Private Tales The Bladed Lotus

[Fannin Hohlt]

Since his threat of going below deck before had been a punishment, she didn’t want to find out what he would do to her if she tried to leave his side now.

“No,” Fannin said softly, “I will stay up here with you. I do not want to know what you would have waiting for me…”

She looked out towards the ship that was gaining on them. She hoped the spirits wouldn’t fuck her over this quickly.

 

[Garigg Bracken]

"They're coming in!" came a cry from above.

Gannis strode up towards the aft of the Bladed Lotus. There were no colours being flown. It wasn't a naval vessel.

Whilst he had two ships with skeleton crews he did have his colours flying.

"Bold of them," he grunted to Fannin. If this was a test he was going to meet it head on.

"Reduce sail, let them catch us!" he cried out. He would rather take them on with a reduced crew than risk his prize and everything it carried.

As the two ships closed a first barrage of arrows and crossbow bolts came their way. The wind had picked up and no one was harmed.

"Hmmph," went Garigg dismissively. "Some test."

"Mage! Maaaage!" came a cry from the nest.

Garigg tightened his grip on his axe. Their confidence was not misplaced. A mage for hire, particularly one who could conjure fire, was the most dangerous weapon on the seas.

"Fuck."

 

[Fannin Hohlt]

"Some test."

Part of Fannin was happy that that was all but the other part cursed her big mouth for making shit up. She was going to get herself killed at this rate.

"Mage! Maaaage!"

The cry tore through any other noise and Fannin's head turned to look in the direction of the attacking boat. A smug smile crossed her lips for a millisecond and then she realized that they were actually in trouble.

"Fuck, indeed," she commented and looked at Garigg. "I am going to need you to stop questioning the fucking spirits!" She growled in his direction.

 

[Garigg Bracken]

"I'm going to need them offer some helpful advice or keep their medium quiet," he snapped back.

There was a truly wild look in his eyes now. His gaze was fixed firmly on the enemy vessel. He stood right at the railing, heedless of the danger.

"Bring us about!" he screamed. They couldn't keep their distance and exchange missiles with a vessel if there was a mage.

The Lotus lurched as they came around, leaning hard to one side.

"Fiiirreeee!"

Garigg stood tall, staring down the small fireball as it arced between their vessels. The life he had lived had forced his hatred down into a condensed core in his soul. Not even that could slow the fire as it struck the hull of the Lotus.

There were already crew members standing by with buckets. They knew the drill.

They would be no help at all as the next fire all struck the rigging. Embers scattered across the deck and went cold, but the rigging was already burning.

"Ready ropes!"

He would lash their ships right and they could burn together, he thought to himself.

 

[Fannin Hohlt]

Fannin narrowed her eyes into a glare when Garigg snapped at her. "Asshole," she mumbled to herself.

She was quick to back up from the Captain as he started to issue orders. The fire ball hit the ship and she saw some of the crew rushing to get water to fill their buckets so they could put out the fire. She ran in their direction to help but it was no use when the next ball of fire hit the sails.

"Fuck me," she cursed. There was nowhere to go that was safe from the falling debris so she simply stuck to playing a game of dodge the fire.

"Garigg," she called out when he said to ready ropes. "The mage will burn them! We need something else!"

 

[Garigg Bracken]

"Good point," Garigg growled. There was a wild look in his eyes.

"Chains!"

The crew still brought ropes, but there was a loud clanking as something more I dustrious was Brough from below deck.

Above them the sails were burning. The crew were dragging the canvases as tight together as possible to limit the damage, but scraps of burning fabric came down like rain.

They had spare sails and even a spare main mast, but Garigg wasn't thinking of their future. He wasn't thinking kg whether the vessel would survive.

The vessel they were turning in towards had hoped to scare them away so that the merchant vessel was left to them. The air was filled with the sound of wood crashing and groaning as they collided. Garrig barely moved.

Ropes were thrown, swords were in the air. Arrows went back and forth. Garigg laughed through it all. Their own missiles were aimed at the mage. None struck home, but everything would be exhausting their supply of magic.

The chain was thrown as the mage did as Garigg expected, lighting ropes on fire. As long as he wasn't throwing enough magic to sink his ship before they could clash, Garigg was content.

With a wild cry he abandoned Fannin and throw himself off the Lotus and onto the other ship's deck.

