Regrets of The Fallen (Victis Honor Book 1) (27 page)

The four of them broke out onto the deck which, at this point, was covered in undead. It was a renewed fighting team that met them, though; Freya’s laughter could be heard over the battle as she alternated hacking them down with taking swigs of rum. Haruka was using more of her energy for Death Marks now, causing explosions that scattered the thick numbers and made it easier for everyone to move. Able hacked his way through the thickest groups, cutting as many down as he could and staying on the move. Isabella took advantage of her temporary new weapon and used her skills to weave a defensive pattern through the crowds, removing limbs to make every undead less of a threat.

The knight met Haruka in the center of a thick crowd of undead and they stood back-to-back, turning slowly as they killed those that came near. Isabella felt alive then, smiling confidently as she rapidly dispatched opponents with little trouble. She was in the battle, every attack a fluid movement of a flowing dance. She didn’t feel like she once had, cold and detached; she felt warm, a part of something. She was fighting for something, for survival and protection, and so, even though she still felt tired and weakening, that only made her fight harder.

You really won’t use us? Think how easily we could cut all of these down – there’d be no danger! We could end this battle in seconds.

I promised Haruka. Last resort only.

There may not be time for a last resort, Isabella. Haruka is worried, but she would feel even worse if you died here.

I respect her wishes and I have faith in her. As long as she is beside me, I will not fall.

Her point was proven as a burst of flame incinerated several undead that had pressed in on her side. Behind her, Haruka was panting with effort, but her eyes were shining. The mask on the left side of her face seemed oddly heavy at the moment, reminding her every second of what, exactly, she was fighting for right now. She ignited her hands with flame, replacing fatigue with determination as she punched through the undead, her fists tearing through them with no effort. With surreptitious glances at Isabella she noted with pride that the knight was holding her own with no trouble. It seemed a little odd that
she
felt pride for what
Bella
did; she would have to think on that later.

She noticed a
zombie grab Bella’s arm and pride was replaced with anger, with which she hit the undead so hard the only thing left was the grabbing arm, which soon fell to the deck. Isabella glanced back and winked at her, smiling. “Thanks, Ruki! I’d give you a kiss if we weren’t covered in disgusting juices and, you know, fighting off the endless hordes of hell.”

Haruka smirked, blocking a swiping arm and shoving the zombie to the ground hard enough to splatter its head on the deck. “I’ll take a rain check, assuming they aren’t
actually
endless.”

“That would suck, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes,” Haruka grunted, removing another head with a palm strike. “Yes it would.”

A short distance away, Able found himself surrounded. That wouldn’t be such a problem if the things hadn’t managed to grab his arms, preventing him from swinging and pulling him back as another grabbed his ankles. “Tch… What a bother,” he muttered, arching his back as he opened both hands and blasted the two holding his arms with energy. Once he was free he hit the deck with his hands, twisting the zombie holding his ankles to the ground. He moved on top of it, blasting its head away, but more pressed in. “It just doesn’t stop…” He crossed his arms and then threw them out, emitting a dome of energy that sho
ved them all back. “How did I… that would’ve been useful
earlier,
” he grumbled as he stood, dusting himself off before creating two more blades and letting the shield drop, leaping once more into the fray.

Freya was having fun, either despite the situation or because of it. She hacked apart undead with a wild chaos devoid of planning or tactics. With a frown she noticed the bottle in her hand was empty, shaking it to get the last few drops on her tongue. She debated going back down to get another bottle, glancing at the door. “Hmm… Nah, better not.” She shrugged and smashed the bottle over a zombie’s head before drawing her pistol in her now-free hand, grinning and hacking and blasting her way through the horde. “I’m outta booze an’ you sons o’ bitches are keepin’ me from getting’ more! Not a wise course of action, pansy-asses!”

