OOM All Skate Skellig Dream Magic Weirdness -Part Nine

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu has gathered plenty of henna and even woad, a blue dye, for some experiments with designs on Skellig's skin.

"The blue would look lovely on you, I think," she remarks. "Your fairer skin would show it off quite well. Though I am far more experienced in applying henna."

She's gathered bits and pieces of designs to look at for inspiration. Celtic style knots, viking style abstract patterns and stylized beasts, the mandala and floral type designs he's admired on her, and more.

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[brave_kreyu]

"An excellent idea, Skellig," she replies.

Once he has taken his leave, she shifts into her giant eagle shape, moves to swoop down toward the rigging of the ship.

The concealment spell breaks as she dives down toward the rigging, and there are shouts of panic at the sight of such a fearsome beast! The first sailor in the rigging that she hits with her talons is dead before his body hits the water, all according to plan.

But she has not accounted for ALL possibilities. Bows are difficult to maintain on a ship, but slings are far easier to keep in working order. She sees the man on the deck with a sling let loose what she thinks is a stone or a clay pellet, knows from experience that such a missile against the large muscles over her thick keel bone won't do more than bruise.

The large clay sphere hits her square in the chest, shatters, spilling Greek Fire all over her chest and flammable feathers. She shrieks in pain, in fear, lands awkwardly on the deck of the ship as she tries to pull off the burning feathers with the strange substance, get the fire to go out before it spreads! Other men on the deck advance toward her with weapons drawn. They don't even NEED to hit her, just keep her distracted enough defending herself that the fire has a chance to spread.

[27_53]

That is also a possibility that Skellig had not considered, but the moment she is struck by the sphere - and then catches on fire - his 'considerations' shift instantly and he tucks one wing into his body to spiral downwards in a tight dive - aimed directly at the sphere-thrower. The rest of them advancing closer to her with weapons drawn can wait - he needs to get this one out of the equation.

(Oh, how he would WANT to make this torment linger, want to make this one pay for causing Kreyu to shriek in pain and panic; the emotions that surge up in his soul are DARK and full of shadow. But he does not have time for that, he can hear other crew below deck as the alarm is being sounded that they are under attack!)

His dive is a bit too fast to land comfortably on the deck. But that does not matter as Skellig uses the offending sphere-thrower as a landing pad - he's mindful (just barely) of the pouch with other spheres at the man's side, not wanting to break them open as he literally tackles the guy into the ship's deck boards, snapping bones and crushing internal organs beneath the force of the impact as he hits the deck HARD, driving them BOTH flat into it without hesitation.

[brave_kreyu]

The sphere thrower is dying or dead already by the time Skellig starts to get to his feet. (It might be a good idea to grab that pouch with the spheres in case anyone ELSE gets any bright ideas.)

Kreyu is pulling out feathers with her beak, her talons, trying to get that stuff OFF! She feels so very vulnerable, helpless, and it HURTS.

One of the men approaching her is bolder than the others, takes a swing at her with a long pole and hits a wing. The bright spike of PAIN from the blow spurs her to lash out at the man, but she misses. He laughs when she misses hitting him, either from being adrenaline drunk from the situation or from actually finding her pain amusing.

[27_53]

It is a good thing that they are all focused on her at the moment, because it gives Skellig the opportunity to pick himself up off of the deck, grab the bag with the spheres in it - he is tempted, oh so tempted to take one into his hand and smash it over the skull of the one who just struck her wing (her beautiful wing! her lovely feathers!) and set him on fire. But there are people beneath the boards of this ship, and he knows if it burns they won't be able to put it out in time to save the captives.

So instead, the one with the pole earns a snapped neck for his 'efforts', body dropping to the deck with a loud thud - loud enough to distract the other crew members that there is a second winged-creature on board their ship.

This one is smaller in stature than the eagle, so a few of them shift their attention, come at him with their weapons! Skellig still wants to get to her, wants to get that fire out, but first he needs to deal with a few of these men!

[brave_kreyu]

Several of the men freeze at the sight of him for a moment, partly fear, partly wondering just what kind of sexual dimorphism could POSSIBLY be at work here!

Kreyu has pulled off MOST of the burning feathers, though she's given herself minor burns in her mouth and on her feet from her efforts. She knocks one man over with her uninjured wing, then steps on his neck with one set of talons.

One man with a club charges at Skellig with a loud battle cry, the other lags a bit behind his 'friend' with a knife in his hands.

