I lean back in my hammock. We are right underneath the main deck of the ship, so I can hear the scrape of hooves on the wood, if I close my eyes, I can hear the conversations of the crew as they go about their work. Though not clearly enough to follow everything they are saying. Just the occasional word comes through. The slow swaying of the hammock as the ship is underway seems to be seriously trying to get me to fall asleep.
The door to my room opens. “Where is Guerina?”
I snort, must have been closer to sleep than I thought. I look over at the blue unicorn. “She decided she wanted to go fishing, Dawn.”
“How long ago?”
I shrug my wings. “It wasn’t too long after we were sent down to our rooms so the crew can work.”
Dawn’s ears flick. “It’s getting quite late. Aren’t you worried?”
I flick my own ears. “She doesn’t like it down here, she’s probably found some fish, and is perched somewhere on the ship out of the way of the crew. You know she tries to be understanding when it comes to her eating.”
Dawn sighs heavily. “You are right, Ki. She’s been acting more pony in the last few months. Considering others’ feelings, you never know. She might just break out into song.” I find myself smiling as she takes a hesitant step closer. “Mistress Ghaliya is asleep, and I just couldn’t get comfortable.” She tilts her head to the side, her face showing her question. In response I lift a wing, she smiles brightly and comes closer, rolling her body into the hammock with me while I pull her closer and put a wing around her. She smiles contentedly. “Hmmmm…warm….safe…” Dawn murmurs softly, as her breathing slowly evens out. In only minutes the blue mare is sound asleep. Though I will admit that her own warmth has a lulling effect on me. I join her in sleep in almost no time.
Guerina has clawed for as much altitude as she dared. In the darkness, her eyes have adjusted to looking around in the half moon and starlight. She’s always been good at navigation, she’s confident she could find the Seaspray unless they radically changed course. But she needs to find help first. She growls as she remembers that she had dropped the fish she had caught. She could use a meal right about now. The lights of the port city are visible, but she’s not looking to head back to the port. There’s one ship with the size and crew necessary to help her. She scans the still waters, looking for a ships wake. Finally she grins, there she is! She folds her wings and dives. The gentle swells have the ship heaving a bit, but her sails are full and it looks like she’s underway. Only a few seconds before landing she unfurls her wings and slams into the deck.
“What the?” A male voice says. “Who goes there?”
“Please, I need help.” Guerina’s insides curdle a bit at saying that. But she stiffens herself. “My friends.”
In the dark, the form at the large wheel shifts a bit. Lifting a claw she shields her eyes from a sudden burst of flames, before a lantern is lit, illuminating part of the deck. The form of that dragon first officer stands menacing as he holds the lamp high.
Guerina smiles. “I knew it, this is the Waveslasher.”
He walks slowly down the steps from the sterncastle, his head cocked to the side. As the lantern shows more light on her he stops. “Oh, it’s you. That griffon that was with that tall pony.”
She growls, “Yeah, I’m Guerina.”
“Don’t care, lass, yer trespassing.” He reaches down and scoops her up and walks to the side railing. “Heave ho, off you go.” She yelps as the dragon tosses her overboard but it turns into a smirk as she does a loop in the air and thuds back down on the deck behind him.
He turns and advances on her. “Look lass, I don’t know what yer game is, what profit angle yer playing, but this ship has a job to do.” He growls.
Guerina scrambles back. “No, please! My friends are in trouble. Klugetown.” She’s cries out backing up against a mast.
“Backburn.”
The dragon stops advancing and puts his claws behind his back. “Hey, Captain, I got this, you can go back to sleep.”
The deck is suddenly illuminated, four lanterns have suddenly been lit and float slowly to hooks to lighten up the main deck. “You know the crew works better with a lit deck.” Greenbeard slowly strides onto the deck, her horn extinguishing.
“Ma’am, the rigging is set, I dismissed most of the crew to sleep while we are underway, it will be hours before any more adjustments are needed, anything else I can handle. Right now, I’m just dealing with this stowaway.”
