by V. A. Lewis
I held his hands back as he tried to strangle me, barely managing to push it aside; we struggled there for a moment, before a glimmer of light caught my eye. I saw the mana lamp rolling on the ground right next to us.
I let go of the man’s arms, letting him grab my neck. I grabbed the mana lamp, and held it up against the man’s face. His eyes widened, but it was too late.
I closed my eyes,as I gripped tightly onto the mana crystal of the lamp. I forced the mana inside of it to flare up—
And it shattered. Shards of mana crystal and glass exploded in all directions. I felt a sharp pain go through my hand and some parts of my arm. There was a scream, and the hands around my neck loosened.
I opened my eyes, looking at the damage I caused by shoving the mana in the basic mana tool. It wasn’t utter destruction. It was almost like if a glass window was impacted by a powerful shockwave and broken into tiny pieces that would cut anyone standing near it.
Some of the shards tore through my enchanted clothes, but barely left a graze on my actual body. The most damage I suffered was on the arm I held the mana lamp with. A large shard was piercing through my palm, with a few more small shards sticking out of my forearms.
And yet, the man suffered far worse than me. He had shards of glass and mana crystal sticking out of his eyes and face. He screamed in pain as he reached to pry them off.
I rammed the palm of my hand into his neck.
A stinging pain ran through my hand as I pulled it back, the large shard now in the man’s neck. I slowly got up, pulling out the healing potion in my belt as Jack killed the last remaining man. I poured a few drops to close the wound just a little bit, careful not to let too much blood leave my system, but not enough to let my flesh grow over the bits of glass and mana crystals sticking out of it.
Jack eyed the wound, and opened his mouth, but I walked past him. "I can deal with it later. We have to help Gennady first."
I stumbled out of the ship as it swayed once again. I looked out into the deck and saw Gennady dispatch the last of the crew outside. He was a good fighter when he had access to all his equipment, which was only proven by how he took out over a dozen men by himself.
I walked up to Gennady with Jack as he turned to me.
"What just happened, Melas? Why did they suddenly attack us?"
I glared at him for his slip up, but didn’t comment on it; I was hoping Jack didn’t hear it, or process that it was actually my real name.
"They were paid off by the Elise," I said, to which Jack audibly gasped.
"What?"
"I said—"
"I know what you said," he spoke over me. "Why would they do that? Why would they work for those bastards!"
I lifted my shoulders up in a shrug. "Money, probably."
"That doesn’t make sense! They— they’ve always been loyal to Lisa and I…"
"It doesn’t matter now." I slowly tore off the shirt from a dead man, and wrapped it around my arm. "We just have to deal with that now."
"With that?" Both Jack and Gennady raised their eyebrows, then turned to the direction I was pointing at.
The ship that was following us was much closer now. Somehow, even with Lisa trying to get us away from them, they managed to catch up. The thick white mist no longer obscured the boat, and I could tell that it was much larger than our ship, and more suited for battle.
I found my eyes sliding away from the main hull up to the black flag flapping at the very top of the ship. It had the symbol of a red whip wrapping around a white Human skull. That’s a pirate ship alright, I thought.
I turned to Jack and Gennady. "Get ready to—"
I saw a flash of light. I raised my hands in a panic, as the beam flew straight at me. A large mana circle formed in the air, creating the translucent shape of my Force Barrier just in time.
The thin blast impacted the barrier, shattering it and knocking me back. I got up and looked at who fired the shot.
"She survived," a woman said, sounding displeased. She stared at me from her ship which was right next to ours now, and shook her head. "You didn’t kill her."
The man holding the rifle lowered it, and he sighed. "That’s because she used magic, Ginah."
I blinked, and I realized my cover had been blown.
Chapter 26: Pirate Attack
"She’s using magic," Ginah said, looking in my direction.
"I know," the man sighed. "I just told you that."
