Chapter 15: Dangerous Waters

“You’re picking this up crazy fast,” Seyari commented, leaning back in her hammock.

“Like you said, Turquoiser and Cavenish have roots in common with Ordian. Plus, Salvador gave me a good foundation,” I responded with a shrug from my own hammock.

“You sure this isn’t some sort of innate ability?” Seyari asked me candidly.

“I wish I had an innate ability! Ordian is haaaard.” A high-pitched voice interrupted from across our room.

That voice belonged to Nelys, one of our two roommates. The diminutive human poked their head up over the side of their hammock cocoon and smiled widely.

“Maybe we should take a break then?” I offered. “Nelys sounds like they need it.”

“Do not!” Nelys hopped out of their hammock and stood defiant and very short in the center of the room. “Renna might need a break though!”

I smiled at them. Nelys stuck out their tongue, but then smiled back and laughed.

While our other roommate, a human woman named Thea, was hardly around and didn’t talk much, Nelys immediately latched onto the ‘new and exciting’ people and was taking lessons in Ordian from Seyari. Short and energetic, they had darkly tanned skin with shoulder length curly black hair, black eyes, and a young androgynous figure. Compared to much of the rest of the crew, they wore simple clothing. An exception was their bright blue coral pendant necklace.

Seyari hadn’t known Nelys which meant they were a recent addition to the crew. They claimed to be an adult, but I had a hard time reconciling that with their often-impish behavior. Seyari had asked where the diminutive pirate came from, but all we learned was that Torrez found them and took them in as part of the crew.

It’d been a week since we set out, and every bit of free time I had was spent learning Cavenish and Turquoiser, primarily the latter. Nelys didn’t want to be left out, so I was helping teach them Ordian while learning. So far, I’d picked up far more than I’d expected. Being immersed in an environment where I had to use the language certainly helped, but I wondered if something else was going on.

Not that I had much time to follow that line of thought.

“I wanna learn all the languages! Then I can go everywhere in the world and talk to everyone else!” Nelys plopped down on the floor and looked at both of us.

“How many do you know already?” I asked.

“Three! Turquoiser and Cavenish and another one that’s a secret!” they replied proudly.

For good reason, I thought. I’d recently decided it was odd for someone who made a living traveling to only speak one tongue.

We studied for another hour or so before I had to go to the mess hall. Seyari headed up to the deck and Nelys went to help Aarsh with the rigging.

I heard talk of a ship sighted east of us while peeling potatoes. Though I could have done it with claws, had I some privacy, I was happy to have a peeler and avoid gunk under my nails. Although I wished it’d been a sharp peeler. I thought about Lorelei and Markus and Salvador again. I wanted to talk to the latter and ask why he let me go knowing what I was. I wanted to talk to the other two to try to see if I could make them see the real me. Probably a stupid, naïve idea, but I just didn’t feel any animosity toward them.

Soon, I heard from the crew that the other ship had turned and was headed our way. The crew was concerned since, according the Seyari, this trip was actually semi-legal. We were transporting a bunch of grey market goods on the way to pick up some definitely illegal goods. We weren’t sailing as pirates at the moment, but the Lady of Liseu was well equipped and supposed to be a known threat. Hence, someone had made it worth the crew’s while to start taking on the occasional merchant voyage.

I’d barely finished the potatoes when the alarm bells went off. Most people had already started preparing for an engagement, but that was my excuse to drop the shitty peeler, secure the peeled potatoes as best I could in a barrel of brine, and sprint up to the top deck.

Seyari had sold me on being a competent fire mage, and I fully intended to help out where I could. Sure, these folks were pirates and not many of them were kind, but according to Nelys they didn’t go out of their way to kill people.

So, of course, I’d defend them by going out of my way to kill people. Maybe I should aim for their sails or something?

I joined Seyari by the prow behind a section of railing meant for spellcasters and archers. To my surprise, Elnie was also here along with another Kazzel crewmember I didn’t recognize. Bearing down on us was a ship that looked roughly the same size as ours, though I was admittedly not a good judge of that.

The shape was sleek, with heavily angled beams along the upper decks of the stern. I couldn’t make out the flag it was flying other than its black color. The prow was armored and lacked the admittedly embarrassing carving of a human woman the Lady of Liseu had. Behind the cover of the armored prow, I could make out figures crouched like our own mages and archers. Rather than turn to broadside us, the enemy ship accelerated straight toward us.

“FIRE!” Captain Torrez’s voice cut clear through the scene.

Earsplitting booms rang out from below and behind my position. The Lady of Liseu rocked back from the force of its own cannons firing. The incoming ship was hit several times. Their prow took the brunt of it, but through splintered beams and twisted metal, the reinforced hull held.

The sides of the other ship suffered glancing blows, but the shape of the prow deflected most of the barrage. To my side, Seyari fired an arrow of wind. One of the heads just barely sticking above the other ship’s prow exploded in a shower of gore.

That image more than anything else stirred the fighting instincts I’d learned from my time on the island. I conjured a dense ball of crimson flame and flung it at the front mast. With a boom, flames exploded across the deck and ignited the front sails. The mast itself, heavily charred and splintered, began to list and fall to the side. Arrows volleyed the enemy ship, tearing holes in the sails and hitting a scant few of their well-protected crew. Elnie flung bolts of force that cut several important-looking ropes.

