Emmaline von Morganstern knelt on the deck in the blistering heat, her rump resting on her calves. Sweat born of both fear and the sun tickled down her back. In the back of her mind she was thankful that the 'solar oil' she had applied to protect her pale skin was one of the few concotions that her disreputable master had taught here which actually seemed to work. Emmaline was an apprentice wizard of the Gold Order, unfortunately thanks to her indifferent instruction and her own disinclination to practice of generally exert herself, she couldn't summon up spell fire to burn the pirates to ash, or conjure golden wings to fly off into the sunset. Emmaline couldn't have been further from the popular conception of a witch, she was of middling height with volutopus curves which gave her a soft look favored by Tilean artists. Hailing from the Empire she had the round hips and impressive bust as well as the pale blond hair of that northern race. Her hair, which hung to her hips, was frazzled and wild as a result of the battle and the bag which had been tied over her head. 

It was unusual to find a woman aboard a ship and the leecherous looks she got from the disreputable looking crew made it clear that this lot could hardly believe their luck. Stories of what befell women whom were captured by pirates were nothing if not lurid and Emmaline knew that even if she survived that attention, the best she could hope for was to be sold into the seraglio of some Araybian Sultan. They were an ugly looking bunch too, unwashed and stinking even before you added the reek of blood and powder smoke that currently clung to their filthy clothing. Emmaline was dressed in a traveling dress of pale cream silk with gold embroidery which she had stolen from the Duchess of Luccini's wardrobe before she fled. It wasn't the most practical choice for a sea voyage but after what had happened in Luccini she hadn't enjoyed the luxury of time. When she provided the potion to restore the Duke fading sexual prowess she hadn't thought she needed to be more explicit in her instructions. How was she to know that the Duchess would use ten times the amount Emmaline had suggested to decorate an apple. Apparently the golden apple had some kind of sentimental place in Tilean art, which was fine with Emmaline. The problem was the Duchess had accidentally set the apple down for a moment while she talked to her page. Long enough for her stallion to gobble it up. The resulting outrage would probably live in Tilean folklore for generations. It wasn't REALLY Emmaline's fault but she doubted she would have lived out the day if she hadn't taken ship at once.

Roberto Di Rimini and his ship The Poxed Whore had been first ship out of the harbor. Di Rimini had been in his 40s but with enough of the memory of swashbuckling gallantry to take Emmaline aboard for the few crowns and trinkets she could summon up. He had done everything he could to escape the pirates and then done his best to fight when they had finally run them down, but for all his swagger he had lasted only a few seconds in single combat with the chief of the pirates. He had gone over the side with the other dead, food now for the sharks which circled the ships, their fins drawing rippling Vs in the smooth water. 

"I am Emmaline von Morganstern and Albrecht von Vissendorf will ransom me!" Emmaline declared as one of the pirates moved around behind her and cut her bonds. He gave her a pinch on the bottom as he did so which she did her best to ignore. Albrecht the Magnificent, as he styled himself, was her titular master. Calling him 'von Vissendorf' gave him the same illusion of nobility she cultivated with her 'von Morganstern' though in reality he probably would have been hanged as a pimp and a pickpocket if he hadn't displayed the mediocre magical ability which had taken him to the Imperial College of Magic. Far from reforming him, the College had introduced Albrecht to fertile new fields of petty larceny and fraud which kept him in wine and prevented his various debtors from cutting his fingers off. He had sent her to Tilea to get her out of sight for a few months after one particularly ill advised scam involving selling mining rights to the Prefect of Altdorf had gone wrong. It was vanishingly unlikely he had the money to ransom her, and even more unlikely that he would bother if he did, but there didn't seem any harm in pretending otherwise, if nothing else it might keep her off the slave block for a few weeks.