A Game Of Swans

Chpt 6 - Hostility

"Why him?! We could see anyone else on these bloody waters, but no, it has to be that Spanish prick!" raved Arthur, "Hunter! Get the cannons ready!"

Before he could storm off back to The Red Sun, I seized his arm. "You are not attacking him," I said firmly.

He looked like he had just been slapped, before he wretched his arm away from my grasp, an angry scowl plastered to his face. "Why the bloody hell should I not attack that wanker?!"

I scowled back at him.

Arthur could be the worse person under the sun to argue with. I knew - I'd done it once, and had never attempted it again. Until now.

"Because as much as I hate to pass up the opportunity to get into a fun, murderous fight with another pirate crew, we don't have time," I growled back.

"But he-"

"But nothing." I folded my arms as we glared at each other. "You pissed him off last time the two of you met; I had nothing to do with it. We have to get that Amulet, remember? We don't have time to get involved with your Spanish rival."

I could see that he didn't like it. He wanted to attack, and probably for good reason - Captain Carriedo was apparently very annoyed at the Englishman and his crew, because the last time they met, Arthur had stolen all of his gold, meaning that the Spaniard was clearly going to be out for revenge. And then the time before that, they had had a very nasty fight.

I sighed and massaged my temples, glancing out at the approaching ship. "Look, Arthur, I know you don't want to see him, let alone have to possibly talk to him, but we need to get to Funchal, and we need to get there as fast as possible."

I hesitated before putting a hand on his shoulder. He stiffened slightly, but his gaze remained locked onto the Spanish pirate ship.

"Getting into a fight would slow us down considerably, not to mention we would risk severe damage to our ships and injury to our crew, which would slow us down even more. The variables are all against us."

He stayed rooted in his position for a few more moments, his stare hard, before he looked at me. His expression was something akin to angry resignation. "Fine," he snapped, "But if he threatens me, I'll kill the bastard."

I quirked a smile, patting his shoulder. "I don't think I would expect anything less, ginger-snap."

Arthur glared at me before swatting my hand away, heading to the main deck of The Reaper so that he could shout orders across to his crew.

I felt a slight pang of... something when he swatted me away. Disappointment? Hurt? No. No, it couldn't be that. Why would I be hurt by his actions? I had no reason to be.

Shrugging it off, I yelled out for Carrie to come and join me at the helm so that Captain Carriedo could clearly see which ship he would likely be more welcome to board, should he wish to. She held up her hand to show him that we weren't going to attack.

It was a little longer before he came within range for me to use my spyglass.

I peered through it. Now I was able to make out two men standing at the helm of the approaching ship. I could immediately pick out Captain Carriedo.

His black hat was much larger than Arthur's, and it had lots of white feathers sticking out of it. His coat was red, but it wasn't the same shade as the Englishman's. Whereas Arthur's was a vibrant scarlet, Captain Carriedo's seemed to be closer to that of a deep blood colour. His clothing was also decorated with lots of gold accents, but he wasn't wearing epaulettes.