Hands of Fate - Survivors of Flight AA214

Chapter 27

Clark

Day 16 of First Landing

Population of Thornhill - 47

What do I know about battle? Hell, I’ve been in a few scraps in my day. Silly stuff, real silly stuff. I know when your boys call you up, they expect you to stand by their sides and be a man and all that. Have their backs and all.

I didn’t want to fight anyone, but I had no choice. I wasn’t going to let pirates or vagrants mess with me or Sloane or Herm. That’s what you have to do. When someone tries to invade your home, you stand your ground.

This was my home, at least for now. We had built up this place with our bare hands, and I wasn’t going to let anyone take it from us. It ain’t a perfect living, but it’s ours, ain’t it? I had a sword at my side, and I wasn’t no coward. Momma never raised no coward, no sir. I aimed to use it if push came to shove.

Besides, Captain Alvarez isn’t going to let it come to that, no how. He’ll talk to those folks and clear the misunderstanding. We are poor folk here. There ain’t nothing here to rob, even if they are here to rob us. Maybe they just want some hospitality.

Ol’ Herm said they look to be stuck at sea, so maybe they just want a plate of food before they hop on back to their boats and head on back to where they came from. Captain won’t let us down. He’ll bring out that ol’ Texan charm of his, and in the end, those folks on the ships will be giving us stuff, not the other way around.

Now, Alex, there was a soldier ready to fight. If I was some pirate who meant to harm any of us, I would look closer at that son of a gun before I tried anything funny. That sword he had on his shoulder looked as long as a pool cue and as mean as a chainsaw. He and Cade both stood in front, leading the charge down to the beaches. They both made a mean pair, what with a long sword and that even longer spear. It’d be nice if them sailors caught a look at them and jumped on back up the ship.

We stood where the grass met the sand. Behind us was a forest of trees that Slate hadn’t got to yet. In the distance, we watched as the rowboats got closer and closer. All in all, there were a good number of us here, pretty much all men except for Sasha, who was carrying a bow. I counted two rowboats with six men on each, so we had an advantage in numbers. The only problem was some of the newer guys who came in had to use wood spears on account of there not being enough weapons to go around.

Now the funny thing was, when the sailors in the rowboats got closer and closer, I realized that some of them weren’t men at all. I mean, some of them looked like men but had actual frog heads instead of human ones. There were some hyena-looking creatures, and others had actual lobster heads where a human head should normally be. It was a scary-looking bunch, like they were wearing masks for Halloween. They all had bronze weapons too, looking worn and battered. A mean-looking bunch, and I’ll admit that it did make me nervous.

When the boats hit the sands, their leader emerged. Oddly enough, their leader was the scrawniest of the bunch. He was a tall drink of water, no doubt, but he looked like an elf had a kid with some goddamn vampire. That son of a gun had a cruel, crooked smile, reminding me of that ol’ witch in Snow White but with pointy ears. He carried a staff and walked forward while his men laughed when they spotted us, maybe on account of our odd clothing and wooden spears.

Captain Alvarez didn’t show any bit of fear, though, as he stepped forward to greet their leader, his hands out offering to shake hands with the elf. The elf reacted like he’d just heard some crackin' joke that made him spit out milk. The next thing we knew, the elf held out that oak staff of his, and he pulled one of them magical cards out of his palms like Herman did when he went fishing. Three beams of magic looking like comets shot out from the card toward the Captain. The projectiles of light smacked him on the chest, once, twice, and then again after he hit the ground. The captain’s body lay unconscious, blood pooling on the sand next to him.

His first officer, Kestrel, saw this and let out an angry roar of “CAPTAIN!” before he charged with that axe of his out.

Pandemonium erupted after that. Everyone started hollerin', running every which way. I saw James, that British farmer, hightail it out of there the first chance he got. Aiden, one of the new arrivals, had the same idea and ran for the forest. Soon other newcomers started running as well.

Sasha loosed some arrows into the crowd of pirates and managed to land some of them with a few of them pirates having to dig out arrows out of their shoulders and thighs, while Cade charged right behind First Officer Kestrel.

Alex must have used one of his magic abilities, his new sword sliced through a pirate with a hyena face right down the middle in bright light. That hyena fella' got cut right in half.

The meanest of the bunch of pirates who invaded our shores picked out Alex—a huge soldier in brown chitin with the head of a lobster who carried a long black war hammer. That giant lobster man must have been at least a foot taller than Alex, and his skin wasn’t soft and pink neither; it was all brown carapace. Those two, Alex and that lobsterman, were going to duel it out.

This wasn’t an organized raid or army. Pirates were running every which way like rats. They followed no singular command. There were no tactics here. Just opportunism, each fella doing whatever they wanted. Some of them were there for blood, others for booty. Some ran past us toward the houses they spotted, tongues out all hungry-like, and others into the forest to chase after the few of us who retreated. How can they all look so happy causing so much misery?

When Ol’ Marek saw them pirates run for the forest toward the caves where his family was hiding, he charged after them like some mean poppa bear defending his cubs.

I was in a pickle, caught between whether I should hightail it out of there or stay and help the boys.

In one corner of the beach, Cade was fighting off three pirates who were cornering him. A flurry of spear thrusts came from him, pricking each, but they hounded him to a retreat while he waited for his cards to come back up. When one of them pirates came too close, Cade left holes in that yellow-furred hyena guy with a serious storm of spear jabs, leaving that hyena pirate dead where he stood. Seeing this, his two pirate friends proceeded more cautiously with Cade.

