Hope, especially in this circumstance, was a dangerous thing for a woman to have, but Lorelei did. They came on a small ship, maybe nothing larger than a corvette. If that was the case there was a chance. Just one well placed cannonball and she could sink it. Time to head topside.
Now fully equipped for battle, Lorelei quietly cut across the deck and headed for the stairs. The Flying Crane sported a feature that she found to be incredibly ridiculous, and it was that the aft and fore castles were split down the middle with a series of supports for the masts. You could only cross the length of the ship topside. Of course, to get to the cannons meant she would have to either fire from the top deck - which from the sounds of it would have to happen in the middle of a battle - or sneak her way to the back of the ship and get below deck once more.
There was little time to deliberate and without more information she wouldn’t be able to make a call now anyway. As she crossed the messhall once more Lorelei spotted a cabinet generally left locked. It contained the stores of liquor the ship had. Her mind’s eye pictured the quartermaster finally caving and breaking into their inventory, producing a rather harsh bottle of tequila that found itself empty very quickly. The lock was still undone.
Lorelei reached inside and pulled out four bottles indiscriminately. She pulled corks free and searched for a moment to find a couple of rags. Even if they managed to break free from the attacking ship something sleek and small would quickly catch up to a cargo ship. They had to at least incapacitate them and force the raiders to switch to oars. A couple of fire-starters like these would make quick work of the sails and just maybe would it give them a big enough head start.
She stuffed the bottles in her pockets and one through a belt, keeping the last in her offhand. At the bottom of the stairs Lorelei took a steadying breath and charged up.
The scene was absolute chaos. Ghouls and men alike were tangled in a mess across the top deck. Her eyes jumped from person to person, trying to assess who needed the most help. She pointed her crossbow at a ghoul standing over a man and squeezed the trigger. As the creature’s hands reached to tear the throat of the man her bolt found its mark and embedded itself in its shoulder. Lorelei cursed under her breath and ducked low, placing her back against a crate and taking a second to reload. When she rose to fire again the man was bleeding out on the floor and the ghoul was gone.
This was always the hard part. There would always be people she could not save in a moment like this. A quick prayer for the dead was all she could spare before refocusing on freeing them from the raiding ship. Lorelei took off from her position of cover, rolling out and bolting down the deck. She skirted around an engagement, narrowly avoiding a scimitar swung too wide. With little room to maneuver she tried to protect her precious cargo. Whenever there was a crew member looking wildly about Lorelei shoved a bottle into their hands, shouting for them to follow her. A small contingent broke off after a moment, trailing her towards a lantern hung upon a wall.
“Light ‘em up pretty, boys. Aim for the sails and masts!” The rag soaked in liquor quickly caught flame as she held the bottle by its bottom. The three others did the same, and on Lorelei’s count they tossed their molotovs to the other ship. Two clattered against the deck and exploded in a burst of flame and glass near the masts. Lorelei’s burst near the bottom of the sails, catching the wood and splashing against the cloth. With no time to rejoice as the flames began licking upward, she turned and pointed towards the battle.
“Cover me! I’m going for the cannons!”
Bolstered by their counter-attack the crew surged around her. With three guards now Lorelei advanced, taking shots from in between their shoulders as they moved as one. They repelled raider after raider, slowly breaking off when enemies proved to be too strong to be ended swiftly. She didn’t look back when the last of them shouted for her to continue on. He held two shortswords and whirled in circles trying to hack and slash at the small horde of undead. Lorelei cut sideways and ripped open the gate that blocked the ladder down to the firing gallery.
She pulled the hatch shut and holstered her hand crossbow. Despite their position Lorelei found herself grinning. It couldn’t be helped. Deadly or not a sortie was always a thrill. She wiped at her brow and turned to port side. Some of the cannons were half loaded, most were surrounded by bodies. It was a gruesome scene. Lorelei approached slowly, scanning each face and mentally tallying the dead on both sides.
"Shape up swabbies! Time to get elbow deep in that powder and send our uninvited guests off with a parting gift!"
Lorelei clapped her hands together and pounded down the short steps. She alit with a thud and counted three cannons down before halting. That should be about midway through the warship, which would have the greatest chance at sinking the whole gods damned thing. Patches were hard enough to make on a ship in the water, and it would prove even more difficult a task if the object that caused a hole happened to also destroy the base of the main mast.
