Once Donal brought the Spitfire around, the crew tossed out the grappling hooks. A series of dull clangs echoed across the water as the hooks were tossed and the sharp tines bit into the schooner’s wooden deck. Sienna called out to the teams arrayed around the lines.

“On the count of three! One, two, three, HAUL!”

The teams of Arrenmar hauled as one. In less than a minute, the gap between the two ships was closed. Pairs of men worked to secure the Dromos Bay to the sloop’s side.

Caleb watched on approvingly as he let his spellcraft expire. He reached out with his mind towards the white labeled red dial:

AGOBARD’S LIGHTSHOW

This time, he spun the knob hard counter-clockwise. The very last of the swirling lights from St. Agobard’s Fire dwindled to pinpricks against the fog, and then winked out. He then turned his attention to the next spell.

Call Up Mist

With a mental flick, the mass of fog surrounding the ship grew lighter. Finally, he swapped out the last and final spell in his trio of incantations - Increase Ambient Humidity - with a new bit of magic.

Decrease Ambient Humidity

Again, the effect was almost instantaneous. The warm, sodden blanket dropped over everyone’s shoulders vanished. Caleb found that he could breathe more easily as well. Around the ship, the fog drew further back, breaking into patches and even letting in a ray or two of sun.

He quickly checked the status of his triple bars. Unsurprisingly, his Health and Stamina bars were untouched. However, the Yellow bar indicating his remaining magical energy had been cut in half.

Caleb grimaced. Going to have to let that recharge.

To his surprise, a pair of new screens popped up in his Quest Window.

Beginner’s-Level Quest: : Utilize both halves of an environment-changing spell: (Increase/Decrease Humidity) as part of a single combat action: STATUS COMPLETE. Adventurer's-Level Quest: Complete the looting of your first merchant ship taken as a prize. STATUS IN PROGRESS. With that, he stepped up on the rail and then drew his cutlass once more. He held it up and pointed it towards the captured ship.

“Take the prize!” he shouted to the men and women waiting on the main deck. “Valuables, food, weapons, the lot is ours to take, so seize it!”

With a roar of delight, his crew streamed across to the schooner’s deck, setting hands to anything they deemed of value. Most headed below to see what the captured ship might have in its cargo hold. Others headed up to the captain’s quarters on the quarterdeck.

Sienna remained on the main deck, calling out orders to the team accompanying her. In short order, they started to liberate the schooner’s longboat, which was larger and sturdier than the one aboard the Spitfire. Others carried over a set of four long, narrow chicken coops. The occupants of the wood-and-wire framed structures let out a series of outraged squawks, but beyond that they didn’t protest any further.

Caleb grinned. Looks like Evie O’Breen’s going to have a supply of fresh eggs from here on out. That’ll be good for the crew’s morale as well.

The door to the great cabin opened up below. Tavia poked her head out and looked around curiously. She craned her neck to look up at Caleb.

“I noticed the light show from the stern windows,” she stated, before letting out a snort. “I suppose that I should be offended that you didn’t invite me to the battle.”

“There wasn’t any fighting to be had,” Caleb replied. “We did this with bluff, not battle. Believe me, if I felt I needed a unicorn in the fight, I’d have called you in an instant. Any luck with those crystals?”

Tavia’s beads rattled as she shook her mane. “Not really. I suppose I’ve made some progress, as there’s sound coming from the crystal panel. Sort of.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not speech. Or any sound I’m familiar with. Rather, it reminds me of a driving rain. Or the muttering of the sea.”

Sounds like static, Caleb thought. Might mean that at least she’s got the channel open.

“Well, that sounds like progress. Keep at it, if you can.”

She bobbed her horn. “Of course, Captain.”

No sooner had Tavia gone back inside than Shaw emerged from the fog that still swirled astern. He landed with a clack of his talons. The griffin’s normally stern eagle’s face was a strange mix of delight and disappointment.

“How goes it, Shaw?” Caleb asked.

“‘Tis always a pity when one cannot engage in combat,” came the reply. “And yes, t’was a wondrous thing to see the lights and sparks thrown off by thy magic, and the panic than ensured amongst the enemy!”

“Just as long as they don’t plan to come back, I’m fine with that.”

“Come back? Thou art jesting with me!” Shaw gestured with a sweep of a forepaw. “Thou hast put thy foe into such a state that once they reached the beach, they kept on running.”

“Well, the crew’s busy converting their cargo into our treasure right now. I could use an extra pair of eyes aloft to keep an eye on things. Just in case any of our foes stop running.”

“If it is thy wish, I shall comply. Yet there is plenty of fog about that mine eyes cannot penetrate.”

“Do what you can. I appreciate it.”

The griffin bowed and let out a low caw. Then with a blast of downdraft, he took off again. Caleb watched some more as his crew rummaged through the schooner like ants over a freshly abandoned picnic. Some were now coming back aboard carrying armloads of tied woolen bags, canvas sacks, or carrying crates between them.

Sienna appeared on deck again. Two men followed her, each struggling to carry a heavy chest in their arms. They came over to the Spitfire before she sent them down below. She took the stairs two at a time up to Caleb, a smile beaming from her face.

