Hero's Journey

Chapter 67

Lose them?!

"This just proves to me how much that criminals are cowards." Kagon seethes. "Avoiding a battle is bad enough, but if the ship tailing us truly are smugglers than they are thugs that deserve to be dealt with accordingly."

That's when Delia chooses to arrive at the scene. Kagon can see her surveying the heated argument with concerned grey eyes.

Tavius' eyes flare with anger. "Do not defy my orders on my ship, hero. We have to think of ourselves right now."

Kagon opens his mouth to reply, but Delia beats him to it. "Think of it this way, Kagon, if you die now from an attempt at stopping a pathetic smuggling ship then you will not be able to save people from much bigger things. Heroes should know what risks to take and which battles to fight."

Kagon assesses Delia carefully, seeing the wiseness in the girl and the logic in her words.

"We have worse enemies to skewer, namely those in the Shadowlands." Delia presses.

After a moment Kagon sighs through his nose and hesitantly nods his head in agreement. "Fine."

Delia beams at him and it seems to take away the edge of aggravation he's feeling.

"Tavius! I just came back down from the nest, they're gaining on us!" Maude says as he stumbles up the stairs, face beat red with sweat pouring from every crevice.

"Ah, a chase then." Tavius smirks. "Well then, let us see if those ruffians can catch a magical ship."

〰〰〰

Delia walks down the aisle-way of The Sea Sorceress' lowermost level. On either side of her, oars move in a circular motion from the phantom hands that man them. On a regular ship there would be pirates vigorously rowing, but this is no regular ship.

Delia reaches behind her head, tightening her hair into a more secure braid. If there is going to be a fight she can't have any flyaway strands blocking her vision.

Delia's stomach stirs with nervousness at the thought of a possible battle. The last time she actually fought in a battle was when Iglesias, Maya, her, and their team stormed the Shadowlander encampment in order to save the villagers being held captive there. It was before she had her dagger.

Delia can still feel the heavy axe she had picked up from the ground in attempt to fight for her life against the three Shadowlanders coming at her. She had been able to kill the one. Iglesias and Kagon were luckily able to come in time to kill the other two.

However, the thought of her life being in possible danger is not what causes her heart to race and her palms to moisten, though that is part of it. The true reason is because of the possibility that she might have to kill someone else.

The face of the Shadowlander she killed still haunts her sometimes. She can't imagine ending another life like that, even in self defense.

Delia squeezes her eyes shut for a moment, listening to the sound of the oars dunking into the water and propelling The Sea Sorceress forward. She takes a breath, counts backwards from five, and opens her eyes. The feeling is still there, but she knows that she can push forward now.

I have to...

Checking up one last time that all the oars are rowing smoothly, Delia then heads back up to the main deck to check her friends' progress.

What she finds instead is complete and utter chaos.

Tavius and Kagon are trying desperately to set up the magic blasting canons, Kagon's head is currently inside said canon, and Maude is running about in making sure that each sail has the best amount of airflow.

Delia stands at the sidelines of the whirl of craziness. She's still for a moment, watching the situation with wide eyes and mouth agape. The suction sound of Kagon pulling his head out of the canon and then collapsing on to the deck shakes her out of her shock.

"Sticks and stones! What's going on with all of you?" Delia exclaims.

Maude, who's passing by her, is the one to answer. "The ship that's behind us is gaining quicker than we can get away. I don't know how they're doing it, but they are."

All the breath in Delia's lungs escapes her. She presses a hand to her temple, feeling lightheaded.

The battle is definitely going to happen now.

"This is why I don't trust magic." Maude grumbles, stomping away to do something else.

"How long until they catch us?" Delia asks Tavius.

"They won't catch us." He grinds out as he furiously tries to ready the other cannon.

"Our captain is in denial." Kagon chuckles. "Here, lass, see for yourself." He tosses her the telescope.

Leaning over the railing, she brings the telescope up to her eye and peers through it. She can see the ship behind The Sea Sorceress perfectly and is even able to make out the people on it. Delia pockets the telescope and looks out with her naked eye. She can still see the ship with ease, even without the aid of the telescope.

Delia bites her cheek nervously, brows furrowed in worry. In spite of what Tavius said, she knows that the boat tailing The Sea Sorceress will indeed catch up with them. A fight at this point is inevitable.

Gathering her courage, Delia unstraps her dagger from the sheath around her thigh, readying her blade for what is surely to come.