Red groaned, "What the bloody hell just happened?"
He pushed himself to his feet and rubbed awkwardly at his bruised neck. Another massive boom resounded throughout the ship, and Red was forced to grab the cell bars to keep from falling.
"Derrin, are you awake in there?" He called.
Derrin sniffed, "Of course I'm awake. It would be a bit hard to remain sleeping after being thrown across my cell."
Red tried to regain his bearings. He was really not sure what he was supposed to do. All he knew was that there was an overwhelming metallic taste in the air. Boom! He stumbled again but managed to keep standing. A sudden realization hit him! The Gearborn ship was under attack.
"You've been in naval combat before, right?" Red asked, "Cause this sure seems an awful lot like the ship is under attack."
"That would be my assumption as well."
Red pursed his lips. This could be his chance. It was risky, but then again, he never expected to escape without taking risks. If he didn't try now and never got the chance again, he would definitely not be happy. The ship shook violently again as another pair of explosions resounded through the metal walls.
The only problem was time. It would take time to open three doors and a lot of his mist. He had decided to rescue the other man. It was only a fair transaction after he had been given the information for free. He owed him, and Red did not like owing people. Which meant he couldn't just free himself and run.
Red grabbed the discarded spoon from earlier and tried to keep himself from being catapulted across the room. His mist had entirely refilled throughout the day. He definitely had enough to free himself from his cell. The biggest problem would be getting Derrin out. He had only managed to free himself and open the door at the end of the hall before running out of mist. Now he needed to open three doors.
The trapdoor at the end of the hallway suddenly slammed open. Red could now hear the battle taking place outside. The Gearborn were yelling chaotic, unintelligible jargon. Rain began to pour into the inner part of the ship, and a crack of lightning suddenly lit the gloomy hall.
"Hell," Red muttered.
It was utter chaos up there. He couldn't see anything, but just from the sounds of the Gearborn, he knew that going up there would be dangerous. They were likely to kill anything that looked wrong. Still, this was their best chance. Something slammed into the floor at the far end of the hallway, and Red jumped back from the cell bars. Unfortunately, this coincided with the ship being hit by another powerful blast, and he slammed into the floor.
Red attempted to rise from the undignified heap but scrambled back as a massive, hulking, voluminous figure stalked into view. He couldn't help but gape at the monster of a man. His arms were thicker than Red's entire chest. A black eyepatch crossed his face, highlighting the man's toothy grin. A grin that did not belong to the lumbering figure that stood before him.
Despite the comedic appearance, Red couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of power flowing from the new arrival. It wasn't just his size but his sea heart itself. Red had only felt that level of power from one other thing. The Herald. Whoever this man was, he was strong.
"Well, this is quite the strange place to be living nowadays, Red," The man remarked in a deep throaty accent.
"What?" He stumbled over the word.
He felt like he'd seen this man before, but he just couldn't place it.
"Caught you by surprise, did I? Well, that seems to be the going trend tonight," He scratched the red tuft of hair on his chin.
Red didn't even notice Derrin leaning against his cell until he spoke.
"You're Ayjax Sentura!" His voice was filled with astonishment.
Red frowned. He wasn't sure what was so shocking about this mountain-sized man other than his girth. But if Derrin knew the guy, then he must be reliable. After all, Derrin didn't seem like the type who looked up to someone who wasn't honorable.
"You do know that you are just having a leisurely conversation while this ship is under attack, right?" Red asked as he pushed himself to his feet. He paused, "Wait, how the hell did you even get here!?"
Ayjax scratched his head, "That was rather easy, actually. They were all distracted by my ship, so I just snuck right on board. I knew that I'd find you here. I've taken down enough Gearborn ships to know how they are organized."
Another blast nearly sent him stumbling again, but he caught himself on the bars. Ayjax glanced down at the spoon in his hand and then back at his face. His one remaining eyebrow raised slightly.
"What?" Red asked, "Is there something wrong? This is a great spoon, you know. It's helped me out of quite a few predicaments, you see."
The man chuckled, "You haven't changed a bit."
Red stared at him flatly, "Sure. But I've got no idea who you are."
Derrin gasped, "Red, how do you not know who that is? He's the most powerful person in Valencia."
"Maybe the most powerful eater," he muttered.
Ayjax laughed and turned to Derrin, his gaze going sharp, "A Montrelan, huh? I didn't really expect anyone else to be here."
Red wasn't going to let this conversation continue any further. They had an escape plan to continue with. If he let Derrin go on about his story, they could end up here for another couple of hours. That was assuming he didn't start talking about honor. That would at least double the time.
"So what are you doing here?" Red asked, cutting off any more unnecessary chatter, "We are sort of busy at the moment, you know, escaping and all that."
Ayjax's half smirk disappeared and was replaced by a serious expression, "I'm here because there would have been no way for you to get out of this ship on your own."
"I doubt that."
"Why?"
"I just learned about who you were a minute ago from Derrin. So why the hell would a guy like you be risking himself to free me? That has got to be one of the worst stories I've ever heard."
Ayjax sighed, "It doesn't matter right now. We'll talk later."
Before Red had a chance to respond, Ayjax ripped the entire barred wall away. Red stared at it in shock as the big man wiped his hands together.
"So are you going to help him out, too?" Red asked.
Ayjax frowned, "He is a Montrelan warrior in Valencian territory. I'm guessing he was part of some unsanctioned strike force. They aren't supposed to be here in the first place. If they can't keep track of their own men, then I won't do it for them."
Red frowned. Unsanctioned strike force? He wasn't sure what that meant. What he did know was that Derrin had been fighting against the Gearborn. Gearborn, that the Valencians clearly weren't keeping track of.
None of that really mattered to him. If it were between saving himself and Derrin, he'd choose himself in a heartbeat. But there was no reason not to free him, given the chance. Besides, he owed the man. That's why Red had to make sure Derrin was freed here as well.