Chapter 5

The Pirates

The sea breeze was the first thing to make Terrill recall the night he had his first encounter with the woman.

Despite the bright sun that made the waves glitter while the boat cut across the sea, the wind upon his face was an unfortunate reminder, placing him right back in the darkened hall of Winthrop’s inn. His hand running along the lacquered wood of the top deck reminded him of how he and Atrum had heard the commotion downstairs, their hands smoothly gliding down the railing to see what was happening.

That was the first time he’d ever seen her, garbed in a black traveling cloak. Her blonde hair was windswept, curling in tendrils with almost every minor movement she made. The bandits that had pushed the innkeeper back were in clear awe of her, or perhaps just afraid, because she radiated a power that didn’t seem to be of this world. To Terrill, it was like she could grasp the invisible wind with a hand and make it do her bidding.

It hadn’t frightened him then, and nor did it frighten him now, but it had put him on edge, and was something Atrum had observed at the time. It was probably that look in his eyes that made him stay back when Terrill had ordered him to.

If there was one thing that did frighten Terrill in that moment of contact, it was her sharp sense of awareness. He had barely moved on the stairs, not even a squeak of the wood beneath his feet, when her head had turned, a coy, sadistic smile playing upon her lips.

“Looks like we have company, boys,” he remembered her saying. In fact, he was quite sure there wasn’t a single thing about her that he didn’t remember in that very moment. The woman was one to make a lasting impression. “I hope you have the mettle to stand against a Guardian.”

“Stay back.” They were the only two words Terrill had spoken. Atrum had been hesitant, his expression screaming how much he wished to jump into the fight as a Chosen One should, but Terrill’s rigid body stance precluded him. As for Terrill, he had known there was nothing he could hide from this woman, the very air whispering of presences. So, he had leapt out, his sword laid bare as a fang that cleaved through the space to descend upon her.

She had blocked it.

In that moment, Terrill felt out of his depth. There was nothing between him and the woman but a pocket of air, and yet he could not hit her. The bandits had rushed for him, but all he saw were her eyes. They were blue, like the sky, and there was something behind them; something greater that he could not identify. Whatever that “something” was, she didn’t want him to see it, for her wind burst, pushing him back. The breeze had wafted over him, and it was this which the sea-breeze had brought to mind.

The last thing he remembered of that original encounter was his and Atrum’s blades meeting the bandits and beating them back while the woman watched. Her hood flipped up, and with that unpleasant smile, she had bid him a rather personal farewell.

“Guess people like that don’t have the mettle to be heroes like you. I’ll live to find one another day.”

With that, she had disappeared into the wind, leaving Terrill and Atrum to fight off her subordinates, who had only just begun to realize that she had abandoned them.

“Terrill! Hey!” This voice, he realized, was not in the realm of his memories, and it brought him back to his present location on the sea. With the turn of his head, he saw Krysta right next to him, poking and prodding him to bring him back to reality. “You looked lost.”

“Just remembering some stuff,” he said, adding a chuckle to the end while he breathed out. The memory was one he no longer wanted to concern himself with, not until he ran into the woman again, at least. Instead, his thoughts became more goal-oriented. “How far out would you say we are?”

“Don’t know. Last time I ever traveled to the Academy it was from Carth, which is quite a bit closer. Probably a day or two less by ship,” the healer admitted. She leapt upwards, perching herself on the deck’s railing with nary a concern for her safety. It helped that the ocean was calm. Terrill didn’t seek to reprimand or warn her. “Could take a week or more. I’m not a ship expert.”

“I’m not an anything expert, so you’ve got a leg up on me there,” Terrill admitted. He leaned against the railing and stared out over the sparkling surface of water. Sayn had all but vanished into the background, with only the top of the castle still visible. Their destination wasn’t yet in sight, but Terrill certainly hoped it would be soon. His body started to recall the first time he’d ever set foot outside Hart, when he was just five years old. He’d gone with the elder to see his parents off, spending more than enough time at the camp on the southern tip of the continent. A camp where the adults were preparing for a war that most did not return from. Though he didn’t like that particular fact, at the time he’d been more than enthused to explore every inch of the southern peninsula. From there the continent the adults had called Silicias was visible, if only by rock formation than actual shape or location.

It was this positive feeling he drew on now.