Their ship was now parallel to ours; they had a crew of dozens on deck, all armed and ready with weapons. And yet, I found my attention switching between the dangerous pirates getting ready to attack us, and my own two allies on board our own vessel.
Because I had used magic.
It was a silly thing to worry about, but I felt it was a valid concern. If they found my use of magic to be something so completely heinous that I had no choice but to kill them… Well, I guess learning how to work a ship will be on my to-do list.
The two pirates standing out front continued their chatter. Their conversation was barely audible due to the close proximity they were to us now. The fog did obscure some of their appearance, but I could vaguely tell by their body language that they were ready to fight.
"Think she’s part of the Elise?"
"Probably. It’s a good thing we got here in time. Any later—"
Wait, part of the Elise? I frowned. Why’re they asking that?
I got up, opening my mouth to call out to them, when I saw the man raise his rifle once again. He’s going to shoot me again, isn’t he?
He shot me again.
I erected two Force Barriers this time; I overlaid them one over the other, and it took the powerful blast without shattering. The translucent glass-like protection cracked, with small shards scattering along the hard wooden floor, but it stayed strong. I pointed back at the pirates, releasing a Fireball in their direction.
The large sphere flew across the narrow gap between our ships, looking like it was about to land on where the two main pirates were standing. The woman called Ginah pulled out a hilt from her waist, and a crackling red whip of energy shot out of it. She struck at the Fireball out of the air, and the spell exploded before it even reached the ship.
I paused. "Mana tools can do that?" I asked, turning to Gennady.
"Yes," he said. "They can do just about anything, lass. Didn’t I tell you?"
"Well, that’s—"
The man fired another shot, and this time I jumped out of the way; my Force barrier broke from the impact, letting the beam burrow a hole through the wall on the back side of the ship.
I had just got back to my feet when the first pirate set foot on our deck, getting off the wooden plank they attached to our ship. I drew my dagger, readying spells by my side. I quickly pre-cast the Explosive Orbs by my side, as I shot two Magic Missiles at the pirate.
The pirate rolled out of the way of the attacks, the small explosions going off behind him as he charged me. More pirates were arriving now, and they were rushing me as well. Gennady pulled out his own gun and fired a shot at the first pirate— the pirate managed to block the first with his cutlass, but the second grazed him on the shoulder, knocking him down.
I saw three pirates standing side by side as they made their way towards me. I was not about to set off a Fireball in my own ship; that would probably cause irreparable damage by the time I could put it out. Instead, I pointed at them and a snare shot out. It caught nothing however, as each pirate skillfully evaded the magical bolas.
These guys are good! I watched as Gennady frantically pulled out various mana tools from his bag as more and more pirates surrounded him as well. They were wary of me, and I too was of them.
I glanced back and forth between the pirates surrounding me, with the three glowing orbs still hovering around me. A man took a step forward—
And I sent the Explosive Orbs out in all directions. The pirates were quick, as expected. They leapt out of the way of the blasts, but the Frost Javelin
had already finished forming; the layer of fog around us allowed me to cast the spell far faster than I could otherwise have.
The Frost Javelin shot out in an arc, dancing through the air as if it had a mind of its own. And it in a sense, it did. I could not control the exact movements of the projectile, but I was able to somewhat direct it where I wanted it to go.
Got you. It was about to skewer a pirate who was backing as fast as he could, but suddenly the Frost Javelin shattered into a thousand pieces. Icy shards rained down around the pirate, as the man with the rifle, still on his ship, lowered his gun.
"Watch out for the Goblin’s spells," he shouted, gesturing at me. "Those are quite powerful."
I clicked my tongue. He’s annoying. I glanced around the battlefield, surveying the situation. The pirates were good— they were overwhelming Gennady and I, and… Lisa and Jack are still standing there, dumbstruck.
I yelled at them. "Hey guys, a little help here?" I was not sure if they would heed my call to action; they might just let me die now that they know I was a spellcaster.
