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Salt and Blood - Chapter 50
🕑 Added 2024-10-20 11:02:59 +0000 UTC<< Chapter 49 | Table of Contents | Chapter 51 >>
1.50 - Taking Flight
Never rouse a sleeping beast. If you have to, make sure your first cut is the only cut you need.
-Excerpt from ‘Ten Laws of the Sea’, author unknown
Rose had hoped to dash past the salamanders while they recovered from the fallout of the latest explosion of steam. Unfortunately, even the best laid plans go awry.
The devastating crack had opened a hole all the way to the surface of the island and as the sunlight penetrated in, it refracted through Sunsplitter and cast a dazzling glow across the entire cavern. Which of course garnered the attention of the furious beasts.
As soon as they reached the cavern floor they were beset by snapping and snarling salamanders. Rose refused to stop her forward charge and rather than stop to kill them, focused on parrying and deflecting their attacks.
While her strategy of avoidance was initially successful, it had a limited timeframe. Soon they were being chased by dozens of the beasts and it was only a matter of time until they became overwhelmed.
Skill up!
Dual Wielding 5 > 6
Every level in her new skill made it a little easier to manage the double dance of her blades, with the rhythm of her attacks becoming smoother. Gaps in her defence vanished and the salamander closest to her suddenly found itself being carved into fillets.
Despite her increased skill, they were starting to slow. Almost every single salamander in the cavern was frothing at the mouth in their fury; a ferocious horde of wild beasts that refused to let them pass.
“We aren’t going to make it,” grunted Felix, shoving one of the creatures away from him with his cutlass before stabbing it in the neck with his dagger.
Rose didn’t want to believe him, but even though she was decapitating salamanders at a respectable rate they continued to pile on. It took three kills just to advance a single step and they’d barely made it halfway across the cavern.
The tide of monsters backed her up and she felt herself rubbing against a boulder. Her foot caught in a gap and she stumbled, almost getting her cheek torn apart by an errant claw—Felix saved her with a wild slash.
Sparing a moment to look behind, she saw that the boulder was sitting on one of the holes, plugging it entirely. That couldn’t be great. The pressure from the steam would build up much faster and if it exploded with them standing beside the hole, it was sure to vaporise them.
As Rose was wont to do, an utterly foolish idea crossed her mind. As they’d advanced, the ceiling had continued to collapse and the entire thing was now open to the outside world.
Rather than risk their lives pushing through the squirming mass of salamanders, why not hitch a ride on the boulder when it was launched into the sky by the impending explosion of steam? Either way they were liable to perish.
“Felix,” she shouted over the hissing of the beasts. “I need you to trust me and ignore your cowardly instincts for a while.”
The withering glare he sent her way could’ve melted steel, but she ignored it. He sighed and halfway through slicing apart a salamander replied, “Fine. Just don’t get me killed.”
Skill up!
Blades 12 > 13
Rose carved her way towards the boy until they were close enough to touch. She’d chosen this spot on purpose, because the boulder was most jagged here.
“Right. You see the boulder behind us?”
“I do not like where this is going,” he answered, but nodded in confirmation anyway.
“I’m going to cover you and you’re going to climb on top. Once you’re out of reach of these bastards pull me up with you.”
“I knew I was going to hate this plan. Are you sure we have to do this?”
“Do you think we can cut our way through all of these things?” she said, waving a cutlass at the beasts even while defending herself against multiple sets of claws and the odd tail.
He didn’t answer. Instead, after cutting down his current foe, Felix crouched low before leaping up to the nearest handhold. Two more salamanders pounced after him, but she whirled round and cut them apart before they could reach his legs.
Neither of them were expert climbers but the boulder was rough and made scaling it simple. Without Felix guarding her left side, Rose faced an insurmountable wave of monsters.
The added pressure was both a blessing and a curse. Within seconds she heard a double splash as her skills continued to level up, but more and more of their strikes were connecting.
Skill up!
