A Soldier's Life - 257 - I Never Really Liked Sushi

Chapter 257: I Never Really Liked Sushi

The churning water on the stern split as the school of sharks moved to encircle the Shorebreaker. The mages had stopped calming the water, and our ship now rose and fell as it crashed through the waves after our failed attempt to outrun the swarm. Maveith lamented about having lost his bow as I released my first arrow. The large dorsal fin was fifty yards away, but I misjudged the ship's movement and overshot my target. By chance, the arrow thudded into the fin of another shark.

Desdemona hissed at me, “Don’t waste your arrows on the sharks! Save them for the fishmen.” I was about to say I couldn’t see the fishmen when I noticed the light reflecting oddly on the swelling water. Just below the churning surface, the drab green humanoids swam in mass. Fuck, there were a lot of them, and more sharks were interspersed among them just below the surface.

A foolish sahuagin was almost cresting the surface near the ship, and I quickly put an arrow into it. It spun away quickly, disappearing into the dark depths of the sea. Both the arrows I had released had the Hound bleeding toxin on them and should kill their targets in time. Maybe it was too much to hope that the sharks would go into a feeding frenzy as well due to the bleeding.

Other archers and crossbowmen started to release their arrows and bolts, as once they started boarding, the bows would be useless. My next two arrows failed to land, one missing a shark high and the other I misjudged how deep one of the sahuagin was beneath the surface.

Maveith’s voice cut my concentration. “Why haven’t they attacked?”

“They are either planning to sink us or, more likely, waiting for all their warriors to get in position to rush us at once from all sides. They may be feral creatures, but they are not stupid,” Desdemona said angrily as she watched the sea devils taunting us below the waves. Desdemona walked the deck to encourage her crew and while I continued to consume my supply of arrows.

When I was out of both my Hound and Pathfinder arrows, I produced the two lesser runic swords I had taken from First Citizen Boris’ mercenaries, handing one to Isaak and the other to Leoch. They took the blades with a surprised nod of thanks, but the grimness on their face told me they doubted that we would live through is. Another sailor I didn’t know barked a warning, “If they are not trying to sink us, they will attack the sails first.”

His forewarning manifested moments later. The large sahuagin riding the shark behind us raised a trident coated in flames in the air and flung it at our sails. The trident flashed over one hundred yards in a blink, and where it tore through our sail, splashing unnatural fire across it. The magical fire quickly spread before slowing, but leaving a sizable hole in the primary sail.

The sail rippled and whipped loudly signaling the loss of speed. I soon felt it as the deck lurch beneath my feet as we slowed. Dozens of bone grappling hooks started to appear along our rails. As the crew moved to hack the grappling lines, the sahuagin surfaced and flung spears from the water at those braving to cut them. Very few crew had arrows left to attack the exposed targets.

A focused Desdemona screamed an order, “Now, Lasho!”

Lasho was the mage who specialized in calming the waters around the Shorebreaker. He weaved a complex spell form a few feet from me. Loud cracking sounds erupted around the ship, giving me hope, but the ship rapidly slowed further. I went to the edge of the railing and dodged a spear, but I still managed to peek overboard. Ice was spreading from the hull outward. Some fishmen were trapped in the ice, and others had lost the lines attached to the grappling hooks.

“Lasho get below deck!” Desdemona yelled as she made to cut a grappling line. Lasho was weak on his feet from the massive aether expenditure, and I wondered if he had burned his channels from looking at him.

I moved along the stern, flicking my wrist and cutting the grapples with my dimensional space. Since I was performing this from almost ten feet away, my gesture was intended to conceal exactly how I accomplished the feat. A fish head appeared over the rail, and I raced forward to decapitate it with the black blade. The head rolled onto the deck, the body fell back into the water, but another head appeared to my right. Maveith’s hammer came down with a grunt. The head of the sahuagin burst like a watermelon, covering us in fishy-smelling shrapnel. I spit something out of my mouth, “I really don’t like sushi.”

