Year 2: Prelude to War - Chapter 6

The skirmish in the Yun Mountains had proven tougher than Kayleigh had expected.

The undead had not been particularly powerful, but the terrain was quite rough, with many blind spots and places that the undead could ambush her team as they advanced on the distant siege machines. Guy’s team had struggled also, though that was mainly due to a falling out between a few of his teammates the night before.

Tomar had made a misplaced comment about his previous life and Talon had gotten angry with him; according to Guy, their arguing had continued into the small hours of the morning.

Thankfully, no one was seriously injured or killed from the Summoned Heroes, but Guy’s team was anything but united in the aftermath.

In fact, once the battle had concluded, Tomar stormed off, followed closely by Guy himself, determined to mend the fragile bonds of his team.

Eerika shyly excused herself, just before Delwyn escorted her back to their room, leaving Reis and Talon awkwardly behind near Kayleigh’s team.

Suddenly, a messenger arrived, bringing grave news.

“A fleet of ships, some fifty strong, flying the Satyr Skull banner are sailing west past our lines and into the heart of the Shogunate!”

“What?!”

“Shit!”

So, that was his plan, Kayleigh thought. “Soldier, do you have an idea of where their intended target would be?” She asked.

“Oso-ko, my lady, I’d imagine. It’s a wealthy port city and it’s defensive fleet is only eleven ships strong.”

“Why so light with the defences?” Ewan inquired.

“Most were taken further west into the other countries to help build the new Free People’s Alliance’s fleet.”

“If we hurry on your fastest horses, is it possible for us to reach Oso-ko before they do?”

“If we move this instant, then we should just about make it.”

“Then, saddle your horses and be ready to leave in less than a minute!” Kayleigh ordered. “Elysa, get everyone down by the gates now! Ewan, don’t bother going after Guy and the others. Any time we waste getting them could mean death for Oso-ko. Once you’re down at the stables, find someone nice enough to let you ride on their back. Hurry!”

***

Charledd Kraken’s-bane.

An infamous man across the seas of Aangapea, strong enough to do battle with the hardest of adventurers and the mightiest of monsters.

The fearsome pirate and his cutthroat crew had bent the knee to the Demon Emperor, gifting them their lives and their ships to his cause.

Now, finally, after many weeks of waiting and planning, they had been sent on their first assignment.

“You enjoy the thrill of a good raid, don’t you?” The Demon Emperor mused. “When I next order my forces to assault the western borders, you are to take your crew into the Yun Shogunate. Pillage and plunder it as you see fit for a month, then return with all the riches you take.

“Do not fail me.”

Charledd shivered when he remembered the malicious hatred dripping off the Demon Emperor’s every word.

An unsubtle threat that failure would not be tolerated.

“How’s she lookin’, Pef?”

“All’s as ye’d expect, cap’n. She’s as quiet as a mouse.”

“Excellent. Oh, wait, ya hear that?”

Faintly, the sounds of bells rang across the open water, causing the pirates to grin from ear to ear.

“Drums.”

Pef nodded, then, screamed, “Drums!” to all behind him.

Soon, the sounds of war blasted from the Scarlett Skull’s ships, bringing with them the dread of Oso-ko’s impending death.

***

“Wait for the signal,” Kayleigh reminded the officers behind her.

Twenty minutes prior to the arrival of the pirates, Kayleigh and seven other summoned heroes had arrived, accompanied by a hundred of the finest soldiers the Free Peoples could offer.

Quite quickly, Kayleigh assessed the city, its natural and man-made defences, and its total fighting strength.

Three thousand sailors and local militia, most of whom had only ever had experience fighting against monsters or pirates at sea. The towers encroaching on the bay were manned and held catapults and other siege machines, though the Demon Emperor’s fleet remained just out of reach for the moment.

Long boats filled with pirates quickly began making their way ashore, and soon the entire harbour would be filled with them.

However, this was what Kayleigh wanted.

She wanted to lure the pirates as far into the bay as they could before unleashing hell upon them.

Once the last long boat crossed the threshold, Reis, one of Guy’s teammates, struck.

