Spark of War (Progression Fantasy)

"Captain," El said, turning back to the woman. "You know this area—and the sea—better than anyone here. Thoughts?"

Bits kept her eyes trained ahead of the ship, like they could pierce the surface of the water to glean what lurked beneath. "The channel we be in," she finally started, "be narrow, but be widening as we be getting closer to shore. It also be one of the main lanes if ye be coming from Pili, like we be. If this many ships be around us, Tas be right, something be chasing them there.

"Problem be, I don't be knowing if they be getting chased from closer ta land, or from out at sea."

"If the seawyrms started attacking Wirock like they've been attacking Pili, it might not be safe at all," Tas said, finger running across the handle of one of his guns. "We could've just gone straight from the pan to the fire."

El looked hard at the landmass ahead of her. She could just barely make out some kind of port town on the coast, but they were too far away to spot people—if there were any. "That's where we were going to dock?"

"Aye, though I not be sure I be so keen on that anymore," Bits admitted.

"It doesn't look like a very big city," Laze said. "And the rest of the coast is just mountains. Do you think that's where your people would be, Tas?"

Tas shook his head immediately. "This is one of those settlements I was talking about, the Wirockians who aren't actually Wirockian."

"Not golems, you mean?"

"Basically. Pilish refugees probably would've been taken further inland. I guess some may've decided to stay in the port town, but…" Tas trailed off.

"The port towns be a bit… rougher… than the cities further in," Bits said. "Not places ye be going for support, if ye be catching me drift."

"Okay," El said, nodding. "We need to go see what's going on there, but not on the ship. Is there a safe place you go, Captain? Where you can take Tas and his people for the time being?"

Bits looked out at the demolished ships off in the water. "Not sure anywhere be safe right now, but… there be one place I can be thinking of. Take us about a day to be getting there. Hundred miles."

"Your island?"

"Aye. With the others… here, there be enough space for everybody. Food be enough ta last a while too," Bits said.

"Dayne," El said into her magic at the same time she picked his flaming wings out of the sky.

"What do you need?" he asked.

"See any signs of seawyrms from up there?"

"Nothing. Water is shallow on both sides of the ship, though—I can see the bottom—be careful."

"Captain is aware," El said. "Nidina, Laze, and I are going to go to Wirock to see if we can figure out what happened here."

"We are? Of course we are," Nidina chimed in.

"Dayne, the captain is going to take Tas and the others to her island, about a day from here," El continued. "I want you to escort the ship, make sure the island is secure when you get there, then keep an eye on them until we can meet up with you. By the time you could get back to us, we'll hopefully know what's going on.

"And I'm confident you can deal with any threats that come along," El said, then walked over to lean on the railing like she was inspecting the destruction strewn about in the water. "But," she added more quietly, "if it gets really bad, I want you to promise me you'll get out of there safely. You still have the Ember in your pack, and that needs to be a priority."

"Understood," Dayne replied.

"Good," El said. Laze or Nidina would've argued with the sentiment—Burn it, El would've too, if she'd received the order—but Dayne was good like that. He may not agree with it, but he was quick to consider the bigger picture before reacting. "At most, we shouldn't be more than a day behind you, since we'll be able to move faster without the ship."

"How long should I wait before coming to rescue you?" Dayne asked, voice perfectly even.

"Don't you mean check on us?" Laze replied.

"Being realistic," Dayne said. "If anything is going on, El will be dramatic and get involved. If you're not to the island in a day, it means something went wrong."

"He's not… completely wrong," El half-heartedly admitted. If she found other refugees from Pili being held by hangnails—or worse—how could she not act? That was the other reason it was Dayne she was sending away with the Ember. "You won't come check on us. If we're not back to the island in three days, tops, you're to head back for Pycrin. Get to General Cannon, tell him what happened, and get help up here for these people."

"A lot of help," Nidina added. "Cause if we can't handle it, it's bad."

"Just going to point out that if something happens to us—El specifically—then at least one person is coming, and I pity anybody or anything that gets in his way," Laze said, a lick of pride in her voice.

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"I…" Dayne hesitated, one of the few times El had ever heard that from the man. "I would rather not be the one to give that news to Nexin. Or to then tell him I left you here."

"Believe me, I hope it doesn't come to that either," El said, forcing herself to contain the small but evil chuckle at the thought of Nexin raging. He'd taken on a god and made a good showing. What would a couple of seawyrms do?

Worry more about yourself, El. One of those seawyrms could swallow you whole. That sobering thought completely erased any semblance of a chuckle. It really wasn't fair how much stronger Nexin was than… well… just about everybody else. Then again, she was catching up now that she could ignite without using a focus, and her own blue plasma was pretty impressive. She just had to work on making it stable for more than a few seconds.

"Tas, Captain BitterCap," El said at a normal volume as she turned back to face the pair. "This is where we part ways for now. Like you probably overheard, we're going to go find out what's going on around here. Dayne will stay with you, but if we're not back to your island within a few days, he'll go get reinforcements."

"Will you be able to find the island?" Tas asked. "Seas are a bit bigger than puddles. Easy to get lost."

"Which direction?"

"That way." Bits thrust her arm out to point without even turning her head.

