Threadbare was a smart and perceptive bear, but he was in the middle of a very busy situation.

And frankly, he was a bit short. At the center of the deck as he was, he couldn't see over the side to the city below.

He had no knowledge that Apollyon had been chosen to go and help him, taking Bigstump Outpost's waystone and hopping back to the Capitol.

There was no reason for him to know that the young Earth Guardian had failed to get to the square in time and had to settle for chasing after the spiralling, unguided airship.

And he absolutely hadn't been present to see when Apollyon had given up and decided to try a different tactic.

What he did see, as he hurtled over the side of the suddenly tilting ship was a long spike of stone jutting from the tallest tower on the eastern edge of the city.

What he did see, as he plummeted toward the city lights below, was a green-tabarded figure being lifted along the spike, carried by stone hands up to the airship.

And then he stopped, as the figure gestured and a stone hand shot out and seized him, reeling him in to where Apollyon grabbed him, and hugged him in relief.

LUCK+1

“How's it going up there?” Apollyon asked as Threadbare clambered onto his shoulder.

Threadbare opened his mouth to tell him—

“OFF THE TOP ROPE!” a large man bellowed, beard streaming in the wind, loincloth fluttering and wizard hat barely staying on as he dove off the edge of the ship, carrying a pair of screaming pirates downward.

“A bit disorganized really,” Threadbare said, watching the man drop... only to be grabbed by a whirlwind with eyes and born back towards the deck as the pirates continued falling. “My goodness that's some powerful wizardry.”

“Elementalism,” Apollyon corrected, then looked upward at the approaching railing. “We're almost there. What's the plan?”

“Help the strangers against the crew. I'll try to keep the captain busy,” Threadbare told him and leaped upward...

...barely managing to twist at the last second, as Anne sent a pistol ball his way.

Your Dodge skill is now level 35!

“There you be!” Anne bellowed, tossing her gun aside and retrieving her knife from where she'd buried it in the dog beastkin's shoulder. “Come on, little bear, let's dance! Don't fret none, after you die, I'll have your soulstone made into a nice necklace. You'll be forever near me heart...”

The dog woman took the opportunity to back off, wounds flaring closed as the halven behind her healed. Four crew moved in, trying to take her down before she could recover but were interrupted as the Wizard flew back over the railing and clotheslined two of them to the deck.

But that was all Threadbare had time to notice before Anne was on him.

She was a terror, and within seconds, Threadbare knew that he had made a mistake. He gave up all pretense of attacking and focused on trying not to die, healing himself every few seconds as stuffing and fur flew.

Your Brawling skill is now level 74!

Your Mend spell heals you for 57 HP!

Your Mend skill is now level 75!

Your Brawling skill is now level 75!

Your Dodge skill is now level 36!

Your Clubs and Maces skill is now level 24!

Your Mend spell heals you for 58 HP!

Your Clubs and Maces skill is now level 25!

Your Clubs and Maces skill is now level 26!

His rod bowed in the middle at that last strike, and he ran between her legs, taking a heavy cut that snapped his tail right off.

“Mend Golem!” he said, claws gripping the deck as he sped toward the mast, checking his surroundings as he went.

Your Mend Golem skill heals you for 181 HP!

Your Mend Golem skill is now level 76!

Now that she wasn't up against the captain, the dog-woman was holding her own against the pirates, working in tandem with the very large wizard, who seemed to be mostly just casting fist. The two halvens kept their allies between them and the remaining crew, with Apollyon watching their flank as they healed and threw cards, rocks, and other random items into the melee. Celia and a badly wounded Kayin had managed to drive the Lop Garou back, and he paused to send a Mend Golem towards his favorite stabby tabby.

Jean stood in the center of it all, hands to her mouth, eyes growing wider and wider as the bodies hit the deck.

And above it all, Stormanorm had finally taken control of the ship. With a crunch of breaking stone, the Cotton Tale shuddered free of the impaling stalagmite and resumed its course, upward and eastward.

But that brief glance at the wheel was Threadbare's undoing.

Anne's sword pierced him right through and lifted him into the air.

Your Golem Body skill is now level 57!

That would have been his heart if he'd been alive.

He turned in time to see her knife flashing, knew it was coming right for his neck, tried to get his rod up in time to block it...