“So, what’s the Academy like? Or just Sagitta itself?” he asked his traveling companion. She turned away from her own musings over the sea to hear him continue his rambles. “How different is it from Sayn?”

“Been a couple years since I checked on it, but someone’s excited. You’re like a little kid.”

“Can’t help it!” Terrill said. It was like he wanted to confirm his words by beginning to move his body and stretch, expelling all of the excess energy that was pent up from his desire to explore. “I’ve been cooped up in Sayn all my life. The monsters always made it a challenge to leave Hart except for the Chosen One Festival. Other than that period when Golbrucht would fall, we lived in fear of it…at least, that’s what I remember.”

“Monsters, huh?” Krysta was done sitting on the railing and she jumped off to land perfectly on the deck, her arms spread wide like some sort of dancer. “I’ve seen one or two of them before, but nothing like the ones that came after us in the forest. Those were a lot more vicious. How did you ever live with them?”

“Ah, you get used to it after you spend most of your life with it. Besides, I’m sure the rest of the world has its own problems. We were just never much aware of them in Sayn…or at least in Hart.” The two began to move in tandem while they stretched, their eyes bouncing between all those who proliferated the deck with them. The soldiers were largely ignoring the duo, keeping their eyes on the horizon while they made steady time. Students of the Academy, however, were surreptitiously keeping a close watch on them. Terrill chose to ignore them; if they wanted to stare instead of striking up conversation, that was their problem. “People were always happy when Golbrucht fell, though. Made life a little easier for a couple months.”

“I guess it would be…” Krysta paused in her stretches, and Terrill saw one of her hands clench before unfurling slowly. “Still strikes me as a bit strange. Why the whole Festival, and what does Golbrucht have to do with it?”

“The Festival has been around for hundreds of years, usually around the time of harvest,” Terrill explained, paying his companion’s actions no more mind. “Once, long ago, when Golbrucht first started his reign of terror, there was a man who fought and defeated him. The royal family always said it was written that he would do so, as if it was fate, itself. From there, ‘fate’ has decreed a Chosen One be chosen from each town every year. And the reason to strike down Golbrucht? Because he was considered the source of all monsters.”

“How preposterous!” Terrill smiled at the new voice interceding on the conversation; he knew one of them would snap sooner or later. Indeed, as the pair looked to the gaggle of Academy students, they found one of them, a bespectacled boy with a bowl-cut hair and a large pack on his back, approaching them. His haughty features said it all to Terrill. “Monsters aren’t born of a single person! And you speak as if this Golbrucht is resurrected time and again, which is in and of itself an impossibility, even in the realm of magic.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Terrill said, offering the boy a shrug, “but maybe Golbrucht is some endlessly respawning monster, himself. I’ve only met the guy once, and he was a beast that nearly cut all four of us in half.”

“That’s…” The boy paused, beginning to mutter under his breath while Terrill and Krysta locked eyes with one another. The playfulness in her gray eyes hinted that Krysta found it just as amusing. “An interesting hypothesis. You could possibly keep up with Torry in terms of magical theorizing, though she’s lucky to have Floyd to back up her crazy experiments with theory. A monster endlessly respawning and creating other monsters!”

“It is an interesting approach no one thought of before!” another student said, this one female and looking giddy at the prospect of delving into the topic more. “Perhaps we should make it our thesis of research when we return!”

“Is that what the Academy does? Research?”

Terrill’s response appeared to be a rather asinine one to those around him. The soldiers on watch chuckled, and Krysta slapped her face with even further amusement. For the Academy students, though, their faces mixed between incredulity, indignation and outright shock, with the bespectacled boy showing most of the latter.

“You’re traveling towards Serotin and don’t know the purpose of the Academy?!” he shrieked, causing Terrill to wince. He didn’t say anything, certain the boy would continue with some sort of elaborate explanation. Sure enough, the boy puffed out his chest as soon as he regained his composure and launched into his tirade. “The Academy is a school established to teach the upper foundations of all magic as we have discovered it in the current day and age. We welcome all people that show any such aptitude for magic and seek to instruct them on the usage of magic in multiple settings. However, yes, it is known that the Academy made its name under Director Rainert’s guidance into the field of research. Since then, much of our fame and notoriety around the world has come from researching all the fields of magic as we can, both from a practical and theoretical standpoint, and-”

“Got it. Magic place. Does research,” Terrill said, hoping to stop the boy before his long-winded rant took any more of his patience away. The boy deflated. “So, I could learn more about my own magic there… And you guys were in Sayn for research I take it?”