"Hundred miles?"

"Hundred nautical miles," Bits clarified.

"There's a difference?"

"Aye."

"About fifteen percent longer." Tas filled in the important detail.

"Thanks. Then, I'm not worried about it. Assuming there aren't any of those Pilish communication blockers in the middle of the sea, we should be able to find you that way," El said. "As long as our communications can connect, we can also tell general direction."

"I didn't know that," Tas said.

"National secrets, you know." El gave him a wink. "Captain, thank you for your hospitality…"

"And the rum," Nidina said, though since she was flying hundreds of feet up circling the ship, the captain didn't hear her.

"Hopefully, we'll see each other in a few days."

"Be careful on that island," Bits said slowly. "Seawyrms or not, the Wirockians be an odd lot. Good… people, if ye can be calling em that, but living so long broke some of them. Strange habits. Talking to people that ain't being there. They don't be sleeping, so they don't be dreaming. They. Don't. Be. Drinking. Rum."

"Have you ever had any trouble with them?" El asked Tas.

"No, we wouldn't be fleeing here if we did," Tas said. "But, keep in mind, our overall contact with the nation became pretty limited when the snows started. Historically, they were known to be… quirky. Nothing dangerous."

"How would they do against hangnails or seawyrms? Could they defend themselves?"

"Oh, aye, one of them Wirockians could be punching their way right through the hull of the Bucking Bride if they be putting their mind to it," Bits said. "Might even be giving ye a run for yer money."

El nodded—not particularly intimidated by the captain's words. In fact, they were more reassuring than anything. "Which means," she said out loud, "there's a good chance they'd be able to hold out and protect any refugees with them."

"It is one of the reasons we decided to flee here," Tas said. "Even the Pilish army is wary of angering the Wirockians. They aren't aggressive, generally speaking, but if you do get them riled up, you're in for a nasty surprise."

"Good to know," El said. "Hopefully, they aren't still riled up about when the Firestorm took their Ember," El said. Or when we stole the technique they use to transfer their Sparks into their golem bodies.

Tas winced. "They do have long memories."

"And of course they do." El shook her head. "Laze, Nidina, you need anything from the ship?"

"Ready when you are," Laze said from beside her.

"I'm good anytime," Nidina added.

"Then we're off." El ignited the four smaller wings on her back and lifted into the air, where she waited for the two short seconds for Laze to follow.

"El," Tas said, stepping forward. "Sergeant. Thank you for everything you and your people did. You didn't have to stop to help us, or escort us all the way to the ship. But, I'm not lying when I say we wouldn't have made it without you four. Take care of yourselves."

"We'll take care of each other," Laze said, "mainly because El constantly dives headfirst into danger. Being dramatic and all that."

"I've noticed," Tas said, nodding with somewhat pitying agreement to Laze's plight.

"It's not that bad," El said. Then, before one of her wingmates could offer any other useful comments, she gave the two people in front of her a swift salute, then shot into the sky to join Nidina. "Dayne, be careful until we see you again."

"I'll take good care of your spices," he replied.

"I'm not saying that because… I mean… thank you, but just take care of yourself too, okay?"

"I will. You three be careful as well," he replied.

Taking a deep breath—a big part of El was not thrilled with leaving one of her wing behind—she stopped in the air when she got to Nidina.

"Island looks quiet from up here," Nidina said just to them. "Too quiet, if you ask me. Especially if there are seawyrms and hangnails down there."

"Any sign of the city where the actual Wirockians could be? From the sounds of things, people would move to them for protection." El shielded her eyes from the sun and looked down at the port town while she asked the question—Nidina was right, it was quiet—and spotted what looked like a road on the far side.

"You saw the road out of the town? Following that is my best guess," Nidina said.

"Are we checking the town for people?" Laze asked.

El thought about it, but then just shrugged. "Let's play it by ear. We'll fly low, see what the town looks like. If it's as trashed as the fort towns were, we have a pretty good idea what happened. C'mon."

She bent in the air, letting gravity take a better hold of her—the exhilaration of flight welling up in her stomach—and sped towards the ground. The gentle crackle of burning wings over the wind rushing by her ears told her the other two had followed her into her dive, so El added a bit of her own thrust to speed things up. Even though she was using the four smaller wings instead of the two larger, she had plenty of velocity so Laze and Nidina didn't flash past her.

Actually, she was probably going about as fast as she had with the two, larger red flame wings before her Spark had been changed. Makes sense. Most of my other abilities have grown in strength since the change—of course my speed would too.

El let gravity—and her own ignition—draw her down to the gentle waves as they rolled towards the shore, then bent her back to curve out of the dive. Sweeping in so close she could've reached down to touch the surface with her fingers, the scent of salt water tickled her nose. An extra push of power from her Spark increased her speed even more, cutting a furrow-trail behind, and she sped over the first extended dock and into the empty street.

"See, dramatic," Nidina said. "We could've just flown right over the town, but…"

Nidina trailed off as the three Firestorm reached some kind of town square, and the scent of the seawater got completely smothered by a powerful, cloying stench that even pushed its way past El's frost armor.

And, it didn't take any great detective work to figure out what the cause was—the hundreds of stacked corpses were pretty obvious.