- Chapter 10 -

Yasil was frozen in disbelief for only a second, but it was all Raven needed. It was her turn to pounce, leaping off the bed and pinning the giantess to the wall. Raven's hands possessed the kind of strength Yasil would only have expected in a full-blood Shr'Ganti, and the half-breed could not stop herself from being crushed against one wall, then hurled across the room to slam into the wall opposite.

Her head spinning, Yasil tried to get up before Raven caught up with her. She gained a moment's respite as the girl paused within eyesight of a mirror. Raven seemed to notice that something was...different, but not enough to frighten or distress her.

"W-what are you?", spluttered the half-Shr'Ganti, hoping to breathe life onto a spark that would make Raven realise that she had become something other than human.

Raven's hand closed about Yasil's throat, dragging the giantess almost to her feet. "When I find out", the crimson-skinned woman growled, "I'll make sure to tell you."

Raven started to squeeze, cutting off Yasil's breath and blood, but the giantess's brush with death came to an end as the ship shuddered. Releasing her captive, the girl glanced towards the door, that unearthly second pair of eyes narrowing...

"Something is wrong", she murmured. "I feel unfamiliar minds..."

Yasil, collapsing breathless at the base of the wall, caught only a brief glimpse of Raven's flowing black hair and sleek white boots as the scarlet-skinned girl flung open the door, and strode out into the passage. A few moments later, the half-breed heard sounds of combat, and lay still, listening, until the battle had receded into the distance.

Sshraada's long curved blade met the neck of the first pirate to bound round the corner from the main access port, sending the grimy raider's head flying and splashing deck and walls with the man's life blood. Two more were but a couple of steps behind, and slowed when something bounced past their feet. They glanced at the object for only an instant, and that was the last instant they were ever to know.

One man fell dead at his companion's feet, split from shoulder to navel. The other pirate quickly followed, also without a head.

The Naagian knew the ways of many breeds of fighters and mercenaries, and pirates were one such breed. This was unlikely to be the only boarding party, and there would have to be many pirates to take a ship the size of the Royal Yacht - she had to deal with this group of boarders quickly, then move on to help the Prince's guardsmen, who were surely outnumbered...

Such is the folly of royalty, who think themselves immune to piracy because of their station, thought the serpent-woman, exercising her conscious mind one last time before letting pure fighting instinct take over.

The next group of pirates to face the Naagian got to see their opponent before she struck them down. In full battle-fury, she was a stunning, and terrible sight, the ribbed hood that usually stayed tight against her head and neck fully extended, exposed fangs dripping golden venom. Three men were struck full in the face by the spray of poison she exhaled, and as they staggered around, blinded or clawing at blistering skin, Sshraada's sword carved through their flesh and bone with equal ease, parting both and unleashing the scarlet flood dammed up within.

Seeing the raiders split up into smaller groups and head along different passages, Sshraada cursed inwardly and drove forward. The pirates were undisciplined, and most likely self-taught in swordsmanship, and were no threat to her, but against the Prince's soldiers, who were more for show than actual defence, a man with a sword, and the will to use it, could be a killer.

The best allies, Sshraada found, were the servants, those members of the crew who were not afraid to get themselves dirty. Within a few minutes, engineers had joined the body guard from below decks, picking up dropped weapons or bringing their own

All the warriors' efforts were not enough to stop a handful of pirates from slipping past and heading towards the dancers' rooms. There were only three of them, and they felt they were more than enough to handle the one girl they came across, wandering around naked but for long white boots. That opinion soon changed as she turned to face them, and her four glowing eyes burned into their minds...

Ashyra was heading back to her room from the pool when the ship jerked to a halt, and guards and servants started rushing around. The Shaelin dancer had learned enough about star-sail ships from her brother to be concerned, even without the staff scurrying around. Better get back to the others, she thought, and called out with her mind to Raven, to see if her friend could offer anything by way of explanation.

To Ashyra's surprise, Raven's mind was all but closed to her, and what scraps of thought seeped out for the elfin girl to "read" were so unlike anything she had come to expect from her friend. Concerned, and afraid that maybe Yasil had paid Raven a nocturnal visit, Ashyra headed straight for where she had sensed the girl presently was, hurrying along the passage herself, but taking care not to get swept along with the ship's crew.

As soon as circumstances allowed, she turned off into a less busy corridor, and almost immediately ran into Roskaat. "Hey - what's going on?", she enquired.

"We-we're under attack", gasped the Aide. "Come with me, and I'll get you to safety."

"But what about Raven?", asked Ashyra. "I think she needs me..."

Roskaat breathed a nervous sigh. "Then we should both go to her", he said.

The girl and her guide trotted a short distance down a deserted corridor, then turned off to the right - and almost straight into the tawny, muscular arms of a big man in a coarse grey shirt, heavily patched trousers and well-worn, cuffed sailor's boots.

