Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC.

Chapter 14

So Close...

On the twentieth day of our third month at sea, we finally came within sight of Sienne. Contrary to what the game maps showed, Begnion's capital was a colossal port city that stretched far inland and made Port Toha look like a little fishing village. Even though we were miles away from the harbour, I could see dozens of sails and masts on the water ahead, and yet more ships could be seen to the south. More importantly, though, was the skyline behind the ships and the harbour; At long last, after months at sea, we had returned to civilization. We were behind schedule, but everyone just seemed happy to have land, shelter and warm beds to look forward to. Even now a Begnion emissary was aboard with an escort of pegasus knights, speaking with Ike and Elincia about arranging a meeting with the Empress.

Our ship ran into a storm several days after Al's unexpected arrival. No one was lost, but we all spent two miserable, terrifying nights locked away in our cabins. Everything that moved had to be secured, and most of us were too seasick to eat anything because of the massive swells throwing our ship around like a child's toy. When the second day dawned, we emerged onto the deck to find ourselves miles off course, with damaged rigging, torn sails, and several leaks in the hull. We worried that our Daein pursuers would catch us while we made repairs, but as luck would have it we never saw so much as a sail on the horizon or a raven in the sky. They had either been destroyed by the storm, or bypassed it and missed us completely. Either way, we were underway in just over a day, and made it here with no further incident.

"Oh man, I can't wait to get ashore!" Boyd exclaimed as we stood at the rail. "Warm beds and beautiful chambermaids await, my friend!"

"Don't forget fresh food," Ilyana was quick to add. Her stomach rumbled noisily. "Mmmm, I wonder what the local cuisine is like..."

"Better than stale bread, I can guarantee that!" I quipped. "Oh, and I am not buying this time. I don't care who, but it's definitely somebody else's turn."

"We'll see..." Boyd replied, mock-pouting. "Just remember, you're the one who made a bunch of gold off our fight; It wouldn't hurt to be generous to your less fortunate friends."

"It wasn't that much, and I'm trying to save up. It'd be nice to have some armor that wasn't second-hand, or at the very least fits me properly." My leather armor had seen me through some tough spots, no doubt, but it pinched in places and some of the iron studs were falling out. It was time for an upgrade. I wasn't sure to what, but I was hoping to find a decent coat of light mail.

"Hey guys! You ready for the battle?" Al called as she trotted over to join us. She was sweating pretty heavily and had a fresh bruise on her arm; Titania must have had her training really hard today.

"Al, there's not going to be a battle. Look around, we're basically in friendly waters now, and there are ships everywhere. No one would be stupid enough to attack us now," I replied.

"Yeah, but-"

"What we thought we knew about Tellius has proven to be a little unreliable. We lost the Daeins and their ravens, and as far as I can tell we're home free. We've got nothing to worry about," I insisted.

"Well, I'm ready for a fight," Al said. Indeed, she had her spear strapped to her back, and she was wearing some light armor. The long spear looked kind of comical next to her small figure, but I kept that thought to myself. I'd learned very quickly that saying such things around Al was a terrible idea.

"If there is a fight, Al, you'd be staying back with Mist and Rhys," Boyd was quick to point out. "You've only been training for about a month."

"Yeah, and from what I hear so have you, Boyd. Are you staying back?" Al shot back right away. She was right; Boyd obsessed over his training after our duel, but before that he hadn't done so much as a practice swing in months.

"Uh, n-no I won't be, I'll be fighting," Boyd answered uncertainly.

"But then that means I can fight too. I mean let's face it, you must have been pretty pathetic for Adam to beat you," Al reasoned, a cocky grin spreading across her face.

"I'm right here, guys. Really?" I mumbled. I'm not a pathetic fighter...

"Well, yeah, but see I'm better now 'cause I've been training," Boyd said defensively, not realizing that he'd just backed himself into a corner. Al's grin widened.

