Commandeering

Muld and Syndi attempt to take over the pirate airship

6.

Commandeering

 

Muld just walked confidently out onto the deck as if it was the most natural thing in the world for him to do.   His disguise kept him from being recognized in the dark of the torch-lit deck, and nearly all of the pirates were quickly descending on the various drop lines.    The ship was hovering silently about 50 feet over (and slightly south) of the dwarven camp.   Syndi joined him on the deck, nervously glancing all about, but there were only about half a dozen pirates still aboard the airship and they were all at the rails of the ship, eager to see the start of the battle.

They didn’t have long to wait, for about the time the last of the pirates reached the ground on the drop lines, a dwarven sentry saw them and yelled out an alarm.

Immediately the pirates rushed into camp.

Those still aboard the ship were clustered around the railing to see the action and seemed oblivious to Syndi and Muld’s presence.

Syndi grabbed Muld’s forearm and whispered, “We could escape now, while they’re distracted.”

Muld shook his head and whispered back, “That wouldn’t help the dwarves much and even if they overpower the pirates, they’ll just escape in the airship.    Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan; in fact, this might be very easy.   Start chanting your levitation spell, but touch the deck of this ship with your hand.”

“But… why?”

“You’re going to raise the ship!”

“Raise the ship?”  She almost lost her whisper in her surprise, but quickly regained her composure, “Are you nuts?   I can’t raise a whole airship!   The levitation spell only works on smaller objects.”

Muld smiled gently, “Trust me, I’ll help you.”

“But- "

“Just start chanting before… too late, they’ve seen us!”

One of the pirates at the railing had heard them whispering and turned toward them.    He squinted in the torchlight, not recognizing them, but not quite ready to risk making a fool of himself calling out to them if they were some of his fellow crew members.

Muld waved to him and it bought them some time, because the pirate somewhat hesitantly waved back, probably trying to figure out who they were.

But Muld was not waiting around, for he squatted down close to the deck and as Syndi began chanting the words for the levitation spell, he said a few words and pointed toward the railing where the pirates were standing, then patted the deck.

The suspicious pirate had turned to his companions at the railing to ask them if they knew the two strange pirates standing off by themselves on the deck.

Syndi sensed that they were only moments from being discovered yet forced herself to stay calm and keep chanting the spell.

“Hey!   You two!   Come here!”   The suspicious pirate said, as he turned and took a step toward them.

But as soon as he moved, he slipped as if he were on ice.  He fell hard to the deck, then, to Syndi’s amazement, slid against his companions at the railing.    His impact, though it wasn’t that hard, caused the three men that he ran into, to slip and fall and two of them were propelled over the side of the ship.

She couldn’t pause to ask Muld what he had done, but he seemed to sense her puzzlement.

“Don’t move your feet at all - I used a slick cantrip combined with a push cantrip that in effect makes the deck as slick as ice and the push effect is toward that side of the ship.”

She was nearly finished with her spell, when the two remaining pirates managed to stand on the slippery deck.  They yelled out in alarm and from the other end of the ship two other pirates ran toward them.

About halfway to their location, they hit the area of effect of Muld’s spell and fell hard on their backs; their swords sliding off the side of the ship as if they were on the side of a steep hill.

The two pirates were propelled toward the same fate, but the last one managed to grab the railing before tumbling off.

Just then Syndi finished her spell and without moving her feet, she knelt and touched the deck as Muld had ordered.   He chanted three quick words and put his hand over hers while she still held it on the deck and a deep blue glow covered the ship for an instant.

Then the ship began to rise.

“What did you do?”  She asked the Practical Magician.

“An amplification cantrip " people don’t realize how powerful cantrips can be, when used correctly.   Your levitation spell was amplified for about a minute, but by that time the ship will be much higher and the drop lines will be out of the reach of the pirates on the ground.

“We’ve still got several left on deck.”   She pointed to the three men, one still clutching the side of the rail, the other two standing on the deck, but unable to move away from the railing due to the slickness of the deck.

From behind them, they heard a shout and they turned to find a dark robed man rushing out onto the deck from downstairs.

Apparently he was the pirates’ ship wizard, who used magic to keep the airship moving when the wind was calm or against it.

He was chanting a spell, but as soon as he ran into the area of Muld’s spell, he slipped and went onto his back with enough force to knock the wind out of him.    He slid across the deck and through the railing, too stunned to grab for it and no air in his lungs to scream as he fell to his death.

The spectacle was sickening to the Losasidhe princess and she swallowed down her bile, trying not to think of the man’s fate.

 

But as she was dealing with her emotion, one of the two pirates braced against the railing pulled out a throwing knife and flung it at them.    Syndi felt sharp pain as the small blade embedded in her shoulder.

Without thinking she pointed her finger at the man and chanted the Magic Missiles spell, which was one of the quickest and easiest of incantations.

A bolt of energy shot out from her fingertip like an arrow and streaked across the deck to slam into the man’s chest.

It wasn’t a deadly spell for a beginning sorceress and it would have probably hurt the man only as badly as he had injured her with his throwing knife, but the impact of the spell made him stumble backwards.      Due to Muld’s cantrip, the slickness of the deck made him fall and knock his companion over as well.    They both clawed out and flailed their hands desperately for the railing, but were too entangled in each other so both slid over the side, screaming horribly all the way to the ground.

 

The remaining pirate, still clutching the railing either gave up the will to survive at that moment, or was no longer able to hang on, for he disappeared into the dark with only a muffled groan as he fell.

