[i] a collab between Peik and TNY[/I]

The spell-slinging woman rounded the corner opposite Emilio as the Harbinger rose from the dilapidated wooden floor. She lifted her hands in front of her, the same yellow substance forming around them yet again. Time slowed for her just as it had before, trails of water following the giant metal form as he slowly reached his hapless target. Just as this happened the door to the captain’s cabin, placed directly under the Harbinger, squeaked open. Leonard, just finishing his reloading, nodded to Hata’i. 
 
The yellow substance jutted out from the woman and formed itself around the Harbinger, trapping it in a skin-tight, semi-translucent, chartreuse envelope. This magically expensive play drew a sharp moan from the enchantress, bringing the world back from it’s molasses encased state. 
 
Emilio watched with awe as the magic seemed to extend from the darkness, suspending the giant mass of the Harbinger just out of Epu’s reach. Who, with the electrical-like fizz of magic, jumped from his place on the bannister to the floor below him, barely missing Gaspar as he came through the door, and rolled forward.
 
Emilio came forth from the stairwell, “Move, boy!” he yelled at Gaspar as he walked along the slightly destroyed deck. He turned his attention to the woman, who he’d noticed now that she stepped forward, and pointed his scimitar at her. “Can you hold him?” Emilio asked.
 
“Only for a little while” The woman responded, attempting to increase her focus on the spell. 
 
Leonard suddenly poked his head from the stairwell, aiming toward where the Harbinger was the last time he’d checked. With only a little confusion he fixed his aim toward the hovering, outlined form above. Emilio quickly corrected him, “Her,” he said, “watch her”. Emilio looked over to Gaspar, flush cheeks smeared with vomit, bright eyes only slightly glassy. “What happened, boy? I told you to watch her.” He looked down at the boy’s hands, the glass dagger held therein. “And give me that! You’re going to kill yourself with that thing.” he said, gently pulling the blue-green weapon from the dazzed boy's hands. Emilio couldn't help but feel a little bad for him, the sorceress had clearly put him through the ringer. Epu walked up from where he'd landed, admiring the brilliant light which emenated from the woman's magic, and stood behind his Captain. 

"Monsters seem to follow you in your dreams, Emilio." Epu opined as he lifted one of his throwing axes from the floor and holstered it. He was hinting at the last time they'd had an encounter with the supernatural. 

Emilio glanced up at the glowing bulb of magic, the terror therein, and a tired smile came to his chapped lips, "That may be true, but this one came from somewhere else."

Still somewhat dazed from his fall, Hata'i moved back onto the deck, after plenty of prayer and effort. Now that he could see the deck once more, he realized the amount of damage he'd done to the ship was much more than the damage he had managed to deal to the armored mass. Through foul magic, the Djinni was able to reassemble itself even though damaged - and Hata'i guessed that, even though they could get rid of the armor, the presence wouldn't be much damaged. Looking at the captain's location, he could see a woman he had not seen before next to him and a bunch of crew members including the fellow who had stolen his sleeping spot - she was busy channeling some sort of magic towards the mass of armor, suspending it midair. ''Hawas.'' Somehow, she had power in the Elite Sciences - matters even Hata'i did not want to think of. He had consulted and bargained with Djinn to cure Sultan Ibrahim's diseases, but sheer empowerment was something that would lead you straight to the depths of Hell. He could also see some sort of glowing weapon in the hands of the captain. ''God have Mercy,'' he thought to himself as he shouted at the captain. 

''What's going on? What do we do?''

Emilio tucked the dagger into his belt and tied it with a sash, concealing it as best he could. He pulled Gaspar far from under the Harbinger and squinted his eyes against the piercing moonlight to better see who was speaking to him. Mahmud's cushioned form was outlined by the oddly brilliant night's light. 

"I'm trying to figure that out myself." he responded across the still atmosphere. His brown eyes followed the outline of the Harbinger with a fervent examination. His physical form was nearly indistructable by ordinary means, and his mystical energy was unlike anything he'd ever seen-- that is until he saw the sorceress cast her spell. The level of aptitude she displayed with such a wild element as magic was unlike anything he'd seen. The phantoms in the catacombs below Sintra castle had unleashed a malestrom of magic on him, but that memory was like a childhood dream now; he wasn't sure whether it was his memory or someone else's. Emilio quickly glanced up at the floating armored suit, "Who sent you, Harbinger?" he asked in Portuguse. 

The Harbinger responded with a curt metalic sound as he turned his head to look at the captain. He swivled the dark metal helmet and a metalic gurggle escaped from his steel hull. "The one... you seek to kill, Pirate." he finally responded in kind. 

"The Dragon..." Emilio said without hesitation. He wouldn't lie to these people anymore, he could not. "And so... what, you were sent to kill us?" Emilio asked, getting closer to the chartruse orb. 

The Harbinger spun himself in the orb, facing Emilio directly. The sorceress winced in pain and struggled to keep the orb intact. If she failed to keep the spell, she would die too, she knew that. And, well, that simply wouldn't do. She felt the frustration growing in the Harbinger, his magical reserves bubbling to the surface with rage, he was preparing for something. The sorceress readied another one of her spells in her mind and bolstered her reserves with a prayer. 

The Harbinger spread his arms out to his side, moving himself and the orb ever closer to Emilio, and the sorceress let out a short scream in response. 

"I was sent to deliver a message..." The Harbinger began. 

