Chapter Twenty-Three
Battle To Sea –
Anger of The Halberd
DREWTH WAS RUNNING hard, his black armor clinking in the movement, boots thudding down the dark earth toward the rocky shore docks that would be their escape. The Me’Aer brothers, Dante, and Rin followed behind and aside him.
In the distance he saw many masts jutted into the night sky, swaying slightly as the ships bobbed in the water washing underneath the docks at which they were bound.
Alarmed shouts of voices arose around the docks that were from enemy soldiers noticing the oncoming unrecognized group, lead by Drewth. And still, the party charged onward, gripping their weapons tighter in their fists, ready for combat. Rhoin and Rin flanked the sides of Paetoric and Seften protectively, as enemy soldiers in the distance began likewise charging in their direction, their own weapons brandished in hand.
Dante noticed, by silver reflective flickers that were flapping wings, a raven descending and landing amidst the grounds before the docks, which exploded in a dark reddish flash of smoky light, transforming into a cloaked figure. By now, they were close enough to hear what he next yelled. “Stop them!” this cloaked figure demanded, glaring from his left to his right, eyeing soldiers still among the docks that had not taken off after Drewth and party as of yet. “Kill them!” he demanded again. The soldiers brandished their weapons and charged off passed the enraged Summoner by his order, to head off their escaped prisoners.
More than a dozen black-armored soldiers were charging upon Drewth’s party, the closest of them was but 100 paces away from Drewth, who was at the lead, the remaining soldiers following not too far behind, their black armor glinting dully in the moonlight, their steel weapons glinting brightly.
Dante, who was running behind Drewth, with several sprinting strides, came to the side of Drewth, large daggers held by the blade at throwing hold in each hand. While continuing to run and looking upon the black armored enemies closing in ahead, he asked, “I must ask, what are your plans to overcome this? Outnumbered three to one by armored soldiers and,” indicating with a nod the cloaked Summoner, at a stance upon the wood docks far behind the battle scene, who was mid creating some unidentifiable magic in his closed hands which were generating a purplish glow, “a shape-changing Wizard?”
Drewth drew from scabbard at his side with a gauntleted hand a cruelly serrated black sword, and muttered in response to Dante, “Kill them.”
“Clever, aren’t you!” responded Dante. He slowed a few of his paces and fell back behind Drewth a short distance away, between Seften and Paetoric.
“Brothers,” Rhoin addressed Seften and Paetoric, “I cannot keep you safe, as I am depleted of any power that you had known me to have before, from wasting away in the prison cell. Run if it keeps you alive!” Seften and Paetoric did not respond. White faced, they yet were white-knuckle-fisted as well of determination with which they grasped their swords and shields in hand.
The closest enemy closed in on Drewth who was at the lead. He hacked at Drewth with a shining white steel blade, which saw no blood of Drewth’s as Drewth crouched and ducked to the right, bringing his wicked sword up, hacking the enemy soldier’s body through armor that his Black Dragon sword’s blade bit through. Drewth, his blade still up from the swing, took two steps further and brought his wicked sword down, hitting away the next enemy soldier’s swinging blade, and he then quickly brought his sword back and forced it’s tip through the enemy soldier’s chest. He brought his steel boot up and kicked the enemy’s impaled body off from his weapon.
Another soldier came closing in on Drewth’s right, but Dante missiled with skill a dagger at him, aiming for the unarmored face, and it scored fatally a hit just below the eye. The enemy staggered two failing steps and fell dead.
A soldier was unfortunate enough to encounter the powerful Driadonian Rin, and swung upon him with his weapon. Rin caught the soldier’s fist that held the sword, his own great Driadonian hand fully enclosing around the enemy’s smaller human hand, and pulling it to the side, he drew his other hand back in a heavy fist and pounded full force into the enemy’s horrified face, making a cracking sound, and the enemy’s body rolled backward from the blow and lay killed, his face a bloody wreck.