Dual Wielding 6 > 7
Skill up!
Endurance 5 > 6
None of the salamanders had been breathing fire this whole time and she suspected it was because to do so was to risk upsetting the delicate balance of the ecosystem in the cavern. A tail whipped her arm and she stumbled into slashing claws that tore out a chunk of her thigh.
Before she could succumb to her wounds and the mounting pressure, a hand appeared in front of her face. She grabbed it without a second thought and felt the world shift as Felix yanked her out of the fray.
Apparently the thought of their prey escaping was enough to drive the salamanders insane, because twin jets of flame exploded past her, narrowly missing the pair. Grabbing hold of the rock she started to race upwards in hope of escaping their range.
Thrice more the beasts almost burnt her limbs. She was currently mourning the loss of her left sole, which had sacrificed itself to save her foot from another jet of flame.
They reached the top soon after, collapsing onto the flat-ish boulder and panting for breath. Those last few moments had been tense and Felix had slipped, almost knocking them both into the writhing mass of monsters below.
“What now?” he panted.
“Now we wait. And maybe pray,” she added as an afterthought. “Do you worship any gods? I never asked.”
“Two,” he replied, holding up two fingers to drive the answer home. “My parents raised me as a believer of Aleena, the Goddess of Safe Harbour. I’ve always managed to reach it, one way or another, so even when I found another faith I never forgot to offer thanks to her.”
“And the second?”
He hesitated for a moment, holding an internal debate from the look in his eyes. “Mesomere,” he eventually muttered.
“What’s that? I didn’t catch the name.”
“I said Mesomere.”
“Oh.”
Rose realised why he’d hesitated to tell her. There was nothing wrong with worshipping Mesomere—God of Wealth and Deceit—but his followers tended to garner a particular… reputation.
A reputation as thieves, liars, and cheats. She wasn’t one to judge and she certainly would never speak ill of a deity. And she knew Felix was none of those, so she simply nodded and smiled.
“That’s nice. I only pray to Sylack. Occasionally I cast a wider net, but never to any particular member of the pantheon.”
At her casual response he relaxed, shoulders dropping. Perhaps he’d been judged in the past for his choice of divine patron, but who was she to throw mud? After all, pirates were renowned for looting and dastardly schemes.
***
They didn’t speak much after their discussion of deities. Other than striking down the occasional salamander that managed to claw its way up the boulder, there was little to do while waiting.
A rumble shook the cavern and made her stumble as she drove Sunsplitter into the torso of a leaping beast. Hurriedly yanking her blade back, Rose retreated to the centre of the rock.
She hugged Felix tight as the boulder started to shake and tremble. “Well, here goes nothing. If we survive, perhaps I’ll have to add Aleena to my list of patron gods,” she joked.
Felix chuckled. “Would that make me a priest? My very first convert.”
Her reply was drowned out by a deafening bang. The pair were thrown to the ground, glued to it as the boulder was sent hurtling into the sky on a pillar of superheated steam.
Wisps of it pierced through the stone and cracks appeared as the integrity failed. Her skin blistered and cracked and she heard Felix grinding his teeth.
Then, as soon as the explosion had begun it abruptly ended and she covered her eyes as they burst out of the ground and into dazzling sunlight. Looking around she realised the storm had cleared and the sun shone bright over the three islands.
She heard a crack. Felix’s hand brushed against hers, desperately attempting to grab hold but failing. The boulder split in two and they were separated.
Despite that, she was ecstatic. Her plan had been a roaring success and they were finally free of the cave. Her grin turned to a frown as she realised that the rock was still soaring upwards.
How far am I going to fly? If she went much further then the landing would be more than just a little sting. Luckily, its momentum could only carry it so far and it stopped a little above the peak of the island.
There was little there save for more algae and a few crabs. Perhaps falling into the cave had been a blessing in disguise—if she’d instead climbed to the top she wouldn’t have made such fantastic gains. Her idle musing was broken by a splash.
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