A Song for Winter: Raiders of the Solar Winds

    “Left! Top! Block! Shield bash! Stab stab stab,” William shouted commands as his daughter, Jaina, faced off versus a training dummy. Jaina wielded a child-sized spear and round shield as she followed her father’s instructions. This was one of the few moments the two had together in the last month as William had begun gathering refugees from all across the portal network and training them to be an army. Daily recon and sabotage missions against Matriarch forces had become the new normal. So far the red armored army of the enigmatic Matriarch had failed to find the portal to the rebuilt home of Clan Drackonas but it was only a matter of time. Soon the intraportal war would find its way to William’s home again and he knew he would need new allies.

 

    “Am I ready to join the war, father?,” Jaina asked trying to pull her stuck spear out of the training dummy.

 

    “Not yet but keep this up then you might be,” William answered her casually pulling her spear free. “That’ll be all for today though. I need to get ready for my next mission.” Jaina pouted for a moment, clearly angry that her father was leaving her again. The sudden appearance of the lioness druid, Violet, brought a smile back to Jaina’s face.

 

    “Don’t worry Jaina I’ll train you to fight correctly while your dad is away,” Violet assured Jaina with a smirk.

 

    “No magic,” William directed Violet as he walked past her.

 

    “No magic,” Violet answered picking up a staff to spar with Jaina.

 

    “Bring me back something fun, please,” Jaina called after William.

 

    A few hours later, William was sitting at a sketchy bar on the space station Memphis in the Cygnan Stellar System. Space wasn’t exactly a place William thought he would ever be but a scouting report suggested that the space pirates common to this section of the cosmos might be able to be convinced to attack ships flying under the banner of The Matriarch. William’s supposed contact was supposed to meet him at this bar almost an hour ago and he was getting annoyed. As he was about to leave a dark elf with deep blue skin, red eyes, and white hair pulled into a neat ponytail sat down across from him. She was wearing a tattered brown cloak that she used to conceal most of her identity.

 

    “Don’t talk just listen,” the dark elf instructed William. “If you want the help of my captain we need to know that you can be trusted. Docked in the lower levels is a starship, The Harlock, disguised as a cargo freighter. My captain wants you to jettison the cargo while the ship is in flight. Sneak aboard and eject it for us to pick up and you’ll have our full support. If you get found out don’t kill anyone, we would like to see if you can show a little restraint.” With her piece said the dark elf left without another word. William considered his options for a moment before getting up and preparing to storm a starship.

 

    Memphis wasn’t exactly the safest place in the galaxy and as William walked deeper into the lower levels he understood why. Various gangs of pirates and ruffians controlled different floors through violence and intimidation. None of them dared try anything until  William reached floor 172 where The Harlock was docked. At first, there was silence in the half-lit halls of the space station. William could just make out movement on the edges of his wind radar as he drew his witch knife. Star-shaped metal projectiles came flying at him from multiple directions but were all held firm in the air by a quickly whistled note. The projectiles hung fast for a moment before being sent back towards the ones who threw them. Each of the redirected attacks merely grazed the ones who threw them as William wasn’t sure if he was allowed to kill since he wasn’t on the ship yet but didn’t want to risk it.

 

    Pushing his wind radar out as far as he could, William found the hidden attacker’s hiding spots. Using a series of whistled notes from the Winter Song each of the hidden enemies found themselves, in turn, pulled towards William with a violent gust of air. Each of them tried to escape the wind bursts but only caught a series of punches or kicks knocking them out. Satisfied with his handiwork William sprinted to the docking bay for The Harlock. About a dozen guards in foreign armor guarded the door to the starship, all looking alert and ready to deal with any intruders. Deciding against trying to fight them all using nonlethal force William started whistling notes as he used his air magic to pull the oxygen out of the room. As the guards struggled to breathe William counted slowly to himself while watching the guards pass out. After roughly four minutes passed William let the oxygen back into the room so none of the guards died. With that obstacle eliminated he slipped aboard the ship through one of the cargo loading doors.