The Kirin looks up at the sterncastle, the wheel is apparently lashed to her satisfaction. She turns to Guerina. “What business have you aboard my ship, griffon?”
She puffs up her chest, feathers ruffling with defiance. “My name is Guerina!”
“I heard. But that doesn’t answer my question.”
Guerina growls softly in her throat, though out of the corner of her eye, she sees the dragon tense. She skitters away from him, moving closer to the kirin. “I need your help. We need your help, really. My friends and I.”
“I heard the offer last time and said no. We’re busy. You should know all about profit,” Greenbeard says shaking her head.
“The, well, we boarded the Seaspray. We were going with them, but I heard the captain and his first mate talking. They aren’t going where we need them to. But to Klugetown.”
“Klugetown!” Greenbeard shouts, “Why in Celestia’s mane would they be going there?”
“To be sold as slaves, from what I heard.” Guerina says, “I couldn’t get to my friends to warn them, so I came here.
The kirin stops, and lifts a single hoof narrowing her eyes, “Pardon me?”. She says darkly as a whiff of smoke starts to rise from her mane. “What was that you said?”
“My friends are going to be sold as slaves!”
Putting her hoof down Greenbeard lowers her head moving face to face with Guerina. “You are a griffon. You don’t have friends. You have acquaintances, or marks, where’s the profit in this?” She says, “What are you getting out of it?”
Guerina sits blinking a few times, opening her beak to speak then closing it again. After a moment she puts a claw on her chest. “I… I don’t know. Many other griffs would have just cut their losses then and there. They would have just headed back to the City.”
“And you?” Greenbeard asks, “Or do you see other profit in it?”
“It’s not about profit! My friends are different. They are special. They matter to me in a way profit never has.” She looks at her claw, opening and closing it slowly, “They’ve changed me somehow. Ki, and his insufferable optimism. Ghaliya has her business sense, and there’s just something special about her, she cares deeply about other creatures. And then there’s Dawn, who had it all, she had a successful business, and she gave it all up. All because of that damned alicorn.”
“Alicorn, as in alicorn like Celestia?” Backburn says, taking a step forward.
Guerina nods, hanging her head. “There’s just…something…about him. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s naïve, idealistic, and sometimes mind blowingly stupid.” She sighs. “But he bends the world to his wishes. He…”
“You are in love?” Greenbeard asks gently.
“Love? No! I’d rather mate with a yak! But Ki is special. I know he would die for me. He’d move mountains if I was in danger. He wouldn’t stop till I was safe, regardless of the cost.” She stops, her eyes wide as she looks up at Greenbeard. “And he inspires me to do the same. To help.”
Greenbeard stands there for a long moment, looking at Guerina. After a few moments her eyes flick to her first officer then back to Guerina. “I really do have other commitments.” She sighs heavily. “But you and your alicorn friend are going to owe me big time.” She taps her chin thoughtfully. “It would probably be good to have a pony prince in my debt.”
“He’s no prince.” Guerina starts.
“Captain?” Backburn interrupts softly.
Guerina glances at the dragon then looks back at Greenbeard. “Once we get our gold back, I can fly back and pay any…” She stumbles to a stop at the raised hoof of the kirin.
Greenbeard glances at Backburn before focusing on Guerina. “My affairs are my own. Yes, I will need the gold you offer. But I will deal with those I must pay.” She stops for a moment. “One problem, though, is finding them. You said they are heading towards Klugetown. They have a few hours on us, and the Seaspray is a fairly fast ship. It might be days until we would sight them, and let’s not forget once they find you missing, they might shift course.”
“I know where they are.”
Greenbeard tilts her head slightly. “How?”
“I’m an endurance flier, I know navigation. I can keep up high once the sun rises, and guide you to them.”
Greenbeard taps a hoof on her chin. “That might work.” Her horn lights. “But I’m going to need every advantage I can get here.”
