The beast shrieked as the ice melted away, a cruelly satisfied grin finding it's way to Juniper's face as they passed over it's heads, towards Lucien. They turned their attention to the vampire, ending the output of fire as they shifted their focus to not crashing into the mountain below. Thankfully, it seemed like he had heard their cry, and was at least offering an arm to catch. The sorceress's own hand reached out as they approached, ignoring the snake head as it seemingly fell away, instead keeping their eyes on the navigator.
Their hands met, their momentum carrying Juniper past Lucien for a moment, but his grip held, meaning theirs did as well. Their shoulder, hell their whole arm screamed in protest, but it was better to be down an arm than a life. Boots skidded along the hard surface of the chimera's body as they held tightly, only by the grace of Lucien's unnatural strength not flying off the edge and to certain death. Had the circumstances been different, the changeling would have spared a moment to thank him, but there were more important matters, such as the monstrosity trying to shake them loose, almost bucking.
Juniper clutched Lucien's arm out of necessity, hoping for him to help them stabilize just as they had done for Beck, before looking up to the Nox above. "Emryk! NOW!"
If Juniper had looked to Emryk as she shouted, he would not have seen it. The Baron's eyes were closed, sleeves rolled and muscles tensed as he held fast upon the capstan and braced a foot against a nearby pillar, holding back the weight of the suspended anchor as he released the mechanism to hold it in place and held it there to drop at the right moment. Reeling it down by hand would take too long, and it would fail to convert the anchor's suspension into force of any merit; it would need to be dropped, fast, and that would only be through dropping the slackened line all at once. And so he stood, grunting as his teeth ground down into his gums and his eyes clenched and his body screamed for a respite he could not offer; slowly, the battle around him quieted to a dull whine as his claws dug into the turnstile of the captstan, threatening to tear from his fingers at any given moment.
Until he heard Juniper's cry.
"RRGH-- H-HRRNGH!"
With a final grunt, he released his grip and sent his other foot crashing into the arm of the capstan, boot driving into the wood with enough force to crack the arm and provide an extra bout of momentum to the anchor's release. With a clattering crash of the capstan's chain and a buzzing whine of the rope that tied upon the anchor, the behemoth of iron fell...
... careening with a gathering velocity that sought to batter and crash into the chimaera beneath with tonnes of force brought forth by the Hard Nox.
“Ah—!” Nessa rolled as she hit the ground, the heavy snow helping to cushion the fall though it wasn’t a long one. The young vampire was quick to bounce back to her feet, her handful of whiskers held up and ready for the next strike by the totem as she squinted against the kicked up flurry of snow and ice. Nessa bared her fangs at leg as it pulled back, raising the diamond whiskers up like a sword. Alys too was soon back on her feet, shivering with the chill of snow and no doubt that same wariness that Sinéad had wanted her to drink some tea to alleviate. That didn’t matter, the past was unmoving and it wasn’t as if they had time for that to start with.
Alys held her hand out, and Nessa drew a pair of whiskers from her bundle. Both were a little shorter than the others in her hand, though with edges that glittered wickedly. They would be lighter as weapons, something Alys’s arms would no doubt appreciate.
“Aye, anywhere that looks scratched already should be weak, and if you break off a big chunk get it to me.” Nessa said, her amber eyes sharp. ”Once we slow it, we can then figure out what parts we really need to break to make it stop.” She turned her gaze back to the totem, watching to see what it planned to do next,
“Can you still carry two, or do I need to find my own way up?” Nessa asked, squeezing what remained of the bundle tight.
//... into the dark she stepped, but never did she feel free of the gaze...//
Chimera couldn't feel, or see, or hear, or think. It could only react and protect, that's what it had been built for over 800 years ago.
The potion that had once filled its veins trailed down the mountain and one by one, it started losing control of its heads. Goat was first, then eagle until there was only lion left. At a final, desperate attempt of an attack, Chimera jumped towards the hull of the Hard Nox, feline mouth open to greet the object falling off of it that crashed through its jaw, spreading shards of diamond like giant confetti, shimmering under sunlight.
The Chimera's body fell to the ground, cracking from the impact, but not fully. A slaughtered construct of an animal, with a rope tied to an anchor crossing through one of its throats.
Perhaps fortunately for Caleb, whatever drove the totem-centipede was not particularly fluent in rude gestures. This no doubt spared him their ire, but the thrown snowball was unmistakable. It hit the diamond outer shell and went
paff.
