Shielding the girl with his body, Magnus felt impact after impact rain on his back. Some were metallic debris, some were wood yet he stood firm.
'Thank fuck for the armor.'
Magnus noticed the impacts stopped, before he jumped up and gazed at the ceiling-or what was left of it. The entirety of it was torn off by that shot, revealing a blue sky.
"Stay down and hide under the table. Don't come out unless everything settles down, got it?!" he yelled to the girl, unsheating his sword.
The girl obediently nodded, hiding under the desk.
'This is the most I can do for her, I really hope it doesn't come to blows!'
He jumped up from the ground, landing on the deck.
As he planted his feet on the ground, his heart sank.
A massive warship stood in the sky, it's imposing presence striking fear into the hearts of any men.
Twice as big as the sand ship, bone as dark as the night protected the sides of the ship, culminating into a skeletal dragon head at the prow. More than 50 gun ports lined the side of the ship, a cannon peeking out of each of them.
'Nathaniel Blake. One of the most annoying pirates who has been a thorn in the empires side for years, evaded us many times and was last spotted in the north. However, since he never attacked anyone but commoners he isn't high priority on the criminals list...'
He paused, his face turning a shade darker 'How come I get to encounter him here in the west?! If that damn thing opens up on us, this entire ship is as gone!!!'
As if to answer him-
Boom! Whistle-
The mast of the ship was torn off, crashing to the side.
'Damn, without the magic sails we're sitting ducks!'
Thump!
Not turning around, Magnus asked while clenching his sword, "What do we do?"
"What can we do?" Leo replied, the anger seeping Into every word, "We gotta run. Otherwise they'll tear us to shreds."
'Seriously, what's with this day?'
"Hey, what's that!?" one of the knights yelled, seeing something detach from the ship in the sky.
As it came closer, the knights managed to make out what the flying object was.
"A flying boat?"
"Yeah," Leo answered, "To send a messenger. This means we can maybe negotiate - seems he doesn't want to become enemies just yet!"
The boat soon came right above the knights, before it slowly made it's descent onto the ship.
A boy, probably less than 13 years old, stood alone in the boat. From the tattered clothes he wore to the bruises covering his skin, one could tell he was expendable.
"Captain Nathaniel wants the ship and it's cargo. You may leave as we do not want to be full blown enemies with Azel Empire." the boy spoke with a condescending tone, openly taunting the knights, a mocking smirk on his face.
'He has guts, to say that to 20 men who could tear him apart...' he glanced at the ship in the sky, 'Then again, he DOES have a backing.'
Gritting his teeth, Leo spoke while having a malevolent grin "Fine. Tell your captain the following : You can have it, we don't have the means of dealing with you. However, if he breaks his end of the bargain, there will be hell to pay, "
"Understood, sir~~~ knight~~~" the boy said, dragging each word.
"Can the survivor be moved?" Leo turned to me.
"She's received a potion, she's fine, I'll get her." Magnus replied, before jumping down into the ruined captains cabin.
Landing with a thud, dust and sand filled the air once more, as he gazed at the desk.
"Come on out, we have to get going."
With a shuffling sound, the girl came out from under the desk and asked quietly, "What happened?"
"Pirates, we need to abandon ship. Come here, let's get out of here."
Nodding her head, the girl came over and tried to hug Magnus.
"Pause." he said.
While she was momentarily confused, he threw her over his shoulder and jumped up again.
"EHHHH-" her panicked scream followed.
Landing on the deck, the gazes of everyone gathered on them, including the pirate boy whose face turned furious.
"I said leave everything behind! That includes anyone from the ship!"
His angry yell prompted the knights faces to blank.
Exchanging gazes between each other, they finally turned towards their captain.
Curling his lips, Leo made his way towards the boy. Seeing one of the knights approaching, the boys legs went weak as he tried to threaten them.
"Wha- Whats so funny?! Are you looking down on me?! ARE YOU LOOKING DOWN ON THE GREAT CAPTAIN NATHANIEL?!!"
Before he could continue his tirade, Leo flicked his forehead and sent him buckling to the ground.
A loud laughter erupted from the knights.
"First, we rescued her from outside so she's not ship property, second, Magnus- show her face."
Putting down the girl, the boy was shocked at the countless burn scars on her body.
"I don't think your captain would be interested in a disfigured girl and go to Azels wanted list over her, hmm?"
"That-" he tried to refute, yet couldn't find the words even after wracking his brains.
"Now piss off, lapdog." with another flick, Leo made the annoying child fall on his ass.
"I swear the captain will get revenge for me!" leaving the words behind, the child started ascending using the boat and shot towards the pirate ship.
"Didn't you go overboard?" Luca, the medic, asked.
"What?" Leo looked back in surprise, before waving his hands. "No, Nathaniel infamously doesn't give a shit about his crew. And he doesn't get anything from crossing swords with us over one meager ship, his flyer easily costs 30 times the sand ship we captured."
Jumping down into the desert, all of them headed in the direction of the white tower on the horizon.
As for the girl, she was carried on Magnus shoulder. 'With the cloak on her, the weak magic on it should buy us some time.'
"We should hurry, otherwise the survivor risks heat stroke!" Leo yelled, before starting to sprint.
"Aye aye, captain!" the knights replied in unison, prompting Leo to sigh in annoyance.
Smiling at the banter, Magnus felt the marry band of idiots seemed to be more human than what he initially thought.
Though unlike before, he was suddenly beset by an uneasy feeling.
'Please tell me it's nothing...'
---
Aboard the sky ship.
Inside of a metallic room, layered with dragon bones and various machinery, an iron throne occupied the center of the room.
Perched on top of it, a man in his thirties had a deadpan expression as he was served fruit by a beautiful woman.
With long black hair, and two dark circles under his eyes, coupled with his stocky frame, he did not give the impression of being one of the most famous pirates of the era.
Nathaniel Blake.
"So you're saying," he glanced at the kneeling child in front of him, "They took someone from the ship?"
The boy replied, sweat covering his whole body, "Yes! It was a scarred girl, around 15 years old!"
"Was there anything noteworthy about her?"
"Nothing!"
"Hmm..." Nathaniel had a thoughtful look, taking a bite out of an apple.
'Does she have anything special about her to warrant being taken by those idiots?' he thought while chewing.
'A noble? Unlikely, too few knights. A merchant? Also unlikely. A survivor-' his mouth stopped mid bite.
Spitting out the apple, he almost choked as he jumped up from the throne.
"It's a survivor, damn it!" his furious yell resounded in the bridge.
After a moment the faces of everyone present turned grave.
"Chase them down, now! We can't leave her alive!" he shouted once more, before pulling a lever next to his throne.
With the sounds of gears turning, the iron throne was turned around. Facing Nathaniel was a massive window which showed all four of the ships sides through magic.
Directly in front of him, a large wheel stood with three different levers.
Grabbing hold of it, he pulled two levers, one for controlling height, and another for acceleration.
"Aye aye, capn'!" the others in the bridge yelled.
Leaning back into his throne, he furrowed his brows, 'If she reports what happened, it won't just be Azel going after us, it'll be half the world! We must stop them from finding out who we attacked!'
His gaze locked onto the silhouettes running in the desert, a killing intent welling up inside of him as he spun the wheel.
---
The massive airship billowed smoke from its chimneys, before it started turning towards the knights.
Hearing the noise, it prompted some of the knights to look back, only for their pupils to shrink to the size of a needle.
"Damn it! That bastard wants us dead! Disperse!" Leo yelled, before he gave the next command with a heavy heart.
"Split up, every man for themselves!"