"Over there! I can see the edge of the Canyon!" Celaeno felt a smile start to spread on her face, her hand talons were aching from climbing the rocky surface of the cliffs, but it was all worth it.
She was going to make it.
She and her crew were getting out of The Storm Empire's clutches, Escape seemed more than certain.
"Come on!" Mullet, the Eyepatch-wearing Parrot shouted as he pulled himself to the top of the cliffs, grabbing his Captain and pulling her up with him.
"Hold on! I don't have my hook!" Boyle, the one-armed pirate of Celaeno's crew shouted as his muscles burned, using his left-hand claw to do most of the lifting up the cliff before Mullet and the captain pulled him up as well.
"SQWAK!" Squabble yelped, the wall-eyed parrot shuffling up to the top of the cliff before he collapsed to his knees and started hugging the solid ground beneath him.
"Lix, You slowpoke, Do you need help down there?" Celaeno smirked as she looked down at the last member of her crew, The only fellow female on her ship, "Just reach out your claw, and we'll grab you!" Celaeno got onto her knees and extended her claw down to her Friend.
The Fat Pink Parrot cook smiled and reached out to grasp her captain's claw, only to feel a sting at the back of her neck.
Her eyes widened as her claw quickly grabbed whatever stung her and pulled it into eye view.
"...Oh Crackers..." Lix Spittle whispered as she looked at the familiar logo emblazoned on the dart that she pulled.
"Lix, Hurry up!" Celaeno stretched her hand, trying to reach her last crewmate, Her talons almost catching the pink parrot.
"R-r-r-" Lix Spittle tried to speak, her eyes dilating as the claw holding onto the cliff started to slack.
"Lix! There's no time for this!" Celaeno started to panic as her crewmate stopped responding, only to freeze in horror when Lix looked up at her, allowing the Parrot Captain to see the tranquilizer dart held in her talons.
"Get out of here..." Lix managed to whisper before her body started to convulse, Her claws slipping, letting go of the cliff in the process.
"Lix!!!" Celaeno screamed the name in horror as she watched her crewmate fall from the cliff, her hollow bones snapping as her side landed on a protruding rock, the impact dislocating the rock in the process as it too followed the Pink Parrot in her fall.
Celaeno was frozen, the sounds of snapping bones and tumbling boulders ringing out in the canyon, as she watched her crewmate's unmoving body fall into the river at the bottom of the cliff, followed immediately by a small rock slide spelling her cook's certain doom.
"...We need to move." Mullet pat his captain on the shoulder, grabbing her attention as he shifted his eyes briefly to point at a group of approaching figures at the bottom of the cliff.
The Storm King's Army has found them...
"We need to move, Now!" There was no more time to waste, As the hunters down below took out grapples and climbing gear from beneath their armor, The Sky Pirates started to move.
"If we follow this path, we should reach Klugetown by the end of the day, We can slip away from these bastards there before taking another Airship back to Ornithia!" Mullet told the rest of the crew as he ran, his eyes looking over the dunes of red sand and stone that made up the surroundings.
"Will we even be able to reach Klugetown?" Boyle asked loudly as he ran after the rest of the crew, making use of his strong upper body to carry Squabble over his shoulders, "Now that these bastards know where we are, Won't they send an airship and catch up?"
"Don't worry!" Mullet yelled as he jumped over a rock that stood in his way, "I heard the guards back in the Quarry speak about this when they didn't notice me," He used his hand to push himself into a high jump over another rock, watching his captain do the same before Boyle simply ran through the solid obstacle, not caring for the injuries it was starting to cause.
"What's this 'Thing'?" Celaeno looked to her second in command, watching him smile at the question.
"I can already hear it coming! Just wait and see!" Mullet smiled widely as he spotted the edge of another cliff coming up.
"A dead end?" Boyle asked as the pirates stopped at the cliff, looking down the red stone cliff before their eyes widened at what they saw.
