A tin can-touched laugh rang upon the Cygnus' deck. The ranking officer's cackles reverberated within his helmet until the rest of his comrades joined him in a thuggish chorus. Vyse kept his cutlasses held high. The right blade was raised to meet in a cross with his other blade's edge; that lefthand cutlass was held in a reverse defensive grip with his hand on the crossguard.
Vyse's first experiences boarding ships had been in rescue and salvage operations when he was young. He joined the more serious raids around the age of fourteen. He was seventeen now. Three years wasn't much, but it was more than enough time to find a fighting style that worked for him. More than enough time to turn a boy into a proper raider.
The Valuans seemed to think he wasn't a threat. Big mistake, he thought.
"You're either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid," the Valuan said. Vyse tilted his head as if to suggest both. The soldier turned to one of his companions. "Toss him overboard."
The second soldier lurched forward and made a downwards slash at the foolish pirate before him. Vyse snapped up to meet the strike with ease, his left cutlass' blade bracing against the strike. With a forceful push of his forearm, he batted the soldier's blade aside before bringing the butt of his other weapon down upon the man's head. The Valuan staggered back comically. A colorful stream of invectives, all in his mother tongue, streamed from beneath his helmet. Vyse resumed his stance and made a sheepish grin.
"C'mon fellas," he teased. "Can't we just talk?"
"Not without me too!"
A young woman zipped down one of the Albatross' grapple lines behind him, gave a swinging kick with her legs and dropped off with a remarkable bound. She landed at his back to face a pair of Valuans that had shifted to surround her partner. She had a lithe figure bordering on lanky which seemed to give off a cat-like impression. She was only somewhat shorter than Vyse but her fiery red hair, pulled into two large braids, made up for the difference. A hand reached up past her brown eyes and pulled a pair of goggles off her face. She left them resting atop her head. She wore a tunic dress the color of vibrant honey with shorts underneath and knee high boots upon her legs. Her ensemble was finished with a loose belt that held a supply pouch.
Winking at the Valuans before her, she brought up a large boomerang affixed with a green moonstone. As if to bait one of them into action, she twitched for a moment and was pleased to find that one of the soldiers flinched in reply. She cast her gaze back to Vyse.
"You left without me," she teased loudly. "I'm not going to let you have all the fun."
"I left without you?" Vyse's question shot back with all the energy of a child at play. "Where were you? Down in the holds fixing up your hair?"
His companion snorted. "Yeah, yeah. Happy to see you too, ya dork."
Vyse laughed. It was if the two had completely forgotten they were surrounded by bloodthirsty soldiers. "I said the thing already.."
His companion bounced upon her feet. "Oh! In that case, I'm Aika," she said with a friendly wave at the Valuan troops. A playful finger darted between herself and Vyse. "And we're robbing you!"
The soldiers encroached ever so slightly. Vyse smiled. "Ready?"
Aika nodded. "You know it."
Vyse ducked and in that moment Aika tossed her boomerang in a masterful swirl that spun about the pair and forced the Valuans backwards. Rolling towards the nearest soldier, Vyse slipped a cutlass behind their leg and pulled. They clanged to the ground creating an opening in the surrounding circle that the two rogues rushed through. Aika reached up and snatched her swirling boomerang as they did. The pair wheeled about to face the Valuans head on as the fallen man heaved himself to his feet. It was a tableau worthy of the stage: pirates and prey.
"Idiots,' the Valuan officer scoffed. "Do you really think you can take on all five of us?"
A shot rang out. A sharp cracking scrape slithered across the deck as a pistol round collided with the officer's armet. There was a minute sparking as the bullet broke through his armor. The officer went stiff before crumpling to the ground like a marionette whose strings were cut.
"You miscounted. I see four of you." Captain Dyne stepped forward towards the group, flanked by Vice-Captain Briggs and a smattered phalanx of eager pirates. His pistol, the barrel still sizzling out smoke, was aimed firmly at the Valuans. The agents of empire took a collective step backwards.
"Dad!" Vyse cried out in a mixture of surprise and exasperation. "We had it!"
