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

Chapter 257: I Never Really Liked Sushi

The churning water at 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 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 en masse. Fuck, there were a lot of them, and more sharks were interspersed among them just below the surface.

A foolish sahuagin was almost breaking 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, which 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. Once they started boarding, the bows would be useless. My next two arrows failed to land. One went high, missing a shark, and the other missed because I misjudged how deep beneath the surface one of the sahuagin was.

Maveith’s voice cut through 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 from below the waves. Desdemona walked the deck to encourage her crew 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’s mercenaries, handing one to Isaak and the other to Leoch. They took the blades with surprised nods of thanks, but the grimness on their faces told me they doubted that we would live. Another sailor I didn’t know barked a warning: “If they are not trying to sink us, they will attack the sails first.”

His warning 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. It tore through our primary sail, splashing unnatural fire across it. The magical fire quickly spread before slowing, leaving a sizable hole in the sail.

The sail rippled and whipped loudly, signaling the loss of speed. I soon felt it as the deck lurched beneath my feet and 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 the railings. 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 wove 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. Looking at him, I wondered if he had burned his channels.

I moved along the stern, flicking my wrist and cutting the grappling lines with my dimensional space. Since I was performing this from almost ten feet away, my gesture was intended to conceal exactly how I was accomplishing the feat. A fish head appeared over the railing and I raced forward to decapitate it with the black blade. The head rolled onto the deck and 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 quick 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 intended to entangle the victim, allowing them to be pulled back over the railing. As the net started to drag 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. 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 sterncastle to the lower deck and cut the line at the railing with my blade. I continued my momentum to cut another fishman 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 to be defended by others. The ship’s healing mage was unable to attend to them.

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

Desdemona had remained on the stern and was fighting alongside her first mate, Isaak, and three other crew. 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 side toward the bow as two larger sahuagin, each 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 the sahuagin tore the sailor open.

Maveith’s deep and winded voice yelled behind me, “If they have eight arms between them, does that make them an octopus?” I didn’t have time to shake my head as I reached the pair, 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 its first spear attack, and my blade the other. I remained out of reach of the daggers as I removed one of its spear arms in an upward slash.

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

My aether shield flashed as a 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 fishman used the leader’s distraction to attack my side. Maveith barked a warning but couldn’t help me in time. My black blade got around to deflect the first spear while my hand slapped away the other. 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’s armor offered only brief resistance, but 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 the strongest of the sahuagin swarm, and we had taken them out easily enough. They had probably waited for us to soften up before joining the assault. The scream of rage from the large, shark-riding sahuagin made me pause to take everything in.

Another trident was being handed to him from the water. Dozens of bodies of the fishmen and crew were strewn across the deck while fighting still raged. I activated 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 thick layer of 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 went taut 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 off a crate up to the sterncastle 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. The spear had punched through my gut. Isaak was holding a massive gash closed as blood coated his hands. I reached for my belt and tossed him some Pathfinder healing potions. “Healing potions,” I muttered, my throat parched.

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

“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 remains of the spear out through my chest. My sense of humor was lost on Isaak as he looked on in shock. Annoyingly, the adventurer’s armor wasn’t cooperating, making the process more difficult. I wish it had made the process of going in more difficult than coming out. I took a Hound healing potion as I tried to stand, but I was very shaky from blood loss. 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 from the two nets yet, and a sahuagin was about to reach her. She was too far away to help 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 fishman. 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 sahuagin who had been tossing the flaming tridents.

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

She looked me in the eyes and then gazed down at the bloody hole in my armor. “Nothing urgent,” she said, 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 at the shark-infested water, where the fins were 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. I went to help clean up the mess. Only a few sahuagin were alive, but they were suffocating out of the water, making gurgling sounds. They were all heavily injured, and I moved about the deck, silencing them.

Maveith came over to me. 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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