The soldier went for his sword. Elaina reached down and put her hand over his, stopping him drawing the blade, her other hand going for his neck. They wrestled for a moment until the soldier grabbed hold of Elaina’s tunic and pulled her close, throwing his head forwards so it connected with her chin.
Ignoring the pain, Elaina struggled to keep the man close, one hand pinning his own to his body while she pushed against his head with her other, forcing him to stare at the sky.
They growled and snarled at each other as they wrestled, each one aware that one wrong move could spell the end. The soldier was bigger than Elaina, and probably a little stronger too, but she was no weakling and had been raised fighting men larger than herself. Even so, Elaina found herself pushed backwards and felt the railing bump against her arse. The soldier managed to slip his chin beneath her hand and bit down on the flesh between her fingers. Elaina cried out in pain and threw herself backwards, over the edge of the ship, taking the soldier with her into the blue below. She let go of him as they fell. He wasn’t so quick, and they both hit the water awkwardly, the impact driving the air from her lungs. Gasping in saltwater, Elaina kicked to get her head above the surface, coughing and drawing in beautiful air, but the soldier was still holding on to her tunic.
Elaina kicked and punched and managed to free herself from his grasp. She paddled away a little, giving herself some distance to face him as she began treading water. The soldier’s head broke the surface and Elaina pushed herself up out of the water and towards him, landing a heavy punch across his face as he tried to blink away the water from his eyes. He reeled from the blow and kicked towards Elaina, catching her in the stomach with a steel-plated boot. Coughing and spluttering, Elaina paddled away. By the time she’d recovered, he was facing her, treading water and paddling with one hand while the other was hidden below the surface. A thin shimmer of silver betrayed the sword he was holding.
Spitting salty water out of her mouth, Elaina drew her own steel and held it in front of her. She’d never tried a sword fight underwater before, but there was a first time for everything and she’d be damned if she was going to lose to some old pig from the Five Kingdoms.
It was a strange sort of dance the two performed as they both worked at treading water while forcing the other into an opening. The battle waged on around them; Elaina could both hear and smell it, but she didn’t dare take her eyes from her opponent for even a moment, despite the lumbering hulks sailing past them.
The soldier lunged, a strangely slow and exaggerated motion in the water, and Elaina parried with her own sword, then whipped the blade upwards and out of the water with a splash. It had just the desired effect, and the soldier started and thrashed, attempting to back away while still holding on to his sword.
Elaina pressed forwards and felt a sting across her belly. The soldier grinned. His wild thrashing had been a trap; he was more devious than she’d given him credit for.
Something bumped against Elaina’s foot and she dared a glance into the water. Large, dark shapes were moving in the murky blue below. They were far out in the deep ocean, and the battle was making plenty of waves; anything could be coming up from the depths for a snack, and whatever the creatures were, they were likely to find plenty of morsels.
Then it dawned on Elaina that she was bleeding. Elaina dropped her sword into the depths and turned towards her ship, kicking into the fastest swim of her life. She didn’t bother looking behind to see what the soldier might be doing. She didn’t care.
“Cap,” someone shouted down from the deck of Starry Dawn. Elaina could happily have kissed every one of her crew for realising she’d gone overboard and pulling the ship to a halt.
A rope ladder dropped over the side of the hull and Elaina changed her course a little, still kicking and pulling herself through the water as fast as she could. A scream echoed out from somewhere behind her, and a glance upwards revealed the look of fear on Pollick’s face as he watched over the railing.
“Better hurry, Cap,” the lookout yelled.
Elaina’s fingers touched wood and she stopped kicking, her own momentum slamming her into the boat. She grabbed hold of the ladder and wasted no time hauling herself out of the blue, rushing upwards as quickly as her limbs would carry her. Something bumped against the hull below her, and Elaina glanced down to see grey scales and a fin disappearing under the surface. The waters were clear enough to give her an idea of the size of the beasty, and it would have been enough to strike plenty of fear into even the most courageous pirate.
Rough hands grabbed hold of hers and helped her up and over the railing. Pollick and Surge were nearby, and some of the rest of the crew were busy throwing the bodies of Five Kingdoms sailors and soldiers overboard.
“Thought we’d lost ya for a moment there, Cap,” Pollick said with a wide grin.
“I need a new sword,” Elaina growled, running wet, shaking hands through her hair. “Are we fit to sail?”
“Aye, Cap,” said Surge.
“Then get us moving, quartermaster.”
Chapter 64 - The Phoenix
Even as the first grapples were thrown, Keelin hurled himself across the watery expanse towards the Man of War. He landed heavily against the hull, fingers gripping the railing, and started to pull himself up and over. Keelin’s crew were quick to follow, some leaping across after their captain’s example while others swung over on ropes. Before long there were a great many pirates on board the Man of War, and the Sarth crew found themselves fighting a battle on two fronts.
Keelin couldn’t see onto the Riverlanders’ ship. Judging by the number of soldiers still aboard the navy vessel, Deun Burn and his crew were holding their own. Riverlanders had many a foul reputation, and some of them were well deserved – one being their renowned ferocity in a fight.
A number of the soldiers on board the Man of War turned to face the new threat. Keelin decided to give them something other than the crew of Rheel Toa to worry about. Drawing his cutlasses, he gave a battle cry and charged, knowing his crew would follow him in.
Keelin was the first to reach the enemy lines and he ducked under a wild swing, cutting the soldier near in half as he stood inside the man’s guard. Not bothering to finish the dying man off, Keelin stepped up to his next opponent as the rest of his crew caught up, crashing into the soldiers. Chaos erupted on the deck, with steel clashing against steel and the smell of blood and fire in the air.
A block followed by a hilt to the face sent a hook-nosed soldier reeling, and Keelin followed with a powerful slash that opened him up from shoulder to hip. He kicked the man’s body into his comrades behind and stabbed left, hobbling a soldier long enough for one of his pirates to deal the killing blow.
For what seemed like forever, Keelin’s world became the ebb and flow of combat. Blocks and parries, slashes and stabs. Always moving, always keeping his opponents guessing. The lessons of his childhood served him well. He might never be as naturally gifted as his brother, but he wasn’t known as the best swordsman in the isles for nothing.
After a while Keelin had to drop back, his arms aching from swinging his cutlasses and his hands stinging from all the impacts. The crew of the Man of War were faltering hard now that Captain Burn’s Riverlanders had started to cross onto the bigger ship. Trapped between two blood-thirsty crews, the soldiers from Sarth were collapsing in upon themselves, and it was only a matter of time before the ship belonged to the pirates.
“Are you injured, Captain?” said Jojo. The man wasn’t much of a fighter these days, so he tended to stay towards the back of any scrap they encountered, but he was still one hell of a sailor.