Chapter Seven

  Fast Enemies and Hot Flames


Every sailor turned to the starboard side at Nial’s call but it was too late for some as the attackers sprang forward quickly, as if they wore no armour at all, cutting down several sailors. Their swords whistled through the air, blood splattering on their black armor and the deck of the ship. The enemy warriors at the companionway steps to the lower deck dropped down to the gun deck, the sound of battle could be heard from there almost immediately. Jon didn’t hesitate, he launched himself from the higher deck at the helm swinging his hammer round as he came down striking down several of the armoured men but more clambered over the bulwark on board and charged at him but he jumped back striking an enemy in the stomach and somersaulting over his back making his pursuers clash into their bent over comrade. Jon turned swinging his hammer behind his back and up making contact with an enemies jaw taking him clean off the ground and landing on several attackers.
“Dad!” Damon screamed pulling his dagger out and charging down to the lower deck to defend his father followed by Nobby, but as Nial went to follow five enemy attackers climbed up to the higher deck, Tallius cast a gust of wind sending three of them overboard. But instead of a splash of them hitting the water there was a loud crash. Nial ran to the starboard side and looked over the bulwark and gasped, below was a small sloop ship painted black so in the night it was almost invisible hooked onto the Seaswift,
“That’s how they snuck up on us!” He muttered,
Tallius drew his one of his short swords and ducking under an enemy swing he came up slashing hard into the enemies’ stomach then cast a small fire ball at the next, who screamed as he burst into flames and ran to the side and jumped into the water.
“You see?!” Carver screamed at him, “I told you we should have…”
“Is this really the time for I told you so’s?” Tallius shouted at him drawing his other sword and heading for the lower deck,
“Don’t be a fool!” Carver cried grabbing him, “We have to get out of here!”
Carver pulled Tallius to the stern bulwark,
“I am not a coward!” Tallius snarled,
“Captain, what are your orders?” Tristan yelled suddenly next to them, holding a blood covered cutlass,
“Abandon ship!” Carver said quickly,
“What?!” Tallius and Nial cried as Nial ran to join them,
“You heard me!” Carver cried,
“Aye, aye sir!” Tristan replied and without warning he shoved all three of them over the bulwark. Tallius hit the water hard, the cold water felt like knives in his back, his armoured arms weighed him down but he kicked his feet with all his might and finally his head broke the surface. Gasping for air he thrashed around looking up at the ship, the main mast was on fire now he heard someone call,
“They are burning the ship!” several bodies jumped to the water to escape the fire,
“Tallius!” he heard someone cry frantically, he turned to see Nial struggling to stay afloat, “I can’t swim!” he screamed as he fell below the surface, Tallius swam to him and dove under water returning to the surface with a spluttering Nial,
“Hold on to me!”
“Look out below!”
Tallius looked up and saw two people throw something big overboard,
“Big breath!” Tallius shouted over the crash of the waves,
“What?” Nial shouted back,
“And kick!”
Tallius dove under water and kicked at the same moment the large wooden helm wheel crashed into the water then floated up through the water, when Tallius and Nial surfaced he swam them to the wheel,
“Hold on to this!” Nial shifted his weight from Tallius back to the wheel, he looked terrified. Tallius turned to look at the ship which was fully ablaze now.
“Tallius!” Nial called,
“I’m here.” He replied turning back towards Nial when suddenly his back exploded in pain and he was forced under the water, his back was in agony it made him breathe in the water. As panic began to rise in his chest he suddenly felt strong arms wrap around him and haul him above water.
“Stay with us mage!” he heard a familiar voice shout above the roar of the waves, “You have an arrow in your back! They are shooting from that little boat of theirs!”
Tallius looked up and saw the voice belonged to Aldricht pulling him onto the wheel,
“You’re going to be okay mage.” he recognised the voice of Tristan say, the cabin boy was in the water holding on to the wheel with Nial and Aldricht. They were further from the burning ship now due to the current of the water,
“Jon and Damon?” He asked weakly,
“Haven’t seen them mage… but I'm sure they are okay.” Tristan said hesitantly as they all looked at the ship, the glow from the fire now lit up the night, the three of them kicked in the water heading for the coast as Tallius muttered,
“Without a single cannon being fired…”

