The order came through clear as open sky, and the gunners obeyed.
Ciaran stood along with them, assisting with the loading and ensuring the volley would provide the captain the effect she wanted. The creature was a massive amalgamation of beasts of renown - the best of all worlds? Ciaran was no naturalist, he was a soldier and this thing had proved to be an enemy. The course of action was obvious.
It was strange though. Ciaran hadn't seen the creature beyond sighting in the cannon on it's position, but it appeared icy - or perhaps crystalline? He'd seen strange things during his time with the navy and this crew, but his understanding fell short when he saw the chimera. No need to understand it anyhow, it would be ground to dust soon anyway.
At Sinead's command, Ciaran brought the wick down upon the cannon - the first shot of the volley that would follow. Once the cannons had fired, Ciaran donned his overcoat as he ventured above decks to find his captain. Once he did, he made his case. "I'm yours to command, captain. Where do you need me?"
. . . I could never hold enough of you in my hands . . .
Nessa's question was quiet, and concerned. Sinéad's first response to it was a quirk of a smile, a sudden amusement as she considered the implications of the question and what they would mean in the future.
"I didn't need to ask him," she answered the question, with cryptic whimsy. It was an answer that could have gone any direction - much like Caleb, in absentia, but Sinéad thought the direction was easy enough to intuit, with the right information.
And, because he was Caleb, and she'd been asking too much of him lately: "Keep an eye on him. He'll need someone to do that."
Her head turned slightly, noting the arrival of her master at arms. Her instinct on where to put him was, simply put, as far away from his archer as was reasonably possible. She didn't need the two of them distracting each other with whatever sordid romantic misgivings they were having - if Sinéad wanted that sort of thing, she had plenty of trashy novels in her cabin. The real thing was much less enjoyable.
"Ciaran - stick with me. I don't know if we'll be close enough for it to try to get a strike in, but I need someone keeping things off me so I can fly the ship. And if I go down, grab the aileron wheel - the pass is too narrow to let the ship fly without hands on the controls."
Chimera’s eyes widened, locked on the blue butterfly. Lion ignored the eagle’s head, twitching back to try time and time again to peck at the insect attached to its wing. The goat screamed loudly in opposition to the body, seemingly controlled by the Lion's head that leaned down, snake tail lifting up in the air. When the butterfly dived, Chimera jumped forward, trying to capture it with its mouth. It would have succeeded if it hadn’t been for the goat, who managed to regain control of the paws and stop to a halt. It's eyes never left the bigger enemy that screamed back and had smoke coming out of its pores.
***
Caleb flew in place, frowning now that he didn’t have to hide the pain on his wings from Lucien anymore. He glanced at the second sculpture, still immobile, and at the Nox, noticing a small hand waving at him. He could tell it belonged to Nessa despite the distance, and had an idea of what that handwave meant. Caleb feared if he flew back to the Nox he wouldn’t have the energy to fly back after what he put his body through over the last 12 hours, but before he could make a decision on whether to examine the totem from up close or flyback to the ship, his eye was captured by Alys flying from above, chased after by the Chimera. He panicked and followed after her, in hopes he’d reach her before the creature’s teeth would. It was a relief when the statue was left behind, a short-lived one on account of the cannons of the Hard Nox firing in their direction.
“Get down!” He shouted, despite not giving Alys much of a choice to do otherwise as he dived at her, crashing them both on a pile of snow before the Nox’ cannons would hit them. Caleb pushed the snow away, trying to find Alys' face. “Are you okay?”
Behind him, the Chimera roared as the cannon balls bounced off of it. At each stomp the floor would shake, snow slipping off of mountain tops and of the sculpture of animal heads stacked on top of each other.
***
The captain didn’t need to say a word, the moment the ship approached the chimera Beck knew she had been heard. Something like pride burned in her chest, but it quickly ran out the moment the master gunner emerged from below deck.
Her heart skipped a beat like it had before, but this time it skipped a little too hard. Beck returned her attention to her arrow and aimed at the Goat’s eye, as the captain commanded. Perhaps she wanted to show him how competent she was, or maybe she wasn't ready to deal with her feelings. A giant ice chimera was the perfect distraction.
Beck’s aim was precise, and the arrow hit right where it was supposed to. But it was supposed to hit and get stuck, not to bounce off and get lost in the snow. The archer watched as goat blinked, unfased, more concerned about the cannonballs than the splinter that brushed their eye.
