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Minny arrived on deck just as the creature landed, the motion it caused making her stumble forwards. She looked up at the great beast, momentarily struck still by fear, before scrambling forwards towards her uncle.
Then the fire came.
A great volley soared across the deck, heading straight for Barnes, and... There was nothing she could do. She was frozen solid with panic, the sight and smell of so much fire awakening a primal fear within her. Thankfully, the fire swerved mid-air to pursue the vice captain, narrowly missing the short engine master.
Wait, it swerved? Was the monster controlling its path some how? Minny felt that if she examined the flames more closely she might be able to pick out something within them - but she couldn't bring herself to look. She felt sick and found herself dropping to all fours on the deck, she could hear the sounds of the rest of the crew, the rest of her friends fighting around her, but she found it hard to focus on anything other than a rising feeling of nausea - a horrible mix of overwhelming fear and shame at her own cowardice.
C'mon, get it together Minny.
Minny willed herself to gulp down her nausea and try to control her breathing. As she began to feel like she might be able to stand, she also realised that she could feel a growing heat and hear someone calling her name.
Snapping her head up away from the decking was a decision Minny regretted immediately.
Heading straight for her was a new column of shrieking fire - a sight made only more horrifying by the realisation that the flames contained burning birds, the smell of their scorching flesh proceeding the fire's terrible heat. Unable get her muscles to respond properly, Minny fell back onto her ass and screamed.
Barnes had been about to rattle off a gruff lesson in how the engine system needed quite a bit more than just 'warming up' to lift off from their current position - when the beast let out the stream of flaming ravens. Barnes readied himself, fists raised, wishing more than ever that he knew more than just how to use his fists. His pride kept him from scuttling away below deck, even though it was more than likely where he'd be most useful.
The birds drew closer, their speed gaining as they seemed angered by the vice captain's attack. The engine master gulped, glad that he had a skilled fighter by his side, but when he glanced across at him - he was gone!
The short man craned his neck upwards to see Louis climbing the great mast. The screeching getting louder caused Barnes to whip his attention back to the approaching horde. He was startled by how close they had gotten and brought his fists up to shield his face, bracing himself for the onslaught - but it never came.
Peering between his arms, Barnes saw the fiery mass shoot up over his head, the birds' path bending barely a foot in front of his face. Taking a step back, he watched thier pursuit of Louis, trying to figure out what he could do to help the man when a fresh red glow from the larger raven caught his attention.
He turned just in time to see it firing another volley towards the stern of the ship, where the cannon master had begun to organise more harpooners and ranged attackers to attack the beast. Other crew scattered out of the path of the flaming ravens, but one person hadn't moved, seemingly unaware of the imminent danger.
"MINNY!"
Barnes would recognise that messy tuft of red hair anywhere, and his heart leapt into his mouth as he sprinted towards her - flat cap flying off of his head as he skidded across to wedge himself between her and the flames. Her scream echoed in his ears, giving him a renewed strength - he'd wear his fists right down to the bones before he let any bastard hell-spawn of a bird hurt his niece.
Laslo's mouth set in a firm line as his feet landed on deck and he surveyed the situation. The deck was monstrous chaos, crew running around with no direction, flames licking along the polished wood and various barrels and crates still on deck. Mind rushing to think of the best strategy to protect his crew, Laslo focused his attention on the creature, involuntarily taking a sharp breath as he took in its grotesque form. He'd heard Nelya's report on his way up to deck but he hadn't expected...this.
His mid-section throbbed somewhat painfully as he looked at the creature, a sure a sign as any that magic was at work here - and something was oddly familiar about the taste of this magic. And the birds.. They were ravens... Could it be...?
Laslo was snapped back to the situation at hand by Felix's question - this wasn't the time for speculation, it was the time for action. Nodding at his quartermaster, Laslo replied, "Even though we are caught off-guard, plan A is still the best course, retreat would be difficult as things are." As he spoke, the captain drew his sword and used it to point out problem areas of the ship, "The crew needs organizing. You take control of melee fighters - focus on stopping damage from fire volleys. I'll work with the cannon master to focus our ranged attacks on the main body of the beast - with magic like this there's usually an anchor point, if we can find - "
He was interrupted by a crackle from his communicator. Listening carefully to Nelya's report, Laslo's eyes shot up to the rigging. The solar sails were, thankfully, rolled up at that time, as they were only really necessary to help power the secondary engine in emergencies - but that was only a minor relief.
Those sails were heavy and if too many of the ropes failed they could cause massive damage to both ship and personnel.
His eyes tracked Louis movements as he unclipped his communicator and brought it to his lips, thumbing the device's crystal into the receiving position.
"Copy that, Nelya - try to put out some of those fires and secure the sails. We're in enough trouble already without bits of the ship falling on us."
Laslo had already started moving forwards as he flipped the crystal and briskly stowed the device back onto his belt - it looked like Louis was in trouble.
"Look after the rest of the crew!" He called back over his shoulder to Felix, his brisk pace turning into a sprint as he saw his vice captain falling through the air whilst still being pursued by a mass of fiery ravens.
He reached the central mast just as the mass of fire with Louis at its center crashed into the deck in front of him. A number of the birds clearly died on impact, their bodies splattering outward from the main mass like dark, smoking splodges of ink - others flapped about the deck feebly, broken and only half aflame. The majority, however, still swirled around his vice captain - their continued onslaught hopefully meaning that the man inside was still alive. Although Laslo wasn't sure how much time anyone could survive such an attack, the heat reaching him on the outside was sweltering enough.
Lashing out with his blade, Laslo attempted to thin the scourge. The thin metal easily separated heads from bodies and wings from shoulders, but he was hesitant to carve too deeply into the flock. He still couldn't see Louis through the throng of fire and feathers and didn't want to risk injuring the man further.
A few of the flock started to peel away and focus thier attention on thier new assailant. Taking advantage of the thinning of the birds around Louis, Laslo tried desperately to see if he could spot the man whilst absently fighting off the ravens attacking him. A struggling hand became visible for a moment and Laslo jumped towards it - only to be beaten back by a raven that had managed to evade his sword and clawed at his face, the deep scratches missing his eye by an inch. Grunting with pain, Laslo grabbed the bird with his free hand, trying his best to ignore the fresh pain as fire seared his skin, and threw it away from himself.
Obstacle gone, the captain plunged his arm into the writhing mass where the blonde haired man's hand had been, hoping that he could yank him out before his own arm got too badly burnt.
"LOUIS!"
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