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TheDevilsTrick — Privateer Chapter 100
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Published: 2023-12-10 16:14:49 +0000 UTC; Views: 2399; Favourites: 10; Downloads: 0
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[Eye to Eye]
A guard erupted from the rapids, sword in hand, screaming and whooping, an obvious war cry. Granger reached out and grabbed the man by the head while Evie rammed a spear into his chest, then threw his limp body into the roiling waters that now lapped against the sides of the dais. Beside him, Belix leaned against a stolen and bloody broadsword, gasping, trying desperately to catch her breath, Clyde sitting on the other side, holding a blade in the same hand that clutched at his ribs. While they had been lucky enough to be the first to reach the top of the mountain, the rush of water hadn’t killed all of their enemies, instead trapping them in the same room, struggling and gasping for life.
The four of them had spent the last half hour killing off the survivors who managed to claw their way onto the dais.
“Gods Dammit,” Belix muttered, slipping down a bit against her stolen broadsword, “Was that the last of them?”
“…ugh…” Clyde grunted as he raised his head to scan the foaming, roiling waters around them, “Looks like it.”
“You’d better fucking hope so!” Granger snapped.
“We all had better,” Clyde muttered, shuffling to the edge of the dais and looking at the water slapping against the sides of the stone mound, “I think the water’s rising.”
“And who’s fucking fault is that?!” Granger demanded, looming over him dangerously, “It was your dumbass plan after all!”
“Granger…” Belix groaned, shaking her head.
“Oh, What?!” Granger spun around on her, “I gotta be nice to your little boyfriend?!”
“GRANGER!!” she shouted at him, but sighed as she stood away from her broadsword and approached him, arms folded, “We’re in an air pocket right now, if you’re gonna waste your breath, then do it while coming up with an escape plan…”
He grumbled at her, but backed down, letting the argument go, for the moment. Taking one last deep breath, Belix started again.
“So...any thoughts?”
“If my opinion has elevated above mud,” Evie spoke up, “I’d say our only two options are digging, or swimming.”
“Yeah…” Clyde commented, leaning back and falling hard on his butt, “It’s definitely rising.”
“Right, right,” Belix mused, examining the cavern, “I don’t like the idea of digging into the roof…”
“I was actually thinking of down,” Evie mentioned, “Maybe drop into another cave system.”
Belix looked at Evie, then shook her head.
“I don’t like the idea of being crushed to death AND drowning,” she iterated, “So...I guess we’re swimming...which way though.”
“The tunnels are flooding, but Kelly would have posted guards at their exits,” Evie stated, “We’d likely emerge to a hail of bullets.”
“Then...this would be our only option,” she pointed towards the wall where the waterway had been ruptured, she glanced at Granger, “So, how ‘bout it?”
“Maybe...if I still had my turbines…” Granger held up his metal arm, showing them his drill, “New properties, I could probably force my way through, but…”
“It’d take too long...and there’s no guarantee there’s another air pocket on the other side…”
“Actually,” Granger corrected her, “’I’ could probably force my way through, but I doubt you lot could.”
“Well,” Belix shrugged, “It’s either that, or we just jump in and follow the flow, take our chances against the firing squad.”
“If only we had a rope…” Evie stated.
“Wait, what?” Belix looked back at her, “Rope?”
“Yes,” Evie shrugged, “If we had a rope, he could pull it along behind himself and we could just crawl along, current or no…”
“Or string,” she looked over at Clyde who blinked up at her.
“Should I be worried by that look?” he wondered.
“Come on...You know you can…”
“I…” he looked down at his hand where the golden spiders rested, “The threads they make stretch and bend, a simple rope won’t be that reliable…”
“What the Hell is he…” Evie wondered, but Belix cut him off.
“We can make it work…” she looked around, grabbed some fallen weapons and then handing them to Granger, “Plant those in the ground.”
he shrugged, but did as he was told, driving the spears and swords into the dais until the blades had disappeared into the rock face leaving only their grips and wooden hafts poking out.
“Alright…” Belix muttered, testing them out, wiggling them around, “Good, good, we’ve got an anchor point.”
She stood up and held out her arms, expectantly, while Clyde mused over it, but quickly gave in.
“Can you?” he whispered, and everyone watched in surprise as the strange creatures clinging to the backs of his hands sprang to life.