 

It was too much for Syndi and she burst into tears, grabbing at the knife still sticking out of her left shoulder.

“You’re alright.”  Muld comforted, carefully moving his feet, but the cantrip effects were beginning to fade, so he was able to stand up by using caution.

She started to pull the knife out, but Muld cautioned her and examined the wound.

“It’s not a big blade, but it went in rather deep.    Let me cast this first.   He chanted for a few seconds and touched her shoulder near the knife wound.   At once her shoulder went numb."

“It is a Healer’s cantrip, which most wizards and sorcerers don’t know about.   It numbs pain in a localized area.   I wish I knew a healing spell, Syndi, but I don’t.   I have only one other Healer’s cantrip - Cauterize- that will stop your wound from bleeding.    It will leave a scar though, but that will disappear when a healer can work on you.”

Without asking, he gently pulled the knife from her shoulder, and then pressed his hand against it while chanting the Cauterize spell.   The wound glowed pink but the bleeding stopped and she didn’t feel anything due to his earlier spell.

“Thanks,” She said, still sniffling from the horror of all that had just happened.   

“Are you okay, now?”  He softly asked, awkwardly patting her other shoulder.

“I don’t know… I don’t like killing people, Muld…”

“I don’t either, but our lives were in danger.”

“Their screams…”   She began crying again and he put his arm around her.   She hugged him, needing reassurance and comfort desperately, for she was still just a young elven woman and by most standards, really just a girl.

“It’s alright,”  He said gently, stroking her long fiery hair.   During the excitement, it had come undone from the pin that she had used to conceal it under the pirate’s hat.    He had no idea what other things he could say to her to help, so he just let her cry against his shoulder.

For a while they just stood there on deck as she calmed down.

“My shoulder is starting to hurt.”   She finally said.

“The numbing cantrip is wearing off.  Come on, let’s go look below deck; maybe we’ll find a healing potion.”

“Are we alone on the ship?”   She asked as they crossed toward the door to the lower decks.

“Yes, I think so.    They left a handful of men and the ship’s spell caster onboard and the rest went on their raids.”

“I hope the dwarves were able to fight them off.”

“I’ll wager that they were.    Do you realize what we just did?   The two of us captured a pirate ship!    We took it by ourselves, Syndi!”

She stopped on the stairs and considered it, “We did, didn’t we?”

“By taking the ship away, we also stranded those pirates and the dwarves will take care of them.”

“But what do we do now, Muld?”   She asked as they opened a door and found a common room where the crew apparently ate meals.

“Well, we’re hovering about 200 feet or so in the air and since the wizard that used magic to power the sails is dead, we’re at the mercy of the winds.   You don’t know how to steer an airship by sails, do you?”

Syndi just looked at him and Muld smiled.

“Anyway, we’ll have to figure out how to steer the ship in a little while.    For now we’re safe up here.” He began opening cabinets in the common room but found only sacks of food supplies and plates.

“That might be an infirmary,”  Syndi announced upon seeing a doorway off of the common room with the word ‘Quarantine’ painted in black on the door.

They pushed the door open and found a row of four hammocks lining one wall and a low table with straps attached to it for securing arms and legs.    Cabinets and several large chests lined the other wall, some containing blankets and pillows, bottles of clear alcohol, strips of cloth and in the final one, rows of clear glass bottles with a light blue liquid inside.   The lead stoppers of the bottles were painted green with Dwarven runes in black painted on top of the green.

“I know that script!”  Syndi exclaimed, “It is the same script that the dwarves neighboring my father’s kingdom use.    That is the word for ‘healing’.”

Muld grinned, “Good, then I think we’ve found what we were looking for.”

Syndi pulled out one of the bottles - which she suspected had probably been stolen from a caravan raided in the same manner as they had this night-- and popped off the stopper.   Smelling the liquid, she was quite sure it was a healing potion, for it smelled exactly the same as those in her father’s court (which they bought from the Dwarven tradesmen).

“Well, here goes.”  She said and she drank down the contents.    Her shoulder began to tingle briefly and then itch terribly, also for only a few moments as the wound healed completely.    She pulled off the heavy pirate’s coat and then slid her collar of her stolen pirate’s shirt to expose her shoulder.

Muld examined it closely, “Perfectly healed; not even a scar.”

Syndi sighed contently.   “Do you need one?”

“Well I do have a nasty knot on the back of my head where those pirates hit me.   They gave me a small dose of something when they brought me aboard, but it just stopped the pain and I don’t know if it was actually a healing potion or not.   So yeah, I wouldn’t mind drinking one.”

She handed a bottle to him and he drained the contents.

“That’s better,” he commented, feeling the knot was gone, “Since we’re in the kitchen area, let’s eat something and try to figure out what our next move will be.”

They focused on scrapping together a meal from the pirates’ pantry and shortly were sitting watching the first rays of dawn lighten the morning sky through the room’s two small portholes.

Reviews

[Elina]

"But as soon as he moved, he slipped as if he were on ice and fell hard to the deck, then, to Syndi’s amazement, slid against his companions at the railing." This is a bit of a run-on. Perhaps start a new sentence at "then."
"...put his hand over her hand..." Maybe simplify this to "...hand over hers..."
" He said gently, stroking her long fiery hair which had come undone from the pin that she had used to conceal it under the pirate’s hat, during the excitement." This could use a little reworking, as its a bit wordy.