“Yes, it is a very underrated field of research at the Academy, and we have gained most interesting information, though perhaps not as much as we wished to glean,” the female student said. Terrill now realized she, too, was wearing glasses, and pushed them on her face in a show of confidence. “While other top students are trying to investigate and create new styles of magic, we are looking into the practical purposes of how magic forms monsters, and thereby hope to find the source of all magic.”

“Sounds like a pipe dream to me,” Krysta interjected. Glad that she had earned their newly-placed ire instead of him, Terrill placed his hands behind his head and watched. “Monsters are monsters. They’re not magic, right? Is there any proof any of them even contain a source?”

“And what would you know? You haven’t spent years researching the subject!”

Terrill was sure that the conversation would just devolve into an argument, and it was one that he didn’t want to get involved in. Leaving Krysta to her own devices, he turned away to look back at the sea. The sun was getting just a little bit lower now, dipping on towards nighttime, and it was making things a little more difficult to see. A slight fog was rolling in, and Terrill stifled a yawn while he approached the prow, next to an attentive guard.

“Academy folks, huh? Big brains, the whole lot of ‘em,” the soldier said. Terrill recognized it as an attempt to stave off the boredom, and figured there was no harm with engaging in conversation.

“Still rely on people like you to get them around safely, though, it seems.”

“Let’s hope it’s safely. Pirates have been getting bolder around these parts, and we’ve still got a few days’ journey out of us. No pigeons could reach us with news in time if they know anything.”

“Any way we can speed travel time up, then?” Terrill suggested. The soldier looked away from his post, towards the helmsman, and then at the Academy students before arriving at an answer.

“Maybe, if any of those kids know how to make us move faster and the captain allows it.” That was the best they could do, it seemed, and Terrill shoved his hands in his pockets. It was even more difficult to see than it was five minutes ago, the fog having obscured even the very edge of their ship. Terrill’s eyes focused into a squint, and the soldier next to him grew more and more restless, until soon, Terrill wasn’t even sure if he could see him, despite standing less than a few feet away.

It begged the immediate question.

“Is fog common in this area?” There was a clank indicating the soldier’s movements.

Then the answer. “In all my trips…no.”

Terrill didn’t need more. He clasped the hilt of his blade and drew it, backing up from the prow towards the Academy students. They were still bickering, if over a different subject, wonderfully oblivious to the mist that was rolling over them. Krysta had long given up on discussion with them, and she gave a yelp when Terrill bumped into her (unintentionally, of course).

“How many of you can find a way to see through this fog?” he asked, bringing a premature end to the argument. Their heads bobbled back and forth, no doubt coming to the realization that they really were surrounded by fog. “I need an answer now, guys.”

“Uh…well, I can create a kind of breeze.” Terrill was uncomfortable at those words, gritting his teeth, but he wasted no time in making his request.

“Then blow this fog on out of here. I’ve got a bad feeling.” They could tell as much when he put his second hand on his sword and held it in front of him. Krysta got the message, drawing her rapier and standing to his side, her other hand glowing as it had before. The nearby students gave varying reactions of fright or surprise at seeing the weapons, but the one who had claimed themselves versed with wind, tried to hide it.

They bent low, closing their eyes as a runic formula surrounded them, drawn by their fingers. Once it had surrounded them, they touched their hands to the runes, and each exploded with a gust that caused the fog to completely dispel from around them.

“Pirate ship off the starboard bow!”

“How did they get so close?!”

Unfamiliar with the nautical terms, Terrill cast his gaze around until it settled towards the most obvious shape he could find: a blackened ship with even blacker sails just to the side of them. They had cannons on the side, each aiming at their rather meager vessel. On the masts above, Terrill could see a grouping of all the pirates, ready to swing right over.

Their ship wasn’t going to take this latest development lying down. Those soldiers that were guarding the decks rushed for the starboard side to hold off the invasion of these pirates, while some of the sailors looked to get out of harm’s way. The Academy students were floundering more than the seasoned seamen, scrambling to get under deck and away from the action. Terrill didn’t think it would matter, not with the cannons that were priming themselves to fire.