The sorceress' scream turned into a whimper as she brought the magic back. Then she felt a wave of power, a pulse of mystical energy. The Harbinger brought his lance into striking position with one hand while the other clentched into a fist. A crimson powder fell from his fist and coated the inside of the orb. "Move away!" The sorceress yelled as she began her next spell, waving her arms and hands in front of her to form a hex. 

"...whatever that might mean." finished the Harbinger before he plunged his lance through the now crimson orb. The lance fell through the magical barrier and deftly sunk into Emilio's chest. Blood spurted from the back and was cast against the deck. He coughed up bouts of bile and blood as the Dread Captain screamed into the night with all he could. A newly formed yellow orb encompassed the Harbinger and then suddenly disappeared, leaving nothing but mystical powder behind. The sorceress fell to the floor along with Emilio as the destructed deck was dark again. Emilio fell into Epu's waiting arms, suffered what appeared to be a seizure. "We need the doctor!" he called out in Spanish, and then in an anguished Portuguese. 

Comstock had followed Mahmud and was running to the Captain as soon as he was impaled. He reached Emilio and helped stabalize his head, brushed some of the blood from his mouth as he held his friend's head steady. "He's been stabbed by a bloody lance, Epu." Leonard said to his friend in English. "I-- I don't think he's going to make it." he said with a cracked voice and tears begging to drop from his eyes. He used one of his sashes to clean the wound, found that the borders of the stab were getting smaller, closing in fact. "The--the--the wound." he pointed out in dismay, "it's healing."

Epu glanced up at the newly ascribed yoeman, Gaspar. "Go boy! Fetch the doctor." he said in Portuguse before returning to his dying friend. 

"And hurry" Comstock added over his shoulder. 

The sorceress sat leaned against the cabin wall only a few feet from Mahmud. She breathed heavily and seemed to be having trouble moving her body. "Sir, sir! Please, I need your help!" She called out with her wanning voice, her dark orbs finding Hata'i's against the black backdrop. 

The captain's response was one of uncertainty, which did not satisfy Hata'i. ''This is bad,'' Abdulhayy Mahmud thought. ''This is truly bad.'' The Djinni was still here, and to make matters worse, it was contained by magic. For Hata'i, this was the equivalent of circling a fire with fire to stop it from spreading. ''It's going to break out, eventually.'' The captain asking questions to the Djinni was a bad decision from Hata'i's perspective. ''This is not going to go well.'' He could see the signs - the Djinni did not act as if it was in trouble, and the witch who was trying to contain it (fool!) was getting weaker and weaker. ''Gafil cadı.'' And her weakness started to show as the Djinni took control of the magic it was contained in. And in a mere matter of seconds, the captain got stabbed, and the Djinni disappeared, having done its work.

''I knew this would happen.'' The captain's friends were attempting to tend to his seemingly mortal wound, crying for help. One of them sent the young lad to fetch someone. Hata'i wasn't listening at that moment - everything around him felt blurry, perhaps thanks to the frantic environment. He was out of focus. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath. ''Allahumma ya adil,'' he recited to himself under his breath. He opened his eyes and saw the witch facing him, asking for help. Inside him there was a desire to give her a hard slap in the face - but it had to wait, since she seemed to be dazed. ''What is wrong?'' He asked, while still keeping some distance.

The man responded cooly, reflecting her disgrace in his eyes. She could understand, Humans were supersticious, they created denotations for things where none can exist; at least, not in their natural world. The woman almost laughed at the thought that she had, realizing how despicable her request could be to some people. This man seemed at least willing, a kind soul no doubt. 

"I cannot move my arms, I need you to retrieve something from one of my pockets. Would you do this for me? It is... vital." she finished with a tired sigh as her gaze settled to the splintered wood before her. 

As much as Abdulhayy Mahmud felt suspicious of the magic woman (death by witchcraft thanks to going off guard was not high up in his preferred ways to die list), he couldn't help but comply with her request. He kept his large, burly hands as graceful as possible as to not disturb the witch with unnecessarily close physical contact while rummaging through her pockets. It was at a moment of pause when he realized that he didn't know what he was looking for. Somewhat embarrassed, he raised his head back at the woman's face. ''What was I looking for, again?''

The woman let out a stiffled chortle and crained her neck behind her after the man realized he was mostly just getting a free touch and asked for his goal. 

"In the rightmost back compartment of my belt, a potion. Could--- could you feed some to me? I promise I won't bite." She settled back with a satisfied chuckle, waiting to be replenished. Her magic reserves were inextricably tied to her life force, as was the case for all of her people, and replenishing said reserves would allow her to regain most of her physical capabilities. This would not mean she would be fit for fighting or spellcasting any time soon. The man was warry of how dangerous she was, now that she was at her weakest, and she saw in him the folly of all of mankind; abject distrust of the unknown. She almost laughed but felt too tired, too weak, too dragged about, beat up, and cast out. "I just need some help." she said with a strained voice. 

''Rightmost back compartment. Right.'' Hata'i did his upmost to be as deft and quick as possible, as he did not enjoy touching the witch - she wasn't someone he knew, not to mention that he could feel traces of the Unknown on his fingertips. Eventually, Abdulhayy Mahmud got his hands on the potion the witch had been speaking of. Looking inside the tiny crystal vial, he saw some sort of fluid. ''Lethe? Better if I don't know.'' He popped the vial open. ''Here's to your health,'' he blurted out before putting the potion against the witch's mouth and letting her take a sip.

She drank a small sip, allowing the self-made concoction to refuel her. She would be fine in a few minutes. She nodded, satisfied, and smacked her lips from the sour aftertaste. "Thank you" she said with a strained voice. "I'm Allana, pleasure to meet you."