Rhoin came to face a rather large soldier knight, dwarfing him in size. With a grunt, the soldier brought a heavy axe down with such force that Rhoin could not parry it. But with keen Elvin-trained skill he leapt up in the air, and kicking off of the soldier’s massive arm he was able to leap over his head, then he turned in mid air and landed behind the soldier, as the axe cut into the earth where Rhoin had been standing. Rhoin drove his sword into the soldier’s back, who growled in defeat, thudded to his knees, and then fell over to the ground.
“No!” Rhoin gasped as he noticed an enemy soldier closing in on Seften and Paetoric, and he was too far to respond in action.
But with some skill in sword that had been handed down through training from Father to Paetoric, Paetoric parried the enemy’s sword that swung down at him. The enemy pulled back his sword and swung again, Paetoric again hacked it away from his direction, throwing the soldier off of balance, but himself loosing balance as well.
The soldier had staggered back and—regaining his balance before Paetoric could—whose feet failed him and so he had fallen to the ground—now rushed forward to deliver the final blow.
Seften came up to the side of the soldier and hacked angrily at the soldier with his sword, at the defense of Paetoric. His sword hammered the soldier’s shield arm, but although it did not cut through the black plating there, thwarted his killing move upon Paetoric. He instead swatted Seften with the back of his gauntleted fist, Seften crumpled back from the blow, blood flowing from his nose and one eye blood-red from the strike.
The soldier came toward the fallen Seften, but Paetoric, who had since got to his feet and grabbed up his sword, swung his sword down, cleaving the back of the soldier’s head, cutting through the leather helmet he had been wearing and spilling blood, the soldier falling forward to his hands and knees before Seften, who while lying on his back had managed to kick him squarely in the face with his own leather boot, causing him to roll to his side. Paetoric hammered down upon his head brutally with the round pommel at the bottom of the sword’s hilt, another move taught by Father in his basic teachings, which ended the enemy soldier’s life.
“Yeah!” cheered on Torius in an adrenal-hoarse voice, “Show them what a Me’Aer is made of!” he yelled at Seften and Paetoric of their victory against the skilled enemy. He struck an oncoming enemy with the butt of the magic halberd’s staff, and as the enemy fell backward, he turned the halberd around and in a great swing he hacked the enemy soldier a deadly blow.
“Let’s go!” Drewth commanded amidst the fighting to his companions. He ducked under a swinging sword and thrust his own into the enemy’s side, then shrugged him back off of the sword with his armored shoulder, and ran toward the docks, his companions following, leaving behind their slain enemies.
Drewth halted momentarily, turning his head left and right, hastily looking at several vessels amongst the dock. He set sights upon one ship, and started running toward it, his black steel boots thudding down the docks wooden structure. He neared a ship with tall masts and a stout but accommodating body of 50 feet, and hacked with his sword one of its lines that secured it to the dock. The rope severed, the two severed ends still tied to the dock and one to the ship fell and hung into the water below. “Board the ship!” he again commanded, and his companions instantly complied, running past him as he stood upon the dock battle-ready, the stout ship rocking slightly with the sudden displacement of weight of its several new passengers. Paetoric saw the vessel’s name inscribed on the side: Sea Hammer. The vessel had at the rear an abnormality – extending out to the left and right from the rear of the ship were sturdy, short walkways, and at the end of each walkway were floating platforms with each a single, tall sail upon the t
op, though not quite as tall as the mainsail. Such were characteristics of an extremely fast, maneuverable vessel.
Drewth ran aboard the ship, and down it’s deck, turned, and reached over it’s side with his free hand, pulled up the remaining line that secured it to the dock, and drew it across his sword’s serrated edge, severing the thick line with ease. The Sea Hammer was no longer secured to the dock.
“Look out!” Seften yelled, as two enemy soldiers ran up the dock, weapons drawn. The first soldier raised a loaded crossbow in his left hand and aimed it at Seften, who went to jump behind a mast of the ship to evade the weapon, yet the soldier fired quicker than Seften’s response. With a clank, the crossbow launched the bolt, the bolt yet missing Seften by a distance. The soldier cast the crossbow to the wooden deck, took several strides and jumped aboard the ship, the second soldier following aboard as well.