"You're wasting time," his father replied. "Quit playing with your food; make your way to the bridge and shut off the engines." He paused. "And when we're out here? It's 'captain,' not 'dad.' Got it?"
His son gave a serious nod. "Aye, captain," he said before looking at Aika. "Let's introduce ourselves to their captain, shall we?"
"Don't blink or you'll miss me kicking his butt!" Aika ran off down the deck and Vyse quickly followed. Sword and shot cacophonied behind them as the captain and his men set upon the Valuans.
Aika reached the entry hatch first. Her run had transformed into a slide that ended with her leaning on the adjacent wall. Vyse was not so far behind her although she couldn't help but affect impatience as he approached. She tapped her feet like she'd been stood up by a suitor.
"I'd never leave you hanging Aika," Vyse said chipperly.
"I know," came her reply. Her voice softened ever so slightly with the words.
Vyse placed a hand on the door's wheel. Aika drew in closer. Her hand dipped into her pouch and felt a small stone held within. The slightest hint of radiant warmth emanated off it.
The two exchanged a knowing glance. Vyse reached out and quickly rotated the handle. With a mighty pull, he jerked the door open and rushed in. This was going to be fun.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Alfonso's curses blared only somewhat louder than the ship's alarms. "How dare they? How dare anyone do this to me!?"
It wasn't the first time that Vice-Captain Salguero had dealt with one of his master's famous outbursts but it was the worst one he'd ever seen. The admiral stamped about the bridge as if his favorite toy had been stolen. The young man's perfectly coiffed hair began to shag and fall about. Salguero might've laughed if he hadn't known the admiral for so long.
The Vice-Captain didn't see anything funny. He was Alfonso's senior by many years. What he saw before him was a child and the sight, which should have robbed him of any faith in his commander instead stirred him to action. Salguero was many things. Perhaps most tragically, he was a man who believed in duty.
"The topdeck is claimed," he said firmly. A report and a warning. "You can't stay here any longer."
"I know that, you buffoon!" Alfonso's insult reverberated through the bridge. "Come! We're securing the girl! We can't let them find her." He pointed sharply at the remaining soldiers on the bridge.
"Stop them," he demanded petulantly. "I don't care how you do it or what it takes. Hold this bridge. Skewer those pirates like swine! If you cannot, then you will die for your empress. You will die for me!"
They were hardly inspiring words but Alfonso spat them with such force that the soldiers snapped to attention. Perhaps they were simply appeasing their lord. Perhaps they held delusions of glory. Perhaps life had ground them down into little more than cogs in a terrible machine. Whatever the case, the tin-can soldiers seemed to accept Alfonso's command.
The Admiral wheeled upon his Vice-Captain. "With me!"
At that, Alfonso spun about and scampered towards a nearby exit. His voice held no authority but there was fear. The pirates were on the prowl and if he wasn't fast all would be lost.
Klaxons blared and red alarm lights spun as Vyse and Aika proceeded through the Cygnus' hold. They had entered expecting a fight but were disappointed to find that it was largely empty. Scattered plates and trays tossed about the mess hall attested to a robust crew, and distant footfalls—hard boots clanking upon steel—teased of dangers around every corner but the pair found little resistance. It seemed that many of the Valuans had rushed up top to meet the raiders or else they had decided to flee. The idea was anathema to Vyse. Anyone who fled from a fight was a coward, which was worse than dying, and any crew that fled en masse worked for a captain that didn't command respect.
The pair ran upwards through tight stairwells and across high walkways until they stopped outside the entrance to the bridge. Vyse leaned close to the door and attempted to listen in, pressing his ear flat against the cool steel. Experience had told him that Valuan ships, even down to their smallest cruisers, held bustling bridges packed with obstinate soldiers who didn't have the sense to surrender. That meant barking commands and other sounds that might carry even over alarms. He heard nothing.
Aika gestured at the door firmly. She didn't speak but her expression was pure mischief.
