The Belladonna

Chapter 26

"Go down and help the others." His voice was commanding like it was aboard The Belladonna and Sky responded the way she had on his ship.

"Aye Sir. What about you?" She asked.

Dustin spun his blade in a skilfully beautiful flourish. "I'll take care of things up here. Meet you down there."

Sky looked at all the men on the rooves. There were at least twenty of them and she wondered how they had gotten up there. The cries of the others below her reached her ears and propelled her towards the door.

"And Sky," Her eyes snapped to face Dustin as he pushed himself up onto the next roof, "Don't die."

"You too." She saw his cat smile appear before he pulled down his hat and ran to the next roof. Sky's chest clench, but she turned from him and pushed open the door.

The king's men had made it inside the building and Sky could hear the sound of steel against steel forcing her to take the steps down faster. She burst into the main area and saw the table was flipped over and men were struggling against each other. The whole place was dimly lit with only old lamps to see by and it took Sky's eyes a minute to adjust to the light as she had been sitting out in darkness for a long time.

Throwing herself into the fight Sky hacked at the officers using brute force in place of skill. She wished then that Thomas had given her a few more lessons and she didn't have to rely on swing her sword like a maniac. Her method, though tiering, was quite useful, as the room soon became quiet. On the ground around her was the blood and bodies of the dead officers. The Cormorants looked at her briefly in shock, then they all charged at the door leading to the outside.

It was chaos. The night air smelt of blood and metal that only enhanced the putrid stench of the water beneath her feet. The paths were packed to the limit and there was little space to fight. The kings officers had spread out now and all of them were engaged in battle with one of the rebels. Sky pushed her way to the main path choosing to simply shove some officers off the boardwalk.

When she was only feet from the main path one of the men stopped her. He went for her hand and sliced it with his cutlass. Sky screamed dropping her sword. Raw pain lashed all the way up her arm and she felt the warm blood drip down to her fingertips. The officer's blade came at her again and this time Sky ducked out of its reach. Her left had now out of use, she thought back to what Thomas had taught her.

Sky spun out of his way until she was behind him with her back to the main path. She walked backwards hoping she didn't bump into anyone. The officer yelled and ran at her. Sky jumped lighting from foot to foot and readied herself. When he was upon her she twisted down in spinning around in a circle until she was crouching and stuck out her leg straight.

The man tripped over it and was sent flying forward across the main path and into the water on the other side. Rising to her feet, Sky picked up a fallen sword and ran onto the main path. There was a cry from behind her and she saw the officer pull himself up onto the walk again. Sky thrust her swords forward and impaled him in the chest. He fell back into the bloodied water.

Sky turned back to face the rest of the battle. She was frozen by what she saw. The Kings men had stopped coming from the alley but seemed to rain down on the Cormorants from the roof tops above.

How are we so outnumbered? Sky thought her hope slipping. Something had gone very wrong and Sky couldn't shake the feeling that it was because of her breaking into the palace that had cause the King to send in all these men. Guilt gripped at her gut.

A shadow like figure spun on the roof. Sky could only see his silhouette and two blades that came from his hands. He lifted them and cut cleanly through two descending officers. Never before had Sky seen a man duel wield with such grace. They twirled on nimble feet, their blade spinning around them like a deadly spinning top and sliced three more men down with little effort. Had the figure not had possessed a hat with a feather Sky would have thought they were some beautiful fallen angel coming to their aid. Dustin disappeared over the top of the rooves but still Sky watched.

The feel of heavy footsteps drew her out of her trance. Running at her was a man in uniform with his weapon, a lethal looking axe, swinging around him. Sky panicked; her cutlass would be no use against that. The man was metres from her when the blade appeared through his chest. He looked at Sky and opened his mouth letting blood drip from it. His attacker pushed him to the side and Sky was face to face with Edward.

"Now we're even." He grinned at her. From behind him Sky saw another officer. She lifted her sword and brought it down right next to Edward cutting deep into the shoulder of the officer.

"Not quite." She smiled back and kicked the man off her blade. Edward looked at her with huge impressed eyes. "How are they still coming?"

"I don't know. I thought you said there were only forty." There was annoyance in his tone that pissed Sky off.

"So I may have been a little off." She snapped. First Dustin and now him too? "At least I gave you a warning." Edward shrugged at her and ducked as another blade came his way. He shoved the officer who fell into the water.

"Together?" He asked and Sky nodded.

They stood back to back. Sky could feel the heat coming off his skin and feel his breath. She bent her knees knowing that her back was covered and a little worried that Edward had the same faith in her. She would protect his back and make sure they both made it through this blood bath. It was the least she could do after she failed to save Mathew.

They cut down any officer who came to close, their bodies working in sync. Sky wasn't as efficient as Edward because she was using her right hand and cradled her other against her chest. The pain had been long drowned out and her mind was clear with battle fever.

"In case we don't get out of this alive," Edward yelled over his shoulder to Sky, "I'm sorry."

Sky frowned, plunging her cutlass into another officer. "Me too, about your brother." She heard him let out a small deep laugh.

"Mat would have been pretty pissed to miss a fight like this. I guess I'll just have to fight for both of us." Sky heard the sadness in his voice, but could also tell he was almost gleeful.

I lived such a different life to these people. It occurred to her that death was simply a part of what they had grown up with and that they had learnt to just move on.

Edward and Sky continued to fight together making a good team. They spun around each other as if they had rehearsed it like a dance and Sky felt like they were in perfect balance. When she faltered Edward stepped in and helped her. They continued to fight until the flow of officers grew less and less.

"I think that's the last of the bastards." Edward spoke with heavy breaths.

Sky nodded and flexed her left hand and winced in pain. Her body was still humming. She wondered how she would be able to back to normal life after all of this.

Down one of the paths Sky saw Dustin and Thomas taking down the kings like there were nothing. Dustin held two swords and Sky realised what had seemed off about his fighting on Harpers Isle; he was a duel weirder and the two blades balanced him. Not only did they make him look deadly but also powerful and graceful. Sky watched him fight with awe. Suddenly Dustin stopped and looked up at the alley, his body growing taught. A dark shadow passed over his face.

Sky turned to see what he was looking at and her sword dropped out of her hand clanging to the ground. Sky felt like she had been living in a bubble and it had suddenly popped. Standing in the mouth of the alley was a new wave of around twenty officers and at their head ready to lead them into battle was a man. Sky's blood ran cold.

"James."