"Starboard side!" Damien shouted, pointing a long spear in the direction I'd just seen it move. I wasn't sure how he was able to track it better than I was, but it was likely due to his having more experience with these creatures. The sound of beating wings and another screech came from almost precisely where the tip of his spear was pointed.
Kalia, I sent her, motioning for her to get up to the helm and guard him. Without another word or reaction, she quickly sprinted up the steps and drew the blade Maikell made for her. "I know you can't speak, but thank you," Damien said over his shoulder as the two of them stood back to back. Devyr and Athar suddenly joined us, though it was obvious that she was still feeling sick from the rocking of the boat.
"Thoma, Irun; Defend the sailors as best you can. I'll handle the ones up top," Mom said, immediately leaping to the crow's nest to get a better view of the battle. Just as she did so, one of the winged creatures' silhouettes flashed at the edge of her spell, and was quickly bathed in its light as it sped toward her.
It was easily the strangest creature I'd encountered so far.
Its body had scales and a tail like a fish, though beneath its long, clawed arms were thin membranes of skin that I could only guess were its wings. What really surprised me was the fact that its face had a nearly unmatched beauty, though its long, sharp teeth broke that illusion quickly.
"Sirens!" my mother shouted, severing the head in a single strike from her incoming attacker before it could do any damage to her or the top of the mast. As the head rolled onto the deck, a handful of the crew did their best to steady themselves, but the sirens moved with such speed that it was likely impossible for them to keep up with them.
"Get below the deck and to safety. We'll handle things up here!" I shouted to them. "Hah, you think this is our first time dealing with them?" one of the larger crewmen said. His tree-trunk arms held several strange tattoos, though many of them were ruined by the scars they held.
As Irun and I could only glance at each other and shrug, knowing there was little more to be said, we got into positions at opposite ends of the ship. I was near the bow, while Irun stayed in the middle of the deck, and Kalia was near Damien at the helm. I'd waited for another to appear, but in the time it took me to blink, one of the sailors was pulled over the edge with a blood-curdling scream.
"They're in the water!" Damien shouted, prompting his men to step away from the edges. I heard the sound of beating wings coming from my left, and in the short heartbeat I had to react, one of the sirens came at me at full speed, claws and teeth ready to get at my throat.
My heart was racing, but I did what I could to maintain my composure as I swung my sword upward and sidestepped out of the way. The fish-like humanoid corpse slammed against the far side of the deck in a fleshy heap, but before I could even acknowledge what I'd just done, another two came at me.
It's not that they're hard to kill individually, but if they're in a swarm, they can pose a problem, I sent Ysevel, who'd made her way up to defend the second mast, which was a little lower than the one my mom was on. They're even harder to fight with one hand, she sent with a grunt of exertion, as another pair of heads rolled near my feet.
Another trio came at me, each one swinging with the speed and accuracy of a trained killer, forcing me to backstep a little to avoid getting hit by the barrage of attacks. It was challenging to manage, as there were still the sailors behind me I had to account for. "A little help would be nice!" I shouted to Irun, but he, too, was being swarmed in a similar manner. "Would if I could, lanky," he snapped back, trapping one of their wings beneath his elbow and tearing it in two with his free hand.
Athar and Devyr did their best to hold their own, and even though she was still feeling sick, I could tell she was still doing reasonably well to defend herself. Kalia and Damien were also surrounded, though I could sense she was growing tired of being unable to use her Wraith mana to dispose of them quickly.
Thoma, on me! Ysevel sent, her eyes flaring with violet light. What's the plan? I asked, severing two out of the three sirens' heads before ducking beneath the third's strike aimed at my face. I have a plan, but you're not going to like it, she said. I'll take whatever you've got in mind, I sent back, already running out of ideas of what to do.
Meet me where Siraye is, she sent just before leaping from her position up to where my mother was. I followed her lead and hopped onto the cargo net, praying the rope would take the force of the jump I was about to do to get up there quickly. Pushing mana into my legs, I pushed off the small square of net my foot was in and soared through the air to reach the crow's nest.
"What's the plan?" I asked, doing my best to deflect a strike aimed at my back as I hung over the side. "Siraye, you're the only one with enough mana to do this, but get up there as high as you can, and cast as large an Inar spell as you can," Ysevel pointed to the top of the mast just a few meters above us.
