Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Nine — The Great Escape
Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Nine — The Great Escape We all watched as the pirate ship drew closer and closer without ever slowing down. It was higher than the top of the tower, so we couldn’t see the pirates aboard it, but I imagined a raging, raving group of very angry pirates eager to drop down onto us.A big part of our plan relied on the pirates slowing down to approach their base at a reasonable speed, but it looked as if the captain of at least one of those ships had no intention of slowing down.I wanted to stand and watch, but there was so much to do. I found myself helping some of the hostages from the first floor up the stairs. I could carry someone light, and a lot of harpies were lighter than I was, so I bounced up the steps while hugging the weakest of them close.Every time I reached the top floor, winded and a bit woozy from the climb, I took a minute to see how things were going. After three trips up-each one shorter, since the entire group was slowly making its way up the tower and every time I went down they were a few floors higher-I found Caprica writing furiously on a scrap of paper atop a desk that Baron Vonowl had probably stolen.“How are things going?” I asked.“We have a minute before everything starts going in a very complicated direction. There’s no hiding the fleet now. I’ve set the two frigates on an intercept course. The Lunch Box, Featherfall and Beaver Cleaver will all wait a moment before approaching the rooftop. We’ll be cutting all of this very close, Broccoli.”I patted her on the back. “We’ll do our best,” I said. That was all we could do. And I didn’t want to see Caprica stressed out like this. It wasn’t good for her health, and besides, with the growing number of people in the room her tension might get to the others.‘The Beaver is slated to be the last to come and load people on,” Caprica said. “That’ll put it in a somewhat precarious position. The second pirate ship has slowed down, I don’t know why.”I shrugged. There could be a heap of reasons. Maybe its captain was more cautious, maybe they wanted to save on fuel, maybe they had some sort of clever plan. Worrying about it wouldn’t help, not when there was so little we could do.“It’s here!” someone screamed.I stood up, then ran to one of the windows.The pirate ship was, in fact, at the tower. It was a long, sleek thing. Maybe a Snowlander ship, but if it was, then it was an older model than any I’d seen so far. Still, it was a big, intimidating ship, with a large turreted balistea platform on either side of its hull and thin platting covering the top half of its balloon and its sides. It was, without a doubt, a ship designed for fighting.It was also dropping out of the sky at a rather disturbing speed.“What?” I asked no one in particular.Then the airship fired at the tower. I gasped, but the tower was huge and strong, there was no way a few ballista bolts would really damage it.The ballista bolts slammed into the stonework, latching themselves in place like grappling hooks, and now I saw that each bolt had a line leading back to the ship itself. The ship dropped past my vision, close enough that I spied men sprinting up and down the deck, belting on swords and shouting orders at one another.Then the lines went taut.Stonework around the window shuddered as the ship lurched through the air, swinging violently toward the tower like a ball on a tetherball pole. Men reached out with poles to try to lessen the impact, and screams and curses echoed up as the ship collided with the tower. The balloon wobbled like a waterbed, some of the armor plating coming loose and plummeting to the ground below.I stared in confusion as the pirates brought their ship under control. Why? Why risk so much by coming in at full steam, even going so far as to damage their own ship to stop in time? Compared to the other pirate ship approaching a t a more practical rate, they really only managed to save perhaps fifteen minutes.Now it was a sitting duck for the two sylph frigates rushing over.So why ...?I put that out of my mind as the first pirate rappelled along the line toward the tower, leaping off toward the balconies below.“We’re being boarded!” I shouted. That got me a few confused looks, so I hastened to explain. “The pirates are landing on one of the balconies below! They’ll be running up here soon!”“I’ll contact Bastion, we need to secure the stairwell,” Caprica said.“I’ll go help!” I shouted before rushing to the stairs. A few of the sylph soldiers loitering around formed up behind me.Fortunately, we’d already brought the weakest of the hostaged back up. Those that were still climbing were in better shape, though they would be winded by the climb and still had a few floors to go. I barrelled down the stairs, and only stopped when I practically crashed into Awen. “What’s going on?” she asked.“Pirates!” I said.“Yes, and?” she asked.I shook my head. We were blocking the way and slowing people down, which was the opposite of what I wanted. “No, the pirates, they hooked onto the tower and are using ropes to land on a balcony. We need to move!”The hostages and soldiers behind them heard me, and the stairwell filled with murmurs.“Quick, quick, leave no bird or sylph behind,” I said. “I know it’s hard and I know you must be tired, but we need to move!”The hostages picked up the pace, and following behind them were a heap of sylph soldiers who all seemed eager to help. I pushed myself to the side, determined to wait until everyone else had gone past so that I could take up the rear and help any stranglers. That’s how I met Bastion who was near the rear himself.“Captain Bunch,” he said. “I received the princess’ message, but I imagine you might know more than I do.”I nodded. “The pirates hit the tower with harpoons. Then they used those to zipline onto one of the balconies. I think they’re only a few floors below us.”The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Bastion glanced back over his shoulder.“Sir, should we put up some defences?” one of the soldiers asked.