“Pickpocket!” shouted an unfamiliar voice, as the man wearing a Ringmaster's suit appeared out of nowhere and snatched him back an instant before the blade struck.

“That's a nice hat, it'd be a shame to get blood on it, sir,” said the Ringmaster, tossing him back to the dark-haired halven. “Listen to Chase, she'll tell you the score!”

“No escape for you, bear!” Anne yelled, leaping to grab a swaying rope and swinging overhead as she arrowed straight for him—

BLAM!

The rope split as the bullet caught it.

Anne dropped to the deck, rolled, came to her feet.

She glared in surprise...

...at Jean, who shakily lowered a smoking pistol.

“Jean?” Celia asked. “What are you doing?”

Jean opened her mouth.

But Anne beat her to the punch. “Well, well, well,” she smirked. “Fallen for your captive, have ye? Tis a tale as old as time and properly dramatic, can't fault ye there.” She stalked toward Jean, whose hand shook, as she drew her rapier from its sheath.

“I don't blame ye. Just look at her!” Anne swept her cutlass to Celia. “And she's clearly got brains to match them looks, brains and bravery. No surprise that the heart wants what the heart wants. But it's a pity in this case...”

“Look out!” shouted Chase, as Anne's free arm snapped back, knife at the ready.

“...the heart gets me dagger!”

“Distant Animus, Animus Blade!” Threadbare called at the last second.

Your Distant Animus skill is now level 10!

Your Animus Blade skill is now level 21!

It stopped, an inch in front of Jean's face, just short of piercing one red eye. Jean stumbled back, then parried desperately as Anne lunged forward.

Threadbare directed the blade to go after her, then started animating the dead crew around them to give Jean a little more breathing room.

“Zombie, Zombie, Zombie, Zombie, Zombie, Command Undead attack Anne.”

Your Zombie skill is now level 4!

Your Zombie skill is now level 5!

Your Zombie skill is now level 6!

Your Zombie skill is now level 7!

Your Zombie skill is now level 8!

Your Command Undead skill is now level 29!

Anne only laughed harder and hacked into the now-rising corpses of her fallen crew.

And then Threadbare lost sight of the fight, as the halven holding him turned and ran.

“This is a losing battle,” said the dark-haired halven, ducking behind the mast. “She won't give up. She's got stupidly high levels and skills, and she's not using everything she has yet because she's still enjoying it. You can't stop her here. You can only slow her down.”

“I have something that will break this ship to pieces,” Threadbare said, watching as the Lop Garou backed away, and Celia and Kayin joined Jean, trying to hold back the piratical terror that was Anne. “But I don't know if all of my friends would make it out alive. And I don't want to kill anyone under the ship.”

“She'd survive that! And if she survives it, she'll just sneak away and grab Cecelia at another time and get a replacement ship later! She's a Pirate! That's what they do!”

Threadbare craned around the mast and watched the last of his zombies fall.

“I'm open to better suggestions,” he said, craning his head to look up at the halven girl. For a girl she was, somewhere in her teens with a colorful headscarf keeping her hair in check and worried, sleepless eyes that glanced all around, keeping track of the chaos that surged around them.

“Give me a second,” she said and muttered “Foresight.”

Then her eyes went wide, and she said, “Foresight,” again, a little shakily. She muttered “Well maybe if... Foresight.”

“Excuse me?”

“No, never mind. Okay, that might work. Renny?”

“Renny!” Threadbare said. He knew that name! That was one of the missing golems who had gone to the Forest of Final boss a year ago.

“Hello, sir!” came a mild voice, as a fox's head poked out of the halven's handbag. “Don't yell! Anne thinks I'm just a toy.”

“I need you to wait until I say 'now,' then use your illusions to make Cecelia seem like Threadbare and vice-versa.”

She dropped Threadbare and her handbag and ran toward the dog beastkin.

“Wait, Chase! What kind of... oh dear,” said Renny, watching her go.

“You took a waystone from the jar, didn't you?” Threadbare asked.

“What? Oh, that. Yes, it's a long story... oh, okay.” Renny said and looked at Threadbare. “Phantasm. That Je Ne Se Quois, sight, sound, touch, taste, smell.”

“I didn't hear her say...” Threadbare started to say, then flinched as Celia's voice finished his sentence. “...now.” Renny had changed his voice.

“Cagna Wind's Whispered me,” Renny explained and looked toward Celia...

