Raiding the enemy (Plot)

"Hand me a couple of those invisiblity runes please?" Quiera muttered in Evanthe's ear, taking them and tucking them into a closeable pocket, then slipping off of Rene and into the water. She was a strong swimmer, and followed Aldric easily, scaling the rope with little difficulty. A strong archer had to have strong arms after all, and her's bulged as she clambered up, then slid in beside him, handing him one of the invisiblity runes from Evanthe, then listening to him carefully. "Agreed," she murmured, then powered the invisiblity rune. As pale as she was, she would stand out sharply in the darkness of the hold, although, she thought with amusement, that might actually work FOR them, sailors-pirates in particular-being a superstitious lot. They might mistake her for a restless spirit.

Above them, Wraith waited for the command, then, tapping into her own power, she lightly touched to Evanthe as well, jumping her power level immensely. Ice daggers rained down on the ship, Wraith tapping into the dangerous aspect of her powers. She was also capable of incredible healing prowess should it become needed, but she fervently prayed it would not, and kept the pirates up by the helm busy scrambling out of the way of her deadly frozen rain.

"Agreed! Take out the mages first and do your best to avoid the cannons!" Natya called before Aria swerved. She tried to remember some of the newer magics she'd learned, and she smiled slightly. "Alright... Let's see how they handle this!" She had scribed a few anti-magic runes onto some parchment a while ago and had simply been carrying them around just in case. She strapped one to an arrow and fired it, the rune penetrating the mage's power and spearing him in the heart. "If you've got runes that nullify opposing magic, use them! That'll be our best bet right now!"

Aldric snickered softly. "Hey, let me have one of those," he said, holding out his hand. "And... Take my hand. We won't be able to see each other once I'm invisible. I don't want us getting separated. He held out his hand and smiled at her, powering his invisibility rune when she took his hand. He opened the door and looked down the hall in both directions. No one. "Alright. This hall's clear. Let's find a ladder." He went left, and they were lucky to find a stairway at the end of the hall. He heard a strange clattering from below. "Looks like there's one more floor... Do you hear that?" he asked as he kept walking. "Sounds like claws scratching on the wood..." He pressed his ear against a door, then opened it. "Hah. Watch this." He pulled the rug off the floor, for they'd stumbled into what appeared to be the infirmary of the ship. "I knew it. Trapdoor." He stopped powering the rune. "I'll go first... I'm definitely hearing something scratching... Sounds like they've got the creature restrained down here."
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She heard voices, lots of voices, and sounds of fighting. The ship was being attacked? She turned in the darkness toward her Bonded, who was tied up as she was. She sighed through the cloth gag. Her wrists were bound, her arms crossed over her heart with another rope tied around her chest. Her knees and ankles were bound as well, and she sat up against the wall.

Over in the corner was her Bonded, wings tied to her back and both pairs of legs bound together as well as her beak. The kittens were around somewhere, probably hiding in response to the sounds of a fight on deck.

Then there was a light, blindingly bright.

"I'll go down first... I'm definitely hearing something scratching. Sounds like they've got the creature restrained down here."

They were going to be rescued! Oh, thank the Goddess!

Please, help! Renae cried with her mind. Someone! Please!

Aldric stopped in his tracks and looked around. "Do you happen to have any light runes in your pocket?" he asked Quiera. He slowly made his way toward the darkened back of the room. "You know what... I don't think I need it. My eyes are adjusting..." He squinted. "It's a girl! And... Can you go untie the creature in the corner?" He couldn't see what it was, but he could tell that it was tied up. He knelt next to the girl and pulled out a small blade. "Don't worry. We're here to help." He slid it under the rope, cutting the gag from her mouth.

There's a girl and her creature down here, he told Aria. Unknown condition yet, but both are still alive.

"Please, hurry and cut my ropes, I need to make sure the others are alright!" Ymaara insisted as Al cut the ropes binding her legs first. "Emerald! Emerald, it's alright! They're saving us!" A kitten dropped from above, nuzzling the girl and startling Aldric. He cut one of the ropes binding Ymaara's arms to her chest, and then went to work on her wrists. When she was finally free, the kitten jumped into her arms, and she stood slowly. "Thank you... You've saved us."

"You're not safe yet," Aldric reminded her. "You'll be safe when you get back to the Hall."

Ymaara, the eggs! We must find the eggs and get them off as well!

"Oh, you're right!" She turned and began to look through the darkness. "Emerald, can you see anything?" The kitten, her fur made of light green with darker green paws and fur tufts, leaped to the floor and began searching. "Blaze! Blaze, where are you?" The other kitten showed himself, his coat made of darker reds. "Good, you're safe too. We must find the eggs and get out of here!"

When Renae was free, she stretched her feathered wings. I sense them in that corner, she told them. Ymaara had the two kittens on her shoulders again, and she went and picked up one egg. "Can one of you get the other one so we can get out of here?"

Aria, let them know that the four of them are unharmed. A girl, her Bonded, and two strangely colored kittens, all uninjured from the looks of it. We're heading up now!
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Aria relayed the message to the other dragons and told them to prepare. They had to get rid of the mages before they could sink the ship! And during the whole debacle below-deck, Natya had killed a few more of the mages with her magic-resistance runes. Enough to put a good dent in the size of the threat they posed.

The Captain cursed as two of his mages went down, gesturing to have more take their place. He started to power up his own magic, shooting a spell at the pesky sapphire and amber dragons.

Evanthe grinned as she felt Rene pulling on her store of magic, reaching out to bend the wood of the ship and swallow two of the mages. Their power was weakening and it was a good thing too as she heard the call that Quiera and Aldric were coming above the deck.

