Dexter looked at him and shook his head. Only a wizard, he mused.
When next Dexter looked down he saw a few of the more nervous men had already quaffed their potions. Their rate of fall had decreased considerably. So much so, in fact, that he figured it would take them many minutes to reach the ground. He chuckled a little at that, figuring they were so frightened of the height and the fall, and now they would have to endure it longer.
“Captain, what’s that?” Rosh called out, pointing. Dexter looked over and saw a darker cloud hanging below the others breaking apart. Streaks of it converged on the falling men. He heard a few screams and saw one of the slower falling ones jerking as the gray shadows of mist passed close by him.
Dexter turned to Xander, hoping for an answer. Clearly it was some magical defense, but of what he knew not. It was Bailynn who came to the rescue.
“Wind spirits,” she called out, her voice trembling a little. “They are beings of air that were set to guard this place from the skies.”
Dexter cursed and turned quickly away from the scene below. “To your stations!” He yelled. “We’ve got to get down there and help!”
“Captain, you can’t help them!” Xander said. “Only magic can ward off these things, and we’ve nowhere near enough of it.”
“Maybe we can distract them then,” Dexter said. “At least let them get low enough to hide on the ground.”
Xander hesitated, looking downward again. He frowned and then nodded. “Yes… yes that will work. If they are truly bound to the air, they cannot do harm to anything that is channeling another element.”
“Get to work or get out of the way!” Rosh snapped at him as he moved past and tied a sail off.
“What do you mean, channeling another element?” Dexter asked.
Xander scrambled out of Rosh’s way and said, “If they’re on the ground they will be in contact with another element. Beings of air will be far less powerful against them.
Dexter nodded and focused on calling out orders to get the Voidhawk down to help out as soon as possible. They dived through the air, falling as quickly as any of the soldiers had, yet remaining in control.
With such a large target available, the wind spirits broke off their assault upon the soldiers and assaulted the Voidhawk. Flying became a secondary concern as they streaked throughout the decking, passing through the smallest of places to brush up against the crew. Each touch was filled with razor sharp coldness, leaving cuts and scratches behind. The crew of the plunging ship fought back, swinging weapons and objects close at hand, but to no avail. Bailynn and Keshira alone had any success against them, their bodies having been enchanted to become weapons. Dexter drew his long sword and learned that it, too, caused the spirits pain.
Even with the three able to do damage to the magical beings, they were clearly outmatched. They all sported wounds, from scrapes and bruises to bleeding gashes, and the wind spirits were also tearing into the ropes and the sails, lessening the meager control the distracted crew had by the second.
“Take us down!” Dexter ordered, knowing they stood no chance of escape otherwise. “We’ll do no good fighting them if we’re doomed to fall and crash upon the ground below!”
The ship heaved as a line snapped, but they corrected quickly and brought the ship around. Moving as quickly as they could, the Voidhawk sailed through the sky and struggled to reach the ruins that the surviving soldiers were only now running to themselves. The hull scraped the tops of a few trees, then it slowed when an spirit brushed along the mainsail and caused the strained fabric to tear nearly in half.
Amidst shouting and frantic scrambling, they managed to roughly land the Voidhawk just beyond the outer edge of the ruins. They cleared the crumbling stone wall that stood some six feet tall and was filled with new gaps after the Voidhawk’s passing. Everyone was thrown from their feet by the landing. Even Bekka, snuggled safely into the helmsman’s chair, was tossed to the decking and slumped unconscious.
Dexter picked up his sword and scrambled to his feet, his other hand going to the bruise forming on his thigh from the railing he bounced off. He looked up, searching for the deathly vapors that attacked them. They zipped through the air but stayed clear of the ship, as though touching it hurt them.
“See, I told you they’d stay clear!” Xander said from where he lay sprawled on the deck.
“Great, now how do we get out of here?” Rosh said, unlimbering his great sword and ignoring the blood running down one arm and the side of his head.
