Dog - an insult
measured for chains - particularly nasty threat feared by pirates
sail, ho! - warning that another ship is in view
trim sail - adjust sails
all hands on deck - every crew on deck
batten down the hatches - prepare for crisis
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“You’re oddly calm about this.”
“I'm trying not to freak out.”
“And what is the benefit of not freaking out?”
“I can think more clearly of how I can get us out of here.”
“Hmm, I tried to do that back then,” Jay said, “not freaking out.”
Nya tilts her head, hooked up on the conversation the two soldiers are having.
Lloyd cocks a brow. “And the result?” he asked.
Jay breathes for a moment before answering, “I freaked out.”
Nya tilts her head back as Lloyd sighs, not at all surprised by his friend. The blond looks down on his shoes through the bundle of ropes that hug his body. He rethinks his every life choices at this very moment.
Jay notices this silence and decides to maybe brighten up the mood, atleast. “Well? Got anything?”
Lloyd responds, still looking down on his shoes. “Getting out of these ropes is doable, however I cannot guarantee our safety during our escape. They will definitely shoot at us the very moment they see us a step away from this mast. We’ll have to wait until midnight.”
“How do we get out of these ropes?”
“Any sharp tool works.” Nya butted in, causing Jay to flinch in surprise. “Another problem is how we’re going to cut the ropes without being spotted.”
Once again, Lloyd sighs, heavier than the last one.
“So sorry you ended up here.”
The blond turns to look at Jay.
Right, it was the ginger’s idea that brought them here in the middle of nowhere with death laying upon them.
Lloyd and the Commodore were absolutely dumbfounded when they reported Cole’s escape. Jay — not being able to witness this and do nothing — thought it would be a good idea to suggest tracking him down. Lloyd turned down the idea at first, but the ginger somehow persuaded him.
The younger one had hope bubbled up inside him upon seeing the two ships being set sail when they eavesdropped on the pirate, so he hollowed, and they both entered.
Lloyd nudges his arm. “It’s okay, Jay. None of us predicted this to happen, don’t burden yourself for not knowing the future.” He smiles at seeing Jay’s face brighten up.
“Besides, I’m not the one who’s having it the worst.” He turns his head to the other side, furrowing his brows at the sight of his fellow. “Mr. Kai Smith Sir? Are you alright?”
Kai looks like he’s about to throw up, with sweat dripping down his temples and eyes boring into the ocean. Lloyd has been sensing the brunet’s hand trembling against the back of his hand, it worries him. Kai simply nodded.
“Are you sea sick?” Nya asked, examining his state.
“No, it’s not that,” Kai mumbled to her. “I can’t believe I forgot about it.”
“About what?”
“My promise.”
“What —?”
“Also yes PFFT I’m seasick.”
Nya was about to ask more into detail until her attention was brought to the startling noise coming from the quarter deck.
The captain shoves the charts in his coat. He leaves the helm as the presumed helmsman takes over it. He starts descending down the stairs, eyes set on the four captives as he menacingly makes his way towards them. The sailors clear the paths for him, like the waters parting once approached.
“You’ve gone quiet, what’s going on?” Jay nervously asked as he tried to move around and see what’s going on behind him.
Yang takes a turn (much to the three’s surprise) and approaches a fellow pirate instead who stands far away by the railings. Zane and Pixal are the last to get out of Yang’s way, taking a bit of time before stepping out and revealing their bucko.
Cole scans the floor.
“Ehem.”
Bugger.
He straightens his back. “Intruders, capt’n.” He points at the four. “I’ve got them all captured just for you.” He smiles, ignoring the priceless faces of Kai and Nya.
Yang let out his signature deep chuckle. “And what may ye say we do to them, Rocky?”
“Do what ye will, however I suggest we leave them like that! It’ll act as a warning for the dogs and mark me words we will sail as smooth as Billy Bob’s head.”
Everyone turns to look at their bald shipmate. Billy smiles at them and caresses his head.
