Most of the troops had been armored up, with a couple of new faces who were from the room where I woke up. They looked like they had had better days, being half beaten to hell. The healing was going slowly. Better than nothing, but mana didn’t grow on trees, and getting people even a little combat-ready was better than being fully healed if we needed the numbers.

  Kaylie came over with Carrick’s wife’s armor, a sword, and a knife for me. “Let’s get you fitted up. Jack said to give this woman’s armor to you.”

  “Holy crap. How did you know I came in this armor? And how can you tell it’s a woman’s armor?” I questioned. “Seriously, it looks the same.”

  Kaylie looked at me and smiled a sly grin. “Oh, that is cute. I bet he didn’t know it was the armor you came in, but I’m going to tell him now. We can discuss armor specifics later. They could come crashing through the door at any moment. We want to be as strong as we can for when the time comes.”

  The Dwya got knives to fight with. It wasn’t much, but Kaylie was right. She helped me get into my armor. I was the last one still suiting up when the door at the end of the hall opened to a surprised soldier looking directly at all of us. As he was about to yell, he got an ax in his forehead.

  “Time is up. They either sent him to check on these people or as a guard shift. Either way, we are out of time. Fighters upfront, mages second, those who aren’t fighters wait in the back for opportunity attacks. Alf and Kaylie with me,” Jack commanded, and people started moving positions while he grabbed his ax.

  I still had one more greave to put on, but I decided to leave it off for the moment, as I didn’t have time. I dropped it to the floor, stuffed my knife in my belt, grabbed my sword, and tried shifting between people to get to the front in this narrow hallway. It was challenging as everyone else was trying to do the same, and there was just enough room for one person to walk down the hall comfortably, or two uncomfortably. It was fortunate that they stored goods on the bottom level, or they would have made it even tighter.

  When Kaylie and I arrived at the front, I was surprised to see her brother move to the back. When it seemed everyone else was in their proper place, Jack said, “We only have two places left on the next floor: the mess hall and the berth. The berth will be tight quarters, but our main fighters should be upfront, so we should have the surprise and no issues. The mess hall should have only a cook and possibly one or two assistants. We will ignore that. We will also have the top deck. We will split into two groups, hitting the top deck and the berth at the same time.”

  I interrupted, “I think we should have someone hit the kitchen. If there are people there, we don’t want them coming up on our flank. As of now, we can guarantee safety from behind, and I want to keep it that way.”

  “Okay, Alf and Kaylie will hit the mess hall and join us when they are done with the cook,” Jack said, rolling his eyes. “Remember, we only have a moment of surprise. Make it count.” He turned, opened the door, and slowly walked up the stairs as silently as he could. We all followed him, wrapping around the stairs. I realized then that if we got trapped below, there was no way to get above with this type of staircase. They could hold us off the best they could, blocking the passage off and making it to their island for reinforcement. We needed to get to the top deck quickly.

  I thought about absorbing the guard who came down the stairs, but I figured I would have time for it later.

  We walked down the hall, and he pointed to me, then to a door I believed was the mess hall. I didn’t know how he knew. He could have been guessing for all I knew, but Kaylie and I still headed to the right door. The other group split into two, with one part heading toward the door at the end that led upstairs, while the others turned left toward the sleeping chambers. The group started moving up the stairs at the front to get ready, and Jack raised his hand with an open palm, pushing it up and down two more times. On the third time, he pushed his hand forward and entered the room without screaming. I’d guess that was their local way of saying ‘one, two, go.’ Either way, I got the gist and followed suit by opening our door silently.

  When I got in, I realized that half the ship might have been in this room. It was not just a lonely cook or washer, but the place was packed. I was guessing it was lunchtime. One of the people who saw us stood up, and I said, “Blast them with fire. They are grouped.”

  “Ships are made out of wood and wood burns,” Kaylie pointed out.

  On the bright side, it didn’t look like anyone brought swords to lunch. A couple had daggers, but not everyone. While I was talking, they were grouping up, and people shouted, saying things like, “Get them!” and “How did they get here?” The useless stuff everyone said.

  As they started to get closer, I swung my sword. It was a lot longer than anyone could reach, and it would be a decent deterrent from rushing at me all at once. “We can’t let them get out, or else they will get real weapons,” I said to Kaylie. I felt a rush of adrenaline as I stared at our enemy.

