Insects and seabirds dipped and soared in the evening air. The sea breeze was cool at this time of day, although it still smelled briny. Along the docks of Pravoka's southern port district workers hauled boxes to and from several moored ships; once again, Gilles was impressed by the resilience of normal activity in the face of rampant anarchy. More impressive however, were the assets at Bikke's disposal. The wizard adjusted his broad-brimmed hat. This isn't a pirate fleet, it's a small outlaw navy. The black mage stood among several large crates and barrels on an abandoned pier overlooking the two ships of Bikke's that remained in port. Both were on par with a naval armada, sporting iron plating and heavy cannonries on the side. The fact that these ships were crewed by violent brigands sent chills down Gilles' spine. A black flag flew from the ships' main mast, sporting the unmistakable insignia of Bikke's fleet: an unconventional Jolly Roger with a sahagin's skull instead of a human's and sabers instead of crossbones.

Seeing the massive warships in the harbor made Gilles feel a bit more inadequate than he had felt during the planning phase. He had no doubts that his master would have been able to sink the ships with ease- the late Homac Topapa was a true black wizard; able to use third-tier elemental spells and 7th level black magic. He was sure that a single Firaga would be more than sufficient to destroy each ship, but such advanced spells were as yet out of his league. They would be relying on the ships' onboard stores of gunpowder and nitro to do the job; the black magic would merely be a catalyst. On the nearest vessel, Gilles could make out the pirate crew moving about at a lackluster pace. Enjoy what's left of your lives, scum.

Focus! Focus! The wizard cleared his mind and began tapping into his intrinsic reserves of mana, in this meditative state he could practically feel the elemental forces swirling about him: The four prime elements of fire, earth, wind and especially here at the seashore, water. There were the secondary elements as well: lightning and ice. The transcendental elements, light and darkness, governed the other six in eternal opposition. Fire, heat, combustion; these would be the order of the day- an incantation as old as time itself that would excite matter at a molecular level and conjure up enough fuel for ignition. Fire was one of Gilles' favorite spells, although Blizzard was more powerful the former was much more appropriate for destroying a wooden ship.

Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him and heard the click of a flint lock pistol. "Hands in the air, spell slinger!" A gruff, female voice commanded. Gilles calmly did as instructed. "Now, turn around, mage! Slowly!" Again, Gilles complied. Doing a one-eighty in place he came face to face with a pirate, who held a slug thrower right at his face.

"Can I help you?" The wizard asked coldly, doing his best to keep his voice clean of fear. Sometimes, not having a face had its advantages.

The woman sneered. "I'm askin' the questions, hear? Just what're ye doing on our turf? If yer lookin' to make trouble, you'll be findin' more than ye bargained for! Now, drop yer weapons. All of 'em, and when you tell me what ye're doin' here, it'd best be in a language I can understand. None o' that hocus-pocus, hear?"

Gilles nodded and slowly reached into his robes, pulling out the wicked, serrated ceremonial dagger he carried on him at all times. I'm being robbed and interrogated, keep your cool. He slowly knelt down and set the knife on the dock.

"Now! Just what ye be doin' 'ere?"

The black mage cleared his throat. "Im... Looking for someone, I'm not here to make trouble I assure you."

"I'll be the judge of that! Just who're ye lookin' for?"

Curses, you fool! Gilles had forgotten that Kelga Vasquez was the mortal enemy of Bikke's gang. Oh well, maybe it will buy me some time and provide some info. "Kelga Vasquez." The wizard muttered plaintively.

The pirate's eyes went wide. "Ye're in league with that li'l pouf? Ye're just asking to be shot in the face, aren't ye?"

Gilles decided to play dumb. "So, you know him?"

The pirate snorted. "Of course! That li'l fairy boy is such a nuisance! Always stealin' and sabotagin'... The Cap'n has put a fifty thousand gil price on his head. Only problem is, he's something of a local hero around these parts. She'it! For fifty k I'd throw my own mama to the sharks!"

I don't doubt that, cur. "He's no friend of mine, he's taken something extremely valuable that belonged to my former master. An item of incredible power."

"I don't care about any o' that!" She shook the pistol at him. "This here's private property! Ye're gonna leave, but first, I'm gonna liberate whatever ye got on ye. Cough it up!"

Gilles was NOT about to relinquish the Wind Crystal to this brigand, although he couldn't see any clear alternatives at the moment. Where was that damned red mage? He tried stalling:

"Do you know where I can find Kelga?"

