Jewel of the Sea [Black Sails]

Chapter Twenty One

(Alira)

Viktor hooked his meaty arm around my neck catching me in an awkward headlock. He'd insisted we had a sparring match before taking to the sea to work out some of my frustrations as I'd been angered at him for peeling me away from Captain Vane. We had removed our weapons for our sparring match and I struggled to get out of his tight grip. It was hard to break from a grapple when you didn't want to kill the person grappling you.

The crew was all around us cheering us on. The majority of them were cheering for Viktor but I noticed, Jake, Dimitri and Uri cheering for me and smiled softly to myself. "Sorry brother." I grimaced as I prepared to make my move.

"For what?" Viktor asked in his deep bellowing voice.

"The broken rib." I smirked as I brought my elbow up with a swift crack into his ribcage.

"Ooh!" There was a resounding sympathetic groan from the crew.

Viktor managed to keep his hold on me. I prepared to drop my center of gravity to throw him off balance when I heard something near the back of the crowd, the cheers had turned into shouts and panic. I saw blood spray up in arcs near the back of the crowd. Something was wrong, I turned my gaze to Uri and Jake before shouting to the grisly looking one-eyed man. "GET JAKE OUT OF HERE NOW!"

The gentle grisly giant didn't need telling twice. He scooped Jake up into his hulking arms and took off at a run. I didn't get a chance to see if they made it as I felt a bullet pierce me in the shoulder and Viktor was suddenly stabbed by two cutlasses. He released me with a roar of rage as I dug the bullet out of my shoulder and hurled it with a deadly precision into the eye of the nearest enemy.

The two men who'd stabbed Viktor appeared to be from Low's crew, they let out terrified yelps as Viktor lunged at them with a roar. Piss ran down their legs as he caught them both by the neck breaking them like sticks in his grasp not the least bit hindered by the two stab wounds in his back.

"Someone wishes for death." Viktor growled in our mother tongue.

"Then let us give it to them." I answered as I dove into the fray.

"ALIRA!" Jake's voice cried from the edge of camp and my heart dropped. I turned and sprinted in his direction desperate to reach him in time.

Uri was dead in the sand and I saw Jake fleeing from two of Low's men. I was too focused on Jake to realize there were more men lying in wait to intercept me the moment I reached him. I caught up to his pursuers with ease. Though I was weaponless, I was still a lethal force. I held my hands out, flat and concentrated intently on keeping them flat and still thinking of them as blades. As I exhaled a single breath, I plunged my hands into the backs of the scum chasing Jake.

"RUN!" I snarled at Jake as my hands plunged into their backs. The men let out cries of agony as my hands gripped their spines. "You boys better make a deal with the devil because no god can save you now." I hissed venomously as I wrenched back on their spines. There was a sickening squish sounds as I managed to loose some of the bone from their flesh. They each let out a wheeze before they were overcome with gurgling coughs. They fell dead to the sand as Jake slipped away. I turned to head back to help the others and my vision went black as someone hit me in the face with the butt of a pistol.

I woke with a start, fear and panic gripped my heart as it took me a moment to recognize my surroundings. There was movement to my left and without thinking I swung my arm in that direction to fend off an attacker. Strong hands gently caught my wrist. I flailed against my captor desperately and swung my other fist.