“Captain…” Backburn says urgently.
“Oh, don’t worry, this griff isn’t going to give all our secrets away, is she?” She looks pointedly at Guerina, who shakes her head energetically. “And what direction is the Seaspray?”
Guerina looks up at the bright night sky. She narrows her eyes as she notes the positions of the stars. After a few moments she turns to port. “That way, and based on how they were moving, about forty miles. Land miles.”
Backburn leaps up the stairs and unlashes the wheel. “With your permission, Captain?”
“Go ahead.” The kirin’s horn glows brighter and the wind intensifies. She ship lurches as the wheel is turned. “We have forty miles to make up. I think we can do that by morning.” She looks at Guerina. “You are worried about your friends. You can fly up onto the crows nest.” She points. “It’s not the most comfortable place. But you can curl up and nap, and when you aren’t sleeping, you can keep lookout, sound like a deal?”
In response, Guerina flairs her wings and leaps into the air. She lands in the small platform at the top of the mast. She watches as the lamps are extinguished yet the light from the kirin’s horn is still quite bright. She looks out in the direction of the Seaspray. “Don’t worry, you big lug. I’m comin.”
The next two days are crazy, Greenbeard only takes a couple of naps, but the rest of the time, she’s using her magic and keeping the sails full. The Waveslasher is true to her name as she cuts through the gentle swells and powers her way. Guerina has kept an eye on the Seaspray from a distance as they’ve closed in. Though this last night, they’ve kept all lights extinguished, and Greenbeard wears a hat to hide the light of her horn.
Guerina leaps from the crow’s nest and lands next to Greenbeard. “You know, they’ve probably seen us by now.”
Greenbeard glances to the east, where the morning sun is about to make an appearance. “I know. They can’t outrun us, but they can make the chase go on for a long time.” She growls. “We need to get them to slow down.”
Several of the crew are making their way on deck, though now they are armed, Guerina can see several blades strapped to the horses and ponies of the crew, and a few pistols are holstered but ready as well. “We are ready to board and subdue the crew,” one of the horses says.
“No!” Greenbeard says firmly, her eyes glowing white for a moment, "I'd like to keep the loss of life to a minimum, and this is between HIM and me." Turning to face the other ship, "Bring us alongside, adjust course so we come up on their port." In response, the rigging creaks as the ship adjusts course slightly.
“Aye, Captain.”
Guerina looks at the other ship. Her eagle eyes can see at least one member of the other crew is keeping an eye on them, “Well, stealth has never been my strong point.” She flairs her wings. “I can fly over.” She draws a dagger. “I’ll cut some of the rigging, stop their sails from working.”
Greenbeard laughs softly. “They’ll shoot you before you even get close. You don’t know enough to cut the right lines.” She shifts her weight as the ship adjusts course again. She brightens and looks back. “Backburn, your assistance, please.”
The drake gestures for one of the horses to take his place before bounding down the stairs. He leans close to Greenbeard and they talk softly for several moments. Though he gives Greenbeard a sour look and glances at Guerina before looking back at the kirin. “Are you sure?”
She nods and they both walk to the railing. The Waveslasher is nearly pulling even with the Seaspray.
“Now.” Greenbeard says calmly, and the dragon reaches down and picks her up. He smiles at her and gets one in return before he takes a few steps and throws the kirin at the other ship.
"Are you crazy? Why would you throw her over there!" Taking to the air the griffin is stopped as the dragon catches her tail.
"Hold up lass, I did it because she was angry. And while I can take her being angry at me, the rest of the crew prefers that she be angry over there."
Let go! You... DRAGON!"
"Lass wait and watch," The first officer says firmly as he sets the griffin down beside him, putting a claw on her head.
