JOHN'S POV
I tightened the purple cloth turban around my head and adjusted the matching violet facemask that hung around the bottom half of my face and covered my nose, mouth, and chin. My revolver was jammed tightly into my pocket, and my cutlass hung lightly at my belt. I motioned to Alyss and Hector to follow me, and we went into the crowded street full of vendors.
I was wearing the turban to disguise myself as a Hinduan while we went into the city to restock on supplies. I (a.k.a. John Redding, the Scourge of the Western Seas) had a ten thousand pound reward on my head if I was caught and brought to the authorities, dead or alive. Mercenaries, rival pirates, and officials from dozens of countries and cities were combing the seas for me.
All around, the merchants of Port-au-Prince were walking into the streets, haggling their wares of fruit, bread, spices, pots, parchment, and all other sorts of things. Most were standing by their stands and calling from there, but others were going out into the streets, rushing up to passerby and attempting to get them to buy their merchandise. I was confronted by a man who had birds all over his shoulders, arms, and head.
"Want to buy a bird?" the man asked.
"He doesn't speak English -" started Hector, before I interjected, saying "That one. How much is it?" I asked, pointing to a caracara.
The caracara was a tall bird with a crest and a bright orange face beside a white beak. Their normally orange faces turn red when they are angered, and they hunt vultures in order to get food. They were vicious birds, and one on the boat could help to catch fish and even in fights. We already had a dog on the ship, Gaueko, and I was sure that he and the caracara would get along just fine.
"30 pounds. A good deal, sir, considering that he comes from America," said the dealer, smiling and baring a set of yellowed teeth.
"We'll take him," I said.
I paid the dealer what we needed, and we walked away. The caracara, which I had christened Talon had taken a liking to me, apparently, and he was walking alongside me happily. I petted his head, and fed Talon a small cracker that I had been carrying around in my pocket in case I got a little hungry. It's always good to be prepared, especially with an appetite as big as mine.
Suddenly, in front of us, I saw a very disturbing site. Seven knights armed with lances, swords, and shields were walking the street in front of us, patrolling. On their armor and shields, they bore the fleur-de-lis symbol of the French Empire. They were on the hunt for me. As we came closer to them, one of them spotted me and gave a confused look at me. A white man wearing the turban of a person from Hindustan was an odd sight indeed...
"It's Redding! John Redding!" cried the knight.
"Game's up, folks! Let's fight!" I cried.
"Look what you've got us into now John..." Alyss grumbled.
"I'll take the leader," I said with a sigh.
I drew out my revolver and fired a shot at the six charging knights. They had their shields though, and the shot pinged off of the shields. I put my revolver away and drew out my sword. The lead knight and I clashed blade for a second, and Alyss and Hector each took three of the other knights. Talon rushed off to help Alyss. I slashed at the knight's head, but he ducked under my attack and thrust at me. I leaped backwards.
The vendors and other people on the street were scattering now, and food, jugs, and broken jars lay scattered across the empty street. I rolled to the knight's side and stabed at, but he blocked the attack with his shield, and I jumped back onto a fallen crate, raining blows down upon the knight from above. The Frenchman held up his shield and proceeded to block my attacks.
"You fight well! What's your name?" I asked him.
"Seth Lorrel. Newly-dubbed knight of the French Empire, and I'm here with three of my ships to finish you off!" he cried.
"Three ships?! God, you're tough," I said, kicking out.
"You have no chance of escaping. Even if you kill me and my six other men that are here with me now, we have three ships waiting to cut off your escape route and over a hundred knights ready to fight you on land," Seth said, blocking my foot with his shield.
I bounced off of his shield and spun, landing on the ground and tripping him by kicking a large wooden pole that had rolled onto the ground at his feet. He fell over, and I lunged at him with cutlass raised to slash his throat. Seth brought his own blade up, and we locked blades for a second, each of us struggling to push the other's weapon back. But Seth was a good deal stronger than me, and he pushed me back off of him and got up to his feet.
I kicked over a cart full of fruits that went rolling across the ground at Seth, making him try to jump and leap over and around them. As he did so, I slashed at him. This time, he was so focused on his feet that he didn't block my strike. Unfortunately, I sliced into his breastplate and the blow didn't get through. I wound back up, and I spun to his side, slicing my blade into his exposed shoulder. Blood began to flow across his shiny gray and blue armor and he cried out in pain.
