Chapter 7

The huge green explosion that came from Cormalen prison knocked over just about everyone in the street including Zenaida, the three leopard girls, Vic and the men carrying Pia away. The blast rocked the ground so hard that everyone caught in the open was dizzy and very disoriented. The rapidly darkening sky cast everything in a shade close to that of early evening.

As Zenaida, Vic and the three leopards struggled to get up, more hooded men came out of and around them, torches and weapons ready. There were more than a few dozen of them and while Zenaida, Vic and the three leopards might be able to take on opponents of equal or twice their number, this was different. While they could be incompetent, the numbers the hooded men had clearly gave them an advantage over their five pursuers.

Then another large explosion rocked the streets as a nearby building exploded. Zenaida, Vic and the three leopards were knocked aside in the blast and rendered unconscious. Most of the hooded men simply fell to the ground and clearly still had the strength to fight. However, something now stood where the exploded building was and it was clearly not amused.

Stepping out of the ruins was a man, dressed in the garb of a pirate, with a greatcoat and a tricorn hat. However, instead of hands, all he had were the bones of his hands which were now wreathed in sickly green magic that glowed like lanterns under the dark sky. Instead of a head, he had the skull of a Komodo dragon perched on his shoulders, two green pinpricks of light glowing inside his empty eye-sockets. A green aura pulsed all around him which seemed to flare brighter as he looked at all the hooded men gathered around him.

“Well look at this,” he said, drawing his double-barreled pistol and his saber. “I was wondering where the rest of you were.”

The hooded men could only look at the dreaded Admiral Sebastian in horror.

“I was actually worried I’d have to look for the lot of you,” the lich pirate said. “Thank you all so much for saving me the trouble!”

“Flesh for the Pyre God!” shouted one of the hooded, having gathered enough courage to move, then charged at Admiral Sebastian.

“Sorry,” Sebastian said and, with a deft move, turned the charging hooded man aside then drove his saber into his chest. “But I don’t have any more flesh, as you can see.”

A dozen of the hooded men than came at him shouting the same words as their defeated comrade.

Sebastian fired his pistol at them, its thunderous roar echoing throughout the town and four of the oncoming men were thrown aside like ragdolls by its passing. Two of the men who were unfortunate enough to be in its way were shredded apart as if by a cannonball. Those who actually reached the pirate admiral found that despite being nothing more than bones, he was easily stronger than all of them.

With a swift swing of his saber, he disarmed three of the hooded men, even managing to lop off one of their hands. With a downward kick, he broke the leg of one of the men and with another sent one of the hooded flying more than a hundred paces away. Then, using his pistol, he broke the jaws of one of his attackers and shattered the skull of another with a hard slam using the gun’s handle. Soon, the hooded men’s white cloaks were stained red with their blood, the golden sunbursts obscured by their own gore.

Then, dozens more of the hooded men appeared as more of the city began to burn. It was also then that Admiral Sebastian was joined by two groups of pirates. One group was led by a scruffy looking raven while the other had a smooth-looking weasel as a leader.

“Ah, Captain Norton,” said Sebastian to the raven, then turned to the weasel. “And Captain Garibaldi.”

“Sorry admiral,” the raven said, panting. “We’d had to fight against both the goons from both the navy and the Servants of the Burnt King.”

“Aye, it’s all good,” Sebastian turned back to the oncoming hooded men. “I just hope you’re ready for more fighting.”

“In that my captain,” the weasel drew his sword. “We are.”

And the admiral let out the last bullet in his twin-barreled pistol, tearing apart at least ten of the Servants of the Burnt King like wet paper. The raven, Captain Norton, crossed swords with the hooded men along with his crew and kept the majority of them away from the admiral. The weasel, Captain Garibaldi, had his men prepare portable cannons which he had them fire in concentrated volleys against the oncoming hooded men, tearing them limb from bloody limb. There were also pirates who were hurt or killed in the battle, but the casualties of the hooded men greatly outnumbered them.

