Chapter 10: The Bone Ship

Jos’s command echoed through the fog. A volley of pistol-fire and rifle-fire shattered the tense calm and the sails dropped. Hiraeth’s main deck erupted in chaos. Groans and cries for death filtered through the mist.

A roar erupted from the bone ship. Jos trusted her crew’s bravery and tenacity, but she’d seen firsthand the effect of an Abomination’s howl of fear. Above the din, Jorg’s bellowing voice boomed, “Shake it off and reload!”

Several of her crew started to step back, but held their ground at the bosun’s command. Danni, not quite close enough to get the full effect of Jorg’s shout, screamed and turned to run. Jos snagged the young asura’s coat and held her until the Abomination’s fear roar wore off.

She searched among the crew below, but Nexx had vanished. “C’mon Nexx, hurry,” she muttered. 

A series of pot-shots spat back at the crew from the Risen ship, splintering Hiraeth’s rails. Two crewmates went down. The Risen had poor aim, but not poor enough. 

Overhead, the Undead Tendril wavered and leaned back out of view. Jos looked at the sails, but they hung loose in the riggings. Jos knew that was not a good sign. “NEXX!”

Another volley of gunfire from her crew ripped through the fog. Several gurgling calls for death ceased, but there were still too many. Danni shook off the remnants of the fear roar. “Captain, may I be of assistance?”

Jos nodded then held her hand out for the asura to wait. 

A pink shimmer appeared at the railings and rose up, as if the ship were being encased in sugarglass. The tentril reappeared, making its wide arcing throw. A massive blob of brown and sickly green glop flew through the air and slammed into the still-rising shield. The mass splattered and ran down the side into the water. 

“Hold!” Jorg called out and the crew’s gunfire ceased.

Risen gunfire continued though, pinging off the shield in little ripples.

Then the pink shield flickered and vanished.

Jos’s eyes went wide. “CRAP!”

“FIRE!” Jorg roared. Gunfire cracked. The Undead Tendril wavered then leaned back out of view again. 

Jos turned to the small asura. “Danni, you know anything about refractive harmonic shielding?”

“Oh yes! My dissertation at the College of Dynamics was focused on the potential non-warfare uses for subharmoni—”

“Great, go help Nexx below deck.” Jos patted Danni on the back and ushered her toward the stairs. “I need that shield up, now!”

“Oh!” Danni squeaked. She hopped and bolted below.

Jos turned from the departing asura and stormed over to the port-side railing. Her lip curled up in disgust as she realized the bone ship had slowed its movement, but was now angling toward Hiraeth. “Damn it.”

Summoning a spell, Jos once again leveled her pistol at the enemy ship. What had once been shambling shadows on the far bone ship had now resolved into vicious Risen pirates. Jos squeezed the trigger.

Three shots rang out from her weapon, taking down a Risen charr that looked suspiciously like a lieutenant she once knew. Beside Jos, a transparent, orchid-colored copy of herself appeared. The phantasm gave her a wink then opened fire on the enemy.

Jos’s ghostly duplicate continued to loose an unrelenting barrage of lead-shot until her illusionary weapons were empty. The phantasm popped and in its place, a transparent, full-color clone of Jos appeared. The clone picked out a target and started firing. Jos knew it couldn’t do any significant damage, but maybe it would at least pull some attention away from the crew and buy some time. 

And if the clone damaged the Undead Tendril along the way, all the better. For her own part, Jos continued to shoot at the base of the tendril. If the shield didn’t come back up, then taking down that tendril was their only hope of surviving. 

As if beckoned by her fears, the tendril reappeared and flung another brown mass into the air. Jos turned her focus to the glob heading straight for her ship. But no matter how much lead shot she put into it, nothing was going to stop that Risen projectile. 

Jos’s heart pounded as she watched the brown blob fly toward Hiraeth. Anxious panic shot down her legs and up her arms like ice-cold water. She knew that if that blob held an Abomination then it might already be too late. 

Where’s my damn shield?!?!

The blob smashed onto the deck right next to the main mast. Muddy slop splattered and smoke clouded the impact sight. Yet through that smoke, a Risen voice came. “Kill.”

Jos jumped into action and readied her next spell. She didn’t know what kind of undead creature was on her ship, but it didn’t matter. Her crew already had their hands full with trying to get the ship moving and shooting at the undead still on the bone ship. No, she needed to get it off her ship on her own, no matter what.

At a full sprint, she catapulted herself off the quarterdeck railing. Bolting right past the Risen, she triggered the opening to her spell. Crystalize chimes filled her ears and a rusty sword blade swiped through the air behind her. But Jos kept running. 

She ran past Jorg. Behind her, he called out, but she still kept running. And when she reached the prow of the ship, she dove headfirst over the railing. With her arms pointed over her head, she dove down into the water, letting her momentum carry her deeper and deeper. 

Then she finished her spell. 

The chimes in her head silenced and a shimmering, pink disk appeared in the water around her. Jos smiled and snapped her fingers. Her feet thumped on the deck of her ship and she found herself staring right into the milky, dead gaze of a Risen Preserver. 

Jos angled her chin at the undead thing. “How ya doin?” 

The preserver’s eyes widened in shock and it made a questioning grunt. 

Jos scoffed. With a sneer, she snapped her fingers again. The pink circle at her feet flashed and Risen Preserver vanished.