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Sprinting, I went straight for the rack they were unloading, slamming it with my side while at the same time snapping my jaws around the closest Vekan soldier. There was a great temptation to devour him at once, yet I couldn't waste the time. Instead, I jerked my head to the side and threw him as far as I could, hoping he’d either tumble to the lower deck or down into the ocean below.
All hell broke loose once the soldiers realized I was on the ship with them. I heard and smelled the distinct process of shifters taking their animal forms, but there weren’t as many as I’d expected. They must have had most of their heavy hitters in the ships meant for the shore. Oh, they were going to learn that was an unbelievably bad decision.
I launched myself again at the closest soldier—another one seemingly in charge of loading the artillery. He drew his gun, and while I didn't smell the acrid taint of silver within it, I didn't want to take the risk. I spun, kicking out with my back leg, sending him flying farther down the ship.
One thing was for certain: my wolf was completely in his element. The whole world was distilled to just the battle around us, everyone moving in slow motion while he analyzed the best way to attack, and the best way to prove that he was the alpha. I reveled in the rush of it all, though I tried to remind myself that no matter how much my inner wolf craved blood, violence, and victory, there was a line between what was enough and what was too much. That was the difference between me and the monsters who massacred entire towns and left no survivors.
As thrilled as I was with the battle, I had to keep in mind I was on a time limit. If I missed my opportunity to get off the ship, it would be certain death, and I also needed to make the artillery gun completely inoperable.
Most of the human or non-shifter boat crew were running away from me, which was perfect. I used that opportunity to sink my teeth in an important looking bar of metal on the machine and yanked backward. It did not feel good—far too similar to biting into tin foil—but I ignored that. A little discomfort didn't matter. Once it wrested free with an awful screeching sound, my teeth went for the next thing that’d fit into my mouth, my paws punching at the gears like that would do something.
I heard large footsteps coming up behind me, and I managed to yank off the next piece of the machine as I whirled around to face my attacker. I wasn't entirely surprised to see a minotaur waiting for me. Those cryptids were rare, but their villages were one of the first small nations Vekas had taken over a couple of generations ago. The only minotaurs found outside of their military were ones who had immigrated earlier, which was particularly rare, and those who managed to escape.
Minotaurs were incredibly fearsome foes but they were slow. So, while I didn't have time to take on the incredible cryptid one-on-one in a fight, I could dodge it and get in what blows I could while finishing destroying the artillery gun.
A quick glance in my peripheral vision told me that the smuggler vessel was coming up along the side of the much larger boat I was on, still firing like mad. There was some visible damage on the smaller ship, but overall it looked like its speed was proving to be a huge advantage. I was going to have to follow its example, because I had less than a minute, and still so much to do.
I raced toward my enemy, and the minotaur faltered, not expecting me to go on the offensive, but I used his hesitation to leap over him, landing on a pile of crates I assumed held more ammunition.
Just as I hoped, the massive cryptid whirled, his hammer swinging. Instead, the old-fashioned weapon broke into the crates, and it was indeed ammunition that began rolling all over the deck.
Well, it wasn't outright destruction, but it did make the bullets scatter all over the deck, and plenty rolled over the side. The more inconvenient I could make finding them, the better.
But I didn't give myself time to crow over my victory. Instead, I vaulted over the minotaur's head again and ran back to the gun, looking for something I could rip off. Even with my limited engineering knowledge, I knew the barrel was the best thing to damage, but it was made of thick metal, and clearly reinforced. Did I have enough strength to bend it even slightly?
I was about to find out.
Climbing up the pedestal to find it was bolted too, I slammed both of my paws against the end of it, trying to curve the weapon even just an inch, and while the metal groaned, it wasn't quite enough. I tried as hard as I could, giving everything I had, rearing backward, and then slamming myself forward using my back legs, but it didn’t so much as wobble.
Wolf shifters, we were strong, but we couldn’t bend metal—at least not weapons grade metal several layers thick, meant to fire explosive rounds.
Right as I recognized the futility of my actions, I heard the minotaur begin to charge, his heavy, wide hooves miniature thunderclaps across the deck. I jumped over onto the other side of the gun and that's when I had a beautiful, madcap revelation.
While I wasn’t strong enough to bend the barrel of the artillery gun, a minotaur certainly was.
With the idea blooming to life, I ran in a slower semicircle around the gun, howling quickly as I did. It wasn’t a war cry, but it was a warning. Naturally, the minotaur missed me and managed to stop himself from barreling outright into the weapon, but he let out a frustrated grunt. The trick was that I wasn't dealing with some braindead animal. I was dealing with a soldier. I couldn't be completely obvious about tricking him, otherwise he would just walk away and someone else could pick me off.
Speaking of which, I heard more footsteps close behind. I lunged forward, putting me in the perfect position for the minotaur to swing. Thankfully, the wolf that’d been just inches away did have trouble stopping, his too sharp nails skittering across the metal platform. It would only buy me a few seconds while he regained his balance, but in battle, a few seconds were life or death.
As the wolf righted himself, the minotaur charged again, this time swinging his hammer in a wide arc. But that was his big mistake. When on a ship, tight quarters were common, and those didn't exactly go well with giant melee weapons being swung around wildly.
I went backward at the last possible moment, moving as little as possible, and even though it was crazy, I lunged as the hammer went past me, kicking at it with my front legs as hard as I could to give it even more momentum.
The minotaur clearly wasn’t expecting that and lost control of his weapon. For a moment, I wasn’t sure if it was enough, but then the broad, flat head of the hammer slammed into the barrel of the artillery, jolting it an inch or two upward and to the side.
I could see that my ride was already past the halfway point of the boat. I had seconds if I wanted to cash in my ticket to safety.
At least it was a mere jump downward, which should be a lot easier to do. So, with one last look to make sure the barrel was well and truly curved enough that no sane person would put an explosive in it, I took off running for the side of the warship.
I did still have to dodge as I flew across the wooden surface, with more capable fighters having made their way to my location. But I was able to make it to the edge of the bow without so much as a scratch, and launched myself over the side yet again.
For the third time in a short period, I flew through the air like I had wings. I would have thought the wonder of the moment would have worn off after a trio of experiences and less than an hour, but no, I was still filled with a strange elation and weightlessness.
Unfortunately, that weightlessness came to a sudden and abrupt end the moment I hit the deck of the smuggler’s boat. I tried to shift into my human form again to tuck into a roll, but my body just couldn't handle that rapid of a transformation, and I ended up more flopping over, skidding across the surface until I slammed into the mast.
Ow…
The air was knocked out of me for a solid second, and I was vaguely aware of several Verdanians on the boat rushing toward me, but I couldn't do much to respond yet. I laid there, letting myself catch my breath, and also allowing my healing abilities to knit together torn tissue. I had definitely damaged myself internally.
