Rather than engage the enemy flagship which could result in the Sawtooth being surrounded or attempting a breakthrough into the Narrows where another ambush fleet may have been lying in wait. Vexariz decided on option three eliminating the support ships by utilizing the Sawtooth's overwhelming speed advantage. Throughout the early stages of the fight the ship had been working against the wind, but as was always the case, the winds often changed direction, and this time Tritus kept with the wind and rapidly approaching one of the enemy triremes. With all three triangular sails in position, working in tandem with the wind at their back, the Sawtooth was propelled forward, catching the enemy completely off guard.
Unable to react quick enough, the pirate squadron was unable to turn to meet the oncoming vessel, with the Sawtooth engaging the trireme to the flagship's left. Ballista cords twanged in the midday sun, their deadly payload slamming into the side of the enemy ship. The first shot hit the just above the waterline, smashing into the thick wooden planks but causing only light damage as most of the Naphtha fell into the sea prior to ignition. However, luckily to the higher elevation of the aft mounted ballista, Vexariz was able to land a direct strike against the bow mounted archer tower.
The results were immediate and devastating, burning, flailing bodies rushed out from the tower, while some had been outright obliterated in the initial burst of flames. Charcoal like corpses lay strewn about the front of the deck as the rest of the crew tried futilely to get the spreading flames under control. More and more began to abandon ship, throwing off their armor and plunging into the sea, desperate to reach their allies who appeared to care little for their compatriots struggling in the rough seas below.
For those trapped on board, or those foolish enough to fight the flames, desperate to save their loot from certain destruction, the situation only became worse. As embers drifted upwards, they caught to the linen sails, and within seconds those had burned, the remainder falling to the deck, blocking the stairway to the lower deck, and smothering anyone unlucky enough to be beneath it at the time. The unfortunate trapped beneath the blazing sail let out muffled screams, the smell of their roasting flesh wafting through the air, sizzling in the intense heat of the fire.
"Switch back to stones and prepare the hooks!" Sabina moved quickly acting upon Vexariz's new orders. The Salamander's breath was a difficult to produce weapon, each pot was the equivalent of throwing gold coins at the enemy. Without a stable farming process for the ingredients, they could only limit their usage of such weapons, and instead rely on cheaper more cost-effective ammunition like the heavy stone balls, or iron tipped bolts.
The Sawtooth took its time, circling the remaining pair, like a shark waiting for a chunk of meat to fall. Utilizing their speed and tight turning radius, the Sawtooth was able to easily remain outside the enemy firing radius, watching as their arrows harmlessly fell into the roiling waves. All the while Sabina and the rest of the crew was hard at work retrofitting the ballistae, loading the stones, and sighting the weapons for the next run.
"Loose!" Sabina roared out the order just as the Sawtooth danced into range of the final trireme. In those few moments that the two ships ran parallel to one another, Sabina, Vexariz, and the rest of the crew unleashed a massed volley upon their opponent.
Within such close range the heavy stone balls unleashed their full potential, the velocity of their launch in addition to their sheer weight smashed into the enemy trireme. Both projectiles striking the side of the vessel, one just above, and the other just below the waterline. All the while the crew aboard the Sawtooth let loose a punishing volley of arrows and javelins onto the deck of the enemy vessel, decimating the crew before they could even put up an adequate defense. A few stray arrows fired in haste struck one or two crew members, causing minor flesh wounds but doing little else, whereas most of the enemy crew above the deck lay dead or dying, their bodies riddled with projectiles.
However, before the crew of the Sawtooth could celebrate their victory a loud scream rang out on the deck, followed by a second. Two sailors were clutching their stomachs, a large spear like wooden appendage erupting through their backs and holding their struggling bodies in midair. Climbing over the railing were a pair of strange creatures comprised of a combination of flesh and wood, both were humanoid in shape but featured the long appendages emerging from their backs. Their faces obscured by wooden masks depicting an owl's facial features.
Blood dripped from the sailors' wounds, soiling the deck of the ship as their comrades had yet to wrap their heads around the reality of the situation, trying to understand what was happening. Yet the pair of catenarii had no intention of providing such time, the two sailors crying out for help as their bodies erupted from the inside out. The appendages had unfurled themselves, appearing as a pair of monstrous wings, the feather like fronds wet with blood.
"Aim for their chest! Aim for the core in their chest!" Niko screamed with all his might, forcing himself to be heard over the roar of the sea. His eyes and the tip of his spear glowing with power, the newly engraved runic spear helping to channel his power, limiting waste, and extending the limit of his abilities.