 

[Fannin Hohlt]

There was no part of the crazed look that Fannin found reassuring. She knew he was crazy but this seemed extra crazy. She understood that this was his ship though so she could understand his anger…and craziness.

Fannin scooped up a sword that had belonged to a now dead crew member and started to run towards the railing. She jumped at the last moment and hit the deck of the attacking ship harder than she would have liked. She felt her ankle roll and cried out in pain as she fell forward.

 

[Garigg Bracken]

Garigg had already started to carve a path through the crew of the attacking ship. The huge half-orc was carving a path of violence straight towards the mage at the aft deck.

He heard the cry behind him. Garigg turned and looked over his shoulder. Recognition barely featured in his hate-filled eyes.

The fuckers were burning his ship and he would make them pay. He turned away.

He turned back.

The spirits might not show him favour if he let her die here. Garigg was going to need some luck for his ship to stay afloat.

"Come on," he called out, waving her towards him. He took two quick steps to intercept a privateer heading right for Fannin. One swipe of his axe took his leg off at the knee and the man skidded to a halt right before Fannin, clutching at the bleeding stump.

 

[Fannin Hohlt]

Fannin pushed herself to her feet with a grimace on her face. There was pain flooding her body at the moment but the adrenaline was overpowering it. She didn't have a choice but to get up and help defeat their attackers.

Her eyes flew up to Garigg's over to come on and she totally missed the man who was about to attack her. until he was already cut down quite a few inches. She looked at Garigg again with fear in her eyes. This had been a terrible idea...all of it. She was still going to die!

"Garigg...I think I..." She tried to put pressure on her ankle and cried out again. She was screwed. "Don't worry about me...save your crew..."

 

[Garigg Bracken]

He growled in frustration, closing the distance between them in a few long strides. Garigg grabbed her tunic with one hand, fisting the fabric and taking her weight with ease. He slid her against the railing of the ship.

"Keep yer head down and might live," he said.

Another fireball passed overhead and burst on the deck of the Lotus. Buckets of water were thrown over it and the old deck refused to burn.

"Gonna kill that cunt first," he growled.



Garigg stood up and turned around. Spotting the mage still on the aft deck. Another round of arrows glanced off some defensive barrier he had conjured.

His crew were hardened fighters. Even short of hands they were on the front foot. The other crew probably hadn't expected the Lotus to turn into them after the fireballs started.

The mage opened one palm and a ball of light flashed across the deck and struck one of Garigg's crew, burning right through his chest. More magic flashed out across the deck of the ship, keeping Garigg's crew back.

Garigg charged across the deck. A ball of light flew in his direction, but he was fast for such a large orc and swerved past it. One of the defending crew tried to block him at the stairs and was cut down.



As Garigg reached the deck a bolt of lightning caught him across the shoulder. The half-orc tumbled across the deck, smoke risking from him.

The mage turned away from the threat, his hands started to etch another spell into the fabric of the air itself.

Garigg snarled, brushed himself off and stood up. In his right hand his held his axe, in his left hand he held out the orb on its small chain. He grinned as the mage turned towards him.

The mage looked deeply confused.

"Oh no. An axe and a...weather orb?"

He snapped his fingers and another bolt of lightning struck Garrig in the chest.

 

[Fannin Hohlt]

Fannin was actually grateful for Garrig's assistance over to the railing. Maybe he wasn't so bad.

"Keep yer head down and might live..."

That was probably the best advice someone could give at this moment since she was pretty much useless.

She watched Garigg stalk off and start to fight his way to the magician. She, on the other hand, used the rail as a crutch as she tried to reach for a fallen sword. Something was better than nothing if she needed to defend herself.

The lightning bolt hit Garigg and Fannin cried out as he fell. She thought that everything was lost and so did the mage but Garigg had other ideas. Her eyes widened as he held up the orb and she prayed to every spirit and god that something good would happen.

Too much wishful thinking.

A new bolt of lightning came down and struck Garigg in the chest. The orb lit up like it had been hit with the bolt of lightning and she watched as mini lightning bolts seemed to appear in the orb.

"Holy shit," she breathed out. The orb was magic. Did it capture magic...maybe? She wasn't sure but she was hoping Garigg would know.

 

[Garigg Bracken]

"Weather orb," Garigg growled.

"Oh you're not dead," said the mage. His diction was that of a man who had spent years at the highest human academies. His services must have cost the crew a small fortune, something Garigg would get to the bottom of. "Yes very good at telling the weather."

