The party was locked in combat. Hadarai rain down heavy blows on an inspector while Aralynn toyed with another, drawing out the battle. Grango and Amon tag-teamed to take on the commander.
Out of nowhere, the deck shook as a series of concussive blasts rocked the airship. Aralynn lost her footing for a moment as the sound and force made her slip. The inspector she had been fighting, seeing this, took the chance for an opportunity attack. She parried and sent him tumbling past her.
Aralynn was just about to press him when, following the explosions, the inspectors' imperial airship burst into flames, tongues of searing light licking the structure and attempting to swallow it whole. While Aralynn couldn't see, holes from magical cannonballs had punctured the imperial airship's hull from below the main deck.
The commander uttered a curse as his body glowed gold before unleashing a rippling and gleaming shockwave that sent Grango and Hadarai flying. Luckily for the two, the quarterdeck was to their back. This meant that they were only thrown backwards into hard wooden planks instead of being thrown overboard. Grango helped Amon up.
They both looked worse for wear, and Amon's cheek and thigh wounds opened up again. He clutched his leg as his muscles spasmed, uttering a curse.
Just on time, Perona emerged from the quarterdeck, sweat dripping down her forehead. Seeing Amon and Grango, she uttered a few quick words in elvish, healing their wounds as lilting music notes sealed the blessures shut.
"What did you do!?" screamed the commander, staring at his ship. The fire was localized and hadn't spread too much- if someone could get over there and stomp out the fires, there was a good chance that the airship could be saved. Nevertheless, a significant portion of the imperial airship was up in flames.
Perona responded flatly, her eyes dead. "Oh, I just remembered that we had cannons down below. Figured I'd use them."
"At point blank!? Are you crazy? You could've doomed both of our ships!" He looked incredulous.
"Not my problem," Perona shrugged and made an attempt at a cocky smirk. Aralynn could tell that she was still shaking, but had steadied a bit.
The inspector cursed. He had to choose between taking over the Blue Locust 2 and saving his airship. Seeing as he was outnumbered, he chose the latter. "Retreat!"
The inspectors retreated, shoving past the party as they scrambled for their ship. Flames curled up around the structure. To Aralynn's surprise, she felt no sentiment- absolutely nothing as she watched the flames climb higher and higher.
She probably should have felt something. The scene was eerily similar to the night her own village burned as the empire arrived too late to save anything. But maybe that was because this time it was different. This time it was an imperial airship, part of the empire, that was burning.
She slid her rapier back into its sheath and shouldered Objection as an inspector reached the gangplank that connected the two airships. Aralynn peered through the sights.
Objection rang out. The inspector, now trying to run across the gangplank, stumbled as took a rifle round to his shoulder. He tried to steady himself, attempting to claw himself across to the burning imperial airship. He didn't make it. A second bullet followed as Aralynn cycled the bolt. It punched into his back, sending him off balance. He thumped heavily on to the gangplank.
"Hans! No!" The commander of the inspectors copped a shot to the leg before he could reach the gangplank that connected the two ships. Aralynn cycled the bolt, quick and clean. Another shot rang out, slamming into his back. Aralynn pulled back the bolt once more, clearing the internal magazine as the shining hot brass of another spent casing flew out.
The five-round rifle empty, Aralynn drew her Rapier once more.
Even though the inspector was probably long dead before he hit the deck, she stabbed him once more through the heart. Pulling the blade from his body, the blood splattered on Aralyn's clothes and face. Aralynn wiped it away with the back of her hand, smearing blood across her normally soft, pretty features, giving her a harsher, more ruthless look than usual.
The remaining inspector, seeing his comrades dead, attempted to climb over to the other ship as well. He was swiftly knocked unconscious as Hadarai smacked him over the back of the head with his sword hilt.
Aralynn approached Hadarai, flicking beads of blood off of her rapier, the droplets painting a semicircle behind her.
"Give him to me," she told Hadarai bluntly, pointing to the unconscious inspector, blood still caking her face.
"No, Ms. Aralynn," Hadarai replied calmly, confused as to what had gotten into Aralynn for her to behave this way. "Enough blood has been shed. He is no longer a threat, and we can have Amon tie him up. There is no sense in taking another life."
"You don't understand. Give. Him. To. Me."
"Please calm down, Ms. Aralynn. He won't be harming anyone any longer." Hadarai was taken aback, unprepared for the animosity.
The blood rushed to Aralynn's head as she recounted the empire coming too late to save her town. She recounted the empire rushing over to the border and plundering other towns close to hers. She recounted the loss of her squad and the lives of many others that she'd served with, just for a bit more ground for the empire. She didn't and couldn't calm down. On the contrary, her anger flared.
"Do you think the empire cares when they send their soldiers off, killing and pillaging towns whenever they please? Even in war, they throw away entire squads under commanders who don't know a damn thing, who ignore every warning, who call it duty."
She paused for breath. "Don't tell me it's just a soldier's job. The empire itself- that's how we keep losing good people. You want to talk to me about the sense in taking lives when I've seen my family and friends slaughtered before my eyes?" Aralynn roared. "GIVE HIM TO ME."
The birdfolk girl's face contorted to a snarl, bloodlust for vengeance clawing at her eyes as in the moment her bright orange pupils seemed more crimson than copper. Her raven-black bangs and hair almost looked as if it curled and coiled like sinuous snakes out for blood.
Luckily before any altercations arose, Perona gripped Aralynn's sword arm with a shaking hand. "Aralynn. Please. You're scaring me… b-besides, I have uses for him."
The sight of Perona who couldn't handle the blood and violence of a fight trembling was what pulled Aralynn out of her haze.
I shouldn't have lost my temper. At the very least, I should've done this somewhere else. Aralynn sheathed her rapier, slowly returning to her calm self as she cooled and bowed to Hadarai. "I apologize, Mr. Hadarai. I shouldn't have lost my temper, and I'm sincerely sorry for being so rude."
Hadarai smiled sadly. "Just Hadarai or Had is fine. I feel like we've gone through enough to be on a friendly basis." He looked at Aralynn and back down at the inspector who he held by the scruff of his uniform. "Happens to all of us. Besides, it sounded like you had a personal vendetta against the empire- not that I can fault you. I'm not much of a fan myself."
"...Yes. I'm sorry again, Hadarai," Aralynn said, bowing once more. "But first, what are we going to do about that?" She gestured to the imperial airship, which now leaned slightly to one side. While it remained stable for the moment, the rising flames threatened to reach its sails and gas envelope. If that happened, it would deflate and fall out of the sky. Not to mention that it was still tethered to the Blue Locust 2… if it were to fall, it might drag their ship down with it.
Grango stepped up. "Let's send Derrick across."
The party, including Amon, who was tying the unconscious inspector, turned to the frogfolk. "...What?"