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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 1988443" data-attributes="member: 63">Episode Five: The Bigger Man, Section V“<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />,” Babb said.  “That’s Lacy and Al down there.”David ran to the edge of the railing to see the battle between the two ships, as did everyone within earshot.  Tri’ni leapt up onto the railing, holding onto a rigging line for balance.She shook her head in surprise.  She could just barely make out the shouts of the mage on the attacking ship, and a moment later she spotted who he must be talking to, another mage with white hair.  She unclasped her cloak and started untying the bond on her dagger.“Trin,” Babb said, seeing what she was doing.  “Dammit, don’t tell me you’re about to-”She left enough twine on her dagger to keep it in its sheath when she was swimming.  “We need to help.  Come on!”Babb looked down at his full suit of armor.  “I’ll catch up.”Tri’ni blew a quick huff, then took a deep breath.  She leapt from the deck of Wayfarer’s Theater to cheers.*    *    *Lacy thought she heard cheering in the distance as Allar spun to the deck to dodge the magical projectile.  His leap was magnificent, his body a wonder to behold as he spun out of the way of the attack, his reflexes reacting so quickly Lacy hardly saw the attack before Allar was on the deck, out of harm’s way.  Unfortunately, this left Lacy in the projectile’s path, and she could not react fast enough.  The shards of ice slammed into her chest, tearing across her leather armor and knocking her to the deck.  For a moment, all she could do was lie stunned with the wind knocked out of her.  She slowly pushed herself up enough to see the fight, but she could barely move otherwise.“Hey!” was Hunter’s only exclamation as he began to cast a spell back at Chesteval.With Allar down, the warriors on the other ship leapt across the narrow gap and rushed toward Hunter, but Allar kicked out and tripped one of the men, then shoved off the deck with his free hand, slashing at a second man.  The man parried with an awkward block, and the black scimitar cut through his sword like water.  If Allar had not stopped in surprise he would have cut into the man as well.  Suddenly deprived of a sword, the man screamed and staggered backward, tripping over the railing and into the water.Hunter swung a hand to try to capsize the attackers with a sudden wave, but Chesteval countered his spell, laughing deeply.  A moment later Arthur snapped his fingers and flames burst around the enemy mage, igniting his clothes.  Chesteval shouted in pain for a moment, but then he reversed his counterspell against Hunter, and the wave crashed higher, over the deck and over him, putting out the flames.Arthur grumbled and took cover behind a bench, while Hunter hopped over the side of the boat and simply stood on the surface of the water, out of reach of swords.  Lacy weakly pressed a hand to her chest and healed herself, then staggered to her feet.  The attack had torn loose part of her breastplate, leaving an undershirt as her only armor over her heart.  She wanted to try to fix it, but she could see Allar was being pressed, and she struggled to ready her sword.At the gap between the two ships, Allar was back on his feet, whirling his sword back to front, trying to fend off two from one direction and the one who had slipped past him.  The warrior to his back chopped for Allar’s shoulder, and Allar dodged to the side; but then the two to his front attacked separately from high and low, and Allar had to parry the high chop down to block the low slash, binding the three weapons for a moment.Pivoting on one foot, Allar ducked under a slash from the man behind him, then grabbed his arm and pulled him close.  Allar slammed his knee into the man’s stomach, then wrenched his scimitar free from the three-weapon bind in the other direction.  He heaved his weight into the man behind him, and they fell to the deck together.  The two other warriors leapt after them and stabbed down at Allar, but he rolled their ally’s body above him as a shield, and their blades pierced his back.Allar tossed the slumping body away and kicked backward awkwardly, slapping aside the blades that chased him as he tried to stand up.  He finally found his footing beside Lacy, and he smiled sheepishly to her.  The two warriors before them hesitated for a moment, but then one gestured to Lacy, leering at the tear in the armor over her breasts.Lacy pouted briefly at the warriors, then straightened as tall as she could, so her shoulders were at the warriors’s eye level.  She thrust out with her sword at one of the men, and though the blow was parried, the warrior left himself open to Allar.  A moment later the man’s arm lay severed on the deck.Hunter, Chesteval, and Arthur were exchanging insults, though Lacy was having trouble following them all.  Chesteval had deflected or countered several of Arthur’s fire spells, so the pyromancer was now focusing his power at the few warriors who had not yet made it to the boat Lacy was on.  Flames blazed across them, and they took the easy road to safety, leaping into the harbor.Hunter and Chesteval fired blasts of water, crashing waves, or streams of acid back and forth at each other, but neither water mage had any trouble avoiding, counterspelling, or ignoring the attacks.  Unhappily, Hunter began to run across the water toward the back of Chesteval’s boat.  As he passed a warrior who was struggling to keep afloat, Hunter dropped down, plunged an arm through the surface of the water, and pulled forth a dagger from the warrior’s sheath.