Salt and Blood [A Pirate LitRPG]

Every voyage leaves its mark. Death, destruction, love, adventure, betrayal. Whatever happens on the high seas, a person is forever changed by their experiences. The soul is not simply a reflection of our inner self, but a journal of our lives

-Excerpt from 'The Book of Berelis,' by Jatharis the Tidetouched

Rose stumbled slightly as Everyn smacked into her arms. The prince was wiped out. Blood dripped from his mouth and nose and his eyes fluttered open and shut.

She would need to carry him across, but that was a manageable feat. The only problem would be how many of the damned soldiers would follow after her. Luckily, Daniel and Jason had already reached the other side and begun killing.

There was only a skeleton crew left to man the other ship. In the chaos, almost all of the soldiers had streamed onto the flagship to fight them off.

Perhaps they hadn't known they were only being boarded by a crew of five. Whatever the case, it worked in their favour. She hauled Everyn onto her shoulder and stepped up onto the metal railings of the ship.

As she stepped onto the taut rope, she swayed slightly. Having him over one shoulder wouldn't work. Rose shifted him until he was wrapped around her neck like a human-sized scarf.

For a moment she teetered precariously, the rope wobbling side to side. Then, it snapped still as she found her balance.

You have earned a new skill!
Acrobatics 0 > 1
Acrobatics 1 > 2

Rose wondered why she'd never earned that one before. Too much crossover with Athletics, most likely.

Without delay, she took another step forward. And almost fell to the side as the rope shifted underneath her foot.

Another precarious moment later, she'd found her balance once more. She heard a yell from behind as the closest soldiers raced after her.

Skill up!
Acrobatics 2 > 3

The two women who'd killed Aaron were in the lead, fury burning in their eyes. This wasn't going to work.

At this rate, they would catch up and simply shove her into the ocean. Then again, that wouldn't be a problem for her—Rose felt more comfortable in the sea than on the deck of a ship sometimes.

However, she wasn't sure if Everyn would be able to survive the fall and subsequent swim. She could try to use her blessing, but she was loath to lean on her patron every time she struggled.

Overcoming these kinds of challenges herself would be the crucible in which she forged her legend. Every skill level she gained, every trait, and every bit of knowledge accumulated would arm her for success when she returned to the seas.

She continued walking forwards one teetering step at a time. On her fourth step the rope snapped to one side and she lurched, bending seventy degrees to the side.

The only reason Rose didn't fall off the rope was by sending the dregs of her arcane energy into her feet, allowing them to glue her to the rope. Everyn's weight in her arms, hurriedly slung over the other side of the rope, also helped counter-balance her.

However, Rose realised that was not a sustainable solution. Glancing back again, she saw the reason the rope had twanged was that the first of the soldiers had kicked it right before leaping on with her.

There was only one way she was making it to the other side without having to engage in a clash of cutlasses while balancing and carrying her payload. Carefully managing her arcane energy, Rose directed a constant, thin stream of it towards the soles of her feet.

It was a similar technique to the one used to walk on water. The constant shifting of the rope resembled the swelling of the tides and she instantly felt as if she'd stepped onto the surface of the seas.

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Skill up!
Acrobatics 3 > 4

To her, that was a place she now felt more stable than dry land. The soldier had advanced by two steps and another leapt up behind her. And theirs wasn't the only boarding line.

All along the railings of the ship, the soldiers were beginning to realise their enemies had made an escape. With a deafening chorus of furious battle cries, they began to give chase.

If Rose continued walking step by step, she would be caught in the charge. She inhaled, turning her gaze towards her waiting crew.

Then she ran.

Her first few steps were shaky. She was used to running on the sea, but despite the similarities, sprinting across a taut rope with blood crazed soldiers on your tail was an entirely different experience.

Skill up!
Arcane Attunement 22 > 23
Athletics 19 > 20
Acrobatics 4 > 5

She was used to the constant splashing of whorls now, so much so that they blended into the crashing of the waves below. Running had changed the game.

Rose was already halfway across the boarding line, having left her pursuers in the dust. Not only was she faster, but her arcane empowered steps sent tremors through the rope that made following after her a treacherous affair.

The screams and yells of soldiers falling from the ropes joined the cacophony. In the distance, she saw Jason and Daniel desperately fighting to claim the ship, the clash of steel echoing in her ears.

Another three seconds brought her within a few paces of her destination. At that moment a crack made her body stiffen.

It felt as if a hot poker had been shoved into her ribcage and she gasped for air, the wind knocked right from her lungs. Her head snapped towards the marksman, perched on the railings of the flagship and staring her down through the scope of a rifle that crackled with arcane power at the edge of her senses.

Glancing down at her chest, which was difficult with Everyn's bulk in the way, she saw a stream of blood flowing down her shirt. Inside her chest, sharp and hot lances of pain struck out every moment, like knives carving through her flesh.

There were just two paces between her and relative safety, but as Rose planted her foot, the same way she'd done a hundred times before, her control over her energy slipped.

Skill up!
Arcane Resistance 10 > 11

Rose's mind went into overdrive as her foot fell from the rope. She tried to push with her other leg, but the combined weight of Everyn and the sharp pulses of energy tearing at her lungs sapped her strength.

Knowing that she couldn't stay on the rope, she made a snap decision. With every ounce of physical power she could muster, Rose shoved her precious cargo and launched the prince's unconscious body towards the deck of the ship.

She didn't even have the energy to check if he made it. She'd simply have to pray. The grey metal of the hull raced towards her face.

Rose tumbled head over heels, spinning in the air. She gasped for breaths that came short and ragged. What's happening? Was that an arcane rifle!?

She'd never seen one before. Never heard of one. Perhaps Trent knew they existed, but never bothered to explain.

Maybe he never believed this kind of technology would come to somewhere as far flung as the Bluestone Sea. Rose blacked out for half a second.

Eyes snapped open to face unfeeling metal. Her arm shifted. Her wrist snapped as it slammed against the hull of the ship. She'd stopped her head from smashing into it instead.

Skill up!
Arcane Resistance 11 > 12

Up above her, she heard the jeers and shouts of the navy soldiers. Heard the faint clang of blades as Daniel and Jason fought for their lives.

She couldn't focus on them. She felt it in her very core—she was dying. With every sharp spike of foreign arcane energy that sliced out from the bullet in her chest, her life was cut shorter.

Skill up!
Arcane Resistance 12 > 13

A strange twist of fate. Or perhaps a consequence of her youthful arrogance. Killing two commodores had given her a bloated shield of confidence; the belief that nothing could go wrong in this part of the world after what she'd seen.

Instead, her journey was going to be cut short by a mere marksman. No. Rose refused to allow that.

All that remained of her arcane energy were dregs and drops. Not enough to force the zealous arcane bullet from her flesh.

Skill up!
Arcane Resistance 13 > 14

She could still move her arms. What little breath she'd grasped for was smashed out of her chest once more as she struck the surface of the sea.

Then calm washed over her. She was home. Still dying, but home. Closing her eyes, Rose centred her mind.

Her body was being torn apart, but her mind was a bastion that no invasive energy could breach. Her fingers twitched.

She lifted her arm towards the sky as she sunk into the ocean's depths, as if clutching at the fading rays of sunlight. Her body froze, hand poised and pointed.

Specks of arcane energy coated the tips of her fingers. As she felt her consciousness slipping from her grasp, Rose thrust her hand into the tiny hole left by the bullet, her scream muffled by the endless blue that surrounded her.