“Maybe they’ll ignore us… I mean we’re just a little fishing boat! What do they care about us?” Tella said hopefully.

“They’ll see us as a threat… so close…” Demus murmured. “They may think we’re ship from Betamy…”

“We can’t get away?” the wanderer asked.

“Aye.” The captain said, “We canno’ out run them, but if we run, they probably won’t chase… That’s what I’ma betting on. Hmm…” the captain grinned, “Nonetheless, I’d really like to know what they’re a saying to each other…” he turned, gazing at Demus, and started laughing with a slightly crazy tone. Demus hunched his shoulders and stepped back.

“Oh no…” he muttered.

“Oh yes lad! Get out there and see if you can’t pick up anything! With them big ears of yours you ought to be able to focus in on something! Go on!” he pushed Demus out the door, locking it.

“Hey!” Demus shouted, stumbling outside. He turned, glaring dirtily at his friends, who looked back innocently.

“Go on Demus!” Tella shouted through the glass, “We believe in you!” Demus growled a last time, then turned towards the lights. After a moment he shook his head.

“Its no good. With all this wind out here and the water so close I can’t hear anything.” He shouted.

“Then get higher.” The captain said.

“Higher?” Demus asked.

“Will lad, go tie the Hailian up on the flag pole, would you?” the captain asked.

“Flag pole?!” Demus asked. He was really starting to think Will’s Uncle wanted him dead.

“That’s what I said, go on Will.” the captain pushed Will out, tossing him some rope. “Don’t come back till the job’s done. I ain’t lettin’ ya back in!” and with that he slammed the door, locking it once more.

“Ehh…” Will looked down shaking his head. “Well… Okay.” He looked over at Demus. Demus glared back at him.

“Will.” he said, looking into Will’s eyes solemnly. “You are not tying me to a flag pole.”

“Umm…” Will scratched his head. “Yeah I am Demus” he said. “I want to go back in. Its cold out here and Uncle won’t let me back in until you’re up on the flag pole.”

“Try it Kapino.” Demus growled. “No dignified Hailian would let himself be tied to a flag pole!”

“Oh come on Demus!” Will shouted exasperated, “We need to know what those Arean ships are saying! We need to know if they’re coming for us, or what. Pleeeeease?” Demus folded his arms and shrugged.

“I’ll go up on the roof, but that’s it.” Demus smiled, “And that’s only because you’re so charming in a dress.” He added. Will scowled, reddening.

“You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?” he muttered. Demus laughed.

“Absolutely not.” He said, climbing up on the roof of the steering room. Slowly, Demus seated himself and turned toward the ships. He closed his eyes, thinking.

The ships sent signals through the air in little wave patterns… He’d never tried but maybe he could pick them up by focusing his ears to that frequency… that is, if he could find the frequency.

“Got anything yet?” Will asked.  Demus waited a moment before answering.

“No. But it would be helpful if you were quiet.”

Oh… Sorry.” Will apologized. Demus nodded and went back to his thoughts. As he had done at the labs when trying to find Collin he slowed his breathing and concentrated all his energies on listening. He could feel the vibrations in the air around him, though, most were distorted by the wind. This wouldn’t work. He would never find the waves from the Arean radios this way.

Energy… The waves travel in an energy spectrum… If I can find them on that spectrum instead of finding them as vibrations… Then maybe I can interpret them… Demus thought. Immediately feelings of doubt came. He’d never done anything like this before. He wasn’t even sure he could pick up energy signals through his ears.

Oh if you’re still out there somewhere Lord Azrael, please help me with this… Demus prayed silently. He could feel his heartbeat’s rhythm growing slower and slower. If he wasn’t careful he would pass out before this task was accomplished. At least Will was being a good and not making any noise.

Slowly, Demus became aware of a strange sensation creeping through his skin and concentrating around his eyes. He froze in confusion, but decided to let this feeling take its course. In all of his training he had been taught to let things flow around him as best he could. Trying to willfully control these strange forces could become deadly. His eyes were burning, though they were closed. Demus frowned slightly at the discomfort and decided to open his eyes. As soon as he did he immediately regretted it. Strange colors flew in front of his vision, tangling within themselves. Demus gasped as he realized he was on another spectrum… But was it energy he was looking at? Yes, far away he could see the Arean cruisers, though he knew it was dark and he shouldn’t be able to see them. There were warm concentrations of color deep within their bowels where fuel was being burned. As Demus looked up into the sky he could see that it was a pale yellow. He frowned.

That’s strange… It seems that the areas with high concentrations of energy are warm colors to me… But it seems that everything is bathed in this warm color… It like there’s energy here all around me… but what kind of energy could the sea and sky have? Demus swallowed, suddenly becoming aware of something. As he turned the colors grew brighter and bright, concentrating around… Demus looked down.

“Dear God…” he whispered. It made quite a lot of sense, but to see it… Demus watched the figured outlined in pure brilliant colors move slightly, looking up at him.

“Demus?” it asked. “Are you alright?”

“Yes Will.” Demus replied. “just give me a moment.”

Will is a talisman. He thought. Of course… But then…

Demus looked down, and yes… He smiled able to feel the energy from below him. The wanderer’s staff was emitting a similar energy. Will’s energy and the energy from the staff shot out everywhere, intertwining and dancing together. The whole boat was caught up in a massive flame of beautiful brilliance. Demus smiled wider at the wonderful feeling of being able to see all this.

“Ohh…” Demus gasped as he realized something. They were in plain sight of any Arean ship with an even half-rate radar. He shivered, feeling suddenly very exposed. Who knew what else could be watching them?

“Will!” he shouted.

