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AN: Thanks for the reviews. ^_^ I'm sorry it took so long for me to update. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

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Chapter 7:

The Wrath of Ages

Crimson eyes glittered in the darkness of the small room, rocking gently with the motions of the sea. He was so close he could practically smell victory upon the air, thick with sea salt and the promise of blood. A tongue flicked out to lick the pale lips in anticipation, and the magician smiled.

Soon…

A hesitant knock came at his door and a nervous looking sailor poked his head in. Ever since his arrival, everyone on the navy ship had been somewhat wary of the strange magician with eyes the color od freshly spilled blood. They explained their uneasiness to themselves by reminding one another that he was, after all, a magician, and apparently a very powerful one by the way their commander watched him. But in truth, their unease seemed to stem from his very presence, an indecipherable feeling that charged the very air around the black-clad man. "Sir? Captain Mizuki has requested your presence on deck. We're closing in on the target."

The figure seated on the room's single stool stood, finally taking his gaze from the mirror above the small, bare table. The smile he gave the sailor showed teeth that seemed to be unnecessarily sharp and the man took an involuntary step back into the hallway. "Of course. Tell your captain that I shall be there shortly. There are just a few more preparations I need to make before we begin the…Hunt."

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With the Seigaku crew aboard, the ship renamed the Skylark by Kamio was a raucous, lively affair. Those who weren't helping with the sails or the steering chattered on deck, basking in the gentle sea breeze and sunlight.

"We haven't been pirates long," Yohei was saying, eyes gleaming, "but we're already famous in the north. You won't find better pair fighters anywhere else!"

"Nya! I bet Oishi and I could take you on," Eiji retorted, slinging an arm over his partner's shoulders. "People don't call us the Golden Pair for nothing you know."

Kohei grinned. "Yeah? How about a sparring match?"

Brow creased in worry, Oishi tugged away from the enthusiastic red-haired acrobat. "I don't think that's a very good idea… You three do remember that we're on a ship right now, don't you?"

"Aw, come on, Oishi! We fight on ships all the time! We're pirates, remember?"

Kamio put an end to the argument from his place in the prow, waving for their attention as he shouted, "There will be no sparring or unnecessary fighting on my ship! Honestly, we've all just come from shipwrecks of our own. Are you really so eager to test chance and repeat the experience?"

"He's right," Oishi agreed hastily, relieved. "It's far too dangerous."

"The Golden Pair?" Everyone stopped talking to look at the source of this new voice. The words had come from a man seated beside the hatch leading to the ship's hold, a had pulled over his short, black hair. They were the first words any of them could remember him speaking since they'd all arrived on board.

"Huh?"

The man jerked his head towards Eiji. "You people come from the ship Seigaku then?"

"So you have heard of us." Momoshiro grinned. "But then I suppose we have been building something of a reputation for ourselves. We're the ones who sailed the Spiral Sholes unscathed two years back!"

The man shrugged. "And you would be?"

Fuji chuckled, leaning against the ship's rail beside Kamio as Momo exclaimed in indignant exasperation. "This is cozy, isn't it? So where did you say we were headed again?"

"Mauv." Turning to gaze back out across the peaceful sea, Kamio drummed his fingers on the wooden rail. "There's been so much talk of dragons lately that I started thinking…that maybe it would be good to take a look at the place where all the legends began."

The magician did not look at him as he replied, his attention focused instead on Ryoma who was busy eating a sandwich of roast fish. "But Ardalys disappeared beneath the waves centuries ago. Even the artifacts that wash up on Mauv's shores now and then can only tell us so much. So much knowledge has been lost."

"I know, but still." A slight frown wrinkled the red-haired captain's forehead. The smiling magician with his pale brown hair and almost perpetually closed eyes made him a little uneasy, but it seemed only wise to discuss matters with him. Mages, especially Master level mages, had a tendency for harboring great amounts of knowledge, and Fuji Syusuke's intelligence was something not even his enemies ever questioned—and survived at any rate. "I was hoping we'd still get some clues. And perhaps we might even be able to find a way to the underwater ruins."

"The navy is looking for a dragon," Fuji mused. "But where else have you heard the mention of dragons?"

Kamio shrugged. "There is the navy, of course, and other pirates too. It's like they're all looking for something, not just the dragon. And then there's this prophecy my crewmate ran across, if you hold with such things."

