Chapter 170: An eye for...
"Some kind of swarm summon," Captain Xi'balak hissed. "Probably meant to take out our sails. Too bad for them!"
Xi'balak raised his hands, and the air in front of him rippled as if a disk of water suddenly appeared behind them. It spread out and shot forward at blinding speed. The bats let out a startled screech, but except for a few on the edges, they were engulfed by the water sheet, and Irwin watched in awe as the sheet rippled, then wrapped around the bats in a tight cocoon, dragging them closer and closer together. A moment later, it plummeted down, vanishing with a loud rustle in the canopy.
"Let's see them try that again," Xi'balak growled. "How many are aboard those ships?"
Irwin finally took a look at the ships following them, and he gritted his teeth. All four of the ships were covered in tiny heatsigns, the distance causing them to blend together.
"Dozens, probably thirty to forty on each," he said. "But they are still too far to be sure."
"Great," Xi'balak snapped. "Well, they won't be far for long. They are bound to sacrifice one of their ship sails to catch and slow us down enough for the others to catch up."
"Don't you have a way to flee? You knew we might come across other ships," Irwin asked. He'd expected them to have some way to move fast enough to get out. Why were they even here if they didn't have a way to outrun enemies?
"Sure, one of my crewmen can teleport us all back to Sesnanser, but that means leaving the ship and the sails behind. I'd prefer not doing that," Xi'balak retorted, glaring at the incoming ships. "Trust me, if we didn't need to figure out what is going on here, I'd not have come, not for a hundred sails."
But we haven't even found anything out yet, Irwin thought. Then he recalled the flying crewmen Xi'balak had sent out.
"Did your crewmen return?" he asked.
Xi'balak grimaced.
"He did. The Galubs have taken over most of the Shipyard and are building fortifications and docks. From everything he saw, it looked like they were preparing to stay while expecting company. Luckily, there's no sign of them rebuilding the ships to create a small fleet," Xi'balak said before he frowned. "However, he did say they are building something inside the hull of the largest remaining ship. It would have been better if we could figure out what that is, but it's best we head back now. Between those four sails you found and the information, we have gotten enough."