The fighting continued for a few more minutes before Haruka noticed something odd. She nudged Isabella, getting her attention. Ahead of the ship, where it was going, eerie lights could be seen floating above the water. They were silent and moved little, but it still felt like they were watching, waiting. Haruka looked over and noticed Able was looking at them, too. She was surprised as Freya appeared beside her, looking a bit grimmer. “Deadlights,” she stated, drawing Haruka and Bella’s attention. “No one’s really sure what they are, but they’re tryin’ to guide us from life.”

Bella blinked. “But I don’t
want
to be guided from life…”

“Yeah, they don’t tend
t’ care. I’m guessin’ they’re usin’ these things to try t’ drag us down.”

Haruka curled her hands into fists. “Then we’ll fight to keep that from happening. Get up to the tiller!”

The four of them surged forward, fighting harder now that they could see what might happen to them. As they fought their way up the steps the deadlights seemed to arrange themselves in odd patterns, giving off a feeling of agitation. Suddenly pain shot through all four of the fighters, along with a bright light blinding their eyes. The other three heard Freya yelling for them to move forward, though, so they did, making their way to the top. Freya’s laughter was clear behind them, letting them know the direction to move away from. Haruka raised a hand, blinking as her vision seemed to return. The other two shook their heads, looking around as things became a bit clearer.

Finally, Freya became visible, back on the lower deck surrounded by a mass of the undead. She’d holstered her pistol and was now just swinging wildly as they grabbed her, dragging her over the edge. There were too many in the way for any of them to get through to her, but she just continued laughing maniacally as they pulled her down, calling out insults until she disappeared over the side and beneath the waves. Since the main force of undead had remained going after her, the other three were free, and as the ship came nearer the deadlights the undead began to retreat over the sides. The three remained looking in silence at the side where Freya had disappeared until the ship arrived at the lights.

In a flash, they were back. They were on the deck of the ship surrounded by a confused crew, with the
Black Wake
looming beside them. Isabella stood up shakily, looking around. “What… happened?”

Byron shook his head. “You tell us. The door slammed shut, we
bashed our way in and none of you were there. We looked all through the ship, no sign of anyone. Now you’ve just reappeared with no explanation – where were you?”

“Hey,” Griswold said as he stepped forward, “Who’s that?” He pointed at Able, who was dusting himself off and trying to ignore the looks of the pirates. “Where’d ‘e come from? An’ where’s
th’ Cap’n?”

Isabella looked down as Haruka looked off to the side. “Dragged under,” she stated.

“There were deadlights,” Isabella continued. “And endless bloated undead. It seemed to go on forever. Near the end they pulled her under.”

The crew fell silent, none really knowing what to say. Byron removed his hat, smoothing a hand over his hair. “Ah… Let’s get back on the
Wake
. We need to figure some things out, I think.”

Everyone collectively climbed back onto the much larger ship. It was an eerie moment with no one speaking or joking, moving almost automatically. On the deck they all found a place to sit or stand, and either stared at the deck or out over the waves. Isabella sat beside Haruka and leaned against her, taking some comfort from the arm around her. She was strong and had suffered quite enough in life to know how to deal with it, but she was still unable to stop a few
tears. Haruka remained silent like the rest, running her fingers along Bella’s arm but keeping her eyes on the deck. Able hadn’t known the captain so he stood off to the side and remained respectfully silent, quietly examining the ship and crew he found himself with now.

After ten minutes or so Byron cleared his throat, getting the attention of the others. “Well… We have to decide some things now. This ship is Captain Black’s, but…” He trailed off as an eerie sound made everyone look around. Isabella and Haruka stood slowly as fog appeared, thickening around the ship. A cool wind howled past the ship and suddenly the sound of scraping on the side reached them.

“No…” Bella said, shaking her head. “They followed?!”

Haruka clenched her fists and her teeth, glaring at the side. Half the crew pulled pistols and aimed for the side, and they all watched it as the scraping of something wet climbing the side continued. The crew tensed, and Isabella crept towards the side, drawing her iron sword again. These things just wouldn’t let go; she could already hear more coming from other sides, and everyone began looking around nervously, but they concentrated on the first one. Revenge was clear in their eyes as they aimed. Haruka stayed beside Bella, grateful, at least, that they would now have an entire crew to help fight.

