Standing on the Waveslashers sterncastle, I look at the ship following in our wake for a long moment. The Interceptor, a privateer who tracks down debtors, I look back at Greenbeard. In the time since I’ve appeared on this world, I’ve learned a lot about how horses express emotions, and it seems Kirin are similar enough to horses in that respect. She is tense, but firmly in control of herself. I lean over towards the Kirin. “Can you just buy them off?”
She flicks her ears. “That would be ideal," She says and shakes her head, "I do not want the cannons on that ship pointed my way any longer than necessary.” She glances at me then brings up her spyglass again to inspect the ship. “I don’t know if I have enough gold on board.” Her face colors. “I have been busy, making pretty good money, but some debts are larger than others.” She sighs softly. “And we can’t forget the privateer's cut.”
I blink a few times before looking out across the water at the ship slowly gaining on us. “Can we outrun them?”
""We'd need different wind conditions. The interceptor is faster than us in this weather. The privateer is persistet and won't quit so easily.”
I find myself in the void, reaching for my magic without really deciding to. My horn is lit. “I can…”
She reaches out her hoof and touches my leg gently. “Prince Ki. If I wanted to fight, I could. If it was just me, I might consider standing, but I have a crew to think of.” She stops, breathing in deeply. “But, no. I am not going to run from my responsibilities. Nor will I put lives in danger over money owed.”
“Why does every pony call me a prince?” I frown mumbling under my breath before looking up. “If you need gold, we’ve got more.”
She glares at me. “I charged you what I charged you. I will not depend on your kindness for my debts. Or change one debtor for another.”
I back a step up at the heat in her eyes before ducking my head. “Fine, I understand, but the offer remains.”
She huffs and looks back through her spyglass. She calls out orders from time to time, the wind isn’t at our back, but coming from our port bow. So we have been taking a zig zag course she had called tacking to the close reach. So, every so often we change course to keep towards our destination. As we continue, the Interceptor is tacking as well, though every turn has been having that sleek ship gain distance on us.
The tension in the Kirin slowly rises as the other ship continues to close. I look around, the crew knows what is going on. We can play this game for a long time, but the other ship is going to catch up. I look back at Dawn and Guerina. They are standing by the great wheel that moves the rudder.
Backburn walks up next to his captain, gently resting a claw on her back, looking as if he’s trying to keep her calm. “We are now in cannon range, Captain.”
Greenbeard nods. “I know. Let’s see what Griselde has planned for this fine day. I wonder if she plans to play peacefully.” Her magic again brings up her spyglass. She frowns. “Oh no.”
As I watch there is a puff of white smoke from the deck of the other ship. Then there’s a whistling sound, almost like something tearing through the air, and to our port, the water plumes up in an oval pattern.
Greenbeard growls and turns to her helmshorse. “Barshot, Hard to starboard, crew to your stations!” The volume gets my ears to flatten back as another explosion actually rocks the ship, peppering the side, leaving scars in the wood. Greenbeard cringes at the damage to her ship. She looks at me. “These rounds are made to clear the decks of crew and destroy sails. To cause far more casualties than a single cannonball would. Looks like she’s playing for keeps.”
Greenbeard continues to call out orders as she keeps an eye on the chasing ship. I look up at the sails as the rudder shoves the ship to the right, or starboard. The sails slacken before orders from the Captain has the boom pulled to the side. In moments, the ship lurches as the sails billow out. I glance back at the pursuing ship, again that insufferable puff of smoke meaning she’s fired again. Greenbeard’s directions seem to be working, they aren’t getting much closer with their shots. And the Interceptor is having to maneuver as well, making it harder for them to close in on us.
“Ki!” Greenbeard shouts. “Air!”
I nod and again embrace my magic. It’s still not easy, I’m used to handling what could be called merely threads of the different magical elements, but with weaving the winds, it’s more like cables. Absolutely huge masses of air are channeled into the sails. She calls out more orders as I gather the magic and push my power into the air, pushing the sails full.