She watches as Greenbeard curls into a ball as she flips head over tail, a magical field forms around her body as she streaks towards the other ship almost like a cannonball. At the last moment, Greenbeard uncurls, hitting the deck with her forehooves and slides to a stops, her body low as she skids to a stop on the deck of the other ship. Several of the Seaspray’s crew are armed themselves, though a quick yell of rage and a burst of magic melts swords and twists musket barrels to uselessness. She glances around and quick bursts of magic have the sails flapping in the wind in a matter of moments.
Captain Siad storms onto the deck, a wicked cutlass in his teeth. “I know we’ve been competitors for years, Greenbeard, but I’d never thought you’d resort to piracy.”
"I don' care about you lying, cheating, and swindling creatures," Greenbeard says as she walks across the deck, almost snarling as her eyes start to glow a fiery opal with crimson with dark purple wisps. "But SLAVERY? You would sell creatures as SLAVES!"
"Just stay calm missy," Backing up and dropping his cutlass, the ship’s captain quickly looks around, "It’s not... it’s not what you think."
"Not what I think?" Stomping her hooves she's quickly engulfed in fire, her form turning black, as her mane, tail and leg tuffs all begin burning. "Slaves? Tricking creatures into being, bound for Klugetown!"
"Calm down, let’s not get angry and do something you might regret." He looks back at Kipper, who is backing away from the enraged Nirik.
Slowly tilting her head to the side, she looks at the stallion, "Calm down? How is one supposed to be calm when in the presence of a slaver? How am I supposed to be calm when the creature I face would do such a thing?"
"There are slaves in Saddle Arabia!" He cries, scrambling back from the heat.
"There may be, but I don't deal with slave traders. And at least they aren't Klugetown slavers. Do you know what they do with slaves there? Have you seen the cages? Have you seen the peddlers that sell parts of sapient creatures?" Flames flare up around her raising up, charring the deck and threatening the sails.
Captain Siad flinches. "Err, wrong thing to say..." He mutters.
"Flames can boil water, at ten times the boiling point of water, gold turns to liquid. At about twelve times, iron melts, and at fifteen times, bone itself turns to ash. Can you guess where I am right now?" As she stalks towards him, her flaming hooves leaving scorch marks in the treated wood of the deck.
“Greenbeard, we are competitors, friendly rivals. Sometimes you win, sometimes I do.”
“That was before I found out you traded in slaves.”
He’s backed against the bulkhead of the sterncastle. “This be nothing more than a misunderstanding.” His eyes dart back and forth. “I know, I’ll give them to you.”
“And the gold you swindled from them too.”
“Ach, no. You would be stealing the food from my crew’s bellies.”
She glances around. "Oh really? So I should burn this ship to the waterline?" She growls.
"Let's be civil about this, I’ll give you half the gold.”
“All of it, Siad. Or I’ll burn your sails and leave you adrift.” She says with a flick of a flaming tail towards the sails as if to make a point.
He flinches, the heat from the Nirik is causing his clothing to smolder slightly. “Okay, fine, you win. I’ll return the gold to you.” He looks back at the sterncastle. “Kipper, would you bring our guests up?”
In only few moments, a very confused Ki, Ghaliya, and Dawn are led up to the deck, with several crew members carrying their possessions. As they reach the step outside, another crew member runs up and holds out a bag of coins to Ghaliya. Greenbeard huffs as her flames subside to nothingness and her appearance reverts to normal.
“Okay,” Ghaliya says, “What is going on?” Greenbeard hurriedly gestures for a gangplank, “Guerina is safe, onboard my ship, if you’d be so kind as to hurry, she’ll explain everything.”
The crew drop a gangway allowing for easy crossing between the two vessels, the Waveslasher having moved alongside the Seaspray. As she began to cross back onto her ship she slows, “And Siad.”
He grumbles for a moment before looking at her. “What is it you want, demon?”
“If I even hear a rumor of you running slaves. I’ll come back, and I’ll be really angry. Do you hear me?” She says kicking the gangplank overboard.
“Aye.” Siad says and grumbles lowering his head, “Loud and clear.”