  They grew closer, but no one was in striking range. One person lunged at me, and my sword cut cleanly into him. With no armor, they were nearly defenseless. As I was thinking, someone from the other side decided to lunge at my back when I was stabbing the other person. Kaylie, however, spoke some words and sent a concentrated fireball into his chest.

  “See, you can use fire,” I said, happy I was unharmed.

  “No area of effect spells. It’s just like you. If I attack, I leave myself open since I can only attack one at a time. We are just going to have to cover each other and hold out as long as we can,” Kaylie stated, while the other slavers still held back, afraid to be the next one with a fireball to the chest. But one of them, old but muscular, stepped forward.

  “Listen up, men. We’re facing two options here. If we charge at them together, some of us might get hurt, even killed, but our healers can take care of the majority. However, if we let them pick us off one by one, we’re all as good as dead. So, when I count to three, we’re going to rush them.” While he was talking, Kaylie was murmuring under her breath. All concentration was on the speaker since no one could do anything at the moment. “One, two.” Kaylie stopped muttering and burst into flames. “Three.”

  They all rushed in at once. I slashed one across the throat, a clean kill, but my second strike only hit someone’s arm and chest. He screamed, grabbed my sword with both bare hands, and suddenly I couldn’t move it. A flood of bodies crashed into me like a wave, driving me down. With a last burst of strength, I shoved the sword deeper into his chest and let go as they piled on top of me.

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  As I hit the floor, something sliced into my leg, sharp and fast like fire running across my skin. Then a blade stabbed into my shoulder from the front, hot and deep. I cried out. But luck was on my side for once, as they were too crammed together to finish me off quickly. None of them wanted to stab their own.

  That’s when I remembered my dagger.

  I yanked it free and drove it into the eye of the man in front of me. He was trying to hold himself up, one hand planted on the floor, the other still gripping the knife buried in my shoulder, but with people pressing behind him, he couldn’t move. He just stared at me as I pushed the blade into his skull. His weight slumped onto me, dead.

  The next man came fast. I stabbed him in the gut, and he collapsed too, screaming as he fell on top of the last. Another body came down, then another, until I was buried in a pile of limbs, armor, and blood.

  One of them crawled forward. It was the man I’d stabbed through the chest earlier, the one who had grabbed my sword. He was still alive. Still furious. His face was slick with blood, and I don’t know how he was even moving.

  My sword was still stuck in his chest, and I thought about grabbing it out, but there was not enough room to do so with so many bodies packed in around us. With his free hand, he drew a knife and tried to drive it toward my face.

  I did the only thing I could. I threw my hand into the path of the knife.

  It plunged through my palm. I screamed but managed to grab the blade with my other hand. My blood mixed with his. One hand gripped the steel where it sliced my flesh, and the other was pierced clean through. He copied me, locking both of his hands onto the knife, and started to push.

  He was on top. He had leverage. He had both hands.

  I had one and a half.

  I wasn’t going to win this. His hands were torn to ribbons, blood dripping onto my chest, but he kept pushing. I could feel the edge shaking closer to my face.

  Blood trickled down the knife into my eyes. My vision turned red, then black. It was hot, salty, and thick in my mouth. I couldn’t see anymore. All I could do was feel.

  I heard the door break open behind me, then shouts and crashing, more chaos, but I didn’t look. I couldn’t.

  The blade inched closer. I could feel it in the air, humming just above my skin.

  I couldn’t win. Not like this.

  So I gambled.

  I shoved my impaled hand forward, clamped it around his wrist, and activated Soul Absorption.

  We both screamed.

  Not like before, not in pain from wounds or blood. This was deeper, sharper. The pain from my leg and shoulder? Gone. The blade in my palm? Nothing. All of that vanished beneath the raw, tearing agony of the soul being pulled from the body.

  It was pain that lived in the bones, in the mind, in the memory. It was like dying over and over again, every piece of who we were getting shredded.

  Then, a sword plunged into the man’s back, straight through his heart, through his chest, and into my shoulder.

  It hurt. But that pain felt like relief.

  Because the soul-tearing stopped.

  The torment was gone.

  And so was he.

  I lay there in a daze. People continued to fight, but I couldn’t pay attention. Eventually, it died down, and Jack came over to me and rolled the body off me.