“Hold off those ruffians, men. This ship is making it to Sagitta without a single passenger lost, or we’re not soldiers of Sayn!” one of the guards called. Terrill felt his cry for motivation seemed rather fruitless, for the pirates were already swinging over. Some went above their heads to aim straight for the deck, while others made for a direct collision course that tumbled a number of the soldiers over.

“That cannon fires, this ship is done for,” Krysta said, her back drawing closer to Terrill’s. He couldn’t help but agree as the first of the pirates rolled upon the deck.

“It’s a passenger ship, lads. Take all the goods you can find! Any arms for our king!” the first pirate who landed cried. To herald his arrival, the first cannon fired, striking just below the deck. Some soldiers were flung backwards, skidding on the deck’s surface, but coughing to show they were fine… Well, a relative sense of “fine”. The worst part was the ship rocking, forcing Terrill and Krysta to hold to one another as they started to slip. The Academy students were worse off, some falling flat on their butts as they missed their mark.

The soldiers were a bit better, with those who remained standing drawing their weapons and pushing back against the pirates. They didn’t seem all that prepared for this strike, in any case, as another pirate came soaring down with what looked to Terrill like lashes of fire extending from his hands.

“Burn it all, boys! Take what’s left!” This newest pirate, one who drew the attention of all other pirates, flung his whips down, the burning strike knocking at least three soldiers back before he landed. The beady eyes and feral grin as he surveyed the deck like meat told Terrill all he needed to know: this was the captain of that particular pirate ship.

The cannons were preparing to fire again.

Terrill spun his blade in his hand, and his eyes found the lonely Academy students, shivering with fright. The pirates hadn’t yet noticed, and amidst the rocking of the ship, Terrill ran across the deck to support the three students that hadn’t made it inside. His bespectacled friend and companions seemed pleased to see him helping them up, but he knew he wasn’t about to make their day.

“You guys are expert magic-users, right? Can you fight?” he asked. Their faces changed from ones of elation to those of quivering fear. “Those pirates have magic, right? The soldiers can’t deal with that, not while a cannon is peppering this ship to make sure it goes down. So, can you fight?!”

“I…I…” The boy with glasses shook, his lips unable to form any words. Terrill grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, an action that righted his head. “I can use Water Magic, though I’m mostly good at pre-existing water currents…”

“Good enough. You three work together to push us away from that pirate ship, and Miss Windy, you mind making sure no more of them can swing ov-”

“Terrill!” He turned at Krysta’s voice just in time to see what looked like a cannon shot of water homing in on him. There was no time to act, but he gratefully didn’t need to. Krysta acted first, and he watched as a honeycomb barrier appeared between him and the spell. The water blasted against it, exploding in a thin rain that did no damage to him. The pirate that had fired it off stood there, eyes wide as he failed to comprehend what had just happened.

Terrill didn’t know what Krysta had done, either, besides her own brand of magic, but he processed it enough to make his own move. Sword in hand, he made for the pirate and drove forward, his hilt slamming the man’s stomach and sending him tumbling backwards, into the arms of some soldiers that captured him. The capture of that one pirate seemed to make the other pirates aware that there was a greater threat on the ship, with Fire Lash himself noticing first.

“They got a fighter here, boys. Let’s sink ‘im with the ship!” The man whipped his flames downward and Terrill instantly moved to block the strike, causing the fire to glance off. Fire Lash was surprised, but began to spin, his mouth firing off orders. “Fire those cannons now!”

Terrill kicked out, pushing Fire Lash back in preparation to steady his body for the next cannon fire.

BOOM! he heard the artillery go, and he was more than prepared to be set off-balance. So was Fire Lash.

Neither were.

As the smoke cleared from the impact, Terrill began to find a grin stretching his face. The already familiar honeycomb shield had appeared between the two ships, only this time it was wrapping around their own in a complete cocoon, making the night sky a little darker. Terrill turned his head to see Krysta, eyes narrowed and breath shallow. Her hands were held aloft as they glowed with pale light. She turned to lock eyes with Terrill.

“I have the ship covered. Do what you need to, Terrill.” Krysta’s confidence was infectious, even if the effort was looking to exhaust her. Having seen their ship protected from the cannon fire, the soldiers that remained standing charged with a cry to engage the pirates in battle.