“What is sushi?” Maveith questioned the unfamiliar word as his hammer came down again. This time, I used his body as a shield before I was splattered again.

“Raw fish, Maveith,” I answered as I reached out and cut two more grappling lines in succession with my dimensional space.

“I agree. Raw fish is too chewy. But why are we talking about food in the middle of a fight?” Maveith said as he dodged a net from below. The net was meant to entangle so the victim could be pulled back over the railing. As the net started to be dragged across the deck, I cut the attached line with my dimensional space so Maveith didn’t get tripped or entangled.

Cries of battle were all around us, and the chaos only escalated. The pitched battle for the ship was confusing, and I was cutting fishmen down, slicing nets, and cutting grappling lines as fast as I could. The reassuring presence of Maveith at my side moved with me. I cast an air shield to intercept a net targeting me and looked at the rest of the ship.

The ice ring was working, and only a few fish creatures managed to board and were quickly dispatched. Although they were bipedal, their webbed appendages hampered their movement. More and more of the nets were being cast blindly in hopes of snaring the crew.

One crewman had his arm tangled and was being dragged across the deck. I leaped off the stern castle to the lower deck and cut the line with my blade at the railing. I continued my momentum to cut another of the fishmen climbing aboard. The deck briefly shook as Maveith landed nearby. My tall shadow wasn’t going to be separated from me.

Together, we made our way down the port side, clearing sahuagin and grappling lines. Although they were not coming fast, there seemed to be an endless supply of the fishy creatures. I could tell Desdemona’s crew was slowly losing. At least four had fallen to spears, and another four were too injured to fight. The injured crew moved to the center of the deck being defended by others. The ship healing mage was unable to attend to them.

I shouted, “Healing potions!” I slid a handful of the Pathfinder potions across the deck toward the injured and the turned back to the fight.

Desdemona had remained on the stern and was fighting alongside her first mate, Isaak, and three other crewmen. We had bought ourselves a little breathing room as the grapples stopped coming, and the sea devils were forced to climb the hull. It was a much slower process for them than climbing with the aid of the grappling line.

Our wind mage, Vodoma, was using something like my air discs to help defend her crewmates, and Maveith and I briefly protected her rear while the injured crew recovered with my potions. Someone shouted, “Help in the bow!”

“Got it!” I grunted after gutting a fishman. I moved off the port toward the bow as two larger sahuagin with four arms had just climbed aboard. The pair quickly overwhelmed the lone crewman, and one held their victim while the other bit into the hapless man’s neck. The needle teeth cut easily into the flesh, and blood sprayed as he tore the sailor open.

“If they have eight arms between them, does that make them an octopus?” I asked aloud.

Maveith’s deep and winded voice behind me answered, “I don’t think so.” I didn’t have time to shake my head as I reached the pair, with Maveith’s heavy steps resounding reassuringly behind me in support. My target was the one feasting on the now-dead crewman.

Its partner tried to protect my target, imposing itself in my path. The abomination stood as tall as Maveith and raised two spears in its upper arms while the lower pair prepared for me with bone daggers. If it hadn’t been so windy, I would have been able to use my pellets. My air shield deflected his first spear attack, and my blade the other. I remained out of reach of his daggers as I removed one of his spear arms in an upward slash.

As the arm flew away, the sharp scream drew its brethren’s attention to our fight. Its pained, foul cry was ended as Maveith’s hammer descended on its chest, sinking in with a squelch.

My aether shield flashed as a fiery trident deflected away from me in a flash of fire. The same sahuagin who had ignited the primary sail had thrown it from the water and was riding his mammoth shark below the bow. Even now, the sail still burned above as ash floated in the air around us.

The four-armed fish man used the distraction of the leader to attack my side. Maveith barked a warning but couldn’t help in time. My black blade got around to deflect the first spear while my hand slapped away the other spear. An air shield blocked one of the daggers, but the bastard got its fourth arm around my defense. The dagger punched into my rib cage. My leather Adventurer armor only gave brief resistence, and my spider silk shirt underneath aided in minimizing penetration.