The beast was close; Alys could feel his hot breath following her, the sound of his snapping jaw intermingling with the howling wind. But the speed of her dive had been a mistake, or perhaps she just had rotten luck, as she suddenly found herself between the chimera and an approaching cannonball. There wasn't time to react, not to the distant shout, nor the incoming attack. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, something collided with her, limbs caging her in and flinging her sideways, into the side of the mountain.
The fae was enveloped in snow, the thick, fluffy consistency somewhat breaking her fall, though not completely. She landed on her side, wings tight against her back, thankfully unharmed by the collision. The air had been knocked out of her though, and so she gasped, desperate for oxygen. Snow covered the bare skin of her face, as well as the skin on her upper back; the part that needed to be exposed so that she could fly. It bit and stung harshly, and with the decline of adrenaline, Alys began to shiver.
But it didn't take long for the snow to be cleared, revealing Caleb's frantic face, his eye wide and intent. His weight trapped her against the hard edge of the mountain, keeping her in the frozen snow, yet shielding her from the wind. She didn't know what was worse; being pinned here, where wind was not a problem, or out there, where she hadn't been soaked by fluffy snow.
Arms trembling, both from fatigue and the cold, she reached one out towards him, so that he could help pull her out, while using the other to prop herself up. "T-thank y-you," she whispered, teeth chattering furiously against each other.
Caleb's hands hurt as if it was being pierced by a thousand little needles. He cursed himself for not wearing gloves while digging the snow covering Alys, sighing in relief when she found her breath and stuttered a 'thank you'. He took her outstretched arm and pulled her in, as close to his chest as possible.
Caleb held tightly to Alys, pulling his coat over her shoulder to keep her as warm as possible in that embrace. It was something she unconsciously had done for him earlier, and he was well aware of how much it hurt to be that cold. He glanced up frequently to make sure nothing being shot was coming their way, and that the chimera's feet were far enough away not to stump over them. He didn't speak again until Alys wasn't shaking as violently anymore.
"Find Juniper, warm yourself up and bring Nessa here." Caleb said, looking up at the ship before searching Alys' eyes. "Tell them this isn't ice, it's diamond. It's too hard, it won't break. Our weapons are fucking useless."
Chest to chest, Alys clutched onto him like a lone leaf in an autumn storm, determined to withstand the approaching winter. She felt the warmth of his arms and coat envelope her, her own arms coiling beneath his coat to wrap around his midsection, fingers grasping the layers beneath the outermost covering. The heat radiated off of him, providing her with unimaginable relief. Was this what he had felt this morning?
For a moment, they existed just like that, his head occasionally turning to scout for approaching danger. Alys, on the other hand, merely found a snow covered peak to look at, gaze unwavering.
Eventually, the trembling decreased, jaw relaxing enough for her teeth to stop rattling. Caleb began to pull away, and she barely stopped the whimper of protest from leaving her lips. She wanted to stay here, where it was warm.
His mention of Nessa, of the others, brought her back to reality, reminding her of the job that still needed to be done. She loosened her hold on him and met his gaze, head nodding along to his instructions. Once he was done, she felt her eyes close, allowing herself an extra second or two to talk herself up.
She could do it. Her arms and back were spent, but Nessa was a lot lighter than Leo. She could do it. Her eyes opened.
"Okay, okay," she murmured. "I'll be back."
Untangling herself fully from the embrace, Alys peered over the side of the mountain before taking the dive, trying her best to ignore the feeling she could only describe as absence.
It didn't take long for her legs to unsteadily land back on the deck, close to Sinead and Nessa. "It's made of diamond," she said, trying to muster up enough energy into her tone to mask the chill that lingered in her bones. There was no time. Not with Leo and Lucien battling a monster that couldn't be wounded.
"Nessa." A single quiet word, a single half-nod in Alys' direction: an indication to support her, if needed. Sinéad wasn't able to let go of the ship's controls to do it herself - but Alys wouldn't have wanted her that close, anyway. A harsh reality, but one that Sinéad accepted, as she accepted all harsh things.
Alys' words were important, though, a warning about the creature itself. They'd been too far to guess at its composition when they'd started towards it, but apparently those who had gotten in close had been able to determine what it was made of. If it was diamond - even if it wasn't solid through - the creature would make the fortune of anyone who could carry it off, or even part of it.
