Gremlin's Greed - COMPLETE Chapter 14 (Patreon)

The next day was heralded in by Stonvaut tripping as he came down the stairs. After a series of loud thumps, the large man hit the ground with a loud crash. He leapt up to his feet and glowered at the staircase.

“Damn things out ta kill me,” Stonvaut growled. His drunken slur had somehow returned overnight.

Avril was the first one of the group to stand, but Jasper and Ethan were moving just a few seconds later. Linna groaned and rubbed her eyes as she sat up, looking wearily around the room.

“What was that?” She asked.

“I was waking you up. Consider yourself woken,” Stonvaut said. He flicked a wood chip out of his beard and fruitlessly tried to smooth it out.

“He fell down the stairs,” Avril explained as she pulled the other woman to her feet.

“I survived an attempt on my life,” Stonvaut corrected. “Now wake up, you louts!”

Stonvaut’s crew stirred to life and was fully functional just a few minutes later, which was impressive given half of them had been drunk under the table the previous night. Solemn yet confident expressions replaced the previous night’s cheer. One of the crewmates descended the stairs with the Jatir’s hammer dragging behind him. The hammer crunched into the wood each time it fell down a step.

“You forgot Lovetap upstairs,” the man said, jumping forward to avoid crushing his foot with the huge hammer as he stepped down from the last stair.

“I was going to go back for ‘er,” Stonvaut grumbled as he grabbed Lovetap from his crewmate. He glanced over at Linna and waggled his finger at her.

“I know what you’re thinking. No naming your sword yet.”

“I wasn’t-”

“Don’t worry about it. I remember when I was your age. Couldn’t wait to name Lovetap over here. But trust me, waiting is vital.” Stonvaut said.

“Right. I’ll try to restrain myself,” Linna said dryly. “Avril, what’s our actual plan today?”

“Why are you asking me? Stonvaut is in charge of the attack. It’s going to be his new ship after all,” Avril said with a wry grin.

“Sure. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but you never seem to be at a loss for what’s going on. Nothing seems to surprise you, and you’re not dumb enough to just wing everything like Jasper would. Therefore, you’ve got to have a plan. So what is it?”

The grin on Avril’s face widened at the same time as a scowl appeared on Jasper’s.

“I do not wing things,” Jasper protested, furiously making quotes in the air with his fingers as he climbed onto a table near them. “I just excel at thinking on my feet. It’s a good trait to have. Much better than pulling strings until everything goes your way, like a certain someone I know.”

Avril rolled her eyes and poked Jasper in the forehead, sending him tumbling off the table in amidst a slew of curses.

“You’re right, Linna. I do have a plan, or at least a semblance of one. But I’m not going to tell you what it is,” Avril said.

“Vision things?” Linna asked, sighing in exasperation when the other woman nodded.

“Don’t worry. Your abilities excel at keeping you safe, and you’re not exactly throwing your lot in with a group of weaklings. It’ll obviously be dangerous, but you should be fine. Probably. Besides, Jasper wouldn’t let you get killed this early on. It would be an affront to his pride,” Avril said.

“Damn woman’s right,” Jasper agreed from below the table. “It’s my responsibility as your teacher to ensure you live long enough to make me regret my decisions.”

“That’s…reassuring,” Linna said hesitantly. She decided not to bring up Jasper’s recent attempts to kill her at Ringden. Her kneecaps were unprotected, and Jasper was within biting distance.

“Sure is. Any good Vision would do the same. My teacher took me on five whole missions before he tried to rip my lungs out of my chest,” Jasper said proudly, climbing back onto the table. “That’s practically unheard of.”

The crunch of Lovetap crashing through wood like a rampaging bull brought an abrupt halt to their conversation. Stonvaut let out a throaty laugh at their shocked looks and pulled his hammer out from the table he had just destroyed.

“Sorry ta interrupt your conversation, but the clock’s a tickin’. My crew is ready.”

Ethan yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes to no avail. He glanced around the room and smacked his lips as he pulled his heavy cloak tighter around himself.

“Your training for today will be much more hands on,” Ethan informed Linna. “And are we sure we can’t sleep any longer?”

Jasper shot Ethan a worried glance. This was the first time the swordsman had slept through loud noise for so long.

“Quite,” Avril said. “I believe it’s time to go. Lead the way, Jatir.”

“I was planning on it, Vision,” Stonvaut said with a grin, pushing past them and literally kicking the door off its hinges as he strode out of the tavern.

They slipped silently through the streets with Stonvaut at the lead. Surprisingly, the group of sailors demonstrated none of the uproarious energy of the previous night. They stalked through the streets like a group of wraiths. One small group split away from the main party and headed deeper into the city without explanation.