I groan a bit as the ship lurches forward under the onslaught of energy I’m pouring into our sails.
Greenbeard smiles at me as the most recent shot lands farther behind us. Then an itching in my horn gets me to look back at the same time her attention is wrenched back. To my eyes, the other ship positively glows with magic. “Damn it.” She growls. She looks at me. “How long can you keep it up like that?”
I frown. “I’m good for however long you need.”
She looks back at the other ship, which is coming directly at us and gaining. I close my eyes and push harder. “Since when did she get a weaver, and a damned powerful one at that?” As we watch, yet another puff of smoke from the distant ship and once again, water erupts in another explosion. “Hard to port!” She looks at me, “Watch your angles, Ki.” She stops for a long moment, glancing at our pursuer and back at her crew. “Well, if she wants to play rough, so can I. Load cannons!” she shouts, getting several of the crew on deck to scramble to the cannons lashed in their cupolas on each side. Only moments has more crew coming out with our own rounds and powder.
I nod grimly as the ship changes course, gently changing the direction of the wind as the ship comes about to a new heading. She nods as she orders the rudder amidships. “How are we doing?” I growl. Keeping up this strong of a wind is wearing.
She glances back and raises her glass before sighing, “We are losing.” Another explosion of water, this time the spray is enough to have water washing along the deck. She looks at her crew working around the cannons. “I don’t have many cannons, but maybe I can dissuade her.”
Again the ship heaves as orders from Greenbeard has us turning about. She watches carefully as the ship turns, and then, with another shouted command, we return fire. With a crashing boom, our first cannon speaks. My eyes flick to the pursuing vessel, the shot splashes into the water, wide of the Interceptor, which is now turning hard.
“Well, we got their attention.” She takes a few steps as the first cannon is being pulled back to be reloaded. I watch the crew frantically work to prepare another shot as the next cannon crew is keeping an eye on both the incoming ship and their captain.
“Fire!”
Another crashing boom, and the ripping sound of the round flying through the air. My eyes widen, this one looks like it’s going to hit. Then with a loud clang, the round is stopped by a shield that popped up above the Interceptor.
“Damn, their mage can do shields.” She growls. She looks at me then back at the Interceptor. “But maybe we can wear them down.” She looks at her crew, the first cannon is ready again. “Fire!”
The horse holding the burning punk presses it to the vent. Another boom and the shot is on its way. My eyes involuntarily flick towards our target, which is turning hard once again.
CLANG
The round is shattered by the shield once again and it splashes harmlessly into the water as the Interceptor fires back. My eyes widen and Greenbeard’s horn lights brightly to form a shield. Their shot also ends up harmlessly in the water.
Greenbeard pants softly. “We are in the Celestial sea. She might be hoping to take the ship, sell off the crew and steal our provisions and gold before scuttling the ship.”
I look at her. “And lose out on commissions for getting payments?”
She nods grimly. “Wouldn’t be the first time a privateer took more than agreed.”
I snort as I have to adjust for the changing of our course once again. The Interceptors next shot going wide as we tack differently than their gunner expected, getting a satisfied snort from Greenbeard. “You know, we can’t do this forever.” I look down as I mull things over, looking at the ocean around us. Greenbeard gasps as she throws up a shield for a close shot to glance off and splash into the water.
“They must be running low on specialty.” She says. “That one was a regular ball shot.”
“Or they want to put some holes in the ship. Not playing around anymore.” Then my eyes widen. “You know, I’m better with water than I am with air.”
She looks back at me after calling out a new course. “I don’t see how that would help, Ki.”
“I’ve got an idea, take over for air for a bit.” I leap towards the quarterdeck, my horn glowing brightly. I smile as I direct my magic into the water around us. “First of all, we need speed, water will push us faster than air ever will.” The gentle swells quickly change, the ship accelerating as each wave pushes the ship further. Then I look at the Interceptor as she recedes. “And I need to stop you,” I growl to myself as I split the flows, keeping the Waveslasher moving quickly, I pour more of my magic back towards the Interceptor.