Then the first hand landed on the railing, except it wasn’t grey-blue skin. Freya pulled herself over the side, dripping wet and with her saber clenched in her teeth to aid in climbing. She hauled herself over the rail and landed on the deck, pulling the saber from her mouth and giving a look to the crew who was standing frozen in shock, still aiming their weapons at her. “If you’re gonna fire, ye better make sure y’ kill me with th’ first volley.” She blinked as Isabella impacted into and hugged her, slowly patting her back as the crew cheered. “Uh… lass?”

Bella pulled back to arm’s length, inspecting her. “I thought you were dead!”

“Bah!” Freya smirked, clapping her on the shoulder. “It’d take a lot more than that t’ kill Captain Black. Was a grand adventure, though, wasn’t it? Ghost ships, movin’ corpses, deadlights, great times!” she said with a grin, throwing her head back and laughing. Bella couldn’t help but laugh with her, while Haruka just folded her arms and shook her head with a smirk of her own. “Anyway, those bastards followed me, so let’s get goin’ an’ leave ‘em behind, eh?”

Haruka frowned. “Won’t they follow wherever we sail?”

Freya grinned and winked at her. “Not wherever
we
sail, m’dear. Byron!” She barked out, causing him to snap to attention. She stepped forward, sweeping a hand to indicate the crew. “Get these brainless buffoons t’ stop standin’ there an’ get movin’! We got ten thousand creeps climbin’ my beautiful ship’s sides, scratchin’ up th’ wood. Get me outta this water!”

“Aye, Cap’n!”

The crew jumped to work, dashing in all directions as Freya turned back to Bella and set a hand on her shoulder. “You need t’ sit down an’ rest, lass. I don’t want you collapsin’ on me.”

“But… What about fighting?”

“I got a whole crew, don’t worry ‘bout that. We’re all done, we’re sendin’ in fresh fighters.” She looked at Haruka. “You watch your girl, eh?”

Haruka tilted her head. “I can manage that.”

“Good.” Freya looked over at Able. “An’ you, kid, you jus’ do whatever y’ wanna do. Once we’re outta this mess we’ll get you set up.” After he nodded she grinned, sheathing her cutlass and drawing her pistol. “Alright, I want ten o’ th’ least cowardly men up here fendin’ off th’ invaders! First man that lets one of ‘em on my ship gets t’ join ‘em in th’ deep!”

Haruka pulled Bella away from the side as the crew rushed around, doing everything rapidly. Many of them began to line the sides, firing down at the creatures climbing up them. Freya herself was singing as she headed up to the tiller, beginning to spin it. The sails were unfurled completely as the ship pushed forward, gaining speed rapidly. “Now hold on, people, ‘cause we’re ‘eaded for th’ smoothest sailin’ I know, but th’ trip there’s a rocky one!”

Deciding to take her advice seriously, Haruka headed towards the cabin entrances, where there was a bench she sat on with Bella. Able sat near them and the three watched as the horizon seemed to tilt a bit. “Um,” Bella began, looking as if she was unsure if she should tell someone something seemed wrong. “Does anything seem weird to you guys?”

“You mean does the ship feel like
it’s sinking?” Able added, glancing around himself.

“Yeah. That.”

Haruka glanced upwards, listening to Freya singing above them. “She seems unworried. I’m sure she knows what she’s doing.”

“Well, if you SAY SOOO!” Bella nearly fell off the bench as the entire ship lurched upwards, dragging itself out of the water. The sound of rushing water poured in behind them as the ship shuddered and shook, gaining altitude every second. The three simply stared in amazement as it began to level out far above the water. Looking behind them they could see storm clouds trailing the ship, roiling behind them as if it was their wake. “Oh,” Bella said lamely, staring. “So that’s where the name comes from.” She stood up and moved towards the edge followed by Haruka and Able, looking over it at the water far below. “Ruki, you never told me ocean ships can fly.”

“…They can’t.”