The shadows of Sentinel’s docks were heavy with tension, a mix of salt and sweat hanging in the air as Tara, Klax, Fauna, and Lamphrey moved silently along the moonlit wooden planks. The sound of ringing alarms echoed through the town, blending with the frantic shouts of men scrambling to take up their positions.

  Hidden in the deep recesses of the docks, the hybrids watched as humans prepared for an attack they believed was already underway. Tara crouched low behind a stack of barrels, her daggers gleaming faintly in the dim light.

  "Would be so easy," she muttered, her gaze fixed on a group of dock workers rushing to secure the mooring lines. "Their necks are just… right there."

  "Control yourself," Klax growled softly, his eyes scanning the scene. "We’re here to take the ship, not start a massacre."

  "Maybe you are," Tara replied with a toothy grin, but she stayed her blades, begrudgingly keeping her position.

  Behind them, Lamphrey rolled her eyes and raised her staff, the tip glowing with an eerie green light. "We don’t have time for this. Allow me."

  She murmured a spell under her breath, the air around her rippling with faint psionic energy. The dock workers stiffened, their movements slowing as if weighed down by an unseen force. One by one, they crumpled to the ground, their breaths deepening as they were pulled into a dreamless sleep.

  Tara sighed dramatically, sheathing her daggers. "Always with the magic. Where’s the fun in that?"

  "The fun," Lamphrey replied without looking at her, "is in not having the entire port up in arms before we accomplish our objective."

  "Quiet, both of you," Klax said, his voice low and commanding. "We’ve got more company."

  The hybrids pressed themselves against the shadows as a group of armed soldiers marched past, their boots pounding against the dock’s wooden planks. The soldiers moved with purpose, their leader barking orders as they fanned out.

  "The Archon’s here!" the man shouted. "Just like the Doctor said he would be. Get to your stations! The battle ship is ready to launch!"

  At the word battleship, the hybrids’ eyes followed the soldiers’ direction, and they saw it—a massive ironclad ship rising slowly from the water, dredged up by a swirling vortex of magical energy. Six twelve-pounder cannons gleamed in its mid-deck, and the grisly sigil of the Greycloaks was inscribed in its side – the double headed eagle. It had clearly been a gift to the town in case of emergencies. To protect the Doctor’s cargo.

  At the center of the spell stood a human mage, his hands glowing with power as he chanted, his voice resonating like thunder across the docks.

  "That’s… new," Fauna whispered, her ears flattening against her head.

  "Not for long," Tara said, her grin returning. "I say we take it."

  Klax nodded. "Agreed. That ship will give us the edge we need. But we need to act fast."

  The hybrids moved swiftly and silently, their practiced teamwork on full display as they approached the ship. Lamphrey’s psionics took care of the first wave of sailors, her spells sending them tumbling into unconsciousness before they could draw their weapons. Tara moved with lethal grace, disarming and incapacitating any who resisted.

  Klax led the charge up the gangplank, his claws ripping through the ship’s defenses like paper. He struck with precision, his every move designed to disable rather than kill. Fauna followed behind, her staff glowing with protective energy as she shielded them from stray arrows and spells.

  "Top deck clear!" Klax called, his voice a low growl. "Move in!"

  The hybrids fanned out, securing the ship with a ruthless efficiency that left no room for error.

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  The sailors didn’t stand a chance. As they proceeded to cry out ‘Battlestations!’ the first of the deckhands met the feline eyes of a very feisty catgirl.

  Tara had disarmed the first crowd of men and Klax knocked them unconscious before they even knew what hit them. Meanwhile, Lamphrey and Fauna descended on the mage – the one who had summoned the battleship from its hiding place to begin with.

  The human sailors were easy enough to deal with. But he was another story. After watching his sailor mates fall one by one to the flashes of steel and fur that dominated his vision, he started muttering an incantation that brought up a force field around him. As Fauna and Lamphrey blasted the thing with their staves, the human mage smiled grimly. Both their attacks were instantly reflected.

  And he sent a shimmering bolt of lightning straight towards Tara in the next second.

  Klax intercepted, taking the brunt of the attack with his fists. The Minxit ducked low, looked up at her savior, and blinked twice when she saw that the bulky Lycae had barely a scratch on him.