Yang smirks and nods his head in approval. “Do what I will, ye say?” He whips out his blunderbuss. “A threat works better with a rotting body, Dangerbuff.”
In a split second he shoots at the space between Kai and Lloyd’s legs, causing all four of them to jump and scream. “You’ve sailed the seas yer whole life, ye know that better than I do,” he added as he continued to shoot around the mast, intentionally aiming close to their feet and heads while they all freak out. Many of the crew laughed.
Cole falters as the whole thing unfolds in front of him. “But — but they’re innocent —”
Zane steps up before him. “I believe it’s better if they are left alive, capt’n!”
Yang stops shooting and brings his firearm down. He gives Zane a dirty look, eyeing him head to toe like a worm he had just stepped on. “Ye saying I am not right, Jaguar?”
“No sir, what you said was true, although in this case it’s better for us to keep them alive as we sail to Stiix.”
“...What’s yer bargain?”
“I mean this with all due respect, but since we’ve got a dirty reputation on all pirate coves — Stiix included — it is certain that they may not accept our trades, so I suggest we run a gig to trick them into cooperating with us. We can use a bait none of them is familiar with, hence our four captives being of good use alive.”
“The four of ‘em as bait?”
“Aye.”
“And if I tell ye we’re no need of bait?”
“Then…” Zane takes a deep breath. He trails his eyes around for a moment, making short eye contacts with Pixal and the people at the mast. “We can use them not only as a warning on the seas, but also on land.” He pauses, making sure if Yang is following him as he continues. “We may release them back in Jamanakai and they shall tell tales of the crew — of how ruthless your crew can be, and how crossing lines against us is being measured for chains.”
That — that might actually work. Cole bites on his own tongue. The vessel itself is already feared and known by all the real pirates, and the idea of having the same power growing on land could charm Captain Yang.
However the man is no fool, and it wouldn’t surprise Cole a bit if Yang had already caught up with their real motive to spare the four.
He lays his attention to the old man, analysing his unreadable expression.
“Argh, this crew is tainted…” said the captain. “Not like they’ll live by the end of it anyway,” he grumbled in the last part.
The noiret understands what he meant, but he still glares at the captain’s absurdity as Zane steps aside, no longer shielding him.
The captain walks closer to Cole. Despite being smaller, he manages to stare down on him, wordlessly reminding him of his place.
“Woe is your name, sailor,” Yang muttered to Cole. He stares at him dead in the eye for a long while before threading his way back to the wardroom. Everyone else disperses to mind their own businesses.
The baffled pirate breathes out the breath he hadn’t known he was holding. Pixal gives him a concerned look as she places a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He only gives her a small smile, and so she walks away and off to the lower deck.
Cole turns to look at the four captives. They all seem to be checking up on each other after what had just happened to them. He directs his eyes to Kai’s hand squeezing tight on Nya’s hand, he then watches Lloyd and Nya trying to calm Jay down and stop him from his hyperventilating being and pessimistic splutters. Kai (being behind Jay) can only listen to the three as he presses his head on the mast like he’s able to see the ginger.
The sight of it makes something drop in Cole’s chest, and he’s got no definite idea what it is. He looks away and crosses his arms, practically hugging himself.
Maybe he feels… bad, bad for being the reason for their situation. The thought he feels bad about it just makes him feel much more bad — worse , that’s the word. To add a sprinkle on top, he relives through the time he’s also felt bad from his whole journey, and it makes him feel worse, as a pirate.
He’s brought back to several years ago when he felt terrible with a prisoner Yang had locked in the brig. He used to secretly give snacks to the mate, and his sincerity made him feel… things. He continued to offer sea biscuits and leftovers until the day Yang made the prisoner walk the plank.
Cole had never seen him since then, but then again, maybe the red in the waters should have told him enough. He was a teen when all that happened.
He remembers the way the crew cackled as they watched. He remembers it very clearly.
Something about it just felt terribly disturbing.