[27_53]

Skellig has widened his field of 'vision' just slightly to include both the men coming at him, as well as Kreyu, and the others that are trying to fight her. She seems to have dealt with most of the burning feathers (he will deal with her burns later) and that danger has lessened; this one in front of him with the club is at the forefront of his priority list.

He ducks the club (easily) and attempts to wrestle it from the man's hands - this distracts him long enough for the one with the knife to slip around the back side of him. When the one with the knife springs and leaps in close to strike, Skellig quickly spins his body and uses the 'friend' as a shield, the knife sliding between the muscles and spine. THAT cry is not a battle cry, but a cry of pain - and Skellig feels no guilt for that, as his hand was not the one holding the blade!

[brave_kreyu]

Her clever love! That wound will quickly be fatal. The stabbed man staggers, goes down, but the blade of the knife is stuck in his body, leaving the one who stabbed him weaponless.

Kreyu gets the last of the burning feathers off, shrieks in rage and triumph! The wing that was hit HURTS, but she doesn't think anything is broken. Even a normal sized eagle can do quite a number on a human, Kreyu's attacks are even WORSE. It's going to get rather messy in a moment.....

[27_53]

Now that the man has no blade, Skellig does not feel quite so bad about hauling back and slugging him square in the jaw bare-handed (he holds back his talons for now), knocking the man out cold and dropping him to the deck next to his 'friend'. This leaves him free - for the moment - to turn quick back to glance at Kreyu, who thankfully is no longer on fire, though there are feathers of hers scattered across the deck of the ship, burnt and smoldering...

And her eyes are focused sharply on her next target, another group of men who are coming up from below deck.

Skellig is rapidly scanning their weapons - looking for more of those damned spheres of fire - and closes the distance between him and Kreyu faster than should truly be possible.

"I grabbed the rest of his spheres," he touches the small bag at his hip. "But I do not wish to set the ship ablaze, there are many below deck who need help," he mutters rapidly. More men keep coming up from the stairwell; and a few others from behind them. "What is your desire, love?"

He does not ask are you okay because she was just on fire; clearly she is hurt. But they will deal with that in a moment.

[brave_kreyu]

"Best to throw them overboard, where there is no chance of them setting the ship aflame," she tells him.

"I, I do not know how to operate a ship. It may be prudent to leave most of them alive, if we can."

[27_53]

Without hesitation, Skellig does just that with the small bag of the ceramic spheres; they sink rapidly below the waves and out of sight. The others advance; seeing the blood on the deck and the bodies of their fellow sailors, a few are clearly enraged and attack with a cry, armed with knives, hammers, another with a long pike as the one who struck Kreyu earlier had.

"You would be much better off," Skellig growls at the leader of one bunch of the clan, as he heads the opposite direction from Kreyu towards the rear of the ship. "If you all would listen--"

He ducks a punch, and another as he wades into a trio of fighters, flaring his wings wide in an effort to look THREATENING! (It works well enough, but he doesn't manage to miss the third punch, which lands hard on his left ear and momentarily sends his senses ringing.)

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu tackles the bunch near her, sending them flying with blows from her wings, snapping at them with her beak. "You will all DIE if you keep fighting!" she hisses.

By fate or by luck, it is the captain of the ship who tries to hit her with the pike when he thinks she is distracted. She isn't, knocks him over and PINS him with her talons to the deck!

"STOP, STOP!" he yells. It takes a little while for that order to register with some of them, but they pause.

[27_53]

There is a trickle of blood coming from Skellig's ear, and he's in the middle of a true old-school wrestling match on the deck itself (he's on top) when he hears the words - STOP, STOP - and he listens also, even though he's not taking any orders from this 'captain'.

His ear hurts and there's blood in his eye, so he's squinting - so his glare is even more ferocious than usual. But he can listen with his good ear, for now. But his grip on the sailor beneath him does not loosen...

[brave_kreyu]

"We, we're willing to negotiate," he says, aiming his request to Skellig as much as he can with the way Kreyu has him pinned. (Probably because he looks closer to human than Kreyu does, at the moment.)

"What is it that you want?"

[27_53]

"Your cargo," Skellig says bluntly. "We have questions about it."

He not-so-gently suggests to the man beneath him that he 'stay' where he is at on the deck , pushing a hand square against his chest as he stands up. "There are rumors this ship is carrying captives to be sold as slaves. Is it true?"

(Skellig knows it is true. He can hear the voices and cries from the holds below, smell the stench of bodily waste below their feet. But he wants to see how 'honest' this man is.)