Dawn moves up next to me, Ghaliya at her side. “Ki, what are...what are you doing?”
I grin savagely as the other ship starts to turn, the water I’m moving pushing the ship hard to the side. “It’s too far away to make a whirlpool, but I can…” I groan as the ship makes one complete rotation and starts a second. I look back at Greenbeard. “Keep us going, if we get far enough away from them, we can alter course, make us harder to find.
Grabbing Greenbeard’s spyglass, I look out at the other ship, now spinning helplessly in the water. With the spyglass I can see the unicorn’s magic on the other ship, the threads of magic they are using to try to counteract what I’m doing. My horn pulses and I send out whips of spirit, slashing the attempts by the unicorn to make some sense of the chaos I’ve introduced. As I pan across, I can see the unicorn, their magic shines brightly to my eyes. I can only really see their magical glow. I snarl as I send out more threads of spirit, mentally thanking Dawn’s teaching on dealing with unicorns. As the threads approach the unicorn, I shape them quickly into a blunt wall, don’t want to do to the unicorn what happened to Dawn. I try to slam the formed shield between the unicorn and their magic, though they do feel the attack incoming and a desperate slash of Spirit cuts my attack. I wince as the rebound of the magic rebounds through my horn and grimace as I try again, only to be rebuffed.
“Ki, let me help.” Greenbeard shouts as she prepares her own attack. I nod grimly as the kirin lashes out with her strongest element, fire. Fans of flame bathe the sails of the Interceptor as my own attack slams home while the unicorn is trying to use blasts of water to extinguish the flaming sails. Magic goes dark as my shield slams home and I tie off the threads. I don’t tie them off all that tightly, but I turn to Greenbeard and nod. She whirls around and dashes to the wheel of the Waveslasher. Bounding up she takes over for Backburn and hauls the wheel hard to port. “Let’s get out of here!”
Dawn and Ghaliya both move to the sterncastle to look at the ship receding slowly. I stop and put a hoof up to comfort my horn. Ouch, those rebounds really hit when you let go of your magic. Ugh. I move up next to the horse of my dreams, leaning close to her. “That should get them out of our manes.” I growl softly.
Dawn flinches away from the view of the spinning ship, turning a little green. “Yeah, normally I’ve got a strong stomach, but…” She urps softly. “That is making even me dizzy.”
Ghaliya turns to me. “If they are privateers, they will be back.”
“It’s a big ocean.” Greenbeard says as she moves up to us. “We have the same destination, but they don’t know it.” Then her eyes widen. “Do they?”
I gulp. “We did tell Captain Siad. If they talked to him, yeah, they know.”
Greenbeard gulps. “Okay, I did not expect debt collection to start with cannons blazing.” She stops for a moment. “Could it be because of you?”
I glance at Ghaliya and Dawn. “I don’t know.”
Greenbeard looks at me for a long moment, then her glance moves to Ghaliya and Dawn. “What did I get myself into with you all? Should I have ignored the grif?” Smoke starts to billow from her mane, green flames brightening her legs. “Did I put my crew’s life in danger to take hot cargo? Should I have let you go?”
“Captain!” Backburn moves up to the kirin, putting his claw on her back. “Ma'am, they likely lied about us stealing their cargo, kidnapping the princess, and such."
Greenbeard flinches and looks at Ghaliya for a long moment. The smoke and flames starting to subside. She growls. "Oh, this just gets better and better."
“Look at the logic here, Captain. If they were foalnapped, they would be below decks, and wouldn't be at risk from the barshot.”
Greenbeard looks up at her first mate, contemplating for a long time, finally she whirls away, leaving burning hoofprints on the deck. “Lucky I don’t drop you in the launch and leave you.” She growls as she retreats into her cabin.
Backburn watches the retreating kirin. “She really is an excellent captain, you know that?”
