There was something invigorating about being on the prow of the boat, with the wind in her face, hair flicking about and sea-spray occasionally splashing against her. With the magical horn filling the sails with wind, they were making good time, the few islands scudding past rapidly. The only other ship they had seen had been looked at through a telescope, the captain shaking his head and using their speed to easily evade it.

Life on board settled into an easy and regular monotony, with Hakara and Kivata tending to their magical circle, Semari and Vrintar mostly sleeping, Parth spending all her time in the crow’s nest, while Stathis and Pajaran trained on the deck. Janaxia’s cabin still throbbed with thick and ominous energy, the crew refusing to go near it, Sen working to fetch food and other necessities.

Skotadi was on the deck – unlike Janaxia, who seemed determined to hide within her chambers, detectable only as an occasional throbbing mumble of telepathic dissatisfaction, Skotadi was happier to come out, or perhaps just curious. The crew avoided her, and she seemed content to poke around, emerging at twilight, a parasol in hand. The manacle on her wrist was still there, the chain clinking occasionally as she moved.

Stathis kept an eye on her as she blocked a strike from Pajaran, feeling the impact numb her arm as she pushed Pajaran back, trying to wrench her off-balance, but Pajaran was too fast, stepping back out of range. Skotadi was keeping her distance, lurking in the long evening shadows, her eyes gleaming brightly.

Her clothing was, as usual, a strange imitation of Janaxia’s own, the colours muted and the fit loose and slack, very different from Janaxia’s closely-fitted dresses and robes. She at least had managed the knack of not getting tangled in her own clothing though, managing to step around on deck without the pool of silk around her feet snagging on ropes or hooks, or her own feet.

Wood crunched as Pajaran slammed her shield forward, Stathis only barely blocking it in time with her own, both the shields smashing together.

‘Pay attention! I know you’re better than me in a fight, but that doesn’t mean you can slack off.’

Pajaran’s mace glowed steel-bright and smashed forward, Stathis barely able to parry it, the force enough to send her backwards several steps, and making the next strike even harder to block, her sword arm getting knocked aside, the blade skittering across the deck and reflecting the light of the setting sun, angry and red.

She ducked to the side, another mace-blow smashing into her shield and splintering the wood further. She glanced over at her sword – too far away to grab, then ducked an overly-extended blow from Pajaran and tackled into her, pushing her shoulder into the pit of Pajaran’s stomach. The handle of the mace knocked into her back as she shoved Pajaran downwards, pulling her to the floor and then grabbing at her weapon arm before it could be used to attack her again. Another wrench and she was on top of Pajaran, straddling her and pinning her to the ground.

Pajaran stopped wriggling around, unable to shift Stathis’ weight. ‘A grapple? Really?’

‘I’m not going to fist-fight you! I’ll leave that to Semari.’

‘The one time I nearly had you, and you pin me down.’ She tried flexing her right arm, to see if she could get any leverage, but with Stathis’ strength and full weight against her, there was no scope for movement, and she gave up.

Stathis heard a startled grunt of disappointment and looked up, just in time to see a patch of darkness swirl and blink out. Had that been Janaxia? Well, it was just combat training, there was no reason for her to get upset.

Semari dropped down from above, landing lightly on the deck. ‘Man, you are rubbish at that. Can’t just charge at them, wanna be, like, more careful with it. Get the balance right.’

Stathis stood up, then extended a hand and pulled Pajaran to her feet as well. As soon as she let go, a force slammed into her from the side, with enough power to knock her several steps away until she hit the rails, using them to stop her motion.

‘Owww! Dammit, Semari, don’t just attack me.’ She rubbed her side, feeling a bruise already starting to form as Semari extended a hand. When Stathis took it, she was pulled forward and found herself up in the air, at Semari’s shoulder-height, before falling and crashing onto the deck, a shoulder hitting the ground first and taking the brunt of the impact, as the wind was knocked out of her.

It took a few seconds for the sparks to clear from her eyes, and then she could stand up. Pajaran tapped her on the shoulder and healing energy flowed into her, the bruise already starting to fade.

‘See? Don’t need to be, all, like, super-forceful, just nudge and shove people into place.’

Stathis twisted her shoulders, feeling the strain of the impact despite the healing magic. ‘Dammit! I’m not your practice dummy.’

Pajaran took a sharp step backwards. ‘Hey, I’m not volunteering! Go and brawl with Vrintar.’

‘She’s too hot! Keeps burning me whenever I get too close. And it really hurts when she smacks me, even when she’s just using clubs. Can’t grab someone when they’re on fire though, hurts too bloody much. Not fair.’

