Red heard commotion and raised voices coming from above, shattering her thoughts about gods and purposes. Bigbad uttered a low growl and she gave him a comforting pat.
"Let me go check it out, Bigbad," she said as she rose and headed for the stairs. "Stay here for now."
The wolf groaned in displeasure but did as he was told, resting his head on the ground and sighing deeply.
Poor Bigbad, Red thought as she ascended to the main deck. He deserves so much better...
The main deck was a flurry of activity with men arming and readying the cargo ship's few cannons, sails unfurling to add speed, muskets being loaded in haste, swords unsheathing, and orders getting bellowed left and right. She spotted Lancelot and Robin standing at the bow, gazing ahead, weapons bared.
Hurrying to them, she asked, "What's going on?"
"A fleet is heading this way," Lancelot replied, his normally jovial voice now stiff and steady. "Most of the ships are swift xebecs and dhows, with a few galleys, brigs, sloops and schooners."
Standing nearby was the ship's captain, peering through a spyglass, his face pale and his breath quick. "What would a Sauradian fleet of warships want with us? The sultan has no quarrel with Avalon and yet I've been through enough ship duels in my younger life to know that these are battle formations. This is a loose fleet of unprotected cargo ships, men. If these are pirates, I fear they are in for some easy pickings."
"Why are they no warships protecting this fleet?" Red asked with a frown. She would have expected better from King Arthur.
"The king was initially going to spare us a few but the admiral had better ideas," the captain replied with a snarl of distaste. "He said all warships would be needed to break the blockades around Frenis and that none could be spared for, as he called it, petty babysitting."
"Most of this fleet is carrying passengers," Robin said, glancing at the captain. "There is little loot for these pirates."
"Slaves still exist in Sauradia," Lancelot noted pointedly.
Red's body went cold. These pirates weren't after money or loot. They were slavers. They were after the bounty of flesh and this fleet would supply them with plenty. "What can we do?"
"There's no outmaneuvering those vessels," said the captain. "They'll catch us no matter which way we go. We may have the tailwind but those lateen-sailed vessels can sail into the wind. If we try to sail past them they'll simply turn around and catch up effortlessly."
"Then we fight," said Lancelot before gazing firmly at the captain. "I suggest you raise the flag, captain. Let the other ships know that battle us upon them. There is no negotiating with these pirates save through blood and steel."
Red's thoughts went to Captain Hook and how she desperately wished he was here. He would know what to do and how best to engage these pirates. He had attacked Empress Rhiannon while in dragon form with Marjeneh's Grace, sailed through a raging ship battle mostly unscathed, and defeated more pirates than any other man in Faeryum. If there ever was a time for his purpose to be revealed it was now and yet he was not here. The captain standing beside her had experience in naval combat but he was not sailing a powerful ship of the line or an agile brig. His ship was built around carrying as much cargo as possible, not surviving a battle or destroying enemies. What cannons he had were there to support the actual fighting ships of the fleet, of which there were none.
The captain turned around and faced his crew, hollering loudly. "Stand fast, men! Ready your muskets and cannons and grip your swords tight as battle will be on us soon! Defend this ship with your lives! It is better to die fighting for freedom than to die a slave!"
The crew shouted back in reply, hoisting weapons high, but Red could see the fear in their faces. These men weren't fighters. They were able sailors, toughened with life at sea, but in battle she feared they would perform poorly. This ship was doomed before the enemy ever set foot on it. Unless...
She jumped in front of the captain, blocking his view as he looked through his spyglass. He frowned and was about to shove her aside when she blurted, "Let Bigbad on the deck!"
"What?" he asked, bewildered.
"Let my wolf on the deck," she repeated. "He will defend your ship and your men, captain. You will need him if you wish to get out of this battle alive."
Robin stood at Red's side and nodded. "She is right, captain. Bigbad will spread fear among those pirates and may just make them think twice about assaulting this fleet."
The captain was visibly concerned about letting a horse-sized wolf on his main deck but if it could help save all of their lives, who was he to say no? He struggled with the predicament and looked ready to shake his head.
Lancelot joined the Hoods and said, "Imagine yourself fighting that beast, captain, and know that those emotions will be the same ones felt by those pirates."
That seemed to have cleared his mind and, after another moment of thought, nodded. "Very well, let him out. We'll need every weapon we have in store if we're to survive this."
Red smiled and rushed back below decks. Moments later, she was leading Bigbad up to the open air, much to the displeasure of the ship's crew. They scattered away from him but the huge wolf ignored them, following Red to the bow and staring ahead at the approaching vessels. His ears bent back and his hackles raised.
"He knows they're enemies?" the captain asked, confused.