"I found one" declared Roskaat, pushing Ashyra into the man's grasp.

Ashyra was quite lost for words, merely squealing as the brawny man hooked an arm around her neck. Her mind was still relatively agile, allowing her to call out to Raven. ***Watch out, girl-friend!***, she exclaimed. ***Trouble...!***

This time, there was a reply. ***I know...***

"Get this one back to the ship", ordered Roskaat. "She shouldn't be too much of a handful."

"More's the pity", chuckled the stranger, and Ashyra felt his stubby-fingered free hand slide down onto her bare belly, distressingly close to the waist-band of her little black leather skirt.

"Look out for another one", advised the royal Aide. "Tall, with really long black hair, and a little red jewel on... her..."

Time seemed to slow down as Roskaat's eyes, looking past Ashyra's captor, widened in amazement and alarm. The other man - a pirate, most likely - turned, bringing his prisoner with him, and he exhaled a curse in a language the Shaelin did not recognise as he saw the tall, red-skinned female, jet-black hair, flowing out behind her like a tattered satin cloak...

"R-Raven...?", whimpered Ashyra, awestruck.

"Let my friend go", hissed what appeared to be Raven, her eyes - all four of them - slits of yellow fire.

"M-make me...", retorted the pirate, his faltering bravado failing to conceal his fear.

"As you wish..."

Ashyra had never known Raven to speak co coldly, so threateningly. She had never seen the girl's white thigh-length boots spattered with blood, either - and Raven showed her where that had come from as she pointed at Ashyra's captor -

- and a streak of black shot from the underside of Raven's wrist, stretching out to strike the pirate solidly in the shoulder, a hand's width from Ashyra's ear. The Shaelin girl heard the thud, the cracking of bone, the wet sound of tearing flesh...

The pirate let go of his captive, the girl dropping to the floor and making herself as small as possible, then the large man was pulled clear off his feet and towards Raven. The crimson-skinned girl took a step forward, onto the pirate's neck, snapping it.

This woman was nothing like the Raven Ashyra knew, but the elfin dancer was glad this fearsome female recognised her, and called her "friend". She stayed down as "Raven" strode forward, bearing down on Roskaat, and heard the traitorous Aide whisper something before the woman's hand closed on his throat, and lifted him off the deck.

Ashyra had never heard a word like it before. "!'kla'Aa..." - it started with a tongue-click, like an over-emphasised "t" sound, and ended with a soft, extended exhalation. It was a strangely beautiful sound, yet also eerie and quite ominous, made all the more so by the fearful tone of Roskaat's voice.

Getting up, Ashyra moved to Raven's side, and looked more closely at her friend. The newcomer to The Phantasia was almost unchanged; true, she was about half a foot taller, and a little more muscular, but the extra eyes appeared to have no physical substance to them. They seemed to be some kind of illusion, floating just above the skin of her forehead. They were far more than just some trick of the light, as Raven then revealed...

The "eyes" flared in intensity, their glow stretching forward to flow into Roskaat's eyes. The slight-figured man flinched, and tried to look away, but found he could not, the light somehow forcing his eye-lids open. His whole body shuddered, then blurred, and Ashyra jumped back, expecting the man to explode in a shower of gore, but to her relief he remained in one piece. An entirely different piece, however...

When the blurring ceased, Roskaat was gone. In his place hung an athletic young, dark-haired man with tanned skin, dressed in strategically-placed scraps and straps of black leather, and spike-heeled thigh-high boots with openings crisscrossed by laces running up the sides. Most startling of all, though, were the dark, bat-like wings.

"A-a Dyal...?!", exclaimed Ashyra, staying back as Raven shook her captive.

"What did you say?", snarled Raven, baring teeth that were now distinctly more sharp and pronounced. "What does '!'kla'Aa' mean?"

"D...demon...", gasped the Dyal, expending what could be his last breath.

Raven slammed her prisoner against the wall once, hard. The Dyal went limp, and she let him fall.

"We must go", she said, turning to Ashyra. "The others are in danger."

The elfin dancer took a deep breath before she dared to speak. "Maybe...", she admitted, "...but what about you...?"

"Me?", purred Raven, running her hands down her body, from her throat right down to the tops of her boots. "I've never felt better..."

Ikurlahaen The Viper muttered a particularly graphic obscenity in her own language as her psychic connection with her Dyal spy was abruptly severed. Things had been going well, even with the Naagian defending the main docking port in particularly bloody and lethal style, but the strange woman with the four eyes had caused an unwelcome shift in the balance of combat. One of the Phantasia girls had an unusual secret, previously not even hinted at, and The Viper wondered how much a wealthy sorcerer would be prepared to pay for such a unique and clearly magical creature.

Leading a sizable contingent of her crew, Ikurlahaen strode into the main hallway, running most of the way along the core of the Royal Yacht. The pirates fanned out to either side, seeking out guards or dancers, whilst their captain directed them with a firm voice and instructions no man dared ignore. "Nobody hurts any of the Royal Household, d'you hear me?", she ordered. "We're not here for them..."

