“Christoph!” Diana waved over at the skimmer as it slowed to a halt, turning back towards the wagons as the dust cleared to reveal the pirate ship’s remains. Christoph lowered the small two-man craft by her side, allowing her to climb up behind him before carrying her over towards the wreck.

“Be careful,” he said, lowering her to the ground once more. “There’s a survivor.”

“Don’t worry,” she replied. “I’ll be fine.” A survivor? It’d probably be best to take him back to Manitas City if that was true. Even the lowest of pirates could fetch a bounty if turned in at the city guild.

“Lady Diana!” Frederick rushed over to her as she began searching through the remnants of the ship. “Just a reminder, you agreed that any items claimed by the caravan due to skirmishes with the pirates would be left in our care!”

“Yes yes,” Diana replied, brushing off the little man as he wiped sweat from his forehead. “Quiet,” she said. “There’s a survivor.”

The short man froze entirely, eyes darting around over the ship as he began to tremble. Diana knelt down next to one of the pirates, and the merchant sighed in relief as he realized the young man was unconscious. “Found him,” she said. “Christoph!”

Christoph leaped from his skimmer and knelt down to slap at the pirate, eliciting a groan before the half-elf opened his eyes. “Get up,” Christoph said, pulling the young man to his feet and binding his arms with a length of rope. Checking his knots, he pushed the pirate towards his skimmer. “We’re taking you back to Manitas City.”

“Oh, and we agreed to leave all the items to you besides any mana crystals we might find,” Diana reminded Frederick as he excitedly began to search through the dirt-covered wreckage.

The merchant froze again before nodding rapidly. “Of course,” he said waving his hands around. “Fuel for your skimmer, of course.”

Diana frowned over at the sweaty human and flicked her hand, several large gems falling from his sleeves as she blasted him with a gust of air. “The agreement was any crystals we might find,” she said. “Please don’t forget that.”

Frederick looked back at her in his best approximation of a friendly smile, sweat pouring over his forehead under the desert sun. “Of course,” he said, his smile widening into something that resembled a grimace. “It must have slipped my mind.”

…

Plume twisted around his body, tugging at the ropes that pinned him to the back of the skimmer. A human? No, there’s no way a human could have enough mana to keep one of the elven crafts afloat. Plume’s captor might not be moving at full speed due to the presence of the wagons, but he also had no-one to rotate shifts with, bearing the entirety of the mana costs alone. It’d been almost half an hour since they’d left the Charodontia behind, and still there was no sign that he might be struggling to provide fuel for his craft.

“You’re taking me to the city?” Plume asked. “Were there any other survivors?”

Silence greeted his words. Had the man not heard him over the wind? Unlikely, given the wards that protected the craft. He’d probably just been ignored. In any case, the Charodontia was gone. Even if any of the crew survived, they’d all be dead in a day or two on the plains. Plume gritted his teeth at the thought. He’d not been particularly close to any of the elves, but still… He slumped down over the wooden frame of the skimmer, closing his eyes as his captor sped across the desert floor. The setting sun blinded him for a moment, and he blinked in confusion as he realized they had branched away from the caravan.

“Hey,” he yelled. “Where are we going? It’ll be dark soon, you know!”

The pilot ignored him again, steering the craft over the desert until the caravan disappeared behind a swell in the rapidly cooling landscape. The sun dropped low over the horizon, darkness falling over the desert by the time the skimmer came to a stop. Plume grunted as the man pushed him from the craft, landing on his feet a moment before the man jumped down himself.

“What do you want?” Plume asked. The most obvious answer was his least favorite one. He’d come here to dispose of him easily. No, he shook his head. The woman had said they were taking him back to the city, after all. He was roughly turned around before the pilot untied his bonds, carefully looping the rope back up and stowing it away on the skimmer as Plume stood blinking in confusion. Were they just going to leave him here to die?

The human mounted the craft once more, throwing a small sword down to the baffled elf before raising the skimmer into the air.

“Wait!” Plume held up a hand to stop the man before he could leave. “Why are you doing this?” he asked. “Are you just going to leave me here, then?”

Christoph gestured down at the dirt before tilting the skimmer and drifting away, and Plume snatched up the sword as he saw what he had been pointing towards. A staggered line of gouges had been carved into the clay, stretching away into the night in both directions. Clutching at his weapon, Plume gazed up at where the skimmer had vanished into the darkness. A landshark had been here not long ago.

Plume racked his brain, searching through his memories of the area. Landsharks, landsharks… in the first place, the beasts hid in deceptively small dens during the day, slinking out to snatch up their prey at night. Although he was used to seeing them in packs after a raid, there’s no reason to think there might be more than one in the area… No, which way had the skimmer taken him in anyway? Was he back at the wreckage of the Charodontia? He stifled a curse as he lifted his sword, eyes slowly focusing in the moonlight as the sun vanished from sight.

