One Last Knight. A Series of Short Stories.

Six years before the current day. 

Operation Number: #08162024.

Location: Shoreline of Western Suidelain. 

Team Size: 001.

Unite Dispatched: Night Guard Petty Officer Himora Amir. 

Target: Singular Fishing and Hauling Sloop.

Crew Size: Unspecified. Rough Estimates land around 8-15.

Captain: Unknown. 

Pirate Banner: Crimson Bank Boys. 

Infraction: Sanction #1223.92 IOFT. Illegal Oceanic Fish Trade. 

Vector of Approach: Nocturnal. Subversive. 

-----

Himora kicked his feet quickly and steadily as he followed behind the mid-sized fishing vessel in the dead of night. 

His strength was that of at least four healthy men.

A rough estimate at best.

A low ball for a Shell-kin. 

The Sloop cut through the warm, salty waters of the Sunder Sea under a blanket of stars, leaving a glowing trail of bioluminescent algae in its wake.

This was to Himora's advantage, as the living microorganisms helped to mask not only his physical approach but more importantly, his Aether signature.

Most ships of this size or greater were known to keep at least a single Nautical Mage aboard. A practice that had been made common by the expected influx of piracy that came with the fishing and trade season. These specialist-trained Mages are treasured across the seas for their ability to read the ocean's Aetheral currents and aid in everything from navigation and weather survivability spells, to ship maintenance and flat-out combat.

The Crimson Bank Boys were not known for their usage of spells during combat and raids. Their way was more aligned with the blade and the bow.

The more direct and forward approach. 

The men aboard the ship were shuffling about in the dark tending to their task, pulling and emptying nets full of illegally gained fish and other inadvertently snared sea life into the opening that lead directly to the belly of their vessel. 

They were too occupied to see what was to come.

Himora was too efficient of a Scout to let them. 

This particular ship was a local gang vessel known as the Skinky Dink. It was one that Himora and his fellow Scouts had heard reports of, as it was one for not only illegal fishing but brutal and unforgiving piracy as well. 

Its Captain and crew were the type to simply and quickly board and kill.

No questions asked.

No care for the ship's banners raised or flags flown.

No mind paid to how useful the cargo may or may not be.

Their way was so cruel that many had come to believe that the men aboard may very well not be men at all, but some cold and hateful crew and unrelenting and undead sea dogs. The risen bodies of the long-dead worst of the worst that the world had to offer. 

The meanest and most immoral that even other pirates feared. 

Those who had been forced overboard, or killed in vicious ship battles. 

But alas, they were but human.

Not Hell spawned.

Not demon-possessed.

Not even Humanoid.

They were just a compilation of the dirtiest, grittiest, most hard-edged cutthroats that the sea had to offer. Even with the likes of Windrom and his crew about...

And tonight, they were Himora's target. 

The water rushed by Himora as he shot through the ocean, catching up beside the ship as it went about its business, the crew still fully unaware of his presence. 

He would make this as quick and clean as possible.

He didn't enjoy taking lives.

He had the tendency to utilize mostly nonlethal techniques unless the situation called for more.

So skilled he was.

But these men were evil.

Morally beyond redemption or simple arrest.

They had to be whipped from Enverdolmal for the greater good. 

Too many ships they had sank.

Too many lives they had taken.

Too many dorpies, small towns, and cities missing their goods, crops, and other material things.

The Night Guard had been deployed.

Himora and his men would cull this threat, and this was the final ship that bore the crimson and black flag of the C.B.B.

Their Captain would be aboard...

He was the worst of them all.

The man had nowhere else to hide.

This was the last ship in his entire fleet, and he was desperate for one last score.

One last big haul before he would make his way off into the sunset.

That is where Himora would come in.

He didn't care for taking lives, no.

But that part of this fight, Himora would enjoy.

Taking down the last of these dogs.

With his death would come the peace that this region needed. 

With his death would come the promotion that Himora sought.

He angled his body upward as he swam, leveling out on the port side of the ship just a meter below the surface and three times that from the vessel's side. 

He rolled over onto his back and took a good look at that approach.

All was clear, the fishermen would be at starboard then, he thought to himself as he readied himself for the fight ahead.

He gave one last glance up at the stars that twinkled high above what would soon be a scene of carnage and death before he rolled onto his stomach and dove rapidly.

He would be sure to give the heavens a show. 

Reaching the desired depth, he waved his arms to either side to align himself with his target before he began to kick his legs at full power, shooting up and out of the water like a breaching dolphin. 

-----

The Skinky Dink sped along, skimming across the waves as it did.

The night was warm and humid.

The fish were biting quite well. 

One more good haul, and they would call it night. 

