Claymore and Dagger (closed)

[KieranSoares]

"You fear he might take his own life?" Invah asked worriedly.

 

[heartofcourage]

"He promised he wouldn't, but I've seen him get very down and dark before." Fiona sighed deeply. "He was getting better. Before I left, it was like having my Sam back, but I don't want something to ruin all of that."

 

[KieranSoares]

Invah glanced off west as if toward Scotland. "I think you'll have most of your Sam back in time. He was low... But he didn't want to lose what he knew he needed."

 

[heartofcourage]

"My Da was ready to have words with him." Fiona admitted softly. "I think he would have if I hadn't have needed him more."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Your father may yet have a long conversation with him." Invah's gaze turned forward once more. "And that may be a good thing."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I know Da understands and doesn't want him to take me down the same path that he took my Ma." Fiona murmured. "He's worked hard to change himself."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Luckily for us all, I don't think Sam will follow that path. He would pull himself away before it got that far."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I would never let him take me down that path. I learned the lesson by watching my Ma and Da struggle when I was little." Fiona promised.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Good. I trust him... But it's good everyone's on the same page." Invah looked ahead and seemed to notice something. "... Can you see that?" On the horizon, a tiny white shape was visible.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Is that a ship?" Fiona asked, tilting her head to the side as she saw the small shape that Invah had pointed out. "It's hard to tell."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Those sails are sitting far too low if it is..." Invah drew herself higher out of the water near the ship's ladder. "We'd better take a look. I think I see smoke."

This sudden interest had caught the lookout's attention it seemed, and he was gazing off to the horizon as well now.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona was soon on Invah's back, seating herself in the saddle to get a better look of what was coming up on them. As Invah took off from the water, Fiona reached for a weapon just in case. It was best to be armed and not need it then to be caught off guard.

 

[KieranSoares]

Fiona's saddle was fitted with four weapons that had suited her style and suited riding. A glaive with long reach, a blade and small round shield for close fighting should she dismount, a long-range, fast-reloading crossbow, and a proper longbow.

As they headed out for the horizon, a scene of destruction became clear. A Norwegian longship, a traditionally Viking vessel, was drifting helplessly and slowly sinking, men dead in the water and on the ship save one with only one arm who was bleeding profusely as he struggled to climb the mast.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Dive, Invah." Fiona called to the dragon, holding on as they made a quick decent towards the burning ship. "Grab him if you can. He might be the only one to tell us what happened."

 

[KieranSoares]

Invah swooped down, the stranded man yelping at the sight of a dragon. Invah managed to grab him in both hands, and he seemed to either faint from fear or bloodloss as Invah climbed back into the sky for one last look at the wreckage. There were no other survivors to be seen, and the damage to the ship was strange, like holes had been punched through it, no fire or ballistae.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona surveyed the damage done to the ship and was completely confused. She had no idea what might have been able to cause the damage that she was seeing and that disturbed her greatly. As Invah started back towards the ship, she knew that she wanted to take a closer look at the damage.

"Drop him off and then go back. I want to look closer before it sinks completely." Fiona called to Invah, waiting until she nodded in affirmative.

 

[KieranSoares]

Invah easily placed the man on one of the ships, men rushing to tend the man as Invah turned back. She landed in the water, letting Fiona climb into the ship. Invah herself managed to keep the ship from sinking any further, holding it up for inspection.

Huge holes were blown through the ship, but the only thing Fiona found out of place was a large iron sphere.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona carefully climbed around the ship, ignoring the bodies that littered the floor as she tried to figure out what had caused this kind of carnage. She examined the large metal sphere that had obviously caused the holes in the side of the ship. She had heard stories of large cannons but she had never seen anything like this.

"I don't know what this is." Fiona said as she emerged from inside the ship. "It looks like a Cannon ball but much larger."

 

[KieranSoares]

"A cannon that fires something that large... Culverins, isn't that what it's called? I didn't know ships could even support them. Surely they didn't have many... Any ship large enough to carry a good number of them wouldn't have gotten into these waters so quickly and easily without being seen."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I would imagine a ship like that would be moving rather slowly." Fiona said as she turned to look back at the ship one last time. "So how did it catch a Viking ship?"

 

[KieranSoares]

"I don't know. Unless it was small vessels with a gun or two each, several of them." Invah sifted through some of the wreckage as well, finding a collection of small spheres that were the size of acorns. "... I've never seen shot like this. We're looking at new weapons."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Gather what you can and then we'll set it alight. They deserve a proper Viking funeral for their service." Fiona said softly.

 

[KieranSoares]

Once they finished gathering what they could, Invah gingerly gathered up all the bodies she could find and placed them on the ship. Once Fiona was on her back, Invah regarded the dead for a long moment of respect before she took a deep inhale and let loose a blue inferno that quickly caught and turned orange and red upon the ship. Invah rose out of the water and turned back toward the royal escort. The sailors aboard the ships were armed and ready for anything when they returned, and Christopher, Ulfric, and the Admiral were waiting for Fiona. And it seemed Kjotva had emerged, a blade at her hip as she watched the fire in the distance.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona dismounted with help from Invah and the both of them placed what they had found on the deck for inspection. "There were no other survivors. We sent them off as best we could."

 

[KieranSoares]

Christopher came to pick up the small shot while Ulfric lifted the larger sphere with deep lines of worry showing on his face. "... Black powder weapons, I take it..." He murmured.