They were down to at least a dozen more Servants of the Burnt King when distant giggling and the crackling of flames could be heard all around them.

“What?” Norton looked around him after driving a dagger into the heart of one of the hooded men. “Is that?”

“Prepare yourselves!” Garibaldi said to his men, who now stepped away from their cannons and brought out daggers of silver. “They are coming!”

“Yes, I’ve been wondering when they’d finally resort to sorcery,” Sebastian said. “Norton, Garibaldi, tell your men to retreat!”

“Sir?” Norton looked at the pirate admiral.

“But we can’t just leave you here,” Garibaldi said.

“You’ve helped me a lot already,” Sebastian said, as he drove his saber into one hooded man and clubbed another to death with the butt of his pistol. “But I doubt you have any kind of counter for the kind of sorcery they have. You’ve done a lot for me as it is, I’ll not have you throw your lives away so casually. After all, magic is best fought with magic.”

Norton looked hesitant but Garibaldi took initiative and signaled his men to retreat.

“To the ships!” cried Garibaldi. “Back to the ships!”

“You heard the man,” Norton said to his own men. “Retreat!”

And the pirates retreated as the orange light of flames approached closer and closer to Admiral Sebastian and the sound of giggling rose higher and higher.

Then he saw them, they were like jumping insects that were aflame, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, starting fire wherever they leaped. As they came closer, their burning shapes became even clearer. They were man-shaped with two arms, two legs and a head atop a torso with their whole bodies burning brightly under the darkness of the cloud-covered sky. They giggled loudly like children as they frolicked and bounded from place to place gracefully with little apparent effort.

Before they could come any closer, Sebastian forced his aura to change from sickly green to frigid blue and even the twin green lanterns in his eye-sockets changed color as well.

The buildings the fire-spirits jumped on and from now became bright infernos, almost completely consumed by flames. The first of the fire-spirits approached Sebastian, leaping across three building, setting them ablaze as it passed. It flung one fireball at the lich pirate, burning brightly as it hurtled through the air.

Sebastian didn’t even move as his blue aura shielded him from the fireball.

Then three more of the fire-spirits hurled fireballs at Sebastian but these too came to no avail.

Soon a dozen of the fire-spirits threw fireballs at the pirate admiral as the buildings around them became blazing infernos beneath the darkened sky.

Unfortunately, even their numbers helped little as Sebastian was barely even fazed by this development.

Instead, the lich pirate reacted by sending forth a wave of frozen wind that radiated from where he stood. It knocked over the fire-spirits and weakened their flames. The buildings that were on fire around them quickly puttered out in the wake of the cold wind with frost forming on their surfaces.

Then the fire-spirits looked at one another and jumped up again, the flames on their bodies burning slightly brighter. They jumped on one another, blending their flames into one large fireball. More of the fire-spirits, there were probably two dozen and more, leaped onto the fireball, contributing their substance to it and making it glow brighter. When finally, all that was left was the bright glowing fireball, the sound of crackling flames grew louder before it exploded, melting the layer of frost Sebastian created.

Sebastian still stood though, clearly unfazed and unimpressed.

Then from where the fireball once was, a giant of fire emerged. It was like the fire-spirits that combined to create it, being humanoid in shape but was a lot heavier and less graceful. It towered over the buildings around it and regarded the lich pirate beneath it like a man regarding large vermin.

“See? Sebastian said at the fire-giant. “If you’d done that from the beginning I’d actually be impressed.”

The fire-giant uttered a growl that was like the sound of screaming and the loud roar of flames. It then tried to stomp on the lich pirate who sidestepped it easily then attempted to reach for him with a hand of flame. Sebastian avoided its hand easily and leaped unto the roof of one of the buildings around him. Then he materialized and flung a large ball of ice the size of a dinner table at the fire-giant, causing it to stagger away, its flames weakening momentarily.

“But the problem with you burnt bastards is that you can’t just let it go!” Sebastian snarled and cast another gust of winter wind at the monster, this time driving it to its knees.

The fire-giant roared again and threw a fireball at the lich, this time it was as large as a stage coach.