"So by your logic, I could conceivably have gone from a pathetic fighter to a battle-ready one within a month," she said.

"N-no, I mean, uh..." Boyd was at a loss for words. Finally he just blurted "Ugh! Logic's stupid!"

Al pumped her fist in the air victoriously. "Ha! I win!" she declared.

"Yeah? Well... you're short!" Boyd shot back, not at all happy about being outsmarted.

"Look, this argument is pointless," I said in an attempt to keep things from getting out of hand. Al got really angry when people made jokes about her height, which only encouraged Boyd. "No one is going to attack us, and unless you two girls get into a catfight there's not gonna be a battle."

"Actually, I wouldn't be so sure..." Ilyana, who'd been quiet from the entire conversation, spoke up. She pointed to a trio of ships nearby. One, a large Firefly-Class ship like ours flying the Begnion flag, was being followed closely by two smaller ships. The pursuing ships flew no colours, and were approaching from the stern with one on either side of their target. From our vantage point, we were close enough to see the outline of several ballistae on the two ships. "Is it just me, or are those two ships getting into position to attack?"

"Holy shit-" I breathed. An instant later, four balista bolts arced out from the pursuing ships, trailing chains. They tore into the sails of the Begnion ship and tangled her rigging, and the ship slowed down immediately. One of the attacking ships passed right by the crippled galleon, archers raking her deck as they went by, then sailed on ahead to deter any other ships from coming to the vessel's aid. The second enemy ship went right up alongside, and seconds later screams and clashing weapons could be heard across the water.

"Damn, that happened fast," Boyd gasped.

I looked around the deck, and saw that pretty much everyone was transfixed on the battle unfolding just a few hundred yards or so to port. On the quarterdeck, the Begnion emissary and her retinue had taken off and were making a beeline for the beleaguered ship, leaving Ike, Elincia, Soren and Nasir engaged in a brief but tense conversation. After a few urgent pleas from Elincia, Nasir moved to the front of the quarterdeck and bellowed to the assembled crew.

"Stop starring, lads, and get this ship moving. Let's even the odds!" The crew, disciplined and with no love of pirates, went straight to work and put our ship into a hard turn to port. Ike and Titania began gathering the mercenaries. Our group moved to join them.

"Okay okay, you were right," I conceded when Al gave me an 'I-told-you-so' look as we all gathered near the mainmast. Any further conversation was, thankfully, cut short as Ike began to explain the battle plan.

"We have reason to believe that the Apostle, or at least an important noble, is on that ship. Naturally, our main priority is to make sure they're safe, so we'll board the Begnion ship and help them secure the deck first. Once that's done, we'll take the enemy vessel. Any questions? No? Then let's go!"

As soon as Ike finished, Titania began organizing the boarding party. There was no time to so much as wish anyone good luck or tell them to be careful as we all readied grapples and ramps. Boyd, Mia, Oscar and I were assigned to one of the boarding ramps, and Al, who had not been assigned a group, followed us closely. Titania caught her, though, and wasted no time assigning her to guard Elincia. She complied, but only reluctantly. Ahead, the emissary and her knights had joined forces with a squadron of pegasus knights from shore who'd gotten past the second enemy ship. Together they made a beeline for the battle, ignoring the arrows fired at them from both enemy ships.

"Here comes the Holy Guard! This must be the Apostle's ship!" Titania exclaimed when she saw them. Her elation was short-lived, however. Before they could get close enough to help their allies, a new enemy joined the fray; Crows from Kilvas, previously cruising at a higher altitude, dove straight down to intercept the Holy Guard, keeping the sun directly behind them as they attacked. The pegasus knights never saw them coming, and their precise formation dissolved into a frantic dogfight as horses and riders alike were sent tumbling down to the water. I winced at the sight.

