~*~ Chapter 3 ~*~

The boy's eyes narrowed into a more menacing glare.

"I'm stuffed actually." he muttered, his accent was loose and casual, but horribly unfamiliar.

I raised an eyebrow as I considered him, speaking after a moment of pause, "You're a spy, an infiltrator." My voice was snide, "You work for Marleybone."

He chuckled darkly, "Hardly…"

My eyes flickered to the blade that was pressed against my neck, struggling to keep calm I redirected my gaze back to his, "Well what are you then?" I asked, desperate for a glimmer of information. Anything that would help me out of this mess. "A spy? You're hardly a traitor, your accent isn't from around here…"

I swore I could see him grin under the half mask, "I'm neither a spy nor traitor, I remain just as loyal to my world as you do yours I'm sure…" he nudged the blade harder against my skin, before hissing in a tone of disgust, "and in case you couldn't already tell girly, my accent isn't nearly as stuffy as those foul breathed dogs!"

Something clicked in the back of my mind as I looked over his ensemble, the sword, and the gun belt that rested against his hip, the loose black shirt and darker leather pants, the worn, rugged, old boots…

"You're a pirate!" I snapped.

"And you're a wizard!" He cooed, "Oh look now we're getting somewhere~!"

A swallowed hard against the cold steel, struggling to keep the cool façade going, despite the rapidly growing fear. Pirates were a thing apart from the typical non magic user, they were skilled and agile, crafty and brilliant, and if a pirate decided it right to kill you then they would, without hesitation. Because they never followed the rules, it was just their way of life.

"Well some fearsome pirate you are," I smiled demurely, "What with those tight little leather pants I would have assumed something different of you."

"Heh," he laughed mockingly, "I'll show you fearsome if you want to push me wizard, don't think for a second that I'm one to hesitate. Need I remind you that with one little flick of my wrist your blood could be all over this floor?"

"No," I grinned, "But should I point out that yours will be as well?"

"What do you mean by tha-"

I dug the knife blade into his stomach, "I'm from Dragonspyre…" I hissed, "We always have a backup plan."

His eyes widened in shock before flickering down to his waist.

That gave me the perfect time to launch my attack.

I snapped my wrist summoning my sword, and with one quick, hard, swing, his own was sent clattering across the floor.

"A backup plan like that to be more precise…." My head shifted to the side cockily, "Oh pirate laddy~!"

He smirked as I pressed the cool blade against his neck, it shivered within an aura of ice energy, "You know… you did seem awfully comfortable with my sword against your neck…"

I scoffed, "I was never in any danger in the first place, I prepared for what was coming-"

"And I knew you would be here."

"Well then looks who's the better planner?"

I saw his wrist flick quickly to his belt, and dove behind the bookshelf just before a single blast was fired from the handgun.

"I do believe I won that competition." His voice sneered from behind the bookshelf as I frantically grabbed a tower shield and cast it around myself.

"Afraid to take another step out from behind that bookshelf, oh great and all powerful wizard?" he crooned? "Afraid of getting your arse handed to you on a silver platter by a mere commoner?"

I felt the familiar thrill seeking vibe kick in at his words, the desperate desire to attack, the indescribable thrill of a challenge! The rapid pounding of my heart was no longer due to fear, but from the exhilaration of what lay ahead of me! A proper fight!

I smirked into the darkness, "It's not like you stand a chance anyways mister proper tights. I'm a wizard after all, I can FRY you like TOAST!"

There was a long pause. "You… fry toast?"

"Ahh, so easily distracted."

I heard the clicks of the weapon being returned to firing position. "Just let me take what I need and no one gets hurt."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," I murmured slowly as I stepped from behind the bookshelf, my sword poised, "You see, this library is very important to me."

He fired without hesitation, but instead of the bullet striking me, it dissolved into the invisible aura that surrounded me.

"By all means keep on firing," the boy's eyes were wide in surprise, "Go ahead! Waste your ammunition! But just so you know, its projecting an invisible aura around my entire form, no matter where you shoot it isn't going to hit."

A spark of anger flared in his eyes before he fired. Again, and again and again. Each blast multiplying the echoes of the silent library, but the shield remained strong.

"Five rounds," I mused, "and that's a small gun. A well-educated opponent would assume that you've got nothing left to fire... shame really, I could let you reload but if I did that you'd just go ahead and waste the rest of your hard earned gold."

