Overeager, the first pirate to leap the gap caught a bullet in the shoulder. He spun from the force and fell before managing to drop his saber and get a good hold on the railing. One of Akkhi’s toughs put his boot down hard on his hand. He fell to the waves screaming as gangways dropped haphazardly from the attacking ship.
Most of the enemy were Hyur, but there was Roegadyn too. Rakka’li didn’t spot a single woman among them, and given the trade he doubted he would. He had his knife out already, grip tight on it and his stave.Â
The report of Akkhi’s second shot made him flatten his ears. She missed, whether it was because the man ducked suddenly or due to bad aim was impossible to tell. Cursing, she grabbed Rakka’li and retreated with him to the far side of the boat, to reload.
Already there was a good number of them on deck, but Akkhi’s crew was ready. The two sides stood out of reach, trying to bait each other into making a mistake. Rakka’li raised his stave, emboldened by the wall of people between him and the enemy. He waited.
There, someone from his side darted forward, a feint. Rakka’li was channeling as the gap between the fighting men widened. The shot was clear as aether conjured shards of stone cut through the air and caught the pirate who fell for the feint in the face. Rakka’li lost sight of him as he fell to the deck, the man from his side darting forward again and stabbing down.
“Very glad we have you,†Akkhi commented dryly as she lined up another shot, this one into the press of men still trying to make their way aboard. It was impossible to tell who she hit, but one of the men fell in the gap.Â
Rakka’li was readying to attack again when someone from their side stumbled away from the fight, blood shooting from his arm in a spray. Rakka’li abandoned his attack and set to mending him. It felt like half a bell before the man’s wound would finally close. The man didn’t even take time to thank him as he pressed back into the fight.
A sudden boom rocked the vessel, knocking Rakka’li from his feet. A spray of wood and blood showered on the deck from.. somewhere. Rakka’li never found out where. The next moment the line dissolved as the slavers poured onto the deck through a sudden gap. He rose and got his knife out again just as a man charged him, axe held high. Rakka’li jerked his stave upward, it caught in the gap between the blade and the haft and the two weapons locked. They struggled a moment before Rakka’li remembered his knife and buried it in the man’s eye. The two fell in a tangle that Rakka’li lost precious moments pulling himself from. The knife had stuck and he’d lost his grip on it.
He didn’t have time to fetch it, another man was charging straight at him. This one with a short javelin leveled to skewer him. He readied to leap back but one of Akkhi’s tough’s intercepted him and cleanly lopped his hand off with her axe. The same edge bit into his neck a second later.
Shaken as he was he almost stumbled as Akkhi pulled him out of the fight to a protected pocket towards the bow of the ship. “Thought I was watchin’ the end of you Rakka’li,†she murmured, calm despite the situation. “It looks bad I know, but we’re winnin’.â€
Rakka’li had no idea how she knew that, it looked like total chaos to him, so he just nodded and set to channeling again, this time putting spells of protection on one of the men returning to the fight. Why hadn’t he thought of that sooner? A proper battle magus certainly would have, stupid of him.
The pirates fell back then, but it was only to muster again. Rakka’li had hoped that the initial defense would dissuade them, what was the point if the takings weren’t going to be easy? Injured men and women on their side were brought to him, and he was thankful for the distraction. He tried to ignore the signs of fighting and concentrate as the second round began.
This one lasted several minutes, whether it was pride or greed that kept them coming Rakka’li had no idea. He mended an arm that would have been lame had the man lived at all. A dozen gashes and stabs were made right, a broken arm and a smashed hand. A belly wound that would have been fatal.Â
Rakka’li was finishing up the belly wound when he heard the cheer rise. The pirates were routed. They had won, just as Akkhi said. He huffed a shaky breath, relieved. His aether reserves were nearly gone.
He rose to look and found Akkhi chasing off the pirates along with her toughs. A few of the them fell to the waves as the ships pulled apart. The ship he was standing on fired as the gap widened, putting a hole high in the pirate’s ship, not likely to sink it.