“We just brought over another six thousand silver pieces,” she said happily. “No gold, I’m afraid, but that’s to be expected.”

“Expected? What do you mean?” Caleb asked.

“This merchantman was headed to Gilarska, ready to do some serious trading. She’s heavy on goods, not money. The silver’s likely just for rounding out sums when dealing with a gold-rich buyer. But the good news is what else she’s carrying.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“We’ve found sacks of grain, sugar, and rice on the upper decks. Stacks of salted meat and cod on the next level. Best of all, the lower hold’s filled with caked and powdered indigo dye. That’ll be worth a lot of gold at the right port.”

Caleb rubbed his chin in thought. “We’ll have to figure out where to sell that, since we’re not heading to Gilarska. Let’s offload the foodstuffs onto the Spitfire, perhaps we can take the Dromos Bay in tow–”

“Captain!” Tavia’s voice called. Once again, Tavia poked her head out of the cabin door and looked up at him. “I’m getting voices over the crystal panel now. You should listen to this.”

“Come on,” Caleb said to Sienna.

Together, they joined the unicorn in the great cabin. She shifted uneasily from her left to right hooves, her tail thrashing in consternation. The interior around her was illuminated in a deep lavender glow. Both light and the sound of static emanated from the wooden panel that the crystals had been mounted on.

“I was attempting to adjust part of the panel,” the mare explained, “when Breena jumped down off the desktop next to the panel and brushed the small crystal on the right. When she moved it, this glow intensified, and I heard a couple of voices come through clearly.”

“That was lucky,” Caleb remarked. He looked around and spotted Breena laying atop one of the shelves in the corner, watching the scene lazily out of one eye.

Sienna nodded. “That’s a splashcat for you.”

“It comes and goes,” Tavia said. “Listen.”

A murmur of voices broke through the static for a moment, then faded back into the static. Caleb took a second look at the panel and considered. If he’d been designing this system, then maybe he’d make it similar to a radio or television back on Earth.

And if either Delacroix or Ravencrow had developed this crystal system, they’d probably do the same thing, he thought. After all, we’re all from the same world.

Caleb figured that the small crystal on the right was equivalent to a power switch. If so, then perhaps the ‘tuner’ was the equally small crystal on the left. He reached out and nudged it with a finger.

Suddenly, the static cut out and two voices came through loud and clear.

“Sir, if the Gilarskans are telling the truth, they’ll have intercepted them already from the north,” said an unfamiliar voice. “They’d still be running as fast as possible in that direction.”

The second voice was gruff, demanding, and all too familiar.

“Don’t argue with me, Jurek. I’m telling you, they’re here. I can feel it! Those devils are somewhere in this fog. And they won’t vanish into the mists a second time.”

Sienna looked up in alarm. “Lord Captain Delacroix!”

Caleb nodded. Jurek’s voice came through so clearly that he could have been standing in the room next to them.

“The lookouts aren’t sure what they saw. It could have been ball lightning.”

Delacroix made a disgusted noise. “That was eldritch fire, I’d know it anywhere. Hold this course, Captain. And lay on more sail. Get that damned Weathermancer on deck as well.”

Now Tavia let out a whinny of alarm. “Could they have seen your St. Agobard’s Fire display? If so, they may be close.”

“They might be,” Caleb agreed. “We’d better finish unloading what we can from the schooner, and then–”

A ker-bang! sounded from outside. It was echoed from the set of crystals, muffled but distinct. Caleb dashed to the door and looked outside. Donal looked back from the wheel as he did so.

“Nothing to be alarmed about, Captain,” the helmsman assured him. “They just dropped the longboat they were bringing over from the Dromos Bay. It’s a fine boat, well built, but heavy.”

Inside the cabin, Delacroix and Captain Jurek’s voices grew louder.

“That crash–” Jurek said. “There’s a ship out there.”

“Not any ship,” Delacroix insisted. “That’s our quarry. Pass the word, get the men to action stations and run the cannon out!”

At those words, Caleb felt a chill run through him.

This could be bad. As in, catastrophically bad.

“Sienna,” he said, as she joined him at the door. “Have the crew drop whatever they’re carrying and get them back to the ship on the double! The Myrkur are right on top of us!”

“Yezzir!” She pushed on past him and headed down to the main deck, shouting orders as she did so.

“Tavia, keep monitoring those crystals,” Caleb instructed, before heading out to stand next to the helm. “Donal, get ready to swing us around on my command.”

“Of course, Captain,” Donal replied. “But we’re stuck as fast as a cow halfway through a fence right now.”

“What?”

Donal pointed to where the two decks were joined. The grappling hooks remained buried in the Dromos’ deck, while the lines were lashed tight to fastenings aboard the Spitfire. His helmsman was right, they were stuck fast.

A despairing cry came from the forward lookout.

Like an avenging wraith, a frigate’s bow emerged out of the bank of mist directly ahead. The Stone Angel’s dark, angular silhouette appeared, bearing inexorably down on them. Two baleful beams of scarlet shone from the figurehead’s eyes, boring into Caleb’s soul.