Rather than slow down, the ship sped up. Magically enhanced wind drove them forward rapidly. They were going to ram us!

“HARD TO PORT!” that familiar booming voice shouted.

The Lady was already turning toward the opposing ship, as if to pass. Somewhere up in the rigging, Nelys and Aarsh were hard at work. And in grave danger. We weren’t the only ones with range.

From further back on the deck, a return volley of arrows peppered our ship. One struck the barrier right in front of me. The fourth mage with us cried out, having stood up to fire too late. Blades of wind tore into our sails. Seyari turned to look and I could feel currents pushing against each other as she managed to stop our mainsail from shredding entirely.

We were turning, but not fast enough. Our own crew’s magic sped up our turning rate as best they could but the Lady’s forward momentum slowed.

“BRACE FOR IMPACT!” Torrez shouted. “KILL THE BASTARDS!”

The ship drew closer and I could see their top deck was higher than ours. Good cover for ranged attacks, but it’d be similarly tough to board. And that was even if we’d survive ramming. To my side and back Seyari and Elnie grabbed me and moved across the prow to brace away from the incoming ship. Crew dropped from the rigging to brace as well.

We gave them another volley, and another fireball shattered some of their prow’s cover. More bodies. Our fourth mage was still hanging on. The Kazzel was pierced through the shoulder and gritting their teeth.

Time seemed to hang for a moment, and then a massive impact rocked the Lady of Liseu. We’d managed to turn such that we were almost facing them. Where I was just crouched a moment before, a wicked looking spiked prow had embedded itself in our ship. I thought we’d splinter or break apart, but the Lady of Liseu was, for now, still in one piece.

“Good job Elnie!” The Kazzel with the wounded shoulder looked to the elven woman.

She looked exhausted. My eyes went wide. Elnie must have softened the impact with her force magic! She gave an angry smile back at the Kazzel then looked to all of us.

“Fuck you. Give ‘em hell,” Elnie said, then collapsed.

No sooner had the Kazzel snapped the shaft of the arrow sticking out of them than the grappling hooks landed into our deck with a staccato of crunching thuds.

With some enemy crew behind cover, others leapt or swung onto our deck, armed to the teeth. We met them with our own. Dragging Elnie to relative safety, the three of us moved to fire on those still up on deck. I felt fatigued. I hadn’t properly rested and recovered my mana since I left my island.

Below me, the melee was tilting out of our favor. On top of that, our own archers could barely hold against the other ship’s fire support.

I saw Aarsh duck a slash, only to get stabbed in the shoulder. Nelys moved to defend him, but the two of them had been isolated, having come down from the rigging just before impact.

Fuck this. I wasn’t going to fire off my exhausted magic or try to help with a dagger. I felt anger flaring up, and I wasn’t the only one. This time I’d let my wrath through, at least a little bit.

I looked at Seyari. She looked back at me with a conflicted expression and said nothing.

I dispelled my glamour and leapt into the melee. My second pair of arms tore through my blouse and my tail uncoiled behind me.

I slapped someone to the ground with my tail when I landed. Slashing and shoving, I forced my way through to Nelys and Aarsh. My small roommate had a nasty gash on their arm and Aarsh was bleeding and pale.

“Demon!” several someones shouted.

“Renna!” Nelys shouted at me.

Aarsh looked and his eyes widened. The group around us charged me. Blades and claws flashed. I blocked with my arms and tail, but several thrusts landed. None managed more than superficial cuts. To my immense satisfaction, I heard a blade snap against my skin.

My claws pierced through the armor an unfortunate enemy and I rent them apart. The human man ripped open with a startling lack of resistance, showering me with blood and viscera. I gagged.

I paused. These were people.

Aarsh screamed behind me. I turned and saw a blade sticking out of his chest. My heart sank. Another flashed toward Nelys who had just stuck the person who’d impaled the Kazzel. I caught it with a hand an snapped it in my grip. People I cared about could die—were dying. This was no time to hesitate.

I grabbed the wide-eyed woman who had nearly stabbed Nelys by the arm and threw her away as hard as I could. Something in her arm snapped, and with a scream she flew across the deck and clipped the railing before plunging overboard.

Back in front of me, Aarsh coughed blood and fell limply forward, blade still sticking out of him. He probably wasn’t going to make it, but I couldn’t face that fact right now.

A voice from the other ship shouted loud over the din of battle. Suddenly, the enemy fire support focused on me and the battle I was stuck in. Arrows rained down. One arrow, magically enhanced, caught me in the shoulder and pain bloomed from the spot.

I danced around the edges of the fight on our deck, slashing, gouging and using my tail like a bludgeon. Our own mages and archers had fired back after the melee was barraged and kept the ranged attackers at bay. The melee turned in our favor, but the deck ran red with the blood of both sides. Somewhere in all of this, Nelys had darted back into the crew safely. I caught a flash of curls and steel as they stuck someone in the gut.

