Seaweed Man summoned his shade and used it to scout the wreckage. It didn’t antagonize the crabs. Its master’s eyes turned black again as he used it to see. “…We have more than just the large ones to fear. The ship’s been overtaken by a hoard of smaller crabs. I’ve seen them go to work before. Piranhas with claws.”
“Piranhas?” Nakoda asked.
Seaweed Man pretended not to hear him. “We better tread lightly. I can summon a shroud of mist around whoever goes on board to hide their presence.”
“Before we decide anything,” Lilian said carefully, “can you probe deeper into the Seastrike? See whether or not there is anything worth stealing?”
Seaweed Man closed his eyes. He muttered aloud, describing what he saw through the shade’s eyes. He stressed again that the ship’s deck was covered with crabs. Yet the rest of the ship’s levels were comparatively crab free. The captain’s quarters didn’t hold much of any value, but there was another room a hallway down. It contained a large cage, the floor covered with hay, and shackles hanging from the wall.
“The brig,” Alton murmured. “The chains could be useful, if we can get cannonballs.”
“Speaking of,” Seaweed Man said, perking up. “There’s plenty down here in the storage room. There are also cannons and a few barrels. They might still be full of usable gun powder if we’re lucky. My shade has no sense of smell so I can’t tell for sure.” He opened his eyes. They remained black as he continued, “the storage room is crab-free, but the ones above are sure to react to use invading their home. Even with my mist in place, there is no chance of us rolling the cannons across the deck without alerting at least one. Then then another. And then a hundred-”
“Yes, we get it. Thank you,” Lilian snapped.
“Too bad Paco isn’t here right now,” Nakoda sighed. “He could just put the crabs to sleep.”
Alton turned to Lilian. “Little guy’s not wrong.”
She quickly shushed him as she massaged the bridge of her nose. “Alright. I think I have a plan-”
“I don’t like your plans,” Alton grunted.
She shushed him again, more severely this time. “Alright. First thing’s first.” She turned to Belkross. “Belkross, get the rope ready.”
#
Pale mist erupted from both of Seaweed Man’s palms and flowed outward, wrapping around him, Alton, and Belkross. Even though I knew they were there, not ten feet in front of them, my perception of the trio grew fuzzy. “Don’t stray more than five feet from me,” said the strange man. “Otherwise you’ll step out of the mist and-”
“Piranhas with claws,” Alton replied dryly. “Yep. Got it. Come on.”
Shrouded by the mist, the trio hurried down the slope of the hill and climbed up onto the Seastrike’s deck.. Lilian, Nakoda, and I stayed ashore, watching with bated breath. I studied the giant crabs or the many clusters of smaller ones staining the ship’s surface, looking for any sudden movements, but no. The three men managed to reach the back of the ship and disappeared below deck. After that, there was nothing to do but wait.
“So,” Nakoda said, “what are piranhas?”
A smile tugged at the corners of Lilian’s lips as stared unblinkingly at the ship. “Carnivourous fish. Usually swim in schools, swarming larger prey.”
“Oh. Cool.” Nakoda then said in a small, tired voice, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome-”
BOOM!
The blast near-simultaneously accompanied by the sound of splintering wood as a gaping whole suddenly appeared in the ship’s side, towards the front. An arrow than shot from said hole, a rope tied around its shaft. It struck the ground directly between Nakoda’s feet, making the Little Rider squeak in alarm and jump back. He recovered quickly, though now wearing a grumpy expression. He grabbed the arrow, untied the rope, and tied that rope to my saddle. As he did so, a second rope-bound arrow hit the ground, and then a third. Lilian grabbed both and mirrored Nakoda, attaching the ropes to me. All I could do was wait while they went to work. Wait and watch.
The crabs on deck were in a frenzy. Like a swarm of shelled wasps, they flocked together. They swarmed rapidly towards the damage to their home, spilling through the edges into the hole, into the dark-
BOOM!
A second explosion made the hole bigger, sending crabs flying. Seaweed Man and Alton appeared, pushing cannons towards the hole’s edge. The strange man flicked his fingers at the remaining crabs, sending out a spark that set them ablaze with fire. Belkross then appeared, sword in hand while clutching a barrel of gunpowder to his body with his other arm.
With the ropes properly secured, I took steps backwards. The ropes eventually tensed, and I groaned with effort as the weight of dragging two cannons closed in on my body. Seaweed Man and Alton helped, trying their best to push. After seconds that felt like minutes, the cannons finally fell out of the ship and onto shore. We could only hope that they hadn’t been damaged beyond repair by the fall. I didn’t stop to care. The hard part had just started. Pulling these stupid things UP hill. Nakoda tried to help me, bless my brother, by yanking on one of the ropes.
Beyond the ship, the giant crabs had noticed all of the commotion and begun swimming towards us. Meanwhile, the crab hoard was forcing its way into the hole. Alton’s screams suddenly pierced the sky as they swarmed him. He smacked at them, tried to shake them off, but they scuttled underneath his clothes, clawed at his eyes and mouth. Because of having to focus on protecting the barrel he was holding, Belkross barely kept himself from suffering the same fate by cutting the crabs apart with his blade. Yet for every one crab he cut open, four more seemed to takes its place.
Seaweed Man jumped out of the ship and landed near the cannons. “Go! Go! Go!” he screamed back up at the other men. “Come on! Get out of there!”
Alton’s continued wails of agony were the only reply. Finally, Belkross had no choice but to kick the screaming man out of the ship and follow after him. Still covered in crabs, the first mate hit the ground, hard. His screaming was finally muffled by pair of crabs forcing their way into his mouth, cutting apart his tongue with their claws.
Lilian screamed a word of magic. Black fire burst from her fingertips and blasted the crabs off of him. But, like Nakoda before him, this set the man on fire, making him roll back and forth across the sand, in too much pain to scream.
Seaweed Man rushed to his side. “Take my hand!” he screamed, offering it.
Somehow, his mind pushing through the pain for the briefest of moments, Alton reached out and took his hand. Green-white light flowed from it and into Alton, extinguishing the flames, gradually undoing the damage that both the flames and the crabs had done. As his body repaired itself, Seaweed Man grabbed Alton and half-dragged him up to hill to us.
Despite the magic, blood continued to drip from Alton’s lingering wounds. Through a mouthful of bloody sand, half-delirious with pain, he murmured to Seaweed Man, “Don’t know what god you pray to, but he can’t be all bad.”
Seaweed Man just smiled. With crabs, big and small, on our tails, we hurried out of there. Thanks to adrenaline and the others, sans Alton, helping me pull the cannons, we were back in the jungle before the giant crabs made it to shore.
Part of me felt sorry for them. I mean, there you are, just taking a nap, when a gang of thieves suddenly breaks into ship where you babies slept, blew a hole in it, and set some of those babies on fire.
What a bunch of jerks.