They stayed in the cove for three days. It was time enough for all three ships to be repaired, all wounded cared for, and each ship to resupply from the resources on the island.

"Does this island have a name?" Li asked as he took one final walk with Aricka.

"Safe Haven," she replied with a shrug.

Li was surprised. "That's it?"

She chuckled. "Sometimes the best names are the most simple. We find safety in the cove and supplies on the island. Any other name may fail to say what the island means to us."

Li nodded thoughtfully. "I suppose you're right. Are we going to be traveling with the other ships now?"

"Only until we find open water," she explained. "In case that ship from Dyrai finds us before. We need to take another prize soon or the crew will start to get irritated."

Li had noticed how anxious the crew - and those of the other ships - seemed to be about leaving the cove behind. He knew they didn't earn any money when they didn't take in prizes and sell them, so hunting for another ship to take was vitally important. He didn't know what would happen were they to become entirely too frustrated with Captain Mond. When he asked Aricka she shrugged.

"Usually, unhappy crews leave when they come to the next port," she explained. "Sometimes there are mutinies when the crew takes over the ship and casts the captain off, but those are rare in the fleet. Mahlon punishes crews who do that, to the point of sending the rest of the fleet to capture the ship and bring the crew back for trial. Mond won't want the crew to leave him, though. He's spent many years making the Gryphon one of the best in the fleet."

The Gryphon led the other two ships from the cove of Safe Haven the following morning, much to the excitement and relief of the crews. The land had only just vanished from view and the Phoenix and Stryker prepared to part ways with them, when a lookout called that a ship was on the horizon. The Stryker, which had moved a short distance ahead of the Gryphon, immediately hoisted a black pendant over its stern.

"It's the necromancers," Garstin muttered.

The Phoenix turned to rejoin them, also having raised a black pendant.

On the Gryphon, Mond called for the matching black pendant to be raised onboard, to both cheers and curses from the crew.

"What does the flag mean?" Li asked warily. It hadn't been raised during the battle with the prize ship or during their flight from the ship of Dyrai previously.

"It communicates to the other ships in the fleet that necromancers have been sighted," Ardlac replied, startling Li with his abrupt arrival. "For us, it is only a formality, acknowledging that we saw the message and will be joining our sister ships in the fight."

That was a concerning surprise. "We aren't running this time?"

"There's three of us," Garstin replied. "The chances are much better that we can sink them."

"Not capture?"

Ardlac stared out at the large red ship with its black sails. "Ships from Dyrai are sunk. The dangers of necromancy are too much for Mahlon. The order comes from those who employ and command Captain Mond. If possible, we must sink their ships and kill the necromancers."

It took two hours to close on the ship from Dyrai, which Li recognized for the twisted figurehead missing part of its gastly horns. Li, Ardlac, and the others who would usually comprise the boarding crew, were put to work ensuring the cannons had enough powder and balls, as there was to be no boarding. Boarding pikes were made ready if the Dyrain ship drew close enough for its crew to board the Gryphon.

The Phoenix fired first, its crew sending flaming arrows speeding toward the Dyrain ship. Only a portion of the arrows reached the ship, the others splashing down into the sea, where they were extinguished. Those that reached the ship were quickly stamped out by members of the crew. The crew of the Stryker fired another round of flaming arrows, these ones directed at the sails and rigging. One caught and crewmen struggled to put it out.

Magic began to emanate from the ship, ripping through the Phoenix's sails and causing it to lose speed. The Gryphon fired a round from the cannons, aimed at the red ship's waterline. Several of the shots connected, though only one seemed to leave any mark on the red wood of the ship's hull. Balls of red fire came from the ship to all three of the privateers. Screams from the Stryker suggested some had connected there, but on the Gryphon no member of the crew was hit and the small fires on deck were quickly put out.

Mond ordered another round shot at the red ship's waterline, this time followed by the sound of wood cracking. A fierce, lashing wind of red energy cut across the Gryphon's deck, sending one member of the crew overboard. Li and Aricka ran to the side with several others, but the man was nowhere to be seen when they looked into the water.

"Bastards took him," Aricka snarled.

"Took him?" Li asked.

She nodded. "Took his soul. The wind and the fall must have killed him. Necromancers feed on freshly dead souls to grow their power when they fight. The bodies tend to sink straight to the bottom when they lose their souls this way."

Li swallowed and turned back to the battle, surprised to see the fire on the red ship's sail now consuming the mast. Smoke from fire and cannon alike floated over the battle, adding an acrid stench to the air. Mond ordered another round from the cannons, but the necromancers pushed the Gryphon as it fired, tilting it to the other side and causing the shots to soar high. Li thought the idea was to have them fire over the ship and onto the Stryker on the ship's opposite side, but perhaps the necromancers weren't familiar enough with the cannons to do so effectively. The heavy iron balls landed among the crew of the red ship, killing red-robed necromancers and regular crew alike.

This only seemed to give the remaining necromancers, the true number of which Li couldn't estimate, more power. They continued attacking the privateers, lashing out with wind and fire. Screams came from all three privateers as crew members were caught in the fires, thrown against the decks, or sent into the sea. Barrels of rain water collected on the decks once the storm's wind had eased were almost exhausted in the act of extinguishing the fires cast at the ships. The Gryphon continued to fire the cannons, slowly pounding holes in the side of the Dyrain ship at the waterline.

"Good gods, they're killing their own crew," someone gasped.

Li handed off a ball of iron to one of the members of the guncrew, and took notice of the red-robed figures through the smoke. There seemed to be only a dozen of them remaining and they were meticulously killing the members of the assembled crew, one after the other. It seemed they were in need of more power now. Li wondered if they must tire from using so much energy in so short a time.

A wind of red light began to circle the ship, repelling the flaming arrows and nearly casting them back onto the ships that had fired them. The wind was not strong enough to repel the heavy metal of the cannonballs, however. Li continued supplying the guns as they fired repeated at the hull of the ship, which had begun to tilt dangerously in the water.

At last, the wind broke apart with an explosion of energy, slicing across the decks of the three privateers. Li was knocked off his feet and fetched up against the far rail. It took him a dazed few moments to catch his breath and he hoped no one had been pushed overboard. When he stood again, he saw many of the remaining necromancers struggling to their feet on the deck of the Dyrain ship, which was now severely angled, parts of it in flames from the ruined rigging.

The necromancers fell to their knees, crying out, but no energy came from them toward the attacking ships.

"The Asirim on the other ships are finally able to fight them," Ardlac commented, taking notice of Li's interest in what was happening on the red ship. "There were too many before, but now they can fight them. This will be over soon."

All three ships continued to fire on the Dyrain ship while the Asirim worked, spreading the fire and splintering wood. It seemed an agonizing several minutes before the red ship finally sank below the waves, the last of the necromancers going with it. Debris littered the sea between the privateers, and bodies of the dead. Above the water smoke still hung in the air.

What surprised Li was the sudden silence. No one cheered the victory. It was as if they all waited for something Li did not understand.

Finally, the black pendants were lowered on the Phoenix and Stryker. Only then did all three crews erupt into cheers and celebration.

"And now it's back to Safe Haven for more repairs," Garstin said with a laugh.