As they spoke, Skotadi was slowly approaching, creeping between patches of cover, her head poking out before vanishing if she saw they were looking. Stathis had to supress the feeling that maybe she could be lured out with a dish of milk. She moved into a patch of darkening shadow, mostly out of sight except for some tufts of hair and a manacled wrist that she couldn’t hide from view.

‘So, Janaxia still being, like, spooky and everything? You not tapped that yet?’

‘She’s still pissed off at me, yeah. At least as far as I can tell, whenever I knock, I get a very cold and very polite “sod off”, or at least words to that effect. I was planning on getting her drunk and talking to her then, but she’s not talking to me at all!’

‘Told you, need to just throw her down and…’ With two fingers extended, Semari started pumping her arm back and forth, making grunting noises as she did so. ‘With, like, holy light and stuff. See what happens. Might make her explode, maybe?’

‘I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work that way. At least I hope it doesn’t? But I’d rather not test anything like that until I get my body back! The fact we’re magically joined and can’t move far apart is pretty bloody inconvenient as well.’

‘Meh, you’re no fun.’

Semari suddenly bounded forward towards the shadows and grabbed at Skotadi, wrapping her arms around her and leaping upwards, landing on part of the rigging, rope swaying under her weight. Skotadi wriggled and tried to break free but lacked the strength, as her clothing writhed and fluttered. Where the evening sun illuminated her, her clothing sagged, suddenly bereft of any animating force.

‘Semari! What are you doing?!’

Semari walked out along the rigging, the sail rippling beneath her. ‘Wanna see how magic she is!’

‘Don’t drop her!’

Skotadi was put down, immediately extending her arms as she tried to balance, shadows flowing from her feet. Her balance clearly needed work as she swayed, although her heels weren’t doing her any favours, as the stiletto-spikes suddenly shrank into far more sensible flats, arms pinwheeling as she tried to stay standing. Semari gave her a slight push, sending her staggering forward.

‘What the hell are you doing?’

Stathis focused and willed her wings into existence, the deck suddenly bright with sunlight as she jumped into the air, trying not to crash into the mast. Even stood on one of the spurs, she had to use her wings to buffet the air to try and still balanced – Semari made it look so damn easy sauntering around the narrow wood! Skotadi at least seemed to be steady, although she wasn’t moving much, still trying to find her balance.

Then she turned, and the light from Stathis’ wings struck her eyes. She squeezed them tightly shut, the shadows around her burning away to nothingness. Her clothing started to melt and disintegrate, too-big dress fading away as she staggered backwards. Semari tried to grab her, but a ripple of shadows flickered out and pushed her back, making Semari jump upwards and grab onto the rigging.

Skotadi somehow managed to retain her footing as she stumbled backwards, Stathis jumping into the air herself, as Skotadi reached the end of the spur, now out over the water. Her foot twisted on the curved wood and she slipped, suddenly horizontal in the air.

Stathis swooped towards her, trying not to clip a wing on the wood. Skotadi screamed, the light of Stathis’ wings now fully illuminating her body, the disintegration of her clothing accelerating, flesh appearing from beneath fabric. A solid blast of darkness smacked into Stathis, checking her flight and knocking her backwards, the mast colliding with her back and knocking the air out of her again.

Skotadi plummeted, whip-tendrils of solid shadow forming around her, trying to catch on something to stop her fall but not able to. Something else dropped past her, Stathis catching sight of Semari, now pushed downwards from the rigging and grabbing Skotadi out of the air.

They vanished from view, and a second later there was a splash. Stathis flew over the edge of the ship, to see Semari and Skotadi getting rapidly left behind as the wind propelled the ship.

She flew over them and hovered, her wings making the water into small waves. Skotadi was held in Semari’s arms, looking very small and very wet, her clothing now almost entirely gone.

‘What the hell were you thinking, Semari?’

‘I wanted to see what magical powers she had!’

Stathis dove, clasping at Semari’s up-reached arm and dragging her out of the water, hurriedly flapping to catch up with the boat, before her wings faded and she was stranded as well. At least the two of them were both light!

She dropped them onto the deck, Pajaran wrapping a blanket around Skotadi’s shoulders, as she shivered in the deepening evening chill.

‘Semari, what the hell is wrong with you?’

Semari at least looked slightly chastened, but still shrugged her shoulders defensively. ‘What? She’s a bit sus, so thought I’d see what happened.’