“A simple blade, Hunter?” Chesteval mocked.  “You so easily abandon your magic.  This proves that I am the better water mage!”Chesteval hurled a sphere of ice at Hunter, which he casually dispelled.  Hunter knelt low beside the warrior struggling to keep afloat, and pressed the dagger to his throat.  To the warriors still on the boat, he shouted, “Hey!  If you don’t want your friend to die, you’d better turn around and attack that <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> who hired you.”Lacy almost cheered, which nearly earned her a sword in the chest.  Allar leapt in the way and batted the blade aside, then lunged and slashed at the warrior, cutting into his chest.  The man fell away gurgling.Allar shouted, “I don’t think these guys are actually friends.”“Dammit,” Hunter said.He was about to stand up when he cried out.  Lacy turned and saw a dark-skinned arm reaching up out of the water, stabbing a dagger into Hunter’s thigh.  A moment later, Tri’ni surfaced, brandishing the dagger at Hunter.“Let the man go,” she commanded, sputtering water.The warrior Hunter had at knife point screamed and looked up desperately at Hunter.  “Hey!  She’s not with me.  Don’t kill me.”“Tri’ni,” Lacy shouted, “he’s on our side.  Don’t . . . don’t stab him again.”Tri’ni looked at Lacy with confusion, not noticing that Chesteval was performing an elaborate spell.  There were still four warriors between Lacy and the enemy mage, so all she could do was shout a warning.  The water around Tri’ni and Hunter began to swirl and dip, and when Hunter tried to counter the spell he shook his hand and shrieked in pain as Tri’ni’s Elvish aura disrupted his magic.The sudden whirlpool sucked the hapless warrior Hunter had been threatening under the surface, and Tri’ni was struggling to stay afloat.  Still standing on the now sinking surface of the water, Hunter grabbed Tri’ni’s arm and yanked her up and onto his shoulder, then sprinted for cover behind Lacy and Allar.  He dumped her bodily onto the boat, then slumped, clutching his bleeding thigh.“Hey there,” he said, smiling to Tri’ni.  He offered his hand.  “Hunter Elrad.  You a friend of theirs?”“Sorry,” Tri’ni said.“Now’s not the time,” Allar called back to them, working to parry attacks against both himself and Lacy.The remaining four warriors were now on the ferry, pressing close to Lacy and Allar.  The boat was only wide enough for two people to fight abreast, but one of the opposing warriors leaned over the side of the boat, grabbed hold of one of the thick vertical poles that held a lantern, and swung over the water to go around Allar and flank him.  Allar tried to slash at the pole to dump the man into the water, but he was a moment too slow, and the warrior came down with his sword on Allar’s back, cutting deep.Lacy cried out when she saw Allar struck, and she turned to try to heal him, leaving herself open.  The warrior she had been fighting grabbed her left arm and tried to plunge his sword into her throat, but suddenly Hunter leapt across the deck and slammed into the man’s legs, knocking him down.  Lacy shook free of his grasp, but she had to swing at a different warrior to keep Hunter from getting stabbed in the back.  Hunter slammed his knee repeatedly into the groin of the warrior he had tackled, then grabbed the man and dragged him overboard.Allar was still struggling to defend himself despite a gash in his back, and he maneuvered around the warrior who had attacked him, making sure the man was facing away from Tri’ni.  A moment later the man gurgled in pain and clutched at a dagger in his back.  Allar and Tri’ni nervously nodded to each other, and then they both turned to lend aid to Lacy.There were only two warriors left standing, and Arthur, still unharmed from the entire combat, casually clapped his hands and brought down a wave of flame upon them from the sky.  Screaming from the flames, the men jumped overboard.Alone on the other boat, Chesteval shook his fist at them.“Your allies have won you this fight, Hunter, but next-”“Shut up,” Hunter shouted.  “Maybe you wouldn’t be running if you hired some competent allies.  And hire someone to write a good villainous speech for you next time!” Chesteval turned away pompously.  A fog began to rise up from the sea, and they watched the hidden shape of Chesteval’s boat retreat under cover.  Arthur ran to the aft of the ferry, comfortably ignoring the flames he had created there.“After him,” the fire mage said.  “I bet he’d love to have his house burned down.”When no one supported his suggestion, he glanced back, and the disappointment on his face was clear.“Sorry folks,” Hunter said, turning to the rest of the passengers and crew, huddled at the front of the ferry.  “Gimme a minute to drag these guys out of the water, and we can all get back to the safety of dry land.  You can stop screaming in terror now.”Hunter stepped out onto the water, then turned to look at Lacy.“Nicely done,” he said, flashing a smile.  “You’re the kind of woman I always wished I could adventure with.”Lacy beamed, but as soon as Hunter turned away, she quickly moved beside Allar to heal him.  She knelt and smiled weakly to him, then reached for his wound.  He touched her hand, then cupped it in his other hand.“Are you alright?” he asked.  “Heal your own wounds first.”She laughed.  “You’re even worse off than me.  Romance can wait until when you’re not bleeding.”“Romance?” Allar stammered.  “I . . . well, yeah, I suppose it can.”She put a finger to her lips to quiet him, then moved her hand to his back.  She whispered, “Be still.  This will probably hurt us both.”</blockquote>

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