Rin clutched a full wooden chest with two clawed hands, lifted it, and intercepted the two enemy soldiers. He grunted and swung the heavy chest in a single sweeping motion in front of him, both enemy soldiers managed to retreat out of it’s path, yet one of them yelled in pain as his sword hand received the hammering blow, his sword flung from grasp and clattering across the deck of the ship. Rin took two steps forward and pulled the heavy chest around in a second swing, again one soldier evaded his attack, yet the other one still staggering from the first blow was struck with full force upon his shoulder and head, the armor providing no absorption to the hit, and he slid backward, unconscious.
Rin again swung the chest around, but let go of it mid-swing, the chest flying forth toward the remaining soldier, and it landed and tumbled forward upon the deck of the ship, from which the soldier could not outrun. It struck him in the back of the legs, and on impact it opened up, dumping it’s contents everywhere, and continued forth, tumbling over the soldier’s fallen body, leaving him half-covered in it’s contents as it tumbled onward and struck the bulwark of the ship, finally stopping.
Paetoric and Seften, who had disappeared below the deck of the ship, came back up with long spears in hand, and they rushed to the side of the ship that was along side the dock, and reached the spears over the side. They pushed with all effort against the dock with the spears, and the ship began inching outward into the water.
Drewth had undone the mainsail of the ship, and its black breadth unfurled and filled with sea’s wind, pulling the ship further into waters.
“Ha!” exclaimed Dante, as he whipped a dagger skillfully at a soldier that had just entered firing range in running toward their ship. It glanced off of his armored shoulder, unharming, but a second dagger followed immediately after, scoring damage to the soldier’s leg, the soldier then stumbling onto his hands and knees. Dante, standing over a pile of daggers he had gathered, reached down and grabbed another one, quickly aimed, and let it loose at the soldier, who had just forced himself onto his feet, striking the soldier again, in the chest, causing him to fall yet again but this time dead.
The ship was now a small distance from the dock and gaining distance still, as well gaining speed as Drewth had unfurled the ship’s other broad sail, itself billowing out with filling winds.
A flash of dark red light caught the attention of Dante. “What’s he up to now!” Dante shouted to the others, indicating in the direction of the flash. The Summoner wizard, whom had been disregarded in the fight for escape, had generated a dark red, whirling fireball, which flew in an arc up into the air, landing on the docks before the escaping ship and exploded in a column of dark reddish smoke. The smoke dissipated, revealing a summoned monster.
There was a giant troll, with brown scabby skin, a broad snout and a terrible mouth of twisted yellow teeth, stood double the height of a man, double the width of a man, and many times the strength. It, under control of it’s Summoner, began moving toward the ship, eyes on the passengers, massive, gnarled and brown thick hairy feet shaking the dock with each heavy step.
Paetoric, with bare knowledge in any Seamanship taught him in a brief voyage he once took with Father, was at the helm of the ship, turning the wheel hard to the right, and the ship started turning likewise, wind pushing into the sails, water lashing at the sides of the ship.
The massive troll, angered at the retreat of his enemies, roared horribly, which reverberated throughout the body of the ship. It turned and grabbed a large storage crate with it’s thick hairy hands, raised it over and then behind it’s head, and with another horrible roar, hurled the crate into the air toward the ship.
Seeing the massive crate flying toward them, the escapees scattered out of what they thought might be its path. It was heading straight toward the helm of the ship, where Paetoric was manning the ship’s wheel.
“Look out, Paetoric!” Shouted Rin from the front deck of the ship. He looked onto Paetoric anxiously yet helplessly.
Paetoric Looked at Rin, and on doing so, saw the massive crate soaring at where he stood. He let go the wheel and ducked down beside it.
The crate crashed against the side of the helm, spilling it’s contents—buckets, sails, sacks, boxes, ropes, crossbows, any many other items—down the side of the helm and across the helm’s deck surface. The impact-destroyed remains of the crate fell and crashed onto the deck below the helm, revealing a large hole in the side of the helm where it had struck. A black sail – one of the crate’s contained items – had draped over the wheel and over where Paetoric had crouched.
“Paetoric!!” Seften yelled fearfully up at the helm.
