Shattered Moonstone

The entire ship sat frozen as the four women scanned the deck around them. The two human women whispered to one another as the small white creature ran to the edge of the ship, her long tail trailing behind her as she stepped past the stunned Wolf.

“This is a nice boat.” The creature hummed as she looked out over the sea, “oh wow, you’re getting way better at teleporting! Look how far we went! Its so small, bye island! I’ll come visit sometime! Next time I’ll bring a flag so I can claim you properly!” the creature bellowed childishly, waving to the horizon.

“Only you would want an uninhabitable island.” The human in dirty priest robes sighed as she leaned on a crudely broken branch.

“Uninhabitable? We lived there for over a month! Sure, it could use some sprucing up, but I bet we could make a fortune; put a nice hotel on it, maybe set up a timeshare… Do they have those here?” the creature pondered as its long tail seemed to snake behind it, wrapping around the other human woman’s leg as she spoke. 

The priest woman shook her head as she let out another exasperated sigh. 

The other human dressed in all black let out a laugh before straightening her posture and clearing her throat. “Hello,” she said scanning the crowd of men before her eyes landed on the captain. “My companions and I were hoping to request passage to the nearest port, if you would be so kind, we would be happy to pay you for this service.”  

The captain let out a bellowing laugh, “little lass, I don’t know exactly where you all came from, but this isn’t no noble cruise ship.” He rested his hand on the cutlass on his hip, his bravado would get them all killed if Wolf didn’t do something and soon.

“Captain,” Wolf managed to squeak out as the white creature looked down at him as if noticing him beside her for the first time. “Maybe, we should hear them out.” He resigned, “I mean how often does a space mage, a priestess, and an elf just appear on your ship. Clearly, they are…” he let out a yell as the white creature leaned down to inspect him.

“And what about me, huh? What am I chopped liver?” she growled, her sharp teeth sending shivers down his spine.

“I… don’t know what you are.” He laughed weakly, though his mind was flooded with a single word, demon.

“Oh yea!” the creature sprang up, running to the other three excitedly. “I am Hecatolite, this is my sister Amethyst. And the Elven beauty here is Eryl.” She exclaimed proudly before jabbing a thumb at the priestess, “that’s our prisoner, if you want you can call her Carly.”

“That's not even close to my name!” Himari cried, causing the creature, Hecatolite, to roll her eyes.

“Fine, fish eggs, no need to yell. Anyway, we need your boat.”

The captain ran his hand through his scraggly beard as he inspected the four, “well Wolf is definitely not wrong. It's not often a bunch of women just appear out of thin air like this.” He looked down at the shivering man laying on the ground beside him. 

Wolf shook his head frantically side to side hoping the captain would understand his signals. That creature scared Wolf but now that he looked at the other three… this is a fight we can’t win! It took a moment but Wolf realized what seemed off about the other three. The elven woman and the priestess were both wearing robes of Valor, and not just common ones, no, those were definitely high robes. And the woman in black scared him nearly as much as the white creature, the one she had called her sister. It wasn’t that she was wearing armor either, though that was odd. It was that, out of all of them, the woman in black was the only one who could have cast the spell, moving 4 people that far with space magic and she didn’t even look winded.

The captain seemed to pick up on Wolf’s body language, taking a step back as he brought his hand to his sword again only to freeze as he found himself staring down the barrel of an odd rifle none of them had seen before.

“Hecatolite!” the woman in black yelled, grabbing the white creature and dragging her back, “you told me you would behave! Let’s talk first.”

The white creature grumbled in her arms as it released the gun that dissolved into the air.

“Appear on my ship and try to threaten me,” the captain's voice boomed as he ripped his sword from his side. “the only way you four are riding on this ship is in…”

He was cut short as a sword appeared in the free hand of the woman in black, “I would appreciate it if you reconsidered, captain. I would like to resolve this without violence.”

“Negotiations have failed! I am the captain now!” the white creature cackled as she pulled from her sister’s arm, jumping onto the railing leading to the lower deck. “Inutil, how many people do I need to operate this dingy!” 

With a thunder clap, a world screen appeared above the creature, “this is far from a dingy, Hecatolite. However, 5 experienced people would be sufficient to operate this ship…” the world screen stopped when the tall elven woman grabbed the white creature.

“What! why?” she whined in the much taller woman’s arms.

