The Gathering

[Gavner_Nahs]

The cool wind of Shadow’s steel arrow tousled Gavner’s hair as it whizzed past his head and buried itself deep into the skull of the pirate behind him. The sweet sound of gunfire and chaos from the cannons below deck on the pirate ship beneath his feet, and the shrieks and moans of dying men brought a smile to Gavner’s face. He bared his ebony black teeth in a twisted smile, as he smelled the blood in the air.

“Fantail squad advance amidships!” Gavner called out towards the aft of the pirate ship.

The creature of the night swiftly lunged at the pirate in front of him with supernatural speed, knocking the sword from his hand and grabbing the clothing on his hip and shoulder. Pushing the man back, the vampire swept the pirate’s right foot out from under him and sent the landlubber to the ground. As the enemy crashed backwards, Gavner slit his carotid artery with his razor sharp fingernails.

“Amidships squad move starboard, fantail push forward!” Gavner ordered.

Shifting his weight low, the creature of the night performed a 360 leg sweep, knocking 3 surrounding enemies to the ground. He pounced on one of the fallen pirates and sank his teeth into the man’s neck, tasting the salty forbidden nectar of the enemy's life. As he fed, the creature of the night sliced open his enemy's breast and plunged his hand deep into the pirate’s breast. The feeling of his fallen enemy’s beating heart against his own bare skin sent Gavner into a bloodlust. Time itself slowed down as all of his senses sharpened. Muscles contracted, pupils dilated, and a sudden surge of speed dawned on him. Gavner took a deep breath of cool, crisp air as a cascade of different savory smells dawned upon him- sulfur, steel, and carnage. The scent of nearly a hundred men’s distinctly different blood composition dawned with the sudden awareness of Gavner’s very heart, beating deep within his chest.

“Major!” Gavner called in a savage growl loud enough for both ships to hear, “Send half the platoon aft and 2 squads to port! Shadow, prepare the flaming arrows and be ready on my command!”

From the corner of his eye, Gavner saw the dark archer plain as day from the yard of the main mast’s topsail about 30 yards away as he nodded in compliance. Gavner trusted that his friend would figure out the general’s intentions soon enough.

“You better have a miracle hidden up your sleeve General, we’re taking heavy losses!” The major called over from the merchant ship.

“Aye mates,” Gavner heard softly from below, “I’ll come at the beast from head on and you three grab him from behind. I got a wooden stake in me’ belt!”

“Hold still you bastard!” Gavner heard far off from the direction of the merchant ship, “You lose your arm or you’ll lose your life! Hold him down mates. Midshipman spencer, get my tourniquet...”

“Captain!” A very faint voice reached Gavner’s ears, “They can’t stop the flooding in the forward hold, the Carpenter had to evacuate!”

“Has the gunner moved the powder magazines?” Replied none other than Captain Jack Callahan.

“They couldn’t save more than 4 kegs,” the lieutenant responded. “The Gunner ordered the firing crews to report topside for boarding.”

“No!” Gavner called to the quarterdeck of the merchant ship from the forecastle of the pirate ship, “Have them bring the powder kegs topside and place them at the base of the boards and grapplings. Order the Port Battery to take their powder stores topside as well.”

“Who was that?” Gavner heard the lieutenant say faintly.

“I think it was the General,” Callahan replied.

“How did he hear us? He’s over 50 yards away!”

“Just do as he says!”

Suddenly a pirate appeared out of nowhere and charged at Gavner from about ten yards away, making such a spectacle. He screamed at the top of his lungs with his sword raised high. Before the creature of the night engaged, he noticed a wooden stake on the man’s belt and stopped in his tracks. A twisted smile returned to his face.

“You fools,” Gavner muttered. “I can hear your breath,” he said, glancing to the pirate hiding behind the barrel to his left. “I can smell your fear…” he hissed to the man trying to creep up on him to the right. Taking a deep breath in, he turned around and leapt at the man behind him, closing the 15 foot gap in one swift motion, grabbing the man and placing him in a rear choke.

“THE SOUND OF YOUR TERRIFIED HEART POUNDING IN MY EARS MAKES ME THIRST FOR YOUR BLOOD!”

In one swift motion, Gavner spun around 360 degrees, lifting the pirate airborne and snapping his neck as the pirate soared, motionless through the air and over the edge of the ship. Gavner sincerely hoped that the man was simply paralyzed and would have to suffer a watery grave. With monstrous speed, the creature of the night savagely closed the distance between he and the charging pirate, snatched the wooden stake off of his belt and buried it deep in the man’s heart before he knew what had happened. The other two pirates ran away in terror.

