[coronatiger]

The crew moved into a semi-circle around us, but they made no threatening move that I could see. Wolfram and I drew weapons anyway. Xipil dropped his and leapt for one of the masts and began climbing. A voice whispered, “This is my night. Have you come to worship me?” It seemed like the voice came from all around; it certainly wasn’t a crew member who was talking.

Wolfram took a step forward, but I retreated back to the railing where Grogg stood. I opened my pouch so I could apply venom to my knives, but the voice spoke again, trying to bribe us with gifts if we worshipped it. Wolfram decided to attack at that moment, and I followed to protect his back, for in the wild onslaught that killed the first crewman, making him disappear in a flash of light, Wolfram left himself wide open to counterattacks.

The creature nearest me whirled to face me, waved its arms about and caused an immensely strong gust of wind to shoot past me. As the wind tugged on my dress, I thought I was lucky that the attack missed. Another creature hit Wolfram with a lightning bolt. I didn’t have to turn around to know that Grogg’s eyes widened with fear. Still, I heard him launch an attack.

I thought the lightning wielder was more dangerous than those hurling just air, so I ran towards the one that had struck Wolfram and lashed out with both my knives, but I missed. Over the wind, I could hear Xipil’s voice saying, “Your brother sent us.” He had apparently located Volkir somewhere up that mast. I would have liked to help him in his encounter with the demon, but I thought Wolfram and Grogg needed my assistance more.

A bolt of lightning struck Grogg, who roared and continued his charge. The creature I had tried to attack shoved me backwards with a fist of air, and I barely kept my feet under me. Wolfram managed to dodge the second lightning bolt sent his way, and he struck down another crewmember.

I darted towards the nearest foe and swiped my knives against its neck. One connected, but the other twisted in my hand. The creature blasted me backwards with air and another struck me with lightning, despite me frantically throwing myself to the deck. My concealed armor absorbed some of the energy. The strike hurt me really badly and I don’t think I’d still be in fighting shape if it wasn’t for my armor. One more hit would certainly take me down.

While I got back on my feet, overselling the injury with my acting skills, Grogg got his first kill for the fight, leaving us only slightly outnumbered – four against three – although I wasn’t sure how long I could keep going. One creature made a flash of light, but if it was supposed to be a lightning strike, it was thoroughly underwhelming.

Wolfram and Grogg took several lightning blasts over the next few seconds, and Wolfram was as injured as I pretended to be, but he still took down another opponent. I didn’t take the time to change the grip on my left-hand blade, focusing instead on defense. I really didn’t want to take another hit and hoped my act would trick the enemies into thinking I was out of the fight. Despite all my efforts, one of the creatures made attack gestures at me and I had to drop the pretense and dodge acrobatically. Too late, I realized that the attack was only a gust of wind.

Grogg felled his second foe, leaving only two more to be handled. I rushed up to one and struck. My knife sliced across the creature’s throat and I followed up with a bite. As the venom surged into the wound, I heard snakes hissing in the wind. My opponent was destroyed in a flash of light.

The last foe vanished as the illusion began to unravel. I was unaware if Grogg or Wolfram had struck it or if it was connected to the illusion. Above us, Xipil clung to the mast. He had untied the banner and threw it away before scampering down to us. The ship and everything else around us were turning to dust to be blown away by the wind. I sheathed my knives. There were no more enemies. I saw Xipil pick up his bow from where he had dropped it on the deck, but then my senses were overloaded.

Suddenly, we were in the river outside Byblos. Several ships bore straight for us. Uncertain if anyone on board had seen us, I called out for help. Wolfram was having trouble keeping afloat, but Xipil kept him from drowning. Grogg managed on his own, but I wasn’t sure how long he’d last with only one working arm and him being so heavy. I kept shouting and waving until Nynos looked down on us from Nulius’s flagship.

Nobody on board was happy to see us in the river; we were supposed to stay in Ælios’s cabin. I promised Nynos an explanation if he would just get us out of the water. I believed Xipil had done something with Volkir up the mast, but he hadn’t had time to tell me about it. I didn’t think we should inform the foreigners about the details of our little escapade, since they reiterated constantly that they weren’t allowed to involve themselves with the supernatural. Nynos had the soldiers throw down ropes so we could get on board, and then he handed out woolen blankets.

I rushed to wrap myself up. The river hadn’t exactly been warm, but it wasn’t particularly cold either. I didn’t see anyone leering at me, but I covered up just in case. Nulius watched from the helm, but he was scowling, not leering. My dress, while wet, still offered its protection from unwanted eyes, but I just felt so vulnerable. I realized that lately, I had been taking precautions to avoid revealing my body, when earlier I hardly cared if anyone saw me naked. I decided I needed to talk to Yana about it.