  “Sorry I stabbed you, but it looked like he was going to kill you. What was he doing to you? Lightning Magic? It seemed he was electrocuting himself a little bit as well, but not nearly as much as you. Anyway, it looks clear here. It seems like you had the most fun out of all of us. I’m jealous. Sorry, but we have to go help the others above deck.” He then shouted to the rest of the people, “When you are ready, meet me above board.”

  I could hear almost everyone moving to follow him. Some people, like me, were too injured to do anything.

  I spat the blood from my mouth and tried to clear my eyes. It took a lot of effort to get both of them into decent shape. I could still taste the blood, and my vision was clear enough, but neither was comfortable. I was grateful for Jack pulling the bodies off of me, or else I wouldn’t have had the strength to do anything. When I looked around, there were dead bodies everywhere. Two of our people were in armor, but they were lying against a wall, breathing hard with their eyes closed. I couldn’t be sure of their injuries, but for now, I needed to deal with mine. I reached over to the nearest body and activated Soul Absorption.

  Nothing happened.

  What the heck? Did I use it too much or something?

  I looked over and realized it was the person who died while I was using Soul Absorption.

  “That isn’t going to work. You already used it on him,” Rabbit said.

  “I don’t feel like it healed me like last time I used the ability,” I replied in my head.

  “It helped you out a lot,” Rabbit explained. “You should be glad Jack killed him when he did. Otherwise, you would have died, and this guy would have been alive. Your health was plummeting fast when you did that, and it seemed as though you were going to lose. My guess is, you were a lot lower-level than him, and also because he was sapient and could probably fight you better than a dumb snake that responds to instincts. When Jack stabbed and killed him, your health skyrocketed.”

  “Skyrocketed? I am nearly dead here,” I complained in my head, and put my hand on another body and activated my ability. A flash of relief flowed over me that quickly faded.

  “You were so badly hurt that you're still close to death even after the soul's boost. My suggestion is never to do that to a living person again. But, hmmm, it did give you more experience, so maybe it’s a good thing,” Rabbit said. “I wonder what would happen if we died during Soul Absorption. Would that have an impact on your soul that I could quantify? Oh, we should try that.”

  Rabbit was insane, but there was nothing I could do about it. I put my hand on the next body and activated Soul Absorption. The relief was even greater this time, and it lasted longer. I had the strength to sit up. When I got up, I saw that a knife was still in my leg in a not-so-nice position. It seemed like it was shoved in and jostled around, so it was not a clean stab at all. It looked like a blind person was performing surgery on me with a machete.

  I scooted to the next person, pulled out the knife from my leg, and absorbed the next soul. The wound on my leg began to close immediately. I checked my hand, and that wound was already healed.

  “I’m guessing healing works intelligently. It prioritizes the most urgent injuries, such as stopping blood loss, by working in conjunction with your natural healing process. Consider how your body responds to a wound: first, it clots the blood, then forms scabs, and eventually regenerates the skin. Remember when Carrick busted your skull? The critical damage healed first, but it still took time for everything to recover fully. I think the same principle applies here. The magic fixes the most life-threatening issues first, then continues strengthening you over time. Now, go grab another body and see how you feel,” Rabbit suggested.

  I got to the next body and used my Soul Absorption. This time, the relief lasted, and I felt a lot better. It must be because all my external wounds were dealt with. I did this with three more bodies and felt right as rain. The curve for feeling better was steep, and I wasn’t good after the first several bodies, but now that I had gotten to my baseline, I felt ready to battle again. I absorbed a couple more corpses, just in case, and left the rest for later, then went to fight. When I was about to leave, I looked back at the two villagers who were still in the room. Both of them were passed out at this time.

  “That one looks terrible. You should stop his blood loss. He isn’t going to last another ten minutes like that,” Rabbit said.

  I agreed, seeing that the guy was on the verge of death. When I reached him, I noticed most of his blood loss was coming from his leg. I tore some cloth from a dead sailor and tied it tightly around the wound, hoping to slow the bleeding. He had other cuts, but none seemed too serious.

  The other soldier had taken a sword to the gut. He seemed to be resting, trying to push through the pain, but he wasn’t in immediate danger of dying. Without magic, he wouldn’t last long. He needed to survive long enough until the battle was over and someone could heal him.

  I took a deep breath, knowing this battle was just the beginning. There was still more fighting to be done, and we were far from finished. With resolve hardening in my chest, I got up and left the room.