Tales of the Pearly City (Pearly Tales Vol.1) [Completed]

33. Curse of the Dread Pirate

When the guards around the girls were dispatched Alea used the opportunity to save them. But the song... when the creepy voices responded to Cal's singing she knew that she only had a few moments of sanity as the repressed memories began clouding her mind with darkness.

"Timme rollickin' randy dandy O!~"

Alea lead them a safe distance away, but Tiki was already turning pale. She was grabbing her ears and holding them against her head with a vice grip.

"Naomi, cover Ophelia's eyes and ears. Yvette try to get ahold of Tiki and cover her ears for her." Alea barked. She had filed them into the shallow nook of a tree. It wouldn't be any kind of defense against the savage elves but right now that wasn't what she was worried about.

Yvette sat on the ground with Tiki who was a mess. How could someone so powerful be so scared? She wondered.

On the other hand she had been terrified when her master had been skewered. But Tiki hadn't started panicking until Cal started singing.

"Alea, what is wrong with Tiki?" Yvette asked as Naomi sat with Ophelia. That was when she noticed Alea's knees shaking.

"Alea, are you okay?" Fauna asked Alea she reached out to her, poised to catch her if she fell.

"Don't!" Alea hugged herself when she felt Fauna try to comfort her. She slowly covered her feline ears and let her hat fall to the ground. "Don't, whatever you do, don't look up."

"Heave a pawl, oh, heave away.~" Cal's song echoed through the woods.

Alea's knees buckled and Tiki began sobbing and clutching Yvette for dear life.

"Alea!" Fauna crouched to check on Alea. In all the years that she'd known the cocky cat elemental she had never seen Alea show the least amount of fear, but now she saw her entire face masked with a terrified madness.

"I'll be okay, I think. I've just never seen master this angry before. It's terrifying." Alea was shivering, but she wasn't nearly as shaken up as Tiki.

Then Fauna realized what she meant. Fauna couldn't see through the fog, and could only hear the bare minimum of what was happening over the song. But then she realized that both Tiki and Alea's hearing surpassed hers enough to give them a detailed picture as to what was happening out there.

Fauna looked up to see if she could understand and when the lightening revealed the silhouettes she immediately regretted her decision. She turned her gaze to the ground and began recited the oath to the City of Perils.

"I watch over this City of Perils with all my heart and protect its people knowing the sins I will have to commit in order to keep them safe. May my right hand be stained with blood for peace so that children will not cry at night, and may my left continually reach out in love and service. I will never forget my duty as I walk in the shadows and live in the light. For the city and her children, Perilous be their name, and death to those who challenge our guardians." Fauna pulled her sword out and kissed the pommel, finishing the rite.

Naomi and Yvette bowed their head in the presence of the sacred rite.

Whenever the city came under siege the soldiers said the same oath. Without a sword, the sisters made a fist and kissed their thumbs in place of a sword pommel as custom.

"I had forgotten, that under the mask of the beloved Brother Calloway is the Artificer of an entire city of death." The sober Fauna mused.

When Cal stopped singing there was a scream. Vorn. Yet the fog didn't lift as Vorn's terrified and pained howls pierced the night that was already full of the chilling pressure of death.

"Keelhaul!" Cal shouted.

[Keelhaul] a finishing move that drowns an opponent by filling their lungs with water.

Keelhauling was a punishment at sea where the unlucky fellow who was keelhauled had a rope tied to his legs and was dragged behind the sailing ship until he was dead or pulled back aboard.

"Healing touch!" Cal shouted as the meaty thud of knuckles and face met.

[Healing touch] Heals selected target.

Sometimes all it takes is contact from another person to heal someone's soul.

"Keelhaul! . . . Healing touch! . . . Keelhaul! . . . Healing touch!"

It didn't take Tiki or Alea's fantastic hearing in order to get a clear image of Cal keeping Vorn at the edge of life as he tortured him to death.

After an eternity Cal returned, not in his pirate armor but in his druid robes. He bent down and took Alea, Tiki, and Ophelia into his arms and held them until the two regained their composure.

"I'm sorry about that, I seemed to have lost my temper. But I promise I'll never let anything happen to you." Cal comforted them. The elementals almost pushed him away but ended up accepting his fatherly embrace.

Cal let them go, "Come on, I found out where the Dravenkin village is, and now that the show of force has been applied they'll actually talk to us." Cal helped them to their feet. "Oh, and avoid looking up. You know, unless you want to be cursed." Cal winked.

Naomi followed near the back of the pack, she tried her best not to look up but something wet landed on her shoulder. She couldn't help but touch it and found a speck of blood. Reflexively her head craned toward the foggy sky.

A scream caught in the back of her throat.

Hanging in the trees above her was one Vorn Sa'von or at least what was left of him. With no arms and one stub of a leg remaining, his torso was pierced with three cutlasses. Around his neck was a rope noose tied to the trees.

Scattered through the branches of the woods were the rest of the elf hunting party, they were marginally more intact but still skewered with cutlasses and hung by the neck. That wasn't the worst part. Their eyes were wide open and still twitching with pained life.

"Naomi, you need to move your feet."

Naomi woke from her terrified trance to find the druid Cal standing in front of her with his mask on. He tapped her on the head with his cane. Instantly, all the rest of the party appeared looking at her from fog she hadn't noticed. A different Druid Cal appeared at the front of the party looking back at her with his wooden mask resting on the side of his head.

"Naomi, what's wrong, you just froze." Yvette asked.

"I-" then she saw Cal put a finger over his wickedly curled lips.

His voice reached her ears even though his lips didn't move. "Be careful, you won't be saved a second time, curses are the side effect of the dread pirate class. I can reveal more when we are out of range. So lets get moving before we trigger another one. Savvy?"

"Um, let's just get out of here for now." Naomi kept her head down and followed Cal.

"Good idea, I don't want to be here any longer than I have to be." Yvette followed closely after.