The screams of men burning alive shook the air. Then, with a horrific whistle, a sizable stone mass shot from our ship and slammed straight into the middle of the caravel's deck.
"Toph?" Where in the world had she gotten that much earth?
"Once they tied the ships together, I could sense what was on the other vessels. Then I packed a bunch of pebbles into a hollow sphere and launched it at the deck. Was something wrong?"
"Two things. First, don't attack without orders. Second, learn to pick your targets. The pirates on that caravel weren't getting through the burning frigate anyway. That shot would've been better spent on the ship to starboard."
"Pfft… fine," she agreed reluctantly. She might grumble and push back, but at least she listened.
I doubted we'd have had this level of understanding if I'd been a few years younger and… hadn't promised to tan her ass so thoroughly she wouldn't be able to sit down if she started causing trouble. Apparently, Suki's stories had made quite an impression on the girl, because she'd been behaving relatively well.
Once I was certain there would be no more surprises here, I dashed to the opposite side of the galleon, where the non-bender fighters had already clashed.
Well, non-benders on our side, anyway.
At the moment, they were pinned down behind the bulwark under an almost hurricane-like barrage of pebbles and jagged chunks of granite. But so far, I couldn't see any casualties on our side. That was good.
"Well, this looks lively…" I dropped in beside Suki.
"Yeah, absolutely hilarious," the girl replied dryly. "We could really use some bending support."
"Not for another twenty minutes. Mao still needs to finish roasting two more— one more ship," I corrected myself after estimating the caravel with a hole like that probably wouldn't stay afloat for long.
"They're going to bury us by then… figuratively speaking." Suki cut herself off for a few seconds as the head of a pirate suddenly appeared right above us. Taking advantage of our inability to respond properly, he'd managed to climb aboard the galleon.
Unfortunately for him, that was where his luck ended.
The warrior seized his arm and flipped him over the bulwark, then followed it with a strike from her war fan that crushed his larynx.
"Unlikely." Now where was my little bomb…? Light it, toss it into the attackers.
Boom!
The barrage immediately lost much of its intensity. Exchanging a quick nod, the girl and I jumped down onto the attackers' vessel — our side sat higher, thankfully — and plunged straight into the melee.
Parry a crooked knife with my blade and, without breaking motion, crush the pirate's skull with the sword's pommel. Step. Snatch the knife from the dead man's slackening hand and send it flying into the throat of the next pirate. Another step.
Two more, coming from opposite sides. Behind them, an earthbender aiming at me.
A slight adjustment to one attacker's movement — and he heroically shields me with his chest from the stone shrapnel. A second sea raider collapses atop him a moment later, throat slit.
Another step.
Drive my blade through the hesitating bender.
Turn toward the next group of enemies.
Step…
***
Some time later.
"Damn you, Butcher!" A vaguely familiar man clutched at the deep gash across his abdomen. He'd been quick enough that my strike hadn't fully gone through and spilled his guts… but not quick enough to avoid the wound entirely.
"Hm-m… You people really do have remarkably repetitive lines." Where had I seen him before? "Have we met somewhere?"
"Are you mocking me?! You slaughtered my crew and left me to rot in a floating prison!"
Ah. Right. I remember now.
"I see. Thanks." I took his head off. "I won't make that mistake again."
He was the last one.
"An old acquaintance?" Suki asked as she walked over, sweaty and exhausted.
"Yeah. One of those 'innocently oppressed, law-abiding Earth Kingdom citizens cruelly persecuted by terrible firebenders,' freed by the 'noble Avatar.' Less than a month later, and he's already back to piracy at sea. What the hell is that boy even thinking, releasing everyone indiscriminately like that?"
Under my irritated stare, the freshly made corpse's clothes began to smolder.
"Yeah… that's pretty telling," the warrior admitted, shaking her head.
"How are our people?"
"No losses. Just a few scratches here and there. They're doing a final sweep now," Suki replied.
"Good. Finish up here while I go have a talk with the captain. I suspect an extra ship won't be unwelcome to the esteemed Lao."
Suki rolled her eyes in response.
Before heading to the bridge, though, I had one more thing to deal with.
Toph sat by the bulwark, hugging her knees to her chest.
I silently lowered myself beside her. Right now, she needed support and reassurance more than anything.
(End of Chapter)
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