Hestared for a time.
“That’sSoren?”Isaac asked.“The Black Eye, captain of theSilent Saber?”
“Oneand only,” Zaria replied.“I’m spyin’several more of my mates decorating the floor.That’s going on herconscience.”
“Zaria,she’s a bunny.”
“Aye.Fiercest of the waste.”
Helooked at Soren again, just to make sure his eyes were not deceiving him.“She’s abunny.She’s half your height!That’sthe woman you’vebeen terrified of?”
“Justwatch.You’ll see.”
Thethralls had arrived at the palace steps, still launching a fusillade of ice andfire.Soren put two fingers through the side of her snout.A whistle sounded.
All atonce, the pirates struck.
From thepalace, a salvo of quarrels erupted like a swarm of birds.Soren raced out fromthe furniture barricade with a horde of pirates behind her, flinging a knifefrom the bandolier on her chest.One thrall keeled over to the side, the handleof a knife jutting from deep in his ear, and the next thrall barely had time toturn before the bunny was impaling him at a sprint, both of their bodiessailing across the pavement.With a graceful twist, Soren used the dying humanas a springboard to launch herself into the air, her powerful bunny legsletting her reach a wide falling arc onto the next thrall.She smashed thehuman into the ground, visibly denting the skull with a kick of her bootlesspaw.
Thethralls did not panic.They began flinging elemental spells at their flankers,turning as rigidly as a statue on a pedestal.The rest of her pirate crew beganto hack at the ends of the thrall’s offensive line—meanwhile, Soren dashedstraight into the center, dodging several lances of ice.She chopped off thearm of a thrall with a single strike, kicking him into another caster.Isaacstruggled to follow her speed.In seconds, her white fur was soaked a shiningred, her tall ears flailing, the bodies falling around her like wheat on aharvest.
A fewsteps away, the last remaining thrall was in the middle of performing amnemonic gesture when her body seized, her skin shriveled away, and her limbswent limp beneath her.The puppeteer had chosen to suck the slave’s energy intothemselves.
Theywere admitting defeat.
Soakedin blood, outlined by the flaming skulls behind her, Soren strolled up to theshriveled husk, her white-furred paws leaving red streaks on the pavement.Thehuman girl was still twitching on the pavement.They were alive.The sigil on their head was dark.Weakly, the girl attempted toraise a hand, as if begging for mercy.
Sorengave a single slash of her sword.
A headrolled away.
Suddenly,the palace courtyard was silent.The only sounds were the faint crackle of thebarricaded furniture, which had been set alight with magical flame, mixed withthe groans and pains of the injured.A lion whimpered at his frost-bitten arm.
Ahead,the palace of skulls burned silently, their eyeless sockets staring raptured atthe sky.
“Tendthe wounded!”Soren yelled, her voice echoing down the necropolis.She strolledaround the pool of fallen humans, impaling each at a time.“Man the perimeter!I want double watches!Blackpowder rigged at every entrance!If a single humangets through them walls again, you’ll be sucking maggots for grub!”
“Aye,capt!”several shouted, racing to the ends of the courtyard.
“Larkin,fix the blasted cannon!”
“Capt!”
A malehyena went sprinting over to a mound of ice, which Isaac only now realized hadencased a wheel-mounted cannon, along with a gathered pile of chain-shot.Thepirate stared for a moment, clearly unsure what to do, before deciding to chopwith a hatchet.
“She’sfucking down here, lads!”Soren yelled, reaching the end of the human thralls.With a casual stroke, she spilled the guts of a young mage, slicing him likethe skin of a sausage.The human twitched and grasped.“I promise you!You keepyour mettle, you’ll find your vengeance!Glory don’tcome without cost!”
“Aye,capt!”all the pirates shouted.
For amoment, the bunny studied the dying human at her feet, as if something abouthis feeble gasps was catching her interest.Isaac leaned up on the shoulder ofthe golem.Soren jerked her head, catching the movement.She looked right athis position.
He saw,for the first time, that one of her eyes was completely black.
Isaacducked behind the golem, terrified.
“Youlittle shit!”Zaria hissed.
“Sorry!”