Was that man watching from somewhere close by? No, a fully grown landshark could take a man off his craft if it got close enough. It’d be safer to simply leave Plume behind. Why was he here in the first place? Plume jerked as he realized the truth. They were adventurers! Either Plume kills the beast and they reap the rewards, or Plume dies and they come back to pick up their sword in the morning. A patter in the distance snapped him out of his thoughts, and he swept his sword around as he fought to make out the presence in the dull light. It would no doubt be back soon, drawn by the sounds of the skimmer and the smell of his flesh.

If only the captain was here! Very few of the crew had been first-generation exiles, and out of those handful, the captain still had the best grasp on his old magic. Plume couldn’t even cast something as simple as a detection spell, not after pouring all of his mana into the Charodontia like the rest of the elves. A low hiss rang out to his right, and he turned to see the large beast circling around him with a clatter of claws raking through the dirt.

The landshark’s teeth snapped as it lunged forwards, and Plume’s breath caught as he waved it back with a swipe of his sword. Every ounce of his spirit screamed at him to run, but he knew that he wouldn’t make it two steps if he turned his back on the crystal-studded creature. Landsharks excelled at running down their prey, pouncing from behind to pin their victim to the earth and end its life with their teeth and claws. The beast snapped at him from a distance, and he slashed at is again, keeping it a bay as best he could.

The landshark’s forelimbs twitched wildly as it began to circle him again, its powerful hind legs trembling with the urge to pounce. Sinking down low to the ground, its long tail rose as a counterbalance as it shifted its head back and forth, turning this way and that to look over Plume’s shaking body. On the top of its head, a feathered crest swayed softly, and Plume cursed his captain for giving him such a terrible name. If he was eaten by the beast he was named for, would that classify as irony? The landshark leaped into the air, and the half-elf screamed as he thrust his sword forwards towards the creature. Plume’s yell faded away as the blade deflected off the beast’s underbelly, bouncing harmlessly to the side. There was a flash of light, and the creature landed atop the young pirate, forelimbs closing around his arm as it raised its lower legs to shred at his torso.

Plume blinked as blood washed over his face, warm liquid spilling over him without the onrush of pain he had been expecting. Standing over his prone form, Christoph reached down to pick up the landshark’s head, removing the teeth as Plume stared silently up at him from beneath the monster’s body. Carefully checking that he’d removed the correct number of crystal teeth, he reached down to pick up the headless carcass, rolling it off of the bewildered elf with ease.

…

Plume shifted as the blood dried on his neck, the heat of the fire warming his body as the temperature in the desert began to plummet. Christoph had tied him up, carried him back to camp and stuffed the landshark teeth into his pocket before picking up the elf woman and flying away on his skimmer again.

“What’s going on?” Plume wondered aloud. His captor had slain the landshark, and left him the reward?

“Beats me,” one of the mages said. “Guy’s a complete psycho from what I can tell. Hi, I’m Larry by the way.”

“Nah,” said the other man, shaking his head as he ate. Were the mages twins? “He’s just quiet. The woman, on the other hand, she’s a piece of work. I’m Barry, by the way.”

“I don’t think he likes me.” The third voice came from the beast-woman, a frown creasing her brow as she spoke. “He always gives me this weird look.”

“I’ve noticed that too, he looks at you like you kicked his dog.” Barry turned towards the half-elf again, pointing towards the beast-woman with his thumb. “She’s Cecilia, by the way.”

“Ah,” she said. “I’m Cecilia, by the way. And I’d never kick someone’s dog!”

“Plume,” Plume replied, staring over at the trio of adventurers. “Uh, I don’t suppose there were any other survivors?”

“Doubt it,” Larry said. “Diana isn’t the type of mage to leave anyone behind. Well, the psycho usually does most of the killing, though. Guess he wasn’t having a lucky day if he missed you.”

“Ah, maybe he doesn’t like me cause I kept on bugging him about his skimmer!” Cecilia remarked. “I’m still pissed I missed out on the loot from the Regret going down. Did you see how hard he rammed that ship just then? Didn’t even break the wards on that little flyer.”

Larry shook his head. “I’m pretty sure that’s got to do with the pilot and not just the ship,” he said. “He’s got more mana I’ve ever seen in a person before. Besides, he hated you even before that.”

“Yeah,” Barry chimed in. “I’m pretty sure I saw him making that same face to a beast-man at the Bay. Maybe he’s just racist?”

“He gets on well with Geoff, though,” Cecilia sighed. “It’s the skimmer, isn’t it?”