Vyse pulled back and shrugged. Whatever was ahead, if anything at all, was unclear. There was excitement in that. One guard or one hundred; it didn't really matter to him. He raised his fingers in a count. At three, he threw open the door and rushed inside with Aika in tow.
For a moment, there seemed to be nothing at all. No captain and nary a guard in sight. There was little more than abandoned stations, a plush chair, and a large banner bearing a dark sigil. Two coiled dragons spun about each other, both reared in preparation to strike. It was the banner of the Valuan Empire which, for the moment, didn't seem so mighty. Now if he could only find the...
"Dogs!" An accented cry warned Vyse of encroaching danger and the young man shifted backwards just in time to avoid the falling strike of a furious Valuan trooper. He swung the sword over and over as if Vyse was an annoying fly. Vyse responded, bringing his blades up in a cross block that snagged the soldier's sword. All well and good if the man was alone.
A second trooper began to rush forward. Aika pressed to intercept. Her hand fished quickly into her pouch and withdrew to reveal the unmistakable glint of a red moonstone. She shrugged apologetically at the rushing guard.
"I don't think so!"
The stone brightened in her hand as—through force of will alone— she invoked the power of its mother moon. There was only a slight increase in heat before she snapped her hand down in a flourishing motion. The floor gave a crack before a modest wall of magical flame rose to block off the Valuan. The armor-clad soldier skidded to a stop before the fire, unsure of how to proceed.
Vyse laughed, even as he began to press his own foe away with push and follow-up slash. "You've been practicing!"
That brought a wonderful giggle to Aika's lips. "One of us has to!"
Magic was not anything so uncommon on Arcadia. It wasn't something you found in small villages but even in the most modest Mid Ocean port towns there was usually someone who knew how to cast a spell or two provided they had the proper moonstone. A smith who could light the forge more easily or a street performer that could twirl a bit of wind about them. Stories held that greater magicks once suffused the world. Such advanced spells were exclusively the province of scholars and reclusive mages now.
For some, however, the spark of magic seemed to come more easily. Aika had proven far more capable of spell-casting than Vyse. Not brilliant, but still fundamentally more talented than most. With training, she'd come to understand the basics of red magic. The magic of fire and fortitude.
Her strike had been a simple pyri spell. It was the lowest of offensive fire magics but against an unsuspecting Valuan it was a godsend. The Valuan Empire thought itself the pinnacle of both technological and magical might. A common soldier would never expect some stray air pirate to command even a touch of the elements.
The spell began to subside and the soldier took a step forward towards the sputtering fire.
"Hey! Stay put!" Aika brought the stone to bear once more. She planted her feet firm and drew further upon its power. "Moons, give me strength!"
The incantation seemed to bolster the stone's radiance as she once again trapped the man behind a gust of fire. Assured of his security, Vyse continued his offensive rush at his own enemy. It had taken little effort to place the Valuan off guard; the officer now retreated backwards with each new strike. The young rogue swirled his cutalasses in a dervish until the Valuan's grip weakened and his sword flew out of his grasp. Vyse brought his blades to the man's throat and guided him to his knees.
"Stand down," the pirate commanded. His voice that held an authority well beyond his years.
Aika approached her cornered prey, boomerang at the ready. "You too, hot stuff."
As the pyri spell began to fade again, the Valuan tossed his sword to the ground and raised his hand. Vyse's captive spoke. "Mercy! Mercy!"
The young raider blew a strand of brown hair from his face and grinned at the soldier.
"Smart choice," he said before nodding down to the ship's forward console. "Engine's the lever on the right? Same as your gunboats?"
"Yes!"
In near unison both Vyse and Aika kicked the soldiers' swords further away. He spoke up again in the same commanding voice as before.
"Surrender to the boarding party or head to a lifeboat. I don't care which. Don't ever sail in our skies again."
Both of the men nodded. Vyse and Aika kept their weapons at the ready. The soldiers began to rush away towards a side entrance. Aika raised her red moonstone up one last time and flourished it again. A small firecracker pop burst behind the men, who cried out and began to rush away even faster.
