Gurk gave quite a threat there. A lesser man would be intimidated easily, but Bardeelus wasn't lesser. Yet he wasn't a genius either, so he decided to threaten this guy directly.
"You say all of the right stuff, Gurk, but are you fireproof?" He pressured.
A second later he moved out of the way for a few feet, and nodded at the fire mage to attack. Gurk assumed that the other was bluffing, so he didn't move.
This misconception was for the worst, because the fire mage did not hold back. It summoned and shot a four-foot wide fireball against Gurk, and this shot was extra powerful because its flaming tail was longer than the average fireball.
Such a shot was used to remove barricades, and sure enough, it worked in that exact way. The target was flung off of the ship for about twenty meters!