Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Seven - Upper Management

We rushed up the final few floors, following the directions I’d teased out of our harpy prisoner. Baron Vonowl was in for a rude awakening once we arrived.

On reaching the floor where the baron was hidden, Bastion gestured everyone to silence and approached the door to lean up against it. He listened for a bit, then came down the steps to where we all gathered. “Large floor. It sounds like a mostly open space. I can hear maybe a dozen people in there.”

“That’s a concerning number,” Caprica said.

“We can probably take them, we have the element of surprise on our side,” Amaryllis said.

“That might still be tricky though,” I said as I glanced back up. The door was the very last one at the very top. I was a little surprised that the tower didn’t have roof access. Or maybe it was elsewhere? In any case, that wasn’t our problem at the moment.

Bastion shook his head. “We don’t have time to worry overly much about anything. Our timetable is short. I’d much rather we not get caught out by the returning pirates while loading the hostages back onto the ships, so we need to move quickly. I’ll take point, Caprica’s guards can assist me on the flanks, everyone else comes in after. If you’ve been holding anything back, now wouldn’t be an unreasonable time to use it.”

Everyone shuffled in place, then Bastion launched himself up the steps, blowing the door with a boom, Caprica’s guards were right on his heels and the other soldiers rushed in right after.

I didn’t wait long to follow.

The first thing I heard as I stepped in were panicked yells and the sharp crack of steel on steel. The top floor was more of an open plan than most of the floors below. A good quarter of the space was used up by a set of large cages pressed up against one wall and half-covered by curtains. The rest of the space was one large living area.

Harpy and human guards were rallying against Bastion and the royal guardsylph, maybe a dozen of them in all. They looked competent at a glance, but entirely unprepared for the sudden fight, and a pair of them were already groaning on the floor.

I tightened my grip on Weedbane and moved to the side, taking my place in the impromptu line that was forming as we stretched out across the room.

The guards we’d surprised were backing up towards a stairwell off to one side of the room--probably the roof access. Behind them was a harpy in a finely-made suit of purple and blue cloth. He was red in the face and was shouting some rather rude things at us while backing up.

That had to be the baron!

My attention was snapped back to the present as I eeped and ducked under a sword swing. One of the guards was right in front of me, an angry scowl in full display as he tried to chop me into little Broccoli Bunch bits.

“Focus, Broccoli,” Amaryllis bit off. She reached out with her dagger-wand and filled the room with crackling lightning that speared out towards a trio of guards. One went down convulsing, but the other two raised their hands and the magic splashed off sort of shimmering shield of mana.

These weren’t untrained pirates. They were a lot better at their job. But we’d still caught them with their metaphorical pants down. The guy I was fighting had a sword in one hand and a chair in the other, and unfortunately for him, he didn’t seem to have the same experience with chair-combat as I did.

I caught the tip of Weedbane’s blade between the bars of the chair he was using as a shield, then twisted back, ripping it from his grip. I took a step back, then spun Weedbane around and flung the chair right back at the guard, dropping his sword in the process.

Then I kicked the chair as hard as I could, ramming the legs into his tummy so that he fell back wheezing.

Our foes were going down in quick succession, the surprise and the ferocity of our best fighters no match for them. Which is why I was surprised when the fighting suddenly came to a screeching halt as someone screamed.

“Stop!”

Everyone, minions and soldiers alike, froze up for a few seconds. Then the brigands ran backwards to the staircase pressed up against the wall. The harpy who could only be Baron Vonowl was halfway up the steps, a buckler held in both hands. He was huffing and puffing, and looking like he couldn’t decide if he was angry or scared.

“Just who in the world are you?” he shouted.

I glanced around, then met Caprica’s eyes. She gave me a sort of ‘you explain this one’ nod. “Hello!” I said. “My name’s Captain Broccoli Bunch, and my friends and I are here to rescue the people you kidnapped.”

“What?” he asked.

“... Uh. Which part did you not understand?” I asked.

“Do you have any idea who you’re messing with?” the baron asked.

Calamity snorted. “An idiot with delusions of grandeur?”

“I’m pretty sure you’re Baron Vonowl?” I asked. “In any case, you’re the guy being protected by all of these guards while, uh.” I glanced over to the cages where I could see a dozen or so harpy’s standing up. They were in better shape than the prisoners down below had been, dressed in finery and very nice outfits, though their clothes had ended up a little tattered from being imprisoned. “While these nice people over here are in cages, which kind of paints you in a bad light.”

“A bad light? Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” He swept a wing towards the cages. “Those fools who were born into underserved power wanted to bumble their way into delaying an inevitable war instead of pressing our great nation’s advantage!”

I blinked. “Uh. Yeah, no, we already negotiated peace, more or less. I don’t think anyone actually wants that war to happen.”

The baron seethed. “Then you’re as great a fool as any of them! Our saviour, Rainnewt understood. He acknowledged our inherent value!”

