A Pirated Heart

His Decision and the Fog

Sortega was wrapped in a thick fog that almost made it impossible to dock safely. Luckily for Kaden, he happened to have a magic navigator. Literally. He glanced over at Arabella as she concentrated on docking the ship.

“Lower the gangplank, now!” She shouted as Kaden repeated her order. He listened for the sound of the heavy gangplank hitting the wooden dock. When he heard it, he sighed in mild relief. He hadn’t been entirely sure even Arabella could have navigated in this thick fog. Even now it permeated the space around them and made it where the only thing Kaden could see was the ship’s wheel and Arabella next to him.

“I don’t like this,” Arabella grumbled as Kaden saw her look around.

“Something wrong?”

“Let’s just hurry up and see if this is a waste of time,” Arabella growled as she stomped away from Kaden. He frowned before he followed her. Arabella met Damien at the ship’s railing and the man was trying to see what lie beyond the gangplank.

“The men don’t like the fog,” Damien muttered to his sister who frowned. Arabella nodded her head.

“Pirates are both superstitious and cautious. I can understand their apprehension,” she replied as she and Damien jumped onto the gangplank. Kaden and Jarrus appeared at the railing.

“What do you two think you’re doing?”

“Reconnaissance,” Damien answered as he and his sister pulled out their pistols and started down the gangplank. Kaden growled and started to follow after them. Jarrus’s hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“Let em go. I have a feeling they can handle themselves,” Jarrus remarked as Kaden glared at him before sighing. It was true and he knew it. He had seen Arabella in a fight. She was cold, calculative and lethal. Once he had seen her take down a man that even Kaden was sure he’d have trouble with. And Damien had been a captain in the Navy. It meant he was well trained. The man had proven it since joining their crew. If anyone could handle themselves, it would be the Cartridge siblings. Kaden waited, growing more impatient with every quiet tense moment that passed. He could feel the crew felt the same way.

Damien and Arabella walked beside each other, looking in every conceivable direction. The fog made it impossible to see anything except what was right in front of them. Arabella glanced over at her younger brother as he did the same and the two of them shared a look.

Something was off.

“I don’t like this,” Damien voiced. The moment he did, gun shots exploded in the air around them. Damien dropped down to avoid the whizzing bullets as Arabella aimed her pistol at a seemingly random spot and fired twice.  Damien heard her shots hit their targets as two heavy bodies hit the dock with dull thuds on the wood. Arabella grabbed Damien by the scruff of his collar and pulled him up while at the same time making sure he was not injured.

“I’m fine,” Damien remarked when he noticed what his sister was doing. Arabella nodded and then stomped over to their attackers. One of them was dead, even Damien knew that. A bullet hole in the center of his forehead led Damien to believe Arabella had known exactly where to aim even amongst the thick fog. However the other laid groaning and crying out in pain. He instantly thought Arabella had been lucky on her first shot and missed her second, but when he watched Arabella bend down next to the wailing man and slam her fist against his bleeding stomach, he realized that was not the case.  

“Why did you attack us?” She hissed as the man whimpered and attempted to crawl away. Damien’s boot on his shoulder stopped him.

“Tell me why you attacked us and maybe I don’t kill you,” Arabella threatened as she pressed her pistol against the frightened and wounded man’s temple. The man stared at her in wide-eyed fear until something about her caused him to gasp.