 

    Thinking he was in the clear William prepared to eject the cargo once the ship was in flight. Just minutes after being aboard lights start flashing with overhead announcements declaring there to be an intruder aboard. Thinking fast William hid behind a couple of the large shipping containers. Alert still blaring The Harlock detached from the docking port and began flying through space. He knew he was cornered but William needed to recruit the pirates that sent him on this mission so he carefully crawled out from his hiding spot and began looking for a way to eject the cargo into space. Not knowing exactly how to eject cargo from the hold of a starship he was a little lost. As he found what appeared to be some sort of control panel with buttons, levers, and such a large metal arrow narrowly missed taking his nose off.

 

    Turning, William found himself facing down some sort of mechanical being on the far side of the cargo hold. The metal person was made to look like it was wearing strange foreign armor. From the mechanical being’s left hand it fired three more arrows. William dodged the first, drew his witch knife, and deflected the second with the knife’s hard light shield with a considerable amount of required strength, before grabbing the third out of the air nearly burning his hands from the friction of stopping an object from moving at those speeds. Whistling up some air magic, William hurled the air back at the metal person like a javelin. The attack was barely noticed as it bounced off the shoulder guard of its target. 

 

    “Grandmaster protocols activated,” emanates from the mechanical being in a computerized monotone voice as it drew a large seven-foot curved blade from a sheathe it held in its right hand. Holding the sword in both hands, flames erupted from the metal person’s back as it flew at William. Drawing the handle of his water sword, William whistled one frozen note creating an ice blade that met the mechanical being’s blade. Both blades met each other but with the flames still coming out the back of his opponent William was being slowly pushed across the room. Not wanting to be put against a wall, he whistled a few notes pulling the oxygen from around jets on the metal being’s back. 

 

With the jets no longer firing, William used the momentum shift to his advantage to try to strike his opponent but the mechanical being anticipated this parried the attack effortlessly. Both of them took turns striking and parrying the attacks of the other. Getting frustrated, William threw his talisman knife into the wall before taking the handle of his ice bastard sword in both hands. Now using all of his strength William began to turn the tide of battle. The mechanical being was still stronger than him but it was starting to show signs of slowing down. Muscles aching William ferociously brought his ice blade down on his opponent’s weapon over and over again until it snapped in two. With its weapon broken the metal person brought his left hand up to fire more arrows but William saw it coming and shoved his sword into the metal hand, The resulting backfire blew and destroyed the metal arm of the machine sending metal shrapnel and ice splinters all around them. Quickly reforming his ice blade William drove it into the chest of the metal being. He knew he wasn’t supposed to kill anyone but hoped automatons didn’t count. Suddenly the back of the machine was split open and something leaped from inside. Three leaf-shaped blades struck the ground around William before erupting in a blinding flash of light.

 

“Now you face me,” a red-skinned tiefling in a black cape and leather armor wearing a pirate hat declared as William’s vision returned, “Dread Captain Izebel!” With lightning speed, she attacked William wielding two more of the leaf-bladed weapons. William was nowhere near fast enough to parry all of her attacks with his ice sword alone. Whistling up an air burst, William brought his witch knife back to his left hand. Using the hard light shield of his talisman weapon granted him a bit more protection but after getting cut twice William had enough. Launching an aggressive counter attack he found himself on his back after failing to dodge a trip kick from Izebel.

 

“Allfather,” William shouted quickly regaining his footing, “grant me insight!” With the othalla rune on William’s eye patch erupting in white energy he saw time start to slow a bit around him. Now he saw his opponent’s attacks before she made them enabling him to anticipate and counter more easily. Izebel was still pretty fast but she didn’t have the same advantage she had before and was starting to tire out. William tried to pommel strike the tiefling to knock her down only to find a rainbow of smoke bombs going off in front of him. Normally this would’ve granted his opponent a temporary advantage while he tried to clear the smoke with a small whirlwind, however, the Allfather’s power highlighted his opponent through the smoke. Izebel leaped from behind William but he had seen it coming and caught her by the neck as he dropped his sword before slamming her into a nearby shipping container. With his witch knife at her throat, William started to growl at her as suddenly all the alarms and flashing lights shut off.