  “New upgrade,” he explained. “Elemental affinity. The Archon’s not the only one capable of repelling magic anymore.”

  The Minxit blinked, parrying a screaming sailor with her free foot while she rose and snorted up at Klax.

  “Just don’t go around calling yourself my Guardian Angel or anything,” she grinned playfully. “I ain’t into good boys.”

  At the center of the deck, he started upa chant, his voice growing louder as he summoned waves of magical energy to fortify the ship. Fauna and Lamphrey exchanged a glance before stepping forward together.

  "I’ll draw his focus," Fauna said, her voice steady despite the tension in the air. "You hit him when his shield drops."

  "Fine," Lamphrey replied, though her tone was less than enthusiastic.

  Fauna stepped forward, her staff crackling with energy as she began to cast. Her first spell exploded in a burst of light, transforming into a flock of brightly colored birds that flapped around the mage, squawking loudly.

  The mage hesitated, swatting at the illusions with growing frustration. "What is this nonsense?" he snarled, his shield glowing brighter.

  Fauna grinned. "Just wait."

  She cast again, this time summoning a group of squirrels that darted around the mage’s feet, chittering and nibbling at his robes.

  "Enough!" the mage roared, his concentration breaking as he stomped at the illusions.

  Lamphrey seized the moment, raising her staff high. A blast of psionic energy shot forward, slamming into the mage with a force that sent him reeling. He dropped to his knees, clutching his head as tears streamed down his face, his screams filled with madness.

  "You didn’t have to break him," Fauna said, her tone sharp.

  Lamphrey raised an eyebrow. "I did what needed to be done. Unlike your… squirrels."

  The two mages squared off, their frustration with each other finally boiling over.

  "You can’t just—"

  "I can and I—"

  Their argument was cut short as Tara stepped forward and delivered a swift blow to the mage’s temple with the hilt of her dagger. He crumpled to the deck, unconscious.

  "Sometimes the simplest approach is the best one," Tara said, smirking as she looked between the two mages. "Now, let’s get this ship moving."

  With the ship secured and the mage neutralized, the hybrids stood together on the deck, their breaths heavy but victorious. The ironclad loomed like a predator ready to strike, its cannons gleaming in the moonlight.

  "Let’s hope this thing sails as well as it fights," Klax said, taking the helm.

  As they prepared to set sail, Fauna glanced toward the distant lights of the fountain square, her expression worried. "Do you think he’s okay?"

  Tara, for once, didn’t have a snarky reply. She simply looked out at the water, her tail flicking anxiously.

  "He breathes," Lamphrey said, though her tone was far from comforting. "That is enough."

  Tara rolled her eyes as the Tialax then sat at the edge of the ship, smoothing her hands over its gangplanks.

  “You really got a way with words, y’know that?” she scoffed.

  “We shall all bear scars in the aftermath of this conflict,” Lamphrey replied. “I will not comfort you by lying.”

  Before Tara could hurl a carefully worded retort in the Lizard-mage’s direction, Klax intercepted.

  “Enough!” he roared, still full of battle fervor. “Lamphrey, Fauna, we need those waves cleared for safe passage to the Griffon. Tara, you and I are going to secure the engine room and man the cannons. We need to get this bolt-bucket moving and operational before-“

  The sound of cracking thunder pierced the skies, followed by the roar of a thirsting God.

  Lamphrey’s eyes shot open, as did Fauna’s. Their magic fizzled away against the power that was beginning to rise from the depths, throwing the once choppy sea into a wild maelstrom of chaos.

  Then a shadow, thick and full, blackened the surface of the waters.

  “We must move,” Lamphrey said.

  The hybrids were stuck, motionless, watching as the entire seabed rose with the thing that was climbing out from under it.

  “Now!”

  The psychic scream of the Lizardwoman snapped everyone to their senses. Immediately she and Fauna began bending the waves as quick as they could, forcing them against the port side of the ship to twist it away swiftly from the thing that was slowly appearing from right beneath them, and the echoes of its fury that raged through the night air.

  “By – by the Archon,” Klax muttered. “What…is…that?”