She smiles brightly and looks over at Backburn. “Alright, let’s get underway.”
“Aye, Captain.”
The difference between our three days aboard the Seaspray and our time aboard the Waveslasher could not have been more stark. Once Guerina had failed to return from her fishing trip. Captain Siad had dismissed her disappearance as typical of griffs. Too busy seeking profit to stay on a slow trading vessel. There was a reason griffons and pegasi didn’t typically sign up to be crew. But every time he mentioned her that first day, he seemed to sweat a bit more. Then there was the commotion that woke me up well before Greenbeard had boarded, the crew noticing the other ship in pursuit. They had to fight the wind, yet the other ship seemed to have perfect wind and her sails stayed full.
Though from hearing that, and with my horn, I could have told them the reason, a powerful magic user was flexing her magical muscles. Then we got brought out onto the deck and had to find this nirik, creature of fire, vengeance and rage. Before I could even react though, the flames extinguish and instead the Kirin is standing there. We all ended up quite confused as we were brought aboard the Waveslasher.
Guerina sorting things out quickly though, letting us know what she had heard. How the captain and first officer were plotting, and that she was scare she had been spotted and knew she couldn’t get back to us safely so went for help. Dawn seemed to be the most affected by the news, with an almost visceral disgust. The mare was hugging herself sitting on her bed, “Klugetown is not a place you want to be, Ki. The creatures inhabiting it are corrupted hybrids. Some kind of dark, unnatural creatures spawned by chaos and dark magic. Their twisted forms unlike anything in Equestria or Saddle Arabia. They are creatures of malice, greed, craving the magic of other races since they have none of their own. In Klugetown, you can buy a unicorn’s horn, a pegasus’ wing, an earth pony’s hooves, or magical parts of any creature you could think of.” She stops and shudders. “I did not have the easiest of times there.” She looks around at us.
I look over at Ghaliya then Guerina, who nods with a grimace on her face. “It can’t be that bad, can it?”
“It’s not that bad,” Guerina says, “it’s worse.”
Dawn slams a hoof on the deck. “Ki, I’m serious! One of the nicer things that’s happened to me there was being merely left for dead and not finished off. One or two did show me kindness, but I have zero desire to ever return to Klugetown.” She stops, her eyes unfocused. “And I don’t think you should ever visit there, Ki.” She blinks a few times then looks at Ghaliya, “Nor you, mistress.”
I shudder, a place that affected Dawn that badly is not someplace that I would want to go. By the look on Guerina and Ghaliya’s faces, they are in agreement.
As we voyage, rather than being essentially confined below decks, both Greenbeard and Backburn have encouraged us to be up on deck, not just when it comes to calm times with the crew doing what I would call busywork, cleaning, maintaining the rigging, and work like that, but also when the sails needed adjusting, or being furled and unfurled. I’ve helped pull lines, and learned how to mend a rip in a sail.
Evening meals tend to be celebrations on the Waveslasher. With the captain at the head and Backburn at the other end of the long table in the galley, we’ve enjoyed eating the various foods the ship’s cook has whipped up. Though I’ve learned that the kirin enjoys meat easily as much as Guerina. The unicorn pony with a slice of pie as a cutie mark has come up with excellent meals that are filling and tasty, featuring a lot of salted fish, which Greenbeard, Backburn, and Guerina all heartily enjoy.
About two weeks into our journey with her, I wake up early, Guerina is snoring away in her bunk, and Dawn, for once, is in her own bed. I lie awake for a while after waking, looking at the ceiling of my room before rolling out of bed and heading on deck. I climb the fairly steep stairs up onto the deck. I look over and see the dragon is standing at the wheel, calling out orders to crew. I glance around in the predawn light. There’s land! But Dawn had mentioned jungles, I would call what I see grassland. I walk up to Backburn. “Where are we?”
He adjusts the wheel a bit. “We’ve got four more mouths to feed, empty holds, and we weren’t planning on such a long voyage. Our larders are low.”