 The heat of the flames was intense and Nobby felt like he was breathing in fire as he tried to look for his friends through the flame and smoke. He held two daggers now after picking up a bloody curved dagger, he felt more terrified than he could ever remember being in his entire life. An armoured enemy appeared through the smoke and lunged at him but he had jumped back in fright which had saved his life. Suddenly a sailor had appeared out of the smoke and the two had entangled and disappeared as the wind changed blowing the smoke in a different direction. Suddenly Nobby heard a cry of defiance,
“Come on then!” Damon cried at two enemy attackers advancing on him, one of them lifted his sword above his head to come down in a deadly two handed slash. Nobby reacted instinctively and ran straight into the attacking enemy and stabbed his daggers into the armpits on either side of his victim and pushed with all his might toppling the dying man over the bulwark into the darkness below. Then he cursed himself realising he had let go of his daggers. Now faced with two enemies instead of one the armoured man paused in his advance and looked at them both for a minute then seemed to decide an unarmed boy did not make much of an advantage and he advanced again and raised his sword. A shadow flickered over him and they all turned to see a figure launch through the flames and land in front of him, he stood transfixed on the image of a singed Jon raise his hammer and swing down with all his strength. The man stared at his death approaching, with a crash Jon crushed the top of the demon faced helm and blood spurted from under the face plate and he collapsed to the ground twitching.
“Dad!” Damon shouted in joy,
“Move!” Jon shouted back grabbing both of them and running and jumping off the port side and landed with a loud thud on the ship hooked on to the now sinking Seaswift. Safe from the flames for the moment but not from the enemy as many of the attackers and kingdom sailors alike had sought refuge on ship.
“Kingdom men to me!” Jon shouted and the sailors surrounded them, and the attackers moved towards them one of them had lost his helm, he had black hair and sallow skin with slanted eyes and was clean shaven.
“Parashien…” Jon growled,
The Parashien smiled and drew his sword and pointed at Jon. Who nodded and raised his hammer. One of the sailors jumped forward suddenly, without his eyes leaving Jon the Parashien dropped down into a crouch ducking under the sailors attack then twisted into the air slicing down cutting into the sailors back who kept running for a second before stopping and slumping to the ground. The Parashien smiled and nodded to Jon.
Who bellowed in rage and attacked his hammer flew as fast as any sword but the Parashien moved faster. He jumped, twisted and dived left and right as if possessed, Jon couldn’t land a blow. Suddenly the sword sprang at Jon who got his face out of the way just in time receiving a slash across his cheek.
“Dad!” Damon called but Jon held out his hand signalling he was to stay back, two sailors held him in place.
The Parashien attacked slashing faster and faster Jon managed to block three attacks parried two then had to dive and roll out of the way of the last one, he was breathing heavier now and tried to attack again but in a flash he had a large gash across his chest. Then the Parashien ran up the mast and jumped behind Jon as his hammer crashed into the wood, he cried out in pain as the Parashien slashed lightly across his back, Damon struggled against the sailors but they held him tight.
“Dad!” Damon called desperately,
Jon gasping for breath now turned to face the Parashien who was still smiling, slowly Jon held up his hands and dropped his hammer to the ground. The Parashien smiled at the submission and went to stab Jon quickly but Jon kicked out and connecting with  his hammers shaft as it fell sending it flying straight and hard into the Parashien’s groin. He screamed and collapsed to the ground and Jon ran forward grabbing the shaft and pulling his hammer free of the Parashien then swinging down muttering,
“Dodge that.” Then turning to the sailors he cried, “Let’s get this filth off this ship!” 
“Aye!” they cried back and ran forward attacking the stunned remaining six enemies,
“Damon, Nobby unhook us!”
Damon and Nobby ran forward, Nobby picking up the now dead Parashien’s sword he and Damon cut the hooks holding them to the Seaswift. Three of the Parashien dead by the time the ships were separated and the last three had been captured by sheer force of numbers as there were at least nine sailors on board.
“Get them tied up and see if there are any of our men in the water!” Jon called, then seeing a familiar face among the sailors he called,
“Hunt! Take command of this ship please.”
“Aye, aye.” The Seaswift’s first mate said and ran to the helm, “Alright you lot you heard the man get this ship ready and find our men!”
Jon nodded then ran to the side and vomited overboard. Then he brought his head up,
“Hunt?”
“Aye?” he replied,
“There is a very, very upset sailor in the water over here.” Then he rushed to the other side of the ship to continue his vomiting. Damon ran to hunt and asked,
“Is there any sign of Nial and Tallius?”
“None yet young sir but we will find them.” He said kindly, although he felt the chances were slim. Damon nodded and he and Nobby ran to the side and began searching for their friends.
“They are okay” Damon muttered, “They have to be…”

 
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11 comments:

  1. Really came together mate. I'm usually really fussy when it comes to the more traditional side of the fantasy genre but this is decent.

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    1. Thank you. did you read it all? I am glad you enjoyed it.

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  2. Really very good Shaun. Enjoyed this a lot :)

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  3. Watching the the event from two groups point of view is very well done, you manage to show the full of the event without the repeating of information. Also very fluid how you change from character to character

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  4. Thomas Muffinman Jackson28 February 2013 at 10:57

    I really enjoyed this one. Luv the pirate style battle, it allowed for nobby to shine. The cunning strategy in used to by the parasheins helped show that the "big" characters are not invulnerable. I like and hate what a happened to tallius cause it's first chance in book to really care and worry about a character.

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  5. That was a main factor in this chapter. I don't want my main characters to be the best all the time and unbeatable. where is the fun if they can never get hurt?

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  6. It takes serious talent to really pull off the ferocity and speed required to make this feel real. You have done just that. Your pace matches the scene described and the speed of the fighting perfectly. You read and don't want to take a breath in between for fear of losing yourself further in the battle.

    I will make a slight suggestion though. Something that was actually suggested to me when I was first edited... The use of the same word in the same sentence or following sentence is overkill. Its better to find a word that means the same, but is different. This way you don't sound like you're repeating yourself and the readers don't lose interest.
    Here's an example: as he came DOWN striking DOWN several of the armoured men

    You are doing fantastic! Keep up the amazing work!! You have talent.

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    1. thank you for the positive sir! :D i love hearing that you felt the same way reading it as i did writing it.
      i do as a rule tr to avoid doing this very thing but sometimes i miss it as im too into the scene as i was with this chapter! :D loved writing it!

      Shaun
      :D

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  7. Well told battle. It managed to convey all the important information in high detail without it losing the momentum.
    It was also a good idea to focus on the Nial, Nobby and Damon acting as observers to the other more active combatants.

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