CoESC Book 18-13.3: Ports of Call (Patreon)

For several minutes, there wasn’t much of a choice. It wasn’t as if the Sea Sage could turn around and leave. They also couldn’t really angle away from the island, though the waves weren’t coming directly from the harbour either. 

Eventually, the waves calmed a bit. Not as high as before, maybe two or three paces high. They rocked the ship, but they weren’t in danger of capsizing anymore. Yuriko unknotted her safety line and strode back to her quarters to change out of her wet clothes. Cleanse would remove all of the filth and salt from it, but it wouldn’t actually dry her clothing. That one took a more complex spell with 2 circles. 

Once she was clean and dry, she went back up to the deck, then, after a moment of hesitation, headed towards the bridge. The door was unlocked, so she pulled it open and ducked inside. The captain, Antoine Troive, was a middle-aged man who was probably in his early forties. He had a bit of grey in his otherwise ebony coloured hair, which made him look quite distinguished. He, like his sons, had a tan the same shade as Heron’s, and a life at sea had given his family a chiselled physique. Despite that, the man was pale-faced and dripping with sweat. His glance at her betrayed the worried shine behind his eyes. 

Elaine looked even worse. Casting the Reinforce Object spell, which may or may not be her inscribed spell, had drained the travelling magus. Neither of the two academy staff looked at ease as they stared at the Brosmore.

“Of all the times to get raided,” Elaine grumbled. 

“Any idea who it is?” Nemeo asked lightly, though Yuriko could see his fists clench. The captain just barked a laugh. 

“Could be pirates, or privateers,” the captain barked, “Or it could be…” He held a pair of binoculars and used them to get a closer look. “Muckwrangler…I think those are ‘kippers going through the town.” 

Elaine swore something under her breath that Yuriko didn’t actually catch. “Natural or induced?”

Nemeo glanced at the other woman, then gave the erupting volcano a pointed look, “You think that’s a coincidence?” 

“The eruption looks mild and just enough to surprise the towners,” Elaine said, then she looked at Yuriko, “Grab the others. We’ll need to help, or the next leg of the journey’s going to suck.” 

She was about to ask what ‘kippers were, but a memory surfaced from Amalia. She swallowed a grimace and just nodded. Mudkippers were somewhat like the walking corpses. They were small hybrids of a child and a fish, or maybe a toad? Less than a pace tall, they looked like said fish that grew finned arms and legs. They weren’t sapient, and were considered dangerous pests along the coastline. Rakkisgrad’s harbour defences blocked migrating swarms, and the northern coastline was bereft of them thanks to the Sporoids. 

The ‘kippers' instinct is to simply swarm, feed, reproduce, then cycle back. They were also favoured weapons of other supernaturals since they were rather easy to control, so it was still a mystery of who caused this. It was unlikely the things swarmed a major port on their own after all. 

Yuriko walked out of the bridge and headed towards the below-deck quarters to fetch the apprentices. She knocked on Chloe’s door, only to receive a miserable groan in response. She pursed her lips and decided that the other girl wasn’t going to be of any use in a fight at the moment, so she moved on to Lucian and Tristan’s quarters. Amalia’s brother nodded after she explained, though he gave her a worried gaze that she ignored. Tristan huffed and put out his lit ciggy by pinching it with his fingers. She rolled her eyes as he smirked, since he just wasted a bit of his reserves to protect his fingers. 

By the time they returned on deck, they were only about a longstride from port, and Yuriko could see what was happening, which was pretty much a ‘kipper raid that had coincided with an eruption. Still, they didn’t actually need to reach the harbour to contribute, since the ‘kippers were already here. 

Yuriko’s perception aura caught the critters as they latched on to the hull. They crawled up the side, eyes a-glow with malice and hunger. As they clawed their way up, the apprentices readied themselves to fight even as the Sea Sage continued to approach the harbour. 

Yuriko defended the left side of the rear deck. Her brother was on the opposite side, while Tristan took the stern. Both boys took out collapsible batons, and both glimmered with the Reinforcement spells. Lucian enhanced his body, while Tristan focused his spell on his weapon. 

Yuriko extended her index and middle fingers on her right hand, and infused them with her Truth of the Sword. The first ‘kipper that extended its bulbous head over the railing lost it from a quick slice. She followed with a thrust that pierced another Mudkipper between its bulging eyes. She extended sword fingers on her other hand and killed the critters that tried to get past her other side, then she pivoted towards Lucian’s side to cut a ‘kipper that took advantage of an opening. 

Without her Animakinesis, blood stained her clothes and hands, though she deftly avoided spatter on her face. The Sea Sage slowed down as the weight the hull carried increased, and from underneath the waves, she could see that the ‘kippers grabbing on to the ship increased the drag as well. 

Close to the harbour, even without the enormous waves, the Sea Sage would have folded up its sails and used the engines anyway. The rumble of the fuel-burning engines intensified as it fought the ‘kipper’s weight and drag, yet try as it might, the yacht’s speed continued to decrease as more and more of the amphibious creatures swarmed them. 

