Sorry about the long delay, but my computer's been acting especially wonky lately. Either the Internet connection would only last for a few seconds, or it wouldn't work at all! But it seems to be working now, so let's hope it doesn't decide to clap out on me again before I can get this posted!!!
I've got two installments done, so I'll post them both. Just a warning...the second part might be a bit disturbing to some readers.
That said, here's more from the final chapter of Belasco's Beatrice! Hope you like it!
A fierce battle was waging on the deck of the sleek Imperial Cruiser (1). The massive ship sailed through the sky like a cloud-dwelling whale, its masthead pennants fluttering in the cool wind high above the clatter of glinting steel far below. Kurt tried to grab at the thick, colorful fabric as he hurtled towards the deck, but his momentum was such that his struggle only served to slow his fall, not stop it entirely. With a frightened yelp, he crash-landed right in the thick of the fight, flattening several blue-skinned pirates in the process.
“Aaaooowwwww,” he moaned, rubbing his throbbing head and struggling to sit up. Unconscious blue bodies were scattered all around him, all of them scantily clad in gold and bronze with red bandanas over their black hair. As he rose to his shaky feet, he realized the pirate he had landed on was a woman.
“Oh!” he exclaimed, alarmed and mortified. “I’m dreadfully sorry--”
Just then, a plaintive female voice called out from just behind his left ear, causing him to give another startled yelp as he spun around to face her. Kurt’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened at the sight of her. She was a tall, stunning blonde draped in flowing cloth of white and gold. Framing her pale, aristocratic features was an elaborate golden headdress bedecked with jewels. But it was her eyes that caught and held his gaze, her wide blue eyes so full of terror and pleading that despite his own confusion and fear, Kurt’s heart went out to her.
“Please sir,” the woman was sobbing, “I beg you--SAVE ME!”
Her last words dissolved into a terrified shriek as she pointed over his shoulder with a trembling hand. Kurt turned his head to see a mass of angry pirates hurtling his way, cutlasses drawn and gleaming in the sunlight.
“Oh dear…,” Kurt muttered to himself, forcefully shoving aside his befuddled disorientation as he scanned the deck for a fallen sword he could use as defense against the pirates.
“Kymri’s down!” one of the largest of the pirates growled, his fury evident in his golden eyes.
“Have at ‘im, mates!” another even burlier pirate shouted, the point of his curved blade aiming straight for Kurt’s heart. “Let’s do for the swine what dropped our cap’n!”
“It was an accident!” Kurt proclaimed, ducking down under the burly pirate’s slashing blade and falling into a roll even as he yanked a pair of swords from the gloved hands of two unconscious pirates. A third one, he hastily plucked from a nearby scabbard with his tail. “I assure you I had no intention--!”
But the pirates were on him now and he had no spare breath for speaking. He stumbled back to avoid another powerful slash, then, while the muscular pirate was bent over, he leapt up onto his shoulders and somersaulted over the heads of his attackers to land gracefully on the deck railing.
“All right, then!” he snapped, a confident, roguish grin spreading over his shadowy features as he accepted their challenge. “Have it your way!”
Holding his three blades out with a threatening flourish, he made a daring backwards flip and kicked out with his legs, diving straight into the heart of the fight. The blue-skinned pirates were clearly aiming to gut him, but Kurt nimbly dodged their attacks, skillfully using their own momentum and size against them. Not knowing what these pirates were actually fighting for, he wasn’t willing to fight to kill. So, rather than slashing back with equal fury, Kurt was careful to use his blades only to parry their powerful attacks, his acute spatial awareness allowing him to sense where the attacks would come an instant before they arrived. He only lashed out with his fists, feet, and twining tail--punching, kicking, and flipping his way into beating the pirates unconscious, using all his carefully honed agility and control until at last, he was the only man left standing.
Grinning and exhilarated from the fight, Kurt rested the sword in his tail across his shoulder and leaned rakishly against the one in his left hand, surveying the damage with more than a hint of amazement and pride.
“Now,” he smiled to himself, “that’s what I call a workout!”
“YOU CUR!!!”
Kurt blinked in surprise, startled out of savoring his unexpected victory by the sight of a strikingly beautiful blue-skinned woman dressed very scantily in red and gold body armor. He recognized her at once as the woman he had accidentally landed on, and he couldn’t help but reflect that her proud, determined features were far lovelier when she was conscious. Her long, curly black hair was held back with an elaborate golden clip and a red bandana was tied around her high forehead. She was clearly a warrior, her golden eyes seething with barely contained fury as she brandished her two swords, beckoning Kurt to take her on.
“You’ve not won the day, paladin,” she growled through clenched, white teeth, every word dripping with deadly threat. “Not ’till you’ve bested me!”
Kurt raised an eyebrow, noting with some concern that despite her practiced stance she had not yet recovered fully from his inopportune crash landing. She held her right arm a bit too close to her side, and her eyes kept unfocusing, as if it was only her incredible willpower that was keeping her on her feet. Kurt was filled with great respect and admiration for this young leader’s bravery. He was desperate to talk with her, to find out what she was fighting for. Unfortunately, he couldn’t talk to her while she was armed…
He bowed slightly to the poised warrior, then smiled slightly saying, “If you insist.”