But up on the helm, an arm swung out from underneath the black sail and pulled it off, revealing an unharmed but shaken Paetoric. He, not noticing the anxiety he filled the others with, glanced into the air to see if another flying crate was to follow, saw none, and scrambled with the black sail to get it off the wheel. He kicked the rest of the sail that had piled beside the wheel off of the helm deck, it falling below, he glanced quickly again into the sky cautiously, and took the wheel, turning it again but to the left this time.
The ship gradually turned to the left, and as it did, the wind started filling the black sails completely and began pulling the ship noticeably faster.
The terrible roar of the giant troll sounded again, but farther away from them than last time. An enemy soldier had foolishly ran onto the deck beside the giant troll, at which point the giant troll picked him up, struggling and yelling, and heaved him into the air at the ship as a projectile weapon. The soldier’s body, turning, flailing and yelling, flew at the ship but landed short of target disappearing into the water, as the ship was much too far away.
A dark red fireball flew over the ship and landed a distance ahead of it into the water. Several other dark red fireballs consecutively flew over and beside the ship, and as well landed and disappeared below the surface of the night black waters.
“Prepare yourselves,” Drewth warned all in a grave tone. He raised his cruel sword in front of him, looking upon the waters that the Summoner’s fireballs had gone into. “The works of this Summoner are a dangerous sort.”
There was the sound of scraping claws as an unknown creature began climbing up the side of the ship. Drewth faced in the direction of the unseen creature, sword still raised, awaiting it to come into view over the wall of the ship’s side.
A form flung over the side of the ship, hissing and howling. It landed in front of Drewth. It was humanoid, but scaly, small, thin and sinewy, with webbed clawed feet and hands. It glowered up at Drewth with it’s round, wet, yellow eyes.
“Sahags – Water Demons!” Drewth growled, and he swung his sword upon the creature, which leapt up out of the sword’s way, and clawed quickly over Drewth’s armored arm and upon his armored back, and went to bite the back of Drewth’s unarmored head. Drewth spun his body, and the Sahag’s gnashing teeth did not catch Drewth’s head, but caught his striking black-armored forearm instead. The Sahag fell away and upon his back, but as soon as his back hit the deck he bounded in a backward roll, landin
g instantly on his clawed feet again, and howled at Drewth, glaring at him.
Another Sahag flung over the side of the ship, landing beside the first Sahag. Two more Sahags came over the left and right sides of the ship, and one over the rear wall of the ship.
Under magic’s control of their Summoner, the Sahags commenced their attack, without pause. Drewth again twisted and wrestled with an agile Sahag, his sword a moment behind the Sahag’s dodging movements.
Dante proved an equal match in agility to one Sahag he fought – he dodged a slashing clawed hand of the Sahag, coming equally as fast with his own knife in hand, the Sahag dodging. But the Sahag missed the second knife coming in Dante’s other hand, and received a slash across it’s scaly face, and having hesitated in his moment of pain, Dante brought his knife back upon it in another slash, cutting fatally into it’s thin scaly throat, spilling it’s murky green blood.
Rin had two Sahags leap upon his back, clawing and biting into his flesh, scoring bloody wounds. He twisted his powerful body around to throw off the Sahags, but they kept their hold onto him with their clawed hands and fanged mouths. He dove forward in a somersault upon the floor of the ship, attempting to crush the Sahags underneath his body, but they scurried out from beneath him. Unfortunately the Sahags went into reach of Rin’s powerful arms, and he clutched his own large hand’s claws into their chests, and with an angry deep roar he lifted them simultaneously, one helplessly struggling Sahag grasped in each hand, and drove them against the deck of the ship. He raised them both again and again drove them down, this time crushing their bodies and killing them.
