Legends of Runeterra

Sarah couldn't get rid of him.

"It's all because you refused to pay a damn tithe!" Sarah roared, while Ya Lai continued to drag her hard.

"The ocean will take you and me!" he cried.

"Not today," Sarah said, raising her hand to grasp the skull handle of the spike and pulling it out from under the tattooed woman's chin.

She pulled hard, and the spike was pulled out along with a stream of blood.

"You want him?" Sarah said, holding the spike in her backhand. "I'll give him to you!"

She thrust the spike into the side of Yalai's neck, the tip protruding from the other side. He tilted his head back, and Sarah quickly grabbed the leather rope around his neck. His hands twitched as the giant dragged him down, and the rope in Sarah's hand snapped the hook holding it in place.

The full weight of the cannon pulled on the pulleys and hooks, lifting Sarah upwards at the other end. She teetered on the top of the sinking ship, watching as Nautilus turned and headed out to the depths, holding the still-screaming Yara in his iron fist.

The water closed in around him, leaving Aray in a frantic trail of bubbles as Nautilus returned to the shadows beneath the sea, carrying his prize. Sarah watched with contentment the fear in Aray's eyes as he was dragged under, condemned to an eternity of darkness, leaving no mark on the world.

The Moon Serpent's upper half was almost perpendicular to the sea surface. Sarah used the swinging ropes to approach the sea serpent statue at the bow. She clamped her feet around the serpent's fangs and stood at the highest point, waiting for the ship to gradually sink.

After a brief pause, she saw that the rear half of the ship had almost completely sunk, with only a few sailors gathered in a circle at the vertical stern. At this distance, she could have easily swung alongside them by the rope. Among the survivors, she saw Pitiel Harker, and a fire immediately rose in her chest.

"I told you I'm the kind of person who would be so obsessed with revenge that I'd die," Petyr said. "I must admit, I didn't expect this outcome, but at least..."

Sarah didn't wait for him to finish his words before slinging the noose at him, as if lassoing an animal, with more accuracy than any harpooner could muster.

The noose fell over Petyr's head and looped around his neck like a hangman's noose. He was about to remove it when Sarah pulled out her pistol and pointed it upwards.

"Go down and say hello to Yalai, Petyr," she said, pulling the trigger.

The pulley hook from which the cannon hung was shattered by the bullet, and the cannon sank instantly. For a fraction of a second, Sarah savored the fear in Petyr's eyes before the rope straightened, pulling him away from the driftwood.

The screaming stopped abruptly. He was dragged under the water and sank into the abyss along with the cannon.

Standing on the serpent head of the bow statue, Sarah watched the stern of the Moon Serpent disappear with the waves, foam, whirlpools, and splinters of wood. The few remaining sailors thrashed frantically, and were also pulled under the suction of the sinking ship.

She looked down and saw that she had only seconds at most before she was pulled under by the bow of the ship.

"It's a shame to throw away such a beautiful girl." A voice came from behind her, and Sarah laughed.

She turned around and saw Raven sitting in their boat, soaking wet and covered in cuts, bruises, and teeth marks. The wind lantern hanging in front of the boat was like a bright beacon, a symbol of safety.

"Thank you so much, brother," she said.

"I mean the cannon," Raven said, carefully paddling closer. "I never saw a better thirty-pounder."

“Yes,” Sarah said, “but it’s tradition, and traditions can’t be messed with, can they?”

"That's right."

"Mother Hu, where on earth have you been?" Sarah asked. "I really needed you on deck when the accident happened."

Raven shrugged. "I went down to the cabin for some wine and ran into Yalai's crew planning a murder. They were upset that their plot had been exposed and wanted to chop off my head. I picked up a few of them and killed them, but if I continued the standoff, I'd be stabbed to death, so I jumped out of the cannon. Then I swam to our skiff and gave the creatures below a meal. I thanked them. Anyway, I'm here now. Do you want to come aboard? Or do you plan to go down with that ship?"

"The captain of this ship has gone down to accompany her." Sarah said, strolling away from the bow statue and stepping onto the boat.

With Sarah safely aboard, Raven rowed away from the Moon Serpent, her figurehead and tallest mast disappearing into the water in a trail of bubbles, ropes, and splinters of wood.

Sarah moved to the stern of the boat and now she saw that she was not the only passenger Raven had picked up. A bloodied figure dressed in pale blue rags, gold cuffs, and brass-tasseled epaulets lay asleep in the bottom of the boat.

"Blakeston?" Sarah said. "Is she alive?"

"She's still got some breath left," Raven said. "She's a boaster, but that shouldn't mean she'll go down with a scum like Yalai. It wouldn't feel right to let her drown, would it?"

Sarah didn't say anything, she just nodded slightly, tired.

"Do you want to travel the eight seas, or do you want to tell me what's going on on deck?" Raven said.

“You wouldn’t believe it even if I told you,” Sarah said.

"I suppose you sank the ship by bombarding the deck?" Raven said.

"It's not me. Everything that happened on the deck was caused by Ya Lai." Sarah said, and used her eyes to tell Raven not to ask any more questions.

"All right"

"But I did manage to get this thing." She opened her hand, revealing a silver and brass disc emblazoned with three entwined sea serpents.

"Yarai's seal," Raven said.

"Perhaps it's no longer useful these days, but let's see what happens when his remaining men sober up and see this seal."

Raven smiled. "Well, at least this trip wasn't a complete waste of time."

Sarah sat at the stern, watching Yue'e Reef disappear into the mist. Suddenly, her gaze sharpened as she saw a lone figure climb out of the water onto the reef, shaking off the water.

A thin figure with a hunched back, wearing an expensive sea beast skin coat.

"Thorne," she whispered, "only dead rats can escape alive."

"What?" Raven asked, paddling. "Who else got away?"

“No more,” Sarah said, looking ahead. “Not one left.”