The Last Raid (4)

After about an hour of packing up their ship, the Kareen raiders are nearly ready to sail off.

As the raiders are getting ready for their departure, we see a lone man riding up to the town with a small escort of only 3 guards behind him. In the distance, the man can see Greenstone Town burning in the distance, and he feels anxiety clench his heart with a heavy fist.

"Hurry! Now!" he yells out. "Yes Captain Fisco!" comes the reply. They all whip their horses extra hard.

Right as Captain Fisco runs through the baron's open doorway, he sees a portly, middle-aged man in fine clothing, but otherwise stripped bare of jewelry. Even his signet ring is missing.

The baron looks up at the Captain and perks up in happiness. "Grandpa!"

Captain Fisco curls away from the baron's embrace, and he feels his spine shiver. "Um… Tory, don't call me grandpa when I look younger than you. See this youthful face? I don't look a day over 20. You look like my father right now."

The baron rolls his eyes, "Just because you became a mage and gained a longer life, that doesn't change our relationship. It'd be weird to call you captain when you're my grandfather…"

Captain Fisco shakes his head. "Anyway, tell me EXACTLY what happened. And be quick."

… After getting a short explanation, Fisco holds the handrail to the stairs, and the wooden railing cracks under his powerful grip.

He then looks out the window towards the bay and says through gritted teeth, "I swear I'll find these raiders and wipe them out!"

Meanwhile, Haalfrin and the men are loading up the ship and getting ready to take back their docking plank.

A call comes down from the lookout atop the ship, "There's a lone man in battle armor approaching!" The lookout notices the magic staff in one hand and a glowing ball of light in the other. "AND IT'S A MAGE!"

Chief Beyyor curses. "This sounds like a battlemage – not like those common mages we've faced before," he thinks. He then yells out to his men, "Drop everything we hadn't managed to grab and sail away. NOW!"

Haalfrin steps away from the ship and thinks, "Ha! This battle mage sounds dangerous! I don't know what he's doing here, but he sounds like the perfect candidate to send me off!" Obviously, Haalfrin isn't planning on getting on the ship with the others.

Before Haalfrin can get too far, 2 of the younger raiders hook their arms under Haalfrin's elbow, and they drag him back to the ship.

"NO!" the old raider shrieks out, "I need to stay and distract the mage!"

"IDIOT!" one of them elbows Haalfrin in the ribs. "Don't throw your life away! You're coming with us!"

Objectively speaking, the old man really doesn't need to die here. The battle mage is far enough away from everyone to get on the ship, and for them to get away from the dock at least.

Once EVERYONE is on the ship – both the willing and the UNwilling, Chief Beyyor issues the order, and the ship is untied from the dock. The raiders use their ores to push away from the wharf, and they're just about on their way.

Even as the ship is dozens of feet from the dock, all the raiders see the sorcerer leap off his horse, then run forward unnaturally fast. He extends his staff, and several spikes of ice form in the air. The mage then makes thrusting motions with his staff, and the spikes shoot forward one after another – each piercing a raider in the neck, and sometimes ripping right through their shields.

Captain Fisco sees the ship getting further away, so he reaches out with his hand, and he makes a ripping motion. The rudder of the ship instantly is torn from the ship, and he watches as the boat starts meandering off to the side.

Fisco then turns to the town guards who hadn't perished yet, and he orders, "Harpoon the ship and pull it in!"

"Sir," comes the reply from the guards, "We just came back with some bows and arrows. No harpoons here."

"Tch. Well, just keep me covered and pelt their ship with arrows while I get in close."

"Yes sir!"

When the Raiders see the enemy mage casting an incantation, they all freak out. The spell was going on too long, and they had no idea what he was planning.

A moment later, the mage steps out onto the water, and he doesn't sink it. Fisco then started running across carefully, so as to not be tripped by the waves splashing all around him. The whole time, he's holding a shield in front of him, since it's obviously cheaper on the mana instead of putting up his own mana shield.

And so, despite everyone focus firing on Fisco, none of the arrows are working.

While all the raiders are freaking out, Haalfrin tilts his head down, looking sadly at Chief Beyyor's body on the ship deck. Haalfrin bends down and shuts his eyelids. "Rest easy, kid."

Haalfrin then stands up and tells some of the men paying attention enough to hear him, "I've killed a few mages before when I was younger. The trick is to close in fast enough so that they can't cast any spells. If they have no shield or body strengthening spells, then they're just as fragile as the average man."

Seeing that some of the raiders are listening to him intently now, Haalfrin continues louder, "If he's using a body strengthening spell, then run away, spread out, and shoot at him. The point is to make him spend his mana as fast as possible. Make every inch forward as expensive as possible for him!"

Haalfrin looks over, and he sees that the incoming mage's feet is resting perfectly atop the water. Because of this weakness, the battle mage nearly trips every time a wave comes by, as it almost to tip him over.