Xander glanced at him, then up at the spirits. Open mouthed, he looked again at Dexter, who was mirroring Rosh’s question with his eyes. “I’ll figure it out,” he muttered, and rose to his feet.
The others, wounded, were either on their feet or struggling to get there. Jenna was at the side, peering into the ruins. “Throw some ropes down!” She ordered, moving to do so already.
Dexter hurried over to see what was going on. The soldiers, led by Aidan, converged on the Voidhawk, no doubt to offer aid. The first scream shattered the air and one of the warriors was cut down.
Another scream followed, spurring them to action. Several ran forward, heading towards the Voidhawk. Aidan grabbed a few, including one of the sergeants, and turned them back, heading towards the men that cried out. Several creatures leapt from their hiding spots in the ruins. Slightly smaller than a human, they possessed tails and lashed out with clawed. Their feline faces reveal grinning mouths filled with dagger-like teeth. Small but wiry and fierce, in open combat they were no match for the soldiers. In the tight and confusing quarters, however, they evened their numbers considerably.
“Captain, we should help,” Willa said, cradling a series of scratches along her forearm.
Dexter’s jaw flexed helplessly. “They’ll get here, we’ll fight them then,” he said.
“Dex,” Jodyne said, tossing a rope over the side and staring at him.
“This is our ship, they’ll be at a loss. We’ve no idea how many there be,” he argued.
“We ain’t s’posed to be here,” Rosh reminded them. “This ain’t our fight!”
Dexter looked at Rosh and nearly changed his mind at the man’s unusual agreement with him. He nodded and said, “Help them aboard, we’ll defend them here.”
“Bailynn, check on Bekka,” Jenna said, realizing the sorceress had not emerged yet. The small elven-touched girl nodded and hurried off, sliding gracefully down the staircase towards the bridge.
The men arrived singly and in pairs at the Voidhawk. They scampered up the ropes as quick as they could, sometimes having two or even three men on a rope at a time. Dexter and Rosh helped them aboard as they neared the railing, reaching down to pull them onward and upward. A few more were ambushed and cut down, but the majority that reached the ground made it back on board. Aidan and his men emerged from the ruins bloodied.
They neared the Voidhawk and a creature rose up from a pile of rubble. It leapt through the air, about to take Aidan by lethal surprise but a flash of silver through the air intercepted the beast. Jodyne’s dagger buried in it’s hip and the creature hissed in pain.
Aidan spun toward the hideous cry and called out to his men. They grabbed and bound the creature and, when it refused to stop wrestling against them, one of them clipped it on the head with the butt of his sword. Limp, they carried it to the side of the Voidhawk and hoisted it aboard. The other men scrambled upwards and waited for the impending attack by the cat-like natives of the ruins.
“My thanks,” Aidan said after he boarded, handing over the dagger Jodyne had thrown.
Jodyne nodded and took it from him, not smiling but nodding to show she respected and appreciated his gratitude.
Bailynn emerged from below, helping an unsteady Bekka to walk. The half-elf glanced around, trying to take in their new surroundings. Bailynn helped her to Dexter’s side but stayed back out of the way of his snapping orders to make ready for an attack.
“Going to make it?” Dexter asked Bekka.
“Just some dump shock,” she said, slurring her speech slightly.
Dexter nodded. Every pilot knew what it was like to be suddenly torn from the helm of a ship. To say it was disorienting was understating it. One moment you were one with the vessel, the next you were like a fish out of water, a fish that had gone from being a whale to a minnow in an instant. He shuddered in sympathy. A normal separation, where the change was gradual and the transition expected and accepted was far more preferable.
“Good, we should be busy right quick,” he said to her, offering her a brief but encouraging smile.
“Cap, they ain’t coming,” Rosh said, staring into the ruins and picking out occasional creatures hiding in the shadows.
“Why not?” Dexter demanded, turning to stare into the surrounding ruins.
