A Mirage Of Milk And Honey

Chapter 29 - Tension In The Waters

Honey's duel with Jortías had managed to capture the attention of much of the crew, and soon, word of the master dueler with no memories began to scourge the ship like a plague.

Aedis was halfway to challenging Jortías to a duel simply to draw the attention away from her.

Striker still had his suspicions about the white haired girl, Aedis was sure. Too much attention on Honey and that jump she'd made could lead to issues.

It was by a stroke of both luck and misfortune that a different kind of distraction arose.

"Get to the cannons!" Theno shouted through the chaos. Water splashed around them furiously as the ship rocked back and forth, the Ether infected creature knocking against the keel of the vessel with unnatural force. Crew members tumbled over at the shock, scrambling to their feet in an attempt to get below deck.

To make matters worse, a storm had begun to rise over the night sky, coating them in a cloud of misty grey.

The crew of the Moā'Kai rushed through the bowels of the ship, water sloshing at their feet despite Anatui's desperate efforts to drain it out. Up on the helm, Striker had two others by his side, a woman by the name of Ceca and a man who Aedis knew to be Troi, who tugged at the wheel in an attempt to keep it straight.

"Tie it up!" Striker ordered Troi, who began to work a piece of rope around one of the pegs with expert precision.

The loud boom of the cannons filled the air but the battlement's efforts were in vain, and soon much of the crew had huddled with weapons in their hands, stood defensively in the middle.

"Where is it?" Someone yelled, eyes darting around the sloshing waves below.

"There!" Aedis pointed into the darkness, and the man stared at him stunned.

But that moment of surprise cost him, and the Myf leapt into the air, its body crashing into the taffrail, wood crunching below the weight of its oversized body.

Aedis pulled the man out of the way, sizing up the creature with determination. It was as though the creature was a morph between a Lamprey and Eel, it's body wiggling and its circular mouth gargling. The creature slid from the deck, it's rows and rows of teeth exposed like a pit coated jagged blades of onyx as it returned to the water, but it wouldn't last long.

Aedis released the pirate, who darted off in terror. In the corner of his vision, The General caught sight of a hook. He'd seen the sort before; used to latch onto neighbouring ships when boarded, it acted like a fishing line.

Which was exactly what he planned to do with it.

Darting off to his right, he found Honey and grabbed her by the shoulder.

"We need to get to the Brisk-Beaks." He said, eyes wide.

Honey nodded once, looking behind her to search for Chip and Zemira.

"No," Aedis said, pulling her back towards him by the elbow, "Just you and me."

Confusion filled Honey but she followed Aedis in spite of it. The two weaved between the frantic crew members who searched desperately for a solution. As they reached the hatches, Aedis grabbed the hook, sifting an arm through the rope to let it hang from his shoulder.

"What are you going to do with that?" Honey cried desperately as they made their way down the ladder and into the bog-like bowels of the ship.

"We're going to go fishing." Aedis replied, not sparing her a glance. Honey tripped in her attempt to keep up with him, her feet catching on ropes and buckets that lay under the knee deep salt water.