Prizes, Plunder, and Adventure

Chapter Nineteen: To Our Watery Grave

Even with Kitty's help, the battle had quickly become overwhelming. The Scalan warships were proving remarkably sturdy, and so she'd only managed to sink one before the Octans were surrounded. The cannonfire had slowed, in such close quarters, but the Octan ships were overrun with Scalan sailors.

And there was still no sign of Thomas.

Clearly he'd returned at some point though, as the Scalans seemed to be aware of what they were and kept trying to shoot them. Eyes narrowing behind his tinted spectacles, Cary spread his wings, flying up to the Diligente's crows nest and taking a deep breath. Captain Amelia could throttle him later; right now, they needed any advantage they could get.

Many heads tilted upward in search of the powerful voice that rang out over the battlefield, somehow heard over the fire of cannons and pistols and the clashing of swords. The cacophony died down into sudden stillness, only those who had become resistant still moving about. He felt a swell of pride as his crew continued to fight, taking down entranced Scalans with ease.

At least until his voice gave out.

Frowning to himself, he cleared his throat and opened his mouth to start his song again, but no sound came out. He couldn't even speak.

Cary? What's going on-

I have no idea, he responded, trying to fight down panic. I can't even get a single word out!

"Captain?" Francis called up to them, and he flew back down onto the deck, gesturing to his throat. His first mate gave him an alarmed look. "Your voice is gone?!"

"Captain! It's Thomas!" another of their crew shouted, pointing back out toward the sea. Cary hissed, baring his fangs in his fury as he spotted the Triumph approaching the battle.

I knew that slimy bastard was up to something! He must have found something to counter our voice!

Perhaps it's time to show him we've got more tricks up our sleeves than that.

Movement in their peripheral caught their attention, and they glanced over to see Benny approaching. "You guys alright? Why'd you stop singing?"

"Thomas found something to steal their voice," Francis muttered grimly. Benny turned wide eyes back onto them.

"But if you can't sing, how are we going to-"

Cary held a hand up to cut him off, then motioned for him to back up. Benny did so, watching with fascination as they pulled off first their uniform jacket, then their vest and shirt, rust red feathers sprouting out all over their skin as they shucked the rest of their clothing. As they straightened once more they towered over the humans, nearly twice Benny's own height. His jaw dropped.

"Holy fuck you're huge!" Cary snorted his amusement, then held a claw out to the merman. "...You want me to come with you?" Benny guessed, and the siren nodded. He eyed their wickedly sharp talons for a moment before shrugging and taking their hand.

Somewhere off to the side, they heard the resounding CRACK of another warship snapping in half and sinking, dragged under by the leviathan. Benny didn't even bother to look, whisked off his feet as he was. He held tight to Cary's hand as the siren flew toward the Triumph. He'd be fine if he got dropped into the water, but he'd be no use til he could find a way up onto the ship.

The merman cackled as they neared Thomas' ship and he could see the faces of some of the other sailors. Several of them had gone white as ghosts, chucking aside their weapons and leaping off the ship, feeling they would have better chances in the water than facing the fury of the creature that landed on the Triumph's deck.

Thomas stared at the enormous monster that landed on the deck of his ship, spreading his wings and snarling in a manner that would have lesser men pissing themselves in terror. A grin slowly spread across his face. "Well if that isn't a sight," he murmured. "Never thought any alphas actually existed, and yet here I have one on my ship!" He laughed and threw himself to the side as Callaghan launched at him, those inches-long talons missing him by a hair's breadth. He paid no attention to the strange short man the Octan captain had brought along, even as Benny cut through his crew with surprising ease.

The former pirate had to admit, he was impressed. Even with the sheer amount of fury he could practically feel roiling off of Callaghan, the siren still fought with every ounce of cunning he possessed, keeping Thomas on the defense. Granted, there was a lot more to keep an eye on now, between talons and teeth and wings, but he was holding his own. He let out a crow of triumph as he managed to cut a deep gash in the siren's side, hindering him somewhat. Cary's response to was to hiss and lash out with a wing, successfully catching him off guard and throwing him across the deck. Thomas wheezed as he landed and clutched at his fractured ribs, momentarily subdued.

A flash of light caught the siren's attention, and he caught sight of a Scalan sailor aiming a lit cannon toward where Benny was fighting off six others. Still unable to make a sound to warn the pirate, he launched himself forward, parting the Scalans with a snap of his wings and tackling Benny to the deck just as the cannon fired. The merman clapped his hands over his ears, shrieking out his own pain as a scream of agony finally tore its way from Cary's throat, and flinched as something warm and wet sprayed over his face. He finally peeled his eyes open after a moment, to see the rest of Thomas' crew had fallen lifelessly to the deck- and that he was surrounded by a mess of blood and feathers and bone and bits of flesh.

"What in the world-"

He sucked in a sharp breath as his gaze finally landed on the siren's mangled wings. Cannon fire. That had to be from cannon fire- and that would have likely been his head if they hadn't reacted as quickly as they had. Benny swallowed hard, scooching out from under them as gently as he could manage, and taking a look around.

And was glad he had. While Thomas' crew had suffered from the siren's scream, Thomas himself had somehow survived, and was bearing down on them with unmatched fury. Benny quickly brought his sword to bear again, blocking the blow that surely would have finished the Callaghans otherwise. He caught sight of the trails of blood dripping down from the human captain's ears- not entirely unscathed, then- and shoved himself back to his feet, readying himself for a fight. "You know, he was quite looking forward to finishing you himself. Wanted you to know it was a mytho that sent you to hell."

The captain's eyes went wide as Benny grinned at him, showing off a mouthful of sharp shark teeth, the pale patches of his skin now glittering from his scales.

"Guess he'll just have to be satisfied with it being another mytho."

Much as Benny would have loved to draw out the man's agony for what he'd done to the Callaghans, they didn't have the time for him to play around, so he gave Thomas a rather anticlimactic end with a sword through his neck. A quick search of the body revealed an ornately carved pendant tucked inside Thomas' shirt. Benny was willing to bet money it was the talisman that had stolen the siren's voice; though he himself was unaffected by it, he could still feel some sickly power thrumming through it. He dropped it onto the deck and crushed it under the heel of his boot. "That should take care of that," he muttered.

The distant sounds of battle had faded, he realized, and glanced back toward the port to try to see what was going on. Several more Scalan ships had sunk, courtesy of Kitty, but Benny could see that those that remained had backed off, and the Diligente was making her way toward them. "Help's on the way," he told the panting siren at his side. "Just hang on..."