Yuriko fought while keeping a steady eye on Amalia’s brother and Tristan. She couldn’t reach the bow deck with her perception without distorting it, but she could hear the fight going on as well. She could also feel Elaine’s Reinforcement bolster the ship, though its focus shifted from control to toughness as the ‘kipper’s claws scratched the paint. If they applied enough force, they could just as easily dent and scratch the hull. Yuriko had been mistaken in her assessment of what the hull had been made of, as she initially thought it was steel or iron. Instead, it was a medley of metals and plastics, and perhaps glass, that was light yet stronger than was easily apparent. 

Magus Elaine and Yuriko had many hours of discussion behind them, about the particulars of Irisvailian Arcana Weaving. Yuriko wasn’t at all adept at lying, and as she didn’t really want to discuss the true nature of her incarnation, simply didn’t speak about it and allowed the other woman to come to her own conclusions. Still, she was certain Elaine had noticed her deflections and evasions, so in turn, she didn’t expound much on the differences, and simply pointed at the primers all of the apprentices had been given. From what Yuriko gathered, all Irisvailian magi inscribed a variation of the Reinforce spell, and as their Arcana Heart grew more capable of hosting more spell circles, they simply expanded the inscribed spell. Oftentimes, they continued to specialise in their variant—if they used Reinforce Self or Reinforce Other—and it was rare that they could inscribe the opposite of their original spell. The general version gave enough versatility in exchange for power, and it was quite apparent when she watched the other apprentices. 

Inside her quarters, Yuriko noted that Chloe had cast her Reinforce Self spell to get rid of her motion sickness, and thanks to the fact that they were no longer facing waves higher than a couple of paces, the other girl had finally coped. Once she was centred, she staggered out of her quarters after donning her armoured gloves. 

The two boys were wielding their batons fiercely, each blow crushing the ‘kippers. Tristan, who had apparently decided to focus on Reinforce Other, had empowered his baton, and probably his clothes, so strongly that it obliterated ‘kipper flesh and bone, easily dismembering or decapitating the fish-men. 

Unfortunately, being only 1-circle magi, the two boys weren’t quite good enough to cover the sides by themselves. Yuriko had to cover her side, not that it wasn’t easy, as well as the gaps they left behind. Only when Chloe joined the fighting did it even things out a bit. 

The tide seemed unending, and the waves turned red with spilt blood. She thought she saw fins cut across the water, and her perception caught several large predators snapping up the dead ‘kippers, but the critters didn’t seem to mind. In fact, most of the carrion was being devoured by the Mudkippers themselves. Ew. 

She thought she remembered bits in the textbook about ‘kippers being edible to humans, but they were best used as fertiliser. Crops grew in abundance on fields that had dozens of ground-up ‘kipper bones and ashes mixed into them. Probably part of the reason the things hadn’t been exterminated. Well, that and the fact that they reproduced quickly. Not that she had direct experience with them. Rakkisgrad and the nearby rivers had some sort of protection against an infestation. Probably something to do with the bloodsuckers? 

There was another ship headed towards the port, or perhaps trying to leave it. It wasn’t oriented towards Brosmore, which was being overrun by the creatures. They were too far, half a longstride, probably, to aid. And even as she watched, the ship listed on its side and took in water. A couple of minutes later, it flipped over and revealed that the keel was covered in ‘kippers.

It was perhaps half an hour’s fighting before the swarm dispersed. The water was absolutely covered in ‘kipper blood and guts, and the survivors were eating them up instead of going for the ship. The Sea Sage was close enough to the docks to reveal that the shore was also covered in dead ‘kippers, and that the town still stood. Sorta. Half of the waterfront was still burning, and she could see survivors trying to fight the fires. None of them attempted to escape through the waters, and oddly enough, the volcano’s eruption was weakening. 

Yuriko couldn’t even say that the fight had been interesting because it wasn’t. They were less than swarmlings and barely even worth the effort of killing if not for the danger they posed to the ship. Chloe, Tristan, and Lucian were all heavily panting, with the other girl on her hands and knees. Tristan looked like he’d keel over if blown by a stiff breeze…ah, he keeled over. 

Thud. 

“Heh.” Lucian snorted a laugh even as he winced. His shirt was bloodstained and torn, but it didn’t look that bad. He fell while trying to stay upright. Alright, it was bad. 

Yuriko sighed as she checked his wounds. The gashes were along his right side, but thankfully, weren’t that deep. The exhaustion was likely from sustaining their spells. Ah, his lips were grey and his cheeks sunken. So were Tristan’s, and there was blood dripping from his nose. 

Yuriko bandaged her brother up, did the same to Tristan, then lugged them back into their quarters. Chloe was not wounded, probably because her inscribed spell was Reinforce Self. Specialisation increased the power of the spell by a circle, so the added toughness was enough to deflect the ‘kippers’ claws. Her sleeve was in bits, but her arm was unmarked.

Afterwards, she clambered towards the bow and found Nemeo on the deck, leaning against the railing. He looked exhausted but thankfully, uninjured. 

“You alright there?” Yuriko chirped. 

The older man gestured rudely and chuckled, “Abyss, no. Leave me alone for now.” 

“Sure thing.” 

The stocky man was still there by the time they reached the dock, head lolling as he napped.