 

“You can drop her now,” a somewhat familiar voice said from behind William, “she yields.” William turned to find the dark elf that had given him this mission standing there now sans brown cloak and wearing an elegant silver dress with gold armlets. Confused, William dropped Izebel with a thud. “Allow me to properly introduce myself,” the dark elf continued, “my name is Morrisa and I am the first mate aboard The Harlock and you’ve already met the captain.”

 

“Now before you get angry let me explain,” Izebel remarked pulling herself to her feet, “we were always going to help you but I need to test the samurai mech suits at the same time and I heard you liked a good fight so we good?” William was beyond pissed off that he had just been played like that but it was a good fight so he decided to let it go. Over drinks, in the captain’s quarters, William and Izebel struck a formal deal. The Harlock would attack Matriarch supply ships in exchange for being about to keep whatever they can salvage from those ships and a brand new cutlass katana hybrid weapon that Izebel designed herself. William agreed to those terms and promised to try to forge the sword but wasn’t going to make any promises on that one as it was an odd design for a weapon. Their drinks were interrupted by a voice calling over the intercom system for Izebel to come to the bridge.

 

William ran with Izebel to the bridge to find a moving picture of that coyote lich with all the piercing on some sort of screen. Before he could growl what he was thinking Izebel signaled for him to be quiet. After confirming that their microphone was off she opened the line for The Necromancer to speak.

 

“Hiya Captain Izzy,” the coyote lich called out, “you seem to harbor a fugitive of the crown and if it isn’t too much trouble I was thinking you should hand him over.” Izebel made it look like she was responding to the coyote but in actuality was calmly calling out orders for her ship. “Izzy, I can’t hear you,” The Necromancer declared after a few moments, “Can you hear me, or are you just pretending not to be able to talk? Either way, you’re being rude. I’ll just have to talk to you personally. Launch boarding parties.”

 

“Launch all fighters,” Izebel yelled as she started hitting buttons on a control panel, “and hit them with everything we have. I don’t want scrap metal to be salvageable from their wreck. William, you’re with me.” Obeying orders William followed Izebel to the cargo hold as explosions rocked the ship. Outside pirate fighter ships engaged with Matriarch forces around the two capital ships. The Harlock was much smaller than the other ship as it was a modified cargo ship but it was more maneuverable. 

 

Morrisa met Izebel and William in the cargo hold already trying to hold off a boarding party with a small group of fighters while wielding a hand crossbow and a rapier with a laser blade. The boarding ships had managed to cut through the cargo doors but the space shielding was holding off the vacuum of space from sucking everyone out into the void. William and Izebel jumped straight into the fray, fighting side by side like old allies. As if less than an hour ago they had been enemies. In but moments all the boarders lay dead on the floor. A short breath was all they had time for before another boarding ship came crashing into the cargo bay. The door on the boarding vessel flew open and from within walked the same coyote with the ear piercings leaning heavily on his staff that William knew as The Necromancer.

 

“You know why I’m here so let's say you surrender and I don’t have to… I don’t know kill your new friends,” The Necromancer offered William casually while gesturing wildly with his free hand. 

 

    “I will tear you limb from limb if I have to you undead abomination,”  William threatened pointing the ice blade of his sword at the coyote lich.

 

    “Morrisa, take control of the bridge and prepare for a crazy idea that I haven’t thought of yet,” Izebel ordered the dark elf who nodded before running off.