"Cheap wizard," he spat, as I waved the shield away.

"Cheap?" I laughed, "I'm trying to help you, no need to go wasting your money."

His eyes narrowed.

"There's a reason why I'm not worried about you, you know." I jibed, taking a step forwards.

"And whys that?" I could hear the anger building in his voice

"Because you mortals on the outside, you don't know a thing about the practice of real magic. You're nothing but monkeys."

"…you know you have a real superiority problem…."

"And you have a real fashion problem."

"Well what do you know about fashion?!"

"More than you obviously…"

"You're wearing armor in the library!" he exclaimed, gesturing at the ensemble that I had hastily put together before heading out.

I looked down at myself, my mind blanking in humiliation. It was exactly location appropriate, but this wasn't exactly a casual excursion…

He laughed.

"What's your name then?" I snapped, desperate to change the subject, "O Fearsome Pirate Flaming Steel?!"

"No!" he snapped back, "And what are you inferring with that statement?! That i'm-"

"A homosexual homosapien? Yes indeed I am good sir, yes indeed!"

His eyes narrowed as they flicked to his sword on the ground.

"By all means pick it up," I sighed, "Then we can settle this like proper humans, gay or otherwise."

"I'm not gay…" he muttered before picking up his sword.

"Well neither am I! Look we've got something in common!"

"I'd rather not think about the similarities that I share with my enemies…"

"Oh come on leather pant man, you're the one who started this whole issue in the first place-"

"And you're the one who went looking for a fight!" he replied back quickly, poising his sword into a matching position to mine.

We began to circle each other.

"I thought you were a Marleybonian spy."

"Oh really?" he raised an eyebrow teasingly, "And why would you go chasing after a highly trained military agent?"

"What?" he asked, "I'm just curious, you can't be any older then thirteen…"

"I'm fourteen!" I snapped.

"Right, big difference! I'm fifteen and I still don't stand a chance against them, or the Armada for that matter…."

"Your loss," I scoffed, "you aren't a wizard."

He laughed, rubbing his thumb across the hilt of his blade, as if gauging what would be the right time to charge forward.

"You know they aren't even targeting Dragonspyre as a military target right?"

I was stunned, "They… aren't?"

"Nope." And with that he lunged forward, bringing his blade down against my own with a hard clang.

"Quick block girly." He laughed before parrying forward.

I leapt back quickly, before meeting his blade with my own.

The low bastard, I thought with a hiss, he knew what he was doing, disarming me with casual conversation before throwing me off guard and attacking.

There was no denying it was a smooth move, sneakier then I would have expected from him, but maybe that was all part of his own façade… play dumb and wait to strike. But if he wasn't from Marleybone, and they weren't planning a direct military assault, then what on earth was going on here-

I grit my teeth as our swords clanged together once again. His swings were strong, that much could not be denied, and considering that I was not terribly gifted at swordplay, that was not a good sign.

But this was a test. Something that I could use to test my abilities, to prove myself, to grow stronger. It was a challenge that I could not let pass me by. Even if I had failed the elective spectacularly.

The swords met again, this time my own weapon almost went flying.

"What is this an act?!" he scoffs

"A diversion!" I snipped, before blasting a ball of fire directly at his face.

He dodged quickly and I took a couple of quick steps back.

"That's low…" he hissed

"I figure its fair seeing as you're the thief here."

There was another clang, "What are you trying to steal anyways?"

"Magic. Spellbooks. I'm here to help the witch doctors."

He lunged forward I parried, I was desperate to get this match over with, the ache in my arms were growing even stronger, but I refused to back down from the fight. Despite being pitifully outmatched….

"Witch doctors," I grunted pushing against the blade with as much force as I could muster, forcing him backwards, "by that you mean "fake" wizards right?"

"They're a class of pirate."

"They practice hoodoo. There's absolutely no structure to it at all."

He swung forward as I leapt backwards onto the stairs.

"Just let me beat you!"

My arms were burning now as I moved backwards up the stairs, all the parrying and dodging was exhausting…

"It seems that you don't understand what I'm saying-"

"I understand exactly what you're saying and it's not important!"

I rolled my eyes as we reached the top floor, the utter dimwit…

"Stealing the magic isn't going to help!"

"Of course it is!"

"You're an idiot Flaming Steel…."