They had been up and down the coast for the better part of the night with no opposition from any Suidelain naval authorities or worse, the Shell-kin. 

This had been a good night thus far.

At the rear of the ship, a single pirate stood vigilant as the rest worked diligently at the fines and nets.

One of his hands rested on the horn that hung from his hip next to his sword, the other gripped an ornate telescope that he held to his eye as he slowly scanned the ocean behind them for tailing ships.

Suddenly his vision was fully obscured in what seemed to be solid black. 

He dropped the telescope, drawing forth his horn as he did, swiftly bringing it to his lips.

The single swordsman flew by him just as he went to blow into the device.

The man took a single step backward.

His hand, head, and horn fell away as a sword composed of stone sharper than any steel known to man sliced clean through his wrist and neck.

His headless body fell to the deck in a bloody heap.

The lone figure was long gone before then.

A group of four -who were tugging at a heavy net near the rear of the ship- relinquished the task and drew their crude swords as they caught sight of the approaching figure.

The encounter was quick and dirty. 

The blue-skinned man landed in a roll a yard before the men, coming up and out of it in a spin and deadly flurry between them without losing any of his forward momentum.

Two of the four fell to the deck as he rose, their legs sliced from beneath them at the knee and ankle. 

Himora's Deep-stone khopesh gleamed in the moon light with the blood of his adversaries. 

The two men who remained fell back, twirling their swords before them defensively while shouting as they did for reinforcements.

By this point, the entire ship had been alerted to the presence of the Shell-kin Scout.

Had they maybe spotted him on his approach while he was still in the water, they would have had a few moments to prepare.

They had not, so they would not.

They would live or die as they were.

And they did.

Several of the men drew bows and notched their arrows, while the rest yanked swords, dirks from belts and sheaths

The handful of archers let loose.

Himora's reflexes were beyond what they could have ever imagined.

The Oceanic Scout aimed and fired his wrist-mounted crossbow at the furthest of the two retreating pirates who in turn attempted to parry the projectile.

He could not, and the five-inch bolt lodged itself into his left shoulder.

Himora yanked hard on the grapple tether line that was connected to said bolt, pulling the man to his right and directly into the path of the rapidly approaching projectiles. 

The pirate was killed near instantly as he was perorated by three of the four arrows, the last slipped passed the dead man, slicing Himora across his left cheek just below the eye. The wound was superficial at best, and before Himora had drawn his third breath, it was fully healed. 

The second and closer of the two decided to take his chances, pulling a dirk from his belt to accompany his short sword before he charged forward.

He came on hard, spinning and swinging his blades in a deadly dance that would have thrown the average swordsman for a loop.

Himora was far from thus, and he saw right through the series of faints and jabs.

He parried the first three blows before skillfully blocking a forth that came from the dirk in the pirates off hand.

The two men's blades were locked for a split second.

A set up.

His right hand shot forward from below, the short sword reaching for Himora's exposed gut.

The Scout simply leapt up and over the attack with a clean summersault, his own sword flashing out as he did with a blow that split his opponents unarmored head in two. He landed nimbly on his feet, crouching low with his right hand up and before him, and his left holding his khopesh in a reversed grip. 

The pirates body hit the blood-soaked deck behind him with a satisfyingly wet slap. 

Before him stood eight men.

Four with bows, two with short swords, one with a pair of dirks, and a single, hulking individual with a twin-headed axe over one shoulder.

Himora hadn't seen this one on his approach or while he had been scouting the ship from some distance. 

While he knew that the ship obviously had to have a captain of some sort, he hadn't been able to identify said individual amongst the lot of pirates that he had saw up till this point.

The man stepped forward, slamming his imposing axe into the deck of his own ship, sending splinters flying in either direction. A swordsmen flanked him on either side.

The archers aimed their deadly arrows. 

The pirate with the duel blades stood where he was, a sly grin on his face.

He spoke before Himora could, his voice a higher pitch than the Scout would have guessed at first glance. It was almost feminine in tone, so light it was.

Himora had a hard time imagining this one passing jokes and the likes among the other gruff and hardy pirates.

He chuckled to himself at the thought, casting it aside as the large axe-wielding man stared him down no more than three meters away. 

"An Oceanic Scout huh?"

He began with venom dripping from his every word.

Himora was taken aback by the fact that the man before him was not speaking.

He leaned to his right, looking around the bulky man to the smaller one who vocalized from behind him. 

"So they sent a Shell-kin for little-ole-me huh? Now ain't that a kick in the melon!"

The large man laughed a deep and throaty laugh as the other six let lose with chortles of their own, flattering their boss while also mocking his size.