The voice from the other deck rang out again and I chanced a look. The source of the voice was a male human in sandy-colored robes standing on the prow. Standing next to this dark-haired figure were two others, a man and a woman, dressed nicer than the others. The woman was clearly not human. Red skinned with horns and sweeping bat-like wings behind her, she looked every bit the stereotypical demon.

A blade of wind and a bolt of lightning from our mages fired toward them but was dispersed by a shield of crimson-tainted force created by the demon woman.

The man in tan robes spoke to another in a hooded red robe who looked toward me. I saw the ball of fire forming in his hands. My eyes went wide: he was aiming for the melee, heedless of his own crew. Our own fire support turned toward him. Their attacks were narrowly repelled by a hastily-erected shield of force in front of the caster, tenuously holding for now. I sprinted forward toward the other ship, intent on breaking through.

I might have been much faster than a human, but I only made it to the railing before the massive ball of fire impacted and washed over me. The chaotic nature of a cast spell was too much for me to control. My clothes ignited, burning quickly in the heat. To me, however, the fire was barely warm.

Blinded, I used my aura sight and saw the three auras: the two robed figures, and the demonic woman’s which had a slight tint similar to my own. I stepped on the railing and kicked off in a jump up toward the enemy deck.

I impacted the wall of force claws first. The shield shuddered. Without purchase, I slid off back toward the churning water below. The flames cleared just in time for me to see the shimmer of blades of wind strike the shield.

The force holding me back shattered, but I’d lost all momentum. I tumbled down the prow and managed to grab on with three hands to stop myself. Shouts from above reached me. More wind, allied and enemy, swirled where I hung.

I scampered up the ruined prow. Blades of wind sliced into me before a stronger gust dispersed them. With a final heave I launched myself up to the enemy deck. Immediately, the other demon was on me, slashing forward with a wicked looking sword of blackish-red metal. She was much smaller, but I’d no experience fighting a demon like her.

The fire mage was as good as useless and had taken cover while the leader who was controlling the wind seemed hellbent on cutting me to ribbons. He was visibly straining as his own efforts were constantly disrupted. I gave a quick thanks to Seyari while I squared off with my demonic opponent.

What I lacked in experience, I made up for in strength and number of limbs with sharp bits on them. Unfortunately, my opponent was fast. She danced around my slashes and used her magic to block the hits she couldn’t avoid. For now, I had her on the defensive.

However, I was bleeding and hurt. A good hit from her sword cut the last of my blouse apart and scored down to my ribs. My shoulder with the arrow in it burned still and the wounds caused by magical wind were healing too slowly. On top of all that, I was still partially exhausted from mana depletion. I wracked my brain trying to figure a way to end this. She wouldn’t let me get close to the wind mage without leaving myself open to her counterattack.

My opponent’s face was contorted in fury. I could feel her anger pulsing. Unable to focus and do more, I pulled bits and pieces of the emotion off her and the fire mage. Their leader, to my immense surprise, held no anger. My mana began to replenish, and with it some of the magically-inflicted wounds stopped bleeding.

Still, I doubted I could take more than a single glancing hit from my opponent’s black blade.

“DUCK!” A booming voice spoke across both ships in Ordian.

I did as I was told and dropped nearly prone. A sharp bang echoed. Time seemed to slow for a moment. Then, the enemy leader’s shoulder and upper torso exploded.

Immediately, the demon woman in front of me stopped fighting and stared at the corpse. A metal collar around her neck, etched with runes, flared and cracked. A tattoo on her cheek dissolved in a burst of magical fire. She then turned toward the fire mage who stared back at her wide-eyed.

I stood up to attack her, but before I could, she dashed at the fire mage who tried in vain to summon a counterattack before his head was separated from his shoulders.

“GRAB THE STRAGGLERS!” Torrez ordered the others back on the Lady of Liseu. “WE’LL BE TAKIN’ PRISONERS. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT—”

The rest of the sentence was a series of creative swears in Turquoiser that I had no hope of making out. Captain Torrez clearly wanted some answers and I didn’t doubt he’d get them. A look back at the man revealed that he was holding a literal small cannon affixed with handles. Smoke streamed from the barrel.

In front of me, the demon woman turned to me and did something wholly unexpected. She bowed and briefly lowered her solid black eyes, glancing at the now-exposed symbol and gem on my chest.

“Sovereign of Wrath, it is an honor,” The woman spoke in flawless Ordian.

“Wha?” My response was less elegant.

“Hm?” She quirked a brow, then tilted her head back and laughed. “Oh, how very interesting! My Mistress is going to love this.”

“Love what? Who is your Mistress?” I replied, still confused.

The red-skinned woman wiped an eye before bursting out in another fit of laughter. She then did something wholly unexpected; she blew me a kiss and winked. “You’ll find out!”

Before I could reply, she jumped into the air with surprising alacrity, beating her wings. Wind blades from the Lady of Liseu sliced toward her, but only one managed a shallow cut across her torso before she turned and flew toward the south at high speed.

I turned back to the ship again. Everyone was staring at me, including an exhausted looking Seyari and a conflicted looking Torrez. I didn't see Aarsh.

“Hey Renna! Why are you a demon?” Nelys was there too.