“You cannot just decide to go on a rampage because you got bored, Hecatolite.” The woman’s voice seemed calm though Wolf could see her ears dropping as she sat the white creature down beside her sister. “Now, stay there until your sister has concluded her negotiations.”

“If they fail?”

“Then she will ask for your assistance if she needs it, though I doubt a crew of this size would be able to harm her…” the woman’s ears perked up as the world screen spoke again.

“Hecatolite, Mother Eryl will require protection if fighting breaks out. Please...”

“oooooo,” the white creature nodded before smiling to the tall elven woman behind her, “I’ll protect you, don't worry.” She winked at the woman before patting her sisters back, “ok Amethyst, go get them.” 

Wolf noticed the instant change in the creature’s posture as it stood in front of the elven woman, its long tail wrapping around her defensively though the tall woman’s expression did not change at all as she looked at the terminal floating beside them, the word “sorry.” Clearly appearing on it before it vanished.

Wolf half expected the captain or the crew to jump at the women during this brief exchange, however, everyone simply stood slack jawed as they watched the unbelievable situation before them.

“the… voice of the world…” Wolf barely managed to whisper as he looked back to the woman in black who had since lowered her sword.

“Allow me to try again,” she spoke in a clear calm voice despite the sword pointed at her. “I am Amethyst Lapidary, the all faiths saintess, and I and my group request passage on your ship. If you wish us to leave, speak now and we will…”

She was cut off by the human woman… Carly as the creature called her, “Amethyst, I don’t think it’s a good idea to use your name like that. Did you forget about the war…” the moment Amethyst looked back the captain struck; having heard Amethyst's full name he didn’t even need to think twice about the price Alamgir would pay for her, even dead, she would still be worth twice that of the ship.

Wolf let out a silent yell as the captain swung his sword, even if he killed that one the other three would…

Wolf blinked only for Amethyst to be gone, not that the danger was averted completely as directly behind her was the white creature standing before the elven woman Eryl. 

“Well, that was disappointing.” The creature said with a bored look as the sword was deflected, its tail lashing out at blinding speed to slap the offending weapon aside.

“Oops.” Amethyst called out weakly, “I reacted without thinking.” It was then that Wolf noticed the captain standing frozen before the creature, his sword flying in a lazy ark off the side of the ship… with his hand still holding onto the hilt.

The captain let out a bellowing scream, “fucking get them!” He roared as he staggered back clutching his bloody stump.

“Wait!” Amethyst called out as the deck exploded into mayhem. “Please. Just. Wait. Surrender? Come. On.” Every time she reappeared, another projectile would interrupt her as she pleaded with the crew who seemed to be throwing anything they could get their hands on, though several of them fired crossbows.

“Sparta!” The creature screamed, its pure white leg suddenly flaring to life, thick black veins appeared on it as she placed it into the captain’s chest.

Wolf blinked rapidly as he tried to piece together what had happened. One moment the captain had been standing beside him, the next a sickening crunching filled the air, and he was… gone. Just gone, no trace aside from a blood stain where he stood. What he did not notice was the entire ship swaying as the captain’s body was flung nearly back to the island in the distance.

The white creature turned its deep red eyes to him as its tail lashed out behind it, harmlessly knocking the projectiles away from the two who stood behind her. 

“This… this is not possible.” He stammered as the creature smiled at him.

“I am the captain now!” It said happily as it placed a hat on her head. 

When did she take the captain's hat? The thought surprised Wolf as he relaxed, his mind clearing as he accepted that he fled Alamgir only to die at the hands of this…

“Will you all knock it off!” Amethyst bellowed, a wave of magic causing the ship to groan as it was forced nearly half a foot into the water. “Now, we do not wish to fight, surrender and we can talk this out!” She snapped before turning to her sister. “What happened to the captain?”

“I am captain now,” Hecatolite beamed, “we’re pirates!”

Amethyst put a hand over her face as the tall elven woman shook her head. “Can you even drive a ship?” 

Hecatolite paused, looking back to the other two in their party. “Eryl is the captain now!” she bellowed, jumping up and putting the hat on the Elven woman who did not even flinch. 

“No.” she said bluntly.

“But why!?” Hecatolite whined as Eryl took the hat off her head and handed it to her, “come on, I know you can drive this ship. Please?” She pleaded as she pushed the hat back to Eryl.

“Hecatolite,” the elven woman took a deep breath as the white creature looked up to her with wide eyes… “Fine, but only this once. I am not wearing that hat though.”