“Argh!” Maveith yelled as the head of his hammer thrust straight out over my shoulder, shattering the bloody, sharp teeth of the creature and continuing out the back of its head.

These two four-armed devils were clearly some of the strongest of the sahuagin swarm, and we had taken them out easily enough. They had probably been waiting for us to be softened up before joining the assault. The scream of rage from the shark-riding large sahuagin had me pause to take everything in.

Another trident was being handed to him from the water. Dozens of bodies of fishmen and crew were strewn across the deck while fighting still raged. I interposed an air shield as the fiery trident approached, stopping it, and causing a wave of heat and flame to pass over me. I gave the fishman leader the finger even though he didn’t know what it meant.

I looked for where I could help the most. Back in the stern, Desdemona was fighting alone and looked about to be overwhelmed. “Maveith, hold the bow!” I didn’t wait for him to respond as I raced down the length of the ship to help Desdemona. The deck was coated with a layer of thick blood, and I slid more than ran to the captain’s aid. My side was almost healed as I cut a net to free a crew member on the way.

Three large nets appeared over the stern, two of them catching Desdemona. They immediately became taught and started dragging her to the railing. She ditched her sword for two daggers on her belt and furiously tried to cut herself free, but she had no chance of succeeding in time. I vaulted up to the stern castle off a crate and slammed into the railing to stop my momentum. My blade came down, cutting the two lines attached to the nets.

I winked at Desdemona as a spear pierced my back. Damn it, no good deed goes unpunished. I moved away from the stern and fell to my knees. I looked down, and it had punched through my gut. Isaak was holding close a massive gash as blood coated his hands. I reached in my belt and tossed him some Pathfinder healing potions. “Healing potions,” I muttered, my throat parched.

“What about you?” He rasped as he fumbled on the deck slick with blood for the vials.

“Just a flesh wound,” I rasped in some pain. I cut the back of the spear with my dimensional space and gritted my teeth as I pulled the remained of the spear out through my chest. My sense of humor was lost on Isaak as he looked on in shock. Annoyingly, the adventurer armor wasn’t cooperating, making the process more difficult. I wish it had made the process more difficult going in, rather than coming out. I took a Hound healing potion as I tried to stand. I was very shaky from blood loss as both the potion and my healing spell form worked on closing the injury.

I leaned on the mast for support as I looked over the carnage. Desdemona had not freed herself yet from the two nets, and a sahuagin was about to reach her. She was too far away to reach her in time, and I didn’t know where my black blade was. The black spear appeared in my hand, and I flung it weakly at the fish man. It had been instinctual, and I thought at the last moment: shit, I better not miss.

The spear pierced the creature, and it fell onto the struggling captain. Her head jerked toward me, and I gave her a slight nod as I focused on healing. That spear had done a significant amount of damage. The sahuagin looked to have exhausted themselves now, as very few were climbing on deck. At least a dozen crew members were still fighting. Maveith stood defiantly in the bow with a half dozen bodies around him, including the large one who had been tossing the flaming tridents.

I took a step, testing myself as I moved to help Desdemona free herself. She was covered in blood and gore from rolling around the deck. “Need a healing potion? Are you wounded?” I asked as I assisted.

She looked me in the eyes and then down at the bloody hole in my armor. “Nothing urgent.” She said with respect and gratitude in her eyes.

Isaak was now standing, “Maveith took down the prince. It has broken their spirit, and the rest are moving away to protect their queen.” He was pointing as the shark-infested water was moving away from the ship.

I retrieved my black spear and made it disappear to Desdemona’s wide eyed shock. I found my black blade among the bodies and body parts, and I took the stairs instead of jumping off the stern deck this time to help clean up the mess. Only a few chortling injured sahuagin were alive, and I silenced them.

Maveith came over to me, and he had a half dozen minor injuries and was covered in sahuagin guts and his own blood. He had a massive grin on his blood-speckled face. “I get it now. You don’t like sushi.”

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