Calling on a spurt of strength, Gavner leapt 30 feet in the air and landed on the yard of the mainsail, stabilizing himself with a stay. Here, he quietly observed the raging battle. He listened to the chaos of the battle that raged below. The merchant ship was visibly taking on water, and Gavner noticed the enemy captain sending a young Lieutenant below deck.

As the young lieutenant scurried down the ladderwell, Gavner noticed an increasing crowd of pirates surrounding the base of the main mast. “That’s the monster, lads!” a voice said below. “He can’t stay up there forever!” Gavner chose to ignore this and listen for the sound of the young lieutenant’s voice below.

“Gunner,” Gavner heard the lieutenant say from the gun deck underneath the weatherdeck, “Cap’n gave the go’head!”

The pirates below Gavner began to ram the mast with timber and firedthe occasional arrow, which Gavner dodged. He still focused his attention on the conversation below.

“Aye sir! Kill!” A voice responded to the young lieutenant. “Starboard Battery, fire at will you scallywags!”

“Major!” Gavner called. “All forward forces push aft and flank the amidships hostiles!”

“Aye General!” The major called. The major began giving orders to the friendly forces on the merchant ship, and the invading pirates began retreating aft until they were clustered at the base of the Quarterdeck on the Fantail.

“Major, retreat to the enemy ship!” Gavner ordered. “Starboard and aft squads advance!” He called to the merchant marines on the pirate ship. They all began a mighty push forward, shoving the pirates to the forecastle and clearing room for the onloading merchant ship sailors.

“Shadow, NOW!”

Not one second after Gavner gave the command, Black Shadow ordered a barrage of arrows raining down on the consolidated pirate forces who all clustered on the aft of the ship. Fire and fury from above rained from the heavens and down onto the pirates all at once, killing men directly and setting ablaze the deck beneath their feet. Gavner noticed the pirates below, now swaying his mast back and forth. Calling upon another great surge of strength, the vampire leapt from his mast to the merchant ship’s mast mainsail yardarm, closing a distance of over 25 yards, and stabilizing himself with the mast.

Unfortunately for him, however, he landed just as the Black Sails Armada vessel’s starboard battery unloaded cannonfire upon the merchant ship. The payload of several cannons struck a direct hit on the base of the mast and sent it toppling over like freshly cut timber. Just as it fell into the ocean, Gavner leapt off and rolled onto the deck, breaking his fall. Several of the marines aloft fell to their deaths, and some bailed and jumped overboard. Massive chunks of splintered hull and shrapnel soared through the air, making contact with merchant marines, sailors, and pirates alike. Officer or enlisted, friend or foe, object or person-none mattered. The payload ravaged all to their bloody deaths.

“Evacuate!” Gavner shouted “Captain get everybody off this ship!”

“One step ahead of you, general!” Captain Callahan called from the pirate ship. Most of the friendly forces had already evacuated. “Avast resting ye scallywags! Make ‘em taste steel!!”

"I don't know how you do it General," the Major said with a smile. "The men have never been this organized! What happened to your arm?"

Gavner looked down and noticed a deep gouge in his forearm and pearly white fat peeking through. A small pool of sticky black blood formed below Gavner’s soaked sleeve as hot, bitter smelling blood trickled down the back of his hand and stained his pale skin.

“Just a scratch,” Gavner said nonchalantly as he lifted his gaze just in time to make eye contact with the unfortunate officer as an enemy pirate engaged. An enormous mace made contact with the side of the Major's head, and he instantly crumpled to the deck in a lifeless heap.

“Major no!” Gavner shouted as he dropped to the deck to tend to his friend. Looking up, Gavner saw an enormous pirate who must have had the blood of a half-giant. Before Gavner could think, the pirate brought his mace down. His massive weapon swung in vain, however, as a shadowy figure leapt to the General’s rescue and deflected the attack. The figure kicked the pirate in the chest, sending him to the ground. Swiftly, the shadowy figure jumped on the half-giant, sank his teeth deep into the neck of the fallen enemy, and sucked him dry. The savior stood up and produced a torch from the quarterdeck, and hurled it at the powder kegs on the edge of the ship, blowing every single boarding platform to smithereens.

Vir Fortis turned to face Gavner, chin and cheeks covered in the fallen enemy’s blood, and bared his own ebony black teeth in a sick smile.

“You didn’t think I would let you have all the fun, did you General?”