[brave_kreyu]

"Aye, we're carrying slaves," the captain replies. "Not terribly portable for someone with a need to fly, but there might be one or two below that catch your eye." His tone is no different than if he were discussing any other merchandise, because to him there IS no difference between silks, spices, and slaves.

[27_53]

Skellig is not above buying the entire ship's worth of slaves, having them transported, then giving them their freedom - but all that would do is continue the cycle and feed the system with more cash flow.

"Leave the concern for transport to me," he grumbles. Then he glances to Kreyu, considering, sharing a thought. It might make sense to see what they are dealing with, if he was to go below deck...

"You," he motions at one of the more nervous looking sailors. "Will show me the cargo. She will remain here with your Captain. If any sort of harm comes to me below deck...she will tear his lungs from his chest and feast upon them with no hesitation, do you understand?"

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu picks up on his idea, though she isn't entirely thrilled about the fact that there is going to be a deck between them AGAIN.

She screeches, trying to look every bit the fearsome beast.

"Aye, that, that will be acceptable," the Captain babbles, Kreyu's beak mere inches from his eyeballs.

[27_53]

"And I will have you know, it is not just lungs she is fond of," Skellig comments. "There are other bits of a man that are just as tender, and much easier to tear free with her talons."

His smirk is not-at-all pleasant.

"Use your imaginations for that, lads." From their expressions as realization sinks in, his 'point' got across just fine, as he steps into the hatch and heads below deck towards the cargo hold.

[brave_kreyu]

It would be hard for a human to see clearly as they enter the cargo hold, but Skellig's sight in the dark is supreme!

About half the space down here is full of supplies and repair materials, but the other half is where the people are. That section of the hold is lined with stout bars forming two large cages, one for adult men and one for adult women and the few children. There are thirty people all together, all worried, all frightened. They're in relatively good physical shape, all things considered, none sick with disease, fed and watered enough to keep them in shape.

[27_53]

This is actually slightly better than Skellig was expecting - but it makes sense, as if they were to have slaves in poor condition upon arrival to 'market', they would not demand as high of a price as those who were fit and ready to work immediately upon purchase.

"This is all you have?" He asks the nervous member of the crew as he steps closer to the cage that holds the women and the few children, who are huddled near the back, being protected. Skellig touches the bars with a hand and forces himself not to recoil, pushing aside that instinct.

"Yes, that is as many as we could carry for this trip."

Which means there are more, somewhere. Locked up and waiting to be brought to the auction block...Skellig sighs, and then nods. "It will have to do for now. Come on, upstairs." He is NOT letting this man walk behind him, that is for certain.

[brave_kreyu]

Some of the slaves stare at his wings in a mix of confusion and awe, but both emotions fail to overcome their fear, cause them to break their silence.

The sailor is decidedly twitchy to have Skellig at his back, but he doesn't dare protest.

Kreyu relaxes ever so slightly when her eyes see Skellig again.

[27_53]

Skellig assumes the 'dominant' role in this negotiation (even though she is MUCH more powerful) as they arrive back on deck. "There are thirty souls, my love," he says firmly. "All appear to be healthy and strong. Men, women, a few youths."

Yes, he is speaking to the giant eagle. He still isn't exactly sure HOW they want to play this angle; negotiation, brute force, deception and last moment bait and switch...

"My wife and I have been interested in your operation for...quite some time," he offers to the Captain. "You can let him sit up a bit, dear..."

[brave_kreyu]

The expressions on their faces when he addresses the GIANT EAGLE as my love and then refers to the eagle as his WIFE are a sight. Confusion, disgust, disbelief, bewilderment, and more. (Some of them are DEFINITELY wondering how bedroom activities work when one partner is a GIANT EAGLE.)

Kreyu does let the Captain sit up a bit, but she keeps her talons near places the Captain most DEFINITELY does not want them.

[27_53]

It is smart that she is taking some control of the 'situation' and maintaining some leverage.

"Are you simply the courier, or do you profit from the sale also?" Skellig asks straight up, blunt and matter of fact. He knows he will not like the answer given regardless of the response, and it disgusts him slightly to even be having this conversation, even if it is hypothetical...

He needs to know if this is the middleman or the actual one who will gain the most from the sale of these people.

[brave_kreyu]

"The money goes to me," the Captain tells him. "Can offer you a cut, once they're sold. After I've paid the crew their shares, of course."

"We are no more than a day out from the mainland," Kreyu speaks, startling most everyone. "Longer to reach a port that this one could trade at."