Needing very little instruction they barked and chirped dutifully before scuttling towards the make-shift anchor. Everyone watched in amazement as they sped from post to post, trailing behind themselves a mass of black and golden thread that seemed to glow eerily in the dark. Before long the strange golden trinkets were spinning around one another, braiding a long, sturdy rope that looped around the edge of the dais several times over. They paused, momentarily, and Clyde reached out to the pair, assuming they must be done, but, without a sound or gesture, they, grabbed one end of the rope and dragged it over the edge, into the raging waters below.
Clyde watched them leave, a horrified expression on his face. Helpless, he could only watch as a length of rope continued to slide into the roiling, rising waters below.
“They…” Belix approached him, trying to be comforting, “I mean, they probably needed to measure the length, to make sure…”
“I know,” he muttered still following the disappearing rope intensely.
“What the Hell is this stuff any…” Evie wondered, reaching out towards it.
“DON’T!” Clyde told her threateningly as he stomped down on her hand.
“Ow!” she snapped, yanking her fingers out from under his foot, “I was just curious.”
“Wrong place, wrong time, leave it alone!” Belix warned her and they all stood back, watching the rope continue to unfurl.
Eventually the braid was pulled taught, leaving everyone baffled and confused.
“So, do we draw lots or…” Evie offered.
“Wait,” Clyde told her firmly.
“I’m just saying…”
“It could mean they found an anchor on the other side,” Granger commented, “Or it could mean they just ran out of slack, we won’t know until they return.”
“Or they could’ve gotten swept away in the current and this is-OW!” Evie shouted when Belix slapped her upside the head.
Clyde said nothing, simply keeping a silent vigil. They all waited for several agonizingly uncertain minutes until the golden spiders finally returned. Without a word, Clyde knelt down to collect them and clutched the pair close to his chest for a long moment. Pulling down his mask, Clyde tearfully examined his tiny companions before finally returning to the matter at hand.
“Did it work?” he asked and they responded positively.
“Okay…” Evie said impatiently, “So, now do we draw lots or…”
“I’ll go first,” Granger insisted, walking to the edge, “We need to make sure the gap’s wide enough for everybody, I’ll tug the cord twice when I’m done.”
“So we’ll just…what, sit on our hands then?”
“If you don’t stop complaining then I’m going to hold your head under water until the bubbles stop,” Belix warned her and the whole group fell quiet again.
Granger didn’t so much dive as take a deep breath and a long hop off of the dais, sinking right to the bottom of the torrential flood and stomping his way towards the gap he had inadvertently created. The opening was wider than he expected, but still scratched at clawed at his exposed skin as he squeezed through. He made good time, but the pressure and friction were slowing him down, crushing his chest and making it harder to hold his breath, so he attacked the gap with his drill, widening it until he could more easily pass through. For a moment he forgot his mission in the desperate need for oxygen, and swam upwards, clawing, scratching against the walls of the waterway, needing to find air.
His head burst through the surface with more than enough room to spare, and he filled his grateful lungs with oxygen again. In his stupor, he allowed the current to drag him a ways down the tunnel, but eventually remembered his purpose and dropped back down to the tunnel’s floor and gave the rope two sharp tugs.
Back in the cavern, the others waited with a growing nervousness as they began to notice the water around them sharply rise in response to Granger widening the gap. It was practically lapping at their feet when they finally noticed the rope give the necessary signal.
“Right,” Belix told them with some relief, “Everybody in the pool.”
“Wouldn’t it be safer if…”
“Do you really want to have this discussion now?”
“Wait,” Clyde called out, noticing the water lever rising high enough to finally snuff a few of the torches on the walls, killing off their only light source, tapping one of his spiders, it suddenly came to life and wound his hands with a glowing golden thread, not much, but just enough to see by, “Right,” he dove into the roiling waters below, “Follow me.”
They proceeded across the cable, hand over hand, teeth clenched together to hold back on their last precious breath. Evie became waterlogged and the others had to help her get her head above water as she coughed, harshly, but survived. Exhausted and unwilling to fight against the current, the group allowed themselves to be dragged through the tunnel until their bodies slammed against a grate. Searching around in the dim light they managed to locate an overhang and access tunnel which allowed their exit onto the still dark city streets. Finding themselves in a darkened parkway, tired, sodden, and chilled to the bone, they quickly picked themselves up and marched to the nearest darkened alley where they could regroup.
“So…” Belix wondered, wringing out the hem of her shirt but quickly giving up on it, “What now?”
“Oh? Are we working together now?” Granger muttered.
Belix silenced him with a glare, while Evie, still recovering from her near drowning, sat on the ground and coughed, weakly.