More importantly, Terrill felt, was that their ship was slowly pulling away. A quick glance over the side showed the water frothing and bubbling, while the sails were propelled forward with yet more wind. The Academy students were pulling their weight, and behind them, their third member was taking potshots at any pirates that dared to get close, burning arrows firing this way and that, but fizzling out before they could hit the deck. They weren’t combat experts, but every little bit helped against the pirates that were invading, and now trapped upon, their ship.

“Then that just leaves you. The captain, huh?” Terrill called, his sword pointing in the direction of Fire Lash. The pirate captain grinned, revealing a few missing teeth.

“Little passenger thinks he’s hot stuff. How amusing!” His whips snapped out again, forcing Terrill to pivot. The first made contact against the ship’s deck, setting a piece of it on fire. The Academy boy put it out the second he saw it, while Terrill dodged another. The pirate ship was getting farther away, but looking to catch back up. Flame Lash pulled his whips in and then fired both in tandem, aiming for Terrill’s chest.

He held his blade in front, blocking the attack and swinging to push it off. That put the pirate captain off-balance as Terrill ran in for a slash. Fire Lash avoided it, whipping around to strike Terrill in the side. The Guardian saw it coming, snapping his blade to the side to fight it off. He whirled the sword in his hands and ran at Fire Lash, slicing back and forth. This put the captain on the defensive, ignoring the state of the rest of his pirate crew as he used his whips of fire to block Terrill’s aggressive strikes.

“Captain!” one of the man’s compatriots called, distracting him just long enough for Terrill to spin around and nail him in the chest with a kick. The man flew back, hitting the mast with a cough. Around them, the soldiers and Academy members were doing their part, with the latter surrounding Krysta to protect her as she maintained the barrier. Terrill pressed his advantage, making a side-swipe. Fire Lash saw it coming, ducking as the blade made contact with the mast.

“Hah!” The captain whipped his attack out again, this time managing to make his mark on Terrill’s side. It stung, making Terrill grind his teeth. It was now his turn to hit his back against the mast, but he wasn’t letting his concentration lapse. His right foot planted itself against the thick cylinder and used it to propel his body into the air. His sword screamed down, and Fire Lash brought his whips together as a defensive force.

They collided, the burst of heat sending air out that stole the breath from the lungs of all those fighting except for the girls from the Academy, who kept up their pressure of wind and flame upon the pirates. Terrill could see most were taken out, but the captain didn’t notice. They were too locked in place.

“Terrill, take him out with magic!” Krysta called. A thud indicated that she had dropped to a knee, but Terrill didn’t let himself be distracted. The collision of warm air sent him flying back towards the mast, and he had mere moments to right his body and place his feet against the wood.

“There’s no earth around here. I can’t do that!” he yelled back. Fire Lash was back on the offensive, his lashes of flame aiming for Terrill’s head but missing as the Guardian fell towards him.

“You use Earth Magic?” the bespectacled boy asked. He took a break from his own actions to press his glasses up. “If that’s the case, there’s no need to have earth nearby. That power comes from within yourself, as all magic does. I can create water, but I’m just more adept with a sour-”

“So, I don’t need earth? Got it!” Terrill let gravity take control, slashing downward and causing the captain to backpedal. His wild flailing to regain balance made him aware of the state of his fellow pirates, a number trodden underfoot or cuffed by the soldiers that had gotten their second wind. Terrill stood tall with a grin. “Then about time we wrap this up. Krysta, mind taking care of our pursuers?”

“I’ll do what I can.” The barrier was canceled out, the stars returning, and the captain saw it as an opportunity for himself. Terrill kept up his pressure, jabbing forward with his blade.

The whips wrapped themselves around his sword, and with a yank, the weapon went flying into the air.

Magic’s inside, huh? Then I just need to call on the earth…stone…a fist like stone…

As his sword flew high, Fire Lash aimed for it, hoping to pull it into his grasp with his whips.

His fellow pirates called for him, warning him of something he couldn’t see.

The Academy students managed to make a nice distance between themselves and the pursuing vessel.

And Krysta ran for the edge, bringing both hands together, a light burgeoning inside of them in what looked like a brilliant spear. She had no energy to speak, and even if she had, the pirates’ call that she was up to something would have drowned her. Instead, Krysta grunted, and with a heave, sent her spear of pure light hurtling through the air. Its force sent her backwards, into the arms of the Academy students, while her attack sailed forth to find its mark.