"That hurt!" he yelled at me.
"I'll make it hurt a lot more now!" I screamed, lunging at him again.
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YUKI'S POV
I leaped to the top of a tall bank, looking down upon the street where a huge battle was taking place. A slim girl with raven-black hair under a wide-brimmed hat was dueling with a rapier against three burly knights clad in plate armor. As I watched, I saw her dip under a thrust from one of the knight's lances and cannon up, stabbing her blade into the throat of one of the warriors. A tall bird was alongside her, dodging slashes and harassing the warriors by pecking and clawing at them. She obviously wasn't Redding.
I then saw a teenager with red hair dueling back and forth with a single knight clad in blue and grey armor wielding a sword and a shield. The kid was knocking over crates, leaping on top of carts, and flinging whatever he could find at the knight. It seemed like he was using the environment to is advantage, keeping the knight off-guard so he wouldn't know what was coming next. The kid wasn't Redding...was he? I couldn't remember the wanted poster now, so I left him alone.
The third combatant was a man clad in black and brown clothing who was hurling bombs at the three knights that he was taking on. He had on a wide-brimmed pirate's hat as well, and when the knights managed to dive aside from his bombs, the man drew out a large axe and dueled hand-to-hand with the knights. He leaped back from a melee duel, and he tossed a bomb at the feet of one of the knights. The bomb exploded, and the knight keeled over, screaming pain as the explosion ripped into his legs, sending blood everywhere. The man with the bombs had to be Redding.
I dropped down from the building, landing on the street and tucking my legs in to cushion my fall. i drew out three shuriken from my weapons pouch and I rushed at the man with the bombs. He spun around, and I launched all three of the throwing stars at him. He rolled aside and the shuriken whistled past him to clatter down on the cobblestone street. One of the knights lunged at him, but he whirled his axe and cut through the knight's knee before leaping behind the man and ripping his axe through the warrior's throat.
"Two down, two to go. And where have you come from, Mrs. Kunoichi?" Redding asked me, using the term for a female ninja in adressing me.
"Nihon, you fool, and I'm here to take the bounty that's on your head, Redding!" I cried.
Redding gave me a confused look, but then smiled and ran at me. I drew out my katana, my curved Japanese sword, and blocked his attack. The third, and last, knight ran up behind him, but Redding kicked out behind him and sent the knight stumbling backwards. The knight got down behind his shield as Redding tossed a bomb at him, but the bomb blew the shield out of his hands and Redding tossed a second one at the knight. And I don't believe that I need to explain what happened then!
"Now it's just you and I," I said.
I lunged at him, slashing at his head. He skidded backwards and swung down at my head. I moved aside as well and the axe whistled through the air, skidding across the cobblestones. I swung around and jammed the hilt of my blade into Redding's shoulder. Redding cried out in pain and tossed a bomb at me. The bomb rolled underneath my legs, and I leaped forwards. The explosion totally missed me and I began to run at him again when a rumbling echoed from behind me. I whirled, and all that I saw was a mound of crates coming down at my head. They slammed into me, and I collapsed underneath them, blacking out.
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JOHN'S POV
I swiped at Seth's legs again, but the knight leaped over the attack and slashed at my head. I tried to leap back, but I slipped on some piece of fruit or another and hit the ground painfully. I dropped my scimitar, and it slid across the ground away from me. Seth raised his sword for an attack, but suddenly, my hand brushed across a wooden pole. I raised it up and smashed it across Seth's helmeted face. Seth cried out in pain and fell aside to the ground.
I raised the pole and swung it down, smashing Seth across the head again and again. Finally, I tossed aside the pole as the knight fell unconscious. Alyss, Hector, and Talon rushed over to me. All of them looked fine, and I heard tromping of feet.
"This way!" cried a voice in a thick French accent, and I knew that reinforcements were probably on their way.
"Alright, we've got to move and get back to the Cutter," I said, turning to go.
"Wait! Shouldn't we take these two that we've knocked out as prisoners?" Hector asked me.
"Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll grab the kunoichi, Hector, you can take the knight," I said.
"Giving me the heavy one. Hmph," Hector said, walking over and slinging Seth's body over his shoulder.
I ran over and did the same with the ninja's body, and we rushed off. Talon flapped along beside us, and we quickly got back to to the dock where the Cutter was waiting.