Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty - Pirate Property

The moment the Featherfall was at capacity, we drew the gangplank back and the ship’s crew, along with Squad C who were aboard, pulled the ship away from the tower and started to gain altitude.

Everyone on the roof had to hunker down a bit as the ship turned and its propeller wash blasted across the rooftop. The captain wasn’t playing around, and for good reason. The two pirate ships that had been lagging behind were closer now, only a kilometre or so away. Technically within the longest range a ballista could realistically be expected to hit a target if given a dozen shots or so.

“The Featherfall will be heading back over the forest and around,” Caprica shouted. “We don’t know if we’re going to have time to load up the Lunchbox.”

I winced. We still had about a quarter of the hostages left on the roof, not to mention most of our sylph soldiers.

“Then what do we do?” I asked.

Just then, there was a huge explosion from off to my side and I flinched back, arm rising to protect me from... nothing. The explosion wasn’t on our level.

Someone cheered, and I jogged to the edge of the roof and looked down.

The big pirate ship that had been tethered to the tower was going down. Its rearmost section with the engine and all was pouring smoke and flames, and I blinked as I noticed an entire desk wedged halfway into the topmost part of its balloon, through the tin armour plating covering it.

That wasn’t the only hole marking the top, though it looked as if most of the furniture we’d thrown down hadn’t done much more than dent the plating. I bet most of it just missed outright.

The two sylph frigates rumbled past the tower, both starting to gain altitude while they swung around towards the incoming ships.

“Okay,” Caprica said. “We’re bringing in the Lunchbox after all.” She turned to a nearby sylph who quickly raised some semaphore flags and started to guide the other cargo ship in.

The Beaver Cleaver meanwhile, moved up as well, stationing itself between the tower and the incoming pirates.

Things were... going alright. The ships we had were in decent shape all around. The pirate ships weren’t. One of them had limped all the way over here, even.

We had the numbers advantage, and for the moment, the pirates would have to fly to us. That was great. What wasn't so great was that the remaining pirate vessels outweighed and outgunned our frigates. They were coming right at us because they knew they would probably win.

The evacuation needed to pick up the pace so we could disengage and flee.

I ran to help as the Lunchbox came close enough to toss out ropes. As a group, we grabbed hold of them and pulled, bringing the ship in close enough that the gangplank could be extended out to the lip of the roof.

“Move!” a soldier shouted to the hostages.

The harpy hostages, who were mostly those in better shape, ran across the gangplank with very little heed to the fall. A line of sorts still formed though, bottlenecking us.

A distant set of thumps sounded out, and I looked over to see two bolts zipping past the pirate ships from our frigates. Two misses, but close ones, and the ships were already reloading.

“Squad B, get aboard!” Princess Caprica shouted.

“Princess--” one of her guards warned.

“I’m not leaving until everyone is safe and secured,” Caprica snapped back. “If you have energy to complain, then you have energy to help.”

Just then, a pair of sylph soldiers stumbled onto the rooftop from the roof access. They were both sporting fresh wounds. “The pirates are coming up, ma’am,” one of them said. “We need reinforcements down there.”

Caprica froze for a moment, then glared around. “Squad A, you’re the last out, go down, reinforce Paladin Bastion, but make it a fighting retreat to the roof. No heroics.”

A few sylph ran down the stairs, weapons out as they jumped to obey.

My friends and I glanced at each other, and we moved to the centre of the roof, where we’d be right there to meet anyone coming up from below. The next few people who came up were more sylph. Some bearing injuries, others looking tired and dishevelled.

I kept glancing over to the battle in the air nearby. The frigates were trading ranged fire with the pirate ships. They were faster, so they were basically doing huge figure-eights in the air while also coming closer to the tower. That meant that after one ballista fired, they’d turn around sharply and bring the ones on the other side to bear.

Magic sparked and snapped in the air between the ships. Shields of thickened air burst apart, tossing projectiles aside, and walls of pure magic appeared for a split second to absorb tossed spells.

For every ballista bolt fired, there were a dozen spells cast.

From what I knew of spell casting, the ballista bolts were probably still more effective. My spells, at least, tended to fall apart a short time after I released them, and they certainly couldn’t reach over a hundred metres while remaining entirely cohesive.

I winced as a coordinated set of spells from the lead pirate ship slipped around a magical shield and rammed into the hull of one of the sylph frigates. Red flames detonated along the steel hull plating -- where they passed, the once-pristine surface was left pockmarked and rusty.

Not enough to really hurt the ship, but a spell that strong... well, if it hit the main deck it could send sailors flying or rip apart the rigging. There were a lot of parts to an airship that the ship couldn’t afford to lose.

My attention snapped back to the moment as more soldiers barged onto the roof. This rush was a lot less organised than the previous ones. The soldiers didn’t all seem injured, though they were a lot more panicked.

Then Bastion emerged onto the rooftop, looking as calm and fresh as ever, though his sword’s length was stained in liquid red. “Form a half-circle,” he commanded. “We’re holding them off here. How long until the ship is loaded?”

I glanced back. The last of the hostages was getting aboard.

“We just need to load the soldiers on and we’ll be ready to go,” I said.

Bastion looked my way, then nodded. “Good. Everyone, on the ship! Get moving!”