“Come, tiny demon!” Torius challenged a Sahag coming toward him. He cast aside Paetoric’s halberd, and raised his clenched fists in front of him as weapons. The Sahag leapt into the air, opened fanged mouth lunging for Torius’ neck. Torius swung his fist to the Sahag’s small bony face, but the Sahag, with it’s demonic agility, clutched upon Torius’ outstretched arm with a quick clawed hand, and swung his other clawed hand upon Torius’ eyes, to rip them out. Torius jerked his head back, evading the swiping claws, and managed to get hold of the Sahag’s small sinewy swinging arm with his other hand. He began pulling the Sahag away from him, but the Sahag twisted underneath Torius’ other large, wrestling arm and lunged again his fanged mouth hungrily upon Torius’ throat, only to have his small neck locked tightly in Torius’ other hand. The Sahag clawed fiercely at Torius’ hand that held his neck in a deadly grip with both its clawed hands and feet, gashing Torius’ hand and arm bloodily. But Torius brought his other hand squarely into the Sahag’s bony face, rendering it unconscious. He shoved the Sahag’s body to the ground.
Seften was wrestling bravely with a Sahag, a bloody claw mark on his angered face. He twisted and wrestled with the Sahag, attempting to pin his arms with his own, but the Sahag was likewise twisting and wrestling and barely escaping Seften’s pinning. Another Sahag had approached Seften and the wrestling Sahag from behind, unseen by them. He leapt upon Seften’s back, wrapping his arms around Seften’s arm and under his shoulder. Together, with the other Sahag, Seften began losing the battle. They began forcing Seften backward, toward the edge of the ship.
Rhoin slew the Sahag he battled with quick actions of a soldier’s sword. He watched it stagger and slump to the deck and struggle with death until it lay unthreateningly still. He felt as though someone, or something was looking upon him, a sensation he perceived usually from the eyes of an enemy, and looked to the direction of the stare. That which it came from was a hideous creature of which he had never seen before.
It was a single, enormous eyeball, almost as large as Rhoin was tall, with wretched huge pulsating veins coursing upon it’s slimy yellow surface around a deep, black pupil, a pupil that was shaped like a four-sided star. The veins around it grew thicker as they wrapped around the back of the eye, gathered like a brain at the backside and hanging down below it, looking like horrific hair. The dark reddish smoke of the Summoning fire was still dissipating from around it.
The hideous Death Eye was gliding through the air toward the ship, gaining on it with its swift, relentless speed. It’s huge unblinking stare focused not at Rhoin, but at one behind him. Rhoin turned to follow its gaze, and saw that it was focused upon Torius!
Torius was gazing back, yet not with his brave and challenging expression upon face, but rather emotionless, thoughtless, hypnotized. The Death Eye had him locked in his fatal gaze. Torius’ hand that held Paetoric’s halberd had relaxed grip and swung lifeless to his side, the halberd clattering to the ground beside him. He, still with lifeless entranced expression, fell powerlessly to his knees, staring into the advancing Death Eye.
On contemplating the approaching Death Eye, Rhoin sensed an invisible force emanating from the Death Eye’s path of gaze. Rhoin glanced in the direction of the gaze’s force he sensed, seeing nothing with his eyes. He reached with his arm through the path of the invisible force, and then felt a humming vibration enter his arm and permeate his body, then upon the sensation he withdrew his arm.
The vibration faded from his body, and he recognized the force – it was an Elemental force, and it was the same as his own Element. It was the Spirit Element! The Death Eye was Spirit Elemental.
But the Element was not purely Spirit – it contained another force with which it was combined. A very dreadful, deathful force. Another Element with which it was combined? Perhaps the Element of Dark – Rhoin could not definitely identify due to his lack of Elemental knowledge.
But he did know that this creature was Spirit Elemental and he did have his own Spirit Element which he could confront the creature with, but it was still quite drained from his extended time starving in captivity, which would not allow it to recover much at all. He closed his eyes to concentrate, and the battles in his most immediate vicinity closed likewise from his view, the grunts of human, Driadon and Sahag likewise fading to insignificant echoes in the silence of his focusing energies. His Spiritual Element focused and grew into a field of awareness, perceiving the mental and spiritual aspects of existence about him: feeling the empty emotionlessness of the bewitched Torius, the confused rage of Drewth, the enslaved minds of the Summoned Sahags, and his other allies’ emotions, until the field expanded past the edges of the ship he was physically standing upon, and continued to expand over the water, which then in it’s spanning had reached a terrible entity, the Death Eye.
