.Star looked up at the sky frowning. "Those aren't normal clouds... What are they?"
"There ash clouds from the volcanoes surrounding the firelands... We're getting closer to the firelands."
"That's right... We're getting close... We'll have to wait here until it gets dark before we get any closer... We need to find a cove to shelter in until then... I'll take the wheel from here priestess." Star nodded and stepped away from the wheel and climbed the rigging looking around the Princess.
"Firelands... Its an interesting place. So this is why its a prison..."
"Can you see the volcanoes?" She nodded and turned to the firewarrior looking at her. "Yes... This place is huge... How do they survive if they're surrounded by volcanoes?"
"That's the point of this place... Nothing is supposed to survive, and why they send people here who've committed crimes... Its a death sentence, without calling it one. Only the strongest survive, and when they leave, they're usually sort out by the fireguard, or mercenaries..." Star looked at the volcanoes and looked back at the deck of the Princess. "So you're thinking the queen will be hiding in there somewhere?"
"That's the idea... She can get all the drones she wants, strong ones at that, and there's no one that will stop her doing it, since everyone is considered dead when they're sent here." She frowned. "Even though the only one who was able to beat her last time... Well, not beat but wound her was Mouse..."
She leaned on the rigging sighing. "How are we going to be able to beat her, without him."
"You don't need to worry about that... You have us priestess... We're strong too" She turned and looked as Raven and Drummen walked out on deck. She smiled and nodded at them both. "Yes... We can beat her if we have a good plan." Star turned to the firewarrior. "I'm guessing that you have got a plan for this?" She cursed as she watched him shake his head. "Not a clue..."
She jumped down from the rigging and looked at him cursing. "So we're going here to hunt her down, but we have no idea how we're going to do it?" She narrowed her eyes, "That's a bit narrow minded ass." She saw his smile. "What are you planning?"
"She thinks we're still mercenaries, and doesn't know who we are, and if we're dead or not because of that large scale attack... That was very stupid of her..." Star nodded in thought. "So, how does that help us here in the firelands?"
"Harnio... It seems she still can't see it yet. You can explain it to her." She cursed at the firewarrior and looked at Harnio. "Spill it."
"Yeah little brother spill it... Some of us don't understand what's going on here." She looked at Cliffhopper with a tight smile on her face, and than back to Harnio.
"All we're doing is going in there, and start causing trouble where ever we go... We can assume that all people in this prison is a drone, or at least has knowledge of her position... We just have to cause trouble, break a few things, and leave without being seen... She'll come to us, since this is the most logical place where she gets her drones from." Star smiled. "That's a good plan Harnio... I like it."
"Hey... It was my plan..." She ignored the firewarrior, and smiled again at Harnio, while waving her hand at the firewarrior. "Whatever ass..."
"The brothers and I will be able to handle causing all the trouble and chaos needed for this... All we have to do then is just wait for her grand appearance."
She looked at Cliffhopper. "Why didn't her ability work on us? I remember saying that you knew what she was trying to do, but it wouldn't work while you were there."
"Ahh yes... That's an important point... Cliffhopper what did you do?" She looked at Harnio, and at Cliffhopper. "Easy... She tried to use her pheromones to turn us into her puppets... All, I did was release a heap of my own as a shield... So when she released hers, there was nothing for them to do, and they faded... Its all about smell with her... As long as you don't breath in... You'll be fine." Star looked at Cliffhopper. "You want us not to breath at all, while we're on that place?"
"Not at all... It just means that you need to be around me if you don't want to become a drone, or know a way to keep the pheromones away from you." She rolled her eyes at Cliffhopper and looked back at the firewarrior who was still smiling. "What is it?"
"I can do that?" She looked at Harnio in confusion. "What do you mean you can do that?"
"Star do you remember that time we had to go to the surface, and escape?" She nodded at the firewarrior. "Well do you also remember what Harnio showed us at that time?"
"Ahhh... I understand now... So we don't have to worry about her ability at all."
"She finally gets it Harnio..." Star smiled at them both. "Clever plan Harnio."
"It was my plan..." She shook her head at the firewarrior. "I doubt that muscle head of yours could think of something like this... I bet it was Harnio who suggested it all to you." She looked at Harnio. "Isn't that right?"
"Cough... cough... Come priestess... I'll make the wind shield over your body first... After that, you don't have to worry about her ability..."
"You don't have to worry about us little brother... The three of us are fine, and don't need to worry about her skill." She looked at Cliffhopper, Drummen and Raven. "Why don't you have to worry about it?"