He was a man of all but five feet, a fact that had gotten many a man killed for their laughter. He would let it slide today.

He hadn't a choice.

He would normally have such laughter met with either a blade or one last long swim. 

But he needed all of his remaining men at the movement.

Desperately

He kept his cool and spoke on, seeking to strike a deal with who he was starting to realize was not a bounty hunter, but more of a hitman. 

"I am a lot more wealthy than your king would have you believe Shell-man!"

He shouted toward Himora, spreading his arms as he spoke.

"This ship is but a small sloop, I can pay you and yours handsomely to leave me and mine be...huh? what say you Sea-boy?

He said, slapping the fat pouch of coins that hung from his waist as he spoke.

Himora stood from his crouched position silently, sheathing his sword and coming to his full height as he did.

He crossed his arms over his muscled chest.

He could not be bought.

He could not be reasoned with. 

His mission was to lay each and every pirate aboard this ship low, and he would do so.

He spoke, saying only what he needed to. 

Nothing more, or less.

"You have been warned and warned and warned again to stop your illegal fishing and heinous piracy, all to no avail...

And now I -Himora Amir of the Night Guard- have been sent here as your executioner. 

I am my kings hand, and my king has chosen for you, death."

The diminutive captain spoke once more, this time without the venom, but with far less patience. 

"Fine the...negotiations are over and done...you don't seem interested in what I have to say, And I wasn't going to pay you a damn piece of copper no way!

Gut em' boys!"

With that declaration, the axe-wielder grabbed the handle of his weapon in his right hand and charged with a shout as he yanked it from its nook. To either side of him, a sword wielder moved in unison.

13 in total.

Five already dead...

He could handle eight more.

Himora let them come, taking several steps backward as they pushed forward.

The axe-pirate swung with a heavy horizontal blow that sliced several thin hairs from the top of Himora's head as he flipped backward, landing upside-down and on his shoulders with a hand to either side of his head.

As the blade passed over him, he pushed off while kicking upward with both feet in a powerful blow that connected with the brutes chin, snapping his head backward.

Himora's strength was so great that this was an instantly lethal blow, the mans dead body passed beneath him in mid-air, the axe that he had swung continued it course and arched into the path of the swordsman that had been to the mans left.

He was chopped into several pieces, failing to see the blow coming. 

Himora twisted in mid-aid, drawing his razor sharp khopesh as he did.

The last of the three aggressors was not prepared to defend, as the first two deaths had happened well within the span of three seconds. 

Himora's spin had turned his single initial attack into a flurry of such, and the off-put pirate could only hope to block or parry the first two before the third, fourth, and firth strikes found their homes.

The man's body fell away in five pieces. 

Just as Himora landed and completed his turn, the four archers let lose their volley. 

Their leader let loss what sounded like a rat's screeched and charged as the arrows leapt hungrily forward.

Himora whipped his sword into a spin that was faster than the human eye could track, it spun in mid-air, stopping all four arrows with a ring that sounded like a single note.

The captain was but a meter away.

Himora spun into a roundhouse kick, his left foot slapped the blade of his khopesh as its rotation brough it horizontal to his eyes.

The handle end snapped to the right, slamming into the face of the springing captain.

It was a glancing blow, but the Scouts strength was enough to send him into a roll off to Himora's right.

The row of archers moved in unison, notching a second volley of arrows.

Himora kept the momentum from his kick going, reaching out to the ocean with his Aether as he spun.

The archer line fired.

As the arrows closed in, so to did a sudden wave of sea water.

Its timing was thus that it intercepted the arrows just a foot from Himora as he spun once more before landing on nimbly on his feet and thrusting his arms toward the surprised men.

To their horror, not only had the water "caught" their arrows, it had wrapped them around the blue-skinned man twice before returning them to their senders. 

Each man fell dead to a one.

Their own arrows imbedded in either their heart or head. 

Himora turned to face the sprawled captain, his menacing blade to the mans throat.

"Would you have me deliver a message to your fellow pirate crews?"

He asked, his victory making the words ring all the more bitter in the captains ears. 

"Yeah...two..."

The defeated man huffed.

"Fack..y--!"

His final word was cut off quite literally by a swinging khopesh.

The mans head rolled across the bloodied deck and thumped against that of the very first man that Himora had cut down.

"Three and a half then."

Himora said as he kicked over a lantern, spilling its oil and its fire across a tenth of the deck. The ship would be gone within the hour. The water in the hold would keep the captured fish safe until the fire burned enough wood away for the ship to sink. 

He walked over to the railing on the ships portside and gave one last look back at his handwork before he leapt several meters into the air, flipped twice, them slipped graciously back beneath the waves.

His mission was complete. 

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