“Will there be room for everyone?” Awen asked.

“I don’t think that matters right now,” Amaryllis said.

Boots clunked across the rooftop and sylph took to the air, flying aboard the ship even as the last hostage was helped across the gangplank and the wooden board was pulled back. I wasn’t worried for myself and my friends, we could ask for someone to carry us over in a pinch.

Everyone started across the rooftop, even Bastion who was walking backwards along with a group of sylph, so we were nearly at the ship when the pirates burst through the doors.

I heard Calamity's arrow whip past my head. The lead pirate attempted to evade but was a hair too slow; he was struck in the neck and crashed to the floor.

The next one leapt over him, but was caught in midair by Amaryllis' thunderbolt. He stumbled on landing and Awen nailed him with her crossbow.

These weren't the same brand of pirate as those we'd captured in the tower, though.

The third pirate slapped Calamity's next arrow out of the air, took another step, and was almost cut down by a beam of gold mana -- but the fourth pirate did something to disrupt it.

They were pouring onto the roof now, each one bigger, burlier, healthier than the pirates we'd seen before. I didn't have time to check all their levels, but glancing at a few revealed that they seemed a match for any of our own sylph soldiers.

The pirates spread out, advancing across the rooftop under our barrage of arrows, bolts, and spellfire. Sweat and blood stained their forms, but they advanced relentlessly, shielding and returning fire as they were able.

“Princess, get onto the ship,” Bastion said.

“Not until you do,” Caprica said.

Bastion half-turned and locked eyes with Caprica. “Princess... no, Caprica. Allow me to overstep and say that... excuse me--"

One of the pirates lunged across the distance between us, momentarily blurring out of my perception. Bastion whirled and slashed out, sending the pirate--with a jagged cut across his leg--sprawling across the tower.

Bastion turned back to Caprica. "--As I was saying, I am incredibly impressed by what you've done today." He caught a thrown knife and threw it back. "I will be far less impressed if you die because you were too stubborn to get on that ship.Don’t make me throw you onboard.”

Caprica flushed, and for a moment I thought she might just refuse out of principle. Then I touched her shoulder. “Head on over. We’ll be fine,” I said. “I can just jump over.”

“Right,” she said before turning.

Her royal guards let out twin sighs of relief and followed her across the gap to the Lunchbox.

Even as my allies retreated to the ship, they kept firing, holding back the pirates as much as possible. My own fireballs didn't do much against foes at the level of ability, but I cast anyway.

The pirates had forced us up to the edge of the tower now. Only a few soldiers remained to escape, but we were practically in close combat now and it was looking like we may not be able to disengage.

I was caught off guard when the pressure from the pirates suddenly let up. The pirate mass parted down the middle, making room for a new figure to step up.

Immediately, I knew that this was Commodore Megumi, the Sky Killer, even if they didn’t quite match what I imagined.

She was a handsome twenty-something woman, with wind-tousled blonde hair and pale brown eyes. Her long, pirate captain’s coat was open at the front, and it seemed as if Commodore Megumi was a bit more comfortable with exposing skin than I was.

“Well well,” she said as she reached up and adjusted her hat. It was an alright hat. A proper pirate’s hat made of red felt and with a skull and crossbones stitched on one side. She didn’t look too strange beyond the pirate costume, but somehow I still felt nervous looking at her. The way Bastion tensed didn’t help any. He hadn’t seemed worried about all of the other pirates in the same way he was worried about the Commodore. “So, you’re the little rats who have invaded my home?”

I glanced at my friends, then back. “Um, I guess so. But really, you did kidnap a bunch of people, so it’s only fair that we free them.”

The commodore grinned, and the pirates around her edged back. “Cute,” she said. Her eyes scanned me up and down. “A Cinnamon Bun Bun... a young woman with rabbit ears and not a single clue in her skull. You can only be Broccoli Bunch.”

“You know me?” I asked. I felt strangely flattered.

“I’ve heard of you,” she said. “You’re the one who caused all that trouble for Rainnewt.”

“So, you do know Rainnewt,” I said.

She grinned. “In passing, yes. If you expect to trick any secrets out of me, I’m afraid I won’t make it quite so easy. Rainnewt is the one with the penchant towards monologuing. I’m a little more down-to-earth.”

“That’s okay,” I said. “Different strokes.”

Commodore Megumi grinned. “I hadn’t heard that one in a while,” she said.

“Broccoli, what is she saying?” Amaryllis asked.

I didn’t dare glance back. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what language is that?” she asked.

“Uh, I don’t know?” I said. It sounded normal to me. But then, now that I was paying attention... had we been talking in English?

“Oh? So, that’s one secret out of the bag. Oh well.”

“You’re a riftwalker?” I asked.

She shrugged. “As are you. Though it shouldn’t be a surprise. In a world such as this one, those of us from elsewhere have the greatest potential to disrupt the existing order and thrive.” She gestured to the pirates around her. “Look at this rabble. They’re hardly impressive specimens. It’s rare that you’ll find anyone worth your time. We, I think, are the exception.”

“Is this the part where you ask me to join your side?” I asked. This was feeling like familiar ground again, at least.

She chuckled. “Would you say yes?”

“Yes,” I said.

Commodore Megumi stared at me, processed what I’d said, then squinted. “Wait, what?”

***