Back on the Carrack, Sheena is still Holding Hernan and the crews of Aurora hostage.DAW Books
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Meanwhile, Hernan and several Aurora crew are climbing down the rope ladders to board the La Partizane. Zachary, Robert and Sheena are expecting them near the bow.
This is too easy, Hernan thinks. Robert and Sheena are really good fighters, so it’s not possible for them to surrender without a fight. I must be very, very careful.
With that thought, Hernan walks towards the fugitives.
‘Don Hernan y Parvaez, welcome to Dewblossom. I am Sheena Mekh’ta, the captain, am so honored by your visit.’
‘You seem to achieve much since we fought side-by-side in Enia’s Sanctum, Sheena the Bladedancer,’ says Hernan, as politely as ever.
‘Well, I owe my success to my first mate here, Robert Chandler. He gave me my lucky break after his jailbreak. You do know Robert, don’t you?’
‘Of course I do. Hi, Robert. It’s been a while. Nice to see you here.’
Robert replies curtly, ‘I wish I can say the same to you, Don Hernan, depending on what you will do to us next.’
‘Escorting you to Aurora, of course,’ says Hernan with a gentlemanly tone. ‘...to talk with Adler and Eidos.’
‘Lo? Didn’t we tell you to come on board and talk?’ says Sheena. ‘I mean on board the Dewblossom, not the Aurora!’
‘WHAT?’ says Hernan in a shock, then he tries to compose himself and acts gentlemanly calm in this trap of words. ‘What do you mean? Don’t you guys want to surrender and avert senseless bloodshed?’
Sheena answers, ‘We corsairs live with one code: never surrender. We’d rather fight to the death than rot behind bars. But in this case, we just want to talk to explain our actions. So, I need you, Adler and Eidos down here to negotiate things over and reach a mutual agreement. I think he’ll be interested to what we’ll offer him.’
‘Don’t fool me, Sheena. You know Adler doesn’t talk with non-nobles, no matter how powerful or heroic they are, let alone setting foot on this degraded, dishonored ship. Eidos? You’ll never get a decision out of him, he’s always Adler’s lapdog. So, let me do the talking on their behalf.’
‘Hmm,’ says Sheena with a slight pause. ‘Very well then, what do you propose?’
‘You may keep your freedom, Sheena Mekh’ta, with a price. We will take Robert and Zach under custody – they’re already condemned men. And we’ll also claim the Le Partizane – it’s not yours. You and your men come with us to “escort” the fugitives to Vochaux. We will make up a story for them and you and your men will be free to go.’
‘Sounds like a perfect plan,’ Sheena replies. ‘But it’s not as perfect as it sounds.’
‘Of course. I altered the original plan because of your unexpected response, so we must work on the technicalities later.’
‘No, no, it’s not that. You don’t get it, do you? There are two things that will never work here:
One, losing Robert and Zach will be painful enough for me, but I will never surrender my ship without a fight! Oh, yeah, and the name is Dewblossom, not Le Partizane.
Two, no matter how perfect your plan is, the end result is the same: me and all my men hanging on the gallows.
So, sorry, mate, we can’t follow your plan. But we suggest a NEW plan...’
Suddenly Baxter and Ellephar seize Hernan from the back, although Hernan’s hand is ready to draw his Rapier Albatross.
Hernan protests, ‘Hey! You all chose death?’
‘Yeah, and you’re coming with us,’ says Sheena. ‘But before that, let’s see if my plan works.’
In Skyship Aurora, Captain Quazar the centaur is startled by the development on the deck of Le Partizane.
‘What’s wrong, Captain?’ says Eidos.
‘They’ve arrested Hernan, Master Eidos,’ says Quazar.
‘That fool,’ says Adler. ‘He failed me for the last time. Prepare to fire all blasters!’
‘But... wait, Lord Adler! There are our men down there!’ says Eidos hastily to warn Adler not to make a foolish decision.
‘It’s a worthy sacrifice! Don’t try to question my judgment, Eidos, or you’ll join them down there, sinking into the abyss!’
‘Lord Adler!’ Quazar speaks loudly. ‘They’re waving signals again! They want you to come on board the Le Partizane!’
‘NO WAY! I’m not going down to that filthy, degraded ship! FIRE, I say! FIRE! Or you will lose our heads!’ screams Adler with rage.
There is no response from all people aboard the Aurora, nobody’s moving at all.