I nod. “Yeah, concern for her crew is first.”
Backburn moves slowly over to the wheel. “Okay.” He peers to stern. “They are under the horizon, let’s make our first course change.” He calls out for the crew to lash down the cannons and adjust the sails as he turns the wheel carefully, watching the compass mounted to the base of the wheel. When the ship gets to the heading he wants, he looks back at me as he lashes down the wheel. “The captain and cook know this, but I’m going to tell you. No real magic for the time being, not without Captain Greenbeard’s order.” He stands up as he finishes his task. “You can do basic levitation, that doesn’t really matter. But anything else, that’s a hard no.” He glances back at the horizon. “Given what we saw, that was a strong unicorn, high three, maybe four. They can feel the stronger magic you mages like to use.”
I nod as the drake turns and descends to the deck, slowly extinguishing the lanterns. “Don’t want them to see our light.” He nods to the crew as they slowly retire.
Dawn turns to me. “I think we should try and get some rest, Ki.”
I grab my stomach. “And some food while we are at it.”
***
The horse on lookout calls out loudly. “Fog rolling in.” I walk slowly to the captain’s cabin. I only hesitate a moment before I raise a hoof and knock on the door.
“Come in.”
I push the latch and poke my head inside. The kirin is laying comfortably on her bed, the drake is sitting next to her. They both smile at me. “Ki, welcome,” Backburn says brightly. He stands up from the bed and bows to the kirin. “My Captain, I will stand watch.” At her nod he turns and walks past me, touching his hat in a salute as he walks past me, drawing the door closed.
I look at the closed door for a long moment before Greenbeard gestures to one of the cushions on the deck. She gestures to a cup and I grab it and have a taste of some excellent tea. As I settle onto the soft cushion, she looks down. “I’m sorry for blowing up at you earlier.”
I bow. “I understand the sentiment. Your crew’s lives were threatened, you were looking out for your crew.”
She smiles. “My crew is very important to me.” She stops, the smile frozen on her face. “Wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had to deal with privateers.” She stops for a long moment. “But…this is the first time I’ve had a debt collector truly after me. And definitely a first having them coming in cannons blazing.”
“You’ll have my magical help any time you need it while I’m aboard, Captain.”
She nods. “Well, that water work, that was inspired.”
“Just wanted to stop them.”
She looks at me. “Tell me about the unicorn we were facing off against. I’ve dealt with the Interceptor before, not as her subject, but as a witness before. Griselde is a tough captain and mean in general, but shooting first isn't her style; gets in the way of yelling at you first.” She stops and huffs. “This has to be more than a few thousand gold crowns.”
“A few thousand?” Ghaliya had made sure we had plenty of gold for this run, but that would take most of what we have.
She nods. “When the payment is defaulted, the entire debt becomes due. I might be able to bargain down to the defaulted amount, along with the privateer’s fees.”
“May I ask, why are you behind?”
“While it’s true, the Waveslasher has been busy, not all of my deals have been all that profitable. I was going to do a few quick transport jobs, get me caught up. But taking on this long voyage with you, I didn’t have much opportunity to pay down that debt.” She smiles at me, though I can see it’s fake. “But I’ll make new terms. My chest is not empty of gold, over and above what you paid. You don’t need to worry, once we are done, I’ll get back to Bandar Moon, I know who to sweet talk to get the Interceptor out of my mane.”
“They are going to continue to search for us.”
She nods. “And the Celestial Sea is vast, we’ve changed course twice so far, and will do so again soon before sunrise. Even if she scouts ahead on her wings, she’s not likely to find us.” She looks seriously at me. “You’ve been keeping quiet when it comes to your magic, right?”
I nod. “I haven’t even done any telekinesis.”
She smiles. “Good.” She looks at the door for a long moment before turning back to me. “So, what happened to Dawn?”
I was taking a sip of the tea, her question gets me to snort, some of the hot liquid was accidentally inhaled. I cough loudly, and after a moment of coughing, I’m using a wing to pound on my chest to stop the coughing. Finally I can breathe. “What?”