Of course, they would have to survive the encounter first, and diamond was known for its strength, wasn't it? How did one break the strongest of stones? Sinéad wasn't sure, at least not with what she had on hand. Sometimes being the ship's captain was less about knowing the right tool for the task so much as the right individual to wield it - and she had at least one person on board who knew a thing or two about gemstones.
"Get Emryk here, then. If anyone knows how to break a diamond, it should be him. Alys, go have Emer give you some tea or something, before you fly again." The wise woman probably had something for weakness of the muscles, and even if she didn't, she'd give Alys chamomile and a short rest, which would likely be as good as anything.
They could turn back, but she wasn't about to do that. The ship moved on, closing the distance.
The comfort came to pass, as all things do, her source of warmth pressing a gentle snout to her forehead before disappearing from the room. Still, she sat in the ghost of his presence for a few long moments, until the heat that remained faded out into the cool morning air. Only then, did she open her eyes. They had to be further north, now, but she had lost track of the weather growing colder. Once it reached the point where it left her fingers sore, she'd stopped being able to distinguish. Yawning, she took her bundled dress and shawls from the ground beside, swinging her legs to the ground.
And then she froze.
A noise pierced the silence and the wind. A scream - but not unlike any scream she'd ever heard. It wasn't the scream of a person, not angry, nor in pain, nor distressed. No, it had an animal feel to it, a soulless feel, a scream like a warning. It struck her deep.
Feeling ill, the wisewoman hastily slipped on her dress, wrapping both her shawls tight around her shoulders. When she tried to stand, however, the room swayed. The ship - was moving? No, it was just the ringing in her ears, just her roiling stomach and her wobbling knees. She fell back down to sit on the table. The sky outside was grey, clouds moving in tempo to the throbbing of her heartbeat in her skull. Something was wrong.
Something was wrong.
A storm was coming. Perhaps already here. She didn't know. She just heard the rush of blood like wind, felt the tingling of lightning as the downy feathers on her arms stood upright. Stumbling, the wisewoman pushed - forced - herself to her feet, staggering to the door under burden of ill omen. The sky above foretold the squall. She could feel the rain, though the air was dry. Feel it on the breeze.
A pounding on her door. Emryk entered a second after, without her having to move to touch it - she stared at him with wide eyes.
"Under attack," she echoed back. Was that the cause, then? Certainly not yet. He'd said he'd bring in wounded, as needed, which meant none were wounded yet. She brushed past him, pressing a steadying arm against his shoulder as she moved to the doorway behind him.
"I feel as though my spirit's drifted through a blizzard, Baron Emryk." She shook her head, hair still a tangled mess, feathers flaring. "We have to tell Sinead. Something terrible is coming."
Following the command to fire, Juniper set a fuse alight with the flick of a finger, cannonball firing out with gusto soon after. It missed, on account of the wind or distance or simply just bad luck, but that was no matter. It took only a spark to fire another, they just simply had to wait for a second shot to be loaded. They instead shifted their focus to Beck for the moment between shots, only barely finding the chance to light the arrow before it was loosed, coincidentally following the appearance of Ciaran on board. "A bit of warning, next time, please," the changeling said, before watching the projectile in flight.
It hit, Beck's aim pure. Unfortunately, it bounced off, and fell away, flame snuffed by ice and snow. Juniper, perplexed, wondered how something made of ice could have withstood. Maybe they should put a bit more energy into the next flame, or perhaps even wait until they were closer and unleash a jet of flame directly onto the creature. They looked back to the cannon, finding it still not quite ready to fire once more. Leaning forwards, placing hands on the rails, they watched, fingers tapping impatiently, before freezing as they saw Lucien and Leo both dropped on the beast. They had hardly a moment to watch how that situation unfolded, before seeing Alys in the path of the chimera, and one of their own cannons.
The scene hung for a moment, before Caleb dropped in, sending them both tumbling into the mountainside. Tension released, knowing at least the two of them hadn't been hit. They were survivors, they would be fine. They spared a brief glance to the cannon again, still not ready, before watching as Alys left the mountain, back to them. Thank the gods she was okay, maybe she could keep distance from the thing now. Caleb was still out there, they found, and Leo and Lucien seemed to be mostly unharmed as well to this point.