...just as the Ringmaster shouted “May I Direct Attention to the young man on the wheel! He's doing a fine job; everyone give him a hand!”

You have Resisted Thomasi Jacobi Venturi's Direct Attention!

WILL+1

He alone saw Celia shift, saw her gain his own furry features.

“Now we need to exchange you before that effect wears off!” Renny said, desperately.

“Call Golem,” Threadbare said, and with a bamf of displaced air, Celia was there in front of him.

She blinked. He hugged her, and said “I'll be back as soon as I can,” then charged out toward Anne, seizing command of a couple of Celia's whirling knives to make the performance convincing.

Your Command Animus skill is now level 45!

And a stranger's gruff voice spoke in his ear as he charged. “Attack her left leg with everything you've got, and then don't resist when she's got you!”

Already he could see Anne's head turning. Already he could see her shaking off the effects of the Ringmaster's skill.

Already, he could see her turning toward Jean, drawing her arm back to strike...

And before she could look back and see him, he slashed her leg with everything he had.

It was the hardest he'd ever hit someone.

Your Brawling skill is now level 76!

Your Claw Swipes skill is now level 65!

And she staggered as a red '364' floated up from her head.

Against any human in Cylvania right now, it would have torn the leg clean off. It would have killed quite a lot of them instantly.

But this was Anne Bunny, and to her 'twas but a flesh wound. She didn't even bother transferring it to her crew.

Instead she twisted, and punted Threadbare into the air, as she slashed his borrowed daggers to the ground, deanimating them through damage. Then she grabbed him by what she thought was the hair but was instead the scruff of his neck. She didn't seem to notice the difference, as she rolled backward with her quarry, away from Jean and Kayin.

“All right,” said Anne, straightening up as she stuck her cutlass in the mast. “If you're going to be playing shenanigans with me mind, then this ain't fun anymore. Stormanorm! Flip the ship!”

Every member of the crew left on the deck charged toward the ropes, the rigging, the railings, everywhere they could get a handhold.

And before anyone else could react the ship was rotating on its axis...

...and turning the deck downward.

A few of the unexpected allies had enough agility to grab onto a trailing lin, or get ahold of the railing as they fell.

But a great wind blasted forth along the deck and shook them off like fleas on a dog.

They fell... but Threadbare saw the wind coalesce, saw it open eyes, and saw his friends slow as they hit it and drifted gently downward. The wizard's work, he expected.

The ship kept rolling, and when it was right side up again, Anne leaped off the mast, and landed before Jean, putting her blade to the woman's throat. Jean, clinging tightly to a cargo net, merely looked to Threadbare with red, red eyes and smiled.

“I am sorry for everything. Do not blame yourself.”

Then she shut her eyes...

And Anne laughed. “Come now, who do ye think I am? This is just a job. You betrayed yer employer, true. But that's none of me affair and nothing personal. And so long as you're alive, Miss Cecelia here won't be no trouble, will she?” Anne's teeth flashed gold, as she grinned down at Threadbare.

“Please don't hurt her,” Threadbare said, holding out his arms placatingly. “There's been enough bloodshed tonight.”

“On that I agree,” Anne nodded. “Same terms as before. Janet! Columbia! Go get Miss Jean below and secured. Stormanorm! Get us out of here as fast as you can!”

“We've taken some pretty bad damage, captain,” Stormanorm said. “We might need some repairs.”

“No worries,” Anne said, setting Celia to the deck and switching the sword to her throat. “Your friend the bear taught me all about how Animators can help with that. Come and let's go undo some of the harm...”

It wasn't exactly a happy ending.

But his friends were out of danger.

And as she took him below decks, he saw that the handbag was still there, with the fox's head poking out, still and unmoving and very convincingly pretending to be a simple toy.

The illusions could continue so long as Renny remained undiscovered.

This will do, Threadbare decided. And even as he did so, voices from the other side of the deck drew his gaze.

“How could you do this?” the Lop Garou rumbled to Jean. “He won't forgive this betrayal. You know what he'll do.”

“Times change,” Jean said. “And some things... some people are worth dying for.”

“I hope for your sake he hears that with friendly ears,” the Lop Garou said, as the crew bound Jean in irons and started dragging her off. “Because there is nothing I can do to save you from the Phantom of the Lop Ear...”