"He is far smarter than you may think," Red replied as she grabbed her crossbows. "He will not attack your men, I can assure you of that; he knows the enemy."
The next minutes were spent in suspenseful wait as the advancing ships raised black flags, making their intent clear. They sliced through the water like sharks seeking prey, their steel teeth glinting. The flagship, the one Red was on, would be attacked by two of the larger ships, a dark-hulled great galley and, lagging behind, a red-sailed brig. The enemy fleet began to break up as individual ships veered toward their chosen targets and, worriedly, Red glanced behind her, to Cindy's ship. It would be assaulted by two ships as well, a xebec and a schooner. She prayed Cindy and Ruslan could fend for themselves well enough.
Like a spider unfolding its legs or a bird of prey spreading its wings, the approaching galley's oars protruded out of its sides and dipped into the water. Glinting ahead of it was a heavy ram, bashing through the water in a straight line for the ship's hull. The oars were put to water and Red could hear the bang of the drum as they began to row, the small vessel cutting through the water in a swift charge.
"Starboard, men!" the captain shouted in panic. "Hard to starboard! Hard to starboard!!"
The large ship turned sluggishly and would fail miserably at avoiding getting hit. Red climbed atop of Bigbad, hugged him tightly with her legs, and held her crossbows to the side. She knew what she had to do.
Robin turned around, gazing up at her in shock, and screamed, "Red, no!"
She ignored him completely and gave Bigbad a light nudge with her ankles. The wolf, already knowing her plan, wasted no time in charging across the deck, claws digging into the planks, and then leaping with all his might. Like a black shadow streaked in red, the mount and rider soared over the water, wolf legs outstretched, human arms leveling, and landed with a crash onto the galley's single deck. The galley slaves, chained in spot, screamed in terror and thrashed at their shackles, desperately wanting to free themselves. With no one rowing, the ship slowed considerably and after Bigbad found the slavers and the ship's captain and bloodily disposed of them, the galley ceased moving ahead altogether. Red tossed the slaves the ring of keys she found on the captain and, once back on Bigbad, held on tightly as he leapt out to sea toward the approaching brig. The cargo ship sailed on, spared the fate of suffering a devastating ramming, the men aboard cheering.
Bigbad hit the water in a great splash that drenched Red completely. She didn't care. Her eyes were set on the brig and she was already planning her attack. The brig was low enough to the water that Bigbad could climb aboard but once he did he would set about attacking the crew while she sought out the captain. The wolf swam powerfully but the brig was far swifter, even against the wind. Fortunately, the cargo ship was directly behind Red and Bigbad, forcing the enemy vessel to turn toward her, closing the gap between it and her at an increased rate. The ship fired two cannon shots that went astray, blasting great geysers of water that soaked her even more, before turning sharply, aiming its bow directly toward the swimming wolf. The ship's keel would crush Bigbad beneath it but the wolf was unafraid, his rapid paddling not slowing in the least.
Finally, the ship was right before them, sailing swiftly with intent to kill. Red waited until the bowsprit was above her and then holstered her crossbows and leapt up, grabbing hold. Bigbad quickly turned to the side and swam a short distance away, letting the ship's keel narrowly pass him by, before turning around and heading for its broadside with renewed vigor.
Red, balancing herself upon the bowsprit, raced ahead toward the deck, leveling her crossbows and firing twice. Two bolts, dipped in sleeping venom, dropped two Sauradian pirates. She stopped at the bow, reloaded, and suddenly had to roll onto the deck as muskets and bows aimed her way. She fired two shots of paralyzing venom-dipped bolts, watched two more pirates drop to the deck, and holstered her crossbows as the nearest ones charged toward her. Red unsheathed her short swords and, heart pumping madly, mind racing, eyes searching, red hair flapping, and scarlet cloak billowing, threw herself into combat.
Moments later, Bigbad climbed aboard and the brig's deck was consumed by chaos and bloodshed.
****
Ruslan shoved a boarding pirate overboard and raised his round shield, blocking the axe of another. He sliced that one's leg off with Gift, and then spun around to engage a third, bashing his shield into his face before plunging his blade into his chest. The grizzled soldier was outnumbered and surrounded but he fought on, proving his worth and single-handedly slowing the arrival of more pirates.
Beside him, Sir Gawaine slipped into battle with his narrow blade. The man was agile for his age and shed blood with ease, slicing into arteries, cutting through organs, and severing appendages with practised efficiency. His knowledge of healing gave him a keen sense of the body's inner workings and he knew where to strike to cause the most damage with the least effort. Many of the pirates around him were bleeding profusely, drenching the deck and making many of the newer arrivals slip and fall.