I frown. “So?”
“We are putting into port, the Captain and I are going to buy food and supplies. Her magic is good enough for making sea water drinkable.”
I smile a bit. I’ve been helping with the purification of water, the Kirin had taught me the spell. Travelling in the desert had taught me the necessity of having plenty of drinking water. And finding out salt water is truly horrible to drink, having the water bunkers on the ship full has been very nice. Greenbeard has been the only magic user on the ship, so she keeps very busy. Though she’s been happy to teach me, saying something about life skills for the pony prince. And every time I’ve told her I’m no prince, she’s always smiled and acknowledged my words. But I don’t think she’s believed me even once.
As the motion of the ship changes, us getting into the protected harbor really changes the motion, Dawn emerges on deck. She walks up and listens to me explaining what Backburn has told me. At first she looks alarmed. And I kind of agree with her suspicion. But she looks at the approaching quay and relaxes quickly.
“”No, that’s not Klugetown.” She whispers to me. “I don’t recognize it though.”
“We are north of Saddle Arabia, and we are just about to go into the Celestial Sea.” Greenbeard says as she exits from her cabin. “This port city is under the dominion of the griffons. Though it’s a true port city, you’ll find ponies, yaks, horses, griffons, and many others there.” She smiles. “I shouldn’t be much more than a few hours, we are fine on hay, but fresh food is rather slim right now.”
I nod, looking at Dawn. “I think I’ll join you, Captain.”
She inclines her head to the side slightly. “If you wish, you are paying for the voyage.” As the ship is secured a gangplank is brought up and secured to the ship. Greenbeard leads be down the gangplank and into the town. I keep my wings tight against my body as we are into the crush of bodies. She was not kidding, every species I’ve heard of on this world is represented here. The bag of gold she brought with her gets progressively lighter as we visit several stalls throughout the market. One place she stops, some round fruit are brought out. She tosses me one, cautioning me to peel it before eating. She calls it an orange, and she shows the easiest way to eat one. I sink my teeth into the juicy flesh and moan softly.
“I always look for oranges, not only do they taste great, they prevent diseases common to sea farers. Scurvy is horrible – your brain doesn’t work, you have no energy, you just hurt, and then your skin starts to fall apart and your teeth fall out. Too long untreated and you die.” She nods to the merchant and floats out a stack of coins. Getting promises that their fruit will be delivered within the hour. The merchants all here seem to be used to ships coming in to simply resupply before continuing on their voyages. It's only a matter of hours before we are back on the Waveslasher and the crew is working hard getting the provisions into the various holds and ready for the ship to get back on the open ocean.
Soon, all the work dies down and the lines are being cast off. I’m helping pull lines with Dawn and Guerina. Curiously, Ghaliya is not asked to help, and when she offers, she’s politely, yet firmly rebuffed by the crew members, and either Backburn, or Greenbeard seem to magically appear to lead Ghaliya away. Though I smile when they do that. Ghaliya is very much capable of doing the physical work, she’s leaped in with her employees when it comes to working her caravan. But I want her to have an easy time of this voyage, though I don’t find the work all that strenuous.
Captain Greenbeard leaps to the front of the sterncastle. “Off we go, into the Celestial Sea!”
“But, Captain, it’s the Celestial Sea, dragons, sea monsters,” an older horse says, shaking his head.
“I know it’s a risk but when have we ever shied away from adventure?” Greenbeard asks tilting her head, “Or doing what’s right? Sometimes the unknown can be scary.”
“But this is our lives here,” Another crewmember calls up, “What goods a promise of pay if we are all dead?
The first officer steps forward proudly, holding his head high, and takes off his navy cap hold it over his chest, “I’ve been with the captain longer than anyone else, I believe in her. She’s never led us wrong in the past. I trust her.”
The crew looks amongst themselves mumbling, “I don’t like this, ships just vanish in those parts.”.