She looks mournfully at me. “A unicorn, severed from her magic.” At my shocked look, she tilts her head. “Any mage can feel the lack in her. She has…a…hole…in her aura, her connection to the magic of the world, of life, was severed.”
I gulp, setting down my tea to not repeat my mistake. “It’s my fault. I wasn’t strong enough.”
“Oh, this I’ve got to hear.” She settles onto the bed as I tell the tale. She listens intently as I walk through that battle, how I was stunned, what she did, what Sparks did. Tears are flowing freely by the time I wind down.
“She truly does love you, Ki.”
Unfortunately that brings about another coughing fit. I again pound on my ribcage with a wing. When I’m able to speak. “No, I’m betrothed to Ghaliya.”
That gets a bright laugh from the Kirin. “Did I say she wanted to mate with you? What is with you stallions? Only thinking with your fifth leg?”
“Ummm, ah…”
She hops off the bed and walks slowly to me. “Ki, she’s not romantically interested in you. She loves you. It is most certainly possible. Yes, she’s your teacher, yes, she’s a friend. But she’s more than just that. How often does she sleep with you? And I know it’s just sleep, not anything more.”
I find my face is hot. “Every so often.” I mutter.
“Ah ha! Yes, I knew it.” She giggles. “Ki, you may not be her brother, but you are as close to her as any family member could ever be. Ponies herd, they love large families. They have some of the strongest family bonds you’ll ever see.” She stops for a moment. “Kirin are more solitary than that.” She smiles wistfully. “Must be the dragon in us.” At my surprised look she giggles again. “Kirin are a combination of dragon and pony. Don’t ask me how that started, but the combination of pony magic with dragon magic makes us.” She briefly flashes into a flaming nirik before flashing back to her normal self. “Unique. We have many aspects of ponies, much of the same pony magic, along with fire. Dragons swim in lava, so can kirin. But we love music, we love to sing, and make merry like any pony.”
“So, what of Backburn?”
She stops for a long moment, a fond look on her face. “I met him when he was little. He had crashed into our town when he was little during a storm. Something about leaving after a molt.” She tilts her head, looking at nothing in particular, “We became fast friends, he was the first to be able to withstand my temper. My fire can’t hurt him, so he’d stay with me and even hug me if I was having a really bad time.”
“Oh.”
“On the flipside, his strength and claws can’t hurt me, so he doesn’t have to worry about cutting loose. We just sort of work well together.” Stretching a hind leg she gives herself a full body shake, “When I left our village, to travel, he stayed with me and we’ve never looked back. We’ve made some really good profit together,” Tilting her head to the side she smiles, “and lost some. Trust me, nopony will cross us. That horse that was running away from us when you first met us, was trying to swindle me, even made a threat or two which, struck my temper.”
“Foof?”
Nodding she laughs, “Yep, I foofed.”
That gets a bark of a laugh from me. “I can see that.” I stop, thinking furiously. “We can help, get debt collectors off your back.”
Her face turns hard. “Ki, I understand your sentiment. But I am ethical. I charged you what I charged you, and you know, having this ship for this long of a voyage is not cheap. But I will not get into debt to you…”
I override her. “You wouldn’t be going into debt to me, or to Ghaliya.”
“Oh, charity, that’s so much better,” she scoffs.
“I’m serious. Ghaliya owns her own shipping company. She’s quite successful.”
“As well as being a member of the Saddle Arabian nobility.”
“Which she’s done without their help.” I stop for a moment, taking a deep breath. “Before I came to you, I talked with her. Whatever gold is needed, we have, and we can help.”
The look on her face silences me. I can see a bit of smoke rising from her mane. “Prince Ki.” As I move to object she silences me again. “I don’t care what you say, lad. That horn and those wings make you a prince, just like Celestia is a princess. You may not know Equestria, but you are a pony, you are an alicorn. You cannot change those facts. And you cannot duck what that makes you. I’ve seen how my crew reacts to you. Even though I only have one pony on my crew, even the horses defer to you. You are a leader, whether you like it or not. Their loyalty is to me, but they also view you as more than pony, more than horse.”
