Battle at Sea

"Brother… Duck!"

Drummen ducked and looked above him as an axe blade sailed over his head. He spun around with his metal staff slamming the staff into the legs of the bandit in front of him. He cursed. "That's your own fault."

He slammed the butt of the staff into the body of another bandit coming up behind him. "You're all covered in metal. What a pity for you." He lifted his hand pulling the metal from the bandit, letting it fly into a small group of nearby bandits. He smiled as they fell into a heap. He shook his head and ran into another group of bandits.

He turned and watched as Cliffhopper slammed his fist into the face of one bandit while pushing his shoulder into another. "Very effective brother… Can you see the captain and the others? I wonder how they're doing?"

"Nope… I bet there on the ship somewhere… Let's finish our warm up on the bandit's ship?"

Drummen smiled and nodded whipping his staff into another bandit's head and ran towards the other ship. He turned around as he stood on the railing and looked around him. He saw the captain fighting off several bandits with a glowing sword. "The captain's got a battery powered sword. We better help him… Looks like they're circling him."

Drummen jumped down from the railing and started to run towards the captain. He stopped and watched as the captain swung the blade around him slicing several of the bandits. "What are you doing? Go take care of their ship… I'm fine on my own here… Their nothing to me and my blade."

Drummen cursed and pulled Cliffhopper with him away from the captain and jumped back on the railing onto the bandit's ship. He swung his staff knocking bandits onto the ground. He stood and wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled at Cliffhopper.

"There's a lot of gold on this ship… I can feel it. It seems these bandits thought we were easy pickings… It seems we'll be doing the stealing today."

"Pity we won't be drinking after… Doesn't matter. Let's go and take care of these bandits."

Drummen nodded as he ducked and took a step back from a bandit swinging his sword at him and slammed his staff into the sword causing it to fall out of the bandit's hand. He shook his head at the bandit. "It seems you have some choices. Grab your sword and die or jump off."

"Crack!"

He lifted his staff and slammed the butt into the deck of the bandit's ship. He looked down at the hole he had just made and shrugged his shoulders. "Seems I've become stronger… I wonder what it would be like if I used my strength against your skull?"

He smiled at the bandit as their mouth fell open and crawled back away from him to the railing. "I'm jumping… See the sword is over there."

Drummen picked up his staff and put it over his shoulders and started walking towards the lower decks. He stood at the locked door and frowned. "Here's the door to the lower decks."

"What's the problem then?"

He turned and saw Cliffhopper punch a bandit across the deck and watched as the bandit jumped into the water as well. "It's locked…"

"Hahahaha! I don't think a simple lock will stop us… Just break it open."

Drummen nodded and kicked the door.

"Bang!"

He sighed as he watched the door crumble into tiny pieces. He looked around at the bandits that were now staring at both him and Cliffhopper. "What? You were attacking us… There's something I want down there, you can either go die or just jump."

He looked at Cliffhopper. "Are you coming? They're not worth our attention."

"Fine… I'm coming."

"Thud."

Drummen ducked as a dagger sailed over his head and landed in the wall of the vessel. He looked at the bandit who threw it at him and shook his head. "That's not how you treat a guest… Bye."

He ran forward, crouched and swung his staff up crushing the bandit's jaw and causing them to fly backwards into the wall behind him. Drummen stepped over him and kept walking forwards. He closed his eyes and lifted his hand taking a long breath. "We're getting closer. It's this way."

He pointed in the direction and looked at Cliffhopper who was staring at the bandit with the broken jaw. "You're right. They aren't worth our attention… That's probably why the captain can take on so many. They're weak."

Drummen kept walking and attacking any bandit he saw until he stopped at a large iron door in the lower decks. He looked at Cliffhopper. "We're here… It's behind this door."

"So, open it. I want some coin to spend on drink and women… Ahh sorry."

Drummen looked at Cliffhopper and nodded. "You don't need to say sorry. I think after some time on the Princess, I'll be back to drinking and women soon."

"That's good to hear… Are you going to open the door, or are we going to be standing here in front of it gossiping like the elders?"

"I wouldn't open that door if I were you?"

Drummen turned around and looked at the bandit standing behind them and touched the wall with his hand. "Why shouldn't we? I know what's on the other side?"

"How do you know? Who told you?"

Drummen looked at Cliffhopper and shrugged. "No one did. I can smell gold, and there's a lot of gold behind this door."

"Hahahaha… There's not just gold behind that door, but also something else. We found a few things, and thought we could tame them… However that failed…"

Drummen looked at Cliffhopper in confusion and watched him step towards the bandit. "Are you the captain of this vessel?"

"Yes… I know what's behind that door. If you want to die, you can open it and see for yourselves. If you don't open it, you can leave here safely, and your vessel can leave without harm."

