Surrounded by magicians, the remaining pirates began to attempt to retreat, but they found themselves cut off by Tarrin and Camara Tal. Not defending anyone, the pair moved freely through the battleground at will, striking and killing whenever the opportunity presented itself. Tarrin's superior strength and speed felled his opponents quickly and efficiently, but the Amazon proved that she was more than a match for any two-copper pirate, wielding her bastard sword in her hands with a confidence that unnerved her opponents, then killing them when their eyes wandered over her body. When she took one hand off that sword, however, the real fireworks went off, because that heralded another spell. Camara Tal wielded her priest magic in conjunction with her sword, and it made her devastating. Her spells were quick and they weren't destructive, usually aimed at only one man, but they never failed to cause him to either go down or be distracted until she got around to killing him.
Tarrin smacked a sword aside and almost casually drove his claws through the man's throat, making him stagger back as his lifeblood poured onto the deck, but he was smashed down as the metallic Phandebrass clubbed him from behind. "I say, lad, quite an experience!" he said with a strange excitement in his voice, turning and letting a man hit him with his sword. It made a steely clang when it hit him, and the mage simply waggled his finger at the man and raised his arms, shouting "Booga booga booga!" The man's eyes widened in horror, and he turned and tried to flee back to his own burning ship, but Camara Tal swung her sword into his belly as he tried to rush past Tarrin in terror of the mage. He was literally picked up off his feet by the Amazon's power, flying to the deck some spans away, where his bowels spilled out onto the deck in a gory spray.
"Stop playing, Wizard!" Camara Tal snapped.
"Yes ma'am," Phandebrass said in a teasing voice, turning and sweeping the back of his fist into the face of a man that was rushing him from the side. The man's head was stopped by the blow, but his body kept coming forward, sliding under the mage's arm and putting his flat on his back on the deck, out cold. Tarrin stabbed a man in the chest with his staff as he approached, impaling him, the drug the body with him as he turned his weapon and crushed the skull of another man trying to flee from the battle around them. One man ran in circles screaming as the two drakes harassed him, biting at his head and tearing out his hair. They had put out the man's eyes, and were harrying him until he went down. But the man got a lucky strike in with his sword, hitting one of the drakes with the flat of his blade and knocking it to the deck. Without thinking, Tarrin charged through the melee, knocking terrified pirates out of his way as the man's boots kept coming closer and closer to the drake's stunned form. The little reptile was shaking its head to clear away the aftereffects of landing on its head. No matter how much he didn't like them, at that moment, they were on the same side, and wasn't about to let it get hurt.
The other drake gave out a startled hiss when Tarrin's staff impacted its victim dead in the side, sweeping the human away like so much mown wheat, and the Were-cat reached down and picked up the woozy drake with his other paw. He kicked a human in the back as he backed towards him, his attention on Faalken, breaking his spine and sending him down to the deck in agony. One pirate had gotten around Faalken and was threatening Dolanna, who faced off against the larger man with her hands coated in fire. But the man had a wild look in his eye, the look of a man desperate enough to attack even though he may die. Tarrin reared back and threw his staff like a spear, whizzing it by Faalken and hitting the man high in the side. It went right through him and drove into the sterncastle, skewering the man like a kabobed fish. The sword fell from nerveless fingers, and he drooped on his impaling brace. Another pirate rushed him desperately after he threw the staff, but Tarrin grabbed him by the neck before he could get close enough to use his axe and picked him up off the ground, then smashed him into the deck while still holding onto the drake with his other arm.
A man fell just to the side of him, sword clattering to the deck, and Camara Tal came up beside him. "Watch your back, boy," she said curtly, raising her sword against another pirate, a pirate who quickly turned and fled. With Camara Tal, Tarrin, and Renoit's men in the middle of them, only Phandebrass stood between them and escape, and he couldn't get all of them. They were harried from two sides, though, as Dolanna and Dar stepped up and used their Sorcery to begin throwing sheets of fire into the enemy ship, setting it on fire and making sure that the pirates returned to a doomed vessel. "Cut the grapples!" Camara Tal boomed. "Tarrin, get that harpoon out of the stern!"
Tarrin nodded and darted away, running up the sterncastle and to the steering deck. The other drake followed him intently, and when he got to the stern rail, he realized that he was still carrying the drake. "Here," he said, setting the injured reptile on the deck. "Go find a safe place to hide." Then he went over the rail and used his claws to climb down to the large ballista bolt, which still had the chain running from it to the other ship. Tarrin dug his claws into the wood and grabbed the bolt, then pulled on it with all his might. But it wouldn't budge. The head of the bolt was wedged into to the wood of the stern, penetrating to the cabin behind it. Tarrin let go with both paws and grabbed the shaft, pushing with his legs. He knew it would send him into the water when it gave way, but there wasn't much choice in the matter. He pulled at it, straining against it as his legs pushed against the stern, and he heard the wood begin to crack. A split second later, the bolt tore free, sending Tarrin catapulting away from the ship as he carried the bolt with him.
The water was surprisingly warm. He swam up to the surface and to the stern, then hooked his claws into it and climbed out of the sea. The smell of the salt water clung to him as he ascended the stern, looking to see the burning pirate ship fall behind Dancer, those men remaining fighting to put out the fires. When he got back to the sterncastle, Renoit was there again with a pilot, who was turning the ship away from the burning freebooter. The two drakes sat near the rail calmly, one hovering protectively over the other, who still seemed to be a little dazed. "Tarrin, lad, not a good time for a swim, no?" Renoit said with a broad grin.
"It washed off the blood if nothing else," he replied. "I got that harpoon out of the ship. Are we clear?"
"Clear, yes," he replied as his performers flooded into the rigging and quickly set the sails to get them away from the pirate. "Your friends sent the pirates running away like rabbits. Those that live are being put over on an old longboat we can afford to lose. Quite a show, that was, yes. I should carry more magic-users with me."
"They do make things different," Tarrin agreed, shaking some of the water off of himself and throwing his braid back over his shoulder. "Is everyone alright?"
"I haven't had time to check, but by looking, I say yes," he replied. "I see no friends laying on the deck. I do see some bandages, though."
Tarrin felt something up against his leg. He looked down and saw the dazed drake huddled up against his leg as the other stayed close to it. That surprised him, for he didn't like the drakes, and they weren't that fond of him either. The poor thing was shaking; it must have been hurt more than Tarrin first thought. He was silently impressed at the two little reptiles, who would so brazenly attack a human being, who would fight such huge opponents to help defend the ship. Impulsively, he reached down and picked it up, cradling it in his arm, putting a paw over its winged back protectively to calm it. The other one beat its wings against the air to take off, then landed lightly on his shoulder and looked down at its injured companion.
"The war must be over," Renoit said with a chuckle, looking at the small reptile in his arms.
"At least until it feels better," Tarrin grunted.
"Funny. You nearly killed it a few days ago, and now it clings to you."