Vyse gave her a dry look. "Really?"
"You woulda done it too."
He cocked his head in reply. "Got me there."
Vyse turned and leapt over the railing separating the top half of the bridge from the helm and other stations. Aika followed. The pair stopped right next to a conspicuously large lever at a work station beside the ship's wheel. Vyse slammed it down. The Cygnus groaned as its engines came to a sudden halt.
"Did you even need to ask him?" Aika lifted a thumb back towards the door where the Valuan soldiers had fled.
"Not really," Vyse said cockily. "Valua ships iterate in some ways and stay the same in others. If I wanted to, I could probably helm the thing by myself."
"What now?"
Vyse gave an exaggerated shrug. "Well, we could always wait here."
There was a beat of quiet that ended as the pair swiftly broke into laughter. Their eyes beamed with adventurous delight. They wouldn't have been able to stay still if they wanted to. Neither Vyse nor Aika were built for that.
Ever forward. Together.
And there was only one thing better than claiming a Valuan ship's bridge.
"We find the admiral," Vyse said plainly. He scanned the room for any sign that could lead them in their chase. He craned his neck and found a chipped tea cup at the door opposite their entry point. They hadn't found him on their approach. That left only one way to go. He pointed towards the exit. "There!"
Vyse hardly waited for Aika before bounding off towards the door and rushing through the connecting hall. Aika kept hot on his heel. It wasn't long before the pair stumbled into a vast cargo hold. iron-framed boxes rested in high-stacked rows. Fixtures flowing with yellow moonstone energy cast their electric light about the space. They had entered through one of several hatches. High catwalks criss-crossed above them. Two figures stalked on their perforated frames, crossing from a high entry point. An armored soldier with something draped over his shoulder… and an impeccably dressed man with cornsilk blonde hair.
"Going somewhere?" Vyse called out to the figures with his hands cupped about his mouth. The blonde man froze. He stepped forward and a beam of moonstone-fixture light brought his soft face into focus. He bore the unmistakable sneer of a nobleman. Upon seeing Vyse and Aika, his countenance shifted into a contortion of consternation.
"Abominable," he spat at the rogues. "It is utter lunacy that you air pirates have infested my ship..."
"So it's you," Vyse intoned. "Alfonso."
"Watch your mongrel tongue," the nobleman demanded. "That's Admiral Alfonso Aznar y Cabanas, lord of the Imperial Armada's First Fleet, duke of Andri. Cherished son of Valua and confidant to her majesty Empress Teodora herself!"
He drew closer to the catwalk's railing as if to regard the pirates with an even crueler eye. "Consider yourself fortunate," he lilted. "Lowlifes like you rarely have the opportunity to bask in such greatness!"
The armored figure at this side stepped forward into the light. Vyse quickly took in the characteristic armor and insignias of a ranking officer. A vice-captain. The subordinate gave a cautious whisper to Alfonso and as he moved forward still, Vyse saw what he was holding. Strands of blonde hair so fine as to be nearly silver fell downwards. The soldier was holding a young woman. Vyse narrowed his eyes.
"Is that..." Aika seemed to have noticed as well. She lowered her hand furtively towards her pouch.
"I see her," Vyse confirmed before locking his eyes on Alfonso. His disgust outmatched the nobleman's detached arrogance. When he spoke, his voice was touched with a playful faux-disappointment that belied a very real anger. "Someone of your great stature stooping to kidnapping now? Who's the girl?"
"My, you're observant," Alfonso crooned. With a fortuitous clamour, a squad of Valuan soldiers burst into the cargo hold. He grinned.
"You'll simply have to die in your ignorance," he said before glaring at the troops. "Kill them!"
The soldiers seemed to realize what they'd stumbled into and raised their swords. Vyse and Aika fell into their familiar stances and prepared to strike back when another door swung open.
Two figures rushed into the room; it was Luke and his raiding partner Mabel. The red-haired man held a saber in his hand while his brunette partner brandished two larger daggers carved from blue moonstone. They blinked in surprise. For their own part, the Valuan soldiers paused in confusion as well.