"Looks like we're on our own," Oscar observed grimly. Once the surprise wore off the remaining knights quickly gained the upper hand, and better still they were keeping those damned crows out of the battle. There was nothing that could be done to help them, so I loosened my sword in its sheath and prepared myself for the fight to come as our ship got close enough to board. Oscar moved our ramp into place, and everyone began throwing grapples and pulling us closer. I had to make a few attempts, but I finally got my grapple hooked on the other ship's rail.

"Good luck," I said quietly to Boyd as we hauled on the ropes.

"You too. You'll need it," he replied. "Last one to the pirate ship's deck is buying drinks after this?"

"You're on," I agreed. I'd probably lose, but I knew the bet was just Boyd's way of saying 'don't get killed.'

"RAMPS DOWN! GIVE'EM HELL BOYS!" the first mate bellowed. Oscar dropped his ramp, and Boyd let out a battle cry as he led the way across. I followed behind Oscar, and bounded off the end of the ramp straight into one of the most chaotic battles I'd ever been in. Balista shots from both Nasir's ship and the enemy arced over our heads, while archers and mages shot indiscriminately into the mêlée. On the deck, all semblance of order was completely lost as the battle devolved into a hundred individual fights between red-armored Begnion troops and the black-garbed enemies. There were no emblems on the enemies' armor, but they definitely looked like Daein troops.

There was no time for me to worry about identifying myself to the Begnion troops or to try and figure out where the Empress was. I just ran straight into the fight, cutting down one man from behind just as he was about to finish a wounded soldier. Another attacker swung a curved sword at my head, and I reflexively blocked with my shield. He kept up the attack, but this time I remembered my lessons and deflected the next blow away and to the side. The man stumbled as his momentum carried him closer to me, and I drove my sword into his chest. That kill gave me some breathing room, and the first thing I noticed was Boyd single-handedly clearing a section of deck. He wielded his two-handed axe in great, sweeping strokes that brought down any enemies who came too close; I guess he put that month of training to good use.

Unfortunately, Boyd's heroics drew some unwanted attention. A thunder spell shot across from the enemy ship and grazed his shoulder before it cracked into a mast. Boyd was jolted and dropped his axe, and his opponents ran in to finish him off. Boyd was left scrambling to get his axe, and he was about to be surrounded.

"Aw, hell no!" I yelled angrily as I rushed to help. I wounded one soldier as I charged in from the side, and Oscar brought down a couple more as he too came to his brother's aid. We reached Boyd's side just as he caught the last of his attackers by the neck and twisted violently. There was an audible snap, and the man went limp. Boyd retrieved his axe while Oscar and I kept the rest of the enemies at bay, and then the two brothers proceeded to tear into the nearest enemies.

I ran after them, intending to watch their backs, only to have a black-armored spearman block my way. I turned his first thrust and counterattacked furiously, but I couldn't find a way past his spear and shield. Several times he came close to stabbing me, and I realized I was outmatched. He drove me back with the point of his spear, and I sidestepped at the last second to avoid being impaled against the mast. As luck would have it, my dodge carried me close enough to use my sword, but before I could take advantage of it a fireball exploded against the already weakened mast. The soldier and I were thrown away, and wood splinters flew through the air, shredding allies and enemies alike. The damaged mast groaned in protest, then broke with a great CRACK and came crashing down.

I struggled to my feet and found myself without my sword and shield, while the soldier facing me still held his spear. I gulped and drew my dagger. Well, this looks familiar, I thought drily. Only now I'm on my own. Without a shield to block with, the soldier was careful to keep the point of his spear between us, frustrating my attempts to get close. He stepped forward and thrust at my chest, and I had to backpedal frantically to keep away.