 

    “Shame,” the coyote said as he tapped his staff on the ground, “but your bones look like they’d be fun to rearrange” With each tap of the coyote’s staff on the ground greasy green and black energy flowed over the floor of the starship and into the bodies on the floor. One after another the bodies rose to their feet reanimated as walking corpses. William and Izebel tried to fight the undead creatures but just like last time, they wouldn’t stay down. Severing their limbs only slowed them down for a moment before they simply reattached the cut body parts and resumed fighting. As he was getting fed up with the stalemate, William remembered what he learned in the library about liches. Tearing open a pouch strapped to his waist, William whistled up a gentle breeze that brought out the perfectly preserved funerary floors inside and spread them about the cargo bay. There was a definite shift in the flow of magic in the room as the dark necromantic energy seemed to weaken considerably. Now when they struck down a zombie it stayed down for good.

 

    “Well looks like the muscley brute isn’t quite as illiterate as I thought he was,” The Necromancer cackled as his undead minions fell to the ground defeated and destroyed.

 

    “I got a library card,” William spat back at him only realizing that line wasn’t as tough as it sounded in his head.

 

    “Then you probably know you can’t kill me until you destroy my phylactery which spoiler alert,” the coyote lich laughed a hideous laugh, “isn’t here. It's on this plane of existence just not here here.”

 

    “You could just surrender,” Izebel offered sarcastically while wiping ichor off her leaf blade knives. There was a momentary silence while The Necromancy pretended to consider the pirate captain’s offer. Eventually, the coyote lich shook his head and tapped his staff on the ground hard three times. Once again greasy black and green energy forked out striking the bodies on the ground. This time however instead of raising the bodies it stripped all the flesh, muscles, fluids, and bones from them before returning to the coyote in the form of a dripping red and pus colored magical arcs of energy.

 

    “I do so hate to get physical,” The Necromancer sighed hitting a release on his staff and pulling out a hidden sword from within, “but I guess since we can’t be civil about this I’ll have to.” With surprising speed, he launched himself at Izebel, shoulder checking her into a storage container before easily pushing his razor-sharp blade into her leg. “Stay here and bleed for a bit,” The Necromancer chuckled licking his lips, “your pain will make you taste better.”

 

    William whistled up a driving wind meant to push the lich back away from the downed tiefling but the abomination stood strong against it. Rage already filled his veins as William charged his opponent swinging the ice blade of his sword wildly in one hand while wielding his witch knife in the other like a dagger. Each attack was met and parried with incredible strength and speed by the lich. One misstrike gave the coyote the opening to bit William’s left wrist. The disgusting yellow teeth sank deep causing William to drop his witch knife before he was able to shake the creature off of him. 

 

    “You taste interesting young Ragnar,” the coyote stated confused as he licked the blood from his lips, “almost like… hmm… that's not possible.” Ducking a sword swing from William the lich continued to block and attack with incredible expertise. Until William brought down an overhead chop that his opponent easily moved his weapon to deflect in. Normally this would’ve been a fatal mistake but the blade of William’s weapon turned to water, seamlessly passing through his opponent's weapon before becoming solid again as it buried itself in his opponent’s shoulder. 

 

    “Hey asshole,” the damaged samurai mech called to the lich as its jets fired up, “get off my ship!” William kicked the coyote off his blade and into the path of the mech suit. “Morrisa cargo shields off,” Izebel called from inside the mech suit, “William hold on.” The mech suit caught the lich unprepared as it barrelled into him driving him across the cargo hold. As the cargo shields turned off the vacuum of the void began pulling everything out of the ship. Driving his sword into the ground as he recovered his talisman weapon Willaim held as tight as he could against the pull. Izebel leaped from the mech suit at the last moment as it carried The Necromancer into the void. As she landed from the ejection the cargo shields kicked back on stopping the pull of space. Moments later there was a large explosion as the Matriarch spaceship lost its fight with the pirate forces.

 

    “Are all of your plans that crazy,” William asked while wrapping his injured wrist.

 

    “Only the good ones,” Izebel answered limping on her damaged leg, “but I think that battle seals our agreement. We will fly under the flag of Clan Drackonas-Wintersong.”