Rhoin perceived the Death Eye’s own Spiritual field encroaching and consuming his own in a Dark power, radiating the Dark power throughout it in pulsating waves. The Dark energies unstabilized Rhoin’s concentration and his Spiritual field began to contract and cloud his awareness, and continued to contract until it diminished entirely under the Dark force, arresting Rhoin’s concentration. As Rhoin’s Spiritual vision went black, he opened his eyes to the physical world and fell unstably upon hands and knees. The Death Eye was near the edge of the ship, still concentrating it’s horrific gaze upon the affected Torius.
Rhoin pushed with his hands, throwing himself back into standing position. He was facing the Death Eye, which was but several paces away, floating above the ship, it’s fleshy hanging tendrils barely not touching the ship’s deck. Rhoin looked at the kneeling Torius, and saw that his open eyes were dull as death, and skin a bloodless white. He was dying by the power of the Death Eye.
“We have to destroy this monster!” Rhoin shouted aloud to the others. “I’ll hold him as best I can!” He stepped directly in front of the Death Eye, now standing between it and Torius, and felt that terrible invisible power of its gaze again permeate his body and muddle his mind. But gritting his teeth he again concentrated and closed his eyes, generating a frail Spiritual radiance, which had in itself a quaking sensation, as the full power of the Death Eye focused on Rhoin.
Drewth, having slain a Sahag with a deadly strike of his sword, pulled it’s serrated blade from the Sahag’s limp body and turned ready to face
what Rhoin was battling. There, only arm’s reach away from Rhoin, was a horrid Death Eye, poised unmoving, concentrating some evil force upon Rhoin with it’s gaze. Rhoin was apparently resisting the power of the gaze, his own eyes closed in concentration. He saw that Rhoin was failing, as his own skin began to pale, and his knees began to shake with an overcoming weakness. Drewth quenched all dread from his mind of the creature with battle’s anger, and charged forward, sword clutched ready still in hand. He grasped his weapon with both hands and raised it, ready to come down in a powerful strike upon the Death Eye, and when he was within striking range he brought his sword down. His blade halted motion inches before making contact with the Death Eye. Some invisible barrier about the Death Eye resisted the weapon’s strike! Drewth leaned upon the magically suspended blade, attempting to force it into the Death Eye. Despite his force the invisible barrier resisted, and sent vibrations through the sword, vibrations so strong that Drewth’s hands numbed of feeling. And then suddenly the vibrating force exploded upon Drewth and hurled him through the air, backward, sword and all.
Paetoric, who was aiding Seften in wrestling two Sahags, heard Drewth’s armored body smash against the deck of the ship, and he turned and saw the battle with the Death Eye. He saw that his brother, Rhoin, was confronting it, but failing, as he tremblingly fell to his knees, death white as his elder brother Torius was next to him, both apparently dying.
Paetoric managed to grapple his Sahag foe around it’s neck and by forcing his body upon it he drove it to the deck of the ship, the full weight of his check upon the Sahag’s head, knocking it unconscious. He left Seften to wrestle with another Sahag, to aid his other two brothers in battle against the Death Eye.
Coming up from behind his two brothers, Paetoric came in full view of the horrid gaze of the Death Eye. Although he was receiving no gaze from the Death Eye, and the full power of the gaze was concentrated on Rhoin and Torius, he felt the cold, cruel force of it emanating and hurting his own mind, simply by being in it’s vicinity. He clutched his head painfully, turning from it, trying to shut out the pain the Death Eye’s vicinity was putting into him. Dizzy, he stumbled over, and attempted to catch himself from his fall by outstretched hands. His right hand smacked upon against the deck of the ship, but his left hand landed upon a wooden staff that lay beside Torius. Upon his left hand contacting the staff, the pain diminished from his mind. He looked at the staff and saw that it was in fact his constructed halberd, with its dangerous halberd head. The halberd head was glowing a dull red aura, which startled Paetoric, yet he did not let go grasp – this unusual power had protected him from the Death Eye’s mental pain, so he held onto it for the sake of his apparent safety.