The skirmish had slowed. His own crew had taken the front of the top deck now, but eyes were on his struggle with the mage. If Captain Bracken fell, the others would flee.

The mage started to cast. Garigg grabbed a small hand axe from his belt and threw it. Once again it bounced off the shimmering field that appeared around the mage, but it broke his concentration.

Garigg was on his feet in a flash, crossing the space between them and bringing his large axe down. Each blow bounced off the barrier, knocking the mage off his feet and keeping him off balance.

The man's face was twisted in concentration to keep the spell going, but Garigg couldn't break through.

"Idiot!" hissed the mage. He unleashed a small cantrip, a flash of lights that Garigg shielded his eyes from. "Your strength is matched to your idiocy."

Garigg was breathing hard. He was wounded. He couldn't break the defensive spell.

"Yeah?" went Garigg. A smile full of tusks appeared on his face. He rushed forwards again. This time he didn't strike the mage, he simply wrapped an arm around his chest and flung him from the deck into the water.

There was a loud splash and a flash of magic. The mage cried out from down in the cold ocean between the ships.

"Keep shooting him with arrows til he drowns!" he cried out. Garigg turned and his rage fell upon the crew of the attacking vessel.

The mast of the Lotus splintered and cracked, coming down before the fires could be put out. Garigg's bloody axe came down again and again until the last of the attacking crew were locked in the captain's quarters for a final stand.

"Leave em in there," Garigg shouted. "Put out the flames and bring up the spare mast. We have work to do."

He roamed the deck until he spotted Fannin.

"You!" he called out. All of that anger was now aimed in her direction.

 

[Fannin Hohlt]

"You!"

Fannin was really hoping that Garigg would forget she existed but she was not that lucky. As she watched him stalk toward her, she was sure that he was going to kill her.

"I..." She tried to say but nothing came out. She was truly terrified once more.

 

[Garigg Bracken]

Garigg stood over her, axe resting at his side. He was bleeding from several places, black skin around the wounds caused by the lightning charring his flesh. He looking more like a monster than a man.

Flecks of sail still fluttered through the air, burning as they went. They needed to effect repairs and get moving alongside their transport ship or else it would be vulnerable. Now he also needed to split his crew three ways.

"You must have already thought of your next plot for that silver tongue?" Garigg mocked. Even if she had the words, he didn't get her the chance to put them to him.

He stepped forwards, the heel of his boot pinning the blade she had found to defend herself. Garigg reached down and wrapped one hand around her throat, one finger at a time. He squeezed hard enough that the blood stayed in her head, in her face, as he picked her up with ease with one hand.

Maybe there was a way he could use that talent, but for now all he wanted was a scream.

 

[Fannin Hohlt]

She didn't have words.

Even if Fannin had tried to form them, she couldn't. She didn't think her sham would come to an end so quickly. She thought she would have time to plan her escape before he figured her out. Damn the fucking mage and his attack!

The next thing she knew, the half-orc was raising her into the air by her throat. She gasped and tried to breath but she was having no luck. A tear streamed down her cheek as she tried to open her mouth. Nothing came out.

 

[Garigg Bracken]

Garigg watched the tear roll down her cheek with a peculiar sort of morbid fascination. His chest rose and fell. His arm trembled, but not from her weight.

There was a series of thuds as boarding planks were properly secured. The world seemed to carry on in motion around the pair locked in this moment.

Garigg lifted his axe and brought it down. It stuck in the wooden railing beside Fannin's dangling legs, severing a length of rope.

He dropped Fannin to the deck and delivered a single kick to the gut. It was barely a fraction of his anger, a single moment of frustration.

The length of rope was looped around her neck, even as she coughed and gasped for air.

"Up," he said, taking the length of rope and yanking her to her feet unceremoniously. He had half a mind to toss her overboard to sink to the bottom with the mage. The pair of them both too clever for Garigg Bracken, or so they had thought.

"Walk over to my ship," he hissed, standing behind her. That would have been too quick. He was going to keep her. Several crew members jeered at her. The ones who didn't share his superstitions, but would never have defied him openly.

 

[Fannin Hohlt]

The fall onto the deck caused her to cry out as she landed on her already hurt ankle. The kick to the gut caused her to cough and groan. Unfortunately she had no chance to recover before he had slipped the rope around her neck and started dragging her.

“The orb saved your life, you ungrateful bastard!” Fannin hissed out at him.