"You heard the boy! Stop standing around like statues and get moving! Sabina, lock the enemy flagship in place, Tritus get us up alongside it! I'll deal with this bastard." Vexariz rushed forward axe in hand. Seeing the onrushing giant, the enemy put up their guard, lifting the wings to use one as a shield while the other slashed forward to slice the man in two.
Yet the catenarii were like puppets, their reactions delayed, wooden and easy to read for experienced fighters. Vexariz maintained his charge, but jumped to the side at the last second, rolling along the deck and evading the slash that left a cut in the thick wooden planks below. However, the red bearded giant wasn't quite done yet, using the strength in his legs to jump upwards from his prone position and coming down with his mighty axe in a powerful overhead chop. Unable to respond the puppet barely turned in time before the axe head came down, slicing right through its left wing, separating it from its body, and sending it tumbling into the sea.
"Hurry up with those hooks Sabina!" Vexariz didn't have much time to pay attention to rapidly approaching flagship as the creature in front of him began to attack in earnest. Long sharp claws threatened to tear his flesh to ribbons, with his trusty Dane axe struggling to keep up with the rapid strikes. It was only thanks to the earlier attack and amputation of the left wing that he was able to keep up, as the creature was fluidly attacking with both hands plus its remaining wing, overwhelming Vexariz from every angle.
"Shit! Today is just not my day." The giant couldn't help but curse his luck, the last strike had thrown him off balance. He had successfully deflected the claws from tearing through his stomach, but now his axe was extended away from his body. As simple as the creature may have appeared, it was anything but, capitalizing on the opening its wing thrust forward aiming to skewer the man. Vexariz did the only thing he could, lifted his elbow to try and mitigate the attack, hoping that he would survive the piercing attack, however unlikely that would be.
However, the thrust never penetrated, never impacted his open center. Standing before him was a blazing haired fury, the girl who encompassed so much of himself in her fiery attitude and unyielding strength. While at the same time possessing her mother's charm and skill with words, and always willing to help those in need even when it isn't convenient to do so. "Don't you go giving up you big oaf! What would mom say!" Cauaria gave a quick glance at her father and then turned back to the enemy, her hands still shaking from the force of the impact. Even if she had managed to deflect the attack away from herself and her father, the deep rupture in the deck showcased the strength behind each blow and the threat posed.
_____________________
Elsewhere on deck, the other catenarii was engaged in combat with a group of Vexariz's Balearii elites, but the battle was not going well for the Balearii. Out of a ten-man squad around a quarter, three lay on the ground, their bodies sliced to ribbons. The creature before them stood fully intact, the few flesh wounds healing within minutes. Simple wounds, unless targeting the crystal core, the so-called mana heart, or complete amputation and cauterization of the limb, the wounds would simply heal over time.
The men and women needed some way to wound the creature, yet their axes and blades were barely able to cut through the thick armor like outer layer of petrified flesh. With each strike their numbers were further whittled down, until only three remained. A little less than five minutes of sustained combat and over half of Vexariz's personal elite guard had been wiped out. While in that time they had only managed to remove the creature's right arm, and even that was at the expense of one of their comrades, who gave up her life and struggled to hold it in place so that they might amputate the limb.
"Dammit! How many more need to be lost just to take down this single foe!" One of the men had watched his childhood friend torn to pieces before his eyes, they had survived enslavement by the pirates for years. Had been rescued almost a decade ago and fought alongside the Balearii over many years. The two were like brothers having gone through the worst life had to offer to get to this point. They were aware of the danger inherent in being a soldier, yet it was difficult to rationalize the loss, difficult to accept the reality in front of your eyes.
The soldier wanted to rush forward, to sacrifice himself for the chance to perhaps get a single strike in, the chance at avenging his friend. Yet rationality and years of experience held him back, prepared him to act only when the opportunity presented itself.
"Step aside soldiers. We'll deal with this vile creature." At first the Balearii elites questioned the two young men, they were both barely adults, probably no older than twenty-two or three. It was ridiculous to think that they would stand a chance where battle hardened veterans failed, an almost insulting thought. Yet before the surviving soldiers could tell the two off, they slammed their two spears together, the sound reverberating in the air as if it had a life of its own.
These soldiers felt sick, falling to their knees, their vision disoriented, both the sound and sway of the ocean causing the feeling to only grow in intensity. As the Balearii veteran struggled against the nauseating feeling, he turned his gaze once again towards the two young men. An unearthly rusty glow shone from their bodies, the spears in their hands responding with an equally intense light. Upon closer inspection the spears seemed to be moving in place, their tips vibrating at incredible speed.