As attacks went, this was not particularly inspiring. Indeed, for a moment it seemed as if the creatures were not entirely certain how to respond to this - whether it should be taken seriously or ignored. The other two were stumbling about in the snow, scrabbling about to avoid the leg that could have impaled them.
Well. One of them was wingless, and the other was trembling. They could come back to those creatures later. The first one, the arrogant one, it strove to fly away, and that was not permitted. The spiky legs drove into the frozen ground, one after another, moving with sinuous and surprising speed. The distance closed, and the tail whipped out once more, this time more carefully away from the totem-centipede itself.
They would not care to lose more glistening whiskers. Their beauty was perfection, now marred. And to think - they had gloated over the chimera's broken wing, and now they had lost whiskers. An unkind day.
More bodies in the empty pit would make it better.
The wisewoman shuffled near the captain, piles of shawls drawn over a hastily put-on dress, feathery hair wild and thin in the frigid wind. Her eyes - deep with concern - scanned the sky above and below, passing over the shattered remnants of the winged monstrosity and its awakening cousin with a moment's hesitation. They were in a fight with - something. Was that the source, then? But the feeling was impending. Whatever was to pass had not yet.
She hoped.
Or was it worse, then? Was it?
"Sinead, there is a storm coming," she whispered through chattering teeth, voice nearly stolen by the wind. She placed a hand on the captain's arm - expression deathly serious. "I feel it. I feel - ill. It's as with Fen Manor, but worse. I fear an omen. You know I speak only truth to you, please, heed this, something terrible is on he horizon. I do not know if it has to do with - those things - or something more."
Wan in face, cheeks pale white, Emer shook her head.
Even if they were in good shape, Caleb wouldn't have been able to match its speed. His wings failed him about five meters ahead of the crevasse and the quartermaster's feet touched the ground, with snow covering his legs up to his knees. Running would be just as useless.
He turned around and glanced up, at the sharp edge of the scorpion's tail. He bent his knees, waiting for it to strike before jumping up to try and get a hold of it, slamming his sword against the joint that connected the sting to the tail. He did it again and again, for as long as he could hold onto it without being shaken away.
Under different circumstances, Alys might've admired the pointed diamonds for a longer period of time, hands glazing over the ice cold smoothness that was worth a considerable sum. But the adrenaline that pumped through her veins, the skittering of the monstrosity away from them, towards Caleb and the chasm, the chaos around her - well, there was still work to be done. Glancing towards Nessa, the fairy shook her head. "Don't tell me you've forgotten how to climb," Alys replied in a low tone, gaze flickering back towards the totem. She'd seen the way the vampire climbed, even back in Fen Manor; quick and agile - surely she hadn't forgotten how.
In truth, she was exhausted. Perhaps her wings would be able to carry them higher, but then she'd have no escape plan. And running in several feet of snow simply wasn't effective, as proven by the figure ahead. Without another word, Alys launched herself forward, partially using her momentum and the slightest flicker of her wings to land on one of the lower heads; the head of the bear. The grooves of fur allowed her to get her footing and she climbed the back of it, towards the joint where a leg protruded from the side. Now that she was closer, she could see the wear and tear, the vulnerability. Willing her shaking arm to raise, she slammed the pointed edge down.
Juniper had made their jump towards the monster, landing beside him atop the chimera and grabbing onto his arm. It was likely a better option than the abyss, though some would have considered this debatable. Meanwhile, the ex-baron had annexed the capstan, readying the anchor while Sinéad wrenched the ship itself into position. It seemed like not enough time at all - and yet, an eternity - before their position was considered good enough and the weight of the anchor dropped with sudden swiftness to land upon the body of the beast.
Not Lucien, this time.
The glittering diamond chimera swallowed the bitter pill that was prepared to it, crashing to the ground below in a sea of shards - each one a fortune, if only they could survive long enough to bring it back. The Nox remained tethered to the corpse by the anchor - they'd have to cut it loose or smash enough of the beast to carry away what remained, if they were to move the ship again. Sinéad looked back, over her shoulder, where the second creature reared its ugly heads.
Caleb would just have to handle it, wouldn't he?
...She really did ask too much of him.
And if Sinéad had thought that she'd have a moment to breathe, Emer's worried whisper took it away. Sinéad checked the compass at her belt, but it seemed to have fixated upon the diamond beasts and they'd drawn close - hardly any indication there.
