Lockpicking was one of the few skills she had learned before the Tower. During her training, they had shown her schematics, rare locks, magic locks, and more. In short, regular locks didn't stand a chance. This one had a few tricks in it. Some false tumblers, extra heavy tumblers, and some bizarre angles. The key must be a real piece of work. Luckily all those things still added up to one regular lock.
The little penis stool, whatever it was, the statue, was inside. Quest over. Crystals lined the inside of the chest. The little item was the only object inside. A silky bed cushioned it. Even the lid had some for the top side. Wow, they treated this thing nicer than their sailors. She grabbed it. The crystals turned red. She jerked back. Nothing exploded. She sighed. Then the door of the room started rattling. Hopefully, it was just Blade.
She must have tripped some magic wire. Fantastic. Looking around, the room had no other exits. Like a vault. Guess that's why they chose it. She tip-toed to the door and stood against the wall. It swung open. The door blocked her view of the room. Her foot slowly eased it to a stop before it smashed her nose. At least three sets of feet patted into the room. They didn't speak. She slipped out from behind the door and escaped from the room. Blade's body blocked her.
An exchange of glances passed between them. She elbowed his throat. He gagged. She was running before he hit the floor. The stairs were under her feet before he managed to gurgle a yelp out to his pals. As she moved down she realized something, she stopped. They hadn't seen her yet. But the others wouldn't know she had the piece yet. They might stay on and look for it. Fuck. Telling the other it was time to go was a top priority.
The stairs were stacked on top of each other so she swung over the side and curved into the deck two stories below. No one was around. Rushing, she moved towards the stern. A bell started to sound above her. Footsteps pounded from above. Luckily they got quieter. Hopefully, people assumed she had headed for the city.
Fish and Gill came into sight. They were gambling with the Old Man. Wow. Gill glanced at her sudden arrival, she flickered the piece at him. Gill's jaw dropped. Take that stoic face! He whistled and Asim appeared. Her jaw also dropped. Easy money.
A second later they were rushing up the stairs at a brisk jog. Cutlery had borrowed the old man's cloak in return for him losing the gambling match. She covered her face and clothes. They reached the top deck. Cloaked figures lined the rails with their arms up. A wall of energy was slowly crawling up the sides of the ship. It looked like it would blockade them.
"Fugin three on three hells." Asim cursed.
There was no time to think. With a bounce, Cutlery grabbed onto a mast. The others started clambering up it with her. Yells from around the deck sounded off. Cutlery looked down. Several hooded figures raised hands, and bows, and at least eight in total aimed. Uh oh.
-
Spells blasted upwards. Many cut empty air. One hit the ropes. Luckily it was an arrow and not a fire bolt. The rope frayed slightly. Asim yelped below. The others were clutching to the swinging rigging. Fish was close behind but the others weren't. Cutlery kept moving.
She reached the first platform before a second wave of attacks came. The top of the growing barrier was level with her. If the others couldn't go as fast as her, they might not make it out.
The deck swarmed with a dozen mercenaries and eight more cultists came up from the lower decks. Slivered or not that was a lot. Many of them started grabbing onto the rigging and began to climb up.
Cutlery took out her throwing knives. A few flung past Gill narrowly. He looked up at her with concern. One of her throws hit home and sliced neatly through several of the ropes below him. A second of weighted tension passed and he began to swing. The people below fell to the deck as the rigging came apart between them and Gill. The bombardment of knives continued. A few seconds later Cutlery was ten lbs lighter and out of knives.
The deck was a snarl of swinging ropes. Those who clung to or fell from them caused chaos. Cutlery smirked at her handy work. The return fire wasn't so bad for her. The other three were swinging so fast that they made hard targets as well. Though sadly they didn't like the climbing conditions. A trio of enemies still climbed the remaining few riggings towards them.
Fish reached the platform and flung himself onto it. He forced his fingers wide after the intense climb. Cutlery looked down to see Gill and Asim moving at a snail's pace. They would need to triple their speed to get out. Cutlery came up with a plan.
"Asim!" She yelled. Asim looked up at her, eyes wide, fists clenched.