"And you're a weakling Girl With The Snobby Attitude!" and with one powerful blow my sword was sent flying into the table.

"A weakling huh?" I heaved, desperate for some air

"Yes, definitely a weakling…" he smirked

I grinned, wiping the sweat from my brow with the back of my arm, "Well you're a disgusting pirate who never takes a bath!"

I swooshed my arm downwards, and focused, pouring as much energy as I could manage into the attack. My stomach lurched as the temperature began to spike, every last pore of my body felt like it was on fire and then with one final wave of pressure it exploded into reality. Soaring out of the rune and directly at the thief's face.

It was a phoenix, and as it was a rank five fire spell it took a lot of energy to conjure and control. Yet it was what I'd need to intimidate him, and despite the rapidly draining energy I allowed myself to smile as I watched him sprint between the library's shelves.

The very same shelves that were currently going up in flames.

Cursing I dispelled the attack, and leapt up onto the table. Racing quickly across the dark wooded surface before leaping onto the boys back, and pining his arms against his sides.

"You're such a cheat!" he grunted as I struggled to maintain control. He was exceptionally strong. Go figure.

"That's rich coming from a pirate!" I hissed as I fought against the black lights that were beginning to cloud my vision...

"Just because I'm a pirate doesn't make me rich-"

"I never said it did!" I sniffed

"- but it does mean that I have some special skills!"

And with that he jolted his shoulder upwards, loosening my grip, before his feet dropped out from beneath him and I was slammed backwards into the floor.

I squeaked as I felt my left shoulder get popped out of place. I wanted to scream, to throw up, but the fight wasn't going to end like this. I wasn't going to let it-

He rose swiftly from the ground, a smug smirk painted across his face.

I most definitely wasn't going to let that arrogant prick win.

With the last force of my energy I spun around on the ground twisting my foot to hook around his ankles and pull him to the floor with a loud thud. I jumped up as quickly as I could, my breath heaving in my chest as I pulled my own sword from the ground and took off down the halls, I needed to reach the lever, it would douse the room with an icy mist-

I heard the footsteps and spun into a weak block.

"You're wearing out…" The thief laughed, "It's so obvious, you've got little to no stamina…."

I felt my anger build up at his words, my eyes narrowing into a glare. He was just like my father…

I charged, but he just stepped aside smoothly and disarmed me with a quick downward stroke.

"Oh come now… do you really think I didn't notice? You with your big ego and all I would assume that it was obvious… you exhausted yourself with that phoenix, I bet your seeing double right now." He leaned back against the shelf, "And…" he grinned, "to top it all off I bet fire isn't really your primary school of magic either, now is it? Your main school is death."

"How did you-"

"Please," he scoffed, "I'm not an idiot, and not everything you wizards do is a complete mystery, I can read."

"Where are you from..?"

"Avalon." He smirked.

"Heh. Makes sense…" I winced as I struggled against the growing desire to faint. "Book wormy world it is, always encouraging the education of the common folk…"

He shook his head, "You wizard types are so full of yourself. So power hungry and desperate to destroy, that's why I became a pirate."

"You chose to be a pirate?" I scoffed, "Why in the spiral would you choose to do such a stupid thing?"

"Oh come now Necromancer, surely there must be something in your society that bothers you hmm?" he tilted his head and smiled demurely "Let us not forget the little talk we had earlier shall we? Hmm?" He tilted my chin upwards with the point of my sword, "Just let me get away…."

I considered him with about as much coherency as a semi retarded garden worm, the dizziness, the pain, and the smoke made it impossible to function….

The world began to fade in and out of black…

"I promise…." His teasing voice began to drift away… "I'll cut you a deal…"

A/N

Heheheheh... not so sure how this went. I'm absolutely awful at action scenes. And just so you know, yeah, I guess this could be considered a crossover, but considering that most of the action happens in the wizard parts of the spiral, and with maybe a few chapters involving the pirate parts? I kind of voted against it. Besides, they're both in the same bloody universe anyways so what does it matter? O_o The Spirals the Spiral and that's that. I'll try to regularly update my chapters from this point out, been a hectic few weeks! Not saying that school wont be any less hectic... but at least I can write chapters in classes then! OwO

So if you liked it please review, please! They mean the world to me~ I make retarded animal noises, like an excited elephant! Or giraffe! What noise does a giraffe make anyways... well internet you exist for a reason, this must be it... OuO/ buh byeee!