spoke, shining light into the ruins and illuminating the threat. Bodies shuffled back and forth, seeking an entry. They moved somewhat awkwardly, but remained coordinated enough to maintain balance and to be a threat. The drying blood upon many of them was testimony to their savagery. That, and the bloodshot and hateful look in their eyes.
“Son of a-“
“Rosh, he’s right, let’s go!” Willa said, losing her nerve quickly once she realized she had worked the entire night through less than 20 feet from the living ghouls.
Rosh nodded and guided her to the side of the ship, then helped her loop the rope around one foot and steadied it while Dexter called Keshira over to help pull her up. Rosh clambered up the rope ladder quickly once she was safe, then they secured the remaining ropes and waited to hear Dexter’s plan.
The Captain stared into the ruins, studying the former humans and perryns that now circled his ship like sharks. “Cap?” Rosh asked him after seeing Xander swaying on his feet with fatigue.
“Xander, just a little longer,” Dexter said to his wizard. “When I tell you to, I want you to let them in.”
“We’ll be gone first, right?” Rosh asked him.
Dexter turned and grinned at the larger man.
“Aw hell,” Rosh said. “Dex, we ain’t gotta die for these dirt-kissin’ fools. Let’s just get out of here and keep going!”
“Captain,” Bekka said, stepping forward, having returned from the bridge white faced and troubled. “They won’t stop. Every one of them will come for us. Using fingers and teeth, they’ll claw at the hull until they tear through it, even if they wear their fingers to the bone.”
He nodded. “Every last one of them, right?”
She nodded. Dexter smiled. “Good. Rosh, Logan, Aidan, grab the last of that alchemist’s fire we got down below. Grab as much lamp oil as you can too.”
Rosh stood, staring at Dexter a long minute. He opened his mouth but Dexter beat him to it, “Go, damn you, we got no time for wasting!”
Rosh shut his mouth and ground his teeth. He nodded and headed towards the stairs below deck, catching up to the others at the cargo hold. In three trips, they had brought up enough oil that Dexter felt they were ready.
“Over the side,” Dexter said. “Pour it all, save the alchemist’s fire,” he instructed. “We need a ring around the ship big enough to get them all. None of them can escape.”
“Voidhawk’ll burn too,” Rosh pointed out darkly.
“Not if it’s not here,” Dexter said.
Rosh looked at him then nodded, finally understanding the plan. He picked up one of the kegs of lamp oil and headed towards the bow. Logan and Aidan followed suit, each heading to a different part of the ship. By the time they had emptied all of the casks, Xander was leaning against the railing of the ship, fighting the urge to fall asleep on his feet.
Jenna, who was closest to the wizard, sighed. “Sorry about this,” she said to him, then moved with a speed he would not have been able to dodge had he been awake and expecting it; she slapped him hard across the face.
Xander stumbled, falling to his hands and knees from the force and the surprise of her strike. He shook his head and looked up at her, rage showing on his face. “Why the…”
The wizard trailed off, understanding why she had done it. He nodded, but continued to glare at her. Finally he stood up stiffly. His eyes narrowed when she had to stifle a chuckle at the red hand print forming on his cheek.
“You gonna just let a girl slap you around like that?” Rosh asked as he walked by with an empty barrel. The deckhand tossed it overboard and smiled as it shattered into pieces.
Xander scowled at him but said nothing, knowing he was being baited.
“Enough,” Dexter snapped. “To your posts, Bekka I thought I told you I need you on the helm.”
“I can’t,” she said. “I tried… I can’t connect with the ship yet.”
“You… why not?” Dexter asked, stunned.
“The dump, it messed me up. It’s going to take some time before I can merge with the ship again. I hope.”
“You hope? What do you mean?”
“I’ve heard of some people that could never helm a ship again after a bad dump,” she said with a forced calmness.
Dexter’s eyes widened. He needed her on that helm! “Alright… um,” he turned to look at his other option, Rosh. Rosh was learning how to fly a ship, but he was no match for Bekka or himself. Dexter knew he had his own reasons to not be on the helm, he was the Captain and had to react to what was sure to be a difficult escape.
“Cap, let Willa try it,” Rosh offered, his hand resting on the former slave girl’s shoulder.
Willa looked up at him, her mouth opened and eyes wide. Dexter’s own expression was not so terribly different.
“The way she’s been feeling the flow of the ship, it reminds me of how things feel when I’m in the helm,” Rosh explained. “I bet she’d pick it up right quick!”
“Right quick?” Dexter repeated in amazement. “Right quick isn’t enough! We have to time it right so them things get burnt and we don’t! Then we gots to get away from those things in the sky before they cut us up again. We need more than right quick, especially with the rigging and sails not running full from the damage they already done.”
“We ain’t got a choice!” Rosh protested. “Bekka can’t do it, you can’t do it, I can’t do it…you think I’m wanting to risk my neck on someone that ain’t never flown before?”
Rosh squeezed Willa’s shoulder encouragingly. “I reckon you can do it. You’re special, and I’ll have words with anyone here that says different.”
His last statement was accompanied with a challenging gaze at each person gathered on the deck in turn. Dexter shook his head, then glanced at Xander. The wizard looked like he was starting to glaze over again.
“Oil’s gonna be soaked into the dirt soon,” Dexter said. “Willa, go sit your pretty behind on the helm and see what happens. You got one shot at it.”
She looked on, wide eyed for a long moment until Dexter made a shooing motion with his hands to get her going. Bekka went over to her and grabbed her hand, leading her below to the helm and talking to her along the way, trying to offer her some hurried advice and suggestions on how to make the connection.
After a long and tense couple of minutes on deck, Dexter cursed and unbuckled his sword belt. He tossed the sheathed weapon to Jenna and turned to head towards the bridge. “That’s one of the few weapons that will hurt those things,” he said over his shoulder while pointing at the small dark cloud of wind spirits high above them.
He paused at the top of the staircase and looked back at them. “Soon as you feel the ship under control, let them things come. Somebody yell when they’re all around us in the oil, then when we lift, throw the alchemist’s fire.”
Dexter started down the stairs but was halted by Bekka coming up from the bottom. “Where’s Willa?” he asked.
“She’s on the helm.”
“And?”
Bekka shook her head, wincing as she did so. “Never seen anything like it,” Bekka said. “I don’t know how she figured it out so quick, but you should have seen her face when she merged with the ship. Like a child with her first sweet.”
“Think she can do it?” Dexter asked her, putting his own surprise behind him.
Bekka shrugged. “She’ll die trying.”
Dexter nodded. “So will the rest of us,” he said darkly, then turned and headed back up the stairs.
The Voidhawk’s Captain caught the tossed sword and buckled it about his waist again. There were nervous smiles around them, save for Xander who was pinching his arm in an attempt to get one last burst of energy to keep him going. Dexter called for everyone to get ready, then told Xander to drop the spell.
With a sigh of relief, Xander, blinked his eyes slowly. When he opened them, he opened his mouth to confirm