"AIYAA!" someone screamed, and a slight form dashed in from the side and stabbed a spear into my adversary's leg. He screamed in surprise and pain as he fell to one knee. The spear tip dropped to the deck for a second, and he turned and delivered a vicious backhand to this new attacker, but the distraction gave me enough time to regain my balance and get inside the reach of his spear. He dropped the spear and caught my dagger before I could kill him, then pushed back, trying to stab me with my own weapon. We both threw punches with our free hands, hoping to break the stalemate, but he grew weaker as blood pumped out of his wounded thigh. Finally I punched his wound, and his grip slackened. I drove him back against the fallen mast, stabbing again and again until he finally stopped struggling. As soon as I was sure he was dead, I turned to check on the person he'd hit.

"Holy shit holy shit holy shit!" Alarice stammered as she stared in shock at the blood on her spear and the dead body in front of her.

"Al? What're you-" my exclamation was cut short as several arrows struck the deck nearby. "Get down!" I yelled as I pulled the stunned girl behind the ample cover provided by the fallen mast. Once we were safe, I turned back to Al. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Saving you, apparently," she replied, tearing her gaze away from the corpse and rapidly regaining her composure. I shook my head.

"Saving me? That guy almost killed you!"

"Yeah, well he was definitely gonna kill you, so you're welcome!" she shot back.

"Not a chance, I had him exactly where I wanted him," I lied. She totally saved my ass, but there was no way in hell I was going to admit it. I poked my head out of cover, and it was obvious that the mercenaries had really turned the tide of the fight. The enemies were retreating to their ship, but the ship itself was still stuck in the fight; The broken mast had fallen across her deck, and the two vessels were now inextricably tangled. Even now Ike was rallying the mercenaries to attack. I retrieved my equipment, then turned to Al. I noticed blood running down her head from a jagged cut. "The battle's pretty much over, so I want you to go back to our ship and get that cut looked at," I said forcefully.

Al nodded quietly and left, casting one last, horrified glance at the man she'd helped me kill. I shook my head sadly; Sure Al was infuriating at times, but she was a good person and I'd kind of hoped she'd be spared that experience. With effort I put that out of my mind and picked my way along the ruined mast to rejoin the mercenaries. I was halfway across when I saw more trouble coming our way; The other hostile ship, the one running interference, must have noticed that its comrade was in trouble because it broke off from an engagement with a pair of Begnion ships and set a course for us. Ranging shots from its ballistae soared in, and the remaining enemies cheered and fought with renewed energy. I cursed violently and redoubled my pace, but my eyes were once again drawn away from the battle as yet another ship moved to join the fight. This one was flying a grinning skull over crossed axes, and it was fast. Everything about the ship screamed 'pirate', but rather than making a course for our vulnerable ships, this one moved to intercept the oncoming vessel, and it didn't slow down to board.

A great shout of "YAR HAR HO!" echoed across the water, and was audible even to me as the pirate ship plowed prow-first into its quarry. A naval ram mounted on the pirate ship's prow tore deep into the enemy's hull, and the ship's angle and momentum dragged that ram along the length of the hull. In a matter of seconds the enemy ship was listing so badly that men began to abandon ship, while the pirates sailed on unscathed. I thought I caught a glimpse of a huge, purple haired figure at the helm. No, it couldn't be... I forced myself to focus on the task at hand, and scrambled onto the deck. There were almost no enemies left, and Boyd, Oscar, Titania and Ike were doing a fine job of mopping up what little remained. Some motion drew my attention to the ruined sails, and I saw one of the enemy mages crawling out from under the wreckage. He saw me and reached for his fallen tome, but I was faster and kicked it away from him. I wasn't about to kill an unarmed man, so I grabbed his collar and dragged him to his feet.

"M-m-m-mercy!" he shrieked when I grabbed him. He was rather diminutive and looked younger than me. Hell, he might have been younger than Al. It took a conscious effort to keep a look of sympathy off my face. Instead, I glared at him in a way I hoped was intimidating.

"Who are you people? There's no emblems on your armor or your ship, but you're equiped like Daeins and you fight like Daeins," I snapped. I can't kill him, so I might as well milk this kid for information.