On the other hand, did she really need one? No... she knew. Once more, she looked back to Caleb, tangling with the creature that could well mean the death of him. Half of her wanted to go over there to him, though she was undecided whether it would be to aid him or backhand him into the cliffside. The second wouldn't do either of them any good, though, at this point - and the first wasn't plausible at this distance.
"Ah, Caleb..." A whisper, the wind would lose it, as it had lost so many things over the years. Sinéad shook her head. One way or another, they'd need a crew. She closed the ship in a little further on the body of the chimera, bringing it down.
"Let's get our people back." A steady command, not at all belied by her hand descending on Emer's shoulder, barely felt through layers of shawls and wraps. There was little to say that she was willing to say and hadn't already. "Keep them, Emer. I imagine you'll have work to do, soon."
“Hah,” Nessa rolled her eyes as the short laugh slipped through her lips, that was an answer enough from Alys. “Fly safe now.” The vampire said, her attention already on the totem as she attempted to figure out which set of legs would be the easiest. The spider’s perhaps? Plenty of moving parts there. With that set in mind Nessa turned to gaze to find Caleb, which was easy enough, she just needed to find the scorpion’s tail and there he was dangling off of it.
The vampire slid one of the longer, sharper whiskers into her right hand as she tramped down some of the deep snow around her feet with the heel of her boot, just enough space to make her footing solid. She found where the whisker balanced, and held it up like a javelin as she turned her torso back. She drew in a breath of crisp frozen air before she released a warning shout.
“Caleb! On your right!” She aimed for the joint, where with hope the diamond would be thin enough for the makeshift missile to puncture and stick. It was a moving target, a bit unpredictable but she chose a point it seemed likely the tail would shift to and before she gave herself a moment to rethink the whole endeavor she pivoted hard on her left leg as her torso turned. The smooth diamond spear escaped her grasp, sparkling in the light as it shot off. Nessa didn’t watch it go, if she missed there was little else she could do and there were more pressing matters to attend to.
Nessa turned to face the spider, and dashed forward as fast as the snow would allow.
//... into the dark she stepped, but never did she feel free of the gaze...//
Rather than being pierced by the scorpion's glittering tail, the fae had caught on to it, holding fast and striking at it again and again with his sword. Being made of only metal, this hammering did little to the sparkling diamond other than to dull and chip away at the blade. At the pointed tip of the scorpion's tail, a single drop of golden liquid grew, somehow threateningly.
Below, another had clambered up onto the bear's head, which growled in response to the indignity, baring its own well-wrought diamond teeth. The woman hammered down - not with steel this time, but with a spike made of what had once been glorious whiskers, forcing its spindly way into the leg joint. The leg twitched, either a spasm or a mark of displeasure, and the bear's teeth snapped together sharply, though weren't likely to be facing in the right direction unless the woman slipped.
And above, something sharp drove its way into the joint just below the stinger, lodging itself there and quivering between the segments. The drop of golden liquid fell, splashing down - perhaps on the man, if he didn't get out of the way, or perhaps only on the ground. Either way, it landed with a hiss. The creatures shifted themselves, bringing the tail down towards the head of the bear, intent on smashing the two errant pests together between its diamond segments.
The spike met the mark, causing the smallest wave of twitches to run through the joint and attached leg. Coupled with the sound of snapping teeth and a low growl, Alys couldn't help but smile. Despite the exhaustion, that addictive feeling of being drowned in adrenaline was magnified by the knowledge that something was finally working. That damage could be inflicted, that she could hold some sort of power over the construct, or at the very least, over this section. "Oh, you don't like that?" She whispered, almost taunting the creature.
The fairy twisted the whisker, digging down a little further, careful not to apply too much tension to the sides so that her expensive weapon snapped. When it wouldn't go any deeper, Alys pulled it out and quickly adjusted her footing, her other hand gripping a groove that mimicked fur. And again, she drove it down, aiming for the very same joint. Then, carefully, she raised a leg and pressed the sole of her boot onto the thin leg, the leg of an insect. Perhaps with enough pressure, inside and outside the joint, she could bend it into an unnatural position.
She hung on that way, gritting her teeth and pressing, when out of her periphery, the tail began to approach once more.
Caleb had a hunch that his sword wouldn't do anything, but it was the only tool he had at hand. After causing absolutely no damage to the creature he gave up, right in time to hear Nessa calling out his name.
