Lucia nodded tersely at the woman's statement.
This was the first time in any of their lives that they revealed themselves to a human, let alone a powerful one like her.
And after seeing the recognition on the birds faces, the captain realised that she truly was completely lost on what to do with them.
Three very large, ominous black birds who also happened to understand the human language and possess a large amount of strength?
Now that was a conundrum if she had ever seen one.
"Okay. First things first, why are you even on this ship." Deciding to go slow she made some small talk.
"We're going to another continent or country. Anywhere besides that place which we just left basically." Olivia spoke up.
The captain nodded slowly in understanding.
"You should know that if you try to hinder me in any way I will end you, no matter what sort of defences you have." She said.
The trio tensed up at this but it was to be expected since they were still intruders.
"But. I think that we will get along well-" The captain started to continue but was interrupted by a loud cracking sound beneath the ship.
SMASH!
Splinters of wood rained down like hail, dust obscuring their vision.
Kristen was knocked off balance and tumbled down onto the main deck.
'Ah!'
The other two birds didn't fare much better and fell with her, landing in a black pile of feathers at the bottom. To Kristen it felt like having a sack of bricks tossed on her.
'GOD! How fucking heavy are you guys?!?'
"Get off of me!" Kristen gritted out from underneath the two, pushing them away to catch a glimpse of the thing that had attacked.
The three barely finished steadying themselves when the dust began to settle.
On the side of the deck a pitch black tentacle grappled the wood so hard it started to break.
The reinforced planks had once held firm, but that firmness was nowhere to be seen now. Ropes ripped free from their previous knots, an inner section of the ship visible.
A black slimy substance dripped off the tentacle and spread onto the wood, a hissing sound made in the areas of contact.
Kristen finally shoved Olivia off her back and scrambled upright, feathers fluffed in outrage.
"Get off of me!" she snapped, shaking wood dust from her wings. "You weigh like a collapsed carriage!"
"You're welcome for protecting you while you fell!" Olivia shot back, equally disheveled.
Lucia ignored them.
Her golden eyes were fixed on the hole on where the captain was standing mere moments ago.
In the instant before the impact, she had quickly stepped backward, violet sigils flashing faintly around her boots and coat. Now she stood at the crater's edge, coat fluttering in the wind, gaze sharp and utterly focused.
The crew, however, were not so composed. Most of them were sleeping as it was still in the middle of the night.
"Sea breach!"
"Something's coming up!"
"Harpoons! Move, move!"
Drowsy voices called out and the ship lurched violently, disrupting them for a moment.
A previous invisible barrier that was on the outside of the ship was now completely visible and had multiple cracks running across from the tentacles attack.
Lucia's gaze locked onto the captains and a silent conversation passed in the blink of an eye.
"Listen up. If we help the captain get rid of this monster then we'll earn our stay. It's the only way to not die so follow me." Turning back to her comrades she told them the plan.
Olivia nodded in approval and so did Kristen, a little hesitantly, but a nod nonetheless.
'If we fight this crazy ass monster then we are gonna die but if we don't we'll die anyway. WHAT THE HELL.'
The sea churned around the ship unnaturally, another tentacle shooting up from the water and dealing a blow to the hull.
But the ship wasn't without its own defences.
Every second that the black tentacles stayed attached to the wood more harpoons, canons and swords were used and stabbed into it.
A guttural sound came up from below the ship after a harpoon went particularly deep in the flesh.
A third tentacle surged upward, thicker than the others, slamming across the deck and sweeping two cannons aside like toys. Sailors were thrown off their feet as the ship tilted violently, cracked barrier fragments dissolving into sparks around them.
"Hold your lines!" the captain's voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
Violet sigils and signs flared brighter beneath her boots, spreading outward in layered circles. The cracked barrier shimmered again, stabilising just enough to prevent the next impact from splitting the hull entirely.
Lucia launched off the ground.
She darted low, skimming over the slick deck before shooting straight toward the harpoon embedded deepest in the tentacle's flesh.
Black ichor bubbled around the wound, hissing where it touched steel.
"Widen it!" she called.
Olivia rose higher, wind gathering beneath her wings. She beat them once, twice and forced the air to compress around the harpoon shaft.
The pressure forced the weapon deeper, tearing the wound open with a wet, ripping sound.
The creature shrieked and Kristen took this as her cue.
'Fine! Fine! We're doing this!'
She thought while folding her wings tight as she plummeted toward the exposed tear.
At the last second she flared and drove her beak into the ruptured flesh beside the harpoon, hitting something white and solid.
The bone cracked against the immense force of her beak and tentacle spasmed uncontrollably from it.
"Now!" the captain commanded in a deep voice.
Every sigil around her ignited at once.
The deck lit up in a brilliant violet as geometric arrays layered over each other, converging on the embedded harpoon like a focusing lens.
She thrust her hand forward.
A beam of energy shot out and disappeared into the broken bone of the creature, traveling down the tentacle and into the main body.