The gray stuffiness of Pandemonium scattered into bright light and frosty air. A strange lightness filled the sorcerer's entire body. His stomach tightened into a hard knot, and the solid emptiness struck his face, roughly gripping his chin and nose.
Amon inhaled, forcing oxygen into his powerful lungs. For a moment, he closed his eyes, letting them adjust to the sharp change in lighting, then suddenly opened them and looked down. Far below, he saw yellow sands, the uneven edge of the coastline, and the endless blue sea. To the east, a green current snaked, sinking narrow fangs into the crescent-shaped unknown bay.
Amon cast a glance sideways at the uncertain gray cocoon that bound his body, then looked back down at the land, which was expanding with alarming speed.
'She tricked me!' flashed through the space marine's mind. 'She broke the contract! It's too high here!'
In that instant, the cocoon released tendrils with flexible clouds at their ends. Above his head, a wide, ghostly dome unfolded, like a prehistoric gravity module. Amon was jerked sideways, then pulled upward; the gray threads rang out, biting painfully into his bare skin.
The fall slowed. But before the sorcerer could catch his breath, a powerful gust of wind swept from the west, carrying the space marine toward the east, toward the sea.
Amon gripped the tendrils tightly, trying to steer the wild creation of Fallen Goddess toward the shore. Useless. The cocoon continued to fall. The water rapidly approached. The distant ripples turned into towering waves, and the land finally disappeared from sight. Cursing the mindless demon, the sorcerer took a deep breath, held it, and braced himself.
His feet struck the water; the sea exploded in a cloud of angry splashes, then, softening, accepted him into its embrace.
A few seconds later, Amon surfaced. He looked westward, toward the land, but saw nothing but water.
"Mindless demoness," Amon cursed, spitting and struggling against the high waves. "May the Grey Knights send Nemesis your way... may the Ordo Malleus..."
The sorcerer angrily shook his head with wet hair, lay on his stomach, and, conserving his strength, began to swim toward the shore.
***
POV Bloody Karmo
Bloody Karmo cursed the day he set sail. What had he done wrong? The ship had departed on Thursday, not Friday, the day considered unlucky. No one had stepped aboard with their left foot. Throughout the voyage, no one had trimmed their hair or nails.
And yet, there was no prize – the ship had been aimlessly drifting across the sea, like a wolf wandering through a winter forest, yet finding no suitable prey. Sometimes, the ship encountered the carracks of the Justice Empire, but such an opponent was out of their league. The ship had only twenty-five pirates aboard, while a carrack boasted no fewer than a hundred soldiers, not counting the crew.
The pirates were running out of food and fresh water. In the end, Karmo was forced to steer the ship toward Al-Gord, the largest pirate nest in the Southern Seas.
The mutterings behind the captain grew louder. The pirates fervently believed in fortune, and as everyone knew, once fortune abandoned you, you could never win it back.
"The captain's lost the wind," the sailors whispered. "He might lose his head. And we'll go with him. Or we'll sink to the bottom, with the mermaids and the scyllas."
Karmo gritted his teeth in impotent rage but didn't dare hang the gossipers. It could provoke a mutiny, which would mean certain death for him.
'If only I can make it to shore,' Karmo thought gloomily. 'Then I'll figure out what to do next.'
The ship was not far from the Emerald Current, a sea area with green water, where the winds favored paths to Al-Gord, when luck finally smiled on the captain. At dawn, the lookout spotted the outlines of sails on the horizon.
"A heavy barque!" shouted a pirate from the crow's nest.
One of the sailors rushed to the captain's cabin, banging on the door with his fists.
"Captain! Captain! Ship!"
Sleepy Karmo dashed out of his cabin, half-dressed and with a spyglass in hand. He climbed to the deck and aimed it at the silhouette of the ship, vanishing in the distant haze, then grinned.
"Trading ship under the Imperial flag!"
Karmo quickly returned to his cabin and threw on his coat. By the time the captain emerged, the entire crew was eagerly awaiting his orders.
"Hurry, lads! There it is – our prize!" Karmo yelled, urging the men forward. "Sails to the wind!"
He personally took the helm, giving orders laced with curses and swearwords.
Three hours later, they had drawn close enough to the merchant ship that they could make out people on its deck. They were noticed too – the barque raised all its sails, trying to outrun the pirates, but the merchant ship could not match Karmo's ship for speed. The distance was closing with every minute. The pirates not on watch were chatting excitedly, anticipating the coming fun, sharpening their blades.
"Damnation!" the captain cursed. Through the spyglass, he spotted a second ship. In the distance, a carrack was approaching, but the heavy ship didn't have the speed or maneuverability to cover the merchant vessel. Apparently, the ships had been sailing together, but at some point, the barque lost the wind and fell behind its protector.
