Inheritance: Scales of Change

Chapter Twenty Four - Battle of the Lone Islands

    "TAKE COVER!" You heard one of your men shout from above you as you glanced to the skies to see a rainfall of fire heading right towards you. You covered your head instinctively with your arms, realizing soon after that this would offer absolutely zero protection from the hell that was pelting towards you. The sound of arrowheads penetrating the ship, screams of those men who were struck, and the smell of small fires that began to break out surrounded you. You uncovered your head to see an arrow sticking out of the doorframe right next to your head, still smoking.
    You glanced around you in horror, your deck looked like a pincushion, a charred pincushion... Caspian... where is he? You panicked as you scanned the deck, weaving through your crew who was frantically dousing flames and helping the injured. You finally saw him near the stern, helping another man up when again you heard the crows nest call out, "INCOMING" as another volley of flaming arrows touched down. Your heart dropped as you watched Caspian throw his body over the injured man.
"WATCH OUT!" You heard someone call as they pulled you aside. You looked up to see Raxe's panicked face looking down at you.
"What are you doing out here?! You're supposed to be in the cabin with Roisin."
"What the hell is going on? I thought we chased the Calormen off?"
    "We chased them off the ship but, as soon as they got back to their fleet the started bombarding us with those...." He motioned to where you stood a moment before, an arrow jutting from the deck.
    "Fuck..." You looked up to where Caspian was, not seeing him. Against Raxe's protests you ran towards the back of the ship, screaming his name, then you saw his body, slumped over the man he pushed aside... and the world froze. His back suddenly moved up in a deep breath and you found you were holding your own.
"Caspian..." You sighed as you helped him stand. "What were you thinking? You're a high value target for them... you can't stand out in the open like that..."
His soot covered face looked down at you, "What... what are you doing out here?!"
"You can't expect me to hide in my cabin, not while all this is going on."
Raxe caught up to you, "You're both going to give me a heart attack..."
"Get back inside!" Caspian rounded on you, grabbing you by both arms.
    "No." You began to argue when from above you heard a scream, followed by the crashing of wood, and a body fell hard onto the deck. You glanced over to see the man who was in the crows nest's contorted body sprawled out, an arrow in his eye.
"They took out our eyes in the sky." Caspian called out. "Someone, get up there!"
    A small handful of brave men scrambled to their feet before one made his way up to the nest to replace the poor man that was just murdered.
    "Archers! At the ready!" You called out, and another group of men clambered over the bodies and debris to get to their feet. You focused in on the ship that was firing at you and had them fire at will. Luckily your men were more accurate shots, and where the Calormen were destructive with their fire, your men were deadly with their aim. You watched as the Calormen soldiers began dropping over the edge of their ship, before they too prepared for another attack.
"Here comes another one!" You called out. "Find cover!"
    Caspian all but tackled you, shielding your body with his as a barrage of arrows pierced the deck around you. You swear you heard one deflect off his back plate.
He took your face in his hands, "Are you alright?" He searched your eyes.
"I'm fine."
"Raxe?" He looked up and called out as Raxe popped his head up from behind a stack of crates.
"All good."
    You watched as the ships in both fleets fired back and forth. The Lust pulled themselves ahead of your fleet and lined their archers along the side. But even with Lailin's horde of highly skilled men, the Calormen had more. More people, more arrows, more fire...
    "This is getting nowhere. We're sorely outnumbered..." You sighed, crouching behind the makeshift barricade of crates that was made for you. "For every ship we take out, another two take its place."
"Not to mention we have not been able to locate the General." Caspian grunted as you wrapped a gash he had received in the last onslaught. "The coward is hiding in one of his ships."
"Not that he could do much after you practically cut off his foot." Raxe smiled at you.
"A lot of good that's doing for us now..." You finished tying the knot on Caspian's bandage. "We need to find a way to thin their numbers, and fast."
"Commodore, Sire, you must take a look at this." A crewman gasped over the top of the wall of crates.
You all stood, and watched in the direction the man was pointing.
"Something is happening to their ships." He gasped.
    He was right, from this distance, you couldn't make out much more than the sea swelling around two random ships, then the faint sound of screaming permeated the air as suddenly, without warning, the ships disappeared in a large splash beneath the waves.
    "What in Aslan's name?" Caspian found a discarded spyglass rolling across the deck and looked through it. He watched as another ship went down in the same manner. "It's as if the sea itself is claiming them..."
    There was a sudden rumbling around you as the waves swole, and you panicked, expecting the same to happen to the Shade. You rushed to the railing and looked over to see what looked like a school of very large fish swimming quickly in the direction of the blockade. It took a long while for you to make out details under the crashing waves, but when you did, you noticed. These weren't fish. They had HUMAN HEADS.
"Caspian! Raxe!" You called to them, and they ran over. "Look!"
    As they both approached the railing a massive column of water shot straight into the sky in front of you, causing you three to jump back. Then from the top of the column, the torso of a beautiful woman with light pink hair rose out. She had silvery scales covering her breasts and running down her abdomen to what you assumed was a tail.
    "King Caspian, I bring tidings from Queen Eneln and King Odel. My name is Ephyra, Commander of the Army of the MerNation." She gave a small bow. "We are here as allies to help you defeat the Calormen Navy."
    The three of you were in utter shock. You had never seen a merperson before, and what Princess Irilin had told you was correct. Even her beauty was incomparable to the woman floating before you. You had no romantic interest in the same sex but if Ephyra asked it, you felt like that would change in an instant.
"Commander... this is... unexpected." Caspian finally stammered out. "How did you...?"
    "The Princess requested an envoy to follow you back to your island, to protect you. When they saw the danger you faced they alerted our royal family right away. We came as fast as we could." Ephyra responded calmly.
"Irilin requested..." You repeated out loud. She wanted to make sure you all got home safely, that wonderful, sweet woman.
"But you owe us no loyalty." Caspian gaped at her.
"You are allies with our kin, and your Commander is a Lord of Scales. You have our friendship." She smiled at you.
"Thank you, so very much." You smiled back.
"Now, we can handle the ships." She explained. "We have the ability to take them down to the depths. We cannot however harm a human directly. It goes against the treaty we once struck with your predecessor." She nodded to you.
"Isn't taking down their ships going to harm the men?" Raxe finally spoke.
"Maybe... but it's not harming them directly." She winked, and Raxe blushed. "It will be up to you to claim their Commander." She returned her conversation to Caspian.
"We don't know which ship he is on." You admitted. "The flagship is the one with the raptor on the sail, but I doubt he's still on it."
"Process of elimination then." She nodded. "With each vessel we take we will allow the men an opportunity to reveal his location in exchange for their lives."