A prophecy? Fuji had mixed feelings concerning prophecies, and the various avenues through which people sought to know the future. It was hard not to believe when his own sister was a well established and always accurate seer, but there were dangers in such things too. After all, prophecies did not set the road of the future. They merely set down a guideline that the world may or may not follow depending on the actions of its inhabitants. And it was hard to judge a prophet's credibility—until it was too late anyway. Before Fuji could question Kamio further upon the matter, however, a sudden chill seemed to sweep over the entire ship, freezing everyone in their tracks.

As one, all the magicians aboard turned their faces towards the horizon where the Twin Isles had long since dwindled out of sight. It was hard to distinguish it against the bright blue and white-streaked sky, but something was creeping across the open water towards them, a rolling fog so thick it obscured everything it touched. They could all feel the darkness cloaked within it, the same presence Fuji had sensed earlier while still on the island looking out to sea.

"Inui?" he asked calmly.

The data wizard's glasses gleamed in the sunlight. "It'll be on us in approximately five minutes and thirty-two seconds. I can't gage the power of it clearly though, it's too unstable."

"That's dangerous spell work there, that is," Shinji observed from his place at the wheel. "Unstable you said? It's not wise to deal with unstable spells, let alone at such a magnitude. Whoever's controlling that fog must be crazy. Then again, crazy is a matter of opinion."

Straightening, Fuji turned to face the oncoming mists. He thought about ordering Ryoma below decks but changed his mind; he wanted his new charge where he could keep an eye on him.

"Anyone who can cast protective wards, take care of the ship," he said. And though he was new and neither captain nor first mate, everyone obeyed. There was something about the magician's voice, something like the steel and silk that only come with knowing, that forbade argument. Besides, no one wanted to repeat the experience of almost drowning again so soon, especially when they might not be so lucky this time as to locate another vessel.

Inui wandered along the ship's perimeter, tapping the rail at certain intervals with a crystal rod he'd pulled from the air. Runes flashed into life upon the wood where the rod struck, glowing brilliantly for an instant before fading, leaving a black outline of them where they had shone. Yohei and Kohei stood at the base of the mast, facing one another with their hands linked and their eyes closed, surrounded by a dim violet halo. The violet streamed from them along the cracks of the floorboards and up the mast to coat the sails before dying away. At his wheel, Shinji was muttering again, which was not unusual—though this time, his muttering had a distinct focus and a concentration in it that it normally lacked. Blue glimmered about his hands and along the steering wheel, setting their course and destination into the very structure of the ship itself. There was no way he was letting a measly fog ruin his navigator's reputation.

Fuji himself simply stood perfectly still, slits of his icy blue eyes showing as he stared into the fog bank. It had been a long time since anyone had dared challenge him in his profession and, serious though the situation was, he found himself looking forward to it, albeit in a darkly amused, vindictive sort of way.

He briefly considered ordering Ryoma below decks but dismissed the idea quickly. If the approaching enemy fancied the dragon, he would rather have him where he could keep an eye on him.

It wasn't long before the fog rolled over them, blanketing everything so that they could hardly make out the sails of their own ship. No one spoke.

The first attack flashed from the mist to their right. Inui started to raise his hands but Fuji was faster. Throwing up his arm, he brought up a shield and the lighting sparked and fizzed across it, skidding away like light across a soap bubble. Not waiting for the last of the lightning to die, Fuji threw his own energy blast in the direction the attack had come. Blue light flared, lighting up the mist for a split second followed by a sound like shattering glass. With the sound, the air not a hundred meters from them shimmered and the dark shape of a ship materialized as the cloaking shield that had been around it broke and fell away.

Blue eyes gleaming, Fuji raised his hand again to finish them off, but paused as the sound of clapping reached his ears. Surveying the ship, he picked out someone silhouetted against the pale mist at the ship's prow. From this distance and with the mist so thick, he couldn't make out the figure's face. But he could sense the aura and it made the hairs prickle on the back of his neck. Whoever the person was, Fuji knew three things for sure. This was the same person who had been watching them through the eyes of the beast on the Twin Isles. It wasn't human, and it was very powerful.

"Not bad," a voice drifted to them across the oddly silent water. "Not bad at all. But I would have expected no less from a magician of your reputation, Fuji Syusuke."

Fuji tilted his head slightly to one side, assuming his usual, faint smile. "You know my name, but I'm afraid I can't say the same."

