Sea Of Seagulls: A Pirate and Fae Tale

Chapter 12

 Theodosia twirled a strand of her hair lazily as they sailed through the late afternoon. It had already been twelve days since the left port, and not much has happened since. All she could see was miles and miles of emerald green water ahead.

Shaye wasn't kidding when she told her it would be a long journey. And as much as she adored sailing, she half wished for something interesting to happen after their long days at sea. Though she wasn't exactly looking forward to seeing her father again after he sent her away so willingly. Hopefully, she didn't have to see anyone at all. And they would quickly get the wyrdkey and get out of there as soon as possible. It was only a matter of time that the people of Skull's Bay found out about the reward involved if Shaye was returned to Terrasen. And a pirate would never pass up a chance for enormous amounts of money for such a simple task. Well, simple in their eyes.

Her eyes searched the gleaming horizon as the sun drifted closer to the water. Warm-toned colors painted across the sky. Theodosia loved watching the sunset. She noticed a small black dot right above the horizon. It must be a bird Theodosia thought as she examined it, it seemed to be getting... closer. No, that was no bird, that was another ship. Sailing towards them with unthinkable speed. The ship was slightly bigger than their own. Well built too. Great massive cannons ran along the sides of the ship. She took towards the bell and rang it as hard as she could. The sound was so loud, Theodosia's ears rang. Their crew jumped, startled and Shaye came running up from below deck.

"What happened?" she asked, worry laced within her words.

"There might be a slight problem," Theodosia informed, trying to conceal her concern.

But she knew what was happening, she saw the ship. She saw the colors. And immediately knew they were in trouble, big trouble.

+++++++++

The other ship came dangerously close to The New Tide. Shaye was trying to help set up the cannons before the impact hit the other ship. How were these people sailors if they can't even set up cannons quickly? Shaye stopped thinking about how useless the sailors were and prayed they had enough ammunition to fire at the other ship. Hopefully, they could make the ship have to cede and turn away.

Shaye was about to set up the last cannon when she realized a surprising detail. The crew on the other ship wore emblems on their shirt with the colors of navy blue and gold. Shaye knew those colors. She knew Dorian always wore the colors of his country. That could only mean that the ship was from Ardarlan. Dorian was still in Terrasen so he could not have been responsible for this ship. But there it was anyway, coming straight for them.

The ships were going to collide at any moment. Shaye was finished setting up the cannons with the crew. They were ready to fight. It would not matter who's ship it was, they were the ones who picked the fight in the first place. Now they would have to finish what they started, Shaye thought readying her twin swords.

The ship was coming closer so Shaye could see the passengers on board. The collision was harder than Shaye had anticipated. The ship rocked so hard that almost all the crew came crashing down from the impact. Shaye had already found some swords below deck so she gave each guy one. They were slightly rusted but it would have to do for now.

"Fire!" Shaye thundered at the men hidden in the gunport.

The cannons went off with a thundering boom.

The cannonballs created gaping holes in the side of the ship. This could work Shaye told herself. It has to.

Shaye commanded the sailors to fire as often as she could. Around ten seconds after the next, another set of cannons went off. If they could damage the other ship enough, it could sink.

Shaye used a hanging rope to swing onto the edge of the other ship. She jumped down onto the ship's deck. Shaye smiled at the fact that the deck looked like crap compared to hers. The ship had Blue and gold details everywhere.

Shaye counted around 12 men aboard.

Let's go rattle the stars Shaye told herself. She loved the line her mother said before entering into the final battle of the war.

Shaye took on two men at once. She successfully disarmed one guy easily and kicked him to the side. He groaned as he fell back. The second man was younger and had a horrible technique. Does anyone train these people or do they just throw them on ships and hope they get lucky? The man tried striking Shaye's leg but missed allowing Shaye to run her blades down the man's back forming an X. He screamed in agony and fell to the floor.

She felt the deck shake as her crew struck it with cannons. She knew the ship would eventually fall.

Shaye twisted her head to look for Theodosia. She was battling everyone who even dared to set foot on her ship. 2 sailors were dead. Shaye knew that she could see two limb bodies on their shiny deck. Now they would have to reclean the whole ship. Shaye hoped they could fight long enough.

Theodosia's skills were better than Shaye thought. Theodosia was weightless as she fought. Her blades drove through the air with rapid speed. Shaye would have liked to watch Theodosia fight but she had problems of her own to deal with.

Three sailors raced at Shaye their swords in hand. Maybe this might be more of a challenge Shaye thought as she gave the men a quick grin before proceeding to fight.

Shaye fought hard making sure to always guard herself. She stabbed one of the men through the heart when they looked away for a split second.

One of the men grabbed for Shaye's blade. They grasped the handle and threw it overboard.

Oh, now they were asking for it. Shaye reached in her core for her powers to emerge. Ice sprung from her hand creating a sharp dagger. The two men didn't stand a chance now.

Shaye's blade met one of the men's swords. The second guy was about to strike but Shaye used her ice sword first. She swung the ice blade over her shoulder to counteract the metal blade. She drove her normal sword to slice one of the guy's throats. Shaye was about to end the second guy with the ice sword when a blade poked through his chest.

The man fell to reveal Theodosia as she unhinged her sword from the man's limp body.

Shaye spun to look at their ship. 4 of Ardarlan's sailors were down. But how... Shaye wanted to ask but instead, she said.

"Why did you steal my guy? I just fought him for quite some time and you couldn't let me end him."

"I felt like it, so I did," Theodosia gloated, with that oh so familiar grin.

"Watch out!" Theodosia warned.

Shaye gripped her ice blade to wave it around her through the man's abdomen. She knew the guy was coming because he hadn't even tried sneaking up quietly.

"Not bad," Theodosia complimented.

Shaye and Theodosia turned to face the last two men heading their way. Shaye and Theodosia simultaneously struck the men through their chest and out the other way.

They both smiled as they pulled their blades from the bodies. They thought they had won the battle. Both girls started making their way to their ship. Minimal damage had been made. The next job their crew would get is to clean all that drying blood off their ship. Neither girl knew what hit them as they were knocked out from behind and toppled down to the ground. Their plan was too perfect to have worked.