Using the powers of the Robe of the Fire-rat, he sent infernos at the approaching boats from the top of the cliffs, setting many of their wooden vessels ablaze.

He had intentionally aimed only at their boats in the hope of scaring them into the water, forcing them to swim ashore or risk burning to death.

Many jumped, others tried to put out the fires, though a few were too slow to realise what had happened before it was too late.

Then, came the arrows from the militia.

Few hit their targets, but they did their job; the pirates were scared and panicking, just as Kayleigh had hoped.

“Now, quickly, to the beaches!” She ordered. “Try to keep them off the docks, but don’t kill all of them. We need a few hostages.”

“I don’t think everyone’s going to follow that order, boss,” Elysa said.

“…Where's Talon?”

Elysa shrugged. “Once she uses Carnwennan, it’s impossible to find her.”

“Dao Chen managed it.”

“Well, we’re not Dao Chen.”

“Meaning?”

Elysa smiled. “Who knows?”

***

Shit, shit, shit!

Charledd dodged another arrow, though the unfortunate man behind him wasn’t able to.

What the hell?! Since when did Oso-ko have mages? No, wait, do they? Then, a dreadful possibility rose inside his mind. The heroes? But…they’re meant to be busy at the fort. I thought that was the whole point! Dammit!

“What do we do?” He muttered, narrowly dodging another arrow.

Charledd looked around him and saw his men, disorganised, and struggling to stay alive. The arrows, in large, missed the pirates, but the fires didn’t stop coming from the cliffs above, nor could the flames be put out with sea water.

At a glance, a large number of his men were desperately swimming for their lives; a few had already drowned, burnt or been shot to death, but more than half remained in their boats, wondering what they should do.

“Don’t panic!” Charledd’s voice resounded even with the most frightened pirate. “This is nothing compared to some of the hell’s we’ve been through! We’re stronger than this rabble and we know it. All we have to do is get ashore and butcher them like the dogs they are! Come on, men! We’re the Scarlett Skulls! We don’t know fear! Shout it out!”

“We don’t know fear!”

“Damn right, ya don’t! Now, forwards!”

***

“Kayleigh!”

“I saw it too, Ewan.”

He’s the one we need to take alive!

***

The first ships landed to the uncontested beaches.

Or so they thought.

From the shadows of a nearby peer, she emerged, dagger in hand, and slit one of their throats. Then, with two quick slashes, four more men dropped to the floor, blood spurting from their backs.

“What the-?!”

Talon stabbed the pirate in his throat twice, then pulled Carnwennan free just in time to block the cutlass of another attacker. She parried him off, kicked him in the shins, then swept his legs out from under him, before finally crushing his throat with her boot.

A handful of nearby pirates took out crossbows and shot at Talon, but she disappeared into the shadows, quite literally vanishing into thin air before their very eyes.

“Where’d she go?!”

“Here.”

Talon cut his throat then disappeared, only to do the same thing again and again.

The pirates, whom had just so confidently proclaimed that they did not know fear, faced a terror none of them could stomach.

No matter how many pirates landed or searched for her, Talon kept doing the same attacks again and again. When they did manage to surround her or catch her just after a kill, Talon was quick to take them down, using the techniques Dao Chen had taught her.

They were designed to quickly immobilise and kill, nothing more, nothing less.

I don’t know who taught her those moves, but I’m grateful to them, Talon thought as she quickly stabbed a staggered man’s heart. She withdrew the blade fiercely, bringing a bloody arc trailing behind it, before clashing blades with the next man.

“What the hell are you?!”

“That doesn’t matter. All that matters.” Talon disarmed the man and sliced open his stomach. “Is that I’m going to kill every last one of you.”

***

Kayleigh, the entirety of her team, and the defenders of Oso-ko charged onto the beaches.

Using simple but effective battle formations, they easily tore the undisciplined and disheartened pirates to pieces.

The Scarlett Skulls could fight brilliantly at sea, they were excellent raiders and highly skilled sailors.

They were not, however, soldiers.

