The Officer and the Princess: The Flames Of War

Chapter 6

"Leave the girl alone for Agnis sake. This ain't right." The first one said stopping and turning to his companions. "Listen I'm all for getting a ransom from them but we shouldn't stoop to...to this."

Sung and his group stuck to a series of bushes lining a well worn animal trail, their bodies concealed thankfully. He gave each a look making sure they were ready for what was to come, they were. "You're soft Shun, this here is real man's wor-" all together the four stood up. Sung wrapping a hand around the woman's mouth as his three subordinates dug their daggers into the Pirates throats, each letting out a sickly gurgling sound and each one's eyes going wide with surprise as blood pooled from their fatal wounds. The Woman tried to scream, her voice muffled by Sungs hand. She thrashed her whole body trying to get away.

"Calm down." Sung whispered in her ear putting all his effort into keeping her from breaking free. "We're with the Sun Dao Defense Forces, were here to help you." The Woman stopped thrashing for a moment, Turing her head sideways to get a better look at sung, her ember eyes were red and puffy from crying, her voice shaky.

"I'm going to take my hand off your mouth, promise me you won't scream." The Woman nodded in understanding. Slowly Sung removed his hand, the Woman's lower lip shaking as he did so. "W-Who are you?" She asked between quiet sobs.

"Sung Yang." He responded, neglecting to give her his title.

it made little difference however, upon hearing his name her eyes went wide in surprise. "T-Thank you My Lord, I-I thought...." The woman trailed off as she buried her face in her hands, the tears flowing freely now. The Sight of one of his subjects in such pain after an encounter with cut throats and thieves on his island made his blood boil with rage.

"It's okay." Sung soothes. "Where are you from?"

"G-Gobi Village, A few miles from here." The Woman said. "T-the came in the middle of the night, Oh my Parents must be so worried."  The Woman started crying again as she spoke. "I-I tried to escape but they caught me, I was so scared!"

"Listen, how many captives do they have with them?" Sung asked using the opportunity to gain some vital intelligence.

The woman looked at him. "I don't know, it's more than a few...the things they did to us,the things they wanted us to do...kill them all my lord."

"I intended to." Sung said forcing a friendly smile. "Did you happen to get a look at how many Pirates there were, what their defenses look like?"

"There are no defenses My Lord, they spend all day drinking and eating. I'm sorry I can't say how many there are."

Sung nodded "it's okay, we are going to take you home now." Sung turned to his three Subordinates. "Take her back to our camp and make sure she is given warm clothes and fed. Once we have rounded up the others taken we will help them return to their homes."

"At once my lord." One spoke gently placing a hand on the Woman's arm and leading her back the way they had come.

As they group walked away June walked up beside him. "What did she say?" Sung took a moment to explain to her what the Woman had to him, that the Pirates spent their days drinking and eating. This information brought a smile to her face. "A bunch of Drunk fools this should be a walk in the park."

While Sung agreed with the sediment Experience taught him that things were not always what they seemed. "Don't count you Eggs before they have hatched. Get the Column moving, we still have a ways to go."

*

The rain had let up slightly, becoming less of a downpour and more of a light drizzle. Since the Run in with the Woman Sung's Warriors had dispatched and additional two Pirates, one who had seemed to be hunting for food and another who had been looking for a private place to relive himself. The now thirty seven strong detachment had reached the tree line over looking a white sandy beach. The roar of waves chars hung against the shore could be heard. Part ways between the the shoreline and the tree line were a series of Rock formations that had hollowed out to form the cave system.