I'll always have you in my sights.

[Alyssa Snow]

The ship went from the silent slosh of sea against wood to the roaring choir of deckhands preparing to make land. Their feet pounded like drums against the waterlogged planks and bellowed orders roared into the twilight. The faint hue of red began its invasion of the ships various cracks and holes into the storage deck where Alyssa busily checked her equipment. Over the barrels and boxes of merchant wares, she clamored until she found the loading gate. Through a hole that the gate's chain ran, she peered.

Land stretched for as long as she could see. Arid and dry, it seemed vegetation was scarce. The homunculi felt a rush of anticipation swell in her chest.

"Make ready!" she heard a man shout. The metallic flutter of a signalling lamp relayed a silent code to shore. Along the rocky coast, a speck of light flashed in reply.

Alyssa pulled away from the ship's hull and took a deep breath. The memory of Tobias dredged up from the recesses of her mind. From smiling adventurer to steeled gaze of a hardened swordsman. The terror fueled cries of Daire echoed loudly and the anger of Vincent felt fresh. Alyssa shook the memories from her mind and focused on her current task. Her stowing away would surely cause problems upon landing, and she couldn't afford the political delay of talking her way out of it.

Alyssa pulled her magnum from its thigh holster and pressed the muzzle against the chain of the loading gate. She pulled the trigger, washing a wave of flames over the steel. She fired again, wood hissing and screaming as the water evaporated form the grains. With a final pull of the trigger, a chilled bolt of ice crashed into the heated iron and cracked the brittle metal apart.

"Hey," she heard a voice call out above, "anyone hear that?"

Alyssa bit her lip and shifted across the rafters to the second gate chain. Again she pushed her muzzle to the chain.

"Hear what?"

She pulled the trigger, and the first fireball hit the wrought iron with a sizzle.

"That. You don't hear that?"

She pulled it again, wood screaming as water left its soaked body.

"Yeah, I hear it now. It's in cargo! Let's go!"

Alyssa fired the bolt of ice, but this time, the iron resisted.

"Shit," she cursed. The magnum slipped back into its holster and snapped shut. Instead, Alyssa pulled her enchanted knife from the scabbard on her opposite arm and pressed a small button. The blade's crystalline edge hummed, than began to glow red hot. She jammed its tip into the ring of the chain and pushed.

The sound of footsteps groaned on the stairwell in a series of two or three. Hammers of flintlock pistols cocked to the readied position.

Alyssa clenched her teeth, trying to force the blade deeper into the iron. Slowly, like a cold blade through cold butter, the iron began to give way. Its rusty surface hissed and screamed as it grew red with anger.

"There!" Alyssa heard behind her. She shot her free hand to her other pistol. The crewmen leveled their flintlocks.

SNAP!

The last of the chain gave way to her blade and as flintlocks slammed against the priming powder, the cargo door gave way to Alyssa's weight. Smoke billowed from the sailor's weapons, working to the packed black powder within. The wood gate slammed against the worn hull of the vessel and Alyssa fell toward the sea. Bouts of flame belched from their weapons and lead balls fled from their barrels. She heard them hiss as one sped through the golden strands of her hair past her ear. The others flew just above her face as gravity pulled her to safety.

SPLASH!

The sea engulfed her, pushed deep by the rolling tide of the vessel's wake.