“Yeah?” Will asked. Demus paused, not even quite sure what to say. He turned back toward the Arean boats and concentrated on them. In his present state he could see them quite clearly and it was obviously that they were moving toward Bessie.  Demus bit his lip and tried to find the radio waves. However, being in the middle of all this fluctuating energy made it impossible to find anything that far away. Demus gasped for breath, and squeezed his eyes shut, letting himself return to normal. He had to blink several times until he could see and even then he felt dizzy and nauseous.

“Hey! Demus!” Will was shouting, “Come on! What’s wrong?” Will had climbed up on top of the roof and was crawling over to Demus. Demus raised his head and tried to look calm and reassuring.

“Will,” he said, “We have to get out of here now.” He turned, looking toward the Arean ships. “They’re coming for us.”

“Did you hear them?” Will asked. Demus shook his head.

“No. But trust me.” Will nodded shakily and scampered down the roof, banging on the door to get inside.

“Hey lad, discover anything?” Demus heard the Captain say. Will proceeded to repeat what Demus had told him as Demus himself struggled to move himself off the roof and into the steering room.

“The ships are just getting closer…” the wanderer said as Demus entered. The Captain nodded.

“They’ve picked up on our energy.” Demus said. “This whole boat is a huge beacon! With Will and the Wanderer’ staff, this whole place is putting out so much energy the Areans could track us from a hundred miles away.”

“They must think we’re part of Betamy’s army…” Tella said. “Lots of times we’ll send out magic users to fight against their ships…”

“Yeah, but with this much energy…” Demus shook his head. “They’ll be quite curious as to what we are and will probably want to destroy us as quickly as possible, because we do pose a threat to them.”

“But we can’t do anything!” the wanderer said. “Even if Will is possessed he couldn’t stop those boats from shooting us down. And even if my staff has energy around it, the simple fact is, I have no idea how to use it.”

“We’re going to be killed before we even get to Betamy.” Tella said quietly looking out at the boats.

“Hmmm…” the Captain mused, “Things are looking pretty desperate…”

“I don’t want to die…” Collin said softly. “I don’t want to have come this far and die now…”

“We won’t go down without a fight.” Demus assured him. “Captain, I don’t suppose we could even try out running them now?”

 “No chance.” Will’s Uncle said shaking his head. “…I suppose this calls for desperate measures.”

“What are you talking about Uncle?” Will muttered darkly. “We can’t do anything.”

“Ha! What are you ninny’s complaining about?” the captain asked. “You worried about that fleet? Those little toys? GWAHAHAH!!!” he laughed.

“Uncle can’t you see?!” Will shouted. “They aren’t toys! For once can’t you just be sane enough to see what’s right in front of your own eyes?!”

“Don’t take that tone with me boy!” the captain shouted back and raised his hand to strike, but Will who was in no mood to be hit, growled savagely and glared at his Uncle with flaring green eyes. The captain cautiously stepped back from his nephew and stared at him. Will, realizing what he’d done, lowered his head and looked away in shame. The flames were gone from his eyes once again. Everyone paused in silence, not quite sure what to say. At last the captain laughed loudly and put his hand on Will’s shoulder. Will looked up timidly, afraid he had offended his uncle.

“Will, boy, you’ve grown since I left you in Hailia with this bunch of strangers. I don’t know exactly what has spurred these changes in you, but I don’t want to you worry. These are good changes, boy. No, not boy. You’re a man now. Yes you are.” Will blinked in a strange sad confusion. His uncle laughed softly again and patted his shoulder.

“But even if you is a man now, you still have a bit to learn about your old uncle and his Bessie.” He winked and shouted out, “Bessie! War mode now!”

“What?” Will asked, afraid that his uncle might have finally lost it completely. A soft low buzz began and the ship began shaking.

“W-What? Uncle?! What is this?” Will asked alarmed. The captain laughed gleefully.

“Come on Bessie my girl! I know it’s been a while! Will,” he turned back to his nephew, “You’re about to see that Bessie has a bit a of a bite to her! AHAHAHA!!!”

“What?” Tella asked and cried out as a control panel shot out of the woodwork behind her. “what is this?!” she shrieked. Steel paneling rolled from under the old beat up wood and all kinds of electronics and controls shot out from the walls. Screens slid down in front of the glass windows and little electronic beeping sounds fired themselves up. On the main screen a menu popped up reading, BESSIE WAR MODE SYSTEMS NOW IN OPERATION…. AWAITING COMMANDS.

“Uncle?!” Will shouted in amazement.

“WAHAHAHA!!! Well disguised, aint she, my beauty?” the captain asked. “Bessie and me, we used to fight the Areas on a regular basis, stole all sorts of junk off their rigs and put it on me Bessie. Of course, that all changed when me sister died and left me a little tike to raise up. I knew she wouldn’t like that violent life for her boy so I settled down and sank into me alias- a crazy old sea captain, who hauled fish around for a living. Hahaha…. Well, the crazy bit aint far off I reckon.”

“I’ve lived on Bessie all my life… This is so hard to imagine… Its real isn’t it?” Will asked touching the steel paneling.

“Yeah. Hehe, you might think I’m telling you crazy tales again, but then what’s all this?” the captain asked.

“Oh no uncle.” Will said smiling, “You’d be surprised at how many of your crazy stories ended up being true…”

“Oh? Really?” the captain asked taking the controls. Will nodded smiling sadly.

“I’m sorry.” He said, ‘I didn’t mean to say-”

“Aye lad, shutup and let me show you what my little Bessie can do!” the Captain shouted, taking the helm, “The Arean ships ain’t no match for sweet little Bessie! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHH!!!”

With that, Captain Kapino steered his boat head on toward the Arean War ships, ready to take them on.