“Okay, I think that’s enough,” Bastion said, interrupting what sounded like the beginning of a proper villainous monologue. “Lay down your arms and surrender, and we will be lenient. There’s no need to die for someone like him.”

A few of the baron’s guards looked to each other, then back at us. At the moment we were pretty evenly matched in terms of numbers. Then a couple of sylph came into the room from the stairs and rushed to join us.

I could almost hear what they were thinking. There might only be even numbers here and now, but that would change soon.

The first sword clattered to the floor, then another.

The baron screamed, then started up the stairs. “Cowards!” he shouted.

Calamity’s bow twanged, but the baron ducked behind the shield he held and Calamity’s arrow thunked into it. Spells started to fly towards him, but those of his guard who decided not to surrender rused forwards and magical shields shimmered and popped as they intercepted the magic that should have hit the baron.

Before any of us could catch up, Vonowl threw open a door at the top of the stairs and disappeared out of sight.

The guards that decided not to surrender were punished for that choice as Bastion and the others met them with a sudden charge. “Captain, go after the baron,” Bastion shouted.

“Got it!” I replied. I crouched for just a moment, then shot up and over the fighting to land on the staircase. I sprinted up the remaining steps and onto the roof of the tower, vaguely aware that a few others were running after me.

The tower’s roof was a flat space, with crenelations along the edges and a very slight incline that was probably there make water run to the edge. A strong wind blew across the rooftop, and at a glance, I could see the open expanse of cloudy sky and the great forest that surrounded the tower.

There was also, I noticed immediately, an airship parked on the rooftop.

It was the same class as the Redeemed, small and light and with a soft balloon that was inflating itself even as I watched. The balloon was connected to a set of tanks that looked like they were recent additions to the rooftop.

The baron was onboard already along with two other harpies that hadn’t been below and who were hurriedly preparing the ship for launch.

“Hey! Wait!” I shouted before taking off towards the ship.

“I will do no such thing!” the baron said. “Look, Commander Megumi returns, and with them the forces that will crush your pitiful rebellion!”

I paused, shoes scraping on the rooftop as I turned to see that he was right. Off in the near distance were two airships, both unfamiliar and both heading towards us.

In the other direction, over the forest and much, much closer, was the Beaver Cleaver and the rest of our little fleet.

I had to warn them, the fleet was flying low over the forest, using the mountainous rise around the tower as cover, but that also probably meant that they couldn’t see the pirate ships returning to the tower.

But no, baron first.

I ran across the rooftop, and the baron saw me coming. “Hurry up!” he shouted before he grabbed a knife from within his doublet and slashed at one of the cords that was serving as an anchor. The ship tilted to the side and the harpy with the baron squawked.

One of them, thinking quick, pulled on a lever and the other cords snapped off, leaving the ship mostly free. It started to rise even though its balloon still seemed a little under-inflated. Then the engine started up and the tubes filling the bag popped out of their holes.

The entire ship lurched forwards and over the side of the tower. Somehow, it was still rising despite the very early departure.

I reached the edge of the tower, planted a foot on one of the crenulations, and jumped.

I didn’t exactly have a plan, but I figured it was as good a time as any to wing it.

The baron seemed quite proud of himself for his escape, at least until I crashed onto the side of his ship. Weedbane hooked onto the ship’s railing and my feet thumped into the hull, absorbing some of the impact of my hit.

I glanced down for just a second, then refocused on hanging on. There was a long, long drop below.

Then the baron’s face appeared above me. “You are a fool to even try to fight us, Captain. History will remember you only as an inconvenience.”

“Uh, aren’t you the bad guy?” I asked.

“There is no evil in setting the world aright! If it is necessary to use force to do so, then force must be used!” he declared.

I was about to point out that that sounded pretty textbook evil when the baron planted a taloned foot on my scythe and pushed. I scrambled up, grabbing the edge and planted a foot on the ship’s hull so that I could climb onto the deck.

Vonowl didn’t stop his monologue and I was too busy to interrupt. “You’re about to learn why the harpy are superior, though it won’t be a lesson that’ll stick for more than a few long seconds, I’m afraid.”

I hissed as his talons came racing down for my hand and I let go of the ship. I could reposition, but I couldn’t regrow fingers. Then Vonowl swept down and, with a grunt, grabbed Weedbane by the sides of its blade and shoved it back and off the side of the ship.

I had a moment to feel everything in my tummy lurch before the ship started to fall upwards and away from me.

I might have screamed a little.

Then someone rammed into me from the side and my vision was filled with blonde hair and buzzing fairy wings. “You’re heavy!” Caprica complained into my ear.

Oh, right, I had friends who could fly.

I took a moment to breathe in and try to stifle my adrenaline, then I shrunk myself to make it easier for Caprica to sylphhandle me back onto the top of the tower where I was greeted by Amaryllis who smacked me upside the head.

I probably deserved that.

***