The pirate winced, a clear signal that he had asked the wrong thing. "Look, ya wonky bastard, I told ya; if I knew where he was, I'd be cashin' in on the Cap'n's reward an' gettin' promoted. No more jib-jab, what've you got on ye?"

"Well, there's my knife." Gilles slowly reached into his robes, careful to conceal the chain that held the crystal. "I have about six thousand gil on me at the moment."

"Now we're talkin'! What else've ye got on ye?"

Gilles shrugged. "Spell scrolls, spell components, alchemical ingredients. I doubt any of that would be of much use to you."

"No, but I can hawk 'em off!" The pirate cocked her head. "What in blazes is THAT?"

Oh gods, no. She saw it. "This, is a useless piece of costume jewelry my master gave to me before he died. It's relatively worthless, aside from the sentimental value, but it's all I have of him."

"She'it! The chain's solid silver! I don't care if the jewel's fake, that's worth about ten k at least! Fork it over!"

Great job, Arkham. Appeal to a pirate's sense of sympathy. Any more brilliant plans? "No." The black mage said in a very disconcerting tone.

Black mages typically had strange voices, the same effect that shrouded their faces made their voices echo like talking through a jar or something. While there was little Gilles could do to dispel the effect, he could easily exploit it to make him sound threatening. Unfortunately, the pirate merely laughed.

"Okay, mage. We can do this the easy way, or the VERY easy way! Ye live or ye die, it's that simple. Either way, I'm walkin' away with that trinket tonight."

"It's mine." Gilles responded coldly.

The pirate smiled and shrugged. "Have it your way." She straightened her arm and held the gun level to his face. "See you in Hell, spell slinger!"

Suddenly, Gilles felt a stiff wind and heard the heavy clank of metal on metal. Sparks and blood flew as the pirate's gun went careening into the water, complete with a few fingers. "WHAT THE HELL?" She screamed and spun around. Her outraged shriek terminated in a wet gasp as something ran her through. Gilles couldn't make it out, but whatever it was stabbed her from the front. Only a blood-soaked silhouette suggested that she had even been penetrated. She gurgled some more and went limp, the invisible blade retracted and she slumped to the dock with a heavy thud.

One multi-hued flash of light later and the pirate slayer was revealed. Duane produced a cloth and wiped the blood off of his rapier. "Couldn't stay out of sight, could you?"

Gilles sighed. "What in blazes took you so long?"

The red mage smiled wickedly. "I had an idea!"

The black mage raised an eyebrow, but it only served to change the shape of his eyes. "Care to share this idea?"

"Oh..." The warlock's smile disappeared. "I abandoned it. It was good in theory, but ultimately untenable."

Gilles sighed again. "Are the ships ready?"

Duane nodded. "Yes, of course. I tried to set something up with cannon balls. You know, so the explosion would send them to blast the opposite ships and the warehouses over in the port, but that wouldn't work- for several reasons."

"The gunpowder is concentrated in the bow?"

"Of the nearest ship, yes. The explosives are in the stern of the far ship."

The black mage nodded and retrieved his dagger. "Okay, let's do this." He turned around to face the ships and began to focus the power of his spells. "Give me a doublecast, Duane."

The red mage said a quick incantation and clapped his hands. Gilles was enveloped in crimson lightning that complimented the flames he was summoning nicely. The dark wizard began to chant.

"FIRE!" He wailed, and unleashed a twofold volley of flames. One fireball shrieked towards the bow of the nearest ship while the second spun towards the stern of the far ship. They flew like guided missiles, penetrating the warships just below the iron plating. The spells incinerated the hull easily, upon impact they burst into a towering wall of flames that started ravaging the ships- inside and out.

"Impressive!" Duane cried. "I've never been able to get Fire that hot or volatile!"

Gilles indulged in an invisible smile. "Likewise. I've never done a doublecast before. You'll have to teach me that spell sometime."

Duane smiled and shook his head. "Sorry, but no. I can't. Mostly because it's not a spell so much as a technique. Secrets of the trade, you understand?"

Gilles nodded. Despite almost getting a bullet in the face, seeing two mighty warships burn brightly while their doomed crew scrambled to put out the blaze put him in an exceptional humor. He suppressed a chuckle. "Now what?"

"We run like mad. To the warehouses!" The two mages took off sprinting towards the greater port district. A deafening concussion sounded as the first ship practically split in two. Her crew jumped ship, many of whom were themselves on fire. Just as she began to go down, a foamy white explosion blew the rear and of the far ship apart. The stern almost instantly disappeared while the rest of the flooded hull began to sink. Fast. Secondary explosions further splintered the wreckage and many of the waterlogged survivors. Black Beard Bikke was officially down to a single ship.

