Chapter 45 #2
Ian reached out to stabilize Sol, catching his flailing arm and helping to bear his weight.
Fortunately, Sol still held strong with his one hand, but he had no way to stop himself from twisting out as he swung from the single point of contact.
Footsteps sounded on the deck above them.
Ian tightened his grip on Sol’s arm to stop his motion. He pressed himself into the side of the ship as much as was possible, hoping the darkness would hide them.
Aizel, a few steps below them, did the same.
“What is it?” a voice called from above, further down the ship railing.
“Nothing that I can see.” This voice was clear and loud, coming from someone leaning over the side of the ship directly above them. “Bring the lantern.”
At this, Sol swung into action, righting himself and releasing Ian. “Go!” he whispered to Ian. “I’ll take one of Aizel’s biters and be right behind you.”
Using the energy that flowed through him from the surprise, Ian quickly worked his way up the side of the ship.
Instead of digging the climbing tools deep into the barnacle-covered wood, he used them quickly, almost running up the side of the ship.
As soon as light shone over the side of the railing, their element of surprise would be gone and the taskers would group up and outnumber them.
When Ian reached the top of the ship, he saw the glow of a lantern bobbing down the deck toward him.
He kept the wooden blocks attached to his wrists, letting them dangle from the leather loops as he grasped the ship railing with both hands.
He gave himself the space of one inhale to crouch low onto his feet and launch himself over the side of the railing.
He had no time to look back and see how far Sol was behind him. He was going into this alone, and he had to trust that his new brother and sister would be there to back him up.
As his body swung over the railing, he took in several things at once from the light of the lantern.
The ship’s layout was familiar to him. They had chosen to climb up near the back, where most of the deck was taken up by the captain’s quarters, creating a small alleyway between the railing and a wooden wall.
This space had the lowest visibility to the rest of the ship.
They had hoped to sneak around on deck from here and assess the location of the nearest taskers and Majis.
But even if they had lost that moment of surveillance, this was still the ideal spot to get into skirmish as only two people could fit in the alleyway at a time. And it was only two people that Ian could see in the brief moment that he was in the air.
Directly in front of him stood the guard that had peered over the railing and called for the lantern. And perhaps six paces to Ian’s right, the second guard walked along the railing carrying said lantern.
Ian’s eyes captured this information as his body swung over the railing and slammed into the closer guard, knocking the guard backward and off his feet. This broke Ian’s fall and effectively took the first guard out of the fight.
Unfortunately, it also meant that Ian could not land on his feet, and he stumbled forward.
“What is going on here?” the lantern-carrying guard cried out as he rushed forward.
After pushing himself off the temporarily unconscious body of the man he had landed on, Ian tried to get into a fighting stance on the rocking deck of the ship before the lantern guard arrived.
Ian fumbled with the biter hanging from his wrist, pulling it up into his hand to use as a blunt force weapon since he did not have time to unstrap the dual short swords from his back.
Seeing his fighting stance, the lantern-guard finally recognized what was happening, and his eyes went wide. He lunged forward, pushing the lantern toward Ian as his own makeshift weapon. “We are under—”
But he did not get a chance to finish his warning cry before Ian swung the block in his hand at the man’s head, knocking him out.
The man crumpled against the wall of the captain’s quarters, the lantern falling from his hand to the deck.
Ian had the mental clarity to leap backward as the glass-and-tin lantern split open upon contact with the deck, its flammable oil splashing over the dry wood.
Hungry flame instantly spread.
While his body registered the very scary reality of starting a fire onboard the ship, Ian also had the presence of mind to realize that the growing flames had created a blockade between him and most of the rest of the ship. That was good.
It gave him a moment to peer over the side of the railing and come face-to-face with Sol, who had just finished his climb. Ian wordlessly reached out his hand to help Sol swing over the railing onto the deck.
As the flames licked across the wood, Ian could see that Aizel, down to just one climbing tool, was still hanging on halfway up the side of the ship, looking up at them. Sol leaned over the edge, reaching as far down as he was able, and dropped one of the biters down to her.
Ian saw that she caught it and hoped she hadn’t grasped it from the metal-spike side.
“Go!” she yelled, low and quiet, as she adjusted her hand around the block to keep climbing.
Ian stood back up and turned away from the flames, facing the back of the ship. Shouts were coming from the front as people saw the fire. Fortunately, the flames were high enough now to block Ian and Sol from view, so no one else had yet discovered that the ship was under attack.
Grabbing Sol’s arm, Ian dragged him around the captain’s quarters.
When they turned the corner to the back of the ship, they found a dozen men crouched against the stern.
They were dressed in black-oiled armor, but their eyes, lit by the growing flames, peered at Sol and Ian with fear.
Some of the men cowered while some leaned forward aggressively.
Then one man near the middle of the group stood, recognition on his face as he looked at Sol. The man opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
Sol stepped forward. “Deneb.”
The man, Deneb, held up his hands. A single, minuscule thread was looped around his wrists, tying them together. Confused, Ian watched as Sol reached for the string. A single twist from Deneb would be enough force to break it and free his hands.
