The seas were calm, aside from the winds that pushed the ferry forward. For Sooraya, there was no other way to Al Zahbi other than by boat, or teleportation. The Salaheem’s Sentinels representative in San d’Oria was nowhere to be found yesterday, so Sooraya was forced to trek all the way to Mhaura from the Elvaan kingdom. She ran into an old friend, Aricka, a White Mage who teleported her to the Crag of Mea. Upon offering payment, the Mithra friendly declined, who said she was just happy to see Sooraya again and quickly returned back to Windurst to join her husband Garin. From Tahrongi Canyon, Mhaura was only a short chocoboride away.

It was frustrating to think about how eager Tamtu always was to travel to Al Zahbi and go train his Ranger skills with one of the Serpent Generals. It possibly stemmed from a hint of jealousy, maybe. But she knew the General as well as he did. They often stood by her side, shoulder to shoulder, in combat against the Mamool Ja, the Troll Mercenaries and the Undead Swarm.

Something that frustrated the Warrior a lot today, however, was that there was word of another attack by the beastmen on the Near Eastern capital, while Tamtu was already there. It worried her. There were always plenty of other adventurers to join in battle, but this was someone she loved. You can’t not worry about them when you love them.

“Halvung…rescue mission..gone bad…prison cells…”

Her eyes shot open. A familiar voice called to her, but had faded before she realized where it had come from. Sooraya reached for her black linkpearl, only to watch its glow diminish. Tamtu was in trouble. She knew it.

Aryana was still sleeping next to her as she stood up and paced herself to the captain’s bridge. Captain Adeben was a brave sailor, transporting goods back and forth from Mhaura to Whitegate regularly. He seemed to know of Mithra stowaway, but the rugged sailor had a heart of gold and simply let her do her thing, as long as it didn’t bother anyone on the ferry too much. Sooraya quietly entered the bridge and asked him how much longer the voyage would take.

“A few more hours, poppet. Seas are quiet t’night.”, he answered. Sooraya sulked, being especially worried about not being able to make it in time. Even with Altana’s blessing, her heart felt heavy with worry over Tamtu.

She looked at him like she meant business. “Is there any way to speed things up, Captain?”

Adeben looked surprised. “We’re already at top speed, poppet! This girl isn’t going faster than she does already!”

She sighed and left the bridge. “Okay..” Adeben apologized and told her that if the ship could go faster, he’d make her go faster in an instant. The warrior left the bridge and rested her arms on the railing. It was still dark and all that the moon allowed her to see were silhouettes of rocks and islands in the distance.

One island seemed to be coming closer. An island with a strange pole at its center. With a flag. And those shimmers looked more like swords than starlight reflection.

“Pirates!!!”

Sooraya barged back into the Captain’s bridge and grabbed his shoulder. “Are you sure this ship can’t go any faster?” Adeben shook his head and tossed the wheel towards the stern. “Poppet, you run down the deck and get those lazy whales off their rears and tell them that if they want to get to Whitegate in one piece, they’d better fight for it!”. Sooraya nodded and ran down to the lower deck. The obnoxious Galka was still snoring. She delightfully kicked him in the sides to wake him up.

“Wake up! We’re under attack by pirates!”

The Galka looked dazed and slow to realize what was going on. The other passengers however, got ready and followed Sooraya’s example and prepared themselves for an epic ocean brawl.

()~()~()