The horses that Alexander and his squad had brought with him weren’t used to Frances, Martin and Elizabeth, but they were well-trained and somehow seemed to sense the urgency their riders felt.

That, or they could see the plumes of smoke rising from the direction of the harbour, now growing very large. They could also hear cannons firing, and explosions.

Gasping, Frances voiced the question on the three’s head. “What is happening over there?”

“Fireships maybe? Or bombs? I mean I’ve read some about ships, but I didn’t think the Alavari would pull a Pearl Harbour or Taranto!” Elizabeth exclaimed.

“Pearl Harbour?” Martin asked.

“Humans in our world attacked the ships of another human country with planes while in port, you know the flying machines we mentioned. Sorry! I know this isn’t relevant!” Elizabeth stammered.

“Wait, Liz, why did they attack ships in port? Aren’t ports the safest places for ships?” Frances asked.

“Usually, but ships can’t maneuver in a port!” Elizabeth yelled back.

“So we do whatever we can do?” Martin asked.

Frances nodded and the three rounded the last corner and came into the port proper.

Erlenberg Harbour was where the Grand Canal emptied water directed from the Silverstream River. From a bird’s eye view, the harbour looked like a u-shaped notch cut into the land. Every scrap of space along this patch of the coast was built up with piers, docking facilities, shipyards and slipways.

Right now, the usual orderly chaos of the port was replaced by sheer anarchy. Fire raged on several ships and piers. Frances could hear shouting and screaming, panicked orders. She could see people fleeing the chaos, streaming past her horse. Explosions and ships suddenly evaporating in a tower of grey-coloured flame, interspersed this cacophony almost like drums in an orchestra.

Where do they even go? What could they even do?

“Frances!”

“Mom!” Frances blinked as a carriage, with Edana sitting next to the driver, came to a screeching halt. Edana hopped off and a slightly groggy Ayax staggered out.

“Also hey Martin and Elizabeth! I brought Ayax. You’re all with me. We’re heading to the military docks.” Taking a deep breath, Edana sang a high note and raised Poker. A blinding light shone forth and made pedestrians stagger out of its path. Edana ran down this impromptu corridor, Frances and her friends hot on her heels.

“Wouldn’t they have wanted to hit the military docks first?” Martin asked.

“Good question. This is a raid, Martin. They want to destroy ships they can’t steal and steal ships they think they could use or don’t want us to have. The ships they want are the warships,” Edana explained.

“We can’t save the merchant ships or their crews?” Frances asked.

Edana winced. “No. But we’ll lose the city if we don’t protect the warships.”

“Can we call the fleet in?” Ayax asked.

“The fleet’s staying away. They can’t close into the harbour to engage and they might be using fireships.” Edana narrowed her eyes as they approached the military docks. “Look sharp. I see weapons in the open.”

Frances recalled from an earlier explanation by her uncle Eustace and Grandmother Eleanor that to best maintain and supply warships, deeper berths and special peers were needed. Indeed, the fifty or so ships at the docks and piers ahead of them seemed far larger. They were located nearest to the outlet of the Grand Canal, which was on purpose. The idea being that warships could catch the outgoing current and sail out of the harbour.

By now, the streets were much less empty, allowing the group to see armed figures attacking the uniformed guards that had been posted at these docks. The guards, however, were armed with spears, and at most had a light quilted jacket for protection.

The mercenaries all had some kind of cuirass and most had heavier halberds. Some even had muskets and were firing from the ships they’d seized. Their compatriots were undoing the lines to the vessels. A few vessels were already away, sailing out, carried by the current from the emptying Grand Canal.

“Martin, Elizabeth, Ayax, help the guards. Frances, you’re with me,” Edana ordered.

“Yes ma'am!” snapped Martin. The three ran forward to engage the mercenaries. Elizabeth was first into the fray, knocking down a mercenary with her hammer. Ayax was next, tripping a mercenary with her staff, before slamming him down. She’d overcommitted however, and Martin had to cover her flank, blocking the strike from an orc that tried to take advantage of her.

Frances’s attention was taken away from her friends, however, by her mother’s gauntleted hand on her shoulder. “Frances, it’s been a while since we fought together. How about we rectify that?”

Edana sounded like she was smiling behind her visor. Despite the grim work they were about to do, Frances felt herself nodding and raising Ivy’s Sting. “Two years, mom. You attack and I guard you?”

“You know me perfectly,” said Edana, raising Poker. She cried out several Words of Power and Frances felt the air ripple with magic, at the same time, she realized the spell her mother had cast was a magnification spell.

Oh, the mercenaries were going to get a fright.

“I am Edana Windwhistler, the Firehand and the Dragon of Erisdale. Surrender now and I won’t burn you!”

The declaration spun every eye in the vicinity in the direction of the dragon-armoured mage and suddenly, everybody was reacting. Elizabeth let out a wild whoop and charged another group of mercenaries, Ayax and Martin following her. The mercenaries on the docks and piers that weren’t engaged charged up gangways or stairs toward them. The mercenaries already engaged with guards renewed their efforts to try to beat their opponents, who were fighting even harder.

