Dive (Original)

Force the choice and Iddkk nodded and something exploded. Folk dance battle music — high-energy medieval steampunk, lightning-fast folk reels colliding with cannon fire and laser blasts, a twitchy numbered tin bucket limping in without a word, the sky keeping score and the count always running even when nobody is running it. Clover got a name in one glance. Our gunner's beam barely skimmed their hull. The blast made them choose. Iron roared and grew immune to angry spurn. Iddkk shrugged and looked for something else to burn. Kendry cupped the air and it rippled like liquid smoke — the ship all but cinders beneath the cloak. Clover's hammer stamped the rivet like a muted bell. Iron scuffled with the remaining crew. Steel of old showed something new. Subtraction stole them before they spoke. The monk met captain — violent geometry, a stalemate duel of blades and flying feet. Kendry reached with his mind and missed the wheel and the storm skewer plunged past the keel. Blue-white light flowed from the halfling's spine. The captain's grip slipped. He fell far into the brine. Iddkk saw three men in a row and the beam made them hollow. Bramblefoot daggers drawn — twice as nice. The captain's boot was summarily excised. From below the white flag rose meekly and waved. I've lost count. That's right. Get it Mint.