Vyse grinned sheepishly at his fellow raiders. "Beat you to the cargo hold!"
Luke stepped closer to the soldiers. "Brag about it, why don't you?"
"S'been a change of plans," Vyse looked towards Luke and Mabel seriously. His voice took on the unmistakable weight of command once more. "Me and Aika are going after the admiral! You two take these clowns!"
One of the soldiers shook in anger. "We're not letting yo-" He was interrupted as a blue moonstone dagger soared into his collarbone. The Valuan fell bleeding to the floor.
Mabel feigned shock. "Butterfingers!" Her now-empty hand pulled her bandana tighter which brought loose danglings of hair away from her eyes. It would be a shame to have her hair swishing about in a brawl.
The room exploded into action as the soldiers rushed at the pirates. Luke and Mabel hurried into the fray to intercept the lot. Turning towards a nearby stairway, Vyse and Aika made to chase after Alfonso. Aika's boomerang flew out to clatter against an obstructing soldier who reeled in place until Vyse caught him with a rushing kick to the chin of his helmet.
"Go! Go!" Luke called behind them as steel clashed. Vyse offered his comrades a quick salute as he rushed with Aika upwards and upwards in pursuit of the craven nobleman and his mysterious captive.
Alfonso's rage had turned into a bitter simmer as he and Vice-Captain Salguero entered the lifeboat bay. A single craft remained: a sturdy open lifeboat large enough to hold a handful of people at most. Alfonso placed a gloved hand upon its hull and exhaled.
"If they want my ship so badly, they can have it," he said. "I'll get another."
Alfonso was sure of one thing in life: if he wanted it, he would get it. Either through the fortunate influence afforded to a man of his station or through other less savory means. Vice-Captain Salguero opened the bay doors. They cranked down, gears churning into place until the boat launch was clear. Wind whipped into the bay and the cool, inviting blue skies of morning cast their burgeoning sunlight throughout.
"Your Excellency, the sun is up and visibility is good." Salguero punched in a sequence of commands at a nearby console. A mechanized crane began to move the lifeboat into position.
Alfonso quietly pulled his rapier from its sheath, bringing its yellow moonstone tip upwards and flicking it with his fingers. "How long have you served me, Salguero?"
"Since before your father's death, my lord. Since you were but a child growing into a man."
"Ah, yes, my father," Alfonso's tone drifted off to a dark and suggestive remembrance. "It was.. such a shame how he died. Pity they never found the assassins.."
The nobleman's voice dripped with overly affected sympathy. Salguero paused for a moment before striking a final command on the console. "Preparations are complete, Your Excellency."
Alfonso sauntered towards his subordinate, rapier still in hand. "Good. And I've finished my own preparations… for disposing of the traitor who delivered us to the Blue Rogues."
Salguero spun about only to find Alfonso's rapier pressing against an exposed portion of his throat right between the folds of his chestplate and armet. "What? Your Excellency… Alfonso.. What are you doing?"
The nobleman sneered. "I cannot tell the Empress that I lost my ship to Air Pirates in a fair fight," he explained. "I am going to need a scapegoat, a dastardly saboteur who undid my gallant efforts... and you'll do quite nicely. To keep my glorious reputation from being tarnished, you must be sacrificed…"
"You can't," Salguero pleaded. "I have served your family, served you with honor and distinction!"
Alfonso scoffed. It was the role of those beneath him to prop him up and lift him higher no matter the cost. With a callous stab, he slipped his rapier into Salguero's neck.
"Don't worry. Even in death, you can serve me well."
The aged soldier brought his hands up in a futile attempt to staunch the bleeding. His own sword clattered to the floor. Alfonso pushed him further down the launch's edge and shoved him. Vice-Captain Salguero fell into the clouds below, bloodied and confused. If he was lucky he could black out before falling beneath the lower cloud layer into the depths of the unknown darkness below.
Alfonso sheathed his blade and practiced a contrite explanation. "But Empress, my own Vice Captain betrayed us and allowed the Air Pirates on board," he said while bringing a dramatic hand to his chest. "I could do naught but dispose of the traitor myself."