Frances’s attention was on those pointing guns at her and her mother from a large ship to their forward-right. She immediately raised her wand and ring, singing a quick aria. A white barrier of magic blinked into view, hissing and pinging as bullets struck it and flew off of it.

Edana still singing, fired back, beams of magic plunging out from Poker, piercing the armour of the mercenaries. More appeared, continuing to fire at Edana, but Frances, now in full song, continued to pour more magic into her shield. Bullets hit her barrier and around them on the ground, but Edana continued to fire beams at the musketeers, getting hits every time.

She didn’t use any fireballs, though. Frances guessed that that was because her mentor didn’t want to set any of the ships on fire.

Mercenaries were charging at them now. Her companions and the guards were holding a lot of them up, but there were too many of them. Frances trusted her mother to have something for them, but she didn’t take any chances. She examined the approaching enemies, and checked their back. There was nobody there, but she reminded herself to check regularly. Taking a deep breath, she broke into an aria.

Chest-high walls of cobbled stone and earth rose from the road, but they didn’t completely block the mercenaries off. Instead, they formed a V-shape, the point being where Frances and Edana stood. The mercenaries couldn’t clamber over them, they were forced to go head-on toward the dragon form in front of them.

Her mother chuckled. “Excellent thinking, Frances.” And with that, she raised Poker and almost as if she was hitting a baseball, swung the staff toward the oncoming mercenaries.

It didn’t matter if the mercenaries were goblin, orc, troll, ogre, or even human. The inferno that washed over them treated the mercenaries all the same. Male and female Alavari and humans flew backwards, bursting into screams of anguish as they writhed on the ground. Edana ended them with rapid spears of white magic to their heads, mercifully cutting their screams short.

Frances winced but found herself grimacing at the same time. She lamented the loss of life, but these were also people who were helping the Alavari conquer her family’s home. She shoved those thoughts away for another time as she checked her and Edana’s surroundings.

The mercenaries were withdrawing, fleeing. They’d gotten the message, but a number of warships were unfurling sails, kicking down gangplanks, and sailing out with the outgoing tide. From what Frances could tell, those warships being taken had mages that were singing or directing Words of Power to fill the ship’s sails.

“Mom, what do we do about the ships?” Frances asked.

“Let’s try to stop that one from getting away first,” Edana said. Her hand was pointed at a barque that the mercenaries had boarded. Frances nodded and followed her mother.

She saw Ayax, Elizabeth and Martin coming up behind them. “Need a hand?”

“That would be lovely,” said Edana as they thundered down the steps to the pier proper. The mercenaries had already kicked the gangplank away, but the boat was sliding away from the pier slowly.

“Frances, please boost me and your friends onto the boat,” Edana said.

Frances burst into song, focusing on imagining her mother and friends rising over the ship’s side and onto the deck. Imagination soon became reality and the four rose into the air. Martin flailed a little bit as he flew, but he landed on his feet.

The mercenaries did try to stop Edana from landing, but she hit them with bolts of magic that knocked them out or sent them flying over the side of the ship.

Edana, seeing their enemies were down, looked over the side. “I’m bringing you up, Frances. Once you land, get the sails blowing! We’re taking this ship out for a ride!”

Frances blinked, but yelled an affirmative and let herself be carried up in Edana’s magic, and did as she asked. She raised her arms, focusing on the sails and began to cry out notes for a gale to take the ship out to sea.

Her mother clasped and gently squeezed her shoulder. “Good. Get us as fast as you can Frances! We need to overtake them! Martin, get the wheel, and take us to the harbour entrance! Elizabeth and Ayax, keep an eye out for what’s coming.”

Frances frowned, wondering what her mother was trying to do. They were but one ship. They couldn’t stop the twenty-or-so ships that were already at sail just ahead of them. But her mother didn’t do things without reason and so she scanned the waters ahead.

The ships were of varying sizes. Some were even larger than the vessel they’ve taken. Not all of them had mages, though, and their smaller vessel, propelled by magical wind, was beginning to catch up.

But that alone wouldn’t stop the escaping ships. Frances looked further ahead to the exit of Erlenberg harbour and the breakwater. The breakwater was formed by rock and stone piled into a barrier that would protect the harbour from the storms that sometimes plagued the north sea. It had one entrance six ship-widths wide, or about three ships across.

Frances blinked. She had a suspicion as to what her mom’s plan was. She didn’t dare stop singing to ask Edana for confirmation, though.

But after they had passed several ships, Edana thrust her water flask towards Frances. Frances stopped her song and took a sip from the flask.

They hadn’t been shot at yet. Frances suspected it was because the mercenaries expected any ships that were leaving to be part of their group.

“Mom, are you trying to block the entrance of the harbour at the breakwater with this ship?”

“Yes. I know the ship isn’t long enough, but once we anchored ourselves, we’ll provide an obstruction we can use to try to blast the enemy,” said Edana.

“Why don’t we call Uncle Eustace now and get him to take the fleet closer to Erlenberg? With a ship blocking the entrance, it’ll be much harder to use fireships. That way we can contest their escape,” Frances suggested.

