Advent of Eternity - Chapter 134 (Patreon)

A sharp knock on Knell’s door pulled him from his meditation. He grimaced, opening his eyes and pulling himself back into the present world. Coal clicked his beak in irritation from his shoulder, ruffling his feathers as the door swung open and Cyll stepped inside.

“Have we spotted land?” Knell asked. “It seems a few days too soon.”

“No land,” Cyll replied with a shake of his head. He tapped the doorframe with a finger and bared his teeth slightly. “But there’s a ship heading in our direction, and they’re moving pretty quickly.”

Knell raised his eyebrows. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He grabbed his staff, heaving himself to his feet and following Cyll outside. The sun hung low in the sky, well on its way toward descending behind the waves.

A dull orange hue filled the sky, almost as if it were aflame. The light reflected off the ocean, its waves gently rocking the Withered Rose. Knell and Cyll walked up to the bow and Cyll pointed to their east, where the large white sails of a galleon stood in stark contrast to the sea.

It was headed in a direction diagonal to them, on course to intercept the Withered Rose if neither of them changed direction. The ocean at the front of the galleon seemed… wrong. Instead of beating against the ship’s bow, it split and sprayed up the sides as if the ship were being pulled by some great force in front of it.

“They’re moving faster than we are,” Knell said.

Cyll nodded. “Looks like it. They’ve probably got someone with a path that lets them control the water. I talked to Maud already, but–”

“The Withered Rose does not have the strength to compete in speed with our pursuer,” Maud said from behind the wheel. He tapped a bony finger on the wood beside him, as if in contemplation. “Not right now. If I were to be given enough power to restore her to her former glory, then outrunning such a primitive vessel would be laughably easy.”

“How many Boons?” Knell asked.

“Ten.”

“Ten?” Stix asked, choking midway through taking a drink from her water flask. She coughed, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Are you insane? Do you think they grow on trees?”

“In the time of the Withered Rose, Scions fell in scores. Ten dead men is a paltry sum for the strength that I can offer our Captain,” Maud said.

“I will consider it,” Knell said. “For the time being, it does not appear that Maud is going to be of much use. We are nowhere near getting ten Boons that we don’t need for other purposes. How long as the galleon been chasing us?”

“We just spotted it,” Maya said from beside Sylph. She rested her hand on the hilt of her sword and looked back out over the ocean. “They came out of nowhere. I can’t imagine we would have missed something that big for long.”

All of them fell silent for a minute, gauging the ship. There was no doubt in Knell’s mind that it was gaining on them now. He couldn’t quite make out anyone on its deck, but there were probably at least two dozen men on it judging by its size.

It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d gone up against a galleon, but the fight against Sorfina had been when the Withered Rose was actually able to fight back. His hand tightened around his staff as he thought.

“Maybe we should take the fight to them,” Cyll suggested.

“How?” Stix asked. “By the time any of us are actually in range to fight, their cannons will be on us.”

“What about your bow?” Maya asked, but Stix was already shaking her head.

“It doesn’t have more range than a cannon. If we actually had useable cannons on the Withered Rose, we could have thought about trying to use those with the extended range I get from my path, but at the moment it’s not even an option.”

“I could hop off the ship and try to swim onto theirs when they sail past,” Cyll offered.

“It’s more likely that you miss them and we never see you again,” Knell said, shaking his head. “About how long do we have until they’re upon us?”

Everyone turned to look back at the galleon. If anything, the spraying water at its front had grown even sharper, obscuring the bow of the ship in a frothy white shield.

“Ten minutes at most,” Maud said. “But a ship of that size is not going to be maneuverable. If we can get past its broadside, we can swing around and stay outside of optimal firing range.”

Knell nodded slowly, a plan starting to form in his mind. “We would just have to avoid taking too much damage on the initial pass. It would also be a poor idea to let them choose the time of the fight.”

“There’s no chance that they’re just passing by, is there?” Stix asked, but even as she spoke, she took the crossbow from her back and unfolded it, preparing for a fight.