Drummen sighed and shook his head looking at the bandit captain. "It sounds like your trying to scare us from opening this door, making us leave and miss out on all the gold."

He watched the bandit captain spit and curse. He waved his sword in front of him. "It's a warning lad. You don't think I'm serious, then fine open the door, and see those things rip you apart, just like they did to my men."

Drummen shrugged his shoulders and tapped the door with his fist, listening to the sound it made. "It's quite thick. It would take some time for someone to break it down."

"I'm not giving you the key if that's what you're asking for."

"Hahahahaha. Brother, this guy is quite funny. He thinks we need a key."

Drummen smiled and leaned against the door listening behind it. He looked at the bandit captain. "I'm afraid I don't hear anything behind the door, except for the siren call of gold. You're going to have to do better."

"They're hiding in there. I ordered the men to put them in there with the gold… I'll stand over here, and you open the door for yourselves. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Drummen looked at the door and placed his hand on it. "I think this door would be better stuck in a certain captain… Don't you think brother?"

"Sounds like a fun idea."

He nodded and closed his eyes. "Melt… Change shape… Daggers."

He opened his eyes and watched as the door started to liquefy from the top and dagger points started to grow out of the door. He heard the captain curse and the sound of their footsteps backing up. "Wwwhat if I said this was for the Supreme?"

"Hahahahaha." Drummen heard Cliffhopper laugh and shook his head. "Doesn't matter if it was for him or not. It now belongs to us." Drummen watched as the door continued to melt as the blades of daggers were now seen. He looked between the gaps of the door and smiled. "I was right… I knew I could smell gold."

"DON'T TAKE MY GOLLLLLLD!"

He turned as the bandit captain ran towards them waving his sword around. "It's too late for that." He waved his hand as the daggers were shot out of the melting door and into the bandit captain's arms and legs.

"Thud!"

"You left him alive? What if the captain sees him, and then sees the gold?"

Drummen shrugged. "I just want him to watch us take the gold… After that I'm sure the shock will kill him. That or the vessel as it sinks."

"That doesn't sound like someone from the dome would say at all."

Drummen shook his head. "I've been wanting to vent for some time. This bandit here is helping."

He looked at Cliffhopper's frown and cursed. "Fine…" He waved his hand causing another blade to shoot from the door and cut deep into the bandit captains throat killing him. He turned and looked at Cliffhopper breathing heavily. "Is that better?"

"Yes brother… That's a lot better. Now the gold?"

Drummen nodded and looked at the half-melted door. "See for yourself. There's a lot of it in there."

He investigated the room and smiled. "This will buy us a lot in the future. Maybe our own vessel and crew." Drummen looked at Cliffhopper smiling. "That sounds like a lot of fun, but we should at least give the captain a chest or two. It would make him less suspicious about us."

"Agreed. I'll carry two large chests out, and you do your thing with the rest."

Drummen smiled and closed his eyes raising his hands in front of him. "Gold… Come… Melt… Reform."

He sat on the wooden lower deck and panted heavily. He wiped the sweat from his face and watched with a smile as small rivers of gold made their way to him and condensed into a small bar. "It needs to be smaller. I have to compact it further." He pushed his hands against the bar with his eyes closed. "Smaller… Denser…"

Drummen felt the gold bar in his hands slowly become smaller. He opened his eyes with a smile and pushed it against his necklace which already had a small lump of gold on it. He watched it melt into the necklace and smiled at the extra weight. "It's time to head up…"

Drummen slowly stood up and walked towards the bandit captain's corpse and took their sword. He eyed it. "This should be enough evidence for the others to know that he's dead." He leaned against the walls breathing heavily as he walked back up on deck.

He covered his eyes as he felt bright light shine on him. "He's one of us… Turn the lights off." Drummen felt the bright light fade and rubbed his eyes as he opened them and looked at the captain and Cliffhopper standing together. He walked over to the captain and handed him the sword. "That's the bandit captain's sword. He's dead down below."

"Yes. I heard from your brother here. It seems he was protecting their coins. Good job."

Drummen looked around at the bandit's tied in a corner staring at the sword. He ignored them and looked back at the captain with a grin. "What's next? I'm sure my brother and I deserve a little reward for stopping this fight."

"Hahaha… The both of you are quite funny. You both said that. It seems coins are at the center of your mind. I can see why you have troubles with women. You just flash your coins around the wrong sort."

Drummen frowned and nodded. "Perhaps you're right but being in this crew has been helpful so far. At least can we celebrate tonight?"

"Fine… Lads let's check this vessel and see if we can use it. Put the remaining bandits in a life vessel and send them off somewhere. Tonight, we'll celebrate and have a drink."

"YEEEAHHHH!"

Drummen smiled. "Are we included in today's celebrations?"

He saw the captain smile. "The both of you are going to be the stars of the celebration tonight."