Edge Of The Worlds

Chapter 8

You nod and sprint off into the night. You don't know how long the others will take, so you've got a few options.

You head down to the beach, where you find no fewer than five ships sitting at anchor. You keep your head down as you sneak along the edge of the water, then pounce forward. You leap up at the first ship, grabbing a ratling hanging off the side of it. You pull yourself up just as the pirates notice you, then grab the rope and swing over. You pull out your knife and stab one of the pirates who comes after you, before dashing for the next ship.

You release the rope, then draw your gun and shoot another pirate in the head before jumping into the water. The pirates give chase, but you're faster than them. When one gets close, you plunge your gun into his chest and throw him overboard. You come ashore on the other side of the ship, only to find more pirates there. Soon, the remaining four after you are aboard one of the ships, and you capture another one.

You run onto the deck and find yourself staring at six pirates, one of whom is unconscious, with a cutlass at your throat.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" the pirate says, leaning against the deck of the ship with a pistol at your head.

You don't say a thing, instead your eyes look up to see Hazel with a gun, pointed right at the pirate holding you.

You don't say a word, but rather show your thanks to Hazel, who takes it all in stride.

"Let him go, you son of a..."

You feel the cold steel of a blade at your throat, and you know what comes next.

"Tell your fellows to drop their weapons."

"They will never lay down their weapons, but this one here can," the pirate holding you says.

You feel the blade's edge pierce your throat, and blood loss makes you go unconscious. You wake up in the medical bay of the last airship of the final remnants of the League. All the others are dead, along with most of the crew. Only a few remained when the airships were destroyed, and this one was taken over by the remaining members of the Black Hooks who had remained to fight. You wake up with a scar on your throat, and you can't even feel your lips anymore. Your whole face is numb.

"Get up," Jane says from beside your bed.

You slowly get up, feeling a little wobbly.

"Do you feel that?" Jane asks. "That's the airship. We're leaving. I told you I'd look after you."

You nod slowly, then lean against the bed.

"I don't know what we'd have done without you."

Yvette and Hazel walk into the room behind Jane, relieved to see that you're awake.

"We thought you were dead," Yvette says.

"You could have told us how to find you, at least," Hazel adds.

You nod slowly, feeling a little pain from the movement.

"There's not really time to chat now, but I just want you to know..." Jane begins, before being interrupted.

"Captain! We've got a problem!" the voice comes over the PA. "We are being attacked by Flying Goliath airships again!"

"What!?" Jane exclaims.

"I don't know where the hell they're all coming from, but we are taking fire from multiple directions!"

"Everyone to arms! Secure the escape pods and prepare to repel boarders!"

You, Jane, Yvette, Hazel and many more all go to work. You look around as fires begin to erupt on the ship.

"Everyone, drop and roll!" someone screams.

You and the others follow orders and go to ground. The only other exit from this room is a large airlock, and there's no time to spare.

"This is gonna be a mess!"

You hear the voice of the captain, and he's right. The room is quickly filled with smoke and flames as everything quickly combusts. You keep down, as best you can, as the airship goes down spectacularly. You hope to god whatever happened didn't take it down with them.

"Shi-"

You hear a massive explosion, and the entire room is filled with bright light. You shield your eyes from the sheer brightness of it. The airship has been hit again, and in a much more damaging fashion. The ship soars through the sky, before crashing down in a massive fireball.