"Is that a-" Celaeno gulped at the sight of the thing, A veritable wonder of construction stretching as far as her eyes could see.
"A train track," Mullet smiled at his captain, before pointing to a pile of rising smoke in the distance, steadily growing closer, "And we'll be using this bad boy to catch a ride to Klugetown," Mullet started to stretch his legs, "The Storm King's been building these bad boys all over his land in order to move materials across, There should be practically no security outside of the Conductor, and by the time those Airships chasing us manage to get here, this train will be halfway to Klugetown!"
"..." Celaeno turned to look behind her, hoping that perhaps Lix would appear and tell her that she was fine and that she'd be serving the best gruel this side of Ornithia for dinner.
Her teammate wasn't coming.
There was no time for tears, The Storm King's soldiers were catching up.
She could cry all she wanted later.
Now was the time to move.
"Get ready you three," Celaeno turned to her three remaining crewmates, "The moment the train passes below us, we jump,"
"SQUAWK!" Squabble started shaking his head vehemently, his hands moving quickly in an attempt to illustrate how idiotic the idea sounded.
"We have no other option right now, Either we climb slowly and risk missing the train, or we jump and risk getting run over," Celaeno turned away from her team and stared at the approaching locomotive.
"I don't know about you, But I'd rather die quickly than be tortured slowly by The Storm King's men." Celaeno narrowed her eyes at the smoke coming from the train, her leg talons digging into the red sand, her crystal peg leg creaking under the pressure she was putting onto it.
"Guys, We might not be able to make the train," Boyle gulped as he spoke up, causing the rest of the team to turn and look at what he was pointing at.
Roughly two hundred meters away, and rapidly approaching, were a group of four Storm Creatures, light blue lines painted underneath the eye holes in their masks, identifying them as the trackers of Major Deggan.
The Hounds of the Hunt.
"We can't let them get us!" Celaeno stood up and pointed at the trackers, "We just need one minute before the train gets here!" She shouted at her crew before balling her claws into fists, getting ready to fight for her life.
Only to stop once the shadow of her biggest crewmate moved to stand before her.
"Boyle, what are you doing?" Celaeno asked, worry starting to bleed into her voice.
"Sorry Captain, But if we jump onto the train, these landlubbers will just keep chasing after us, And if we fight we might miss the train entirely," Boyle did not look at his captain, his eyes trained on the four trackers that were getting closer, noticing two more coming out from behind a rock formation even further back.
"Boyle..." Celaeno warned him, "Don't you dare do what I think you're planning," Her heart started to beat faster, she couldn't let him do this!
She couldn't lose another crewmate! Another friend!
Not today!
"Sorry Captain, But I can't let you do that," Boyle said sadly before he turned around and grabbed Celaeno in a hug, lifting her above the ground and walking to the edge of the cliff, The Train just moments from passing below them.
"Boyle! This is Mutiny! Don't do this!" Celaeno struggled to get out of her friend's grip, "Mullet! Squabble! Do something!" She shouted at her other teammates.
"Sure thing Captain!" Mullet gave Celaeno his usual reassuring smile before he grabbed hold of Squabble and threw the two of them off the cliff, Landing on top of one of the train cabins at the bottom of the cliff.
"WHAT?!" Celaeno started to thrash in Boyle's grasp as he started to move his shoulders, "BOYLE! DON'T DO THIS!!!" Celaeno screamed, tears already streaking down her face as she looked at the eyes of her Crewmember.
"...Sorry Captain, But I can't let you kill yourself for us," He smiled at her, only to throw her off the cliff and onto the train below in a sudden burst of motion.
"BOOOOOOYLE!!!!!!!" Celaeno screamed his name as her back impacted the metal roof of one of the carts, watching Boyle's body grow smaller on top of the cliff of red sand as the train rapidly moved away.
Leaving her with only two crewmates.
