Liana

Revenge

Bolts and arrows rain from one deck to another, the raging ocean slamming wave after wave against the hull of the ships. Liana draws her blade from the torso of a fish-man and uses the viscera from that wound to blind another fish-man. The fish-man wildly swings his blades, not even bothering to get the blood and gore out of his face. Liana steps to the side and lunges her blade through its ribcage and wrenches violently. 

Among the swarm of sea creatures, Liana sees Ravina engage with whom she assumes to be Hurask, a tall seven-foot plus monster of a fish-man with indigo-colored skin, complete barnacles, and festering musculature. 

"Rakatog doesn't look so well, child. Do you enjoy it when I take what is yours? How many men have you lost? Can you stomach losing more?"

A few of the fish-men tries to mob Ravina, but she dances around, almost effortlessly killing them all in a tranquil fury. Her tranquility ends as she cries out, "I will end you, Hurask! I will break you and cast your body into the foaming abyss!"

Hurasks laughs. 

Ravina cuts down a few more creatures as she makes her way to him.

Liana follows suit. She dodges, repositions, parries, and then comes down like a raging storm. 

She cuts down one, three, five, and many more.

But at some point, one of the fish-men feints her out, slipping past her guard and driving its blade towards her cheek. She narrowly avoids, the sting of steel burning through her as the sword slashes her cheek open. Liana steps forward, bringing her blade upwards and through the fish-man.

Two swords slam into her back. While not enough to break through her breastplate, she reels forward from the impact. She then spins around, guarding against one blade as the other slips through a gap in her armor, puncturing her leg.

Liana grimaces as the pain explodes throughout her body. 

The fish man takes his blade out.

Liana kills the other fish man and then begins battling the one that had stabbed her. The fish man that had stabbed her slips on the gore of one of his fallen comrades and Liana uses that opening to plunge her sword into its heart.

Liana draws her sword from the fresh corpse, reaches into a satchel on her waist, procures a vial of red liquid, drinks it, and then throws the empty vial at an incoming fish-man. The vial smashes against the fish-man's face, and Liana charges forward and she feels the wound on her leg and cheek being patched up by the magical liquid. 

The fish man swings wildly. Liana aims for its wrist, cleaving its hand off its body.  She sidesteps around the fish man to deliver a killing blow--as she does this, she sees Hurask jump overboard and Ravina following immediately.

Liana lunges her blade through the creature's spine, withdraws it, and then swings the other direction. The fish-men jump back.

"You chose the wrong one," Liana says, beaming with confidence even though she can feel the fatigue setting in, the way her heart is becoming a sledgehammer threatening to rip through her chest, the way her breathing has become heavier and more erratic. 

The boat rocks violently as water sprays onto the deck. Several people lose their footing, but Liana remains resolute. 

Other crew members engage the fish-men that stood before her.

Liana goes to check on the whereabouts of Eldaren, who had once again run off into danger.

Eldaren was floating on a piece of flotsam, completely unconscious.

"Damn it Eldaren," and Liana also sees that Ravina was also unconscious, her body miraculously floating among the turbulence. 

Da'al Wan was fighting the abomination that most likely took Eldaren and Ravina out of commission. It has the body of a man, but one arm is a massive crab claw while the other arm is shriveled and deformed. Where its head should be, there's a gaping maw with rows of gnashing teeth. Several, thrashing tentacles surround it. Some of them had already been severed, spraying black ichor into the ocean. 

A ballista bolt soars into the beast's direction, tearing off its claw arm.

Liana sees the priest swim towards Eldaren, and suddenly the beast begins to spasm as blood explodes from its various orifices. Da'al Wan uses this opportunity to repeatedly lunge his trident into the creature's body.

Liana considers diving in but knows that she would most likely drown while trying to swim in her armor, and she figures it would take too much time to take it off.

So she turns around and focuses on the bloodbath around her.

She inhales deeply. She then exhales deeply and charges back into the fray.

The fight was like one, long nightmare, but part of Liana revels in such an engagement. She often would dream of proving herself, of pursuing such a task that would finally show people that she was worth her title. 

Finally, Liana would think to herself as she cut down more and more, as her body became more and more lacerated and damaged. No one will be able to deny who I am, not after they hear about this.

Before Liana knew it, the battle was over. Liana would be congratulated alongside Da'al Wan, Chance, Eldaren and Khain. She would go to see Eldaren successfully secure the contract with Ravina, and she would learn that the man named Da'al Wan came to the festival because a dream told him too, and she would learn that Chance was part of the crew but was looking for a change in direction, and she would learn that Khain, although a practitioner of evil magic, at the very least, appeared to be on their side.

They had won, but they had also lost.

Hurask got way. 

But that night, despite everything that happened, and despite her frustration towards Eldaren for once again endangering his life, she would sleep relatively well.