“Captain Gloreaver, we have arrived at our destination.”

Vincent looked up just a bit from his hat covering his eyes and rose from his seat. A determined look was etched across his face as he moved to the deck to be greeted by the gorgeous sight of the Jasumin Lake. It had been a good few weeks but his ship made the trek, which was the easy part of his mission.

Taking out a pipe, he lit it and let the herbs be inhaled deeply before blowing it out. “Very good. We’ll have to wait here. If my calculations were correct, then our target should be here within the next day or so. Set her down.”

“Yes, sir.”

His hand gripped roughly at the end of the pipe as he recalled being selected for this mission. He had a special dislike for pirates, let alone ones that ruled the skies. A particular captain had been running amok for long before even he was born, yet it was only into recent years that Egjora had been hit hard by her attacks against other provinces it frequently traded and did business with. The Academy, for one, had had enough of her antics and yet no one they had sent prior could capture. In fact, no one at all ever did. It was only because he had requested his hand into this did they allow for it. But many of his comrade advised against it. As he went to the railing and leaned onto it, the words came running back to his mind.

“She’s the damn scourge!”
“She will ruin you and your men!”
“Don’t you know of the last man that tried to capture her? He was sentenced into the madhouse because she scrambled his mind!”
“Hope you made your peace with whatever deity you worship…”

Placing the pipe back into his mouth, Vincent felt the ship beginning to descend and bite hard onto it. He wasn’t afraid of some crazy pirate. He didn’t care what the rumors had said of her- she was an outlaw and he would catch her, period. Within minutes, The Fellshield landed a good three hundred meters away from the lake itself. The crew were preparing their weapons and being informed by his lieutenants of the next course of actions. They would have to keep out of the skies until they found the blasted woman and from there, he would seek to bring her in, one way or another. Dumping the ashes aside, Vincent reached for his spy glass and looked over the great blue above for any sights of another airship.       

"Mark my words, you will be brought to justice!"

“Oiii, Maliel…” The caption called from her spot as she steered the large warship with her feet. “Malllieeeellll.” A tall elven man appeared by her side, not by magic but she really wasn’t paying attention. “MAA-”

“Captain Furtuna I’m right here…” The man sighed a bit and looked down at her. She was a lovely creature with her blue pigmented skin. Her hair was in curls of blue and white. While her eyes were the Sularia green and red. “What is it that you require?”

“Are we there yet? You broke my war airship and we had to take it all the way to Karith all incognito about who we are.” She reached up and poked at his nose. “You know how much it cost me to get this fixed? You are lucky Adraejen knew how to get us in and get it fixed. Tell me why I shouldn’t have to replace you.” She continued to poke at the man’s nose.

“I… You know we were attacked, right? It was you who gave the orders to retreat which was when the airship got hit.”

Furtuna gave him a blank stare for a moment. “That doesn’t mean you quit firing… THAT MEANS YOU RETREAT AND FIRE.” She took her large black hat off her head and swatted him. “I DIDN’T BECOME THE LEGENDARY SKY PIRATE FOR NOTHING. You got one of my babies hurt.”

“Maybe you should get babies like your mother has.” Maliel shrugged. “They are less expensive hobbies.”

“Oi oi oi oi, don’t let anyone hear you say that shit. They will think that I, FURTUNA, am just as soft hearted as my heathen mother. NO!” She stood up on her chair before getting up on the ship’s steering wheel. “We’re here boys! WE’RE HOME! Jasumin Lake! Prepare to merge with Sacab!”

The wait was going by painfully slow; many of his men had taken to playing cards, drinking some of the wine that was stocked below or kept on the wait with swords in hand and keeping watch. Vincent himself took to pacing about after he confirmed that the skies were clear. He had to keep telling himself that they had the next few days until she would pass by the lake, if his assumptions were correct. She would have to in order to reach her next target as soon as possible since cutting through here was the quickest route. If not, then he would have to start all over again, rereading her patterns and determine where she would hit next.

One of his lieutenants came over and handed him a glass of white wine. “Thank you” Ceasing his pacing for the moment, he allowed himself some sanctuary with the coveted drink. “Sir, what is the plan for when we do capture her? Surely won’t we have to worry about any retaliation?”

“Perhaps, but first thing’s first. We must capture her. Justice demands it and I will heed its call. I will worry about the future afterwards.” He wasn’t scared to face any opposition nor did he really feel like he would have to deal with it if they kept to the plan and handled this discreetly. By the time the news would reach the world, she would already be safely behind bars, he thought. Finishing his wine, he took another long, deep puff of the pipe before the lookout called at them.

“To the east! A ship, a ship!”