A laugh rang darkly across the water. "No, you wouldn't have heard of me. The name's Kirihara. I suggest you remember it. It's only right that you should know the name of the one to destroy you."

"You think so?" Fuji's smile widened. "You realize that nany people have tried. And I need hardly say that they all failed."

"I won't fail," Kirihara assured him with confidence. "I'm not like the others. But first, you have something on your ship that I want—or someone, to be more precise. Hand over the dragon and I might let you go for today until next we meet."

"Dragon?" Eiji whispered, looking bewildered. "What is he talking about? We don't have any dragons on board—unless he means the figurehead. But I can't imagine what he'd want with a figurehead. I mean, their ship's already got one."

Beside him, Inui's glasses glimmered. "That's a navy vessel, albeit an unusual one. Didn't we hear something about the navy capturing a dragon?"

"We don't know anything about dragons," Fuji called back, voice coldly amused. "So I suggest you let us go or I'm going to stop being so friendly."

As he said this, a fierce, blue light began to flicker about Fuji. His crewmates edged cautiously away from him, looking for anything to hold on to. When mages fought at sea, things and people tended to be lost overboard.

The fireball hurtled at them from out of the fog with snakelike speed, but Fuji had been ready. With an almost lazy flick of his wrist, he diverted the fireball into the sea, sending plumes of steam and boiling water sheeting skyward. Gathering the scalding water into a bubbling coil, he aimed it like a lasso back towards the enemy vessel. The duel had begun.

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Heat and light flashed above the suddenly angry sea as spelled lightning met enchanted shields. Ryoma clung to the railing that ran along the outside of the captain's cabin, shielding his eyes from the spray with one arm. The clashes of power in the air made him feel slightly ill, crackling all about the two ships like an unseen yet lethal web, provoking an ache at the back of his skull. Along at the center of the deck, Fuji stood wrapped in an aura of sapphire flames. And, peering through the occasional spurt of disrupted foam and water, Ryoma could just glimpse the enemy mage wrapped in a similar aura of a bright, bloody, pulsing red. Pulsing like a heartbeat and laced with something dark that he sensed rather than saw. It was an almost familiar sensation and it was that familiarity now that was making his head ache.

People shouted as one of the sails tore under a lash of crimson energy. Fuji canceled out the spell before the sails could catch fire, and Inui began muttering incantations, fingers weaving rapid symbols in the air as he struggled to repair the damage. Crouching to keep his balance as the ship heaved, Ryoma watched as the strange, silvery, translucent sails of the enemy vessel were traced in blue fire and tore from their ropes to descend upon the ship and its crew. He could hardly hear anything above the roar of the waves striking at their ship's sides, but he didn't need to hear or see to know when the darkness suddenly began to fall back.

Fuji was winning.

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"Pull back!" Mizuki shouted furiously, fighting his way free of the silver netting, which didn't seem to want to let him go. "Pull back! We can't risk losing this vessel!"

"Curse him!" Kirihara's face was twisted in a snarl that made him look more like a demon than a man. But Mizuki didn't have the time to wonder about the mage's suddenly completely crimson eyes. Mages were always bizarre people, he reasoned to himself, waving his men into position to retreat. There had to be plenty of magicians out there with eyes that had no whites. And after watching that battle, he certainly wasn't going to mention the matter to the man.

"Pull back!"

No, he was annoyed enough at having to let go of their target for the time being. He didn't want to have to deal with a rogue magician too if the man took offense. At least he knew now , after getting a good look at the direction spells the other ship's fool navigator was weaving, where their prey was headed.

His long, bony ifngers wrapped about the ship's black rail, Kirihara glared at the Skylark. He might have lost this duel, but he wasn't going to be forgotten so easily.

In one last spiteful move as his ship was thrown back, Kirihara summoned all his power and lifted an immense wave up from the sea, sending it crashing over the other ship. People dove for anything to hold on to, shouting, but Fuji had been too close. And with a roaring hiss that knocked the air momentarily from his lungs, the water carried him over the edge and into the roiling waves. Then the navy vessel had disappeared and the Skylark was in chaos, people yellow to bail water from the deck and search the waves frantically for their missing companion.

"A life float!" Momo was shouting, scrambling frantically across the sopping deck. "Damn it! Where is it?"