They reached their destination before the sun could rise – a cluster of small merchant shops that stood empty until their owners returned in the morning. Directly across from the yellowed stone buildings was the largest part of the dock.

An enormous galleon swayed back and forth gently in the cold sea in front of them. The little dots of orange lantern light moving slowly around both the dock and the ship marked the positions of the numerous guards patrolling the area. Stonvaut gestured for them to stand down and leaned against the wall of a shop with a yawn.

“What are we waiting for?” Linna whispered quietly.

As if on cue, a violent explosion ripped through the still morning air. Stonvaut’s crew seemed unsurprised, but Linna couldn’t stop a curse of surprise from slipping through her lips.

Luckily, the guards were evidently just as surprised as she was. Several of them dropped their lanterns as they spun to look at the mushroom cloud that was slowly rising from the tavern district.

“I reckon the Vision’s sleeping somewhere in the guardhouse,” Stonvaut said, jerking a thick thumb toward a large house at the edge of the dock. “You four take care of him. My boys and I will get control of the ship.”

Without leaving time for a response, Stonvaut bounded toward the dock. Linna half expected the man to let out a war cry, but even the huge man’s steps were silent. Linna winced as she watched Lovetap transform a distracted guard into a fine red mist.

Stonvaut’s crew slipped after him, mimicking his silent attack. Ethan and the Visions remained behind at the merchant district, watching them go. Jasper abruptly prodded Linna in the leg.

“Enough admiring the Jatir!” Jasper hissed. “The two of us have a Vision to deal with.”

“Two?” Linna asked in shock. “What about-”

“Avril’s a useless freeloader and Ethan needs to conserve his strength. That leaves us. Now get that look off your face and get your ass in gear. This isn’t the first Vision you’ve fought, and it damn well won’t be your last.”

Linna swallowed once and then nodded. Ethan looked like he wanted to protest, but a sharp glance from Avril silenced him.

“I’ll make sure he gets to the ship safely,” Avril promised.

“We both know you won’t do shit, and everything will be just fine anyways,” Jasper replied.

Avril smirked at him and strode off toward the violence unfolding on the docks with Ethan in tow.

“So what’s the plan? We need to get the Vision’s attention so he doesn’t go after Stonvaut and his crew, right?”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Jasper said. “In fact, this is a great training opportunity. Consider this a field test. Using what you have now, figure out how to stop Typhon’s pet Vision from ruining our escape plans.”

“Absolutely not!” Linna hissed. “This is important! You can’t just make it into a stupid test!”

“Yes I can,” Jasper said stubbornly. “Now, what are we doing? Wait too long and the Vision will sink Stonvaut’s new ship. Just in case you didn’t catch on, that means you fail.”

Linna gritted her teeth, but arguing with the gremlin was pointless. She screwed her nose up as she gathered her thoughts and then drew a steadying breath. The buildings were packed loosely around them, but they didn’t look sturdy enough to withstand much damage.

“Okay. First, we need some way to get the Vision to come after us and not Stonvaut. Then-”

An explosion tore through the night for the second time as a bolt of brilliant yellow lightning erupted from Jasper’s hands and slammed into one of the windows of the guardhouse.

The world seemed to freeze for a moment as everyone’s gaze turned toward the source of the attack. Jasper hovered in the air, shimmering yellow energy crackling up and down his small green form like a beacon.

Time took back over as a figure leapt out of the second floor of the guard house. A torrent of water erupted from the sea and caught the person moments before they hit the ground.

“Step one accomplished. I reckon that angry bugger running at us is Moat,” Jasper merrily said as the Vision charged toward them with a huge snakelike rope of seawater slithering across the ground beside him.

“I thought you said this wasn’t the Vision of the sea,” Linna told Jasper, keeping her eyes on the man dashing in their direction.

“He isn’t. This bloke is probably the Vision of salty water or something. Very different. Garm would squish this Moat character like a bug.”

“Fantastic,” Linna said as Moat grew closer.

The man had a thick layer of graying hair and dark skin aged prematurely by the violent sun and constant exposure to seawater. Even from far away, Linna could somehow make out two crystal blue eyes burning with fury.

Linna wanted to scream at the gremlin, but she didn’t have time. Her golden armor shimmered into existence and two disks of glowing light appeared beside her hands.

“Step two: beat the crap out of the Vision,” Linna said.

“That’s what I like to hear!” Jasper crowed. Another bolt of lightning ripped out of his hands toward the enemy Vision.