Akkhi and her toughs cheered again, and it was then that Rakka’li noticed through the windows of the wheel house a man charging her way, saber held high, blond hair matted with blood. He’d likely been knocked out of the fight earlier and been mistaken for dead.Â
Rakka’li barely got his mouth open as the man tore his saber clean through Akkhi’s side. She went down with a spray as the cheer of victory died and protests of rage erupted. He swung wildly again at Hariet, then was skewered a dozen times. Rakka’li forgot him as he practically flew across the deck and knelt next to his sister.
It was bad, very, very bad. The blade had cut through her slim frame through her stomach, nearly to her spine, spilling her blood and insides onto the deck. She had already lost consciousness. Mercifully.
“Gods, can you save her?†It was Hariet, knelt down beside him.Â
Yes, yes he could. It was bad, terribly bad, but it wasn’t beyond him. He lifted his stave and reached for the aether.
It wasn’t enough.
His heart fell. The battle had taken too much from him, perhaps if he’d not shot that stone earlier on, or hadn’t knitted so cleanly the less serious wounds, he might’ve had it. But as he was now it would be a too long before he recovered enough to save her, and she’d certainly be dead by then.
Panicked, he pushed her insides back... inside and tried to staunch the flow of blood with his sleeve.
She stopped breathing.
Hariet had caught on, “What are you doing? Use your magicks damn you!â€
Rakka’li wanted to sob and shout at her that he had none left, but he realized that wasn’t true. There was something left.
There was a lesson drilled into his head a thousand times over when he first answered the call to Hearing. You always draw aether properly, shape it in a way that won’t hurt you, getting caught doing otherwise could get you cast out of the guild entirely.Â
Or it could get you killed.
But he could do it, he could pull from his aether. The aether that gave him life.Â
And why not? Akkhi had her girls, what was he to do? Watch her die and then return to Ruhn and her sisters with an apology and terrible news? He was only a male. Akkhi and her daughters were his family’s only shot at keeping their name in the world.
What was his life next to that?
He dropped a hand to the wound and pulled.Â
At first it wasn’t so bad, like the wind had been knocked out of him. Slowly the terrible injury began to close. It was halfway done before it really started to hurt on his end. Heart hammering in his chest, he grit his teeth, one fang finding bloody purchase in his bottom lip.
But it wasn’t enough, he had to mend her totally or she was going to die. He ignored his body’s protest and pulled harder. This time the effort of it conjuring pins and needles up and down his arms. His vision tunneled. He realized he’d been holding his breath, so he let it go, it was a monumental effort to fill his lungs again.
Yet he pulled on. Soon all sound left him, leaving only a dull ringing in his ears. In a moment of horror he wondered if he would pass out before he could finish. His heart skipped a beat.
He couldn’t smell either. It was such a strange feeling to him, to smell nothing, after a lifetime of being assaulted by scents from everywhere. It was horror.
Finally, it was done. She would live if he hadn’t been too late. He pulled back, more exhausted than he’d ever been, as if he’d run ten malms in ten heartbeats. The deck was the most comfortable bed he’d ever laid in as he slumped onto his side roughly. The impact of his heavy landing barely notable.
Each heartbeat was agony. It was loud in his ears, loud enough to drown out the concerned shouts had he been able to hear them at all, the rhythm uneven, each terrible beat a falling note as the world spun in his vision.Â
Did Kaahi feel like this when her heart gave out? Dimly he recalled the last time they’d laid together, despite his protest at her condition. He’d been so worried that it had taken time to ready himself. She’d seemed unconcerned as she rode him eagerly to her own quickening, but after she’d been afraid. Her heartbeat uneven and painful again, she had told him if any sensation felt like dying, it was that one.
He understood her perfectly now.
Odd how that exertion hadn’t killed her, but their leisurely walk home from the market a moon later had.
Dimly he realized he wasn’t afraid of dying anymore. It had been nearly a year since Kaahi had gone, and he realized he hadn’t been really happy a single moment since she had. A friend had warned him that kind of love was dangerous. That friend had been right.
Hariet came into his vision as she rolled him onto his back. His stare fixed on her face as she shouted to know what was wrong, though he couldn’t hear her.  He wanted to explain, but instead his vision tunneled to an ocean of shapeless gray nothing.Â
Why hadn’t he told Akkhi where to find Rakka’sae when he had the chance? Stupid.
