Step 3: A brief interlude of stunning

The warrior-philosopher Jaz'yrel Al-Assyn wrote in his third treatise on warfare: "Warfare is composed of eight years of planning, eight months of preparation, eight weeks of marching, eight days of maneuver, and eight seconds of stunning ****."

As the half-elf pirate turned towards the sound behind him, Tsan snapped the cylinder shut and squeezed the trigger. The bullet tore through the cutthroat's spine, and he dropped to the deck with a wet sound that raised the hackles on anyone who heard it after the deafening report of the pistol.

The rest of the pirates whirled towards the noise, already raising their flintlocks and blades, while anyone still asleep aboard the ship was almost certainly roused. The pirates found themselves too late, as Tsan was already moving across the deck.

Elves were well suited to ranged combat. Their eyes were sharper, their hearing more acute and directional, and they had decades to hone their skills before they were turned loose on the world. Once upon a time the bowmen of the Elfwood had stood as the greatest power in Jarah. Then came guns. First flintlocks and muskets, which proved poor tools in the dense woods the north. Then revolvers, bolt action rifles and cannon, and the Elves retreated behind their fortresses and forbade their people from touching such weapons for fear of revolt.

Tsan had the qualities of an elf with none of her people's **** towards using firearms and she put the revolver to work, firing a second shot and hitting the nearest living pirate, dropping him to the deck less than a second after the first.

Stepping behind one of the ship's masts, she heard one, then a second shot impact the wood, smoothly wheeling around her cover, sighting and downing a third pirate while the two next to him reloaded. Looking about for the other three, she caught movement from the corner of her eye and ducked as a cutlass attempted to remove her head, instead plunging into the wood of the mast she'd been sheltering behind.

Stepping into him before he could yank the blade free, she swapped her grip on the revolver, swiping it across his face and connecting with his jaw. She felt teeth give way under the blow, but kept her grip and drove her hand straight in as if she was punching him in the face. Instead of her knuckles, the pirate was given a kiss from the heavy wooden grip of the weapon, knocking out a few more teeth, and sending him reeling backwards into the railing. She picked out the sound of cursing and a lead ball striking the deck as one of the reloading pirates fumbled the process.

Seeing another of the pirates taking aim she rolled the revolver around her fingers, firing it from the hip, the relatively close confines of the brig's deck making the shot impossible to miss. Across the deck, one of the pirates had finished reloading. Mentally she noted that he was very quick, only to sour at realizing he'd simply plucked another pistol from his belt.

In her peripheral, she caught one of the pirates attempting to sneak up on her, and she reached out, grabbing his arm as he reached for her and yanking him towards her. Not expecting to be pulled towards his prey, the man stumbled and she used the momentum to spin him around just as his fellow fired. The pirate jerked and slid to the deck, and Tsan avenged him with another shot.