The water bulged outwards and formed a shield in front of the Vision moments before Jasper’s attack struck him. It dissipated harmlessly and Moat continued straight toward them.

“You will not survive this transgression!” Moat called, moving his head just far enough to the side to let Jasper’s next bolt fly past him harmlessly. His grim blue eyes analyzed his opponents with calculating cruelty.

The water around the Vision abruptly erupted toward them like a geyser. Linna thrust her hands forward and two large circles of golden energy shimmered into being directly in front of the man’s attack. His right eye twitched slightly, and the water twisted back to coil around him.

“Nice block, Linna,” Jasper said with a thumbs up.

“This is not the time for casual conversation,” Moat said.

Thousands of tiny water bullets blasted toward Linna at an incredible speed. She wasn’t fast enough to summon a new shield, but the attack dissipated against her armor.

“Wow. I thought that would hurt a lot more than it actually did,” Linna said, slinging a golden disk at Moat.

“I will make this painless if you submit immediately,” Moat growled as a torrent of water deflected the golden energy, sending it crashing through the wall of a building.

“He’s buying time. I bet all he can control is this tiny amount of water,” Jasper said. There was a crackle as Jasper froze the water in front of him solid.

Linna followed up immediately by slinging another disk at Moat. Without his water to shield him, Moat had to dive to the side to avoid the attack. He scrambled to his feet and glared furiously at Jasper.

A vein in the older Vision’s forehead bulged as a snarl appeared on his face. He reached out toward the ice and Jasper grimaced. The ice shattered and Jasper staggered back holding a hand to his head.

“How did you do that? I’m the only one who can control my water,” Moat yelled.

“You aren’t unique, buddy. I know someone who could take that water from you and spank you with it like a child,” Jasper said. A hole formed in the ground below Moat and the man tripped as his foot slipped into it.

As Moat fell, his body seemed to lose focus. He transformed into a stream of water that suddenly shot outwards and pierced straight through Jasper. The Vision reformed behind the gremlin with a confused look.

Jasper spun around, a dagger already prepared in his hand, and plunged the weapon into Moat’s chest. Moat transformed into water and hopped back several paces, but a red flower had already bloomed on his chest.

“Jasper! Are you…” Linna trailed off as she realized that the gremlin was completely unharmed.

“No resistance whatsoever, but I definitely hit you. How?” Moat asked, ignoring the blood seeping into his shirt.

He didn’t bother waiting for Jasper to respond. The Vision sent a blast of seawater crashing down on Linna’s head. She fell to one knee, but the attack didn’t pierce through her defenses.

“Annoying. Some sort of energy manipulator and a…gremlin,” Moat said, distaste practically oozing from his words.

“You aren’t cool enough to have an opinion,” Jasper fired back, tossing another bolt of lightning at the Vision to punctuate his words.

At the same time, Linna ran toward Moat and threw herself into the watery shield the man erected to block Jasper’s attack. The water pressed back against her, churning violently. The energy around Linna flared brightly and the water gave way, letting Linna burst through to the other side.

Moat reacted quickly, but Linna was faster. Her gauntleted fist caught him on the shoulder instead of his face, sending the man careening backwards into a building. Linna blinked and looked down at her arm as if it wasn’t part of her body.

“Nice!” Jasper crowed as he walked up to stand beside Linna. The gremlin sent a ball of fire into the crumpled Vision, possibly out of spite.

Moat groaned as a swirl of water lifted him back to his feet and then attached itself to his back like a cape. One of his arms was hanging at his side at a decidedly wrong angle and blood was trickling down his forehead.

“A gremlin Vision with power over multiple elements,” Moat said slowly. He grabbed his damaged arm and, with a swift jerk, yanked it back into its correct place. His face remained impassive the entire time.

“What of it?” Jasper growled, a ball of fire starting to form in the air above him.

“You can drop the illusion. You got carried away with that last attack,” Moat said, flexing his fingers experimentally. “You should have stuck to intentionally missing me with everything and letting your lady friend do all the work, Spider.”

Jasper drew in a sharp breath and his ears slumped a noticeable amount.

“Shit. That fast?” He asked.

“Come on now. How many gremlin Visions do you think there are floating around? The only surprise should be how long it took me to figure this out,” Moat said.

Jasper glanced toward Stonvaut and his crew, but the sounds of battle were still ringing out from the ship. He gritted his teeth and turned back toward Moat.

“You seem awful confident. It’s still two versus one,” Jasper said.

“No, it isnt. I have seen through your illusions. You are worthless,” Moat said.

“Is that so?” Jasper asked. Hundreds of spinning daggers appeared in the air around the gremlin like a swarm of large angry flies. They formed a metal wall in front of Jasper and then shot toward Moat.