Tired of Cade’s constant flurries and his spear keeping them at a distance, one of the attackers, a red frog pirate, brought out his crossbow from his back, causing Cade to retreat in a zig-zag toward the forest. The first bolt lodged itself close to Cade’s head into a tree trunk. Cade used the trees as cover, keeping the crossbowman in his line of sight. The other one, a brown frog pirate, wielding two slender daggers, circled the young guard to pincer him in the forest.

In the middle of the beach, Kestrel came to the body of Captain Alvarez and froze in stunned horror. Feeling for the Captain’s pulse, he realized it was too late. One yellow frog pirate came after the grieving copilot, who tried his darnedest to fight back, but it was clear who had been in a fight to the death before and who hadn’t. The pirate's cutlass slashed at Kestrel’s knees, causing him to go down on one knee. When Kestrel moved to defend himself, another slash by the pirate cut off the arm holding his axe. Kneeling before the smiling yellow frog pirate, Kestrel spat into the pirate’s face before his head came clean off with one final strike. The amount of blood that comes from a human body is not something you can get used to. It’s never like the movies.

This was supposed to be a battle, but damn near most of us had never been in a fight like this. We were used to seeing battles fought on distant continents by drones, tanks, and long-range weapons. The noise of men screaming in terror for their lives, the clang of metal, and the sheer strangeness and brutality of these men were not something we could have prepared for.

Only one person was made to battle here, and he held a corner of the beach to the right. The giant lobster pirate was swinging his war hammer at Alex’s feet, causing the Hero to step back and lose his footing. Alex’s sword blocked a side horizontal swing of the hammer from the lobsterman this time, the heavy impact causing him to wince. Alex used one of them magic cards of his, and a slashing verticle light came down with his swing, tearing into the lobsterman.

It didn’t cut the fella right in half, but his straps and armor looked like a laser scorched a line into it. Blue ooze seeped out of the lobster pirate’s carapace onto his leather armor. The lobsterman took out a red potion and swigged it down, and the long vertical slice Alex had just given him sealed up with new chitin underneath, quickly hardening. Alex let out a roar, and I swear his eyes turned red.

Every pirate near the hero fled as a flurry of sword swings came out from him in rapid succession, smacking everything close to Alex. Alex swung himself and his sword around and around like a top or something. When the lobster man brought his hammer down on that spinning tornado of iron, the human blender cut away one of its four hands, causing him to drop his hammer.

Wanting to help his pirate crew, a bolt of fire from the Elf wizard launched toward Alex, causing an explosion that damaged both the lobster pirate and the Hero. Alex was charred in flame and rolled toward the water to douse himself. A smile of promise came to the Hero’s face as he lifted himself from the water, half of his face was covered in soot, his arms and legs covered in mild burns. Another bolt would come, but this time Alex was ready to dodge it with a quick side step, the flame projectile fizzing in the water.

The caster had no time to follow up with his attack, as an arrow from Sasha flew toward the elf wizard’s body. The elf wizard pulled another card. It showed a blue glass barrier on it and, unlike Herman’s card, was in a foreign language. Soon, a blue barrier of magic was summoned right in front of the wizard's body and blocked Sasha’s arrow. When the wizard saw the young woman who had loosed the arrow, he grinned and brought out another magic missile.

Before he could send more magic missiles to Sasha, I picked up a rock and threw it at him. The rock smacked him in the head, leaving a trail of red blood on his forehead.

Must have not had his barrier up in time.

The elf wizard bared his fangs and walked in my direction, readying another card to cast.

If I could do one thing, I would have to distract that wizard so Alex could clean up the rest of these guys. The wizard pointed at Sasha and two hyena-men pirates, who had just dispatched another two of ours still brave enough to fight, chased after her with that sick look of theirs. Sasha retreated into the forest behind her when they came.

I tossed another rock toward the wizard's face, which it dodged, and it replied with magic missiles toward me. I ran for the forest, zig-zagging between trees that fell to bolts of magic that were intended for me. Trees came down behind me as the elf wizard chased me through the forest. I would hide and throw more rocks at the elf, drawing it away from the beach.

When I knew I was far enough into the forest, I hid myself from the wizard. This was like a game of hide and seek at this point, and I meant to win it. Trees were being struck randomly with magical spells as the wizard looked for me.

Good, he has no idea where I'm at. He's just guessing at this point.

I tell ya, I nearly pissed myself in that place I was hiding, in the hollow of a huge tree.

There’s power, and there’s power. This was biblical power. The kind of power that gods possessed. I knew I had done my part, though. I thought I was a fighter, but I ain’t a fighter like this. Not some fantasy hero. Not like this. No way.

Silence fell in the forest, only the noise of critters and the like remained. I let out a sigh as I felt it was over.

Just when I felt safe, a wisp made of white light appeared before me, landing in my lap and filling the cavity of the giant tree I was hiding behind with radiant light. Wondering where it came from, I looked up to see the elf wizard floating high above me in the trees, scanning the ground like an owl. Light wisps were coming out of his staff and spreading into the forest like dandelion seeds. The wisp disappeared, and as if an alert triggered in the elf's head, his gaze shifted toward where I hid. He wore a wicked, cruel smile—a smile I wished I’d live to see put out, but dangit, it wasn’t meant to be.

I sighed and closed my eyes before three lights came out from the wizard’s staff.

“Dangit... forgive me, Sloane.”