Kaidoh ran past him in the other direction with the white ring in his hands. "It's a lifesaver, you idiot, not a life float!"

"Where is he?" Eiji bounded along the ship's rail, keen eyes darting from foamy crest to foamy crest. "I can't see him! Oishi, do something!"

But his cries were lost in the ocean's roar, and even if he had heard him Oishi would have been at a loss as to what to do. He was making his way over to his distressed friend, however, when he spotted a figure crouched balanced upon the railing. The person's hands gripped the wood so tightly his knuckles were turning white, spray flecking his dark emerald hair. Golden eyes watched the waves with the intensity of choice and then, as though having made up his mind about something, he let go of the railing and dove over the ship's side under Oishi's horrified eyes.

"Echizen! What are you doing? You'll get yourself killed!"

But the shout came too late, and their newest crewmate disappeared beneath the water.

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The water pressed in all around him, the current snagging his body and dragging him down into the depths of the raging sea. Struggling against the inexorable pull, Ryoma stared desperately around. He find Fuji soon or the magician might drown. Even the most powerful of magic could only do so much against the incredible, crushing might of the open sea. He just hoped he had regained enough energy to pull off a short transformation.

Fuji was losing breath and consciousness. He cast around for some type of spell to help him, an air spell perhaps, but it was hard to concentrate when he was already running out of it. Struggling to keep his eyes open, he thought he caught sight of Ryoma not that far from him. What was he doing in the water? Had the ocean got him too? But no.

The boy had his eyes closed and the emerald upon the pendant around his neck was pulsing with radiance. Green and gold light set the water on fire as they snaked around the slim figure, his hair whipping around his face as though caught in a high wind.

Forgetting about his urgent need for oxygen, Fuji stared in wonder as a snakelike creature dove outward from the sphere of light as it faded, coiling once around him before snagging his collar with its claws. Its long, narrow wings glimmered almost delicately in the water, built both for helping it slide through the water and for flight. The glimpse he got of its eyes shining like burning, liquid gold in the dark water filled him with an odd, uplifting feeling that brought a genuine smile to his lips.

Then Fuji was on the deck of their tossing vessel, coughing up water. Glancing hastily to his side, he found Ryoma in the same state, soaked through and panting, water dripping onto the wooden planks.

There was no sign of the creature anywhere, but Fuji knew better than to look. After all, the creature was right before his eyes, kneeling amidst a growing puddle of seawater. Fuji had seen paintings and sketches of dragons of course, but they were nothing like seeing the real thing.

"Fuji! Ochibi! You're alive! Eiji leapt on them, almost strangling Ryoma in his relief. "How did you guys get out? One moment we were all looking for you and the next, you were there!"

"Eiji, calm down and please give them some space." Oishi pride the redhead off Ryoma as gently as he could and handed both of their sopping teammates towels to dry themselves with.

"Though I'm curious too," Inui said, frowning at them then at the sea. "How did you two get back on board? Not that I'm complaining of course."

Fuji finally looked away from Ryoma and offered a vague smile. "I guess we got lucky."

And that was all anyone could get out of either of them.

Later that night after they'd made sure the ship was all right and Shinji had reset their course, Fuji sat in a room branching off the captain's cabin with Ryoma, a pot of Inui's infamous reviving drink brewing on a hot plate between them. Amazingly, they were the only two casualties onboard after their run-in with the navy vessel, and Oishi had insisted that they rest. Accordingly, this room had been converted into a sort of resting area—Ryoma refused to call it an infirmary; they weren't that badly hurt after all, just a little shaken and a bit wet. He sat at the table now eyeing the bubbling liquid in the pot with no little amount of misgiving. Nothing that color could possibly be safe to ingest.

"It's really quite harmless," Fuji assured him, smiling all too brightly as he poured himself a glass and downed several gulps. Setting the glass down, he poured a second cup and slid it across the table to his companion.

Ryoma wrinkled his nose at the smell and pushed it back. "Sorry, but I don't trust your taste."

The mage laughed, leaning back in his chair. He would have tilted it back a bit but all the furniture in these rooms had been nailed to the floor. "Suit yourself. But really," he added, abruptly serious, "Thank you."

Ryoma just shrugged and stood up, mumbling as he made his way to the door. "I'm going to lie down." And with that, he disappeared, leaving a very thoughtful magician staring at his empty seat.

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AN: Thanks for reading and please review!