“No. Let’s keep moving. Get squad B to set up defences of the penultimate floor. We’ll stall them if they reach that far. Captain Bunch, do we still have roof-evac coming?”I nodded. “I think so, yeah. The frigates are attacking the pirate ship. It was still stuck to the side of the tower when I saw it last.”“An easy target then. What are they thinking?” he asked. “Unless... their priority is less about winning any battles in the air and more about getting revenge on those in the tower. Something’s bizarre about this.”“Yeah, but we can figure that out later, I think,” I said.We raced back up the steps, quickly catching up to the hostages who were really trying their best. Only a handful of them were in passable shape; the rest were still dealing with the aftereffects of mana depletion, malnourishment, beatings, sores, and sundry other injuries. The man who lost his wing was stumbling along with the help of the sylph medic.Still, we were making good speed as we continued to climb. We were almost at the very top when I heard roaring screams echoing up from below.I looked to Bastion, and he didn’t look pleased. “Go to Caprica, make sure she’s on the first ship to go,” he said.“I’ll try, but I don’t think she’s going to agree to do that,” I said.He smiled. “I know. But I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t at least try.”He spun around just before the landing onto the top floor and whipped his sword out. A few of the more experienced soldiers fanned out around him, effectively blocking off the entire stairwell.“Good luck, and... I want a good hug later, so don’t lose an arm or anything, okay?” I bolted up the last few steps and into a room filled with arguing.I paused, taking in the scene. A few harpy were talking in almost-shouts at Caprica and Amaryllis who both looked entirely unamused by everything.“What’s going on?” I asked.I don’t think anyone heard me over the shouting, so I filled my lungs up as best I could, placed my index and thumb in my mouth, then whistled as loud as I could.That had everyone shushing up for a moment. “What is happening?” I asked.“These fools want us to load up their furniture into the airship before we load up anyone. They’re ordering the other hostages to do as they say,” Caprica said.I looked to the nobles, then the hostages around the room. A few of those who’d come from all the way down on the first floor looked cowed. A lot more of them looked like they were ready to toss the nobles out of a window whether they fit through the arrowslit or not.“That’s a great idea,” I said. The nobles (though really, it looked like it was just one or two of them that were really making a fuss) straightened up. “Everyone, grab a chair or a table! The pirate ship is still below! If we throw things down we might damage them!”“Now, wait a moment!” a noble said.He was drowned out by the scrape of furniture as everyone with any strength left grabbed whatever was closest and surged towards the roof access.“Nice work,” Amaryllis said as she came closer.“I, ah, don’t know if a chair will do too much to an armoured airship,” Awen said. “Unless it hits the prop, or some of the wing joints, I guess.”“It’ll distract them, at least,” I said. “Have the ships arrived already?”“Just one,” Amaryllis said. “The Featherfall is connected on the side opposite the pirate’s ship. We don’t want to give them easy line of sight on us.”“And the sylph frigates?” I asked.“Did a pass already, traded a few bolts with the pirates. They’re flying to bleed off speed. I think they intend to park themselves above the ship and fire down at it.”The room cleared of easy-to-grab furniture surprisingly quickly, a few of the rescued harpy worked together to grab end tables and such, while others just grabbed a cushion or two or maybe a tray that had been left behind.The sylph didn’t grab anything themselves, but I suspect they were very much amused by the hostage’s enthusiasm. Or maybe it was the way the nobles spluttered and protested without anyone actually paying them any heed.“Once everyone’s on the roof, we need help loading them onto the Featherfall,” Caprica said next to the stairs.“Oh, right, Bastion said that you should go on the first ship.”She just barked a very unprincesslike laugh. “No. Squad C, get onboard the ship as well. Guard the harpy.”“That’s a lot of people onboard one vessel,” Amaryllis said.“We can rebalance things later,” Caprica shot back.Everyone filed out of the room and onto the roof, myself included. While the room felt claustrophobic, the roof felt... something else. I didn’t know what word to use to describe the strange feeling of there being too many people standing next to an edge with too big of a drop.The hostages had found a couple of stronger harpy to do the furniture tossing, and they seemed to be enjoying it immensely, though I did wish they’d hurry up.The Featherfall sat heavy next to the lip of the tower, with a long gangplank extended out onto the tower itself. I don’t think the plank would have passed even the most rudimentary of safety standards, but it worked to get people onboard, even if it meant they were crossing in single-file.Behind the Featherfall was the Lunchbox which was working to counter a bit of a crosswind.Everything was going... okay, actually. I tapped my foot with nervous energy. Half the hostages were loaded. The other half were getting there, and Squad C had simply opted to fly themselves onto the airship to help those who’d already crossed.Yup, things were going well. Now we just needed to wait for all the pirates to hit our defensive line, for the other pirate ships to descend upon us, and for a few surprises to pop out of nowhere to mess things up for us.Maybe being a captain was a bit more stressful than I’d expected it to be.
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Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty — Pirate Property
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.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.“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?”
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