Return to Inheritance

Chapter II

The girl took a step back as she watched him, defense lowered without realising. She was terrified and yet fascinated to finally see someone using a dagger with such elegance. It seemed to bring a very quick and painless death. Her brain was trying to tell her to let the stranger use his weapon on her, but her thoughts suddenly stopped coming as she stared at him in wonder. He stared back for a moment and she noticed some gleaming eyes in the darkness of his hood.

Time seemed to stop for a while, but then started working again as he left, quickly killing the remaining few sailors from Willy Buns' crew. Before defending herself from a random attacker, she noticed the hooded stranger fighting back to back with who appeared to be the actual captain of the invading crew.

As she fought off the attacking pirate, Jade kept wondering who that man was in fact, if not the captain. He was definitely the best fighter aboard, even the best fighter she had ever seen in her life. She was truly impressed. But why hadn't he killed her? She was such an easy prey when she suddenly lowered her guard after seeing Willy Buns fall flat on his face.

It felt like her thoughts were running a marathon because they refused to stop flowing. They only stopped when her arms were being held, keeping her firmly in place. Whoever was behind her was as silent and sneaky as a cat. Feeling the pain in her fresh wound she gave a short scream and started wriggling in an attempt to break free. Her survival instincts took over and she wouldn't stop. The pirate she had been fighting with was now simply watching, sheathing his sword. The fight must have been over.

For a moment her arms were loose, but just because the person holding her let go for a slight moment. Before she could run off, that same person grabbed her arms from her front and she noticed it was that fascinating, yet dangerous stranger.

She stared once more towards his face but only saw the gleaming eyes because of the darkness of the hood. She suddenly relaxed her muscles and let the sword fall on the deck. Little by little the man holding her reached for her hands and tied them together in a instant. Next he was pushing her so she would walk. They were going to board their own ship, and her ship was left to sink.

"Don't even think of jumping," whispered from behind, right in her ear, the man that had just tied her hands when they were on the plank that made it possible to cross over to the other ship. They were the last ones.

It was funny how desperately she tried to drown herself a day earlier, but all of a sudden her head felt empty and she didn't even notice she had the chance to do so again. She kept walking.

She was now on a foreign ship. It felt slightly bigger, more elegant and cared for with reddish wood. Everyone seemed to mind their own business, immediately raising the anchor and setting sail, as if she weren't even there. For now.

Slowly and not rushed by anyone, the man took her to the main mast and tied her to it without a word. She didn't try to fight him at all. She felt absent-minded whenever she saw him as if he got hold of her thoughts too. Something felt strangely familiar too, but that was impossible.

Soon he was gone in the captain's cabin. It was obvious he had a sense of authority over the crew. Jade wondered what relation he had with the captain and why he wore those weird black clothes? Of course, the hood was the most interesting, forming something like a beak at the forehead, but the rest of the outfit was also impressive. It made him look massive as he seemed to wear many layers of clothes, the outmost layer being padded with a little metal for protection. The shoulders, the forearms and the chest, partially, were the key locations to where the man was mostly protected.

As soon as he was out of sight she started wriggling again, trying to get her wrists unbound. Her feet were free, but they weren't of much help. Not even biting at the rope helped. It just left her with a horrible taste in her mouth and her wrists now felt like burning. The flesh was slowly being bitten into by the tight ropes. Eventually she gave up, and noticed some of the pirates coming her way. She didn't like the way they smiled at her.