“Damn, already?” Vincent rushed over to the wheel. “Raise anchor and get her into the air!”


“Aye, sir!”

The Fellshield slowly rose from the earth. “Remember, don’t let them see us so soon! We need the jump on them first!” Vincent took the wheel and maneuvered them to keep low until they could get under their target and then behind it, raising the ship to match their height. He was sure that it was Furtuna that was onboard and reached for his horn. “Captain Furtuna, are you aboard that craft? If so, then know that you are wanted by the province of Egjora by the decree of Skjalborg Academy! This is Captain Vincent Gloreaver and I strongly urge you and yours to surrender peacefully!”

“Men, prepare your stations!” He wasn’t going to take any chances in this should she refuse him. “You have three minutes to confirm your reply, lest we be forced to take more direct actions!”  

“Ohhh?” Furtuna’s green eyes looked at him with interest. Her voice was using the wind to amplify. “I would have never thought someone so young and cute would chase after me.” She chuckled a bit as her voice carried down to him. “Egjora must be trying really hard now to send a cutie like you after me.” She jumped off the wheel and the airship did a verticle dive for a moment. The screams of all her crew on board were heard. “SORRY SORRY! Captain Maliel take over the airship.” Her orders could still be heard loud of clear.

“YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES TO CONFIRM THAT I WANT YOUR BOOTY!” She lifted herself up over the edge of the warship as it steadied out. Her attitude was so coy as she let herself drop from the side of the ship into the deep blue of the sky. “SACAB RISE!” Her voice called out.

The ground rumbled beneath where Vincent had been. The colors of abalone shell, deep blue, and white shined brilliant below him. It was huge and disguised as a few hills. Vincent had actually been on top of it!

The airship was able to meld past Vincent and catch Furtuna. “Maliel merge the warship with Sacab please.”

“Aye Captain!” Furtuna smirked as Maliel positioned the warship below Sacab. There were 4 other warships podded on the bottom of Sacab. Many closed airship pods meant she could hold so much more. She stood on the edge of Sacab and looked down at Vincent.

“Did you really think people hadn’t caught me just because I was charming? Sacab Vincent Gloreaver! I’m surprised they didn’t tell you about it!” She had a smile on her face. “Sending a cute little man like you to take down a big bad air pirate like me… It’s almost orgasmic to think about.”

Five people appeared behind her as she held her arms up. “I am the Captain of Sacab and these are my five captains! If you can manage to take all six of us, you win. If I win Vincent Gloreaver… Well, you’ll see just what I did to the others who came before you.”

“What the hell?” His oliver eyes blinked at her and her atrocious words. Did she think of this as a game? This was a matter of life and death, or justice and discord. And she thought that this was fun or funny? His face was red, flushed with anger and embarrassment. Not to mention that it looked as though she was about to kill herself and her entire crew with her reckless flying for a moment there. Rushing over to the edge of his ship, Vincent scowled at her.

 “This is no time for games, miss! Surrender yourself now…” Her counter offer only made his blood boil more so but then it washed away with a look of concern and fright once she dropped from her own ship. Leaning down, he screamed at her and then saw what she had been planning for this whole time with her true vessel showing up.

“What the hell?”, he repeated before rushing back to the wheel in time to see the previous ship she was on joining the main one. “You have got to be joking…how on earth is that possible?” Her three minutes have long since passed and his annoyance came swimming back onto his face. He had no intel on how she able to stay free and wild in the skies for so long. Now it was making sense, more or less. She was going to force his hand.

 “You may be clever, but on this day, your overconfidence will be your undoing! Mark my words, Furtuna!” He was not in the mood to play games or negotiate with pirates of all things. He steered his ship upwards and ascended higher before turning it to its side to face her. “Mages, to the cannons!” Several men masked in cloaks poured themselves over to the unmanned cannons, and channeled their energies onto the instruments.

“You have one last chance, Captain. If not, then you and your Sacab will be parting ways, along with the rest of those ships beneath it. I don’t care if there’s six or sixty of you!”

When it looked as though she wasn’t going to bugle, he lowered his head and said very bitterly, “Fire the cannons” The Mages released the magic through the cannons and brilliant green fire was shoot out towards the Sacab. They weren’t just any mages, they were previous scholars from Iria that were aligned with Egjora and him. Their fire would surely scorch and spread upon the damned vessel and ignite everything onboard. “Hold your fire!”, he commanded as he awaited the aftermath.

“The last time a guy called me miss I had him suckling on something very nice.” She loved the way that they looked when they saw her jump from her ship. She loved the adrenaline of everyone realizing what her true vessel was. It was a beautiful creation and it had been her father’s final gift to her. To be a menace to society she needed Sacab.