"Hurry up, mamono's spawn! We won't have much time!" Karmo shouted. In truth, the captain was calm. His experience told him that the slow-moving carrack wouldn't stop the pirates from boarding the ship and making a swift getaway. Now it all depended on the resistance of the merchant barque's crew and the volume of goods it was carrying.
***
The pirate ship approached the merchant vessel from the side. Karmo swiftly turned the wheel, guiding the ship onto a parallel course. With wild yells, the pirates began to unwind ropes, and boarding hooks flew toward the barque. Three of them caught onto the wooden hull and the edges of the deck.
"Get on, lads!" the captain shouted in an unrecognizable voice, waving his saber.
The pirates pulled on the ropes, bringing the ships together with a few coordinated movements before lowering the sails. Arrows whistled overhead, but the cutthroats quickly threw grappling hooks upwards and climbed the ropes in an instant.
Bloody Karmo was one of the last to board the barque. He didn't intend to risk his life unnecessarily, leaving that to his desperate crew.
Around him, a fierce battle was already raging. The pirates fell upon the few soldiers like starving wolves on prey, venting their long-suppressed anger on the enemies. The soldiers fought for their lives, knowing there was nowhere to retreat. But despite their bravery, the cutthroats soon pushed them back toward the stern of the ship.
The captain scanned the battlefield. Wounded and dying bodies lay everywhere, groaning from their heavy injuries. There were also plenty of silent corpses – those who hadn't been lucky enough to take the first blow. The last remaining soldiers had gathered at the stern of the ship.
Led by an officer clad in richly adorned armor, they fought desperately to hold off the pirates' attacks. In turn, the cutthroats eased their pressure. Five pirates had already lost their heads, and now that the barque was practically in their hands, with the prize so close, no one was eager to give up their life.
"Hold back, lads!" Karmo shouted, and the cutthroats pulled away from the soldiers, keeping their blades raised.
"I'm giving you a last chance to surrender, soldier," the captain said, lazily waving his saber.
"Never, you filthy bastard!" gasped the officer, after the furious skirmish. "Never, do you hear? Never will the warriors of the Empire disgrace themselves like this!"
"We'll see," Karmo replied calmly. He was preparing to employ a well-tested tactic. "Hey, boys! Bring the prisoners over here, quicker! There's always ballast on a merchant ship!"
The soldiers made a move forward, but the pirates met them with a wall of blades, and the imperial warriors had no choice but to retreat.
Soon, Karmo's eyes rested on five men and one mamono girl.
"Cheshire Cat," Karmo instantly identified her. He walked along the row of kneeling hostages and announced loudly:
"If you surrender, I'll spare their lives. And yours too. If not, I'll start killing them one by one."
Karmo noticed the officer's wavering confidence. The soldier's hesitation convinced him that his tactic was working. The captain sheathed his boarding saber and unsheathed a dagger. He approached the Cheshire Cat and roughly grabbed her by the ear. The girl let out a pitiful meow, and her tail thrashed across the deck.
"Unfair, may the kraken devour me, that these sluts have such faces and bodies! They disturb decent people, robbing our women of peace," Karmo declared, amidst the laughter of his cutthroats. "And I love justice! Oh, how I love justice, don't I, lads?! Let's make her at least a little more human!"
He swung the dagger mercilessly and severed the mamono's ear. The girl screamed in pain. Blood flowed down her long hair, dripping onto her cheek. The mamono began to sob, hiding her face in her paws.
"Bastard!" the officer screamed, almost charging at him.
"Easy there, easy, boy," the captain held the ear above his head, showing it to everyone. "What's next, huh? Yeah, the tail! Our women don't have tails, so she won't either!"
Upon hearing his words, the cat went into hysteria.
"Please! Don't!" the mamono cried, jerking her tail from side to side.
Karmo grinned maliciously.
"It's all this wicked soldier's fault, darling. He won't negotiate with me. And as long as he doesn't agree, I'll keep cutting pieces off you, little by little. You're lucky: if my dagger were just a little blunter…"
The captain burst out laughing.
"Stop," the officer interrupted him. He glanced back at the soldiers standing behind him and said gruffly, "We surrender."
One by one, the soldiers dropped their weapons, but the pirates didn't lower their swords and sabers. They knew perfectly well what would happen next.
"Oh, you should've surrendered right away. But now I'm not in the mood," Karmo sighed with feigned sadness. He withdrew his dagger and thrust it sharply into Cheshire Cat's heart. The mamono let out a short gasp and collapsed to the side. "Hack them up, boys! Hack them!"
With merry laughter, the pirates pounced on the defenseless soldiers and prisoners. Within moments, it was all over.