Waiting like this was agony. Their fingers started up again, nearly tapping a hole in the rail of the ship, waiting for the cannon to be loaded, waiting for Beck to find a way to make her arrows do more, waiting to be closer, waiting for a chance to help. Juniper wanted to burn everything they had at once, all on the chimera, reduce it to a puddle and have them all sail away, but the ship wouldn't get close enough, not with the cold like it was. Besides, Sinead had told them to wait, to conserve unless they saw an opening. They saw three, but none were the type the captain would approve of them using as justification, so they instead waited, watching the fight from afar, so focused on what they would do that if an opportunity were to present itself, they wouldn't even be sure which plan to go with.
Caleb didn’t want Alys to go, but she had to. He didn’t want to be left alone with sore wings in a snowpile, responsible for a statue that could be just as deadly as decorative. He sighed again, thinking of how much better he'd be if he had refused to leave his bed that morning.
Seeing the Chimera, it was obvious why the Truth Teller had been collecting lives to sacrifice for magic. Perhaps the Nox wouldn’t be strong enough to break it, but it was too late to back down now, and he had to trust his own crew. Determined to do that he reminded of Sinead’s orders and ran the other way, where the Totem laid dorment.
It wasn’t as tall as the Chimera, only half its size. The head closest to him resembled an alligator with its mouth barely open, topped by a walrus with teeth that were bigger than his arms, some kind of bird and… He couldn’t tell exactly what the last one was, hidden under a snowpile. Caleb’s first guess was that those were trial heads, scraps that didn’t make it into the final monster, but as he got closer to the alligator’s snout, he saw the same golden threads that he assumed contained whatever magic responsible for bringing the statue to life.
He tried to stay away from the eyes, moving slowly and carefully not to trigger a reaction from the creature. He searched for scratches, cracks, anything that’d give any indication that the thing could be injured. Perhaps if he managed to break one of the Walrus’ teeth it could be a good enough weapon to try and strike the chimera with, more dense than any of their swords. With that idea in mind, Caleb slowly climbed over the Alligator’s snout, prepared to fly away at any sudden movement.
***
Chimera was getting tired of getting hit by cannonballs. Some of them scratched its polished surface, but none caused any sort of substantial damage. What it did accomplish was turn all the heads towards the ship, ignoring the bugs on top of it as the Chimera ran forward towards the Hard Nox, goat head down to hit it with its horns, and lion’s mouth wide open to bite at its banisters.
***
“It’s coming at us.” Beck thought out loud, suddenly panicking as the threat got more and more real. Her arrow had been useless, and so had been Juniper’s cannons from what it looked like. “What do we do now? Can’t you set it on fire or something?” She asked the pyromancer, trying and failing to come up with an idea of her own.
The lion head roared after Alys, its downward turn, though brief, giving chance for Leo to let loose a barrage of unbridled strikes with his sword. Each blow rang through him as it reverberated through the hilt of the half-forged weapon without marring the smooth surface of the sculpted creature’s brow. Leo growled deep in the back of his throat as flame roared to life. It had been weeks since he truly let it burn, and the fire drove him into a fury.
The sound of his blade rang out in staccato strikes rapid as a snake, one after the other as the mammoth head whipped around and he flew through the air. His focus was solely on the glossy surface beneath him, rope forgotten and released as he sailed into the air perpendicular to the lion’s mane. Though his blows did nothing to distract the monster he rained them down with bell like ringing and singleminded focus. His feet slid through the channel of smooth crystal as he landed, frustration coloring his features through clenched jaw and tense shoulders.
His eyes scanned over the rest of the body, the black speck that was Lucien at portion of the beast that was already weakened and cracked. He didn’t seem to be having any more luck than Leo, their attempts to bring the monster down barely inciting annoyance as their ship rained cannon fire that left barely a scratch. Leo spat as the beast lunged after the Hard Nox, the blows from the ship at least damaging enough to draw the beast’s ire.
He started running; the chimera’s head slick but his steps carrying him forward against the occasional loss of traction. He reached the edge of its head, open air and rocky slopes below as Leo pushed past the split second trepidation one always finds at the end of a cliff. The knot was finished in midair, tied around his weapon just as he had done to loop around the lion’s ear. This time he threw his blade like a spear, straight between the open mouth of the lion as it snapped at the ship…
And between two of the man-sized teeth. His weight snapped at the end of the rope, the motion of the massive sculptured guardian propelling him forward in a pendulum swing that ended in a fraction of a second of weightlessness right in front of the beast’s nose. Leo’s hands were furious blurs as he wound the rope’s length around his wrist and jerked himself along it’s path just as gravity claimed his weight.
