NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 69: Night Shift
Waas created the elves, who shared her love of crafting beautiful works. However, the elves were too serious for her liking, and she asked if she could create once more. With her sisters’ aid, she created the halflings, a whimsical folk who better embodied her playful nature. The elves, a prideful people, felt betrayed by this, though she had meant no offense. Believing their god had spurned them, the elves turned their back on their mother and worshipped Assuine instead.
-Unnamed Dwarven Text
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Kole jumped to his feet at Zale’s shout. Knowing her unable to trigger runes herself, Kole slapped his hand into the mast, touching the signal rune that ran down its length and trickled his Will into it. The rune was simple, and meant to sound the alarm across the ship should anyone activate it—no matter their skill at Will manipulation.
Red light illuminated the deck suddenly, meant to preserve the dark vision of the fighters while granting some small sliver of visibility, and a low-pitched alarm began to sound.
At the first hum of alarm, a swarm of winged beasts burst from the sea and dove toward Zale. Silhouetted by the sky, Kole thought the creatures to be manta rays that somehow flew, but as they entered the meager light, he saw their long barbed tails and wide maws of needle teeth. They made no sound as they descended.
Doug and Kole had jumped to their feet as soon as they’d heard the alarm, and at the appearance of the beasts, both shot into the swarm.
As densely packed as they were, each struck down a beast before they reached the rail. Kole hit one in the wing, blasting a hole in the thin membranous limb large enough to prevent flight, driving it down into the ship’s side where it crashed with a wet thud. Doug’s arrow struck home, taking one in its cruel mouth and killing it instantly.
Zale fell back from the rail and drew the rapier she’d been training with of late, along with a simple wooden buckler from a rack, maintained and ready for just such occasions. She ducked under the first monster, pushing it away with her shield, and swiped at another as they flew over. But, there were far more than two, and the next bit at her outstretched arm, quickly releasing as it found the arm coated in steel.
The orderly swarm broke apart after the first wave and spread out across the ship searching for targets. The sailors on duty had run for weapons of their own at the first alarm, and arrows were shooting into the sky, most missing. Those that did strike, usually hit wings, but the arrows didn’t produce holes large enough to noticeably impact their flight.
“Cloakers!” Rakin called, as he ran into the fray, tossing aside the empty vial of his potion.
The cloakers flew above the deck, out of distance from those on the ground until they could come down behind them. After the first sailor was picked up in such a manner and dragged over the rail, they all grouped up back to back. Rakin found Zale, pairing with her while pulling two batons from his robe. While Rakin’s reach was far shorter than Zale’s, he could jump. As a monster flew over them confident in its safety from the melee-armed creatures below, Rakin leapt up into the air, striking it from below with one of his stone batons. The cloaker fell to the deck, where Zale was waiting to pierce its eel-like head.
Kole and Doug stood back to back as well, firing into the swarm as opportunities presented themselves. The creatures quickly identified them as a threat and began to swarm around them.
“We need to get down!” Kole shouted as they began to close in.
Doug leapt from the platform, and Kole dove down to his belly, turning invisible as he fell. The demonkin boy landed on the deck below in a graceful roll, while Kole’s small dive knocked the wind from him.
But, it worked, and the cloakers flew just over his head.
Invisible, he climbed down the ladder to the perch, trying to recall the number of times he’d used the rod, afraid he’d break it.
By the time he reached the deck, Doug stood between Rakin and Zale, firing arrows into the flying monsters as the other two kept them at bay. Distantly Kole heard the other adventuring parties battling somewhere else on the ship and he looked around for some way he could help. The sailors had fallen into groups to better defend each other, and they’d cut loose ropes, allowing the sails to hang loose and obstruct the flight path of the monsters.
Over the din of battle, a cry of pain rang out, and Kole spun around to see a lone sailor trapped under a cloaker as it bit into his shoulder. Kole pointed his blasting rod and sent his Will into it, striking the monster through its torso. The shot didn’t kill it, but it allowed the sailor to throw it off. Grabbing an ax meant for cutting the lines of boarders, the now visible Kole ran at the cloaker,
“AHHH! “He screamed as he ran, ax raised high.
He chopped into the monster’s back, and repeated again, and again with dull thuds. With each swing, the ax twisted in his grip, until he was striking with the side of the weapon as if it were a mace, but by then, the monster was dead and Kole was covered in its foul black blood.
The groan of the nearby sailor brought him back to himself, and he moved over to bind the man’s wounds.
“I’ll do it!” Doug shouted, pushing Kole’s fumbling hands aside.
The trio had moved closer during the mad hacking to cover him.
Kole let Doug take over, and recovered his rod from the deck, taking his place.
The swarm had lessened by then, and their blood lay all over the deck. Kole only fired twice more with his rod, missing both times, before the skies were empty of their foes.
Once sure the threats were gone, the group walked around the deck to make sure no one was in need of aid. The mood on the deck was grim, two sailors had been lost, both taken overboard by the cloakers. Despite the losses, each one of them brightened at Kole’s group’s passing, giving nods and words of thanks to them for their part in the ship's defense.
Unlike some—probably most—Kole didn’t seek to be an adventurer for the fame or praise. He had a singular goal, to find his parents and it drove him in all things. But, as the sailors hid their weariness to show their appreciation for his help, he felt something stir inside him, a desire for respect he’d not known he’d wanted—or maybe needed.