Cyll chuckled. “I know you’re not that naïve. I like the boarding idea more. But how are we supposed to keep them from blasting our ship? We’ll be riddled with holes if we pass by that thing.”

“I’ll do it,” Knell said. “The rest of you will board and do your best to either kill everyone that opposes us or drop their sea anchor. Once their ship is still, I will attempt to board as well.”

Cyll’s lips split apart in a grin and he patted Lassie on the hilt. “You hear that, girl? We get to have some fun. I bet you’re excited too, Maya. You’ve been swinging that little toothpick of yours around for a while. Bout time you got to actually put it to use.”

Maya glanced at Cyll, then cleared her throat and gave him a small nod. “Yeah, I might be looking forward to it just a little.”

Cyll clapped her on the shoulder. “That’s my girl. Keep it up and you might turn into a respectable woman.”

Maya scrunched her nose. “Oh, lovely. That’s exactly what I’ve lived for. To get approval of the raving lunatic that ends half his battles naked.”

Cyll harrumphed. “It’s liberating. Give the enemies something nice to look at before they die.”

Maya and Stix both rolled their eyes.

“Yeah, I’m not doing that,” Maya said.

“You? I was talking about myself,” Cyll said, thrusting his chest out. “Who would want to look at you?”

Maud turned the wheel, and the Withered Rose started to alter its course to make directly toward the approaching galleon. Knell gave the skeleton a small nod.

“Maud, please inform Lillicent that she should stay below deck if she wishes to avoid the fighting,” Knell said. “I don’t know how powerful our opponents will be.”

“Already done,” Maud replied. “I know the details of your contract with her.”

Fantastic. Not that I didn’t already know you were an eavesdropper, but you could at least pretend that you aren’t. I suppose I should give Maud points for honesty, though.

The rest of the crew fell silent, watching the galleon intently as they drew closer to it. Now that they were heading directly toward each other, the distance between them was rapidly vanishing.

Knell could make out three rows of cannons including the ones upon the top deck. The galleon didn’t bear any standards, but a plain black flag fluttered from the top of its mast. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the men about the top deck, but it was still too far to make out any detail beyond their existence.

“Get ready,” Knell said. “You won’t have much time to board their ship. Maud, bring us directly broadside, as close as you possibly can. Do you think you can get us in jumping distance?”

Maud let out a rattling laugh. “Aye, Captain. There won’t be much left of our ship if we come that close to their broadside, though. I’ll keep us out of their range for as long as possible, though. There will be at least a minute when we’re in the range of their cannons and we won’t be able to fire back, though.”

“Do it,” Knell said, narrowing his eyes. “Not a single cannonball will hit us.”

“I’ll try to thin off any men that are at the top deck manning the cannons,” Stix said, loading a bolt into her bow with a grunt.

Maud gave him a salute, then wrapped both of his hands around the wheel. Everyone watched in terse silence as the two ships continued toward each other. A wry smile tugged at Knell’s lips. The galleon hadn’t tried to swing to the side yet – they’d realized what Knell planned, and they were welcoming it.

All the cannons on the left side of the galleon had men behind them, and they were ready to fire, likely as soon as the Withered Rose was close enough that they could be certain all the shots would it. Knell suspected that the cannons on the lower decks were equally manned.

Seconds ticked by. The ships sailed close enough that Knell could just barely make out the appearances of the men on the galleon’s deck. They looked rough, with hide clothing and grizzled faces.

“Cocky bastards, not trying to fire on us yet,” Cyll observed. “They’ll pay for that soon enough.”

Stix raised her bow and took aim. Her finger tightened around the trigger and the bolt flew free with a whump. A few seconds later, a man at one of the closest cannons flew back, tumbling across the deck and slamming into the mast.

“Soon? Try now,” Stix said, lowering her crossbow and loading another bolt.

“Good shot,” Maya said.