With his wits gathered again about him, he stood up, taking the glowing halberd up with him, and held its handle in both hands. “Brothers!” he shouted to Rhoin and Torius, who could not hear his voice in their nearing death. He stepped inbetween them, face-to-face with the dreadful Death Eye, whose gaze affected him not while he wielded his magic weapon. He charged forward, glowing halberd head’s spear tip lowered into thrusting position. He drew the halberd head back, and with all of his strengths, thrust it forward, into the center of the Death Eye’s gazing demonic pupil.
The glowing halberd head struck true, sinking into the Death Eye’s flesh deeply, and the red glow which emanated from the halberd spread across the Death Eye’s staring gaze and then haloed it’s entire horrid body, twisting and turning bright red glowing energies, reaving the Death Eye of life and power. The Death Eye screamed in death, a scream that was not heard by Paetoric’s ears but filled Paetoric’s mind painfully, causing him to stumble away backward, leaving the Death Eye impaled by the halberd. The Death Eye’s body quaked and fell dead to the deck of the ship, and then magic red flames consumed its entirety, disintegrating it rapidly into nothing, the flames then disappearing as well. The Death Eye was defeated, and the halberd which was it’s doom clattered to the deck of the ship where the Death Eye once was, the red glow fading away as well to nothing, the halberd lying mundane and normal in appearance once again.
Paetoric, trembling with both anger and alarm, half stumbled, half ran to the halberd, gathering it in his hands with tight grip. He turned about, looking around for more enemies, ready to fight with this weapon and it’s sporadic bursts of power.
“Help!” Seften exclaimed in a strangled voice. Paetoric wheeled around, brandishing halberd, in the direction of Seften’s voice. Seften was struggling wildly with a Sahag, which had Seften in a strangling hold with it’s wiry arm wrapped around his neck, and was tugging and jerking him backward, nearing the edge of the ship. Seften’s eyes were wide and expression was wild with apprehension of his death, a fall overboard, and into night-black waters inhabited by these water demons, where he would be helpless.
The Sahag reached the edge of the ship and Seften had found resistive foothold against the base of the ship’s bulwark, which gave away when two Sahags leapt aboard the ship from the water, landing on either side of Seften and the wrestling Sahag. The three Sahags easily overpowered the one Seften. Holding upon his body with their clawed hands, they forced him backward head first into the water below, with them, to his doom.
“No!” Paetoric roared in futile rage. He charged to the edge of the ship Seften had fallen from. Rin came in front of Paetoric, large clawed Driadonian hands outstretched, ready to stop Paetoric from dooming himself as well. But as soon as Rin came to contravene Paetoric, he withdrew from Paetoric’s path, full alarm on his face and in his dragon-like eyes, as Paetoric’s halberd illuminated again with power. Paetoric charged onward with the halberd forward as a thrusting spear, at which point the halberd head was in his view. He saw that again it was illuminated, but not with the wicked red glow, but a white blue aura, with lightning crawling and toiling around and about it.
Paetoric leapt over the edge of the ship, swinging the halberd around so that it was pointed straight downward at the water below. Lightning flashed in a twisted pattern up the shaft of the halberd’s handle, embracing Paetoric’s arm. The flash blinded Paetoric, consuming his vision and mind with total white light.
In that blinding white he saw a face appear before him of a young man, not clear enough to be identifiable but clear enough to see upset and anguish. His mouth moved, saying hatefully but meaningfully the single word, “brother…” Emotions seeped into Paetoric’s mind - feelings of an unforgiving hate with a secret grief, the emotions that must belong to this unknown man. The young man’s afflicted face faded away, and his emotions faded away from Paetoric’s mind as well. Nothing was left but white in his vision, which itself faded away into utter blackness.
Paetoric, unconscious but somewhat aware, felt the cold, cool water that his body was in, the halberd, once again plain in appearance, was sliding against his limp hand as it sunk away deeper, sinking faster than Paetoric. He made every effort to awake, to save Seften, to wield the mysterious halberd against the Sahags, to reach the surface of the water, to breathe. The smooth wooden shaft of the halberd was slipping still, his hand not responding to his efforts, his body unbreathing, his eyes staying closed that would not open.