Sebastian then cast his shield of frost again, but this time used both his hands to deflect the fire spell.

It worked and the great fireball only succeeded in melting the layers of ice Sebastian created around him.

But by then, the giant had already managed to get its feet and then began trying to crush the pirate admiral with its enormous legs.

Thankfully however, Sebastian managed to dodge its massive but clumsy feet, jumping and running from place to place. Soon the fire-giant looked as if it was dancing as it attempted but constantly failed to step on Sebastian under its feet. The lich pirate only laughed as he deftly evaded the fire-giant’s legs like a pest avoiding the feet of a disgusted woman trying to crush it with her slippers.

Finally, Sebastian launched another blast of cold wind, once again adding a layer of frost on the surfaces of buildings and adding a smooth sheet of ice on the cobbled road.

The fire-giant fell backward and fell on its rump, bellowing a cry that was sounded like pain and humiliation.

Then Sebastian called upon more of his magic and levitated in the air above the burning giant which now squatted on the pavement, the ice around its body melting. The lich pirate drew more of his magic and, suddenly, the skies above let loose with a torrent of snow. The fire-giant’s flames guttered as the air around it grew colder, it mewled in helplessness as the undead sorcerer reinforced his cold magic.  

Then the lich pirate cast a continuous gust of frozen air towards the fire-giant, further weakening the flames that comprised its body. It blocked with its burning arms but it was clearly no match for the lich’s magic. Soon the flames on its arms guttered out and the cold air now assaulted its face and chest.

Sebastian then called upon more of his magic and cast one last blast of icy air at the monster. Its flames puttered out for good and it soon became just an enormous man-shaped lump of ash. It stood there for a moment, posed with its arms blocking against Sebastian’s magic. But then, when a strong wind passed it simply disintegrated, fading into the snow.

With his enemy defeated, Sebastian descended and touched the cobbles of the streets. His frosty blue aura changed back to green and so did the lights in his eye-sockets. He looked around himself, at the ice that formed on buildings where he and the fire-spirits had fought and at the burning buildings beyond. He also looked at the dead hooded men he and his Grim Sail pirates had fought and saw something.

He walked closer and saw that there was a woman in a torn yellow dress among them. She didn’t appear to be one of the hooded men and perhaps the Servants of the Burnt King intended to sacrifice her to their Pyre God. Sebastian noted that she was a lemming and that she was not dead but only unconscious.

He hefted the woman onto his shoulder after making sure his saber and pistol were secured to his belt and began to walk in the direction of the shore where his ship, the Storm Talon, no doubt waited for him.

It was then that the snow stopped, only to be replaced by hard, driving rain that drenched the buildings and streets of Cormalen. It quickly put out the burning buildings and people who were panicking in the streets looked around themselves in amazement. A great battle had been fought and someone had already won.

+++

Vic regained consciousness as rainwater drenched his face.

He couldn’t move his body yet but he was conscious enough to open his eyes and register what he was seeing.

He saw Pia, his sister, being carried on the shoulder of a man in a greatcoat and a tricorn hat. The man’s back was to him so he couldn’t see who it was but, whoever he was, he seemed to be humming a shanty of some kind. As more rainwater ran across his face, he saw the man turn and recognized him immediately.

There was no mistaking the Komodo dragon skull and the pinpricks of green light that were his eyes.

Admiral Donato Sebastian of the Grim Sail pirates was taking his sister away.

He wanted to scream and shout. He wanted to go after them. He wanted to fight to get his sister back even if he knew he was no match for the vile lich pirate. But his body ached too much from being thrown about by the explosion.

Vic closed his eyes again and lost consciousness. He dreamed of his mother then, when he and Pia were both young and he would tell them stories before they slept. He dreamed of those forgotten times even as more rain flowed across his face.

But he would never forget that moment when he saw the lich pirate carrying his sister away. He wouldn’t forget the single glimpse of Admiral Sebastian’s eyes that he’d had. He would forever remember the madness he saw in them and the ruthlessness that made him what he was.