What A Woman's Got To Do: 8
"I say ye're a pack o' thieving villains."
"Well, yes. Isn't that the whole point, here?"
Isaac sighed. Shaeric ideas of negotiation frustrated him, and this pirate captain with guns for sale seemed determined to waste every possible second with pointless insults. Isaac decided to remain peaceable and teach this half-witted foreigner how civilized people handled business deals.
He looked over at the captain's surly, snarling crew of hard-bitten warriors and allowed to himself that there might be other motivations for remaining peaceable.
"So! Ye admit it, ye no-good miscreant!"
Isaac groaned.
"Yes. I'm a thief. I'm a pirate. I'm a criminal. Untrustworthy and short-tempered and violent and cruel. That's me."
"Well, why did ye no say so afore? Welcome aboard!"
"I hate this country."
Although Isaac had muttered the last quietly, Elena heard and stepped forward quickly to distract the pirate captain with one of her rare smiles.
"How kind, sir. Our mutual friend Phelan O'Breen has told us you may have some guns that would be suitable for our ship."
"Aye, I may, I may, lassie. Aye."
The captain, with a lecherous grin, wrapped a wiry arm around Elena's waist and guided the Saijadani woman across his deck. The rest of the visiting group, Isaac, Nevid and Etienne, followed warily, surrounded by the pirate crew.
Arrafin sat on the deck of the Wavereaver alongside, reviewing notes in her spellbook, tapping idly at pages as the sea breeze tugged at their corners. Gral sat on her shoulder, looking around in wide-eyed curiousity as the crew carried on with their duties.
The Naridic girl looked up as Hsiao, the Lohanese woman who had joined them in Farroway, sat on the deck beside her, arranging grey robes carefully. Hsiao bowed.
"Arrafin. May I ask what you are reading?"
"It's my book. Spellbook. I'm just checking some formulas and things."
"It's beautiful. Where did you get it?"
"It was a. A gift."
"You taught yourself sorcery, I understand. That must have been very difficult."
"Well. A little. I've made some. Mistakes."
"Of course. Sorcery is very dangerous."
Arrafin forgot about her journal and leaned forward.
"You do sorcery? But I never see any Shadow around you."
Hsiao bowed again.
"There is a technique. It is not fool-proof, and it is very dangerous, but it allows one to reduce the spread of Shadow when drawing energy for a spell."
"Really? Show me."
Hsiao smiled as she bowed yet again.
*****
"Well, ye've got money enough, I can tell ye that. And O'Breen speaks for ye, and he's an old mate of my own. So let's close this deal, d'ye no think?"
Captain Hollirihan's syntax confused Isaac but Nevid just nodded calmly.
"Yes, sir. Will your crew assist in swaying the guns aboard? My associates and I will ensure the coin is delivered to your stateroom."
"Aye, the lads will see to it."
The captain waved to one of his mates and the crew erupted in activity around their table on the stern deck. Elena looked over where Arrafin and Hsiao seemed to be intense conversation, and considered if she had enough of a run to make the jump over to the other ship.
She looked up as Hollirihan's hand took hold of her arm again.
"Now lass, d'ye sing? Or is it dancing for ye?"
Elena looked over at Isaac, horrified.
"Save me."
*****
In the hold of the Wavereaver, darkness vomited forth yet more darkness, black tendrils spilling outwards. From the shadows emerged three figures swathed entirely in black, only their hard eyes glinting with any sort of colour. The figures gripped tiny vials in their hands and without any sign to each other, all three split up and headed for different companionways to the decks above.
*****
"See? You store the value here, and then to retrieve it you call this..."
"Oh, my God. You could use this in so many other ways."
Arrafin stared at the notes Hsiao had made in her journal, mind racing. The Lohanese woman blinked.
"Well. I suppose. In any event, for our purposes, you can use this to restrict the Gudhalajaray Field Expansion."
"Of course! You just pass that value in each time, and the Gudhalajaray Field Expansion becomes arithmetic rather than logarithmic. That's amazing!"
Arrafin snatched the pencil from Hsiao's hand and started making notes.
"But look, couldn't you iterate HERE instead? The Chuon Limit won't change with each pass, so why not drop it from the loop? Look, look. That's easier."
Hsiao stared.
"What?"
"What are you doing?"
"Just. Some ideas. Notes. That would work, wouldn't it?"
"You can't just invent the rules of magic, Arrafin."
"I'm not inventing anything. This is according to the rules. Look at it."
"No. This is heresy."
"Heresy? Huh?"
Hsiao stood and stalked away. Arrafin frowned, chewing on her pencil as she watched the woman leave. Then she shrugged and looked back down at the equations in her journal. Her curls fell around her as she leaned forward to make an adjustment.
Gral gave every sign of reading along with her.
*****
"Oi. Who's that?"
Mercado called out, then gurgled and pitched forward down the steep stairs, clutching at the gaping wound across his throat.
Before his body had reached the steps below, the blackclad figure responsible for his sudden death leapt out of the hatchway and huddled on the deck.
Another figure popped out of a sternward hatchway, and then another appeared up by the bow. They glanced at each other, then nodded and hurled their vials to the deck. The glass shattered, and ill-looking smoke began immediately to boil up from the shards.
"What the hell?"
Everyone on both ships turned in confusion as smoke billowed up from the deck of the Wavereaver. Only Phelan, chatting with Natacha at the bow of the ship, understood what the smoke meant. He leapt to his feet, hollering.
"Demons! Demons! Grab yer weapons and make ready to fight!"
An entire pirate crew drew their swords, pistols, axes and whatever assorted weaponry they preferred. Those that doubted Phelan's sudden cry were convinced as towering, skeletal figures leered out of the smoke and launched into their midst.
Talons lashed and spat blood. Men died.