His frantic pull shifted his fall into an angle, just past those razor sharp teeth as they snapped shut and sliding with tightly closed eyes unceremoniously on his rear over the slick surface of the tongue. Thank goodness it wasn’t textured like a real lion’s. Leo’s rope snapped and a soft ringing filled the cavern of the mouth as his weapon fell free from the where it had been caught horizontally between two of the razor sharp fangs. The light twisted inside of the creature’s mouth, bright and shattering motes that at once dazzled and blinded Leo. He snatched his sword with a few attempts, and blinked away the worst of it before turning to the back of the throat, balance carefully kept with his feet set widely apart so he could absorbe the shifts of the lion’s momentum.
”Right, back to the original plan.” Leo mustered his courage and jumped, sliding on his stomach down the diamond chimera’s throat.
The snow rumbled, uncovering a set of various heads, glinting like glass against the snow. The chimera was in motion again, leaping and bounding, shaking the mountains. Another tiresome display, but the chimera had never been one for patience. Atop the snout of a crocodile head, a foot touched lightly, subtle touches along the tusk of another head as the creature moved upwards. Perhaps in another era it would have been like this, with small snowy children climbing atop each giant head. A touch here, a grasp there.
Perhaps in another place. But this was not there, this was the guarded place, and while the chimera's boundless enthusiasm could almost certainly take care of all intruders on its own, it would not do to let a little thing like this slip by unaccounted for. There was a stirring of snow, as if by a magnificent sigh, or set of sighs, breath exhaled from four sets of nostrils. The top head did not have nostrils, of course, but it shifted slightly, an icicle creak echoing on the winds as a pair of mandibles the length of the climber's arms shifted and clacked together, the entire stack twisting in an attempt to catch the wayward climber between those sharpened appendages.
That was an answer of sorts, and one Nessa didn’t respond to. There really wasn’t much that could be done with the information beyond tuck it away for later, and hope that later stayed well away. It seemed, however, that she didn’t catch the fairy in question’s eye as a volley of cannonballs stole away everyone’s attention. They bounced with distant cracks off the glittering body of the great beast, finding softer purchase in the stone and snow below.
“Goddess be,” Nessa muttered as the cannonballs failed to do the trick. The sight of Alys approaching was enough to pull her attention from the beast, even as it turned its gaze to the ship. She moved to the fairy’s side on Sinéad’s word, though it didn’t seem that Alys was looking for support.
“We’ll head to the clinic, if Emryk is there we’ll send him back your way.” Nessa said, looping an arm through Alys’s and hurrying down to the deck. It was hectic, but easy enough to move through the flow of bodies as they went about their work. She caught sight of Emer through the clinic’s open door, and Emryk behind. Nessa lifted a hand calling a quick greeting as they approached.
“Emryk, ah hello Emer." Nessa said, slipping free of Alys and heading for the clinic’s door. “Sinead needs you, she needs to know how to break diamond.”
Go have Emer give you some tea or something, before you fly again.
Had she just been ordered to have tea with Emer, whilst in the midst of an attack? Did she truly look that unwell? Granted, tea sounded fantastic... but it was the principle of the matter. She'd said she'd be right back.
Alys started to open her mouth to protest when Nessa linked their arms together, somehow managing to drag the faerie along with ease. Of course, Nessa was a vampire, one with inhuman strength, but she certainly didn't look it. They wove through the chaos, Alys just barely getting a glimpse of the charging creature before the clinic door swung open to obstruct her view.
They were fucked.
As Nessa released her and relayed Sinead's command to Emryk, the fae turned to Emer. "Do you have anything for muscle weakness? Or energy? I need to get Nessa up there."
Diamond trembled beneath his feet, and Caleb bent his knees to keep his balance as the creature sighed. He pulled out his sword, rushing to the walrus' left tooth at the same time something attempted to strike him from above. He didn't see what it was, and out of pure instinct held onto the tooth and hid behind it, avoiding the pair of mandibles that tried to pluck his head off.
With his wings brusing over the totem's neck, Caleb worried his immediate response had been a stupid one. He held tightly to the tooth and tried to pull it down with his eye still up, staring at the top head's compound eyes.