Shadows Bleed

XXVI

XXVI

"Varik!" I hollered to the helm. "Steer us into the cove!"

The dark swarm of maevraas was nearly upon us and, once they arrived, they would tear this ship to pieces. I didn't want to think about what would happen if we didn't reach land before then.

"Ready for combat!" Bluepin cried.

I left him to manage the crew and ran to the cabin. The vile wailing of the maevraas continued to assail my ears as I anxiously ran for the opposite end of the Mayflower. I burst through the cabin door and hastily opened my rucksack, pulling free the bow that Vaskarth had given me.

"Uh uh, allow me," Yennyfer wrenched the weapon from my hands and set about stringing it. "You're better off with those anyway." She looked at my swords, sheathed and lying on the desk.

I didn't argue. Nodding, I hurriedly slung the sword belt over my back, tightening the buckle across my chest. Sweat beaded on my brow and slid down my cheeks; I had seen the damage maevraas could do and was eager to avoid it as best we could.

The fell beasts whose blood-thirsty intent was all too clear were the larval offspring of syrens, the infamous maidens of the water bodies in and around the Fell-Lands who commonly lured unwary sailors to their demise.

I had encountered the creatures before, on a number of occasions, and had barely survived each time. They were possessed of a near demonic ferocity which they unleashed upon anything with a heartbeat. Their mature selves were significantly more subtle.

I spared a look at Danyael, somehow sleeping soundly in his cot. I'd come for him later. I drew Banshie and, locking the cabin door behind me, ran back onto the deck in time to see the cloud of writhing, serpentine beasts descending.

Yennyfer notched an arrow and sent it soaring into the dense mass, an agonised screech confirming the kill seconds before the creature plummeted from the sky and splashed into the ocean, the water turning black around it. Yennyfer released three more arrows into the swarm as they neared. Slinging the bow over her shoulder once they drew too close, she replaced it with a dirk of similar design to her father's.

Two crewmen were snatched up by the sharp talons of the beasts' vanguard, their hands clutched over their ears to block the wretched screaming up until the moment of their death. The long claws of the maevraas had no difficulty ripping through human flesh, coating the deck in the blood of our captured comrades as they pulled them away from the ship.

The creatures did not stop their relentless onslaught, the crew fending them off with whatever weapons they had on hand. A ring of the dead beasts surrounded Celeste, who wielded her sword expertly, cutting down any that came too close. I ran to her aid.

A pair of maevraas flew into my path, their teeth bared as they hissed at me. My reaction was almost instant, borne of instinct and repeated patterns. I launched myself at them, Banshie screaming through the air, an extension of my body, and cutting them both down in a single stroke, black blood spurting from their severed necks.

"There you are!" Celeste said as she saw me, pulling her blade free of a dead maevraas. "I thought you were missing out on all the fun."

"If only," I retorted and cleaved another in two.

But no matter how many we killed, they kept coming, inexorably determined to feast upon our ragtag group. The ship jolted violently and, casting my gaze towards the aft to see Varik disappear over the side of the ship in the grasp of a particularly ugly maevra.

The creature appeared a second later, soaring upwards, Varik squirming in its grasp. The trapped helmsman pulled a crooked dagger free of his boot, his strength failing as his life-force flowed freely from between the talons which impaled him. He stuck the blade deep into the flicking tail of the beast. It was his final undoing. With a furious squeal, the maevra lifted its talons and Varik with them, sinking its teeth into his face and ripping his head clean off his shoulders before tearing it to pieces in a fitful rage.