Duane and Gilles dashed along the waterfront towards a series of large warehouses. Out in the harbor, the two ships continued to explode.

"How much damned gunpowder was on those things?" Gilles asked exhaustedly, noticeably out of breath.

"Lots." Duane simply answered. The two men kept running, they had already started hearing shouts from pirates- survivors of the two ships as well as additional guards for the warehouse area. Fortunately, everyone was running towards the ocean, while the two mages were doing their level best to get away from it. They reached the nearest pair of warehouses and dashed down the narrow alley between them. They ran for a few more strides before they skidded to a halt, face to face with two pirates.

The two buccaneers didn't say anything, they simply brandished their scimitars and charged. Gilles didn't waste any time. He muttered something in an archaic language and blue streaks of lightning shot from his outstretched hands. The bolts struck the nearest pirate and sent him careening back. He had stopped yelling in mid-flight, his smoking corpse smashing a wooden box as it hit the ground. The second pirate came straight for Duane, who had his rapier out and was swinging it in broad arcs; the pirate hesitated for an instant, and Duane charged. The two men engaged, their swords throwing sparks as they crashed together. Gilles couldn't risk casting Thunder again, not with Duane so close to his enemy. He shifted his focus and began chanting again, this called for a Blizzard.

Duane took a swift step back and executed a blindingly fast flourish. The pirate had somehow managed to parry every blow, but it sent him tumbling off balance. The red mage dashed around the man and ran him clear through from the side. The pirate dropped his blade and went down, Duane then wasted no time in finishing him off. Gilles stopped focusing the Blizzard's power, but maintained the spell's burgeoning effect in case more targets appeared. They did; responding to the screams of their two dead comrades more guards ran around the corner. Gilles simply turned to face them and unleashed the Blizzard. Streams and beams of white wind filled the alleyway and blasted the pirates- there were four in total. The black mage had aimed for the ground directly in front of them, attempting to cause an area-of-effect that would take advantage of the alley's cramped quarters. The pirates yelled momentarily, but their screams were interrupted by cracking and shattering noises as their frozen corpses keeled over. When the absolute zero dust cleared, all that remained was what looked like the pieces of broken statues.

"Most of his men are out at sea?" Gilles scoffed.

"Hmph. Now you know why I don't like him- well, one of the many reasons. Zok is an incurable optimist."

Gilles had begun to cast a brief spell that summoned up a wall of flames that obstructed the warehouses-lighting them ablaze at the same time. "Okay, don't need to worry about any more from that direction. Let's get a move on."

The pair continued running down the alley, the firewall had served the unintentional dual purpose of destroying the buildings along with heading off any reinforcements. A deafening explosion sounded in the distance. "How much bloody gunpowder does one need?" Gilles wheezed.

Duane stopped and knelt down with his hands on his knees. He was in better shape than Gilles, but not by much. After briefly catching his breath he stood and readjusted his hat. "We need to find a decent vantage point from which to plain our next attack."

Gilles nodded. "The little cretin had better be grateful. Speaking of which- how are we supposed to find him in this mess?" Smoke had begun clouding the night sky, despite the illumination from the all the flames.

Duane swung his rapier side to side, testing its balance. "I wish I knew, he's supposed to find us, remember?"

"Forget this!" Gilles growled. He cupped his hands over his dark void of a face and started shouting. "KELGA! KELGA VASQUEZ!"

Duane's eyes got wide- they almost glowed in the dark. "That's probably not the best plan!"

"I'm open to alternatives." The wizard continued shouting. Duane kept his sword drawn and took a defensive posture at Gilles' rear. The red mage started casting a spell that sent blue bolts of lightning traveling down the blade of his weapon. "Can you teach me that spell?" Gilles asked.

"White magic." Duane simply answered and strained to look into the darkness. Shadows had begun to move and head slowly in their direction. Gilles continued shouting.

"Shut up!" Duane cried. "We have company."

Three pirates dashed toward Duane from one alley, while another four came at Gilles from the other side. Both mages started chanting the same spell, Fire, but Duane finished the incantation first. A red-hot fireball went screaming towards one of his three, it struck him in the torso and he burst into flames. The pirate dropped his weapon and went down screaming, rolling around on the ground. The other two didn't even slow down, and Duane broke off to meet them.