Cindy, hiding behind some crates and barrels, watched both men fight and noticed just how different their styles were. Sir Gawaine fought with precision, patience, and strategy whereas her uncle fought with brute force, savagery, and pure aggression. She thanked the gods that her uncle was armoured otherwise he'd be as bruised and bloodied as the pirates were.
She took a chance and glanced around at the other ships in the distance. Some were little more than dots on the horizon and the pirates hunting them had yet to reach them. The nearer ones, however, were all under assault and some fought on but many had already surrendered. Unlike her and Red's ship, they didn't have powerful fighters like the Knights of the Round table, the Hoods, or the experienced Ruslan. Even on this ship most of the crew had fled below decks, including the cowardly captain. Some brave few had stood alongside Sir Gawaine and Ruslan and, though many had fallen, they continued to fight with what skill they had. In most cases, though, the pirates were victorious.
Then, in horror, Cindy noticed that some of the enemy ships that had boarded and claimed a nearby cargo ship were sailing toward hers, intent on aiding their struggling comrades. For the moment, Ruslan and Sir Gawaine were holding the pirates back but that would change with the addition of more of them. Cindy glanced briefly at a discarded cutlass but shook her head. No, she was a poor sword-fighter.
Suddenly, it seemed that Merlin was there, speaking to her, whispering into her mind, giving her advice. "Use your strengths," he was saying. "Fight with what you know."
Emboldened by the words, Cindy gathered up some courage and glanced to door to the captain's cabin, where a lantern hung on a hook beside it, burning dully.
"Fight with what you know," she repeated before getting up and racing to the lantern. An arrow zipped by her head and a musket ball pelted into the cabin's door, chipping a tiny hole into it. She heard pirates shouting and glanced to the side where she saw several of them breaking free from their fight with Ruslan and rushing toward her.
Cindy grabbed the lantern, released it from its hook, and turned around in time to see three pirates advance on her, grinning wickedly. Behind them, Ruslan was roaring like a bear and fighting with increased brutality, chopping and slicing away at the pirates holding him back. Sir Gawaine was struggling as well, a look of concern on his normally serene face. Neither of them would reach her in time.
"The captain would like this one," chuckled one of the pirates, venomous saliva dripping from his chapped lips. "She's a little old but I'm sure she'll do."
Cindy's body froze with fear and disgust. Too old? She promised herself then and there that she'd never meet this pirate's despicable captain. Merlin's words still ringing in her head, she inhaled deeply and straightened herself. The pirates laughed at her attempt to intimidate them and stepped forward.
Cindy opened the lantern and then dropped it, where it shattered to pieces. The pirates' expression changed drastically when they saw that the lantern's flame still floated in midair where the lantern had once been. Cindy, her hands circling the flame slowly, frowned in determination, recalling her training.
One of the pirates reached for his pistol but his fingers never touched it. The floating flame exploded in size and shot forward in a steady stream. It blasted into the pirate and completely engulfed him. The other two backed away in terror but the flame, like a living animal, leapt at them and burned them as well. The three pirates screamed in absolute agony and ran blindly around the deck before, soon enough, they collapsed in black heaps of burning flesh. The flame, still floating in midair, then focused on the remaining pirates, flying at them with all haste, making many drop their weapons and leap overboard. Not all were so lucky.
Cindy walked to the side of the ship, her focus unbroken, her concentration stable, and eyed the pirate vessels pinning the ship in place. Her flame dove and attacked their sails, burning them cinders, before attacking the ships themselves, along with anyone still on them. There was no escape for any of them. The flame made no distinction between pirate or slave. It burned them all, forever seeking more flesh to consume. Once the screams died down, the blackened husks that had once been pirate vessels crumbled apart.
Cindy then set her eyes on the approaching pirate ships, some of which had suddenly slowed and seemed to be turning away, the pirates wanting nothing to do with the living flame.
Smiling, she burned them all.
When there were no more pirates left to kill, the floating flame vanished and Cindy fell to her knees, exhausted. Ruslan and Sir Gawaine, both looking rather alarmed and uncertain, cautiously stepped toward her.
"Are you all right, my dear?" asked Sir Gawaine.
Cindy, breathing heavily, nodded. "Just a little tired. I need some sleep."
"Let me get you below decks," Ruslan said as he sheathed his blade and effortlessly lifted Cindy in his arms. She closed her eyes and fell asleep immediately, utterly spent.
"I'll get the captain and urge him to sail on with as much speed as he can muster," said the Avalonian knight.
Ruslan nodded, still looking disturbed. "I'll stay with her and make sure she gets some sleep..."
With a nod from the knight, the Kennish veteran turned and went his own way, the tiny force of devastation cradled neatly in arms, breathing easily.