She was standing on top of the railing to Sacab seeing Vincent’s face. “I’m a Genasi and my father loves me dearly. This is what happens when Djinn works together with technology. This is the Djinn Airship SACAB! The Mirage of the Skies.” She loved introducing her ship as she held out her arms.

“Love, I don’t got no overconfidence. I am confident in my abilities as a mage, captain, and pirate and that’s what has kept me alive. Tell me how can people be so deaf when they hear… Be so blind when they can see. The truth seekers of the world are all around you.” She was lecturing him and her face was quite grim now as it left the happy face she had been putting on.

“Captain Furtuna should we man our cannons?”

“No Cesil, prepare for fast travel.” Furtuna’s words were missing the jolliness she had as she watched them prepare to fire the mage canons.

“CAPTAIN FURTUNA HAS ORDERED US TO RETREAT. PREPARE FAST TRAVEL MAGIC!” The tall Viplomolan man was yelling. She didn’t care if Vincent could hear them.


“Fire your damn cannons Vincent Gloreaver! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO IS OVERCONFIDENT!” She listed to the canons fire and yet she didn’t move from her post. If this worked she would be famous if it didn’t, a captain always went down with her ship.

Once the cannon fire ceased and the airways cleared the cannon fire had been caught by a large purplish magic circle. It was the symbol of the Keeper. “Yo, Vincent… I like you. So keep coming back to play.” There was blood running down the side of her lips most likely from using enough magic power to do what she had done. “I hope you live long enough to play with me for a long time.” The magic shot back down towards his ship. “Let loose the magic now.” With that, the Sacab was gone.

They were in the Baltil Mountains at their cove. Furtuna was being over saw by one of the healers they had in their wake. “My lady… You almost killed yourself… Please be more careful your mother sent me along to make sure you would be alright.”

Furtuna scoffed a bit and rolled her head off to the side. “It really bugs me that she cares so much some times.”

It wasn’t often that the men on his ship would seem him so irritated, but then again he couldn’t recall the last time he was made into such a fool like he was now. He had ignored the stories because he thought they were just rumors meant to scare of would be pursuers, but that wasn’t the case here. Perhaps he would be end up like the fellow in the madhouse. But he shook himself out of it and regained his resolve. He couldn’t lose today, he refused to. That blasted ship of her was going to end up in pieces if he had his way. While he would prefer to capture her alive, a dead pirate couldn’t do any more harm if it had to come down to it.

“Spare me your riddles”, he retorted, having not a single clue as to what she was offering him. Vincent just considered it to be her trying to continue to throw him off his game and he wouldn’t have any more of it.

When word reach them that the Sacab was retreating, he couldn’t pass up this opportunity. If they were to escape then he would have to chase them down all over again. Now was his chance to end it quickly and not have it drag on more so than needed.

“We’ll see…”, he muttered back as his mages released their firings upon their ship but his face dropped into a pale white color when he saw what she had been planning. “What is that…” “What’s the Keeper’s doing!”, one of the mages yelled out. The crew looked astonished by the sight as the attacks were absorbed into it. “That can’t be…” If he was any stronger, he could have broken the horn he gripped onto as Furtuna spoke. “Dammit! Deflect the blast!”, he ordered as he turned the ship as well to minimize the damage as much as possible. The Mage pooled their energies together to form a barrier around the ship’s side to take the hit. The Fellshield felt the impact of the blast through the barrier and managed to get damaged still.

He had no choice but to take her down for the time being as he watched the Sacab disappear and banged his hand against the wheel. “Damn!” Deep breaths were taken as he anchored  the ship back onto the ground. “How’s the damages?”, he asked the inspecting lieutenant after he made his rounds. “The hull taken a good hit, but we can make the necessary repairs, but it will only be temporary until we reach Karith.”

“So be it. Have the constructors get to work immediately. We will set sail for Kairth by nightfall.” Vincent retreated to the ground below and took out his pipe. After a few angry puffs, he threw it against the ground and punched a nearby tree. How could he had been so careless? And how could he let her get under his skin? After a few moments, he regained his composure and retrieved the pipe. It was several hours until the ship was ready to make the trek and took off. By then, the eve had began and he retired for the time being in his private quarters. He removed his military cloak  and undid a few of the top buttons of his shirt. A long golden chain was hanging on the doorknob outside, signalling that he didn’t wish to be disturbed as he contemplated what went on today and started writing into his journal as he laid back against his bed. 

