Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2 by Brian Wilkerson Page B

slavers with a bonus if they’re ferrying elves. We
were on the trail of one when we spotted you.”
    “Captain Raguc!” an intercom
blared. “We've found the slavers! Permission to eat the main ship and scramble
the cleaner fish.”
    Into his scry, Raguc
shouted, “You’d better be right this time!” To the rest of his crew, he shouted
a mixture of orders and curses. At once, they ran to their stations.
    While he ran to the
bridge, Kallen caught up and argued mid-stride. He flashed his griffin tattoo
and, in reply, she showed him her crystal and its three lights. Raguc face-palmed
and waved her off. Kallen grinned and ran towards the deck.
    “Kallen! What's going
on!?” The field agent turned around to see her second mate running towards her
and then lurching to a stop, wide-eyed and gasping.
    “The guy said it was a
slaver fleet, but there could be Liclis bodyguards or other outlaws.”
    Emily’s eyes grew even
wider and her mouth fell open. Kallen looked with longing at the hatch where
the sounds of battle could be heard. Sighing, she put an arm around Emily and
guided her back to their ship.
    “Let me explain the
Outlaw section of the International Avatar Alliance...”
      Eric followed the
outlaws out of the holding cell and into a steel hallway. An explosion knocked
him off his feet, but it barely slowed down the crew. They were as organized as
the cells in a body and wordlessly moved to maximum effect despite the
turbulence. Several ladders, many hallways, and countless explosions later, he
finally reached the upper deck.
    He slid across it
before grabbing a nearby line. The bitter cold stabbed him as surely as an
enemy. High above an arctic ocean, the air was thinner and colder than anything
on Mount Takij and the deck was slick with water and ice.
    Gun emplacements
pivoted and fired mana-based weapons at the enemy ships flying overhead. Solid
beams of mana streaked the skies and fireballs the size of carts lit them up.
Bolts of lightning zigzagged back and forth between the combatants and streaks
of ice added to the natural hazards. Localized air currents downed the smaller
targets but could not affect the large whale. When those targets fired back,
they were deflected by a barrier. Eric estimated over a hundred such
emplacements on the deck alone, excluding the fuselage and belly. They blanketed
the Flying Whale’s airspace with projectiles, yet one ship evaded the
flak and reached the ship itself.
    “Thunder bolt, make ‘em
jolt!” Eric pointed his staff at the ship. “Stun Gun!”
    So busy was this ship
in evading the flak, it flew straight into Eric’s lightning spell. The
electricity channeled through the vessel and overloaded the power crystal
onboard. It crashed into the Whale 's surface and, even from across the
deck, Eric could feel its heat. Warriors burst from the wreckage armed with
swords and axes and daggers. Charred by flames and with smoke streaking off
their bodies, they charged toward the open hatch behind Eric.
    “To speed my journey,
make their vision blurry! Blind!”
    Globs of darkness shot
from the crystal on his staff and attached themselves to the enemy fighters.
They yelled in shock and futilely tried to clear their eyes. Eric bashed the
butt of his staff on the deck.
    “If steel would now be
ice, and only around these annoying lice, that would surely suffice.
Trackless!”
     A trail of energy
raced to blinded soldiers and enhanced the thin ice already on the deck. They
slipped and stuck fast.
    “I'm almost home and
would like to sleep, but these men here, the deck shall keep! Mana Cage!”
     He reversed his staff
and slammed the crystal on the deck. A magic charge raced towards them and a
light-screen arose on all sides, caging them.
    “If you do a crime,
prepare to face my rhyme.”
    Eric gazed at the
crystal with battle lust. He'd never been able to handle so many enemies at
once. After all this time carefully conserving his mana, it was exhilaratingto finally cut