Sword of Flames [Book I] - {#Wattys2017}

Chapter 20 - The Venture to the Other Side

Chapter 20 - The Venture to the Other Side

And the race was on.

The deck of the ship felt like an endless lane from where they stood. Levana looked out at the thief again, but she could no longer see him due to his venture to the opposite tip of the other ship; it was too far away for her to see. Zikarith moved his fingers forward in a summoning motion as they walked over the bodies on the ground. Once they were to pass that obstacle, their sprinting session would begin.

Even though it was a must to stay careful at such a time, Levana wanted to run as soon as possible. The unbearable odor of alcohol breath and bloodshed made her nose scrunch up without fail. And she could tell that Zikarith was not enjoying the smell either; he pulled his shirt over his nose as a means to shield from the smell without using his hands. She did the same.

As the deck was a mess already, Levana spit her leftover vomit onto the ground to rid of the foul taste. She could see ahead that there was only about two more feet until it was time to venture on their rush for survival. I can do this, she motivated herself. Just a little longer.

But unfortunately, life had a different plan for her.

On the next step, the Earthian kneed a greedy pirate who was taking gold jewelry out of the pocket of the small man from the gambling room not too long ago. He was face down with his arms spread apart in a morbidly comical way. The woman, who she could tell was not one of the outcasts, stood up with a livid heart.

"Did you just hit me?" she altercated. Without even contemplating to talk it out, she lifted her sword up at the girl. "How dare you?"

The weapon appeared much bigger than it actually was in the midst of her panic. As she saw the sword continue in motion, the feeling was different than when she watched a battle from the outside; this time around, the sword was coming to her and her alone.

With a sudden burst of power Levana picked up a sword that was in the grip of a dead man's hands. The touch of his palm was cold and still like a doll. Although it gave her chills, she did not have time to react to it. She swung the sword up and hit the woman's head with the blade, not using the sword for its correct function. But as the pirate's eyes rolled back into her head from the impact, the exerted force from the enemy sword did not fail to finish the blow. The tip slashed Levana's face from her forehead to the end of her chin in an uneven fashion, about three different streaks of wounds on her face. If connected, the direction of the sword would have been shown with ease. Levana's head jerked back and she fell to the ground, the pain too excruciating to bear. Her vision was clouded by a sea of blood.

"I can't see!" Her perturbation could be sensed with the animalistic hollers engulfing the once calmed voice. "Help me!" she bellowed, and Zikarith turned around to the girl.

"Oh my-" he began. Through the blood the girl could see the disgust on his face, letting her imply that it was no small bruise that could be healed with a band-aid. He helped her up.

"It's okay," he assured as she repeated "I'm blind" over and over. He raised his voice so he could be heard over the screams of her and the battling pirates. Thankfully everyone else was worrying about their own fights, not noticing the weakened girl they could easily kill and strip of everything she had with her. "You're not blind! There's blood in your eyes. Just wipe it off."

And so Levana did as she was instructed. Once done, she looked at the pool of blood in her hand. She then glanced to the side to find the woman laying on top of the small man; however, it was apparent from the unconscious twitching she was still alive.

"This looks bad," Zikarith said. "We need to get to our things. I think I have some medicine in my bag." This gave them both more of an incentive to get to their destination. "We got to go. Now."