    The Calormen were forced to direct all their attention to the Merpeople, who were ruthlessly downing ship after ship. Their redirected focus allowed you to move your fleet in, your archers taking out theirs enough to begin boarding their ships one by one. You were taking one such ship when Ephyra appeared over the water once more.
"We got him." She motioned to a small ship attempting to escape. "We are pulling the tides backward against them to slow him down."
"He can't get away... BACK TO THE SHADE!" You called out to your men, and hurriedly looked to see who's ship was within earshot.
"Rictor!" You spotted the Phantom off the starboard side. "Stop him!" You pointed to Vorsud's ship in the distance, and Rictor nodded to you.
Within minutes the speedy Phantom intercepted the General's pathetic escape attempts, and held him until you arrived. Your's and Rictor's crew boarded together and quickly subdued his men.
"Where is Vorsud?" Caspian threatened one of the sailors and the point of his sword.
He motioned to a small opening in the floor, and you signaled to your men to go down. They pulled him out a few moments later.
"Let me go, slimy Narnian pigs..." Vorsud fought hopelessly.
"General Vorsud!" Caspian called out. "My Commodore showed you mercy and you repay her with outright betrayal."
Vorsud spat. "She should have killed me when she had the chance."
"I won't make the same mistake..." Caspian stepped threateningly towards the General, his eyes black with rage.
"Caspian, no..." You grabbed his sword arm. "This isn't you."
He turned to look at you. "I am doing what I must to protect you, and our people."
"He's defeated. Look at him." You motioned to Vorsud's pathetic form being held up by your men. "We'll take him prisoner, try him for crimes against the crown, show him what real justice looks like."
Caspian followed your gaze to Vorsud's, then back to you. His free hand came up around yours, and his expression softened. "You are going to be the best thing to ever happen to this country." He sighed. "Chain him." He commanded his men.
"Rictor, can you hold him?" You looked up to the monstrous man.
"Be my pleasure Commodore." He responded with an all too eager smile.
"And no torture..." You felt the need to emphasize.
"I was hoping you would forget to ask that." Rictor chuckled, but shrugged in agreement as his crew led Vorsud off the ship and onto the Silver Phantom.

    After Vorsud's capture, your fleet and the Mernation made quick work of the rest of the Calormen ships and men, most of them were taken prisoner, a few threw themselves into the sea or fell on their own blades, preferring to take their own lives. Back aboard the Shade, all the Lords gathered with Ephyra floating alongside the railing.
"It is finished." She nodded.
"We couldn't have done it without you." You looked up at her. "Thank you. We are forever in your debt."
"As long as you continue to honor the responsibility of the Scales, you have our loyalty, Commodore." She smiled. "Your Majesty." She nodded towards Caspian and sunk back into the sea.
"Thank you all." You spoke to the rest of the Lords. "You fought bravely and have more than brought honor to your names."
"It was good to see some action again." Lalin chuckled.
"Aye, an' teh come ou' on the winnin' side!" Cale slapped Lailin on the back.
Caspian stood above everyone on the helm deck, "let's go home." He smiled.