Separated from Caelum, Emily now found herself naked and dripping on the deck of a pirate ship, surrounded. The pirates leered shamelessly at her, some licking their lips in anticipation. Terror gripped Emily's heart, and she worried she might pass out from fear.
But the Stoneshell was warm against her chest, a reminder that she was not entirely defenseless. Quite the contrary, in fact. The pendant's firepower may have been useless against King Trilato, but now she was on the surface, breathing the salty air, aboard a highly flammable wooden ship.
Her features set with determination, Emily spun her hips around into a sitting position, quickly bringing her knees up to her chest to give the pirates as limited a view of her body as possible. Two of the pirates began to approach her, hands outstretched, practically drooling. She closed her eyes.
Holding her right hand out to her side, Emily ignited a glowing ember in the Stoneshell and directed it to her palm. With a loud whoosh, a great fire erupted from her hand. The pirates cried out in astonishment, taking a collective step back.
Reopening her eyes, Emily smiled as she took in the newly terrified gazes of the pirates. She glanced around at the wooden ship and made the fire in her hand grow larger, keeping it suspended in the air. The pirates exchanged curses.
"Right," Emily said, letting the word hang in the air for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. "As you may have noticed, I just came from the depths of the ocean. Breathing underwater isn't a problem for me, and neither is the heat of this magical fire. Both of those things, however, are going to present problems for you if you come any closer."
The pirates' eyes widened in horror. "Spare us!" cried out a short man with an eyepatch and a knobbly cane.
"Gladly," said Emily, surprised at the immediate power of her threat. "But I have a few conditions. First off, none of you are going to touch or otherwise harm me. Second, this ship is going to take me where I want to go. And third, you are going to bring me something to wear!"
The pirates huddled together and murmured amongst themselves for a long time, stealing occasional furtive glances at Emily, each of which was met by an increase in the size of her fireball. A few pirates scurried below deck and returned. Emily waited, clasping her knees to her chest tightly with one arm, drying in the heat of the fire.
Finally, a large, stocky man with a red headband and a fuzzy brown beard stepped forward while the other pirates shrunk back. He looked Emily in the eyes, his face free of emotion. "I am First Mate Gideon and I grant these demands on behalf of the crew of the Sea Serpent." Then, to a couple of pirates just behind him, he said, "You heard the lady, go fetch some clothes!" The pirates scurried below deck, almost tripping over each others' feet in their hast.
Emily smiled and slightly reduced the size of the flame in her hand. She hadn't expected the pirates to cave so quickly and had been steeling herself to burn at least a small part of the ship. The whole thing was a little suspicious, and she briefly wondered if she was walking into some kind of trap. Was the first mate just trying to get her to let her guard down? She would have to keep her fire ready.
Perhaps she would be better off diving back down and seeing if Caelum had managed to fight off their pursuers.
The two pirates soon reemerged from the hold carrying a bundle of leather and cloth, which they deposited on the deck a few feet away from where Emily sat, placing it down and hurriedly retreating as though they were leaving steaks out for a tiger.
The appearance of actual clothes made Emily's mind up. She would stay on the pirate ship for the moment. Whether Caelum had been captured or not, she could be of no use to him at that time--strong swimmer or not, she would soon get lost trying to navigate the ocean herself, and of course, the Stoneshell's fire was of no use down there.
Emily's first priority had to be reuniting with Aria and continuing her training in the Stoneshell's magic, now with Zephyr's book to aid her. Finally acquiring an adequate and non-enchanted outfit, while not wholly essential to that aim, would make her feel a lot more comfortable in its pursuit.
Clothes! Emily gazed lovingly at the pile in front of her, already imagining how nice the fabric would feel against skin that had been exposed for too long. The pirate stood around her in silence, maintaining a respectful distance, waiting for her to take the clothes.
Emily raised an eyebrow. "Could I get some privacy here? I'm not going to get dressed in front of you all."
"Certainly," said the first mate, motioning for the rest of the crew to leave the deck. Once they'd departed, he turned his back to Emily. "Cough when you are done."
Emily crawled towards the pile of clothes and rifled through it. They were all men's clothes but in small sizes. She pulled on a pair of brown trousers that came all the way to her ankles, far bigger than the gnome britches she'd been given by the traveling merchant, and secured them around her waist with a ratty old belt.
A billowy white shirt with ruffled sleeves was next. It was enormous and quite shapeless, hanging off Emily like a tent, and most of its buttons were missing. Clucking her tongue with annoyance, she pulled the shirt's tails together and knotted them firmly. The ensemble left her midriff exposed and framed the Stoneshell with a fair bit of cleavage. But she was decent, and right now that was enough. Perhaps she would ask for another shirt later.
Emily pulled on a pair of socks and brown boots, not dissimilar to the ones she'd had at the start of her journey. In the absence of a mirror, she would have to imagine what she looked like, but she quickly decided that sexy pirate was a look she far preferred to naked fire-witch.
It felt amazing to be clothed once again. Finally, the intimate parts of her body were concealed and with no evil magic at play. Emily spun around with glee, boots thumping against the wooden ship deck. Properly dressed and empowered by the Stoneshell, she felt she could face whatever this strange world might throw at her next. She knelt down and picked up Zephyr's book, tucking it in the crook of her arm.
First Mate Gideon cleared his throat, and Emily coughed. Before he turned around, she had already summoned a small flame back into her hand, where it flickered around her fingertips. "Thank you, Gideon."
"At your service, Miss...?"
"Emily," Emily replied. In lieu of a surname or title, she flared the flame in her hand dramatically.
"Well, Miss Emily, on account of your... credible threat, we are only too happy to accede to your demands. You have your clothes, and you have my word that no member of my crew shall touch even a single hair on your head on pain of drowning. There remains only the matter of where, exactly, you would like us to take you."
Emily opened her mouth to respond but then realized that she hadn't actually thought that far. Of course she wanted to reunite with Aria, but she had no idea where the beach on which they had parted was. Did it have a name? A set of coordinates? Emily found herself missing GPS technology.
Well, she may not have a phone with GPS, but she did have the Stoneshell, as well as Zephyr's book. The power of the statue curse linked Aria to the Stoneshell, so perhaps it would be possible to locate her through that link. Emily would just need to figure out how.
"Miss?" asked Gideon.
Emily blushed, realizing she'd totally zoned out and not answered Gideon's question. "Uh, right. Where do I want to go? Well, the thing is... I kinda still need to figure that out."
Gideon snorted. "Aye, thou art a woman, of that I have no doubt."
