Day Eight-Hundred-Three: Meanwhile

Things were not going much better below deck on the Sky Bitch. It would be quite accurate to claim that things were, in fact, spiralling into hell, because engineering was filled with sky dwarves.

Logan knew shit was up the moment a sky dwarf appeared from a portal in the recreational room. The angry purple creature buzzed out of thin air without warning, its pinched-and-paunchy face abruptly replacing that of The Baron. It held a spear in its hands, and it jabbed out at Logan with violent intent. Only Logan’s quick reflexes saved him from being skewered.

“What the fuck!” Logan danced away from the sky dwarf, his back slamming into the wall as the Sky Bitch lurched harshly to one side. He instinctively reached for the sword on his belt, cursing as he realized that the sword was, in fact, in his cabin.

“Sky dwarf!” The Baron cried, unhelpfully. He backed away from the table, his useless hands flailing. “This is Kierkegaard’s doing!”

“Ya think?” Logan yelled back.

A second sky dwarf appeared from the portal before it snapped shut. The first plodded across the table towards Logan, its three-toed feet slapping against the table harshly. Its buzzing threats stung Logan’s ears, and its baleful red eyes promised a bloody future. Its spear darted out at Logan again and again, and judging by the older man’s cries, Logan suspected The Baron was receiving a similar treatment from the other sky dwarf.

Sliding neatly past a particularly vicious thrust of the spear, Logan punched the sky dwarf in the left eye. Its eyelid pinched shut, and the creature screamed as it lurched backward, wings buzzing displeasure. Logan used its momentum to push it onto its companion, and both sky dwarves yelped as they tumbled off of the table and rolled onto the floor. The Baron fled across the room, scurrying behind Logan’s back.

“Thanks for the help, ya twat!” Logan elbowed The Baron in the side. “Just GTFO if you’re gonna hide! You’re in the way!”

“I’d be fine if I had my hands!” The Baron waved his broken fingers at Logan. “Blame Emmett!”

Extricating themselves from one another, the sky dwarves rounded on Logan. He used their disorientation to his advantage, flashing forward with incredible speed and smacking both dwarves with quick, stinging slaps. They roared irritation and pain - and when the left sky dwarf’s grip on its spear faltered, Logan was quick to snag the weapon. Two swift stabs left the dwarves with holes in their throats, and they collapsed in a heap.

“What a shitty weapon,” Logan said, glaring at the short, crude stick in his hands. “Your penguin is a fuckin’ cheap-ass when it comes to weapons, old man. I’m pretty sure this tip is made of stone.”

“Sky dwarves are just a distraction,” The Baron insisted, panting. “Which means - “

The ship rocked again, sending The Baron sprawling. Screams of surprise, pain, and battle rage floated down the corridors of the Sky Bitch, accompanied by far too many familiar buzzes. Staggering but maintaining his balance, Logan pulled The Baron off of the floor and pushed his former mentor out of the room.

Chaos waited in the corridors. Sky dwarves had apparently infiltrated nearly every section of the Sky Bitch, riding in through Kierkegaard’s portals and attacking the crew. As he righted himself in a passage leading to the galley, Logan spotted his father at the far end of the corridor, weaving around the thrusts of a sky dwarf spear and lashing out with strong punches. Cedric stood beside Jeffrey, a spear jutting out of his shoulder and apparently forgotten, a sky dwarf wriggling in his lupine claws. He slammed the creature against a bulkhead, and it bit at his arm as it died.

“Dad!” Logan called, wincing as Jeffrey’s opponent nearly put its spear through Jeffrey’s bicep. “Uh, maybe now’s not a good time.”

Sidestepping, Jeffrey lashed out with a right, the careful movement of his legs giving the punch more heft. The strike sent the sky dwarf slamming into the wall, apparently knocking it unconscious, and Jeffrey shook his hand, grinning. “Ow. Ow. Those things are hard.”

“Looks like somebody finally grew into his pubes,” Cedric growled, though he was grinning. “Damn. Wouldn’t mind sparrin’ with you some day, Jeffrey. That was a nice move.”

“Don’t think we’re well-matched anymore,” Jeffrey pointed out, glancing at Cedric’s hulking body. “What’s going on? One minute we’re talking, the next, these ugly creeps are attacking us!”

The Baron, still creeping behind Logan, jumped into the conversation. “Kierkegaard. He must have gotten the drop on us. I would recognize his portals anywhere. Which means he may also be on the ship - “

The Sky Bitch rocked again, turning the rest of The Baron’s sentence into a yelp as he fell into a bulkhead. Logan joined him, grabbing a guardrail, and as they stumbled against the wall Jeffrey and Cedric followed suit. So when Eve appeared and launched herself down the corridor, followed closely by her enormous brother, they had a clear path through the crowd.