Don’t get him wrong. Cole knows what they’re supposed to be doing is bad but… thinking about it, the very wrong thing is just so wrong… if you get what he means.
He feels horrible that he’s having such a conscience; there’s always an underlying echo in his brain that tells him he’s disappointing his mother and is being a nuisance to the blood.
A tap on his arm brings the pirate back to reality.
Cole looks down to see a mug filled with a drink he’s never seen before.
Zane taps the mug again on his fellow buccaneer. “From Dareth,” he said with a small smile. He’s got another mug on his other hand, probably his own drink.
Cole grabs it and takes a sniff of it first as Zane stands beside him. He takes a long sip and savours its taste.
“It’s sweet.”
“He said he prepared it last night,” Zane murmured in his mug, taking short occasional sips. Dareth must have been in the lower deck waiting for the commotion to cool.
The noiret stares at his own reflection on the liquid, listening to the sound of the gentle waves and the creaking of the woods. The ambience soothes him, it never fails to do so. The way the wind blows against his skin, or the faint heat warming the atmosphere, the smell of the sea, the feeling of letting the course take him wherever and away from the cities.
He likes being what he is! It’s just that…
Maybe he’s not fit for it.
“So ye really were being followed,” Zane mused, “not by birch trees, I mean.”
Cole shrugs his shoulders. “Was half joking on that part,” he said. He then moves his gaze back to the mast, taken aback upon seeing Kai already staring at him.
Kai doesn’t look away, and neither does he. Forest eyes into a pair of golden rings — they seem like golden rings to Cole, the kind of rings you see rich people wearing, the kind of rings that signify one’s marriage. Eye contacts with Kai always feel intense, he also never really wondered why. He first noticed the enticing sensation during that night they were outside Chen’s Tavern.
It just feels so… different?
He stared enough, he should be looking away right now. Like, right now. Right now. Now. Okay. He’s succeeded doing this before. Look away.
Kai ends up breaking eye contact.
Now that’s… not supposed to happen. It was supposed to be Cole looking away, not him.
Another thing that wasn’t supposed to happen is Zane seeing all of this while sipping on his drink. He slaps Cole’s arm, making him let out a small oww.
Cole raises a brow at him.
Zane only nods towards the four captives. “Talk to them.”
“Why must I do that?”
“Ye seem like you want to.”
“But I don't, and ye can’t make me change me mind.” Cole downs his drink in one go.
“Aye.” Zane nods. “But if there’s something ye would like to tell them, what may —”
Cole immediately answers, “I want to ask him how he followed me and if he’s okay.”
“I want to ask you how you followed me.”
Kai is giving him a judging look, as always, and Nya’s pretty much almost the perfect duplicate. Lloyd is only looking at Cole and Kai back and forth, wondering the connection between his enemy and his idol. Jay is on the other side, so he can’t really see, again.
“I was going to the docks when I spotted a dark silhouette of Santa Claus suspiciously sneaking off, who just so happened to be you, so followed I did.” Kai glances at the ocean. “The rest was a piece of cake, honestly.”
Cole moves his eyes to Nya, who simply responds, “I was Kai’s shadow, not yours.”
The pirate closes his eyes and sighs. He then moves to Lloyd.
The blond blinks first and nudges Jay’s sides.
“What?” said the ginger.
“I too, want to know how you knew Rocky’s location,” Lloyd asserted.
“Oh.” Jay looks at Cole and accidentally locks eyes (which he did not want to happen) and clears his throat. “I just… just asked around.”
Kai chuckles, “asked around? Like, you interrogated people if they’ve somehow seen a wandering pirate lurking around the corners?”
“I thought you were sea sick?” Nya interrupted.
“Do not remind me.”
“Well I mean…yeah,” Jay admitted. “This old lady claimed — and I quote — ‘My boy Rocky? Oh I saw him grabbing a big bag from the back of the wagon and went off, he’s even got two friends following him from afar,’ and then she pointed at the forest and told me you’re probably heading towards the hidden ship by the shore. I reported to Lloyd immediately and then we spotted you whistling in the forest, henceforth we followed you.”
