had forgotten these beings could simply move about at will through the air. It was not exactly what he would term flying, as much as a gigantic leap from one ship to the other.
On pure instinct, Ethan’s blade found its way to his waiting hand. He bolted backward, his feet up on the face of the mainmast, as the creature touched down on the railing in exactly the place where Ethan had just been standing. Ethan somersaulted from the mainmast of the Maelstrom back at the demon with his heavenly blade in hand. The metal gleamed even in the dense shadow of partial night caused by the storm cell overhead.
The demon charged forward with his weapon. Their weapons crashed into one another, flashing like lightning. The demon fought in the appearance of a man. He was terrible to look upon and yet strangely beautiful at the same time. His skin was pale gray. And what appeared to be bluish capillaries pressed to the surface of his complexion. His eyes were feral and fierce, irises of yellow ringing wide black pupils.
Somehow, Ethan did not fear him. The image of this once heavenly being only angered him more as his thoughts flashed with visions of a rebellion older than time. These were not the monsters of so many children’s stories. They were betrayers of Shaddai, pure and simple.
Ethan struck at the demon again. It countered as the battle raged across the deck of the Maelstrom. The crew continued with their duties as Bonifast chased after the slaver. They were oblivious to the struggle among them on the spiritual plane.
Ethan hammered away at the demon with his sword. The demon gave ground, but then took it back from the boy each time. A burst of light flashed each time the supernatural blades struck together, sounding like a thunderclap.
“So this is the Deliverer of God?” the demon taunted. “I would have expected more than a mere boy from the Almighty.”
Ethan wasn’t sure what to say, so he said nothing, but his anger caused him to press the fight even harder.
“Tell me, son of man, how did you find your parents after we destroyed Salem?”
Ethan grew enraged, striking with all the fury he could manage. It was a foolish move. His wrath did nothing but hinder Shaddai using him. The precision he had known seconds before faded as quickly. Ethan faltered, trusting in his own anger to fight.
The demon batted Ethan’s strike away, kicked him in the head, and then kicked him again in the chest. The boy flew backward across the deck, landing in a crumpled heap near the mainmast. The demon ran toward Ethan, raising his sword for the final blow. “It happens every time you pitiful men think you have the power to defeat us!”
“Help me, Shaddai,” Ethan said as the demon’s blade dropped toward him.
Ethan regained strength. He felt power fill him to the brim. In a movement faster than the demon could compensate for, Ethan rolled out of range and to his feet. He met the blade mid-strike, countering with an elbow and fist combo to the face of the demon. The demon’s smile vanished as he staggered backward.
But the creature recovered fast, swinging a massive stroke with his sword that would have taken Ethan’s head had he not anticipated and ducked beneath it. Ethan struck the body of his opponent. His blade penetrated the demon’s abdomen. A flash of light burst through Ethan’s blade into the demon. The demon reeled backward, falling to the deck of the Maelstrom. His blade fell away from his hand as he clutched his wound.
Ethan noticed there was no blood-not a drop. Still, Ethan’s weapon had done damage. To his knowledge, an angel could not die, but something was happening. The demon reeled from some form of pain inflicted by the wound. He sneered at Ethan saying, “This is not over, Deliverer!”
The body of the demon began to vaporize like smoke on the wind. His weapon faded with him until there was nothing left of the creature. Ethan watched in amazement. Would the creature be back? He did not even know what had happened to it. Whatever the case, the demon seemed to believe that this was not his end. Ethan kept that knowledge tucked away in his mind. If he could wound them, then at least for a while, he could dispatch them from a fight. The demon he had wounded while inside of the old woman had been thrust from her body by his strikes. There were rules of engagement here he needed to learn quickly. I wonder what would happen to me if they wounded me in this way. If they kill me in this realm, will I die physically? The thought was too awful to contemplate. Just don’t get hit, he told himself.
BOOM!
The railing in front of Ethan exploded. Wood splinters sprayed outward and upward as Ethan watched the cannonball pass right through his body. The projectile from the enemy ship continued unabated across the surface of the deck and disappeared into the roiling Azure Sea on the other side of the Maelstrom.
Ethan clutched his chest checking for injury. He didn’t have a scratch on him. The liquid metal armor he wore had not repelled the shot. Instead, the shell had passed through him as if he wasn’t there. Then it occurred to him. He wasn’t there, at least not in the physical realm where the cannonball was. That could be useful, he thought.
Then he remembered the enemy had fired upon the Maelstrom. Bonifast’s crew scrambled back and forth, preparing to retaliate. Ethan found Gideon among the frantic crew. The priest stood at Bonifast’s side again, watching the enemy vessel. The captain sounded the order. “FIRE!”
A terrible volley of cannon fire erupted from the port side of Bonifast’s ship. Ethan watched as iron cannonballs flew through the air toward the enemy vessel still bobbing with the ocean swells. Ethan tracked each one of the shots.
Several of the heavy balls struck the slaver in the aft end at different heights, as the vessel lifted up on the storm surge. Most of them splashed into the side of a blue wave, scattering plumes of sea spray into the air before disappearing. The gap had not been closed with the slaver. Bonifast had intended to do so before starting his attack. But the other ship had fired first and he would return their fire in even greater amounts.
I’ve got to get over there before Bonifast blows it out of the water! An urgency to save his sister boiled inside of him. But how can I get over to the slaver? Lightning struck in the distance ahead of them. They were sailing into the worst part of the storm. Ethan had to act now.
The demon had leaped from ship to ship in order to attack him moments ago. He had seen them float through the trees as a child while he and Elspeth were escaping the massacre at Salem. There was no reason to suppose his abilities to operate contrary to the physical laws were any different. If I’m really this Deliverer everyone keeps talking about then Lord Shaddai please help me to know what to do.
Ethan ran to the railing and jumped up on it. The crew still buzzed about like bees as cannon fire erupted between the ships. Fortunately, the storm surge caused a great deal of inaccuracy on the part of both crews, giving him more time to act.
Ethan noticed, as he stood on the railing of the tossed vessel, his body did not sway back and forth. He might as well have been a statue fastened to the wood with nails. As he watched the slaver in the distance, Ethan caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked to his right and found a gull sitting on the railing looking directly at him. The bird seemed to be gauging the boy’s intentions.
“I’m going,” Ethan said, although he was not sure why he talked to the bird.
The bird cocked its head sideways, regarding him. “I’m just not quite sure how to go about it is all,” he said.
The bird, as if in response to his query, lifted its wings and then stood there looking at him. Ethan watched the bird. Then the gull hopped up into the wind and sailed across the expanse toward the slaver ship. For some reason, Ethan felt like he was being told what to do.
Cannonballs pounded into the rolling waves just beneath the hull of the ship, sending spray into the air. Ethan hunched down like a spring, then released. His body rocketed away from the railing of the Maelstrom. He felt like a bird in flight, careening through the air toward his target. The slaver ship surged upward on a wave, coming to meet him as he landed safely on the deck.
When Ethan turned to look back, Ethan saw the gull perched upon the railing next to him. It regarded him once more, seeming to nod its approval before taking flight again. Ethan turned his eye to the heavens and whispered, “Thank you,” unto the Almighty.