"Elena," shouted Isaac as he fired both his pistols at the nearest monster, "Get Farouk on the job!"
Even before he'd finished his sentence the handsome Naridic warrior had appeared and leapt gracefully towards the same demon Isaac had just shot. Claws met blade and mortals scattered out of the way.
Elena stared.
"What the hell is going on? What are those things?"
One of the creatures leapt onto the pirate ship and tore wildly into the crew. Men screamed and scrambled away.
Isaac dropped his pistols and drew his sword. He saw Etienne high up in the rigging already.
"How does he do that? He's like a little pink monkey."
The third demon came straight for them. Elena sent powerful blasts at it, shaking apart planks beneath its feet, staggering it but not stopping it. The thing came on.
"I don't know but they obviously don't like us."
Isaac shoved Elena behind him, but froze as a slight, curly-haired figure scrambled up behind the monster.
"Arrafin, get out of here! Don't!"
The Naridic girl threw both hands at the demon and darkness swirled up around her. The creature lurched, turned and then convulsed as its chest exploded outwards in a gory spray. Its heart (or some nondescript chunk of flesh, Isaac mused, uncertain if these things even had hearts) sailed through the air like a ruby comet, slapping into Arrafin's hands.
"Holy crap."
Arrafin swayed, nearly collapsing to the deck of the Wavereaver. The beast she'd just killed pitched over the side and collided with the surface of the sea in a flat smacking splash.
Then Isaac noticed the three dark figures back on the other ship, where Arrafin was. Drawing knives and closing in on the Naridic girl.
"No!"
He sprang forward, only to find himself confronted with the angry pirate crew. In the confusion, they'd started attacking anyone unfamiliar, and he had defend himself against multiple opponents.
"Arrafin! Nevid, help Arrafin!"
The half-Kishak heard Isaac's cry, took in the situation, and nodded. He leapt from the rigging of the pirate ship across to a hanging rope on the Wavereaver, swinging down towards where Arrafin staggered backwards from the dark assassins. He landed nearly on top of one, rolled and drew his knives.
Etienne was used to surprise and sneak attacks, and mainly to fighting people who weren't. He immediately realised that wasn't the case here, and his knives flashed in quick patterns as the assassin struck at him with blinding speed. Etienne had to retreat, fending off one deadly blow after another.
Arrafin reached the edge of the Wavereaver's deck, still half-dazed from the powerful spell she'd just cast. All around the world seemed full of shrieks and violence. Blades clashed, creatures roared and wooden timbers thundered at sudden impacts.
The two figures closing in on her moved in silence, however, knives held out. She frowned, realising something.
"You're Kishaks. What do you want with us?"
She had nowhere to go. The assassins came forward. She could hear Isaac and Elena yelling, and beyond these killers she could see Etienne fighting for his life against a third. Her back to the rail, she risked a look over the side.
The water looked like a long way down. And she couldn't swim.
Looking back up, she saw Hsiao, Kho and the third Lohanese warrior, the one with the big sword, standing and watching. Watching her last moments with great interest, though making no move to defend her.
Maybe Nevid would help her? Arrafin snorted at the idea. Wherever Nevid was, he was no hero.
She tried to draw on Shadow but she had nothing left. She'd prepared so little and was already exhausting from slaying the first creature.
"Alright."
She'd have to jump. They were closing in but still too far to be able to stop her. Arrafin hefted her bag on her shoulder, then realised that if she jumped with the bag, her notes and books would be ruined.
"Oh, crap."
She dropped the bag, closed her eyes and turned to leap over the deck. And found something tall and utterly unyeilding in her way. Arrafin opened her eyes and found Yuek Man Chong standing beside her.
"Darling. Just a moment."
An elegant hand gestured and both assassins blew apart, spraying blood and flesh everywhere. Madame Yuek took Arrafin's hands.
"Darling, I'm so sorry. I came as soon as I realised you were in danger."
"You. What?"
Arrafin pointed.
"You killed them."
"Yes, darling."
"My friends are still fighting. We have to help."
"I see. Which ones are your friends?"
"The ones that aren't eight feet tall and looking like vulture skeletons with claws and stingers."
"Very well."
The other demons died as messily as the assassins had. Madame Yuek smiled brightly.
"There we are. All better."
The last assassin, the one dueling with Etienne, suddenly realised he was alone and broke for the deck rail. Etienne tackled him.
The pirate crew gave up fighting altogether in the wake of the sudden sorcery. Isaac and Elena scrambled for their ship.
"Get away from her."
Madame Yuek's smile transformed into a glowering scowl.
"I saved your lives. I don't expect gratitude but let's have a little less of the idiotic attempts to order me around, shall we? We both know how that power struggle will end."
Arrafin saw the sudden intention on their faces, but the 83rd Dagger was faster than she could speak. All three of the Lohanese warriors were leaping at Madame Yuek before Arrafin could form a single syllable.
They died exactly as the other assassins had. Gore spattered over all the Wavereaver and its passengers.
Arrafin turned on the tall vampire.
"What are you doing?"
Madame Yuek frowned, rearing back in confusion.
"Saving your life."
"They weren't after me, they were after you. Because they think you're a murdering monster who slaughters entire villages. Who kills children that never hurt a soul. Who tortures and terrorizes an entire country so that nothing grows and nobody can live their anymore."
"Darling -- "
"Don't call me that! Just don't."
Arrafin stomped away and down the deck. Madame Yuek stood watching her go, then turned to the others. Elena held her sneer in check, but only just barely.
"You're very welcome. All of you."
Shadow erupted around her and Madame Yuek disappeared. Isaac and Elena studied the spot where she'd vanished for a few seconds, and then Isaac turned to his friend.
"What do you call that? Killing one bird with a couple dozen stones?"