They didn’t use formations.

They didn’t use strategies.

They were warriors whom only used their strength to drive them, with Charledd leading the way.

Charledd himself knew this, but he didn’t think they would be so handedly beaten.

The Scarlett Skulls had fought many battles and lost few of them, but this was a complete and total defeat.

Fear, panic and the lack of clear direction made their raid on Oso-ko fall apart.

However.

“Fight until ya last breath, ya lousy mutts!” Charledd cried as he killed his thirtieth sailor. “If any one of you dies with a clean sword, I’ll castrate you with it myself!”

“How crude.”

“Huh?”

Kayleigh’s electro-charged fist slammed into Charledd’s side, sending the pirate tumbling across the sandy beach and into a stone wall. With a small cough, Charledd stood back up, his body bruised and blood dripping slowly from a few cuts on his back.

With an arrogant grin, he spat to the side and laughed. “Oh, how I do love a feisty woman. Ya much more fun to break in than the scared ones!”

“I’m afraid to say that my heart and body belong to someone else, scoundrel.” Kayleigh readied her fists, lightning bouncing from Járngreipr into the air. “If you surrender, I promise I won’t break any bones.”

“Lass, it’ll take more than a few cracked ribs to make me submit.”

“Die.”

The hair on the back of Charledd’s neck stood up.

“Talon, no!”

Reflexively, Charledd ducked down and threw a kick behind him. His foot hit Talon in the chest, making her grunt in pain, before she hit the wall hard. Kayleigh charged forward, her left fist pulled back, and attacked.

Panicked, Charledd went to block Járngreipr with his sword, but the blade smashed in two and the fist hit his chest, knocking the wind out of him and breaking two of his ribs. Then, the legendary pirate fell to his knees and passed out, splaying himself across the sandy beach.

Huh? Kayleigh, her fists still curled, took a few steps closer towards Charledd and lightly kicked his body, but he didn’t twitch.

“Did you kill him, boss?” Elysa asked.

“No, but…Dante told me about the Scarlett Skulls that had joined the Demon Emperor.”

“Wait, if he’s their commander, then-”

“That was Charledd Kraken’s-bane?” Ewan asked, dumbfounded. “He’s…that weak? Wasn’t he-?”

“He fought krakens, S-rank adventurers and more, but I was able to take him down alone?”

“…So, he was lying about his own strength?”

“That seems very-Talon!”

Kayleigh grabbed Talon’s wrist that clutched Carnwennan tightly.

With a fierce anger in her eyes, Talon glared at Charledd. Even as Kayleigh held her, Talon tried to rip free and end the pirate’s life.

“Why are you stopping me?”

“We need him alive!”

“He’s scum. He deserves to die.”

“Maybe, but we need the information he has first,” Kayleigh said. “The Scarlett Skulls were welcomed into the Demon Empire not too long ago. He might have-”

Talon tried to get free again, so Kayleigh took a few steps towards Talon, forcing the other woman back.

“Talon.”

“Let me go!”

Talon’s shout startled everyone, herself included.

“…If there is one thing that the Demon Emperor has proven time and time again, it’s that information is power. We need as much knowledge as possible to stop him and save Aangapea. If Charledd has even the tiniest bit of useful information in that horrible brain of his, we need it. After we get that.” Kayleigh sighed and leant in close to Talon’s ear. “You can do whatever you want to him.”

Talon’s arm went limp.

Kayleigh let her go; then, without another word, she vanished into the shadows using Carnwennan.

“…That could have gone better,” Elysa said.

“Where do you want to do the interrogation?” Ewan asked. “Should we take him back to the fort?”

Kayleigh shook her head. “If the Demon Emperor knows we have Charledd, he’ll either try to rescue him or silence him. Either option doesn’t give us much time. Everyone, with me; we’ll find a safe place to tie him up and interrogate him.”

“What should we do, my lady?”

“Send some boats to capture the ships out in the bay, but make sure to keep the port guarded. If the Demon Emperor is coming for Charledd, we’ll need every able body we have.”

