A Pirated Heart

Their Blood and Actions

“Head on or ambush?” Ashik asked once they were closer to the Navy vessel. Arabella frowned.

“Head on. I don’t want there to be any mistake about who we are.” Arabella replied. Ashik nodded. He felt the dinghy pick up speed even though he knew the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. He looked down and found Arabella’s fingers skimming the surface of the water.

“Did you train yourself on how to use your magic?”  Ashik questioned as curiosity burned in his gut. The men aboard the navy vessel would be no match against them. He knew that. However something told him to take caution. He looked at Arabella, fearing for her safety.

“No. It came naturally.” Arabella answered honestly. She looked up and tilted her head at Ashik’s frown.

“You are uneasy.”

“Observant girl.” Ashik replied with a nod of his head. No doubt Maera had found out about his betrayal by now. It wouldn’t take her very long to find them since he hadn’t been using his fog to mask their location.

“Mask the ship.” He ordered suddenly. Arabella’s eyes widened as she stared at him.

“Calypso’s Fall? Why?”

“I have bad feeling. I know you can mask it.” Ashik explained.  Arabella nodded as she closed her eyes. Ashik didn’t need to ask her if she had done it yet; he felt it: the pull of her magic. The moment Calypso’s Fall disappeared from view, he no longer felt the men aboard the ship. Arabella opened her eyes.

“It’s done. Now wrap them in your fog.”

Ashik sighed before he let the magic in his body trickle into the water. Thick white fog rose from sea and wrapped Calypso’s Fall, the navy vessel and their little dinghy in its suffocating blindness.

“Where’d this fog come from!”

“It’s a curse!” Arabella and Ashik heard the sailors yell as their dinghy stopped alongside the naval frigate. With an ease that came simply for those gifted with magic, Arabella jumped from the dinghy onto the railing of the navy ship and Ashik appeared next to her.

“Do we kill them?”

“Not yet. I want to see the captain.” Arabella’s voice was calm as she stepped down from the railing. Her boots made no sound on the wood and she seemed to float past all of the panicking sailors. Ashik chuckled. Maera would be no match for this young woman if she was properly trained. If she could do all of this naturally, it meant she was gifted.

Ashik didn’t follow her. No doubt he was keeping watch. For that, Arabella was grateful.  She easily found the Captain’s quarters as he and few of his men were standing around a table discussing battle plans. None of them heard her enter or the door’s lock click behind her.

“We leave no one alive. Admiral’s orders.”

“Really. That man should’ve left well enough alone.” Arabella smirked when the men in the room turned to face her in surprise. Their eyes widened as they took her in.

“Who the hell are you?”

“And he didn’t even tell you who you were coming after? For shame. My father is quite the fool, isn’t he?” Arabella asked as her eyes swept their faces. She didn’t recognize any of them from Warrick.

Figures, she thought to herself as she watched fear flicker across their features. She wondered what she looked like to them. A woman with too many weapons strapped to her to make her seem intimidating or a pirate bathed in blood?