“…I…I have a place…” she mentioned between sputters, her body demanding undampened oxygen, “It’s not too far from here…”
“Is it well stocked?” Belix wondered dismissively.
“Does it matter?”
“Fresh clothes, food, cots,” she paused for a moment, noticing the quiver that had managed to stick to her back and emptied it of water before tossing it aside, “Weapons?”
“…point taken…yeah, I’ve got some of that,” Evie mentioned.
“And I’ve got the rest,” Belix sighed, “So where’s the hideout?”
“Two blocks that way,” Evie pointed, “Enter through the alley behind the bakery, door’s right next to the trash cans, you can’t miss it.”
“Thanks,” Belix nodded, then slapped Granger on the arm, “Come on, I need a pack-mule.”
Granger muttered something under his breath, but followed along, leaving the other two alone in the grimy intersection. Though silent the entire time, Clyde watched their departure while leaning against a wall, then stepped forward to loom over Evie as she crouched on the floor.
“Are you going to make me carry you?” he demanded.
“Yes,” she replied bluntly.
With an unrelenting determination, Clyde leaned down, bundled her up in his arms and started hobbling down the street, much to Evie’s bemusement.
“So…you’re faking it right?” she observed, “Being injured I mean.”
“No…” he grunted, a wet, squishy, pop, emanating from his chest, causing him to pause, but only briefly, as he forced himself to take several shaky steps forward.
“Alright, stop, just…” she said, hopping out of his grasp and wrapping an arm across her shoulders, “Lean on me, we’ll get there.”
Several miles away, in the slowly sinking ship, Sylvester sat with Zeesa, watching the gathered mass of cocoons slowly start to shake.
“You’re sure that…” Zeesa mused, “I mean, what if it’s like a false labor sort of thing?”
“Donald said it was time,” Sylvester shrugged, looking over at the massive crab-creature.
“Soon…” Donald agreed, watching the cocoons intently, nervously scratching at the exoskeleton that was starting to grow across his skin, “Soon enough…are…are you sure I should be here?”
“Do you want to leave?” Sylvester asked.
“…I…no…no I don’t,” Donald insisted and Zeesa gave him a consolatory pat on the arm.
In silence they waited, the cocoons shaking, then cracking, little claws reaching up and tearing open the gaps and rip them even wider.
“Oh…” Zeesa winced, “Do you think we should’ve spaced them out more?”
“It’s fine…” a tiny, childish voice called out in their heads, “Just…give us a minute…”
They emerged, collectively breaking their shells and tossing the pieces aside, but they came from their confinement transformed. Where before they had resembled tiny people crossed with shrimp, they now more directly resembled horseshoe crabs, only with much longer legs and thicker tails. Tentatively, they stepped forward from their prisons, blinking in the harsh light, their newly formed eyes adjusting, and they looked up at their old friends who knelt down to meet them.
“So…” the leader of the group, obviously Stitch, wondered as she reached out and touched Sylvester’s hand, “How do we look?”
“Beautiful,” Sylvester told them with as much sincerity as possible, then wiped his eyes, “I’m just happy that you’re up and around now, I thought that you were going to sleep forever.”
“We weren’t sleeping,” Stitch insisted, “We saw everything.”
Sylvester and Zeesa both recoiled at bit when they said that, glancing at each other with undisguised embarrassment.
“What?” Stitch demanded, “It’s why we knew to send him.”
She gestured across the room where many other her brothers and sisters had gathered around Donald, who visibly shuddered at their approach.
“What’s wrong brother?” one of them asked, “Are you cold?”
“No…” Donald insisted, his voice sounding strained, “No, I am fine.”
The one who asked, crawled onto Donald’s clawed hand and nestled in the crook of his wrist.
“Thank you,” they whispered, “For being there when we couldn’t.”
“Thank you,” they all agreed, and Donald started crying again.
Back in the city, Belix and Granger made it into Chester’s old apartment. She opened the door for him, then closed and locked it as soon as they were inside.
“Okay, so, do you want to tell me what this is all about?”
“Getting supplies right?” Granger muttered off hand, his back to her.
“Don’t play dumb with me, you’re not as good at it as you think you are,” Belix rolled her eyes.
“Whatever…” he brushed her off, “So where’s this stuff I’ve got to carry?”
“You know I will beat an answer out of you if I have to,” she insisted, then sighed, “Seriously though, what crawled up your ass and died?”
“Why do you care?” he demanded, “You’re leaving right? I got plenty of time to go brood on my own.”