The gray ocean swallowed him, he couldn’t tell anymore where it ended and he began.
Most of the enemy were Hyur, but there was Roegadyn too. Rakka’li didn’t spot a single woman among them, and given the trade he doubted he would. He had his knife out already, grip tight on it and his stave.Â
The report of Akkhi’s second shot made him flatten his ears. She missed, whether it was because the man ducked suddenly or due to bad aim was impossible to tell. Cursing, she grabbed Rakka’li and retreated with him to the far side of the boat, to reload.
Already there was a good number of them on deck, but Akkhi’s crew was ready. The two sides stood out of reach, trying to bait each other into making a mistake. Rakka’li raised his stave, emboldened by the wall of people between him and the enemy. He waited.
There, someone from his side darted forward, a feint. Rakka’li was channeling as the gap between the fighting men widened. The shot was clear as aether conjured shards of stone cut through the air and caught the pirate who fell for the feint in the face. Rakka’li lost sight of him as he fell to the deck, the man from his side darting forward again and stabbing down.
“Very glad we have you,†Akkhi commented dryly as she lined up another shot, this one into the press of men still trying to make their way aboard. It was impossible to tell who she hit, but one of the men fell in the gap.Â
Rakka’li was readying to attack again when someone from their side stumbled away from the fight, blood shooting from his arm in a spray. Rakka’li abandoned his attack and set to mending him. It felt like half a bell before the man’s wound would finally close. The man didn’t even take time to thank him as he pressed back into the fight.
A sudden boom rocked the vessel, knocking Rakka’li from his feet. A spray of wood and blood showered on the deck from.. somewhere. Rakka’li never found out where. The next moment the line dissolved as the slavers poured onto the deck through a sudden gap. He rose and got his knife out again just as a man charged him, axe held high. Rakka’li jerked his stave upward, it caught in the gap between the blade and the haft and the two weapons locked. They struggled a moment before Rakka’li remembered his knife and buried it in the man’s eye. The two fell in a tangle that Rakka’li lost precious moments pulling himself from. The knife had stuck and he’d lost his grip on it.
He didn’t have time to fetch it, another man was charging straight at him. This one with a short javelin leveled to skewer him. He readied to leap back but one of Akkhi’s tough’s intercepted him and cleanly lopped his hand off with her axe. The same edge bit into his neck a second later.
Shaken as he was he almost stumbled as Akkhi pulled him out of the fight to a protected pocket towards the bow of the ship. “Thought I was watchin’ the end of you Rakka’li,†she murmured, calm despite the situation. “It looks bad I know, but we’re winnin’.â€
Rakka’li had no idea how she knew that, it looked like total chaos to him, so he just nodded and set to channeling again, this time putting spells of protection on one of the men returning to the fight. Why hadn’t he thought of that sooner? A proper battle magus certainly would have, stupid of him.
The pirates fell back then, but it was only to muster again. Rakka’li had hoped that the initial defense would dissuade them, what was the point if the takings weren’t going to be easy? Injured men and women on their side were brought to him, and he was thankful for the distraction. He tried to ignore the signs of fighting and concentrate as the second round began.
This one lasted several minutes, whether it was pride or greed that kept them coming Rakka’li had no idea. He mended an arm that would have been lame had the man lived at all. A dozen gashes and stabs were made right, a broken arm and a smashed hand. A belly wound that would have been fatal.Â
Rakka’li was finishing up the belly wound when he heard the cheer rise. The pirates were routed. They had won, just as Akkhi said. He huffed a shaky breath, relieved. His aether reserves were nearly gone.
He rose to look and found Akkhi chasing off the pirates along with her toughs. A few of the them fell to the waves as the ships pulled apart. The ship he was standing on fired as the gap widened, putting a hole high in the pirate’s ship, not likely to sink it.
Akkhi and her toughs cheered again, and it was then that Rakka’li noticed through the windows of the wheel house a man charging her way, saber held high, blond hair matted with blood. He’d likely been knocked out of the fight earlier and been mistaken for dead.Â
Rakka’li barely got his mouth open as the man tore his saber clean through Akkhi’s side. She went down with a spray as the cheer of victory died and protests of rage erupted. He swung wildly again at Hariet, then was skewered a dozen times. Rakka’li forgot him as he practically flew across the deck and knelt next to his sister.