A strong hand grasped Paetoric’s shirt, tearing it slightly as it tugged Paetoric upward, toward the water’s surface, to air. His eyes opened with blurry vision under water, his lungs inhaled – not air, but water, his body jerked to life, and his hand clutched with little strength the shaft of his halberd, seizing it from loss, taking it up with him.
Paetoric’s head was forced above the surface of the water, and his convulsing lungs drove all water from them, and drew in air in coughing, panting gasps. The water cleared from his eyes, and he was able to recognize his savior. Rin had a single thick arm around Paetoric’s chest, and had been struggling to keep the still unconscious Seften’s head above water, which was, with neck still limp, half submerged and expressionless.
The Sea Hammer, with Drewth
at the helm, had sailed far ahead with its increased speed, but was turning around to head back toward Rin, Paetoric and Seften.
Paetoric looked over Rin’s rocky shoulder at Seften, who had not regained life yet. “He’ll be alright,” Rin said to Paetoric, while he was kicking fast with his legs to keep all three of them afloat. “We need to get him aboard the ship quickly, out of the water.”
Paetoric felt a mass slide up against his leg, bumping against his arm and surfacing right next to him – a Sahag!
Uttering a yell in fear, Paetoric attempted to jerk his halberd up from the water, but saw then that the Sahag was dead, it’s terrible yellow eyes were bulged, unfocused, and bleeding green, thick blood. Its body was covered with bursting boils, as if it had been burnt to its death.
Around him he saw that several other such forms were bobbing lifelessly upon the wavy surface of the sea. The halberd had destroyed them, he thought to himself. But not harmed him or Seften with it’s power. Why?
Asking himself this question in his mind, he tightened his grasp upon the halberd, determined not to lose it. He pulled it up further, grabbing hold higher on its shaft, keeping it safe from slipping away.
The Sea Hammer slowly drew up beside the three, at a greatly reduced, controlled speed. Ropes were flung over the side by Dante and Drewth. “Grab hold of the rope,” Rin told Paetoric, still holding onto him until he had done so.
Paetoric reached with one hand and grabbed the rope, holding it against his body, and Rin’s arm unwrapped around him, leaving him to float by his own strength. Paetoric reached his other hand up, raising the halberd out of the water and high, toward Dante. “Grab this first,” he said to Dante.
Dante looked at the halberd and then back at Paetoric, gave a half smile, and with humor forced through anxieties he said, “Well, a man’s treasure is a man’s treasure, rightly?”
He swung spryly over the side of the ship, descended the rope, grabbed the halberd securely, swung it aboard the ship and set it to it’s deck with care observant of Paetoric’s for this weapon, then helped Paetoric to ascend the rope. Paetoric needed his aid—he was struggling in his weakened state.
He looked over at Rin beside him climbing a rope, who had Seften lying over one shoulder, smaller human head and arms hanging down Rin’s back. Rin was ascending the rope easily even with the added weight of Seften’s body.
Drewth reached with gauntleted hands and grabbed Seften and Dante by their belts to help both of them over the wall of the ship and safely aboard the deck. Paetoric crumpled weakly to the deck, unbalanced and still half-breathless, not realizing until then how weakened he actually was.
Rin swung himself and Seften aboard the ship, landed upon the deck, and lay Seften carefully down.
“Move,” Drewth said, and Rin made way for him as he came to the unconscious Seften, lowering to his knees beside him.
He removed a gauntlet from his right hand, and placed the unarmored hand upon the center of Seften’s chest. He concentrated for a second, as if to evoke magic, but with a complexed look upon his face, he removed his hand from Seften’s chest and looked at it. He clenched and unclenched his hand several times. “My – my magic, it is gone…?” he uttered brokenly, unsure of what he was even saying. “I don’t feel my Element anymore…” he said, contemplating his hand, which was plain and powerless now, in both appearance and feel. “How can this be?”
He stood up and stepped backward away from Seften. “I am sorry…” he uttered in an apathy to the anxious Paetoric. “I cannot help your brother.” He turned away, facing the sea, the night, and the dock that they had escaped from, distant. “I cannot help any of your brothers…”
He slowly walked away, seeming insensitive to the commotion of the Me’Aer brothers’ near-deaths.
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