Well damn.
Cole scratches his head.
“You know, you must really up your wariness. Sneaking on you was incredibly easy, and it looked like you were too deep in thought,” Lloyd advised, although the guy is literally his rival. The blond thought he should help Cole out if the pirate is going to help them sneak out. Now that Lloyd thinks about it, is Cole really going to help them?
“I was — I was thinking about… bugs…” the pirate trailed off.
“They bite hard, no shit,” Jay sympathised.
“A snake was trailing after me back there.”
They all turn to Nya.
The woman snickers. “Tied it to a tree.”
Lloyd and Cole awkwardly shift a bit further away from Nya, imagining the scene of a young woman casually tying a snake on a branch as if it was made of ribbon and continuing her main objective: stalking her brother, who so happens to be stalking a criminal to their basement.
The brother mutters to Nya, “something feels off.”
“I know, I’ve been sensing it too,” Nya said, still holding onto her silly smile.
“Nya, I’m serious.”
"What's wrong, Mr. Kai Smith Sir?"
"Can you please just call me Kai?" The brunet pleaded to the blond beside him.
Nya adds, “Yeah, what is there to be formal about him?”
Kai rolls his eyes at the comment and goes back to the point. “Do you guys not feel it?” He asked as he tried to catch the others’ expressions. There’s an odd feeling crawling onto his skin, like sensing one’s presence — however this one feels different and distant, and there’s an underlying terror to it. This isn’t the seasickness talking, no. The only other person who seems aware of it is Nya.
Kai thinks he’s never felt this way before, or atleast, since the day he left the oceans.
He shakes the thought away from his head as Cole enters his view.
“No, is something wrong? You okay?” concerned the pirate, examining the wary look on Kai’s pale face.
The brunet looks up to him, glancing at the waters again as he does so. The dreadful feeling continues to grow at an alarming speed. Kai cannot help but to uncomfortably shift and shake his head.
It’s approaching.
“Sail, ho!!”
All eyes turn to the sailor over the poop deck. With the exception of Cole, every pirate piles up on the port side of the ship. The smaller vessel does the same, and true to words there is a large pirate ship heading towards them. Everyone falls quiet as they watch the foreign ship swiftly advancing.
Yang sets foot outside the wardroom and follows suit after his crew. He squints his eyes, studying the opposing vessel ever so attentively.
“All hands on deck, trim sail, and batten down the hatches,” he simply ordered the quartermaster.
The higher ranking buccaneer echoed the commands by yelling, and so the crew on both ships obeyed with war cries and howls. They all start preparing the brass and cannons, and hauling all cannonballs and weapons they could wield for themselves
As Zane and Pixal join the people at the mast, Cole finally brings himself to the port side as he peers his eyes to the ship.
“No, there’s something wrong,” Cole muttered, “they’re not coming.”
Zane throws him a questioning look, that is until he spots a black smoke forming in the sails of the faraway ship.
The captain must have spotted it too and raises his hand as a signal to halt, he also uses his telescope to navigate better.
Everyone continues to watch, and slowly, they start to see clearly. Right before their eyes, the smoke continues to grow and engulf the clouds above, sailors start throwing themselves to the ocean, cannons are being fired inside the decks, and masts start to sway all around until they break off.
They seem to be fighting something, something resembling a human and what-not at the same time. These vile creatures are coming from the waters, climbing ontop of eachother and into the ship, and bringing pirates all the way down. They’ve got claws for hands and scaled skins gleaming under the light of the blazing flames. Their tails smacked against every surface. Most importantly, the feature that stood out the most is the distant sound of screeches and alluring melodies.
“Sirens,” Zane breathed.
Kai swears his heart skipped a beat.
Before anyone else could comprehend, the whole ship collapses.
_V. Red Armed Exemplars_
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