"Blow up the ship!" Cutlery yelled down again. Asim looked at her. Then nodded. Gracefully she wrapped her sleeved elbow around the rope and slid down She rolled with the momentum of the swing as she jumped off. A transparent golden shield sprung from her arm to block two arrows.
A few spells throbbed at the bottom of Cutlrey's platform. One mercenary was getting close to their height on another mast.
Cutlery peaked down again and Asim was nowhere to be seen. A crackling ball of electricity slammed into Gill below them. They had taken notice of the easier target, and that he wasn't an ally. He went rigid from the shock, which luckily meant he kept his grip. Fish looked down helplessly.
"Grab the ropes!" Cutlery yelled. They started to pull Gill up. An arrow sliced at him and he twisted out of the way of another attack. Then Asim came running out of the low deck below them.
Asim tanked several attackers to keep running. She even took a sword scrape across her back but didn't stop. What was she doing? She needed to defend herself! Oh, she ha-
BOOM the starboard side of the ship erupted outward, the wood splintered against the arcane shield. Then another.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The deck ruptured upward behind Asim. Her attackers flew up into the air.
The cultists raising the shields either vaporized, slammed into the shield, or started running. The barrier faded away.
-
The mast convulsed as the detonations ripped through the ship. Cutlery clutched to the wooden pillar. Fish wrapped his whole body around it. Gill had somehow gotten his fingers up to the platform edge. The wood cracked under his tight grip. The mast settled as the explosions stopped. The wood groaning did not. Gill swung a leg over the platform and let out a sigh of relief. A resounding whine echoed from below. The mast vibrated slowly and then violently. It began to tilt to the side.
Gill heaved himself up as they began to pick up speed. Cutlery rotated with the falling mast as she began to float. Fish let go. He pushed off and flew over the water in free fall. Gill grabbed Cutlery and jerked her off the mast with a pull. She hadn't realized she was just clutching to it in a crouch. Time rushed past her as she entered free fall. Then cool ocean water rushed into all of her senses with a sudden explosive landing.
Darkness and bubbles rolled over her skin like a shirt coming off. Was she upside down? Stinging skin covered her. She was frigid. It was dim. Everything was weightless. A bubble pushed up and past her face. She followed it upward. Flickering orange light hit the surface of the water. There was the surface! Flailing her arms she got her head above her legs and butterflied upward.
The surface at first had seemed close. Her breath was getting farther much more rapidly. She began to panic. Bubbles escaped her mouth. Wood smashed against the surface above. A whole field of debris bobbed above her. Rope and sails from the top to far below the water. She reached for and nearby length of cord and pulled. It simply went down with her hand, she went up only a fraction of an inch.
An eternity passed in her mind. Slowly the situation processed in her brain. Her lungs weren't angry, she was a slivered demi-god. She could hold her breath for a minute or two! The frothing panic fell down to a simmering boil. She calmly followed the cord to a length of wood and pulled herself up. She reactively gasped for breath but found her lungs overfull. Amazing. She looked around. She saw chaos.
The ship was more hole than a ship. Two decks had fallen under the water. People ran about with buckets. They threw water off the sides, onto fires, and pulled people from the remains. She saw hoods blown off heads as the cultist's faces were revealed.
Panicked people. Blood and fear. Many swam like her. One noticed her and swam away with renewed vigor. She looked about in all directions. The bobbing field of wood blocked any chance of seeing along the surface.
Then she saw Asim, slipping through the chaos on their rowboat. Other ships came to help. Some sailed away from the crisis as well. A figure reached up from the water and grabbed the side of Asims boat. It lurched as Gill launched from the waves and into the ship.
Fish later did the same a few seconds later. Cutlery waved at them. They smoothly sailed over with Gill shoving wood out of the path of the bow. They lifted her out of the mess. It was odd. After all that, her body was still feeling fresh. Just some minor shakes traveled through her.
"The piece," Gill said to her. She looked at him and then jerked with realization. The piece was still pressed against her stomach in one of her throwing knife holsters. The memory of storing it there evaded her. She produced it in front of their eyes. Relief passed through the group.