It was a few hours before the clerics deemed her able to move. It was rather annoying but she dealt with it all the same. She returned to her quarters and decided that she felt less jolly than usual. “Whelp… Better use my new playmate.”

She dropped her normal outfit and stood in the nude for a moment or two. “Nah, this would kill him.” She reached into the abyss of her drawers and began to pull out a very risque outfit. It was just lace. She pulled it onto her body and looked at herself in the mirror. “Guess my breasts have gotten larger since I decided to mess with someone using this.” She was spilling out of it. “All well… We can replace it.”

There was a giggle that left her lips as she pinned her white and blue curls up with flowers. Jewels now adorned her body and she looked like a real lady. For the time beginning, she adjusted her breasts just a bit and the lace felt mighty uncomfortable against her piercings. She frowned a bit. “All well it’s just for a moment.”

The room around Vincent dimmed. Candles appeared through the room as they spontaneously lit. The bed shifted while he was reading and moved the book from him. “I told you we would play more.” She had seen he was uptight and that could be a lot of fun to mess with. “You know I’m more than just a pirate right? I got needs, Vincent.” She brought some chocolate up from a box that was next to her as she pushed his legs apart and crawled up on him putting the chocolate to his lips.

“You got the room all set up for us… No one will come bother us thanks to your little thingy on the door.” If she could have hearts above her head she would. There was a magic circle on her chest from the healing spell earlier. It hadn’t yet vanished but it was a known healing crest. “Your airship alright? It’s flying a bit bumpy right now.”

It bugged him that he would have to continue the search from scratch all over again, but for the time being he was at least a little more at peace writing into his journal. He had underestimated the situation and would have to adjust his planning a bit more in the future. He had to find some sort of weakness to the Sacab- from its design and size, to what it was actually capable of in actual combat. He took down notes of his observations and jolted down some key points and what he could actual do in response when he noticed the sudden change in his quarters. The lighting for one dimmed down and candles were spread out. Candles that he knew he didn’t own. Peeking up, his hand slowly slipped behind his pillow to where a dagger was resting just in case. But it was too late to make any hasty decisions once he saw who was in his room. And more so flat out stared at her with a blushing face when he took notice in what she was where. Immediately he forgot about the dagger and use his hand to shield his eyes.

“Are you daft!? What are you doing here?” Despite this being his chance to catch her, he was hesitate due to the unforeseen circumstances right now. Not to mention what his crew would be thinking, or the Academy for that matter if word of this came. To be blunt, he was in a pickle.

“I don’t want your damn chocolate, I want you in chains.” He grimaced and tried to look away from Furtuna but was fed it all the same. “I have a need to, and that’s to capture you. Did you come here to surrender yourself?” He quickly thought about the situation and how it looked and shook his head, “Not like that…but…dammit you know what I mean!” His voice was kept a few pegs from yelling since he didn’t want to have the others involved in this conversation. He tried to keep a cool head, but the attire she chose to visit him in wasn’t helping the matter whatsoever.

So he slipped off of the bed and headed to his decanter and poured himself some brandy and downed it. “So what is it you want Furtuna? Your timing couldn’t have been more perfect since you know I can’t very well capture you yet?’ His eyes still trying to pry themselves from her form and instead went to pour another shot. "You know very well what happened- I have to fly over to Kairth to get it fully repaired after what happened." 

He was so innocent and it was just too cute. “I want to play with you some more… but not with our airships. It’s much more fun if we just play with our bodies.” She giggled lightly at him. “I didn’t realize you were a man into whips and chains… I thought you were a leather and lace man.” She ran her hands over her outfit sensually.

She flopped herself and spread her legs. “THEN I SURRENDER MYSELF!” She wasn’t loud enough to cause a stir but she smirked over at him. He had caught onto her as he slipped off the bed and went for his brandy. “Are you going to offer me some of that brandy. You realize it’s rude not to accommodate your guests.”

She rolled over onto her side and stared at him. “You know the last guy they sent after me… was killer in bed. It took a few times to break him but before long we were having angry rough sex in his captain’s office. You know that’s why he’s in the madhouse right?” She chuckled a bit. “Poor guy had a wife and everything though I didn’t know about that. I do have a code of honor. Though he does write to me now and again under a code name of course.”

She pushed herself from the bed as she came over to pour herself a glass. Her lips puckered a bit as she tasted it. “Not bad but you should have the brandy from Mamlak, well they don’t call it brandy but it is made using the same ingredients but with a twist. Tastes like heaven.” She hopped up on the dressed by him and took his hands making him grope her. “Play with me, Vincent. That’s all I want. I get a sick thrill out of the people chasing me.”

She leaned into him and kissed his lips. “Just play with me.”