Angry yells rose up from the galleon. It finally started to adjust its position, trying to swing to get its cannons pointed at them, but Maud maneuvered the Withered Rose to keep the galleon’s bow between them and it – for now.

“It won’t be long,” Maud warned. “Whatever you plan to do, do quickly. Ten seconds at most before they correct and we’re in their sights.”

Arrows whistled through the air, splashing harmlessly into the water, unable to reach the Withered Rose. Stix smirked.

“My bow’s bigger.”

“How long will it take to close the distance between us and the galleon completely?” Knell asked Maud. “Will they have time to fire more than one volley?”

“Likely two,” Maud said. “It depends how efficient they are.”

Knell nodded. “Understood. Hold the course. I can stop two volleys. Cyll, Maya, are you prepared?”

They both nodded. Cyll eagerly shifted from foot to foot, watching the galleon like a hungry hawk as they drew closer. More arrows flew from the galleon’s deck, peppering into the water and falling short.

Stix’s crossbow fired once more. A man’s head vanished in a spray of blood. His body pitched back, vanishing behind the cannons.

“They’re going to be in arrow range soon,” Stix warned as she loaded another bolt. “Knell, it might be a good time.”

Knell nodded, watching the galleon closely. “I’m waiting for the last possible second.”

The Withered rose cut through the water, heading directly for the galleon as it turned, slowly bringing them into cannon range. Knell’s grip tightened around his staff and he drew on his magic.

The first of the cannons entered the range of the Withered Rose. Arrows launched into the sky once more, this time headed directly toward them. Another set of cannons lined up with them.

Knell gritted his teeth, channeling every last grain of magic out through his palms as he cast Warp. Cannon fire thundered through the air as a green wall bloomed before Knell, stretching across the side of the Withered Rose and rising into the sky above them.

Arrows rained into it, slowing to a crawl. Cannonballs slammed into the rippling energy and ground to a halt, passing through it in a crawl as they sailed past, unharmed. Exhaustion slammed into Knell and he gritted his teeth, allowing the wall to drop once they’d passed far enough.

The projectiles splashed harmlessly into sea behind them. Stix shot another bolt and another man fell, dead before he hit the deck. The two ships were closing in on each other, but there was still a bit of distance. Knell drew a labored breath and leaned heavily on his staff, preparing to call on his magic again.

“Get ready,” Cyll said, backing a few feet away from the edge of the ship. “We’ve only got one chance to jump, and it’d be a shame if you left all the fun to me.”

Maya grunted. “As if.”

The archers on the galleon raised their bows. Maud turned the withered rose, aiming to have them pass as closely to the galleon as possible. Knell gathered his magic, ignoring the weakness that flooded his body and the throbbing pain in his leg.

Knell thrust the magic forward. A second volley of cannonballs slammed into the glowing shield that he formed at the Withered Rose’s side, stopping all of them from connecting with their target.

The galleon started to turn, but it was too late. The Withered Rose was directly along its broadside, passing by them with just a few feet of distance to spare.

Cyll let out a roar. He charged, launching himself across the gap. He grabbed onto one of the protruding cannons and scrambled up the side of the ship like a monkey. Cyll grabbed the startled sailor manning the top deck cannon closest to him and pitched the man over the side of the ship, then turned and extended a hand.

Maya flung herself across the gap. She grabbed onto the same cannon that Cyll had used in the mid-deck with one hand, slamming into the side of the ship with a grunt. She swung back and forth, building momentum, then launched herself upward.

Cyll grabbed her leg and reared back, dragging Maya onto the deck. A sailor charged them and Cyll dodged the man’s blow, grabbing him by the collar and sending him hurtling after the other sailor.

Seconds later, the Withered Rose slipped past the galleon’s broadside. Maud swung them in a tight circle, and Knell let his magic vanish. Cannonballs and arrows splashed into the sea and he staggered, leaning against the wall of his cabin.

They’d successfully boarded the galleon. Now, all he had to do was sink it.