"Star... Our bodies have the natural ability to counter her pheromones... We're immune to it." She nodded at Raven. "That's fine... After this we'll all be safe, and can cause all the trouble we need to do, and bring her to us." Star smiled and walked up to Harnio with her hand out. "I'm ready to cause trouble..."
"I already did it, while we were talking... There's a thin body of air around your body... You won't be troubled by any pheromones at all." Star smiled and turned looking at the volcanoes again. She turned to the captain. "When can we go? Do we still have to wait for night to fall?"
"That's right... Don't be impatient... You'll see her again." Star smiled. "Don't worry about that... I plan to see her again, and make her feel what she did to my people."
"That's the priestess I know."
"Shut it Cliffhopper..." She turned and climbed up the rigging and sat in the crows nest staring at the volcanoes as more came into view. "Agnia your head is mine..."
She watched in silence as one of the volcanoes shot magma and a cloud of black into the air. "That's why people die when they come here." She turned and saw no one around her. She shrugged her shoulders, and kept watching the scene in front of her.
"Sailors, we weigh anchor here... Everyone on watch until night falls... Once they're off the Princess we get out of here, before we're spotted." She looked down as the sailors run about on the deck and watched the sails being folded and tied away. "Very efficient..." She nodded and climbed down the rigging and stood on the bow head of the deck. "You miss Mouse?" She turned around and saw Harnio looking at the bow head. "Yes... I do..."
"Ahh... I understand....."
She waved her hands. "Not in that way... I miss him, because he's an important part of this team... He's strong, and someone we could rely on and trust... You saw how he was when he heard Drummen's screams."
She watched as Harnio nodded. "He'll be back, we need him, just as he needs us." She nodded and turned to look at the setting sun. "We'll be over there soon enough, causing trouble and havoc on the firelands."
"You seem excited about getting in there and getting her attention." She nodded at Harnio. "That's right... I'm excited. She came to my home and caused trouble, so I'm going to her home and cause trouble..."
"That sounds a bit like revenge." Star shook her head. "No... What I will do is for the people of the mountain... She wiped out an entire group of people, and kidnapped me from my family... I'm just returning the favor she showed my people."
"Don't let it get to your head... You may let others go, if you're just focused on one of them. I remember Mouse telling me about Borgis, and what he did to him... Yet when Mouse saw him at the keep with the Supreme, he didn't kill him... He's waiting for the right moment... I hope you wait for the right moment too." Star nodded and watched Harnio walk away from her. She stared at the volcanoes and at the setting sun. "Soon..." She leaned over the railing and looked at the water shining orange and red from the glow of the volcanoes and setting sun. She smiled. "To be calm like you, when everything around you is chaos... That's a skill indeed."
"In peace, you can be all things Star." She turned and saw Raven sitting on the bow head mast. "How did you get there? I didn't even hear you?"
"I've been here for a while... I remember someone telling me a long time ago, that to be like water, you need to let go of the things that hold you back..." She looked at her in annoyance. "Are you trying to tell me to give up on Agnia as well?"
"So the queen's name is Agnia?" Star shrugged her shoulders. "No idea, when I knew her, that was the name she told me to call her."
"Fair enough... No, I'm not telling you what to do, I'm just saying in the open air what I heard from someone long ago... Don't mind me." Star watched as Raven walked up to Drummen and wrapped her arms around him. "Remember watcher of water, to be like it, you need to let go... Don't let it blind you..." She cursed and turned around staring at the water again. She looked up as the sun faded from her view. She jumped up on the railing. "Its time... I'm going ahead as the outrider to start... See you all there when you land."
"Splashhhh."
She started swimming in the water. She looked around enjoying the feeling of it on her skin. She swam to the surface of the water and started treading water. She looked at the land and turned to see the Princess in the distance. She frowned. "I swum that far, in such a short time. She looked up as three birds of prey flew around her. "Hurry up, or we'll start without you." She dove under the water and started swimming again with a smile on her face.
Once she felt the bottom get close to her she stood up and walked out of the sea and stood on the beach looking at the Princess in the distance. "They'll be back in a few months... It gives us time to do what we need to do here."
She nodded at Harnio as she watched the fire eater unit and the fire warrior appear out of the sea. "Priestess you swim like a fish... I couldn't keep up with you." She smiled and drew her bow shooting it at a person she saw on the beach in the distance looking in their direction. "Its my job as the outrider to be fast... It seems that when we landed it was seen."
"It's not exactly nightfall is it?" Star cursed. "I did leave a little early, but we're here now in the firelands... We might as well start doing what we were here to do in the first place." She frowned as she scanned the beach. "It looks like we aren't alone at all, and they've brought some help." She smiled as she drew her bow firing it off into the air.
"Don't worry little drones... I'm coming for your boss."