‘Oh, so you all turned against me, eh? Is this a mutiny?’ says Adler.
‘Don’t force us to, Lord Adler,’ says Quazar. ‘Don’t forget, I’m still the captain of this ship. All crews take command from me only, except if I’m absent and I still have my first mate. You’re the owner, yes, but the well-being and loyalty of the crews is my own responsibility.’
Eidos adds, ‘If you’re unjust, then we won’t respect you as our leader anymore. If you kill Hernan who swore to be your partner to make sure Kraal’shazar doesn’t make you Vordac’s Heir, you’ll betray Vadis’ trust, turn all Forces of Light against you, and you’ll be alone against the world.’
‘Is that a threat, Eidos?’ asks Adler.
‘You may think so, but I say this is the truth,’ Eidos answers.
‘Hrrgh! Never, I say never in my life someone disobeyed me! Abort that command! Lower a rope for me! I will deal with those rabbles myself!’
Adler walks out from the control room, then turns back and points his finger towards Eidos and Quazar, saying, ‘I will never forget this humiliation. Mark my words.’
‘Ahoy, mate! Hand me that rope over there, will you? Gotta fix the sail here,’ Robert shouts while hanging on a rope on the main mast.
‘Hahaha! You surely sound more like Dread Pirate Rob day after day!’ says Zachary.
‘Arrr... not really, dear ol’ Zach. From the way I see it, I prefer to be called “Courteous Pirate Rob”... or better still, “Cool Hunter Rob”.’
‘Har har har! You, Rob, never cease to amuse me. Now, let’s play along with these scurvy dawgs until we set foot on our good land Lore again!’
‘Aye, my thoughts too, exactly.’
The ship, Le Partizane sail south towards the Islands of Flamenca. So far they see neither sign of a chase by any ship nor a merchant ship to loot. It’s not a good sign, because Sheena and her crew must sell the things in Le Partizane to buy supplies. This will raise suspicion, and one of the rowdy landlubbers in Flamenca might sell them out for bounty.
Sheena tried to minimize that risk by changing the name Le Partizane to the Dewblossom – a typically feminine name for a battleship, even for a merchant ship. She also disguises the ship: hides the cannons, the military apparels in the rooms, and makes the ship real clean. She and her mates all dress like merchants. The First Mate Robert still has his moustache and beard. Zachary has bathed and trimmed his hair, moustache and beard, so he looks more to his actual age of forty-seven than before.
Sheena has been a pirate before, so she knows full well of ship management, navigation and how to keep the crews loyal to her. All in all, everything goes perfectly and smoothly... so far.
==oOo==
Early the next morning...
‘ENEMY IN SIGHT! ENEMY IN SIGHT!’
A pirate runs towards Robert’s cabin, yelling that alarm repeatedly. Robert and Zachary rush out from their cabin to the deck. Sheena is already on her position, giving quick instructions to the crews. Robert looks around – there is no ship in sight.
‘Maybe you want to look at the sky,’ says Zachary, pointing upwards.
Then Robert sees a flying object from afar that was modeled after his dragon mentor Algaban – the Skyship Aurora.
They come for me and Sheena. And this time they come to arrest us, just like the soldiers talked about back in the harbor. Our conventional cannons here can’t shoot upwards, so resisting them will be futile. Let’s hope Adler will not sink this ship after we feed his arrogance.
Then Robert walks to Sheena, and when Sheena stops talking Robert talks to her.
‘It’s the Aurora. Do you know what to do, Sheena?’
‘Yeah, Rob,’ says Sheena tensely. ‘I think they’re coming to arrest us all. We’ll just ask them what they’re up to. If they attack, we’ll hit them with all we have and abandon ship.’
‘To deal with Adler, we just have to keep humble and polite – it might save your life. I and Hernan respect each other, and he has a soft spot for women. Eidos, well, we know he’s indecisive and a pure opportunist, so offer him a bigger profit and he’ll follow.’
‘Thanks for reminding me, first mate,’ says Sheena. ‘Now just let me handle them. I’m sure we’ll get a better outcome with it.’
As Aurora comes close to Dewblossom, Hernan’s amplified voice comes from the megaphone on board the skyship.
‘Robert Chandler, Sheena Mekh’ta, Zachary Nightshade and all people on board, you are all under arrest upon act of piracy and murder, and hijacking the frigate Le Partizane. Surrender now or we’ll attack!’