"Uh, y-yeah we're from Daein. W-we were supposed to kill the princess, but we got the wrong ship," he said. His voice took on a panicked edge and he added quickly "I-it was nothing personal, please don't kill me!"

"There's a mage on one of your ships. He uses dark magic, and is probably a hell of a lot more powerful than you. Where can I find him?" I demanded. Again, I was finding it kinda hard to act scary, so I concentrated on keeping a straight face.

"I-I can't t-tell you, he'll kill me!" That question certainly rattled the poor guy, but now I knew that he knew something, and I wasn't letting him off the hook so easy.

"He's not the one you have to worry about right now!" I snarled. Ohh, that voice almost sounded like a Batman voice! Cool! Apparently Batman was scary on Tellius too, because he answered right away.

"Okay okay! SHIT! A-aft cabin, starboard side! Second deck!" the mage said. "I told you everything I know, please just let me go!"

"Thank you, that's all I needed," I said as I slammed my shield into the mage's head. He slumped, unconscious but intact aside from the lump forming on his head. The main deck was clear by now, and I hurried to join the mercenaries as they prepared to clear out the lower decks. Neph got my attention as we headed below.

"D'ye think that mage ye're lookin' for is on this ship?" she asked.

"I know he's here. One of the soldiers told me," I said, unable to keep the excitement out of my voice.

"Let's go, then!" she said eagerly.

I nodded, and lead the way to the correct part of the ship. We split off from the rest of the mercenaries, who were more focused on the crew quarters and captain's cabin. I had to constantly remind myself to check corners instead of charging blindly ahead; After all this time, one of the people responsible for my predicament was within my grasp. Finally, after passing through a the crew's mess and several storage rooms, we found the cabin. Before I could enter, though, a Daein crewman rushed out of another nearby room and attacked. Neph was ready blocked his attack.

"I'll deal with this, you get the mage!" she yelled as she fought. She was tough, and clearly had the upper hand, so I turned back to the door. It was barred from the other side, so I delivered a heavy kick to the door. It shook under the blow, but held up. I kicked several more times with similar results. Finally, Neph cut her opponent down and came over.

"Lemme try!" she said. One kick from her, and the door burst open.

"I loosened it for you," I said lamely. Damn, I feel so inadequate right now. We rushed inside, but the only person in the room was familiar masked figure. "Volke? What're you doing here?"

"Looking for the same person as you. We were both too late," he replied curtly. "Must have used warp powder to escape. I need to report this to the commander's son."

"Wait, how did you get in here if the door-" I asked, baffled. The door was still barred...

"Two thousand gold."

"Nevermind," I said helplessly. I guess I should be grateful he told me anything at all. Without another word, Volke strode out of the room, the sound of his footsteps vanishing as soon as he got out of sight. I shrugged, and sent Neph off to help the rest of the mercenaries while I searched the room. The only thing out of the ordinary was a bloodstained table, with a few bloody knives and the burned remains of some parchment on top. The bloodstains were disturbing, and brought to mind Soren's mention of blood magic. I shuddered and continued the search, but after a few minutes I gave up and made my way back outside. Whoever this guy was, he was good at covering his tracks.

Upon reaching the upper deck, I found the pirate vessel that had come to our rescue pulled up alongside the Daein ship. A boarding ramp was extended, and not too far away from it Ike, Titania and the Begnion emissary had just finished a conversation with a gargantuan, purple-haired pirate captain. Their business concluded, the pirate excused himself and headed towards the Apostle's ship, but before he got far he noticed me and let out a loud guffaw.

"By the hair o' Shanty Pete's balls, it's me wee landlubber friend!" Cap'n Nedata bellowed, despite the fact that I was close enough to shake hands.

I was overcome by surprise at seeing Nedata and his crew. Last I'd seen them, they were leaving Gallia and going to Sienne to make money as singing. "I see you've done well in Sienne, Captain Nedata."