Edana blinked and Frances could tell that she was smiling underneath her helmet. “That’s a great idea! I’ll make that call. Can you keep holding that wind spell?”

Frances nodded and raising Ivy’s Sting whipped up the wind again to fill their sails. They sped up again, overtaking a large frigate. As Edana finished her brief call with Eustace, they started to pass by a galleon.

Their bowsprit had just passed the centre point of the galleon when someone shouted at them from the much larger ship to their left.

However, whatever they yelled, only Elizabeth and Ayax near the bow could hear it. Edana was standing in the centre of the ship, near the mainmast. Frances by the rear mast close to where Martin held the steering wheel.

Ayax snapped a reply back, almost drowned out by the wind. There was another shout, more accusatory in tone. Elizabeth tried to yell some kind of reply, but the captured ship responded by heeling over towards them.

“Aunt Edana, cuz, I think they’ve figured us out!” Ayax cried out.

“Martin, hard-a-starboard! I mean, damnit, turn us to the right!” Edana yelled. “Ayax, Elizabeth, prepare to receive boarders! Everybody take cover!”

Musket balls whined through the air, crunching and blasting apart wood fittings. Frances channelled magic into her barding, just in time for a musket ball to strike the shield. The impact of the ball on her magic drove a spike of pain into her head. She wanted to look for cover but realized Martin was exposed at the steering wheel, and so ran to shield him instead with her body.

Edana replied with three fireballs that set the ship’s sails on fire. That gave the mercenaries something else to worry about and the group’s commandeered vessel cleared the larger galleon.

Frances scanned the ship. Her friends were shaken, but looked uninjured, having taken cover behind the ship’s small rowboat. Edana was looking around sharp eyes scanning her surroundings.

They were passing another ship at a distance. There were just five more ships to pass, but the entrance to the harbour was looming ahead.

“Frances, can you make the ship go faster?” Edana asked.

Still singing, Frances narrowed her eyes at the leading ship and shook her head. The boat, whatever its name was, was heavy. She could hear the sail lines creaking with the wind she was throwing into them. They couldn’t go any faster.

“Why don’t we make the ships go slower? Hit their sails with fire?” Elizabeth asked.

“We don’t want to damage them too much! They’re our warships,” Ayax shouted.

“Wait, Frances, can you hit the leading ship’s mast with a lightning spell? Damage it in some way?” Edana asked.

Frances nodded and stopped singing. “Mom, can you take over?”

Edana raised Poker and started her own aria as Frances ran up to the bow. “Martin, keep her as straight as you can!”

“Aye aye! But you better hurry, these other ships are trying to intercept!” the knight exclaimed.

Frances nodded and raised Ivy’s Sting. She raised her faithful wand, listening to it, feeling its presence, and together, they went through the motions. Singing, she pictured what she wanted to happen, and exerted her will, her power so that it would happen.

Her wand erupted with lighting, flashing across the water, the boom causing the water in front to ripple outward. Almost instantaneously, the mast of the lead ship wobbled, and heeled over, falling over the side of the vessel.

Elizabeth let out a cheerful whoop, “Keep it up, Frances!”

Frances, smiling, switched her target to the second ship in the line. Seconds later, another blast of lightning hit the mast of the vessel, this time, causing it to just topple over onto the deck, and ripping the foremast off as well.

Meanwhile, Ayax relayed orders back toward Martin so he could steer around the ships that were heeling out of line. Elizabeth kept an eye for other obstructions. Edana continued to sing, funnelling wind into their ship’s sails.

In several minutes of frantic sailing and casting, their vessel was now at the front of the pack, and just in time too. The gap in the harbour breakwater was in front of them.

“Mom, we can’t block the entire breakwater. Is there any way we can make ourselves more dangerous?” Frances asked.

“I’ve been thinking about it, but you’re right. With us stationary, they’ll be able to board us,” said Edana, frowning.

Frances wracked her brains, noticing her friends were also deep in thought, looking over the ship for anything they could use. Only, Elizabeth wasn’t there.

The girl reappeared, running up to the main deck, carrying a small wooden canister. “Hey, this ship is a warship right?” Elizabeth opened the canister and showed the group its contents. “It has a ton of gunpowder below decks. Maybe we can use that?”

Flicking his visor up, Martin looked back at the gap in the harbour breakwater and raised his arms to measure the distance better. “What if… we set ourselves on fire, using the powder. We can turn ourselves into a fireship blocking the harbour.”

Edana pursed her lips. “That might work, but the gap’s too big—”

“OI! Frances! Is that you!” bellowed a familiar voice, amplified by magic.

Frances ran to the deckside railing and leaned out. Her eyes easily picked out the orange-clad girl and her compatriots standing at the south side of the harbour breakwater, right at the gap. There were more figures racing to the north side of the harbour breakwater, a veritable crowd. They were carrying something, many things actually.

“Ophelia? What are you doing? Who are these people—”

“Anchor your ship in the middle of the gap, hurry! We’re going to help you stop them!” Ophelia yelled.