With a deft flick of his wrists, he encompassed her blades and disarmed her in less than a moment, raising the cutlass in his tail to rest just under her chin. Although she was now at his mercy, the fierce, blue-skinned woman did not cower, nor did her firm gaze waver. Kurt felt his respect for her rise several more notches.
“I want you to know I am very sorry about all the trouble my unexpected arrival has caused,” he told her, hoping his sincerity was reaching her. It was impossible to tell from her stoic expression. “If I might introduce myself? Kurt Wagner by name, also known as Nightcrawler. I’m a stranger here, who’d much rather be romancing a lovely lady than dueling her.”
The woman spat on the deck at his feet. “I’d sooner snuggle with a sand shark,” she snapped, holding her head up high and glaring straight into his eyes. Her defiant self-assurance struck a chord in his heart, sparking a strange feeling of déjà vu. He had been in this situation before, long ago…
The realization hit him with the force of a lightening bolt. Kurt rolled his eyes, disgusted with himself for not realizing it sooner. This was a memory! The memory of an adventure he’d had years ago, back when he had been the leader of British superhero team Excalibur. His mind must have sent him here to save him from falling into that horrible lava pit of Belasco’s--
Kurt gasped, suddenly alarmed. Belasco was still out there…how could he have forgotten…?
Noting the change in his expression, the female pirate began to laugh. Kurt stared in startled alarm as her narrow features began to shift, her voice deepening until, within moments, the noble Kymri had been replaced with a smirking Belasco. Catching the gaping mutant off guard, the demon snatched the cutlass from Kurt’s tail and stepped in close, pressing the sharp blade against Kurt’s fuzzy neck.
“You really are a sap, aren’t you,” he snarled, fiercely backing his defenseless half-brother against the ship’s railing. “I’m going to slice you up into pieces so small even Azazel won’t be able to fit you back together again!”
Kurt grimaced, leaning backwards over the railing as far as he could. Darting his eyes around the ship in desperate search of an escape route, Kurt was startled to see the sleek Imperial Cruiser was deteriorating into a nightmarish ghost ship before his very eyes, the polished metal corroding in spreading patches of peeling rust. The pirates were waking up now, their deep blue features twisting horrifically as they advanced on him with glowing eyes. Others were swarming up the masts, streaming up from the lower decks like a hoard of mindless zombies. With the chill of Belasco’s blade against his neck, there was nowhere to teleport, nowhere to run. Unless…
Kurt twisted his head to peer through the clouds below the flying ship. There was no sign of land that he could see, only an endless expanse of bright, blue sky. Under normal circumstances, leaping out into that expanse could mean certain death. But these weren’t normal circumstances. This was his subconscious mind they were flying through. If Belasco could alter the environment according to his will, then Kurt should be able to do so even better. All he had to do was concentrate.
Shooting Belasco a defiant grin, Kurt vanished in a puff of smoke, reappearing several feet off the ghost ship’s starboard bow. To his delight, instead of tumbling helplessly through the air, Kurt landed with both feet planted firmly on a cloud, the surface of which felt as firm and smooth as a ballroom floor.
“Ha!” he shouted in triumph, pulling a thin, sharp rapier and a long dagger out of thin air. Belasco glared at him from the corroded ship, slamming his fist down on the railing in fury. Kurt laughed.
“What was that you were saying about cutting me to pieces?” he called out, flicking the rapier back and forth like a whip.
“You haven’t beaten me yet, little freak,” the demon growled, leaping from the ship with a roar as he lunged straight for Kurt’s belly. Kurt snagged his blade, pushing it away with a graceful half-turn then coming back with a cut to Belasco’s shoulder. The demon clenched his teeth in livid fury, parrying the cut so forcefully several sparks flew from their clashing blades. Using his dagger in concert with his long rapier, Kurt entrapped his half-brother’s notched cutlass, forcing it down to the solid cloud at their feet, then shoving Belasco away with his shoulder. The demon stumbled and nearly fell from the cloud, his arm wheeling in alarm as he struggled to recover his balance. Kurt wasn’t about to give him that chance, however. Focusing all his concentration, he dropped his weapons and held out both hands, trying his hardest to picture an iron cage clamping shut around Belasco, hoping to cut the demon off from his mind for good.
Kurt gasped with the effort, but he smiled slightly as the ghostly bars started to solidify around the snarling demon. Unfortunately, before they had a chance to coalesce, Belasco made a swift slicing motion with his hand, cutting through the insubstantial bars and leaping off the edge of the cloud. Kurt gaped, then dashed after him, thinking only of keeping Belasco in his sights as he tumbled helplessly through the air.
Just then, the clouds parted to reveal a massive, raging whirlpool swirling just below them. Belasco grinned over his shoulder, his golden eyes disturbingly wild as he straightened his back and dived straight in to the black hole at its center. Kurt had just enough time to reflect that leaping after Belasco so mindlessly might not have been the wisest course of action after all before he, too, was swallowed up by the raging blackness.
*******
(1) The multi-pirate fight scene and much of the dialogue for the preceding was quoted from Excalibur #16: Warlord (Part of the Cross-Time Caper) by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis. The rest of the bizarreatude is all mine.
<<I don't know why I just used that.
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