Moat narrowed his eyes and a strand of water shot out from the liquid surrounding him. It passed through the wall of metal effortlessly, grabbing Jasper’s real dagger out of the air. The other daggers peppered into both Moat and the wall behind him.

Linna dashed at Moat, thrusting her sword toward his chest. The vision transformed into a pillar of water, allowing Linna to charge right through him before he reformed behind her. Moat walked up to the gremlin and looked down at him with an apologetic smile.

“It’s unfortunate, but I’m afraid you’re just outclassed. Your fame is greatly exaggerated, Spider. I have no idea how you managed to kill Toggle.”

The watery cloak on Moat’s back grew tendrils of water that lashed out and lifted Jasper off the ground, drawing out a slew of curses from the gremlin.

“Jasper! Don’t just sit there! Do something!” Linna yelled. Gold light enveloped the gremlin as Linna formed a suit of armor around him.

“Wait your turn, girl,” Moat ordered, flicking his hand toward her. A large portion of water detached from him and blasted into Linna, forcing her backwards. The water formed itself into a blobby humanoid nearly a head taller than Linna.

Moat let out a curse as Jasper bit him on the wrist. The gremlin hopped out of his grip, but the weathered Vision wasn’t about to let Jasper run. A jet of water nearly cut him in half as it erupted from the ground.

“Make this easier for both of us,” Moat yelled after the fleeing gremlin.

Linna tried to charge at him, but the water creation kicked her backwards with a powerful leg. It burbled in apparent amusement at the glowing Vision. Linna snarled and thrust a hand upwards.

A large gold disk appeared on the ground below her adversary. Before it could react, the gold disk launched upwards together with the watery creature, disappearing rapidly into the cloudy sky above them.

While Linna fought his creation, Moat pressed his advantage in the fight against Jasper. Small cuts covered the gremlin’s body, and his right ear was bleeding badly.

“I’ll admit, it was smart to hide yourself and create an illusion just to the side of where you actually are,” Moat said. “Very clever. But you’re out of tricks, gremlin. This isn’t a fight you can win.”

A jet of high-powered water erupted from Moat’s outstretched hand toward Jasper’s chest. The gremlin’s eyes widened, and he raised his hands in front of himself. A brilliant golden shield roared into existence between Jasper and Moat. The jet of water drilled into the energy, but the shield held. Moat spun to face Linna just in time to catch a gauntlet to his face.

There was a loud crunch before the man transformed back into water, splattering against the ground before retreating several feet and forming back into a man.

Moat’s nose pointed to the side at an unnatural angle. Blood had covered the entire front of his shirt, but none of the injuries were serious.

“Awful sneaky of you. Why don’t you take that veil off so I can see who you are? That’s twice you’ve gotten the jump on me now,” he said through his broken nose.

Jasper slumped to the ground with a sigh of relief. He gave Linna a weak nod.

“I’ve softened him up for you. Your turn,” Jasper said.

Linna didn’t respond to the gremlin. A golden disk appeared behind Moat and launched him toward the glowing Vision. Linna formed a hemisphere in front of the dark-skinned Vision just as he turned to water.

The two glowing constructs slammed together, trapping Moat’s watery form between them. It was too small for the man to transform back, leaving him stuck as what was essentially a sentient puddle. The water lashed out at Linna’s energy, but its attempts were futile.

“Jasper, he needs all of this water to reform, right?” Linna asked.

“Most likely,” Jasper said.

She nodded grimly and Moat struggled more violently as he realized what was happening. Linna created several small hollow spheres within her cage, each of which captured a part of Moat despite his best efforts to avoid it.

Linna flicked her hand and the orbs shot out in dozens of different directions. She dropped the main cage, allowing what remained of Moat to splash to the ground. It landed in a small puddle and trickled through the cobbled street harmlessly.

“Are you okay?” Linna asked as she helped Jasper to his feet. The gremlin sighed and touched his ear gingerly.

“Typhon’s beard! That hurts,” Jasper yanked his hand back and shot the puddle an angry look.

“I’ll live. You did very well there. That was what a real Vision should look like,” he said, almost wistfully.

“It was mostly you,” Linna said quickly. “You fought him the whole time, I just caught him off guard a few times…”

Jasper’s glare stopped the rest of Linna’s sentence before it came out of her mouth. The gremlin shook his head and sighed.

“We should make sure everything is going well for Stonvaut. We’ve probably woken the whole damn city at this point, so we don’t have much time left.”

Linna grabbed Jasper by the back of his shirt and darted toward the huge ship where the sounds of battle were slowly starting to die out.