Stepping up the captain smiles. “We are the best crew on any of the seas.” Tapping her hoof like a drum beat, she starts to sing, “Will we be lost by time, or be part of history!”
The first officer drops down on the deck amongst the crew giving them light friendly pats and pushes, as he puts his hat back on “Will our story be told, or remain a mystery?”
Hopping up onto the rail the captain prances along the side of the ship, “Will they sing our songs, telling all that we have done?”
Moving out in front of the deck hands, the first officer turns and points to the crew, “It time to make your choice, only you can be the ones.”
Looking at each other, the crew nod and begin to sing in response, “Waoh, oh, oh, oooooh, And were off to sail the Celestial Sea! Hey!”
I blink looking at the crew as the song spreads, beside me Dawn supresses a giggle, covering her muzzle with both forehooves.
“Oh, oh, oh, and were off to sail the Celestial sea…” The crew repeats, as work picks up.
Looking up at me Dawn sings out, “Will you do something great with the time you have here?”
The dragon stands proud pointing at ropes. “Will you earn your marks, will you conquer what you fear?”
“And when we come back home,” The captain says jumping and landing on the deck as the grew begins pulling on ropes and moving cargo, “All the creatures there will see.”
The crew sings out in response, “We have conquered the waters of the Celestial Sea!”
“Oh, oh, oh, And were off to sail the Celestial Sea!” Quickly work on deck picks up as crew scamper around preparing for the trip.
Walking down the deck, the dragon brushes off some dust on a medal affixed to his uniform. “Will we find our greatest glory.”
The ships navigator looks at the maps, pointing things out to Guerina while smiling before giving her head feathers a tussle. “We can navigate by the stars.”
A crew horse points out the clouds to Dawn. “Here to learn what nature teaches us.”
Ghaliya turns her head to look at me smiling. “Maybe learn more of who you are.”
As the ship breaks away from port the captain lands on the bowsprit grabbing a line with her foreleg, as she leans forwarded looking out at the waters. “We won’t be lost by time, we’re be a part of history.”
The Backburn spins the wheel as the sails catch the wind, the ship biting into the waves as it surges forward past the breakwater. “Our story will be told, no more a mystery.”
The deck crew works in unison pulling ropes as the booms swing across the deck. “And when we get back home, every creature will see…”
At once, every creature on deck calls out in song. “We conquered the waters of the Celestial Sea!”
Over the next few days Greenbeard really starts teaching me how she deals with Air. It’s not the easiest aspect of magic for me to deal with, but when she’s doing what she calls weaving of the winds, she handles currents of Air that boggle my mind. I get a real glimpse of how powerful that mare is when it comes to her magic. Dawn spends some time helping me understand the theory, but the practical instruction is all handled by the Kirin.
Just over a week away from that last port, I’m lounging on deck, a bit tired from my most recent training with the Kirin when Guerina lets out a loud whoop from the platform on top of the largest mast. She flips out of the platform and flutters to the deck. “There’s a ship behind us, Captain.”
Greenbeard is instantly tense. “Could it be the Seaspray? Did Siad get revenge on the brain?”
Guerina shakes her head. “I don’t know enough about ships, but I would recognize the Seaspray. This is another ship.”
Greenbeard bounces up to the sterncastle, pulling out her spyglass. She scans the horizon for a long moment. Finally she stops, looking nearly directly astern. “Damn.” She murmurs softly.
“What is it?”
“You remember I mentioned privateers might be sent out if I am behind on a payment?” She pushes the spyglass to me, “Take a look.”
It takes me a few moments to find what she’s looking at. Unlike the Waveslasher, this one is narrower, with a look about her that tells me she’s meant to go fast. Her voice is loud in my ears. “That’s the Interceptor.”
“And why do you think she’s after you?”
“Because the Interceptor is built to go after other ships, Ki. And she’s hunting us right now.”
I frown. “Well, then, she’s found us.”