“I don’t want…”
“WANT?” She barks shaking her head, “Want? Wants are personal, you want to read a book, you want water instead of ale. This is a need however, this is instinctual, this is part of who, of what we are, and part of how others will react to you. You can try and hide it from others under robes, you can limit the magic you use, but you ARE an alicorn. Like Celestia, some can sense this. More than that, you are a leader, born and true.” Looking at me directly in the eyes she huffs, “You would wipe the floor with me magically without a thought, just like you could with almost any magical creature. And that strength alone would make most defer to you, but you have the heart of a leader as well. You can choose to run from that or embrace it. Either way, it won’t change who, or what you are.”
“I…”
“Think on my words, Ki, but back to my original question, the unicorn on the Interceptor.”
I pause for a long moment. Thinking back to the fight only a few hours before. “He or she was fairly strong, or skilled in air. They weaved the winds almost as good as you do.”
She nods. “And, do you think you could win in a duel?”
I sigh. “I only have months of training, I know a lot of weaves, from Dawn, from you, some that I’ve figured out myself. If they are fully trained, they could outmaneuver me.”
She smirks. “You use a hammer, they use a blade?”
I nod. “I know I’m wasteful of my energy when I’m doing things I don’t know well, if they can keep up the attack, they’ll eventually wear me out, I think. Focusing on countering attacks.” I frown thoughtfully. “But if I keep my wits about me, I can fight, try to wear them down.”
She nods. “Why didn’t you do a stronger shield? Or even fully sever them from their magic? Lives were in danger. If you could have ended it sooner.”
I recoil. “And do to that pony what happened to Dawn?” I shake my head hard. “I wouldn’t do that…I couldn’t do that! A unicorn losing their magic? That’s a fate worse than death. Dawn is tough, losing her magic has nearly killed her. I see how it makes her suffer every single day. I could never do that to anypony, ever, I'd rather they kill me.”
"You're too soft."
"Dawn says that all the time."
She sighs softly, “And if it came down to that pony killing Guerina, or Ghaliya, or one of my crew? What would you do then?”
“I’d stop them.”
“How?”
I stop, my mouth working. Which gets a smirk. “Not so easy when you really think about it. Mercy for an enemy is a good thing in many cases, but there are times where no quarter should be given.”
I can feel tears welling. “I would rather kill them than that. Losing magic like that.” I reach up and touch my horn before shuddering. “That is a fate worse than death.”
“Yet Dawn lives with that fate daily. Would you kill her to put her out of that misery?”
I shake my head violently. “The reason we are on this voyage, on this journey, is to fix Dawn. To give her…her magic back.”
Greenbeard scoffs. “You and I both know that can’t be done, Prince. She will forever be a unicorn without magic. Other unicorns will fear her, shun her, because deep down, they fear that something would happen to them that would end their connection to their magic. She would be best getting her horn sawn off, moving to an Earth pony town, settling down, finding a stallion, and popping out foals every year.”
I close my eyes and shudder. “No, that’s not Dawn. She’s an adventurer. She’s an explorer, a fighter. She wouldn’t be…herself anymore.”
Greenbeard sighs. “Ki. Sometimes what you do with somepony you love, is let them go. When that is what is best for them.”
I slam a hoof on the table, causing my tea to jump. “Not Dawn. No. I will help her, we will heal her, let her be the mage she once was and can be again. I’ve promised her, and I would rather die myself than fail her."
“You can promise the moon and stars, Prince Ki, but that doesn’t mean you can deliver.” She stops. Her eyes going wide.
I find my eyes narrowing. Focusing inward, feeling my magic. “I feel it, too.”
She leaps from her bed, slamming through the door into the murky pre-dawn light. “To arms!”