***

Charledd chuckled when he awoke.

“Chains, ropes and anchors, eh?” He snickered. “You lot really don’t want me going anywhere, do ya? Or, are ya scared of me?”

“Yeah, right,” Elysa snorted.

“Scared of the man who went down after two punches?” Ewan smiled. “Not really.”

“Both of you, focus.” Kayleigh cleared her throat and stared daggers at him. “Charledd Kraken’s-bane, leader of the Scarlett Skulls and the most recent addition to the Demon Emperor’s inner circle, yes?”

“Hmm, right up until the last point, lassy.” Charledd smirked. “Who you lot? The heroes we’ve heard so little about?”

“…Isn’t it usually ‘much’?” Elysa whispered to Ewan.

“So, what can I do for ya lovely ladies? Oh, and that pisser in the corner.”

“Excuse me?”

“Ya heard me, ya ugly bastard. What’s ya name, lad?”

“None of your business,” Ewan hissed.

“Oh, spunk - like that in a man. Well, no more than I do in a woman. Either way, it’s still good ol’ fun for me.”

Charledd shot Ewan a dirty smile, making the hero incredibly uncomfortable.

Kayleigh punched him in the cheek, causing the pirate to spit blood. “Answer our questions. Don’t make rude comments or-”

“Usually, I’m the one hitting-!” Kayleigh punched his other cheek, making Charledd laugh again. “Damn, that hurt, but not in a bad way!”

He cackled as Kayleigh got ready to throw one more punch, but then stopped herself.

“You can handle physical pain and violence quite well, it seems.”

“Better than you lot, I’d bet,” Charledd spat. “You lot are little birds still learning how ya wings work, while I’m soaring high in the fucking sky above ya! Lassy, if you want to get info out of me, ya got to try changing ya tune.”

“I don’t believe you for one second.”

“Neither do I, boss.”

“Oh, the women have to stick together, eh?” Charledd peaked at Ewan and grinned. “Which one’s yours? Or are ya lucky enough to have had both?”

“…Boss, I really think we should just let Talon do what she wants to him.”

“I’m more than inclined to agree at this point,” Kayleigh groaned. “It’s clear you don’t intend to answer our questions at all, or perhaps you’re unable to. Maybe you were more out of the loop than I imagined you would be, or perhaps you’re one of the Awoken we’ve-?”

“Wrong! Idiots, don’t even know what an Awoken looks like. Here.” He widened his eyes as far as he could. “Do you see any shit in there? No? Good!” Charledd grinned. “I’m just not the type to snitch on my boss.”

“Even if it’d save your life and the lives of your crew?”

“Sweetie, I’ll level with ya, even if I did talk, I’d still die. The Demon Emperor would do far worse to me and the lads than just cutting our throats, and tossing us into the sea. That’d be a blessin’, it would.”

“This is getting us nowhere,” Ewan said.

Kayleigh glared at him. “Then, what would you do?”

“…Don’t look at me like that. All I’m saying is that he’s got no value as a hostage and clearly doesn’t want to share anything with us. Let’s just…get it over with.”

“You’re a pirate, right?” Kayleigh asked loudly. “You live to steal, plunder and take whatever you want, regardless of whomever you hurt?”

“Damn straight!”

“So, even if we were to offer you money or-?”

“The Demon Emperor’s far greater than any of that.”

“…What do you mean?” Ewan asked cautiously.

“Ya just don’t get it, lad, lasses. The Demon Emperor is far heavier and more valuable than any bar of gold, than any ship or any reward. Defying him is like defying the wind in a hurricane; ya can’t do it. You’ll try, fail and die a horrible, horrible death.” Charledd laughed again. “If I were you lot, I’d get down on my hands and knees and beg, beg for his mercy!

“He will come, one day, bringing with him all of his hatred, all of his malice and all of his power, and you lot won’t be able to stop him. Live or die, I chose to bend the knee for a chance of a long, happy life.

“You lot, have chosen a fate worse than death.”

Bells rang in Oso-ko for the second time that day.

