Copyright J.B. Norman
“You call that a flèche?” the hulking pirate captain growls at Nolan attacks. “Bah! You fight like a girl!”
Nolan raises his shield to block the pirate’s counterattack. “Clearly you haven’t met the girls I have,” he answers from behind the rim of his shield. “There’s nobody else I’d rather have fighting beside me in my guild.”
“Aww, Nolan,” Pela says, looking up from where she’s tying one of the other pirates’ shoelaces together.
While Tancred is glad to hear Nolan’s support for the female members of the Lyte Brigade, he can’t help but feel just a little left out as the only other male in the guild.
“And Tancred’s great, too,” Nolan adds, taking a swing at the pirate captain. “And he’d say the exact same thing.
“Quite right, Nolan!” Tancred calls happily. “That’s my Captain!”
The pirate rolls his eyes and attacks again. “What kind of idiot are you, son? You’re not supposed to respect your crew! You’re supposed to boss them around and then kick them when they don’t listen — and even sometimes when they do? How else are they supposed to live in constant fear of you?”
“No offence,” Nolan counters — with his sword as much as his words. “But you sound like a terrible person. I’m kinda glad we got hired to take you down.”
“Wow,” Matilda says, seated comfortably on the chest of one of the defeated pirates. “This guy must be a jerk. Even Nolan thinks so.”
“Yes,” Falcata agrees, tossing another stunned and groaning pirate to the ground. “That is the most insulting thing I’ve ever heard Nolan say to somebody.”
Matilda momentarily lifts her feet and rests them on the second pirate.
“Thanks.”
“I will go help Nolan,” Falcata declares.
Matilda nods. “I’ll hold down the fort here.”
The pirate Matilda is using as a footrest stirs and tries to grab Falcata’s ankle as she steps forward. Matilda boots lashes out and kicks him back into submission.
“See? I’m helping!”
The pirate captain scoffs as Falcata and Tancred join Nolan’s battle with him. “And you’re a coward, too! Hiding behind your little buddies!”
“Hey!” Pela cries, taking a shot at him with her crossbow.
“Didn’t you tell your crew to all attack us first while you just stood there and watched?” Nolan asks.
“When I do it, it’s smart!” the pirate captain bellows.
“How does that make sense?” Nolan exclaims.
“Good hustle!” Matilda calls to the others. “You’ve got this!”
“I have had quite enough of this,” Amara mutters to herself as the pirate captain continues to insult her and her guildmates.
She manoeuvres herself in position and takes aim. Magic begins to coalesce around her fingers.
A blast of magic from the Elf’s hand topples the pirate captain and he falls like a chopped-down tree. As the pirate pitches forward and falls, Nolan, Tancred, and Falcata leap back out of the way.
“Well,” Amara says, flipping her hair dismissively. “Nolan may fight like a girl. But you run your mouth like a chatty parrot!”
I’ve had the idea for Nolan taking “you fight like a girl” as a compliment for a while now. It was never intended to be particularly feminist (though it probably ends up being inevitably so), but it did always strike me as the kind of thing somebody as relentlessly nice as Nolan would say, especially when most of his coworkers are competent females…
And Tancred’s great, too.
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