---------------------------------------
Boyle took a deep breath as he turned to look at the Six trackers, the first four were keeping their distance from him, circling him from five meters away, while the last two were still running at him, one hundred meters from reaching him.
Locking eyes with the rightmost tracker in the circle, Boyle jumped into a running sprint, his left claw balled into a fist as he closed in on the tracker.
Seeing the Pirate run at him, The tracker whipped out a Standard Issue Storm Empire Collapsible Bident, A quick flick of his wrist caused the Two-Pronged Spearhead to extend to its full length, sweeping the weapon in front of himself in an attempt to keep the Parrot at bay.
Boyle slid on his knees, cringing at the feeling of the hot sand as he passed beneath the sweeping attack and jumped back onto his feet, his fist meeting the tracker in the face, causing a thudding sound to echo from beneath the mask.
But Boyle wasn't fighting only one tracker, Quickly turning around, Boyle kicked his feet into the ground, causing a small cloud of sand to spray at the two approaching trackers.
As the two trackers lost their vision in the sudden sand cloud, Boyle dashed between them, ignoring the two trackers as he burst from the other side of the cloud, tackling the fourth tracker into the ground before he could dodge out of the way.
Boyle grabbed the tracker's head, lifting it up just to slam him back into the ground. Once, Twice, three slams into the sand before Boyle rolled to the side in order to avoid a stabbing Bident from behind.
Boyle watched the two trackers escape the cloud of sand, the red dust covering their outfits and fur, their bidents extended and pointing at him.
Boyle kicked the head of the Tracker he slammed into the ground, just to make sure he wouldn't interrupt, before he jumped backward, making some distance between him and the two trackers.
He briefly turned to look at the last two trackers who were still making their way to him, only to widen his eyes when he noticed they weren't running at him.
"They're going for the train!" Boyle mentally exclaimed as he ran to try and interrupt them, only to feel a sharp pang of pain coming from his back, causing the Pirate to roll to the side and avoid the follow-up attack from the tracker.
He spotted one of the bidents dripping with a dark red liquid, and he smiled at seeing that it wasn't much. The wound wasn't deep, he'd survive that, it'll just hurt.
Boyle chuckled at that, He'd been through worse.
"Is that all you got?!" He shouted at the two trackers, His eyesight started to blur, a mixture of the desert heat and his lack of water, mixed with the bloody injury on his lower back.
Boyle wasn't liking his chances.
He spotted the last two trackers jump off the cliff from the corner of his eye, He could do nothing but pray that his crewmates could beat them back and get to Klugetown safely.
"Sorry Celaeno, I don't think I'll be able to catch up with you," He smirked as he lowered his body, entering a runner's stance as he locked eyes with the last two trackers, glaring at their masks.
Boyle took one last deep breath before he charged forward, "COME AT ME!!!"
Boyle tackled the closest tracker, Ignoring the flair of pain that came from the bident slashing at his side as the two men dropped onto the floor.
Boyle punched and clawed with his left hand, using the stump where his right hand used to be as a weight to push the tracker down as he kept beating at him.
A white-hot flash of pain came from his back as the smell of burnt feathers entered his nostrils, giving the tracker beneath him the opportunity to kick the one-handed Pirate off of him.
Boyle couldn't see straight anymore, his eyes were blurry and unfocused, and the loss of blood was starting to catch up to him.
"Stop Dodging!" He yelled, swinging his arm around blindly, hoping to hit one of the trackers, "Get back here!"
The two trackers stared at the sight of the bleeding green Parrot in silence, watching as he swung around like a blind madman before the two nodded at each other.
With the press of a button on their bident, A current of electricity spread along the two-pronged spear.
And with a thrust, Four new holes found themselves on Boyle's torso.
The one-armed Parrot could only pray that his Captain and crew could make it to Klugetown.
Because he won't be there to keep them safe anymore.
And with a final pulse of electricity racing through the bident, Boyle stopped thinking.