"That we 'ave, lad, that we 'ave. Long story short, ye're lookin' at the Cap'n o' the Chimaera, scourge o' these 'ere seas. We be privateers now, contracted by th' Apsle- th' Apotl- th' wee Empress ta rid these seas o' slaver scum. I'd love ta share tales o' adventure with ye, but I must be goin' ta check on me other wee landlubber friend. Another time, perhaps," he said. I couldn't help but shake my head and laugh as he went away, singing "Yo ho, YO HO! A privateer's life fer meeee!"; Of all the people I could run into, Nedata was the last one I had expected, but it was a pleasant surprise.

I made my way back to Nasir's ship, and found that the mercenaries were being brought ashore in lifeboats. I fetched my belongings from my cabin, then hopped into a boat with Boyd and a pair of soldiers whose faces I could not quite place.

"Hey Adam, this is Gatrie. He used to be one of us, but that was before you joined up," Boyd introduced one of the soldiers, a tall blond fellow in blue plate mail. I remembered him, although in real life the armor was nowhere near as huge as it was in the game. I extended my hand.

"Hey Gatrie, I'm Adam, the guy who replaced you," I said with an evil grin.

"You guys replaced me?" Gatrie asked, looking quite hurt.

"In your dreams, Adam," Boyd laughed. "Seriously though Gatrie, you should really come back to the Greil Mercenaries. I'm sure Ike would be happy to have you back."

"I'll consider it..." Gatrie answered cautiously.

"While you're doing that, you can introduce me to the beautiful lady over there," Boyd said, indicating the tall, dark-haired girl sitting next to Gatrie.

"I am Astrid, formerly of House Damiel," she replied, an excited gleam in her eye. "If you are looking for soldiers, I would be happy to join your ranks. I am a skilled rider, and quite good with a bow as well."

"Y'know, why don't we discuss this whole recruitment thing over dinner once we get ashore," Boyd said, casting a sly glance my way. "Adam just lost a bet, so he's buying."

"Dude, that bet was just for the first round of drinks," I protested. Dammit, I completely forgot that I had to beat Boyd over here. Well, there goes my money. "And I can't afford to feed everyone!"

"Hey, these guys are the only ones I've told, I swear," Boyd said defensively. Just as he finished saying that, however, Ilyana dropped down into the boat.

"Oh hey Adam, I hear you're buying dinner for everyone!" she said excitedly.

"GODDAMMIT BOYD!"

A/N

That's right, the pirates ARRR back! Well, this is uploaded one day later than I'd hoped. Y'see, yesterday (friday) marked the one year anniversary of this fic, and I really wanted to have a chapter published that day, but there was a lot going on so I am behind schedule (as usual). Anyway, I just wanted to say that it has been a great year of writing this story, even though I had some regrettably long periods of inactivity. There's all kinds of numbers and stuff I could throw at you, but the important part is this; It has been loads of fun, and I've had the good fortune to meet some really great people (namely you guys). So thank you so much for reading and supporting this fic for so long, and I look forward to another (hopefully more productive) year of writing.

Okay, review responses.

Nekuromansa000: First, I just have to say the evil laughs are by no means a bad habit. In fact, the laugh is important. Very important.

In answer to your first question, A. Adam was holding his shield, and B. Actually, it is explicitly stated; "...I ducked one clumsy blow and made a run for my lost shield... I scooped up my shield and spun to meet Boyd's pursuit..." In answer to your second question, I'm Batman! Finally, I could be wrong, but my understanding is that a parry is accomplished by striking the heaviest or strongest part of your weapon against a light or weak part of your opponent's weapon, knocking it aside and creating an opening. I figured this could be accomplished by striking the end of a sword with the heavy head of an axe, but I am really only trained to use swords so that may well have been an incorrect assumption. Also, Boyd's axe is, in my mind, a two-handed, long-bearded axe, similar to the Iron Axe model in POR/RD. And no, I am not annoyed by questions.