Leonard turned to face us as the announcement sounded. “You three need to get down to safety,” he said, his eyes panicked. “Right now!” he added when none of us moved.
Jolted into action, Leo finally broke out of his trance and immediately bolted towards the elevator doors, not bothering to cast a glance back for a second.
Ren and I, however, stood right where we were.
“What are you two-” Leonard started, before realizing that we weren’t even listening to him, our eyes glued to the windows behind him.
Turning around, he quickly realized what had caught our attention. There was a woman, hovering at the tip of the nose of the pirate ship directly in front of us. I didn’t know exactly how strong she was, but the fact that she could effortlessly stand in space was a clear sign she was far beyond the levels of strength I’d ever witnessed so far.
As the three of us watched, the woman leisurely lifted her hand and pointed it at the nose of our ship. Instantly, powerful lightning crackled around her arm, gathering at the tip of her finger.
But before she could unleash what was sure to be a devastating attack, the green-robed man who had taken charge of the mages vanished from where he stood, reappearing right in front of our ship.
With a wave of his hand, he slapped the incoming bolt of lightning like it was nothing more than a bug, redirecting the attack downward, where it flew off to be swallowed into the darkness of space.
The pair stood calmly in the aftermath of the attack, as if it hadn’t even happened. I figured by their body language that they had started talking, but we could hear no sound from inside the ship.
Then, with no warning, the transparent windows of the curved roof suddenly – magically – morphed into the same steel that made up the rest of the ship. It wasn’t a cover that moved over the windows, but the very glass material changing into metal right before my eyes. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the spare time to bask in the wonder of the moment, because not a second after the change, five steel hooks punctured through the roof of the ship. And a second later, there was a series of thuds that echoed from the roof, as if some heavy objects were landing on the metal.
Of the middle-aged men left in the room, one turned to the three of us, while the rest immediately ran out of the room, all of them sporting grave faces. The one that came to us, an older man with a dull gray robe that matched his eyes, did not waste any time on pleasantries.
“You three, secure this room until backup arrives,” he barked. “Hold off the pirates by any means necessary.” The man didn’t even wait for a response, leaving immediately after issuing his orders.
The thumps on the roof stopped for a bit, and in the silence that the three of us were left in, Ren was the first to recover from the series of events.
“Well, I guess we aren’t going anywhere, then,” Ren said with a smile that barely held back a laugh.
His control was better than mine, however, because I couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled out of me. “This day just keeps getting better,” I said between laughs.
Leonard was the only one of us to have a normal response. “Are you guys crazy?!” he said after a moment, practically yelling.
“What?” Ren and I both said in unison, like he was the one being unreasonable.
“You guys can’t be fighting right now!” Leonard exclaimed. “Especially not against pirates. They’re bloodthirsty beasts. They’ll rip you two apart. You guys need to-”
Before he could finish his warning, the sharp buzz of a laser cutting through metal echoed in the room. Looking up, the three of us watched in varying degrees of worry as bright red lights pierced through the roof, drawing five squares that were dropped down onto us.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Leonard, I know you’re worried about us, but right now, you need to do your duty,” I said as the three of us watched the five square holes appear on the roof. “We aren’t so weak anymore, and we definitely aren’t strangers to fighting with our lives on the line. Even if we can’t help, we won’t be a burden.”
Leonard gave us a serious, contemplative look as he heard my words. “Very well,” he sighed after a minute, just as a rope was dropped through each of the holes. “I’ll need help anyway, and I’ve seen you two fight. You should be fine. Just…Just don’t die on me, ok? It’s too early for that right now, and I really don’t need that on my conscience.”
Ren and I laughed somewhat awkwardly, deciding to ignore the weirdly cryptic comment he’d made in the middle.
“I’ve still got great things to do,” I responded instead, turning to face the men who were descending from the ropes with a smile. “I won’t be dying any time soon.”
The five men who dropped onto the floor were undoubtedly scary men. They were as bedraggled as I’d imagined pirates to be – space-faring or otherwise. Three had fist-length beards as unkempt as the mops of hair on their heads, while the other two were utterly devoid of hair on both their chins and heads. They were big men, draped in dirty clothing that looked like they had once been of good quality, before they had been marred by years of neglect and no washes.
There was a second of tense silence as both sides sized each other up. Evidently, one side was much more intimidating than the other. While our side sported two excited smiles and one worried frown, the other side immediately broke into wide grins that were so arrogant they didn’t even need words to convey the fact that they believed the fight was already won.
And I didn’t blame them. Coming down to find two kids and only one proper mage instead of the army they were expecting was probably a very relieving sight.
I was used to being immediately dismissed by my opponent, but Ren and Leonard clearly weren’t. Without warning, they both began their assault on the men.
While Leonard did not have his staff, he was still quite proficient with his affinity. On one hand he formed a kite shield with his glowing light, and on the other a long sword. He rushed with Ren just a step behind him and clashed with two of the pirates right away. All the pirates wielded dual curved blades, including the pair that met Leonard.
Still, despite the four blades that raced to meet him, Leonard expertly stole the upper hand, and did so almost instantly. Using his momentum and shield, he crashed into one of the men hard enough to knock him back a few steps, and with the other hand, he clashed with both of the blades of the other man.
Ren didn’t waste any time, either. At some point during the few seconds he had with Leonard’s initial clash, he managed to get behind the third man. With no hesitation, he struck the man on the back of his head with the butt of his stick, sending him stumbling forwards.
Before he could follow up, the fourth man decided to help out, lashing out with a wide swipe of his sword. Ren ducked under the attack and countered with a jab at the man’s gut, only for his second sword to parry the attack. The parry deflected Ren’s momentum, throwing him off-balance as he went stumbling sideways.
The fifth man stepped in then, a smile stretching his beard as he swung his sword down on Ren’s back.
The move very well could very well have been the end of Ren, but I chose that moment to snap out of my reverie. I sprung forward, my hands once again lit up in brilliant flame.
There was very little thought present in my mind as I moved, which explained why my first instinct to save Ren was to grab the blade swinging down on his back with my hand.
Still, somehow, the palm that caught the razor-sharp edge of the blade remained unharmed, the flame managing to form a cushion that brought the blade to a halt before it could reach my flesh.
Surprise spread across the man’s face as he realized his blade had actually been caught, but I wasted no time dwelling on the feat. And as much as I would’ve liked to credit my composure, it was entirely due to the fact that I didn’t realize it had happened.
Within the second the man wasted in surprise, I landed my second fist directly on his nose. He was sent sprawling back onto the ground, landing with a loud thud. The man right beside me reacted a second after my attack, swinging his sword at my neck with ferocious speed.
I didn’t even react to the strike, somehow knowing in the depth of my trance that I was safe from the attack.
And sure enough, before the blade could find its mark, the black length of Ren’s walking stick appeared in its path.
“Watch yourself,” Ren said in faux warning as the blade was stopped in its tracks, his lips curled into a lopsided grin. “That’s the boss you're attacking."