It was out of luck that the long diamond needle didn't stab him in the back and instead got stuck on the totem-centipede's tail, causing a single drop of the sparkling liquid to fall onto his shoulder. Caleb put his sword back on the scabbard attached to his waist and reached up, yanking the whisker out violently in an attempt to increase the hole Nessa had made. He was about to strike it again when the sting chose another target, attached to one of its heads. The fairy let go of it before it could strike, grabbing Alys by the waist to pull her away from the stinger.
***
They were close to reaching the golden tube that extended all throughout the chimera's tail, but before they could the ground beneath them moved at the same time the statue jumped up to reach the Nox. Beck closed her eyes and lifted her arms up to protect her face, the left side of her body bumping against the insides of the creature's cristaline ass. The archer could barely keep up with what was going on but she heard a crash, and floated once again when gravity pulled chimera's body back to the ground.
She stood there for a moment, curled up in a ball waiting for something else to happen, but it didn't. Her brown eyes opened warily, as if worried about what she'd find, but to her surprise the creature who had swallowed her appeared to be dead for good, with streams of gold spreading out of its body. A wide smile grew on her lips.
"Leo, we're alive!" She said cheerly, crawling over to where the man had fallen.
The vampire’s hand wrapped around Juniper’s arm and held them fast. His grip did not lessen as they stabilized, their spectacular display of pyromancy melting the frigid clots the clogged its veins, letting the beast’s golden blood flow freely. Unlike the veins that Lucien was used to, there seemed to be no heart that kept pumping the gilded liquid, it merely ran dry, the downpour reduced to a trickle as Juniper yelled up to Emryk. Lucien raised an eyebrow as his gaze returned to the ship, wondering what plan had been hatched that allowed the Al-Ashtavakh to assist from such a comfortable position.
His question was answered shortly as several tonnes of iron and chain hurtled towards them. Lucien ensured his grip on Juniper was steadfast as he turned to them, briefly.
“If you let go, you will die.”
With no explanation forthcoming, Lucien waited for the moment, his predatory gaze tracking the anchor, as well as the chain trailing behind it. He let the shard of diamond fall and pushed off the chimera as hard as he could, leaping towards the dull iron chain. His fingers wrapped around it and he held fast, riding out the impact as it was pulled taut, punching through the chimera, sending it crashing to the ravine below.
Lucien hung there, suspended for a moment, one hand wrapped around the anchor chain’s iron links, the other holding tightly to Juniper’s arms. As the dancing light of the chimera’s corpse ceased its burning, Lucien put his legs to the chain, using them to hold himself in place as he reached higher with his free hand, beginning his ascent to the ship. Juniper remained dangling, their only sense of security found within Lucien’s iron grasp, the only thing keeping them from joining the chimera, albeit a ruined one that held no beauty in its death.
Perhaps Lucien was simply being practical. Or perhaps it was his own version of admonishment, a reprimand for running to Emer and clutching at her skirts whenever they felt the slightest discomfort about their role in piracy. Or perhaps it was neither.
A dreadful regret spread through Juniper when Lucien returned their gesture, a clawed hand wrapping around their arm to hold them steady. It was appreciated, but something about being trapped in close quarters with one such as him set them on edge, something they would have anticipated if the chimera hadn't been such a pressing issue.
Their eyes only left the Nox in order to follow the anchor during it's fall. Just as it was released, the monster they stood atop rose to meet it. The navigator spoke to them, a warning or even a threat, prompting them to grasp ever tighter, if such a thing were possible. Just as the anchor approached the beast, Lucien jumped, bringing the changeling along in tow, the two of them flying through the air and towards the chain. They found theirself in awe of the feat, though it was soon replaced by dread. If they let go, they would die. They were at his mercy.
Legs dangling in the air, they looked down in time to see the impact. Steel met diamond in a violent crash, the sound like shattering glass but angrier, more reluctant, the stone unhappy at being forced to take new shapes. The anchor caught between the lions jaws, shattering them and reversing course for the chimera, sending it back to the earth in a deafening chorus. It broke through the rest of the statue, now lifeless, dropping to the mountaintop below, the creature slumping over the top of it, laying against the chain and holding the anchor down.
"Holy shit..." they said, nearly out of breath as the adrenaline faded. It was replaced by throbbing pain, in their hip and shoulder, a dull ache spreading thoughout as they held on to the vampire, seeing as their life well and truly depended on it. He began to climb, and the sorceress prayed silently to whatever would listen that their grip didn't give out before the pair made it to the deck, followed soon by frustration at their lack of upper body strength.