"So, this is how Valua treats its people…"
Alfonso reared about and gasped as the blue-tunic'd pirate from before, along with his fiery companion, stepped into view.
"What?! How did you defeat my soldiers?"
"Unlike you," Aika noted with a sharp jab of her finger. "We have friends."
"Now that we've taken control of your ship," Vyse began sternly. "We'll be taking the girl as well. There's just one more thing I need to do…" The young pirate drew his blades.
"After seeing you kill a helpless man in cold blood, I can't allow you to walk away. Draw your blade, Alfonso!"
The callous admiral gave a laugh that tittered off into a feeble "ho, ho, ho." His gaze turned dark.
"A rogue such as yourself wants to challenge me? You're not even worth my effort. But perhaps you'd like to meet my pet. A beast fit for a beast."
He reached into his breast pocket and produced a whistle. He brought it to his delicate lips and blew a high frequency whine. "Come! Antonio!"
Aika gave a confused look at Vyse, who shrugged in return. He certainly didn't know what the hell an Antonio was.
The answer arrived as a massive creature bashed through an adjoining set of doors. A snarling four-legged beast clopped into the bay. His sloopy face, capped with beady black eyes, was covered in an armor plating so complete that it also protected a massive horn on his forehead. Higher, upon what anyone might call the creature's shoulders, two more massive bone horns extruded outward. It seemed that Antonio was a Valuan kantor bull; although this particular beast seemed far more dangerous. There was plating on his back and his flank. There were even portions of armor covering the manus above his hooves. The bull reared up and gave a chilling roar.
"What is that thing?!" Vyse knew what a kantor bull was but its presence on the Cygnus seemed baffling.
"He's my personal war beast," Alfonso explained. I was going to leave him here but it seems I've found a use for him after all. Antonio! Trample the pests!"
The bull had already begun a breakneck charge towards Vyse, who rolled out of the way within a nick of time and watched Antonio crash into a stack of nearby supplies and shatter their crates into countless splinters.
"Aika! Distraction!"
"On it." Her boomerang flew out first and smashed against a piece of metal shielding fastened to one of his high shoulders. It cracked against a fastener chain that shattered. An iron armor slab slammed to the floor. There was no time to celebrate yet; Aika continued her assault by brandishing her red moonstone and snapping an eruption of pyri spells about the creature. He bucked and railed.
That was enough of an opening for Vyse. The young pirate rushed in as Antonio's black eyes fastened on Aika. The kantor bull wasn't particularly impressed and began to scrape the ground in preparation of another charge.
"Not a lot of time, Vyse!" Aika's voice held the barest hint of worry. She'd do her part no matter what; even if that meant facing down some freak Valuan death bull.
"One second!" As Vyse reached the bull, he leapt on its side and clambered up. His climb was a bloody one, strike after strike sliding into the creases of Antonio's strange armor and digging deep into his muscle. Eventually the beast had enough. he bristled and bucked furiously until a yellowish glow began to gather about him. It was more prominent about his horns but seemed to coat and emboss his body as electric energy burst outwards and into the metallic armor he wore.
Vyse felt a snapping in his body as lighting shot through his body and launched him off. He landed in a smoking heap, propping himself up with his cutlasses.
Whether through experimentation or simply basking in the Yellow Moon's light, Antonio was no ordinary kantor. Vyse rose to his feet defiantly.
"You think I'm going down that easy?" A question more to Alfonso wherever he had slithered off to. "I don't think so!"
Aika grinned in relief. Her eyes darted about the room to find any sort of advantage. It took but a second before she spotted the fallen Vice-Captain's sword. Metallic. Steel. She didn't fully understand yellow magic or electricity well but she knew enough that it was drawn to metal. She ran to pick it up but not before calling out to Vyse.
"Stone!" She cried, hurling her red moonstone to her best friend.