“Except no you don’t!” Belix corrected him, “I left you in charge, remember, You’re the responsible one, you have to be the one in charge?”
“Like you ever were?” he muttered back, and suddenly felt a chill wind blow across his neck.
“Yes, like I was!” she snapped, “Like I always fucking AM!”
“Left us pretty quick when you had the option…”
“You mother…” she stomped forward, spinning him around and grabbing him by the chin, forcing him to look her in the eye, “Say what you fucking mean, and say it to my face!”
“You’re abandoning me!” he roared back.
“What am I your mommy now?” Belix snarled back, pushing him away, “And you’re a grown assed man by the way, what the fuck do you even care what I do?!”
“But…you…” in a sudden fit of rage, Granger lifted and hurled a table just past Belix’s arm, “YOU’RE ALL I HAVE LEFT!!” he continued tearfully, anger giving way to sorrow, “You’re all…all I have…”
“…so…what?” Belix replied softly, “What are you asking for?”
Granger shook his head anxiously pacing around the room.
“Am I supposed to stay here, forever?” she pressed, “By your side until the end of time, holding your hand so that you don’t fall apart? Do you have any idea how unfair that is?”
“I don’t…” he grumbled, “What do you want me to say?”
“Goodbye, farewell…good luck,” Belix shrugged, “I hope to see you again.”
“Do you?” he shot back, “Did you even care how this was going to make me feel?”
“And what about me, do you even know why I’m doing this? Has it ever crossed your tiny little mind?!”
“You’re doing it to get laid,” he scoffed, “No judgment or anything, but I think you can do better.”
“…for the love of…” she groaned, shaking her head, “That’s not…well, that’s mostly not the reason.”
With a depressed sigh, Belix walked across the room and jumped up on a kitchen counter where she sat down.
“Once upon a time there was a little Drow girl…”
“Mao,” Granger corrected her.
“Ha! Right,” Belix scoffed, “Sorry, a little Mao girl, and she read these silly little books, all about heroes and adventures, and stupid, unimportant things, like justice and honor, and right and wrong.”
“I know Bel,” he sighed, leaning against a wall, “You told me this before.”
“Then you know that girl’s dead,” Belix continued morosely, “But, do you know what hurts, more than anything else? It’s that I got close man, so…so fucking close to that, I had the love of a good woman, purpose and meaning…”
“And then it all died on you,” Granger replied somberly, “I remember Bel…I know…”
“That girl’s been dead for a long, long time, a big reason why I just…couldn’t stand Sylvester, at first, is because he reminded me of her, but, after a while, it was kinda nice, seeing her again, knowing that someone like that was still alive in this world,” she leaned forward, folding her hands together, “And for the last few years, I’ve been watching him get his teeth kicked in, watching…as, bit by bit, the things that made him special are being taken away, like seeing her die all over again, but from the outside this time.”
She hopped up on the kitchen counter and started strolling back and forth as she spoke.
“So then I met this guy,” she continued, “And he’s stupid, and he’s weak, but he’s sincere, and he’s got that spark inside of him, and it’s killing him, but he just won’t let it die…and I…I want that, I wanna be that again.”
She stopped walking and turned to face her old friend once more.
“So...I’m leaving…” she told him simply.
“You don’t have to,” Granger insisted, “I mean, we can...’We’ can figure this out, and do it together…”
“How many times did Lynnie tell us we could be better?” she wondered, “How many times did we listen?”
“But...still...we could...we could figure this out, you don’t need him...some stranger, just for this.”
Sitting on the counter, she put her hands on his shoulders and pulled him close.
“You get me man,” she told him softly, “Any time I’ve ever been down, any time I ever doubted myself, you were there...you make me feel seen, understood, and I needed that...for a long time, I needed it, and I’ll always love you for it.”
“But…” Granger sighed.
“You don’t challenge me, you don’t push me, Lynie pushed me, and I resisted, and so did you,” she pulled him closer, hugging his head against her, “You can’t help me,” she whispered sadly, “You don’t know how, neither of us do…”
Granger wrapped his one good arm around Belix and held her as she continued to hug him.
“You’re my best friend,” he told her, and a tear leaked from her eye.
“I always will be,” she told him, but pulled away, “No matter how far away I am.”
“Yeah…” he sniffed, wiping his nose, “You...I mean, it’s not like it doesn’t have some perks.”
“Being captain?” she joked, “Yeah, good luck with that by the way.”
“You too,” he nodded.
They shared a look, a moment of understanding, and they got back to collecting their supplies.
