The Chains that Bind
A quesion and a signal

Present:

Mael rushed towards the grunt of her daughter slashing her sword through any orc, human, or thief that got in her way. The glass sheared across skin like paper as she charged through the battling crowds.

Her mind was filled with memories of her daughter as a baby, and dozens of questions:

Does she still remember me?

I wonder what she looks like all grown up.

Will she listen to me?

Is she safe?

Mael rushed forward and saw Siegfried standing over the beaten body of a man, but what hurt her more was the fact that Caewen was on the ground.

Mael ran towards her husband and rammed into him from the side knocking him away from the man.

Siegfried rolled and retrieved his weapons "Stay away from her!" He screamed.

Mael gripped her weapon tighter "You stay away from her!"

"Enough!" Caewen ran in between her parents with her arms outstretched. "What is this war even about anyhow? You both once loved each other enough to bring me into this world, so what could have made you hate each other enough to want to wipe one another out?"

Both Siegfried and Mael suddenly stopped as Caewen tapped her foot impatiently before continuing "Look around you all, this world is falling apart and people I love are in pain, so I'm asking why!"

Siegfried shook his head "I….I don't remember…"

"Neither do I…." Mael agreed "The reason was silly…."

Caewen shook her head in shame and rushed to the Captain's side to examine his wounds.

"You two aren't my parents; my parents wouldn't do something this evil." Caewen averted her eyes from the regretful looks from her parents. "I need to heal my father."

At these words Siegfried's rage returned, much stronger than before. "You call this monster your father? Fine, then die with him!"

He reached into his pocket and grabbed a metal sphere hurling it up into the air.

The sphere exploded in the air as Siegfried brought his sword down towards the Captain ready to kill the man who had taken his place as a father.

"No!" Caewen leapt in front of the Captain and Mael leapt in front of Caewen.

There was a sickening squelch and a scream, as the sword stabbed itself through the elven queen.

Mael stood stock still as the blade protruded from her stomach. Blood dripped down from her wound and she closed her eyes in pain.

Caewen screamed as Mael fell backward hitting the ground. She felt the whole world collapse with her mother, and she stared down at her mother's body.

The rage cleared from Siegfried's eyes and a frightened "No….." escaped from his lips. Mael smiled up at Siegfried and whispered something so low that only he could hear it.

"I still love you."

Siegfried closed his eyes and then let out a scream. Part grief at his Queen's death, and part anger over losing his daughter to this war, over being unable to remember how the whole war started, and over the realization that he might have become the conduit for the very thing he was attempting to stop.

Every elf that was around froze in horror as they saw Mael's body lying on the ground until the expressions on their faces changed from shock to anger.

The elves suddenly rushed towards the king, and the human troops hurried to defend him. The Resistance forces quickly charged in between the two sides hoping to separate the battle.

All three forces clashed once again with bodies dropping quickly, some being trampled in the chaotic melee. Swords, arrows, gunfire, and other weapons flashed as the dust from the battlefield blotted out the sunlight itself.

Caewen watched as the Captain stood, with several wounds on his person, and he motioned her behind him.

He grimaced in pain but still lifted his sword high "We need to fall back and regroup! There are too many just to barrel through!"

Caewen had her father lean on her as she shouted "What was that explosion?"

Siegfried smiled "It's the end of all elves, girl." He refused to call her his daughter any longer, because she obviously didn't care about him.

The pirate forces were beginning to round up the remaining human vessels, as most of them were either heavily damaged, destroyed, or under pirate control.

"We've got the lily-livered cowards on the run Captain!" one pirate called.

The Pirate captain turned to the speaker "Don't lose sight of this yet, focus on the battle!"

Boom!

An explosion from above the island shone like a second sun before it quickly faded.

The pirates pointed and shouted at the flare, still wincing from the bright light and the loud sound.

"What was that?"

"A new weapon?"

"Maybe a cannon exploding?"

"It was loud, whatever it was"

"Easy to spot, too"

Realization dawned on the Pirate Captain and his jaw dropped "It was a signal!"

"Lookout!"

The pirates turned to see the massive human ship, which had been staying out of the battle so far barreling towards them at full sail.

The human ship rammed into its pirate counterpart from the side ripping the wood apart and boring a massive hole into the ship.

Then the front cannons fired and the weapons sent wood and metal bits everywhere. Bodies and debris from the pirate ship were thrown into the air as the pirates that could stand were jolted around.

Water began to flood into the damaged pirate ship as the human ship continued its forward momentum, shearing the pirate ship completely in half.

The Captain clutched at the wheel of his now useless ship, as he screamed to what remained of his crew: "Grab onto something boys!"

The human ship sailed closer to the island and its cannons fired towards targets on starboard, aft, and front. The smaller and less armored pirate forces were massacred as the massive cannonballs, along with gunfire from human forces riddled their ships, sending crewmembers into the water and lighting several ships on fire.

The Pirate Captain screamed to another ship that was nearby "Get that human ship out here! Prepare a boarding party and investigate that ship!"

"Yes sir!" The captain of that ship pulled out a pistol and fired up into the air, and the bullet exploded into a massive ball of light.

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