Gabriel, Fala and Trevor, the other members of Kayleigh’s team, burst into the room, terrified expressions on their face.

“A huge number of flying things just dropped hundreds of skeletons into Oso-ko, right into the heart of the market!” Gabriel cried. “We came here to help protect Charledd.”

“There’s almost no point,” Elysa joked. “He’s not told us a damn thing.”

“But he could if we put enough pressure on him,” Kayleigh said. “Gabriel, Fala: head back out to-”

Thumping, crashing footsteps drew close to them at an unbelievably fast pace.

Then, the rooftop of the warehouse Kayleigh’s team were in came crashing down.

Stood amongst the rubble, in a cloud of smoke, was the image of a gigantic wolf rapidly shrinking down to the size of a human woman.

“What the-?”

Five punches.

Five bodies fell to the ground, unconscious.

The sixth landed in Kayleigh’s abdomen, but she didn’t pass out.

She felt the wind rapidly leave her body as she dropped onto her knees, but she fought to keep her eyes open.

“…Are you my executioner or my-?” The chains and ropes around Charledd were shredded by the woman’s claws. “My thanks, Lady Fenrir!”

Fen…rir?! Kayleigh’s eyes widened as the pain intensified in her stomach. She almost fell over, but she kept herself up on one knee.

“Gargoyle.” A grey-stone like creature flew through the broken ceiling and grabbed Charledd’s arms roughly. “Don’t drop him.”

The creature let out a guttural cry before flying out of the warehouse.

“Wa…it!” Kayleigh forced herself onto two feet, still wincing and slightly hunched over.

It’s like…my organs were…scrambled by…her punch.

How does…she hit…that hard?

“What do you want?”

“I won’t…let…you.” Kayleigh awkwardly put up a fist, an act that made Fenrir laugh.

“Let me what? Take that useless man back with me?” Fenrir gave Kayleigh a toothy grin. “Too bad.”

She appeared in front of Kayleigh’s eyes.

Reflexively, Kayleigh swiped at Fenrir, but Fenrir lazily dodged her fist as if it was moving as slowly as a snail. Kayleigh nearly collapsed again, but managed to get enough strength to throw another punch at Fenrir.

Fenrir sighed, moved her head at the last second on purpose to show how futile Kayleigh’s attacks were, before throwing a powerful gut-punch at the hero.

To Kayleigh, it felt like her organs had exploded.

The pain was so intense that tears instantly formed in her eyes, and every fibre of her being wanted to scream.

However, all that came from her lips was vomit.

“Don’t worry. I made sure not to hurt you too badly,” Fenrir told her as Kayleigh dropped onto her hands and knees, still retching from the pain, her arms clinging to her stomach tightly. “You’ll just be out for a few hours and feel awful for a few days.”

“Why…” Kayleigh vomited, then wiped away the remnants from her lips, staring daggers at Fenrir. “Why won’t…you kill…us?”

Clearly upset, Fenrir sighed and bent down to Kayleigh’s eye level. “Because you’re not worth killing.”

“What?”

Fenrir smirked. “Do you know what his majesty said after seeing your friends fighting in the south? ‘They’re far weaker than I imagined, let them at least struggle fruitlessly for a while before we kill them.’” Fenrir laughed, grabbing Kayleigh roughly by her chin. “You mean so little to us that we’re letting you get stronger. We want you to, so that’s it more fun for us when we kill you.”

The wolf threw Kayleigh to the ground before walking back to the gargoyle. “I hope you’re able to at least land one punch next time.”

As she passed out, Kayleigh watched on in anger as Fenrir transformed into a large wolf and ran away.

The sounds of the battle faded as her vision grew dark.

Dammit!

Her frustrations were overcoming her.

They had stopped the attack, defeated the pirates and gain a hostage, but it still wasn’t enough.

Even after all of that, I’m still powerless.

Flashes of her old life surfaced, though they were quickly crushed beneath images of her new life, her new friends, her new dream.

Dammit…I’m still…so weak.

Kayleigh fell flat onto her face as her eyelids grew too heavy to keep open.

…Fenrir.