For a minute, the pirate vessel settled into the sands,burning and splintered.On the fallen sail, the magical sigil for windcontinued to glow and flutter in the breeze.Isaac felt a moment of relief.
Slowly, the pirates began to emerge.
A sizable fraction of the crew were now clawing their wayfrom the burning wreckage—lions slithering from the broken decks, foxesstomping through the rigging and sails, even a few hyenas scrambling over thespire of the upturned prow.A few of the zoanthropes had previously leaped fromthe ship as it was set to flame, and now they were making their way along thedeep sand, hissing at the heat on their shoeless paws.
As he watched, a legion of activity began to emerge aroundthe fallen ship.Isaac kept his body prone in the sand, despite the burns onhis skin.Many of the surviving pirates were injured, but the vast majoritywere still armed, and he did not fancy his chances trying to outrun themthrough the sand.His best hope now would be to slink away unnoticed.
“There he is!”
Isaac cursed.
Suddenly, several of the walking beasts pointed in hisdirection.A lioness kicked some burning debris out of her way, snarling athim, raising a cutlass into the light of the sun.A male fox used his halberdto steady his balance as he limped across the sand.Two hyenas jumped down fromthe half-buried deck of the ship, baring their teeth and maces.
Isaac tried to get back to his feet, tried to ready himselffor battle, but his strength was nearly gone.He had poured too much energyinto his magic.All he could do was weakly pull himself along the sand, tryingto crawl away.
“Gut him!”the lioness shouted.“Cock to throat!”
“Watch the arms!”the male hyena yelled.“Don’t let himcast!”
Isaac continued to crawl, sand leaking between his fingers.He never imagined he would die this way.He had spent his life preparing forthis mission.He had suffered for years beneath his uncle’s lessons, masteringthe arts of magic and alchemy.All this time, he had hoped to die in battleagainst a fellow mage, not be tortured and cut apart by a band of commonpirates before he had even reached the grave at all.
There would be no one to rescue his father now.It was allfor nothing.
His entire life had been wasted.
They were close.He felt the growl of a lion, the hissing ofa fox.With his hands burning in the sand, Isaac stopped crawling, gathered thelast of his strength, and flipped himself over.
At the very least, they would not stab him in the back.
By now, a male hyena stood above him, blood leaking downfrom his furry fingers onto the haft of his mace.Sharp, half-rotted teethflashed in his snout.He was large enough to block out the morning sun,providing the first bit of shade Isaac had felt in hours.The mace he wieldedwas covered in ornamental flanges and jeweled knobs.It looked ridiculouslygaudy in the zoanthrope’s hands, which Isaac could only guess meant that thehyena had robbed it from an equally gaudy knight.
It seemed like such a stupid way to die.
Was this really it?
Isaac had studied battle injuries.He knew how easy it wasto crush a human skull.In the hands of a strong warrior, a mace could be swungwith great force.As the zoanthrope raised the weapon high, Isaac found himselfremembering a lesson on medicine taught by his uncle, identifying the variousbones of the skull.He saw his mentor’s face reflected in the candlelight.
He closed his eyes.
There was a crash behind them.Wood splintered and flew.Themale hyena stopped, his mace drifting down.In the wreckage, flaming debrisbegan to churn behind sections of the hull.
Suddenly, another hyena smashed through the flaming wood.Herclothes were in tatters, forming a loose collection of fabric and leather thatonly barely concealed her fur.Her long mohawk of hair was coated in shiningblood.In her hands, she held a poleaxe, the steel also stained a colorful red,and on her wrists there was a broken set of manacles, the chains dangling downlike a pair of snakes.
“She escaped!”the lioness shouted.
“Get the prisoner!”a fox yelled.
“Kill her!”
The hyena roared and charged, hefting her poleaxe high.Mostof the pirates turned to face her.She swung down at the closest opponent withsuch vicious force that it shattered the haft of his halberd, nearly cleavingthe fox in half down through the groin.She kicked a foot into his chest as thezoanthrope’s legs buckled, yanking her axe blade free with a sliding ofentrails.Two lions moved in to engage with short swords and cutlasses, and shemet their challenge with a screaming sweep of steel.
The hyena above Isaac hesitated.His mace fell further.Fora moment, he could only stare in horror at the rampaging prisoner.
Isaac seized the chance.
He pulled a phylactery from his pack and threw it at thepirate.The glass vial shattered across his chest.Immediately, the leatherarmor began to deform and twist, erupting with a hissing smoke, and the hyena’sconfusion turned to panic as the acid ate down into his flesh.He flailed,dropping his mace, snarling in pain, desperately trying to untie the straps ofhis armor.While he was distracted, Isaac dove forward, grabbing the mace fromthe sand.
He struck the hyena’s knee, feeling a sharp crunch throughthe haft.The hyena screamed as he fell into the sand, twisting in agony.Isaacstumbled over to him, barely able to stand, and lifted the mace above his head.The first blow crushed the zoanthrope’s snout, spraying teeth and blood.Thesecond caved in his skull.Despite this, the pirate continued to gurgle andtwitch.Isaac struck a third time, and the movement finally stopped.