The spear impaled the pirate ship, its light brightening the near night sky, and drawing the attention of the captain.

“What in the-? She didn’t say they’d-” The captain had no time to finish his concerned babble. Krysta’s spear exploded with light, ripping the ship in two and sending the two halves of the marauding ship sailing away from another. The crew upon it, or what was left (which was very few) called for each other, but the captain could do nothing to help them.

Terrill could help his own fellow travelers, though. His mind focused, his fist sailing outwards, thinking and calling upon that bedrock inside of him. It made no sense to call from there, as he’d always just listened to the voice of the earth itself, but he could still feel it there, stirring within him.

What energy poured out from him was clumsy and messy, but nevertheless, Terrill felt his fist harden, as if becoming like stone. It sunk into Fire Lash’s face, sending him stumbling back and letting go of Terrill’s sword. He caught it, and with a singular slash, decided the battle.

The cut blossomed with blood of the captain’s chest, his eyes widened. His fiery whips vanished, no longer able to regulate their flow of magic as he childishly tried to grab at the air before his back hit the deck, the attack over.

“No… Was supposed to be an easy job. She said it would be…she told LeBrandon it-ah!”

Terrill had stomped his foot next to the man’s head, leaning down as the rest of the crew around him began to bind the pirates together. His face got close enough to smell the captain’s rotten breath, but it didn’t deter Terrill. He already had an inkling, but chose to ask, anyway, “Who is ‘she’?”

The pirate captain didn’t answer straight away, his eyes rolling back as if he was about to pass out from the wound inflicted. Cursing his luck, Terrill turned in the direction of where he’d last seen Krysta, now panting and tugging on her sleeve, but seeming otherwise fine. Terrill opened his mouth to call for her.

“You did good work there!” The soldier he’d spoken with earlier was at Terrill’s side, thumping him on the back before he realized, and offering a grin. He wasn’t alone, with the soldiers that weren’t on pirate duty also coming over. “Guess Captain Godfrey made the right call in letting you aboard!”

“Thanks…I guess. Is everyone all right?”

“A couple scrapes and bruises, but we should all be right as rain by the time we make berth in Lentaris.”

“Assuming we don’t get attacked anymore. Those pirates have gotten too bold lately. They usually don’t go after passenger ships like this one,” another soldier said. He looked as concerned as his comrades, and Terrill agreed. There was only one thing for it.

“He’ll tell us why, though. Krysta…” As he turned in her direction, he found the Academy students helping her over, where she gave him a thumbs up before her eyes fell upon his side, the burn self-evident.

“You’re hurt.”

“Just a minor injury. We have a bigger issue. You mind healing him, at least enough to get him conscious and talking?”

“What am I, the unconscious waker?” Terrill hoped it was a joke, and it must have been, because the second the students let her go, she set to work with her healing magic on the bound pirate captain.

“Amazing… Healing magic… I’ve never seen the likes of it at the Academy…”

“Ugh…grrgh…” Fire Lash’s voice indicated his new state as the wound on his chest was stitched up. Terrill sighed in relief, but stepped closer while the soldiers restrained the man further rom behind. The second he caught sight of Terrill’s face he tried to lunge, only to find himself held back. “Who are you? She said this would be an easy job! Just passing a message! Didn’t mention any kind of warrior or kid trying to…play…hero…”

Whatever he was screaming about, it brought an unsettling revelation to his mind. He began to shake, and Terrill once more got close.

“Who is she? What message?” Terrill asked. The captain continued to shake, and the soldiers held him tighter until he stopped and was forced to stare into Terrill’s eyes.

“You…did she mean it…for you?”

“Start making sense already!” Terrill snapped, his patience with the man gone. Fire Lash couldn’t look away, his eyes glimmering with the fear that only one person seemed to bring lately.

“Her. The Veiled Woman,” he whispered, like it was only meant for Terrill’s ears. “She told him…told him to make us attack all passenger ships and plunder them to send a message…testing something. Something about finding any heroes.”

“What about the woman? What heroes?”

“She and LeBrandon want to gather them there to…do…something. All the heroes. Was sending the message to everyone…”

He was getting nowhere like this, and only wanted one answer, the only thing he was seeking. “Where?”

“To…to Silicias…to the Luster Mines.”

And the pirate captain passed out once more.