In the Skyship Aurora Control Room, Hernan moves away from the megaphone and uses his telescope. He sees Sheena dictating something to a seaman who waves and points a pair of flags to various directions.
‘It’s a signal from Sheena!’ Hernan exclaims. ‘Come... on board... to talk. Please... don’t... fire.’
Eidos Crydias the chronomage who stands behind Hernan comments, ‘They want to bend things up, explain themselves using the fact that we fought together in Enia’s Sanctum.’
Adler raps his seat and shouts, ‘There will be no negotiation! We will apprehend and lock them up in Aurora! And you, Hernan, bring our combatants and navigators and take over the ship, arrest all men on board and bring the Le Partizane back to Vochaux!’
‘Aye-aye, partner,’ says Hernan. The Escudian fencer walks away from the control room in no hurry.
Eidos comes near Adler and whispers,
‘Lord Adler, I think Don Hernan didn’t take this order quite seriously.’
Adler replies, ‘I know, that’s why I only sent him down there. Hernan trusts Robert and so does Robert to him. Hernan also likes pretty women, so he will be lenient to Sheena. He is our best bet to complete our task perfectly – no violence, no bloodshed, and we can return the Le Partizane in one piece.’
Eidos nods approvingly. Quazar the centaur, the captain of Aurora takes over the telescope and looks through it to monitor the situation.
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For FireHeart Project – A Study
By Andry Chang
List of Monsters and Magical Beasts
Described in FireHeart Novels
Part 01
Harpy
Level B (Magical Monster - Physical)
Element: Dark
Alignment: Evil
Usually found in: Sylvania, Regia, Terranova, Gremion
Description:
A harpy is a beastly woman with enormous wings as hands. Its lower body is covered with fur and comprises of a pair of bird talons and feet and a bird tail. Its face is beautiful or birdlike – downright hag-like – and its skin is colored, either in red, green, black or brown. Its hair can be short or long, and most commonly very untidy like thorns or spikes. A harpy, though human-sized, can fly very fast, and its common attack is scratching and stabbing using its talons.
Legendary: Gyaeghir the Black Wings
Marsh Folk
Level D (Freak of Nature – Physical)
Element: Water + Earth = Mud
Alignment: Neutral
Usually found in: Bresconnor and some vast marshes in Aurelia
Description:
Half-man, half-frog. The ‘froggish’ parts: Head, face, hands and feet.
Partially intelligent, this monster can use weapons, mostly tridents and sais (trident-daggers). And it is also amphibious: it can breathe in the open and in the muddy, murky waters. Beware of its surprise attacks when you cross the swamplands!
Gavial
Level C (Freak of Nature – Physical, Intelligent)
Element: Water
Alignment: Neutral
Usually found in: Bresconnor and some vast marshes in Aurelia
Description:
Half-man, half-crocodile. With a crocodile head and tail, a gavial poses greater danger and somewhat superior to marsh folk in term of intelligence, physical prowess and culture. It can talk like humans do (although in growls and simple language), have names for each other and can form tribes and build simple buildings. Maybe it still has traces of human intelligence when a legendary thaumaturgist created it and called it ‘her masterpiece’.
Legendary: Schkumann, the Gavial King
Uthul Frog (or Dragon Frog)
Level D (Freak of Nature – Physical, Poisonous) – Rare
Element : Water, Poison
Alignment: Neutral
Usually found in: Bresconnor, Jigdha’uthul swamp
Description:
Uthul frog has fangs, thorns on its body and a lizard-like tail. Its saliva alone is corrosive venom that can dissolve its victim’s skin, flesh and bones in an instant, let alone its fangs and claws. Uthul frog’s gall is one of the most valuable ingredients in alchemy – it can serve as a very powerful poison, and can also be the antidote of that poison.
Tatra
Level C (Magical Beast)
Element: Lightning
Alignment: Neutral
Usually found in: Regia, especially Mount Hvalgarr
Description:
Cute monsters with four antennae that can function as hands, feet and weapons at the same time. They can produce lethal electric shocks generated with their antennae.
Arachmen
Level B (Magical Humanoid, Moderately Intelligent)
Element: Poison, Nature
Alignment: Neutral
Usually found in: Regia, especially Mount Hvalgarr, Borgia, Bresconnor, Arcadia
Description:
Man-spiders, combination of human head, hands and torso and spider torso and legs just like centaurs (man-horses).