However, thankfully, Jack finally broke out of his stupor. Was he actually going to help? He took a step forward, leaning out of the ship’s deck in the direction of the pirates, and shouted.
"Oi, Ginah! What in Hell are you doing?"
I stopped. The pirates stopped. Gennady stopped. Lisa’s gaze snapped to her partner. He continued.
"You’re attacking our clients, you dumb bitch—"
"Language, Jack," the man with the rifle said, before he lowered his weapon. "And what do you mean by that?"
"I mean that you guys will get our pay docked! I’m not going to call you nice things for that!" Jack snapped, pointing his short sword at the man then at the woman.
The woman, Ginah, paused. "These are your clients?" she asked, glancing over at myself and Gennady.
"Yes!" Jack, Gennady, and myself screamed.
"Huh." Ginah looked at us once over. "Well, what about your dead crew?"
"They attacked us," I explained. "I think someone paid them off— probably the Elise."
"Oh, so I’m not mistaken about that then." She nodded. "Then I guess you guys better come over to our ship."
Lisa hurried down from quarterdeck, finally joining us as we stood amongst the pirates. I still stood on my guard since we were surrounded, but it seemed like the misunderstanding had been resolved for now.
"Why’s that? What’s going on Ginah?" Lisa asked. "Why are you guys here? We thought you left Luke once the Elise chased you out."
"Well, we did. But we decided to come back because we don’t like those bastards. And we’ve been messing with them for the last few weeks, and were tailing a few of their ships just earlier, until we realized they were tailing you. So we can over here to warn you when we saw the fighting and thought we were too late."
I wanted to comment on the sheer absurdity of this casual conversation happening across ships, but what Ginah said took precedence over that.
"...a few ships are tailing us?"
"Yes," she said casually, gesturing vaguely in the direction we had come from. "They’re quite a ways back. But they should be catching up soon—"
And as if those words were some kind of a trigger, I saw the first shadow of a boat emerge from the thick, white fog. I recognized it immediately. It was a large ship, moving at an incredibly fast speed for its size— because it was powered by mana. It was The Lightbringer’s Vessel, and it was followed by two other ships at its rear.
I saw the nebulous figures of men standing on the deck of the large ship, with some of them pointing frantically at us. A figure fell as the man standing next to Ginah took aim and fired a shot at them.
"Let’s go!" he yelled, gesturing us over.
"What is going on?" Gennady asked, looking around confused.
"I have no idea," I said, looking between the pirate’s and the oncoming ships. "But they better explain later."
Because if we somehow got ourselves wrapped up in an entire ordeal, I would be so annoyed.
We boarded the pirate ship captained by the woman named Ginah, and fled from the three pursuing ships. The Lightbringer’s Vessel was fast, but it did not stray too far from its two escorts for whatever reason. Probably because unlike the other two, it had little in terms of firepower or combat potential. And with the cover of the fog and night, we managed to lose them after an hour.
It was only when I was sure we were safe, did I even sheathe my dagger. I had already healed up, and removed the bandages on my arm at that point, so I was less worried about getting into a fight. I was still cautious, of course; these pirates were skilled fighters as evident from our brief incursion against them, but with Gennady by my side and with both of us prepared, I felt like we might have been able to take them on— at least, until we could somehow escape.
"So," I said, stopping in front of Lisa and Ginah as the two women were in the middle of a discussion. "What’s happening?"
"Aria," Lisa started, then she paused. She looked over to Ginah for a moment, then she folded her arms. "First, you have to tell me what was that? That was… magic?"
"Yes." I nodded curtly. "It was." I didn’t clarify anything, and just stood there.
Ginah placed her hands on her hip as she turned to address me. She was dressed in nothing more than a pair of ripped pants and a tube top, with a blue coat hanging loosely around her shoulders. "You’re not part of the Dark Crusaders are you?"