Vyse caught it easily. Running the shard beside his moonstone blades, he watched as their soothing blue began to shift into a translucent red. He was not the most talented with magic but that didn't mean a moonstone held no use. A slash from these newly-reddened blades could, with enough focus, cut with intense heat.
The two rogues looked at Antonio, who once again began to rear and charge his lightning. As the blast came, Aika hurled the Vice-Captain's sword into the path of Antonio's magic. The arcing lighting swirled and zapped into the blade. It absorbed the magical strike with a clap of thunder.
The bull might've made another attempt or else charged towards his prey but it was too late. Vyse sprinted at Antonio, leaping high into a slash that came down right upon the exposed flesh of its neck. Scorching heat and sharp moonstone slid Vyse's cutlass deeper until a spout of blood was drawn.
Antonio flailed but it took all but a moment for him to tire and sink to the floor. He breathed heavy for a time before his dark eyes closed. The bull was no more.
Vyse grinned. Adrenaline burned through his body. He took a breath and regarded his friend. "See? That was easy!"
Aika scoffed. "Sure, the giant lighting hog fight was a breeze…"
Alfonso's head popped up from cover in the lifeboat.
"Hmph! Perhaps there is more to you than meets the eye," he said regarding them once more. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Vyse!"
"I'm Aika."
"And we're the Blue Rogues who beat you!" Vyse finished boldly.
Alfonso took stock of the two. "Vyse and Aika," he repeated. "You will rue the day you stood against the Valuan Empire."
He slammed a button on the lifeboat's console. The vessel lurched forward and careened into the morning sky.
"Coward!" Aika yelled back at Alfonso but it was clear he was too far away to hear. She took a breath. "Well, even if he was a coward… he was a coward with gold."
Vyse nodded. He'd since reached into a loose pocket to find a small glass-like triangle that held a faint green shimmer. A sacri crystal, a disposable wonder that held a spark of the Green Moon's regenerative powers. He clamped his hand shut and shattered it. A swirling of cool green phosphor spun about him and he immediately felt the pain from Antonio's lightning magic begin to fade. Idly, he tossed the red moonstone back to Aika.
"I suppose the ship is ours," he said. "And everything on it."
"We haven't had a catch this big in… well, maybe ever," Aika noted. "Folks'll be impressed for sure."
"That's not what I really care about..."
Alfonso's captive lay unconscious on the bay floor. A girl that was Vyse's age or perhaps slightly younger, with hair near silver-blonde that framed a soft face with pale features. Her forehead bore a strange tattoo unlike anything he'd ever seen before, but more curious was the transparent veil upon her head. It gave the impression of a priestess or something even more important. Large blue earrings dangled from her ears, made of a strange polished material that was similar to gemstones but unlike anything he'd seen before.
She wore a white sleeveless dress marked with strange patterns that held meanings he didn't understand but somehow filled him with a strange nostalgia. What sleeves she wore were slipped on separately from the dress and left the upper skin upon her arms exposed. The dress clung to her petite form and left little to the imagination. It might've been made of silk, but he'd never seen silk as pure and spotless as what she wore. Slits at the side revealed pure white leggings made of a similar material. The front of her dress bore a strange triangular cut out that gave the barest glance of her features underneath.
Vyse blushed as he examined her further but quickly moved on to regard the rest of her dress. It had golden accents of fine material. One wrist held a stark silver bracelet.
He kneeled at her side and reached out for a moment but suddenly retracted his hand lest he somehow cause harm. She seemed so fragile and yet…
"Look at her," he began in awe. "I've never seen anyone so.. So…"
"Beautiful?" Aika found the word for him. Vyse half-sputtered in embarrassment but his friend came to kneel beside him and placed a warm hand on his shoulder.
"Me either," she said in a soft voice. "I've never seen anyone dressed like that before in my life."
"She can't be from around here," he noted. "But why was Valua trying to kidnap someone like her?"
Aika stood up. "Questions for later," she said. Vyse nodded once more, reaching down to scoop up the woman in a bridal carry.
"You're right. We need to get her back to the Albatross immediately. Call me paranoid but it feels like things are a lot more complicated than we could have imagined.."