ve got a plan. Beat them to a pulp.”

“Are you crazy?” Jak turned to Orion. “You can’t beat a dozen armed people without a sword or magic.”

Orion grinned. “But you’ve never seen my fight.”

Jak sighed. “Okay. I’ll provide backup. I’m not too bad in a scrap either.”

Tae and I looked at each other. Tae nodded. “We’re coming too.”

I climbed the short ladder to the next deck and popped the trapdoor. There were three pirates in the room, playing cards. All three of them turned to me.

I leaped out and raced across the room. Before they could react, I knocked one of them in the chin and rolled around the second one’s punch.

Orion came out behind me. He leaped over me and hit a pirate with a flying kick. That pirate flew backwards and slammed into the wall.

Jak ran across the room and caught the last pirate in a headlock. He then tapped that pirate gently in the neck, causing his head to slump and his eyes to close.

We stood over the bodies of three unconscious pirates.

Jak started rummaging through the boxes around them. “Find weapons!”

Orion and I joined him. We found enough swords for everyone, as well as two crossbows. Orion and Jak took the bows as they were the ones trained to us them.

We gathered around the door of the room. Orion nodded at me. He kicked the door down without violent force. We rushed into the next room, which was the mess room. There were five pirates inside, eating. Before the first could stand up, Orion slashed his throat, spraying blood everywhere.

I leaped onto a table. One of the pirates jumped onto the adjacent table. I held my sword out, and so did the pirate.

Beside me, Orion and Jak were both engaging other pirates.

I focused on the enemy in front of me. The pirate grinned, showing metal-studded teeth. He then leaped across the table gap with his sword held up.

I deflected the blade. The clang sent sparks flying. I twisted my sword around the pirate’s blade and nicked him in the arm. The pirate leaped away, tumbling, slamming into a chair, and getting back up. His eyes were filled with fire. He approached me with care, his sword in a defensive position. Blood dripped from his arm.

He charged straight at me. I jumped towards him instead of away from him. He missed my arm with his sword by an inch and I stabbed him in the stomach. He gurgled before falling to the ground.

When I looked around the room, all the pirates were dead. Jak held his arm with an expression of pain on his face. He had been cut in the upper arm and blood dripped down his shirt. Other than that, he appeared fine.

Orion nodded at me. We arranged ourselves around the next door. Through it, we could hear the sound of partying.

Tae approached me, tossing a small cylindrical object in her hand. “Look what I found.”

“What’s that?”

“Dynamite.” She grinned and held up a match. “Just open that door a bit, will you?”

Orion opened the door a crack. Tae lit the cylinder and tossed it through. Orion slammed the door shut and held it that way. A few seconds later, an explosion shook the ship, followed by a number of pained screams. Tae nodded at Orion.

Orion pulled the door open and we raced in. What we faced was a scene of utter disaster. Several pirates were laying on the ground, legs or arms missing. Blood covered everything.

Orion walked up to one of the injured pirates. “Where is your captain?”

“Hell if I know.” The pirate spit at Orion. “You cheat.”

“I’m much less of a cheat than you are.” Orion turned away. “You’re lucky to still be alive.”