"Spurius you take the right, I'll take the left." Spurius responded with a simple nod to his brother's command, breaking off and rushing to the catenarii's right flank. If the two wished to take down this beast, they would need to target its mana heart, their newfound abilities allowing them to roughly guess as to its general vicinity.
The experiments had been a great success, testing the formations and the effects of energy transfer into the body with the captives had yielded results. None of the Scholar's soldiers had died, some had been incapacitated or suffered slight wounds, but none had exploded. In the brother's case, both Spurius and Paulus had gained similar abilities, their deviant abilities complimenting and feeding off one another. Abilities and newly developed inscribed weapons for them to test here, against an equally powerful monstrous foe. A reminder of their failure at the Kallithene Hills, had they manifested this power before, perhaps Viriato would still be alive.
Both Paulus and Spurius constantly lived plagued by the guilt that their father figure, the one who raised them and spent almost his entire life within the cage that was the fighting pits had only had a moment to experience life. They were free because of him, because he vouched for them, neither having the opportunity to repay that debt. Instead, they had decided to live their life to the fullest, the two brothers together earning their place and perhaps one day returning home to Southern Rustika, to one day regain their birthright and lead their clan.
For now, though they would deal with the monster in front of them. Spurius was already engaged with the creature, his empowered spear easily piercing its hardened flesh, yet unable to cause any truly serious wounds. However, what was clear was that their abilities could disrupt whatever magic held these puppets of wood and flesh together. Together the two brothers pressed the attack, their inscribed spear and shield efficiently extracting prana and allowing the two to utilize their abilities to some extent.
This was yet another ongoing battlefield, but the largest and most important was yet to come. In fact, it was barreling straight towards their ship at that very moment.
___________________
"Give me that!" Sabina violently grabbed the long-hooked bolt from the man's arms, before loading it into the ballista. Her attention then switched over to the aft mounted weapon, with Timeaus taking up that position alongside Maatilani. They would have only one shot at this, with the enemy flagship now within striking distance. The blood red Quinquereme was aiming to smash into the exposed side of the Sawtooth, even its ironwood hull would be unable to completely nullify the strike from such mass.
"Don't any of you dare slack off! Everything is going to hinge on this single moment! Push those stone rings into the water the second I give the signal. Is that understood!" Sabina was keeping the sailors in line, her powerful physique, high status, and imperious attitude brook no arguments, especially with the chaotic battle going on behind them. As the battle between the elites raged, more and more of the Balearii and Temrenosian soldiers poured onto the deck, their aim was clear, the enemy flagship.
Sabina observed the enemy vessel as it closed in, and just as it closed within fifty to seventy yards, she gave the order. "Release!" Together in unison the twang of the twisted cords rang out yet again, this time releasing the bolt at near point-blank range. The heavy iron bolt penetrating the middle and lower deck, while the hook like ends took root, snagging on to the ends of the shattered wooden planks.
Just as the hooked bolts took hold, the sailors accompanying both teams pushed their anchors over the edge of the ship. Within seconds the bolts could be seen tearing deeper into the hull of the Quinquereme, then the ship listed to the right as the sudden weight halted their momentum and caused even more damage to the hull. Their forward motion hadn't completely stopped, and the two ships still collided, but the sudden change had led to a drastic decrease in speed, resulting in little damage to the Sawtooth's hull.
"Incoming!" One of the sailors called out as an almost forty-foot-long mast like object was swung all the way around. Somehow the pirates had deployed their own version of the boarding bridge, as its weight was released the bridge came down upon the deck of the Sawtooth.
Screams and shouts followed as the crew rushed to get out of the path of the falling bridge. It was a primitive version compared to the ones employed by the Balearii but was a clear sign that there were those within the clan dealing in such a way with the pirates, yet another weed to root out and crush. For now, attention was on the large iron spike at the bottom of the boarding bridge which came down with a resounding crack, easily piercing the top deck, shattering the thick wooden planks and causing the vessel to shake.
Then came the real attack, dozens of hooded figures clambering over the makeshift bridge with single-minded tenacity. Pirates who quickly found themselves running into an onslaught of hefty throwing axes, followed close behind by a concentrated barrage of serrated arrows.
Finally, the two sides clashed, blood was spilled, yet this was just the start. Maatilani, Malakos, Timeaus, Apollonius, Mera, and Caedyrn were ready to board the enemy flagship. With the crew helping to engage the enemy rank and file. The battle would be bloody, it would be vicious, but in the end, the forces of House Amyntas planned to prevail.