"Magic?" Captain Sterling spoke into the stunned silence. "Isn't that what you call those strange abilities of yours?"

"Yeah." Oliver answer absently, most of his focus on the erratic flight path of his drone- though now other attacks seemed to be aimed its way. "I mean, I doubt he has exactly the same spells I have. The one he just used appears to be something like a wind blade..."

"Though... maybe that explains why they are catching up..."

Realizing he had spoken aloud, Oliver glanced up to see several curious gazes turned his way- though Poli just nodded and spoke up in agreement. "Yeah, if he's focused on wind magic, he likely has a gust spell or something." Seeing Oliver's amused smirk, she smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "What? I payed attention when you and Marty were geeking out about magic, ok?"

Seeing that their Demon friends didn't understand, she was quick to explain. "A gust spell does basically what the name suggests by creating a strong gust of wind. With them catching up to us, it makes sense that the Demon mage over there knows it. At least, that's my best guess."

"I agree." Oliver said as he snagged his drone out of the air. "I mean, it's just about the only thing I can think of at the moment- unless they somehow installed some big ass engines in the ship, but that seems pretty unlikely... Well, considering all the stuff I've seen, I guess some small, but seriously advanced, engines could do the job..."

"But, with a mage on board, magic makes the most sense."

"And this isn't even the strangest conversation I've heard since you arrived..." Captain Sterling muttered before raising his voice. "Well, as the only people here familiar with this 'magic'... What do you to suggest we do? Is there some way to stop his magic? How long can he continue to speed their pursuit?"

"Those are some good questions." Oliver said slowly, already deep in thought. "I don't know of a way to stop his magic other than killing him. As for how long he can keep it up..." He paused for a second, eyes flitting across his own spells as he did some math in his head- and made a few guesses. "It depends on what rank of spell it is, how large his mana pool is, and the duration and effect of the spell..."

"Honestly, that's a lot of variables..." He admitted with a sigh. "The best I can do is guess, but... If it's a rank one spell, and his mana pool is similar to mine, he can probably cast it twenty or thirty times. If it's rank two, then probably half that..."

"You don't sound confident in that answer." Prince Dorrim quickly pointed out.

"Because I'm not." Oliver shrugged off the question. "We're talking about a spell I haven't dealt with before being cast by a person I know nothing about. For all I know, he has way more mana and can cast it fifty or a hundred times..."

"It doesn't matter though." He waved it off, turning to stare at their pursuers. "The best plan right now is to put on all the speed we can and try to stay ahead of them."

"I thought you were displeased with the chase." Dorrim said softly, voice carefully neutral.

"I dislike it, true." Oliver nodded, a hint of amusement in his voice. "But, right now, it works in our favor. Best case scenario here is that he runs low on mana and has to stop casting the spell, giving us a chance to get away without it turning into a fight..."

"Worst case... we make him use a lot of his mana before the fight starts, which should make it an easier fight- because trust me, we do not want to be on the receiving end of whatever spells he can throw out. I know how much damage I can cause if given a chance... Yeah, getting him to waste mana trying to catch us is for the best."

The group fell into silence as Captain Sterling moved off to direct his crew, all of them wondering the same thing:

Would they get away? Or would it come to a fight?

As an hour drifted by, and the gap continued to shrink, they all knew the answer to that...

Though, the fight started in a way that none of them had predicted.

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Henrietta hated the water. It made her scales feel slimy, her fur feel heavy. And getting it in her ears? She really hated the way it sloshed around in her ears and muffled sounds...

But she was a squirrel born in a swamp, surrounding by water. Sometimes it was necessary to swim. Sometimes you fell in the water and had no choice. Sometimes you had to swim to get to the good food. Sometimes you did it to avoid a dangerous predator...

Sometimes you did it to ambush a dangerous predator, and teach it not to mess with squirrels!

That's why she was swimming now- and totally not because she was asleep on the back of the ship and fell off when Oliver started yelling! Nope, this was one hundred percent her plan all along...

Tiny paws kicking rhythmically, Henrietta tread water as she waited patiently for the big wooden thing that wasn't a tree- even if it had tall slender parts like a tree- floated closer. A 'ship', Oliver called it. Henrietta remembered that word because she was a smart squirrel...

Which confused her a little. She could remember what it was like before Oliver. Then, she didn't have all these words for things. Creatures were either like her, or not. They were either a predator or prey- though sometimes both. Things were either food or not food.

Everything was simple. There was no need for all these different words.

But things were different now. Even if Henrietta didn't feel that different, she knew she was- because now she could actually think about how different things were. Because she knew words, and understood things more than just hunting for food and surviving...

It was weird to her, but not bad. In some way, it was actually really good! No more going hungry when she couldn't find food, because Oliver would feed her plenty of good snacks. No more hiding from predators. And no more mushrooms!

And Oliver was really nice! So was his mate, Poli, and his offspring, Jal... Though Henrietta still didn't understand how having offspring that you didn't make through mating worked, but that was ok! Jal was nice, and shared her snacks...

As the ship loomed over her, Henrietta refocused on what she was doing. The bad people with horns- Oliver called them 'Devils'- were chasing them, trying to hurt the good horned people... And Oliver said they were supposed to protect the good horned people, right?

What better way to protect them than to fight?

Sinking her tiny pink claws into the dark wood of the ship, Henrietta squeaked in pain as the rushing water nearly ripped her free of the hull. With an effort of will, and some furious chittering, she clung to the wood and slowly pulled herself up out of the salty spray...

Without the interference of the hated water, climbing the rest of the way up was easy.

Drawing close to the many holes where Devils rushed around their metal things- cannons, another word Oliver had taught her- Henrietta bared her sharp little teeth in a snarl, ready for the fight ahead...

Jumping on top of the first cannon, she charged down its length, squeaking out a warcry as she launched herself at the stunned face of the Devil kneeling there. Her wicked claws raked twice, managing to shred one eye before she leapt away again to the shouts of pain and alarm that echoed out.

Darting underneath a cannon, she viciously bit an ankle in passing, eliciting another scream. Without waiting to see the outcome of her bite, she darted across opening between cannons towards her next target. Clawing her way up their legs, then their back, she paused to rip a chunk of ear off with her sharp teeth before she leapt away again.

She may not be big enough, or strong enough, to simply rip all of them apart... But that was ok. She knew she didn't need to be. Claws and teeth could rip them up, and they would bleed.

Henrietta is a smart squirrel. And she remembered how to take down large predators, even while being so small: Make them bleed until they stopped moving.

"Let them catch up." Oliver sighed, lowering his binoculars.

"What!?" Captain Sterling exclaimed with a look of disbelief. "I thought the plan was to keep running?"

"Yes, why the sudden change?" Dorrim asked with concern.

"Henrietta is back there." Oliver said simply. "No clue why, but I just saw her climbing up and into the Inexorable..."

"Henrietta? You mean your pet?" Dorrim asked, bewildered. "Why would we engage in a life or death battle over your pet?"

"No offense, Dorrim," Oliver said softly, his voice turned hard. "but the only reason I don't kick your ass for even asking that is because it would upset Lily."

"Henrietta is family, not a pet."

"Ohana means family." Poli chimed in with an amused smirk, managing to crack Oliver's building anger at the very idea of abandoning Henrietta- she knew how attached he had grown to the squirrel. "And family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten."

"That sounds like a quote..." Lily added tentatively, a hint of excitement in her eyes. "Is it a famous quote from your world?"

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