’Pendo’.
A slur used by the people of the Fredel Empire, referring to anyone from, well, not the Fredel Empire.
Remus wasn’t exactly sure what it meant, and he didn’t feel like asking the approaching captain. But he imagined that the term was not complimentary.
The captain thrust out his saber during the charge, desperately trying to stab Remus. The knight was already adjusting his footing, angling around as he grabbed the idiot’s sword wrist, flinging him forward, encouraging his momentum.
The Fredel man nearly fell over, his weapon falling too close to the box. With a shriek, he diverted himself in time, the saber piercing into the ship’s deck. It was then the captain noticed a glaring issue.
The box was in the null field.
Despite the ship’s deck being coated in the purple light, it didn’t go underneath the box, but over it. The once dull carved symbols of the box now emitted a dreadful light. As if in a pushing fight against the purple null field, the lights blinked beneath the null blanket.
"End him. Quick! We have to turn off the field!" The captain shouted, eyeing the box in the panic. The rest of the crew were already throwing themselves at Remus, some with daggers, others with balled fists and swinging punches.
The issue for them was that they were total amateurs reacting in panic.
’This box has really spooked them.’ Remus thought calmly, adjusting himself to avoid a dagger slash from the first crewmate. All of them had started from different distances, charging towards him.
He was unarmed. They could have easily spared a moment to form up properly and surround him.
’Captain Jackson, in a drunken stupor, could have marshalled better.’ Remus thought bitterly.
’Ah well.’
As he avoided another quick slash from the dagger, Remus shot out his right hand in a half-fist, a strike straight to the man’s solar plexus. His eyes bulged, his form staggered. Remus easily grabbed his wrist, rotating the dagger out of it into his own grasp.
Within the same forward step, he swished his new dagger in a savage sweep, cutting through the side of the man’s neck, stepping past him.
The next crewmate was moments behind the slain comrade. Remus met up, angling around his flailing dagger swipe. The knight stepped into his space after the attack, gutting and tearing him effortlessly. The man flung his dagger back round, more out of shock than anything. Remus easily collected it, ignoring the near-corpse as he collapsed, Remus passed him.
Now with two daggers, he was ready for the remainder of the crew. All four of them had rallied around the captain, sensibly approaching together.
Two daggers were ideal, but he was going to need to think outside the box. Or more specifically, on the box.
As the four of them started to spread around his sides, Remus flung one of his daggers in their direction. They briefly flinched, before freezing as they realized the dagger sailed past them, in the direction of the box.
Turning round, mouths open in sheer horror, they then saw that the dagger landed neatly into the ship’s deck just before it.
Before they could turn back round, Remus was already upon them, opening the throat of the first brawler, then onto the next, cleanly cutting him in the same place. As they collapsed, Remus took his weapon, now once again wielding two daggers.
Positioning himself, Remus slowly raised his two daggers in each hand. His expressionless face took in his remaining two opponents.
The captain and first mate were seething, raising their own weapons, but didn’t budge, biding their time.
Neither side took their eyes off the other.
"We need to get that field down before the box breaks." The captain urged, harshly whispering out of the side of his mouth to his first mate.
Remus then did the last thing either of them expected. As the fight had begun, he had people coming at him from all sides. Now that they were at the final stages of the engagement, either side occupied one half of the boat.
The knight was on the side with the helm.
He turned and gracefully flung one of his daggers to a spot on the cabin wall, a glowing purple spot that was emitting the border of purple glyphs. The dagger bit into the wood and hung there, its bite disrupting one of the enchantment markings.
The purple across the boat disappeared, the null field deactivated.
Both of the remaining ship members spun their heads and glanced at the box. The light from the symbols was fading, the box calming back down to normal.
A heavy sigh was shared between both of them.
But then they stopped breathing, comically at the same time as they looked at each other, remembering why they activated the field in the first place.
Remus waved his hand lazily, muttering a chant.
The first mate’s head popped like a grape.
Blood and gore splattered right into the captain’s face, the headless body collapsing to the deck floor.
The captain slowly turned, looking back to Remus, quivering in unrestrained anger.
"Now. Answer my questions, or you get a quick death like that." Remus began politely. "Refuse, and it will be a long death. A very long one."
The captain didn’t even pause for a moment to think about it, he leaned forward and spat in Remus’s face.
The knight repeated his spell and crushed the captain’s head as well.
The long death was just a bluff.
Neither of them had time for it.
Lifting the side of his cloak, he wiped the blood and spittle off his face.
Stepping over to the ramp, he made his way down to the pier, calling for Jack and Gus. Both of his companions exited the warehouse, Jack swaggering with two brushes resting on each shoulder, whistling.
Gus was still basically naked, tinkling in the rain. Although one would argue this was technically his annual bathing.
"All sorted?" Jack called, approaching him. "Heard some shouting."
"All sorted," Remus responded, indicating the vessel beside him. "I need you and Gus to take your boat out, I’ll follow on this."
"Right you are, Remy." Jack nodded, turning and setting off down the docks.
Gus just scowled after him in a chorus of jingles, his shivering intensifying.
Making his way back onto the ship, Remus approached the box. Now that he had a proper moment to inspect it, he spent a good few minutes investigating all the glyphs. It really was stellar work, incredibly advanced and completely wasted on a plain wooden box.
Searching in his spatial storage, a small square of glass appeared in his hand. It was about the size of a large envelope. Around it was a crude and thin metal frame, covered in markings. One might think this was a miniature Distantia Mirror, but they would be mistaken. Something that complex couldn’t be compressed down into a smaller format, at least not yet.
This particular artifact had a different function. It allowed the viewer to spy through enchantments. Adjusting some of the controls through the glyphs, Remus continued to pour mana into the frame.
When it was ready, he lifted it up to the side of the box and peered through the glass.
What he found was the opposite of what he was expecting, puzzlement frowning his features. He leaned forward over the box, moving the glass about, exploring all of its contents.
It actually was pretty funny that he kept calling this box a coffin.
Because technically it was.
There was a corpse of a man inside.