Gilles took longer casting his spell, but for good reason. The fireball he produced was much larger and hotter. Once again, he went for an area-of-effect that turned the narrow alley into a sea of flames. The first pirate to be hit was incinerated almost instantly, exploding into a cloud of embers. Two more pirates were burned to death in the maelstrom while the last two broke off to flank the blazing obstruction.

Duane swung his crackling, enchanted blade side to side. Enthunder was a secret white magic spell that could enchant weapons with the power of lightning. While Duane himself was safe from the effect, chances were the hilts of his enemies' scimitars were not similarly insulated. They risked electrocution by merely parrying his strikes. Duane grinned and charged. The two buccaneers, bereft of shields, instinctively brought up their blades to defend. Duane blithely struck each blade, bluish-purple tendrils of lighting exploded from the impact and both pirates yelled in pain as they were thrown off balance. The red mage spun around and executed a broad horizontal slash. A bright blue streak of lightning rended the two combatants in half. Duane dispelled the effect and dashed back to meet Gilles.

Purple lightning crackled between Gilles' fingers as he prepared to unleash a spell the second he glimpsed a target. The only problem was, the two surviving pirates had apparently disappeared. The black mage strained to see anything amidst the smoke and flames. Duane came up alongside him. "Is that everyone?"

"No." The wizard grunted. Suddenly, a flurry of projectiles splintered the woodwork uncomfortably close to the two mages' heads. Gilles dropped to his knees while Duane rolled out of the way. "Auto crossbow!" The red mage shouted and rolled back to his feet, he then started casting Protect as fast as he could. Gilles crawled within range of the magical barrier just in time; another flurry of bolts impacted the shield and bounced off amidst a sea of sparks. A third volley crashed into the spell from behind, the mages were apparently flanked by the two gunmen.

"This is bad!" Duane grunted, visibly drained. Gilles knew he wouldn't be able to maintain the barrier indefinitely. One of the pirates dropped into sight and unleashed yet another rapid-fire volley of armor-piercing bolts. Gilles rolled outside the shield just long enough to unleash the Thunder he had been saving. He didn't so much as finish casting when he rolled back inside. While one bowman was down, the cobblestones were perforated where Gilles had been standing just a moment before. The two mages turned to get a glimpse of the second attacker, but to no avail; he was still out of sight.

"Stop breaking.. the barrier!" Duane wheezed. "You can cast from inside! It only stops... physical attacks!"

One more volley crashed into the shield. Gilles didn't believe it, but the white light began to splinter and crack like crystal. The shield was going down. Almost as suddenly as it appeared, the white light vanished, leaving the two casters completely exposed. Duane went to his knees, gasping for breath. Red mages were not known for having much stamina in long-term mana manipulation. The pirate now leapt down from the rooftops and pointed his weapon straight at Gilles.

"That'll do, spell slingers!" The pirate grinned as he thumbed a switch on his weapon. Auto crossbows were incredibly rare. Gilles had only seen one once before at a museum in Gaia. They were Lufenian in origin, and were rarely recovered in working condition. Dwarven machinists were the only ones known to be able to rework the weapons, and an operational auto crossbow fetched a hefty price on the black market. "Hands in the air!"

Gilles did as he was told, while Duane rose to his feet and did the same. "I'm spent!" The red mage whispered.

"I noticed." Gilles replied. "What now?"

"SHUT UP!" The pirate roared. "You two've been having a merry run of the place, ain't ye? Blowin' things up and killin' me mates; well, it ends here!"

"It sure does!" Someone yelled from the shadows.

"Who's there?" The pirate yelled. "Show yerself!"

Wood and metal clanked somewhere down the alley and the pirate turned to face the noise. Just as he did, two large knives sank into his back with a heavy 'thunk' sound. The raider screamed and discharged his weapon, but did so in a harmless direction. He pitched forward and went to his knees, a third knife swooped in from the darkness and administered the coup de grace.

Gilles and Duane said nothing, they merely waited for their savior to appear. While they didn't know for sure who it was, they both had the same suspicion. A young man in leather armor and a green bandana dropped down from the rooftops. He nodded at the mages and began to remove the throwing knives from the corpse on the ground.

Gilles sighed. "Kelga Vasquez, I presume?"

The rogue flashed an unexpectedly white smile. "In the flesh!" He looked around briefly, seemingly uncomfortable on the ground. "So... you called?"

Finally! Gilles felt relief wash over him. "Yes, I did, but perhaps we should find someplace a bit more secure to talk?"

"Sure! You boys have done more tonight than I've been able to do since Bikke took over! Let me buy you a drink or something!" The thief turned and started jogging down the only alley that wasn't on fire. The two mages started after him.