laneys.info Beware of Yankees, drunks, and loose women.

Alysia stood there as she looked into the empty room. Where could she have gone? Kailee wasn't in the habit of leaving the room while meditating which prompted her to turn back to the captain.

"Have you seen Anita?"

He shook his head and turned to gaze into the berthing area and kitchen. "Samu, have you seen our other guest?"

"No," the large, darkly skinned man stated.

"That's odd," he began to look as concerned as Tess felt as she closed the door and they began scouring the ship - the nightblade mentally - and quickly found that her companion wasn't nearby which made her worry.

She stopped and expanded her search and soon found that Kailee had pre-empted a visit to their trailing visitors. "Oh, boy."

* * *

Now onboard one of the vessels that she felt from a distance while meditating, she quietly searched the darkened interior to find the door to the room which had brought her here in the first place. Keeping herself mentally void, she was hopefully undetectable by anyone aboard this ship which would keep herself safe, for at least the time being. She moved to the oaken barrier and listened. Soft breathing of a large group of women inside motivated her to find a way in as the memory of a particular closet-made-prison cell returned to her.

Quietly, she scanned the frame for any wards or traps and found none. That secured, she pressed her hand onto the steel lock and pushed, forcing the plating to break away with a loud crunch into the door itself, the out the other side. Someone may have heard that, she thought, then pushed the door open and moved inside. Made clearly visible, her sight noticed them laying on the floor and could smell the drugs in their system apparently made to keep them down until needed. Another fact that burned her blood.

Kailee knew that she had to act fast. Once they were gated to safety, her magic would alert everyone on board and she would have to figure out whether or not to move to the second boat before burning this one down and taking everyone with it. She crouched and noticed their lithe frames, silken dresses and pants as well as the myriad of tattoos on their arms and necks which denoted a mixture of moon mages with witches or sages of some sort. An interesting combination indeed.

Soon, voices in the distance made her realize she had little time to linger and stood. Concentrating on the ruin of Stolac, she knew that at least they would have food and privacy for some time and perhaps she could visit them later and explain what had happened. Washing with her hand, she wiped the gate across them and towards herself, then closed it just before it reached her, successfully bagging up all of them and leaving them within the keep there.

"Guards," someone yelled in Kemal which made Kailee spin, then teleport to the second vessel before they could react to what she had done. Once within the hold of the second vessel, she duplicated the act transporting these women to the same location, just a floor above, then teleported back to their room on the Chelsea.

She moved out the door in time to see Alysia and the captain readying to teleport to her aid, then spin to see her emerge from the room. "Hello there," she smiled, then moved towards the stairwell.

"Why did you go over there without me," Tess accusingly drilled as she followed Kailee up the stairs and onto the deck.

"I had to act fast, sorry." Anita then moved towards the ladder rising up to the narrow opening to the sterncastle. "Brendan, I'm going to need your men to turn towards the bow for a few moments and leave us the stern, if you would."

"Of course," he replied tentatively. "Men, come down from the yards," he commanded. As they followed suit, she moved up into the merloned, wooden castle and walked to the rear of the ship and looked across the waves to the pair of Macauian warships.

"What do you have in mind," Tess inquired as she glanced back to ensure the men were disappearing from view.

"Sink those ships so they'll leave us alone."

Alysia nodded, little coaxing needed for action. "Why did you go over there in the first place without doing the job close up?"

"Had to rescue some more slaves first."

"Ahh."

Kailee turned back to notice that all of the crew were out of sight and she returned her attention to the rising waves of dark blue. "Brendan, it's important that no one of you look at either of us until we say so. Okay?"

"Done," his voice replied from the main deck below. "What are you going to do, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Getting rid of our tail." She raised her hands and while concentrating on the newest spell list, her hands glowed an electric purplish color, arcing angrily as she then pointed her fingers at the rightmost vessel as Tess did the same at the left. Suddenly, two balls of plasma raced to their targets followed by a second and third set. As they watched, the salvo soon burned into the hulls of both with no immediate effect.
Unfortunately, with the expulsion of power both women's disguises dropped revealing their true identities. Within moments, small figures could be seen racing to the rails and diving into the sea.

"Nice shot," Tess congratulated.

Kailee turned to her grey skinned companion. "You too," she complimented, smiling. Now they could continue on to Murska.

Suddenly, a form materialized on the deck below and whose presence was felt by both. With the cries of combat below, they moved quickly to the inner wall of the sterncastle to notice an older Macau gentleman in flashy, silken robes of vibrant red slashing at the closest crewmembers with a scimitar in each hand. Without thought, they both jumped over the merlons and attacked him as Brendan and his veteran sailors joined in. Now outnumbered by a more confident group of foes, the bearded mage smiled as his eyes caught sight of Kailee and he pointed his sword at her. With a blast of bluish fire, she dodged a bolt that burned the air around her shoulder and head. He lunged just as a flurry of sword and mace pummeled him to the wooden floor.

Tess kicked his swords from his grasp as their sole boarder coughed up blood. "You'll never find them," he sighed as his many wounds began painting the brown wood around him in an expanding puddle. Kailee quickly sifted through his thoughts to find the prison that Bhatar had spoken of and the mountain range it lay in. Far to the southeast, near the elven kingdom of Sucaeva the pair of titan prisoners had been kept all this time.

"Kailee," Tess quietly called, then motioned to her own face and she realized that all the men around her had closed their eyes or turned away. Odd, normally they would be killing one another by now. Instead, she returned her disguise and backed from the temptation now stinking up the air and turned away, allowing Tess to discard the body overboard.

"Wash the deck and let's see to the wounded," Brendan instructed as Tess joined her and they headed back down to their room. Another assailant taken care of but, was he working for the same one that sent the others? Still more questions that had to be answered soon.