The Isles of Ice Book Two: A Frozen Heart

Determined

As the day came to a close and night started to rear its head, Xavier tiptoed off of his boat. The two girls would arrive any minute now, and the pirate had been formulating a plan of attack all day.

Destroying the fleet would likely cause a large ruckus, so they would have to do things subtly until it was time to pull the trigger. In Xavier's experience, the guards on the ships didn't have much to them, being magical conjurings by the Guardians.

Xavier was pulled from his thoughts when he heard two sets of footsteps pounding on the docks. The pirate turned to see his new allies running up to him.

Maya and Luna came to a stop in front of the pirate, their hands locked together. "Alright, Mr. Pirate, let's do this." Maya said to him.

The nickname nearly pushed Xavier into the valley of despair, he shook his head. "Call me Xavier, lass. Now, let's be off."

The two girls boarded his ship, and they pushed off the docks. The boat gently drifted across the sea until arriving in front of the mighty fleet.

"So, the plan is simple," Xavier said to his allies. "We're climbing aboard, and taking out any guards we see. Don't feel the need to go all out, they aren't like you and I. We want to be quiet, so the Goldplates don't get alerted."

The two girls were still skeptical, but nodded. Xavier created a small staircase up to the first ship from ice. Manipulating the water in the air, especially at night, was a piece of cake for him.

Xavier hurried up the staircase first, and waited for the others to follow. Maya struggled to get up the staircase without slipping, while Luna took her time and reached the boat with relative ease.

On board, there were a few scouts doing patrols. Xavier decided to take them out himself, sending a flurry of icicles into their bodies.

As the projectiles made contact, the guards all collapsed into a purple mist. Just like usual, nothing but illusions. "W-what happened to them?" Maya sputtered.

Xavier grinned. "They're illusions, created by the commander of the ship. It'll make a bit more sense once you meet her, but she's far from human. And Tradton is far from a friend to Kingston."

Luna silently walked up to where the guard once stood and reached out a hand. "Unbelievable, it's not too far off from my magic. Xavier, what exactly is going on here?"

Maya hurried to her girlfriend's side. "Yeah, you wanted Maya specifically for her magic. You gotta tell us what's happening!"

The pirate shook his head. "I'll explain all in due time, I'm afraid it'll only be more confusing right now. Lass, do me a favor and show me some of your magic in action."

Maya was about to say something to Xavier, when Luna fired a black ball from her hands and into the sky. The magic was like nothing Xavier had seen before, only similar to the Guardians' spells.

The orb flew into into the sky and exploded. Leaving behind a murky mist before fading away. "It works a bit oddly, it absorbs whatever gets hit by it and destroys it when exploding." Luna explained. "Been real helpful when living in Heau."

Xavier nodded. "I bet. Thank you for indulging me, lass. Now, we have a few more ships to clear out. Hopefully, there's some useful cargo on board. We have to be thorough if we want to find the commander."

The team set out on exploring each of the dozen ships, taking down any guards they found. There were quite a few resources on board the boats.

From money, to food, and even munitions, the ships were fairly stocked. The coins in particular were a great find, helping motivate the two girls in their searching. "Any money found is all yours, I don't have much of a use for it. Especially not a need." Xavier told them.