“The drunkard came in and tried to assault me! The brave guard defended me, but he perished beneath the blade of this wicked man. Please help!” Isabelle said, backing away in mock terror.
The guards drew their sabers and advanced toward the still kneeling Zeke. Thinking quickly, he drew his dagger carefully, inch by inch, from his coat. He crawled toward Isabelle and spoke to her with the loud voice of a drunk.
“Hiiii beautiful. Don't go away. Imma show you a goooood time. Come close. Don't run.”
The guards approached Zeke from behind and the taller one laid his hand on Zeke's shoulder. The shorter, chubbier one stayed just out of Zeke's reach, saber pointed at the pretend drunkard.
“You are coming with us,” the taller guard said, “the admiral will determine how you will die.”
Zeke's response was to fling the dagger at the shorter guard. It buried itself like Ehud's sword into the guard's gut and he fell over in pain. At that same moment, Zeke kicked backwards at the shin of the taller guard, who stumbled at at the sudden assault and dropped his saber.
In a flash, Zeke was on top of the taller guard, who lashed out with a mean right hook, bringing forth a stream of blood from Zeke's nose. Ignoring the pain, Zeke solidified his position on the guard's chest and wrapped his hands around the guard's neck. The guard struggled, landing a few blows on Zeke, but Zeke's grip was firm as he squeezed the guard's airway shut.
A glint of metal in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Isabelle stood over the still form of the shorter guard, wiping his blood off the Zeke's dagger. She strolled over and handed it to Zeke, who plunged it into the guard's chest. Once the death spasms ended, Zeke turned to the princess.
“Thank you for your assistance, Your Highness,” Zeke said as he got up and unlocked the rest of the cages containing the other Mongrels. As soon as they were all free, he used the keys to unlock the silver manacles from their wrists.
“It is an unfortunate necessity, but a proper royal upbringing includes self-defense,” she said, “If you can get us out of here and back home, I offer you anything within my power to give.”
Zeke looked over the corpses on the ground, blood soaked all the way into the coats. Disguising themselves as the fallen was clearly out of the question. The commotion raised would surely attract attention, or at least the fact that a couple guards were missing, so a stealthy exit of any kind may not be possible any more.
“Grab the guns and let's go,” Zeke said while he picked up the sword of one of the fallen guards. The Mongrels picked up the wheellock pistols from the dead. As they left the room, rather than going up, Zeke took them lower, deeper into the ship.
“Where are you taking us?” demanded one of the Mongrels, “You will get Her Highness out of here safely.”
“We need to escape, right? We need a distraction so that my ship, the Tranquility, can get away from this battleship. The arsenal exploding might just do that.”
The Mongrels looked to their princess for guidance. She said nothing for a moment. Zeke tried not to stare, but the way she carried herself made her the center of attention, no matter where she was. Even in the servant's attire she wore, covered in sweat and blood, Zeke had never seen a more strikingly beautiful woman.
“We will assist him,” Isabelle said.
Heading to the arsenal, the small group easily avoided the lone crew members they encountered. Upon reaching the arsenal, Zeke directed the Mongrels to move the barrels of gunpowder into one place. He took a length of rope to make an impromptu fuse and lit it with a match.
“We don't have much time, so we need to get to the Tranquility now...before our luck runs out!”
The escapees headed upstairs toward the main deck. Very few crew were out and about, despite this being a warship during wartime, so they were able to easily avoid being caught. Admiral Storm's warning from earlier regarding not being on the main deck replayed itself again and again in his head, but Zeke pushed it aside. Getting the princess to the other ship was his priority.
Opening the door to the main deck, the group was greeted to the sight of Sven flexing all four of his arms. Upon seeing the Mongrels with Zeke, a scowl appeared on his otherwise handsome face as all four hands went to the swords on his belt.
“Captain Windrider. Why are you on this ship after the party ended? And why does it appear that you are with the Mongrels? The admiral does not want anyone on the main deck during the full moon, so you will head down to the brig and we will sort this out later.”
Zeke drew his saber. One sword versus four. His chances were not good, but the princess needed rescuing and the people of the Wastes needed to know about the foul experiments being done by the LIFE.
“Run! Go! Get to the airship!” he yelled, as he lunged toward Sven. The Mongrels complied and ran across the deck toward where the ramp had been. Unfortunately, it was retracted and they could not find the mechanism to extend it again.
Zeke's sword was easily parried by Sven, who followed up with three attacks of his own. Unused to fighting an opponent able to wield multiple swords, Zeke was put on the defensive immediately. Every strike Zeke attempted would be blocked and the other three arms would strike back. Again and again the pattern continued. He was barely able to avoid the strikes, but his breathing became more and more labored.
Zeke feinted, drawing the usual response, but because he did not commit fully to the attack, he was able to lash out during the counter-attack and left a nasty cut on Sven's upper right arm.
In rage, Sven exhaled fire at Zeke, engulfing the captain in flames. He tore off his coat and shirt to avoid burning up. Sven advanced on the distracted and shirtless Zeke, raised his swords, and prepared to finish him off.
A loud shot rang out and Sven's head exploded in a geyser of flame and flesh. Zeke looked over to where the shot came from. Princess Isabelle stood alone with a wheellock pistol in her hand.
“Self defense,” she said matter-of-factly. They both fell to their feet as the entire battleship shuddered. Zeke got up and offered a hand to the princess, who accepted his assistance in getting up.
“There's our distraction. Let's go!”
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six - The End
Picture Credit: "airship again" by Mike is licensed under CC by 2.0