Skotadi had pulled the blankets around herself, vanishing entirely into a bundled-up cocoon, a vaguely human-shaped lump beneath the fabric, looking generally miserable. Whatever magical powers she had didn’t seem to extend to “warming herself up”, as she shivered and Pajaran rubbed her down.

‘You didn’t need to throw her into the ocean!’

Part of the blanket withdrew itself, Skotadi’s eyes peeking out, the rest of her body entirely veiled and hidden. Stathis let her wings fade and ebb, the deck suddenly dark, the sun low and red as it dropped beneath the horizon. She mumbled something under her breath, part of the blanket bulging as a hand pressed against it, fingers shifting and moving.

A pressure, immense and vast, swelled against Stathis, like the rush of an imminent hangover. She shook herself and it retreated, but the others were all standing around slack-jawed, as Skotadi’s eyes peered at her. Then the blanket suddenly folded in on itself, her body supporting it from beneath vanishing.

The silence was broken by Semari’s sneeze, as she grabbed the blanket and wrapped it about herself. ‘Brrrr! That was mean of you Stathis, knocking me in like that.’

‘Uh, it was entirely your own damn fault! Skotadi’s only young, of course she’s not going to be able to balance well on the rigging.’

Semari rolled around, wrapping herself up securely in the blankets until only her head poked out. ‘I was jumping around and you knocked me off!’

Stathis looked at Pajaran for support. ‘That’s not what happened! At all. You grabbed Skotadi and dragged her up there, then you both fell into the water.’

Pajaran shook her head. ‘I couldn’t see it properly, but it looked like you flew past and knocked her off. I’ve not seen Skotadi for a while, she’s probably with Janaxia in their cabin.’

‘Throbbing with ominous doom!’ Semari bundled herself up more tightly, then pushed backwards into a corner, wedging herself securely into place. ‘Like, double-spooky and eldritch. Mini-naxia’s probably going to, like, learn spooky doom spells or something. As well as how to, like, dress sexy and stuff.’

‘I think she’s a little young for that! But she says she’s noble, so Janaxia’s probably teaching her etiquette and things. But hopefully the good kind, not the “murder everyone that opposes you” kind. That’s not important though – you grabbed her, Semari, and then I had to haul you both out of the sea!’

‘Nah. Didn’t happen. You sure you’ve not caught the sun? You’re looking a bit red.’

‘I’ve not got heat-stroke! And I’m not hallucinating!’ She jumped onto the railings. ‘Hakara! You saw it, right?’

Hakara was sat, cross-legged, on a floating platform of magic, suspended above the deck. It was apparently Kivata’s turn to sleep, her head visible outside of the rough tent that had been erected, looking relaxed, compared to the jittery mess of twitches and nervousness she was when awake. Hakara looked up from whatever spell she was casting.

‘I saw something happen. It was hard to see properly, I think some form of magical effect happened? There was some form of darkness that Semari grabbed, a dark and blurry cloud. And then you flew up there and the cloud fell into the water, with Semari following afterwards, and then you bought them both back.’

‘See, Semari?’

Semari shrugged, making herself comfortable. ‘Still don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Hakara, does that circle protect against enchantments?’

‘It should do, I think it will protect against most effects. I’ve reinforced it quite extensively. Of course, some effects could still bypass it, but I would be surprised if we encounter anything of sufficient power to do so.’

‘Right. So if someone charmed everyone else, then you and Kivata should be unaffected?’

‘Most likely.’ She looked behind herself, at the sleeping Kivata. ‘Although Kivata does seem to have some rather deep-seated issues, as well as seeming to have undergone some rather unpleasant effects that have damaged her before. I suspect she was targeted by a very potent spell to enforce her loyalty, although it seems to have been eliminated at some point, entirely erased, albeit with some lasting damage. She is recovering well, but that may explain some of her more unusual behavioural quirks.’

‘That would make sense. If you see that patch of darkness, it’s probably Skotadi, we sort of picked her up at the last island. Keep an eye on her, she’s a bit of a strange one, and I think she’s playing with people’s memories.’

She jumped down and picked up the Semari-bundle, ignoring the squawk of annoyance. ‘Could you poke at Semari and see if she’s been affected by anything like that?’

‘Hey! I don’t wanna be poked and prodded.’

‘Don’t worry, I’m sure it won’t hurt.’

Glowing lights appeared around Semari’s body, suspending her in mid-air.

‘I’ll leave you to it, I should go grab some food myself. And I’ll bring you something as well.’

Semari’s grumbling continued as Stathis headed to the galley – suspended in mid-air there wasn’t much she could do.