Cannons were generally a group effort to manage. Thankfully the crew of the Flying Crane had at least gotten as far as pushing the cannon into position and bringing up some powder. Lorelei poked around until she found the wrapping cloth for the black dust and scooped some inside. A bit of twine to secure it and a quick poke through it to stuff a fuse through. She brought it to the muzzle and paused for a second. Inhaling deeply to check if it had been fired recently, Lorelei nodded and proceeded. Once before Lorelei had experienced an overeager gunner shove in a sack full of some serious bang before anyone had a chance to swab out the barrel. The only hand she had ever seen get lost faster was in a game of poker with an underhanded player.
Lorelei took the ramming stick and had to poke it in three times before the sack hit the rear. Next was a balled up bit of cloth. It served as padding between the powder and actual shot, another measure for presenting misfiring.
"Maker's balls this is heavy. Sure hope we can all figure out a better way of blowing the hell out of each other."
Her fingers grasped around the dense steel shell. She waddled over to the muzzle and hefted the payload upward. Grunting with the effort and a handful of colorful non-specific insults, the shell finally crested the muzzle and rolled down. The last wad of cloth and it was finally time. Lorelei all but skipped to the back and reached for the flint and steel. Two clicks and the spark was made. Stepping back and lighting the fuse she braced herself and plugged both ears.
Three...Two...One.
The cannon rocketed back and bashed into the holding bar, ropes straining to hold the hefty weapon before falling slack. Lorelei peaked out of the shooting gallery window and let out a whistle.
"That's a hit guys! Oh please, hold your applause. There's more to come!"
Now back to top side. Lorelei checked her crossbow, ensuring the string was pulled all the way back and that her bolt wasn’t bent. She had nine left on her, which meant missing could be detrimental to her health. Lorelei scrambled up the ladder and pushed the hatch open without care this time. The need for stealth was over, now it was time to join the fray. She pulled herself up and rolled to the nearest wall, eyes darting in every direction.
It looked as if the Vethcairnn had received the message that they were unwelcome. The nimble ones, still living that is, were making their way to the gangplanks and jumping back to their own ship. A cluster of them were tossing water at the sails and masts to try and extinguish the flames. The crew of the Flying Crane had done a phenomenal job beating them back while Lorelei had taken her power nap. She eyed an undead beast harrying three of her shipmates at once and from behind took aim. On exhale, she let the bolt fly. It connected square in the back, not necessarily where she wanted. The ghoulish form lurched forward though and turned its head to eye her.
It’s ghastly visage was enough to make her grimace. It had more eyes than necessary - at least in Lorelei’s opinion - and it’s maw was less a mouth and more a gaping hole lined with teeth. As the two stared each other down the shipmates attacked, beheading the beast. For a moment the four of them stood still, eyes wide and breathing heavy.
“Oi! It’s not over yet. Let’s cut the ship free and drop sail!”
Lorelei motioned to the port side and ran forth, scooping down and collecting a weapon from the ground. The scimitar felt cumbersome to her, unbalanced and foreign. Still she raced to the rail and hacked away at the ropes.
One by one the grappling hooks gave way. Her shipmates had pushed the gangplanks free and were now working the ropes. That’s when they heard the captain’s voice boom across the deck, orders now being shouted. Hoist the anchor, drop the foresail and topsail, let the winds do the work!
Everyone began scrambling to their positions and working in unison. Many spaces were empty now, though. Lorelei frowned at the thought of how many might have perished in that raid. She decided to let the future version of herself worry about that as there was still work to be done. Heading to the front-most mast Lorelei dropped the scimitar and grabbed the rigging. She began to ascend, using her feet to clench the rope to keep from sliding down. The ache in her arms from the night’s events had her genuinely concerned that she could plummet to her death should she misstep.
How silly that would be, to survive a raid and wind up a flattened Lorelei upon the deck because she was too tired to finish the job. Lorelei kept at it until she made it to the hooks that latched the sails in place. She tied herself off haphazardly and with one hand clung to the mast. Reaching out, Lorelei pulled and pulled on the rigging until it released with a snap. Quickly she leaned in, making herself as small as possible against the mast. The beams of wood were released and falling, fully extending as the cloth unfurled. In an instant the wind filled the sails and they were moving.
From where she clung to Lorelei could see others doing the same to the others and slowly they gained speed. Her eyes drifted to the bonfire from the other ship. From here she couldn’t make out too many details through the smoke and fog and night sky. She could see bodies running across the deck, some half-hearted arrows and spears being chucked at her ship. The boom of their front-facing cannon that had not been prepped fast enough to come close to hitting them. The splash of the cannonball in the water told her they were finally safe. Lorelei felt her body relax. She rested her head against the wood in front of her and watched the attacking ship recede in the distance until they were only a speck of orange and yellow light far in the distance.
