Chapter 90: A Little Immature (2/2)

With a wave of his hand and a wash of Water Magic, he righted the surviving ship, and flushed the trapped water out of it. The vessel lacked a mast, but assuming the survivors could gather up a few oars, they should be able to limp to the nearest dry land. Their luck would have to take it from there, since that was the most Mike was willing to do for them.

Meeting the shaman's grateful gaze, he gave a few parting words before heading back to his own ship. ”I hail from a place you've never heard of before, but if you must, you can call me Mike.”

With another blast of Air Magic, the youth threw himself forward, one hand gently holding on to the tiny dragon still clinging to his head.

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Skarn offered a silent prayer of thanks to the Spirits for their mercy, and for the Wyrmkin who would save his people. He saw now that the change he feared was instead an end to the millennia of waiting. The first step on the path to the future for the Kirathi, should they prove worthy of it.

With renewed purpose he began swimming towards the righted ship, already taking stock of which of his kinsmen had survived the catastrophe. It appeared that Enar's prized armor had dragged below the waves, spelling his doom. So much for the might of the great Swordlord.

The other survivors were gathering on deck dazedly, still exhausted from their tribulations. They all turned their gaze towards Skarn as he pulled himself aboard.

After catching his breath, the shaman spoke in tones laden with hope, ”Kinsmen! Gather round. I have a great message to share….”

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Mike landed once again on the deck of 'businessman's' ship, feeling quite tired. He'd been throwing a great deal of mana around again, and it had left him drained. He wanted nothing so much as to lay down in his cabin and rest for the next few hours, but the strange tension on deck seemed to beg his attention.

The 'sailors,' and Captain Bont were staring at him with looks of abject terror, frozen with a sort of animalistic fear. Even Brenden and Sera were looking at him with strange expressions, although Tal seemed to be the same as always.

”What?” He asked, genuinely perplexed. He'd made sure to hide the tiny dragon on his way over.

Sera was the only one that tried to reply, ”Why....How...What did you do?!”

Mike was slightly taken aback, before realizing how it must have looked to them. After detonating the magical equivalent of a flashbang, he'd leapt over to the enemy ships while saying he would create a more permanent solution.

Almost immediately afterwards a colossal beast had emerged from the depths of the ocean, almost destroying the raiders entirely with its mere arrival. He'd then proceeded to seemingly exchange words with it until it once again vanished beneath the waves.

From another perspective, it must have looked like he summoned some sort of terrifying monster to destroy his enemies in a fearsome display of power before commanding the beast creature to return from whence it came.

Suddenly the terror on the 'sailors' faces made a little more sense.

[Well, it might be good to put a little fear in them, that way we won't have to worry too much about betrayal. Besides, they were already afraid of me when they thought I was just another mage.]

”Captain,” He called authoritatively.

”Ah….yes sir, Sir Mage. What can we do for ye?” He responded hesitantly.

”Dealing with the pirates has been tiresome, so my companions and I will be retiring to our cabins. Do not disturb us unless it is something pressing.

”Aye, Sir Mage. You'll not be hearing so much as a peep out of me boys. Ain't that right?!” He yelled shaking a fist in their direction.

The 'sailors' all nodded quickly, seemingly glad to have been given a method of avoiding the Mage's ire.

Chuckling slightly at the sight of the piratical crew trying desperately to perform their tasks as quietly as possible. Mike led the rest back to his cabin.

As soon as the door was closed, Sera rounded on him, only looking mollified when Audra popped her head out from the pocket she was currently hidden in.

”Would you care to explain?”

Laughing sheepishly, he began to relate his story, ”You see, what happened was…”