But Sol, his fingers busy on the thread, revealed a single glass bead strung on the string.
Although he had not seen one himself, Ian recognized the bead as one of the ways in which Gareth stored chaos magic.
Holding the bead between two fingers, Sol hummed a low note. Ian almost missed the sound, but he could feel the low rumble of the note.
Sparks flew from the bead, almost like lightning.
They bounced out, sparking against Deneb’s armor and hissing as they made contact with Sol’s wet clothing.
Ian flinched involuntarily, though none of the sparks reached him.
Neither Sol nor Deneb seemed bothered by them.
After a few moments, the sparks sputtered into nothingness.
Meena had described the process as Sol filling the glass with his own harmony magic, thus forcing the chaos out of the bead.
Sol dropped his hands from the bead and pulled a small knife from the belt at his waist, but by the time he had the knife free, Deneb had twisted his wrists and snapped the thread himself.
Sol lifted the knife to Deneb’s throat, anticipating the man’s next move.
Ian was again momentarily confused, until Deneb loosened his metal chestplate, tugging it away from his neck to reveal a glass gem tied around his throat.
While all this was happening, Ian kept his eye on the far side of the deck.
Any moment someone would come around the captain’s quarters and discover them.
Further out over the water, he could see the sails of the second ship.
It was closer than he had expected. Someone over there would surely have noticed the flames and shouts by now.
Ian unstrapped the swords from his back.
Using his knife, Sol sliced the cord and let the gem fall free.
That would be one of the muting necklaces Aizel had told them about.
It was an ancient method the taskers used to silence the Majis, effectively cutting them off from their magic.
Each of them were spelled so that anyone but the wearer could remove it.
The chaos magic that bound their hands prevented them from removing each other’s muting gems, and the muting gems prevented them from releasing the chaos magic from the beads.
Realizing what was happening, the seated Majis started to stand, crowding around Sol and Deneb. Deneb instantly turned to the Majis next to him and started to repeat the process that Sol had done.
Ian looked around. The fire behind him was blazing now, and men were shouting from across the ship.
“How many are there?” Sol asked.
“Eight,” Deneb responded.
“And of you?” Sol asked.
“Nearly thirty,” Deneb said. “The rest are below deck.”
A man came around the other corner of the captain’s quarters. “Get to the front. We need more hands to pass bucket—”
Ian rushed forward to protect Sol and Deneb as they continued to release the other Majis. He held up his sword just as the man rounded the corner.
This tasker responded more quickly than the other one had, perhaps because the fire onboard had already alerted him to some form of danger.
He jumped back from Ian’s drawn sword and drew a blunt bludgeon from his belt.
Ian did not want to imagine why the guard carried a blunt weapon onboard a closed ship.
The man sneered at Ian. “Attackers!” he yelled. “To me!”
Ian lunged forward, quickly swiping his sword in an attempt to stop the man’s cry of alarm, but he was too late.
The guard blocked his swing with the bludgeon. Then he slowly backed away, luring Ian away from anyone who could help him.
Ian took one step forward, holding his sword close, but did not fall for the man’s trap. Sol and the group of Majis were now protected on one side by Ian and on the other side by the fire. Ian was going to guard them for as long as they needed.
Except, they were not the only Majis onboard the ship. At least two dozen more were down in the hold, according to Deneb. And they were likely locked down there. On a now-burning ship.
Ian did not have time to guard the Majis at his back. He had to move now.
Ian lunged forward, feinting his sword to the left.
The man’s face twisted into a sneer, as though he was delighted to take part in this fight.
Ian leaned hard to the right at the last second.
The man was quick and caught Ian’s movement, dancing out of the way in the minimal space. But the quick change of movement did cause him to hit his hips against the railing, throwing him momentarily off balance.
Expecting this, Ian took advantage of the moment. He shifted his weight to his back foot and positioned his sword for another lunge, as the space was too narrow for a wider swing.
But before he could bring his sword down on his enemy, someone grabbed his shoulder from behind. “This is our fight,” said Deneb, stepping around Ian.
Ian put his back to the captain’s quarters to let Deneb pass, and another Majis man followed him. Both of them carried familiar swords, likely the ones that Sol had been wearing.
Keeping an eye on their enemy, Ian saw the first moment of real fear cross the man’s face when he realized that his opponent was now two of those who had been his captives.
Several more of the freed Majis pushed past Ian.
This was their fight.
Ian held out his short swords, handing both of them over to the freed Majis. Then he ran back toward the fire. Aizel was just peeking her head over the railing. Lane and Nele just behind her.
They were dangerously close to the spreading flames.
Ian grabbed Aizel’s wrists and helped her onto the deck, pushing her down the deck away from the fire. He reached back to help Nele, but she was already over the rail and pulling Lane up behind her.
“You should have swam back when you saw the flames,” Ian said.
“That’s not how backup works,” Nele replied.
Ian shook his head, having no time to argue.
By the time they had made it back around the captain’s quarters to the main deck, the Majis had overpowered the rest of the taskers.
Ian inhaled a deep breath. Other than the raging fire, they had succeeded in taking back the first ship. He coughed from the smoke.