A figure was moving down below decks, avoiding the other pirates there with ease. His eyes roamed over and then alighted on a ghostly white figure that was carrying an egg. He blanched slightly - as was required of his nature in this mission - and took half a step back. "Who are you?" he called to the glowing woman. He thought he saw Ymaara in the shadows behind her but he couldn't be sure, and it was making him nervous. He knew full well there was no such things as ghosts, but he had to be sure that they weren't here to harm Ymaara. Maybe they were with the dragons outside, after all that had been what he was coming down here to tell Ymaara and her bonded.

"Look out!" Aria swerved suddenly, and Natya remembered some of her hunting magic. She hadn't thought she'd ever have to use that particular spell on a living person, and she didn't want to, but she closed her eyes and focused, searching out the strongest of the mages and zeroing in on him. She muttered the words under her breath, and she heard the man's shrieking as her spell skinned him. She heard the splash as he was knocked into the water by another mage, and she shuddered.
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"Zakaa, it's alright!" Ymaara said when she heard his voice.

"Quiera, stop playing around with the runes and come help with this egg!" Aldric called. Ymaara stepped into the light, wincing against it, and climbed out of the trapdoor, holding one egg in her arms.

"Renae, can you get out?" she asked her Bonded.

Yes, the doorway is wide enough for me, came the answer. As Renae stepped out into the light, the entirety of her red feathered form was visible. Her front half was that of an eagle, with mottled red feathers. Her back half was that of a red wolf, and her feathered wings were attached at the shoulder. She stretched when she got up the steps into the new room.

"Zakaa, we need to get the other egg," Ymaara said to the boy. "Renae, can you fly?" The two kittens jumped off her shoulders and settled in the spot between Renae's shoulderblades.

Yes. My wings are sore, but undamaged.

"Good. Now, let's get going!" She held the egg close to her chest, but with one hand she grabbed Renae's feathers and leaped onto the creature's back. Renae held her wings in close, and Ymaara was bent over her back. "Zakaa, jump on! And hold on tight!"

The captain yelped as he was hit with the ice before he was swung up in the sea weed, growling as he tried to disentangle himself but it wasn't working. The damned sea weed was too hard for him to get through when there were so many layers already. He pulled a knife and started to cut at the sea weed, determined to die before he let them take him alive.

Zakaa relaxed when he heard Ymaara's call that it was alright, letting his eyes drift over the more normal form of Quiera and giving her an amused smile. "No need to be leery of me, I'm not against you. I'm glad you're with the dragons," he said, nodding his head towards her before moving over to Ymaara and Renae. He went serious again as he heard her mention the other egg, turning and jumping back into the depths of the ship to collect the other egg that was still nestled in its place with the cargo. He grabbed it, hefting it up as he moved back up the ladder and over to Ymaara. He smiled at her briefly. "Good be in the sun again, ain't it?" he questioned. He nodded his head as she told him to climb aboard Renae, doing so easily and situating himself behind Ymaara while keeping a good hold on the egg. "Let's get off this ship, they're gonna sink it," he said calmly.

Rene turned her head as she heard the call of Quiera, alerting Evanthe seconds before she dove down and coasted next to the ship. Climb on! I can carry you both, she said calmly, waiting for them to climb aboard with Evanthe's help before winging back into the sky. Evanthe grinned at them and shot an arrow at a mage, taking him down quickly. There were only a couple left on the ship and the cannon balls were still flying but it was easier to evade them now. She fired another one quickly and caught another mage in the throat as they pulled away, rejoining the ranks in the sky.

Zakaa held tight as they took to the sky, turning around and murmuring under his breath before flicking his wrist at the remaining mages on the boat. They instantly buckled, their necks snapping at unnatural angles that alerted the others to the fact they were dead. He looked at the dragons in the sky and grinned, it was good sight to see when they were helping them.

Evanthe turned her head as the remaining mages fell, laughing lightly in glee before telling Rene to alert the others. The mages are dead, sink the ship, Rene said to the other dragons, winging away from the ship with her precious cargo.

Quiera followed them, turning and throwing up a shield as a cannonball came flying at them. She winced as it struck it, for it had actually hurt, but it held, and the ball bounced off and slammed into a pirate rushing at her, folding him in half like a sheet of paper as it-and the pirate-flew backwards towards the cannon that had fired it. She then clambered ungracefully onto Rene's shoulders and held on as the marbled soared up and away.

Trip noticed what his captive was doing and proceeded to bounce the seaweed at Wraith's instruction, causing it to jam up hard under the man's armpits, hopefully winding him. The Sapphire then proceeded to reach down and around with his tail and coil it about the man, wrapping his arms in tight to his body. Wraith murmured under her breath, and the seaweed fixed itself, then coiled more firmly around the man, trapping his arms this time and forcing him to release the blade. Once she was satisfied, she had Trip release him and focus on sinking the ship, his power causing the waves to surge in swells over forty feet high as they hit the ship hard.

Ymaara smiled as the one girl cheered for their victory. She yawned tiredly, but looked over at the girl riding the Amber who pulled up next to her. That was just a kid! Someone so young was allowed to Bond to a dragon?!

"Let's get back to the Hall," Natya said. The air was quieter now with the ship gone. "May I know your name?"

"I am Ymaara Meton, and this is my Gryphon, Renae," she said with a nod. "My friends here are Emerald and Blaze, Drakkats. Or Drakkittens, I guess. Emerald is mine, Blaze still hasn't Bonded to anyone yet. And this one here is Zakaa. He helped me keep my spirits up while we were tied up in there. I think we both could use some rest," she added with a soft laugh. She pulled the egg from his arms, and then gently pulled his arms around her hips, so she could hold onto him. He deserved the rest, after being spooked like that by that girl. Natya nodded, smiling slightly, and Aria took the lead as they headed home.