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?"
