She paused then when another chain-clad marine spun head first over the rail, trailing blood over the side. A loud splash followed.
‘They were most recalcitrant about divesting themselves of their horrid masks, but in the end my mother’s will prevailed.’
Shurq Elalle frowned. Masks?
The sailors made a mess of things as the Lesser Watered, in her pain and panic, used the sorcery of her voice to command them, and it was some time before the handmaid worked her way through the howling mob. Frenzied rage had shock value, and the crew’s utter lack of the instinct for self-preservation made things rather frantic for a few moments, but there was nothing tactical in their efforts to bring her down. When at last the handmaid stepped over a sprawl of bleeding bodies and approached the Inquisitor, she was breathing hard and sweat stung her eyes.
The woman facing her cradled a broken arm, stood hunched over a dislocated shoulder, and glared across at the handmaid. ‘What manner of demon are you?’ she demanded in a ragged hiss.
‘For an answer to that,’ the handmaid replied with a half-smile, ‘best look elsewhere.’
The Inquisitor scythed out one leg. The handmaid leapt high, swung down, and severed the limb just above the knee. As she came down, her other cutlass cut into the vertical hinge of the woman’s face, splitting it in two. A back-swing with the pommel of the first cutlass slammed into the side of the Inquisitor’s skull, punching through.
Pouring out blood, the corpse crumpled at her feet. The handmaid looked round. No movement among any of the other bodies. Just as Mother taught . She glanced down at the cutlasses in her hands, and then let them fall with a clatter. Pieces of shit . She went looking for her knives.
Hood returned to the deck once they were under way. The once-god of death looked back, frowned at the burning ship in their wake.
‘Would’ve stopped her firing it,’ Shurq Elalle muttered, following the Jaghut’s gaze, ‘if I’d had the chance.’
‘Oh? Why is that, Captain?’
‘Well, that column of smoke can be seen from a long way off.’
‘Indeed.’ And Hood turned to her then, and smiled.
‘I must leave you now.’