Without another word, my mother did as instructed, but just before she cast, Ysevel extended her hand out to me. "Trust me on this," she said with a determined look in her eye. "When have I not?" I grinned wolfishly, already starting to piece together her plan.
I felt the mana around us swell far beyond the reaches of the light, engulfing everything above the surface of the water. I could feel that my mom was taking extra care to wrap her mana far away from the thick, wooden masts that held the sails, demonstrating her near-absolute control over mana.
Even as I marveled at her level of control, I felt a tendril of mana wrap around my waist, prompting me to look at Ysevel with mild confusion. "As if I wasn't sick enough," I chuckled and shook my head. "Sorry, love," she smiled, just before my mom pulled the flying creatures toward us with her spell. I jumped back, fully trusting Ysevel to keep me from falling onto the deck below, and readied both my blades.
As I felt her begin to swing me around like a rock on a string, the airborne sirens were quickly around us in a sphere-like formation, being held in place by my mother's mana. "Now!" she shouted, prompting Ysevel to launch me higher into the air in a rapid spinning motion. I did what I could to hold onto my blades as each of them quickly became drenched in gore, turning me into little more than a vortex of death.
As their heads and wings were severed, I could hardly hear the sounds of their corpses slamming into the sea below over the cacophony of death I was, quite literally, flung into. Ysevel's leash, for lack of a better word, was taut and guiding me along in a sequence of circular patterns as my blades dug into their flesh.
As I felt the last bite of cartilage and scales on my blades, she let me down to the deck, though my dizziness, coupled with the rocking motion of the ship, caused me to stumble and fall flat on my face in a puddle of siren blood.
"What the ever-living fuck was that, Siraye?" Damien shouted. While I couldn't see his face, I could tell from his tone that he was both impressed and horrified at the sight before him. "It wasn't my plan," she said as she dropped from the crow's nest onto the deck, nearly breaking one of the boards beneath her feet.
Thankfully, Ysevel landed with a little more grace beside me and helped me to my feet. "I think I'm go-... hurrok… I think I'm gonna be sick," I said weakly as the sea, ship, and lights spun around me uncontrollably. "I'd be more concerned if you weren't," she said with a chuckle, carrying me over to the port side of the ship so I could shit through my teeth. "It's not the first time I've seen you like this," she said playfully, gently patting my back. "That was… hurrok… different," I spat the last remnants of dinner out before swishing a mouthful of water.
"True, but still, thank you for trusting me," she said warmly, though I could only return a weak, pallid smile. "You two weren't half-bad up there, though I wasn't expecting it to rain siren parts today," Damien said with a chuckle as he approached us with my mother and the others.
"Well, if it hadn't been for her quick thinking and, arguably, gory, adaptation of my Whip of Doom technique, that fight would have lasted a lot longer," I managed weakly, jutting my thumb in her direction. "I-I see. Thank you, Your Highness," he said, offering her a proper gesture. "Just Ysevel, and of course! I couldn't just stand there and wait for more of your men to die. Plus, if it hadn't been for Siraye's control over mana, that plan might not have worked," she shrugged, causing him to chuckle.
"You speak far too casually for someone in such a high position," he said in disbelief. "Still, thank you, Ysevel," he said, using just her name this time.
After allowing me a few minutes to recover, we helped the crew clean the ship of the severed body parts and blood to the best of our abilities, though no matter what we did, it didn't seem to be enough to meet his standards. "It will have to do for now, but you're going to end up owing me for the cost of the cleaning crew I'll have to hire," Damien said, jokingly elbowing my mother in the ribs.
"Fine, but you still owe me a good meal when we get back from there," she retorted, pointing out to where the silhouette of the Gramm Isles was just beginning to come into view in the early hours of the morning. "Those are the Gramm Isles?" I asked, as I observed the titanic cliffside and distant mountains begin to grow exponentially larger.
I couldn't see much in the way of details, but I was sure that what I could see was nearly as large as the Rhydian Mountains, perhaps even larger. I felt my nervousness begin to turn in my stomach, not fully knowing what this place would be like, but Ysevel took my hand in hers and gave me a knowing nod.
Whatever happens there, we'll go through it like we always have; together, she sent me and the others as we watched the cliffside, still hidden by the fog, begin to grow even larger than initially expected.
I know. Let's see what this place holds, I smiled back, squeezing her hand a little more tightly.