Their knees buckled, the three of them dropping down, dead, the sight staring fear in the heart of the remaining.
The air shifted again, this time into an angry wolf tearing its prey apart hungrily. Augur Storm understands that very well. Most of the people here are predators, unfaithful, disloyal, and mention many similar characters, and they are harboring it.
No wonder nature wants them dead. Not just dead, but in many gruesome ways.
'Nature, a deep mystery itself.' Storm thought.
She couldn't understand why nature wanted these people dead and spared those in the inn when they were obviously in the same category.
For once, the men on the port took her very seriously. The look of underestimation in their eyes is gone, now replaced with fear, which then morphed into anger, then revenge, and then death.
She smirked, now starting to enjoy the show.
"We don't have to do this," she said lightly, watching the man who was trying to sneak up on her from behind. "You don't have to die. Maybe you can redeem yourself if you throw down your arms and take me to where I need to be."
Though Storm doubted that they'd listen.
She's just offering them a chance to flee because she isn't in the mood to kill anymore. She was sparing all her killing until she met her target. There will be more than enough kills there, that's for sure.
Unfortunately, the men won't listen.
"We outnumbered you, girl." Captain Salazar seethed, coming close, his crew following, and then the rest summoned the courage to circle her. "If there's anyone that will get hurt, that is you."
She smiled, not surprised to hear the reply.
People always make the mistake of underestimating her. Perhaps it was because of her small stature. She surely looked like a twenty-year-old girl when she recently celebrated her 160th birthday.
Augur Storm is not the oldest Augur walking on earth; there are, in fact, many that had lived for two hundred centuries before they died, thanks to the water of the Agamatos temple, and each of them having a great successor, in which she was one.
"There are many ways to kill you all without moving a step," she said, her expression remaining calm, soft, and yet with a dangerous tone. The men gave her a crazy look, probably wondering how she could take all of them without moving a step when they had her surrendered.
That makes it look as if she was bluffing, but Augur Storm wasn't. She could reach for the dragon powder in her sachet, sprinkle it, and cause the men to kill each other. She could use the paw powder, which causes itches. She had many, many methods of killing, and even more than a thousand ways to kill that none of the men would even feel the pain.
Examples were the three men on the floor. She didn't move. All she did was reach for the throwing pin in her waist, which was already laced with gladiolus frog poison. A small contact with the skin, and the poison will spread to the heart in a second.
"Enough of the chit-chat—" Storm didn't allow him to finish his sentence as the man gasped for breath, dropping down dead next to his mate.
Commotion erupted. Chaos broke out, and they charged at her. And yet, Storm was already moving amidst the chaos.
She reached for a pin and stabbed a man in the neck, docking the slice of another and easily twisting his neck. She kicked one man in the gut, stabbing another with a pin at the side of the neck, and breaking another man's rib by easily punching him. It was a light punch, but hard enough to shatter a brick.
Augur Storm moved easily amongst the men as if they were things that dancers used to practice. She swayed her waist, kicking a man in the manhood as she went, and then breaking his bone with a punch that collided with his plexus.
Men lay down, some dead, and some groaning in extreme pain.
From the side of her eyes, she saw Captain Salazar charging. She waited for the last second before ducking easily, grabbing his fist, and twisting it in the same motion. Before he could even scream in pain, Storm kicked him on the kneecap, breaking the joint bone and leaving him to savor the pain.
The rest shifted back in real fear, while the merchants and others had already dropped their arms, fleeing for their lives.
"Wise decision," she chuckled, "but too late."
Storm closed her eyes, inhaled the cool air, and became one with the night wind of the sea. She summons the spirit from the blood of those that she killed. Since blood is part of what makes a human alive, it was easier to summon the spirit in the blood and use it to perform blood magic.
Augur Storm gathered everything and folded it like a piece of paper before wrapping it in the pain of the men she killed, copulating with the one that Captain Salazar was going through.
When she was satisfied that the pain was enough, she mentally threw it at the people fleeing. Their screaming, which rents the atmosphere, made her open her eyes.
She saw them kneeling on the beach, some holding their heads while some were clutching to their ears, screeching like a magpie bird, before they started clawing their skin as if something was biting them. In the next minute, they started piercing their skin, with their blood floating on the sand.
She saw the inn door opening, and she recognized the two sailors she had gone to meet earlier rushing out, followed by a few sober people in the inn.
Storm wanted to throw what was left of the blood magic at them, but she saw the air shifting into a dove. Peace. Nature didn't want these men dead, at least not yet.
"Argh!" She groaned in frustration, forcing the rest of the blood magic into hibernation.
The men stopped near the wailing people as they continued to scratch their skin, giving them a bewildered look, and yet none of them suspected her.
Well, she couldn't blame them. Who could have thought that a young girl like her could deal such damage to all the full-grown men when that was just a little of what she could do?
She focuses her attention on Captain Salazar, striding at him elegantly. She's running out of time because it's getting dark now. The moon itself is starting to come out in its glory.
"I'll take you," The man quickly said, "But I can't move. You've broken every bone in me."
She didn't reply but walked straight at him, grabbed his head, and mumbled a low-grade healing spell. She could have healed him, but that would consume a lot of energy, which she didn't want. She's reserving everything for her predator.
"That should do," she said sternly, turning to face the men that are now approaching with anger in their eyes. Those who were wailing in pain are dead already, and what she did with Salazar just gave her away to the men.
At this moment, Augur Storm wants nothing more than to kill them, but the peace of nature is still on them.
"You don't want to do this," she said, knowing the look on their faces that it was nothing, but of violence.
The first sailor that she met earlier said, "It's what we want."
He raised a hand to strike her, but it was stopped midway.
Captain Salazar came into view, staggering. "Be careful with her, Thane." He cautioned me.
Thane, the first sailor, gawked at Salazar in surprise at first, which then morphed into rage. "She killed innocent people, and you're still defending her. Are you under her spell?"
The rage in his voice was visible.
Salazar shook his head at his brethren's naivety. Only if he knew what she was capable of doing.
"Save your rage for something else," Storm said.
Thane looked at Salazar, and the latter nodded in support.
Thane gritted his teeth in disgust. "You're a fool."
"No, I'm not!" Salazar shot back. "I don't know her, and I don't want to know. But one thing is that, whatever she is, she's dangerous. She can kill you with a blink."
"A sorceress?" The second sailor asked, coming forward.
"Not really," Storm said, "I need to get to the Seven Isles before morning." It's a direct statement.
"And I'll be needing new crews since my former crews are dead." Captain Salazar added, but Thane didn't want to give in easily. "If you know what is best for you and for the safety of the rest, to avoid the same fate as them," Salazar gazed at all the dead men and those that were still moaning in pain on the floor, "You should follow me without query or return to the inn and forget about what happened here."
Without waiting for a reply, Salazar limped to his ship; Augur Storm followed, hoping that Thane and the rest would do what was right. It's not as if they can stop her from going, but it will be in their best interest to follow her. If not, she will make sure to return for their head, even if it takes years.