“It’s not the skimmer,” Larry said. “Besides, Geoff is a lizard-man, maybe he only hates some of the clans.”

“I thought humans were supposed to like dogs,” Cecilia frowned, pawing at her ears and swishing her tail behind her.

“Maybe he’s a cat person,” Larry said.

“Nah,” Barry replied. “The beast-man as the bay was a feline, he looked like he was about to pull out his sword on him.”

“There we go then!” Larry said. “He hates cats! Dogs, probably. Maybe you should have kicked someone’s dog after all.”

Cecilia reached up to sock the mage on his shoulder, snatching up his food and wolfing it down as he sat up again. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “It’s obviously about the skimmer.”

“Um…” Plume wriggled in his bonds, looking around at the overly cheerful adventurer party. “Can I ask what’s going to happen to me tomorrow?”

“What do you mean?” Cecilia asked. “You’re going to the guild, of course.”

“Yeah,” Larry said. “You’re going to court.”

“Ah,” Plume replied. “Court.”

“Of course,” said Barry.

Plume sat in silence for the remainder of the meal, looking over into the fire as the adventurers continued to bicker. By the time the flames had run down, he’d slumped over to the side and fallen asleep on the cold clay of the desert floor.

…

Plume stirred from sleep to find someone clutching at the remnants of his long-sleeved tunic, the bloodied fabric clinging to his skin as he tried to ignore the tapping of the hands.

“Wake up.” The voice that hissed out was insistent, but a hand clamped down over his mouth as he began to respond. Captain Hare! Plume looked over the camp in the barely visible light, the three adventurers snoring slightly from where they had fallen asleep in a pile of limbs. The merchants were by their wagons, and the other two were missing, presumably on watch somewhere close by. Well, maybe not if Hare was right in the middle of their camp.

The young elf rose to his feet at the captain’s urging, creeping quietly along behind the older man. Cecilia jerked as they passed by the fire, but she didn’t wake up, reaching out to clutch at Barry (or was it Larry) and murmuring softly before falling silent again. The two elves made their way out of camp, the captain pulling the younger man along until they had passed out of earshot.

“Listen,” he said. “We need that skimmer. There’s no other choice.”

Plume nodded in the moonlight. Without the small craft, they’d be sentenced to die slowly in the heat of the desert. Other than Manitas City, there were no sources of water within two day’s walk in any direction, and the landsharks would most likely get them long before they made it that far.

“I’ll take out the mage,” Hare said. “You activate the skimmer, and get ready to leave.”

“I feel like that’s asking a bit much of the young man,” Diana said, a ball of flame materializing in her palm to light up the darkness. “Hello Hare,” she said. “How have you been?”

The captain lunged out before Plume could react, stabbing his cutlass up at the woman as the half-elf flinched away from her sudden appearance. The mage danced out of his reach, grinning at the elf captain as he leveled his weapon in her direction.

“Oh come now,” Diana said. “I’m not here to fight.”

“Give us the skimmer you took from the Regret, and we’ll be gone,” Hare replied. “It was you that took down the Regret, wasn’t it?”

“Actually, that wasn’t me,” she said. “But close enough. Christoph dear?”

“Put down your weapon.” Plume’s captor emerged from behind the mage, a strange-looking sword held in his right hand.

“They hang pirates in the city,” Hare said. “Let us take the skimmer, and we’ll leave.”

“How about this,” Diana said, throwing up her ball of fire to hover in the air. “The skimmer is right behind me. If you can beat my partner here and take it, it’s yours.”

Christoph paused for a moment before taking up a stance between the captain and Diana. Hare hesitated before making his attack, thrusting and slashing at his opponent in rapid succession. Out of all the adventurers in the camp, that man was the only one he had not seen fighting earlier. Should he take it slow and get a feel for his skill? No, he decided. If the other adventurers awoke they might not be so kind as to let Hare finish his duel at all. Besides, there was an easier way out of this than that.

Plume sat frozen on the ground as his captain fought, briefly crossing blades with the cloaked man before falling back. Slashing out at his enemy, Hare followed up with a sudden kick, dashing into a tackle before manoeuvring around his opponent towards the skimmer. Was he abandoning the duel? No, the mage had said that if he could take the skimmer, it would be his!

Plume grinned at the realization, staggering to his feet. Pulling away from the fight, Hare rushed towards the small craft, swinging his sword out at Diana to force her back out of his way. Stepping forwards, Plume paused as Christoph surged towards his captain, his crystal blade slashing out in an arc before the elf’s attack could land. A moment of silence fell over the camp before the two halves of Hare’s body hit the ground with a dull thump of rising dust.