It was bad, very, very bad. The blade had cut through her slim frame through her stomach, nearly to her spine, spilling her blood and insides onto the deck. She had already lost consciousness. Mercifully.
“Gods, can you save her?†It was Hariet, knelt down beside him.Â
Yes, yes he could. It was bad, terribly bad, but it wasn’t beyond him. He lifted his stave and reached for the aether.
It wasn’t enough.
His heart fell. The battle had taken too much from him, perhaps if he’d not shot that stone earlier on, or hadn’t knitted so cleanly the less serious wounds, he might’ve had it. But as he was now it would be a too long before he recovered enough to save her, and she’d certainly be dead by then.
Panicked, he pushed her insides back... inside and tried to staunch the flow of blood with his sleeve.
She stopped breathing.
Hariet had caught on, “What are you doing? Use your magicks damn you!â€
Rakka’li wanted to sob and shout at her that he had none left, but he realized that wasn’t true. There was something left.
There was a lesson drilled into his head a thousand times over when he first answered the call to Hearing. You always draw aether properly, shape it in a way that won’t hurt you, getting caught doing otherwise could get you cast out of the guild entirely.Â
Or it could get you killed.
But he could do it, he could pull from his aether. The aether that gave him life.Â
And why not? Akkhi had her girls, what was he to do? Watch her die and then return to Ruhn and her sisters with an apology and terrible news? He was only a male. Akkhi and her daughters were his family’s only shot at keeping their name in the world.
What was his life next to that?
He dropped a hand to the wound and pulled.Â
At first it wasn’t so bad, like the wind had been knocked out of him. Slowly the terrible injury began to close. It was halfway done before it really started to hurt on his end. Heart hammering in his chest, he grit his teeth, one fang finding bloody purchase in his bottom lip.
But it wasn’t enough, he had to mend her totally or she was going to die. He ignored his body’s protest and pulled harder. This time the effort of it conjuring pins and needles up and down his arms. His vision tunneled. He realized he’d been holding his breath, so he let it go, it was a monumental effort to fill his lungs again.
Yet he pulled on. Soon all sound left him, leaving only a dull ringing in his ears. In a moment of horror he wondered if he would pass out before he could finish. His heart skipped a beat.
He couldn’t smell either. It was such a strange feeling to him, to smell nothing, after a lifetime of being assaulted by scents from everywhere. It was horror.
Finally, it was done. She would live if he hadn’t been too late. He pulled back, more exhausted than he’d ever been, as if he’d run ten malms in ten heartbeats. The deck was the most comfortable bed he’d ever laid in as he slumped onto his side roughly. The impact of his heavy landing barely notable.
Each heartbeat was agony. It was loud in his ears, loud enough to drown out the concerned shouts had he been able to hear them at all, the rhythm uneven, each terrible beat a falling note as the world spun in his vision.Â
Did Kaahi feel like this when her heart gave out? Dimly he recalled the last time they’d laid together, despite his protest at her condition. He’d been so worried that it had taken time to ready himself. She’d seemed unconcerned as she rode him eagerly to her own quickening, but after she’d been afraid. Her heartbeat uneven and painful again, she had told him if any sensation felt like dying, it was that one.
He understood her perfectly now.
Odd how that exertion hadn’t killed her, but their leisurely walk home from the market a moon later had.
Dimly he realized he wasn’t afraid of dying anymore. It had been nearly a year since Kaahi had gone, and he realized he hadn’t been really happy a single moment since she had. A friend had warned him that kind of love was dangerous. That friend had been right.
Hariet came into his vision as she rolled him onto his back. His stare fixed on her face as she shouted to know what was wrong, though he couldn’t hear her.  He wanted to explain, but instead his vision tunneled to an ocean of shapeless gray nothing.Â
Why hadn’t he told Akkhi where to find Rakka’sae when he had the chance? Stupid.
The gray ocean swallowed him, he couldn’t tell anymore where it ended and he began.
