Jason looked around and saw that multiple sand skimmers were converging on the three occupied by his group. Compared to their own skimmers, the ones pursuing them were made for passengers rather than cargo, with extra seats and awnings to shield them from the sun. Jason grinned, knowing they were about to pay for the comfort the shade offered them. The other skimmers were also faster, not weighed down by shipments of coin.

“I can’t feel their auras at this distance,” Jason called out. He had to speak loudly over the air rushing through the propulsion ring of the skimmer.

“Me neither,” Humphrey said.

Gabrielle, in the seat next to Humphrey, stood up. The speed of the skimmer didn’t seem to bother her as she stood solid as a rock, head swivelling around.

“Eight enemy skimmers,” she said. “Each one has seven or eight people, most of which have at least one essence, with either one or two iron rankers per skimmer. No bronze rankers.”

The team’s skimmers were running side-by-side, while the enemy skimmers were closing in on the back and side of their formation.

“Which one do you want?” Jason asked Humphrey.

Humphrey pointed out the pair of skimmers behind them.

“Stash and I will take one each,” he said.

“I’ll take the two coming in on our left then,” Jason called out.

“Can you get over to them?” Humphrey asked.

“No worries,” Jason said as his cloak appeared around his body. Then the cloak was empty as Jason appeared under the shade awning of one of the skimmers, where he got his first good look at the pirates. They were human, ethnically distinct from the humans that dominated Greenstone. They looked, to Jason's eyes, more like African natives, with darker skin and wild shocks of curly hair.

Jason’s sudden appearance in their midst startled the passengers of the enemy skimmer. Before they could react, Jason pushed back the protective sheath on a razor tied to the inside of his forearm. He sliced the back of his hand with it and aimed the shallow cut at the pirates. Leeches sprayed from the wound, scattering over the pirates closely packed together on the skimmer. They immediately went wild with panic.

The driver hadn't seen Jason's appearance, only heard his fellows react before feeling a couple of leeches latch onto his skull. This prompted the wild swerving that was noticed by the other nearby skimmer, which moved closer to investigate.

As sand pirates screamed panic around him, clutching at the leeches crawling onto them, Jason steadied himself by gripping one of the poles that held up the awning. With his other hand he took out one of his bandolier darts, one with a red cord grip. He saw the second skimmer closing in and tried to gauge its pace as it moved over the sand. Conveniently, it was approaching in a straight line.