I studied the expression of the two women, and saw they were scrutinizing me as well; I took a deep breath, remembering their reaction to my use of magic at the start of the battle, and decided to answer honestly rather than giving some indefinite response.
"I’m not," I said.
"Good." Ginah seemed satisfied with that. She turned to Lisa and inclined her head in my direction. "Seems like she really did save your asses, huh?"
The other woman sighed. "She did." Then she turned to me. "Thank you, Aria."
"So what’s going on?" I asked, ignoring their gratitude; those could be exchanged later. "What’s this about the Elise chasing after you guys?" I pointed first at Lisa, then at Jack who was grumbling off to the side by himself.
Lisa hesitated. "I… don’t know," she finally said. "I had no idea this would happen. I didn’t think they would try to force us into submission, after having done nothing but put some light pressure on us for so long."
"So those guys were after you?"
"Yes." She nodded.
I tapped a finger on my mask before turning to Ginah. "And how about you guys? You’re pirates, right?"
The pirate Captain shot me a grin and jerked a thumb at herself. "We are indeed."
"What’s this have anything to do with you guys?"
She shook her head. "You don’t know anything about the Elise, do you?"
"No," Gennady piped up. "We just got to the city."
I nodded my head in agreement with the Dwarf, and looked up expectantly at Ginah. "So… are you going to tell us?"
"I can tell you what’s wrong with them," a voice came from the side. Jack strutted up to us, his hands hidden in his pockets, with a clear scowl on his face. "They’re an organization of the most villainous scum in all of Luke. They came and took the underground by storm, and would crush anyone who doesn’t join them so completely and utterly that everyone quickly began to fear them."
"What’s wrong with that?" I raised an eyebrow.
Everyone turned to stare at me, giving me a look, and I shrugged.
"What? Aren’t you all criminals here?"
"Yes," Ginah said. "But that doesn’t make us monsters. We support those who help us, and allow those who don’t to go about their business. Only when they’re our enemies do we even consider such drastic courses of action."
Jack voiced his agreement. "And they are ruthless. They don’t care if you’re in the business to support your family. They will force you to do jobs you wouldn’t want to do for them."
"I
see." I listened as Ginah continued to explain.
"Their leader— a Half Elf named Bahr— is also said to be capable of magic. We think he might be from the Dark Crusaders. That’s why he was able to bring the group into prominence so quickly— he had their funding and their connections to help him get to where he is now."
"So what?" I asked, frowning. "You don’t like that the Dark Crusaders are crossing into your territory to spread their influence or something?"
"No." She exhaled deeply and turned to Lisa. "What’s with this girl? We just explained it to her. She daft or something?"
Lisa smiled meekly and tried to calm down the pirate. "She’s just… an odd one."
I drew my lips into a thin line at their casual remarks about me in front of me. I’m completely normal! I wanted to argue, but then I remembered the time I tried to convince a rapist to stop what he was doing. Yeah… they’re probably right.
"Listen," I said, speaking over everyone else. "I don’t care about this Elise, and I don’t care about what they’re doing. I just want to get to the Taw Kingdom like I paid Lisa and Jack to do."
Ginah snorted. "Good luck with that. If you haven’t noticed, their ship is gone and their crew is dead."
"But I paid them!" I protested.
"Tough luck. But that’s not happening anymore."
I glanced over at Lisa and Jack and got an apologetic smile and a grunt in response. I turned to Ginah.
"You guys have a working ship— Gennady and I can pay you what we offered them to bring us to Taw. Or at least to a port outside of Luke."
"Not happening," she said simply.
"Why?" I asked, annoyed at this development.
"Because we came back to Luke for a reason, girl. We don’t like how the Elise is exploiting the people of the city. We tried to oppose them, but they chased us out. But we aren’t going to run anymore. We are pirates, but we aren’t evil. The way they do things— we can’t allow it."
I felt my irritation rising, but Gennady placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me. "Let me talk for a moment," he said, and I allowed him.