One youthful voice spoke out in reply. "I, on the other hand, am most definitely here for you..."

The Prince of The Sapphire Cluster stepped out from behind a pillar, a few doors ahead of the searching pirates. He wore a black satin shirt, a short black leather skirt, and black lacquered leather thigh-high boots with cuffs trimmed with swirls of silver. He appeared to be unarmed, but he kept one hand - his right - behind him.

"I mean you no harm, Your Highness", the pirate captain replied, bowing. "We have come for the dancers."

"Spare me your excuses, thief", the Prince retorted. "You have attacked my ship, killed my servants and guards, threatened my guests...replaced my Aide with your spy..."

Ikurlahaen's golden eyes widened. "You - you knew?"

"I know much more than most will give me credit for", he replied, strolling forward. "I am far more than just some pampered child, as I intend to show you..."

The Prince brought his hidden hand out from behind himself in one sharp motion. Ten feet of tightly plaited black leather, interwoven with strands of metallic blue, snaked out to the side. "A duel", he announced, a twitch of his wrist sending a ripple running down the whole length of the whip. "You win, you leave with the prize you came for, and all crimes against the Sapphire Cluster will be set aside. I win, and I claim the prize I seek."

Ikurlahaen sniggered to herself, and drew a long, straight sword, its hilt enclosed in an ornate golden cage. "Defend yourself, Your Highness", she said, the air hissing as she gave her blade a few test-swings. "I was trained by the Swordsmasters of Kan'Tir. This Viper has fangs - boy..."

"Fangs I fully intend to blunt - harlot", the Prince snapped back. "The prize I seek is you."

Nobody stood in Raven's way as she returned to the dancers' quarters to collect Skylla and Chal'Shi, feeling they would be safest with her. The other girls, cowering in their rooms, did not contest the decision, but they were plainly uneasy about being in the company of a creature as fearsome as the "new" Raven. "I thought you were special", Skylla said, "but I never expected anything like this."

Skylla tried to sound like her usual haughty self, but this time it did not work. She was clearly afraid.

Raven knew she had changed, from the moment she threw Yasil across the room, but nothing felt wrong about her transformation. As far as she was concerned, something was still lacking, a feeling that had only lessened when she called forth that whip of darkness, and impaled Ashyra's captor on its barbed tip. I don't understand what's happening to me, she admitted to herself, but it feels right. Once this mess is sorted out, I must explore these gifts to their fullest extent, so that I may understand them - and myself...

Everything worked purely by instinct. She needed to hurt someone, and the whip - or, as with the other pirates, a set of wicked claws - was there. She needed to learn what someone was hiding - the Dyal masquerading as Roskaat, for example - and she could look into their mind, forcing the truth to the surface. It took a considerable mental effort to keep any powers she employed working, however, and she had little left in her internal reserves. She hoped there would not be much more fighting.

Moving through the ship, Raven and the dancers eventually came across a guardsman - sporting a crimson gash on his arm - and one of the cooks, armed with a particularly large cleaver. They offered their assistance, and Skylla accepted for the group, not knowing what lay ahead.

"It looks as though the pirates have been contained at the central lock", informed the guardsman, "but the forward lock is another matter entirely. The main force has gotten into the central corridor."

"Any idea who it is?", queried Ashyra.

"It's The Viper", said the cook gravely. "Only Ikurlahaen would try something like this. But surely she knows how foolish it is to attack the Prince, and enrage the whole kingdom..."

"They're not after the Prince", said Raven, who had been silent for most of the time, conserving every last scrap of strength. "They're after us."

The cook and the soldier looked to Raven for explanation, but meeting the gaze of four glowing eyes was too unsettling an experience, and they turned their attention back to the task of guarding the dancers. Before long, the fighting skills of the two warriors were called upon as they approached the yacht's main artery, the central corridor, but one look from Raven sent waves of crippling fear through the pirates, leaving them quite unable to defend themselves against the blades of the Prince's men.

The guardsman had explained that the group would need to cross the central corridor to find at least temporary safety in the heart of the ship, but as the dancers and their guards came to the junction with the main passage, it soon became clear that crossing was not an option. The pirates were already there in some numbers, although most of them were loosely gathered around some event in the middle of the passage...

"Go and get more men", the guardsman told the cook. "Anything that distracts them is a blessing for us."

Despite their curiosity, the girls moved back into hiding - all except Raven. She sensed a boiling cauldron of emotions that she simply could not resist. One source was especially strong, and something deep inside her told her she had to see who was responsible. She suspected that the person in question was the leader she had seen in the Dyal's mind, and Raven was most eager to teach the orchestrater of the attack a lesson she would not soon forget.

If, of course, the pirate captain survived...

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