I refused to open my eyes. I didn’t want to wake up and see the cavern ceiling above me. I knew my life was out, the battlefield was gone. I could hear nothing. My ears were still ringing from the sounds of my last final moments within the game. I hadn’t even dropped my hands from over my face yet. I had probably exploded into a puff of colored dust like the member of Storm’s crew had. I was a failure, and would now suffer the consequences for my failure. I would live my life in a flashover, returning to the etiquette camp. But I guess there was really no way of getting around it. I sighed and rolled over to get up. I finally opened my eyes as I stood up.
I saw every pirate with a blue bandana lying flat on his face and facing toward me. Karius openly stared, gaping at me like I was part of a freak show. His blades were on the ground where he had dropped them. Jumѐ-falio was down on one knee. Everyone was silent; they didn’t move or make a sound. I whirled around and looked behind me, Captain Tempest Storm was flat on his back with burns obscuring most of the left side of his face and almost his entire left side. The cabin behind him had a huge hole blasted into it, black ash was all that was left for a 50 yard streak.
As I stared into the gaping hole my eyes met a pair of icy blue eyes that mirrored my own. My brother’s eyes widened in shock at seeing me standing over his captain, and my face lit up in a smile. I had destroyed the precious captain, the guy that meant more to Red than his own kin. I was a girl, and had been disowned by Red. And now I was beginning my revenge.
Red ducked out of my sight and back into the cabin. I whirled back around and faced the guys on the ground. I held my head high decided to speak up.
“Jumѐ-falio, come here.”
To my complete amazement he got up and walked silently to my side, falling in a half a step behind my right shoulder. He looked like he was waiting for me to say something more to him.
“Is there anything we have left to do here? Or do we leave them to lick their wounds?”
He blinked a few times and looked around at the common pirates that were still lying on their faces. “I don’t know Gittoran,” he said, “it’s up to you.”
I looked around and retook the scene in. I knew there were more coins in the treasury and probably more hidden rooms in the main cabin. But that could all wait until later, their Captain Storm would be out of it for a while, and probably wouldn’t take inventory for a long time. I could come back and do as I wanted later. It would all be mine now.
“We’re leaving this dump.” I said plainly. “Karius get your blades and open the door.”
I really didn’t expect Karius to listen to me; he resented me for being a lady pirate after all, and a new member of the elite. But he scrambled and almost tripped over his feet to race to do my bidding. He didn’t even struggle with the door, what I had seen Kaelo and Shadow strain and groan to move even a little was easing open under Karius’s guidance.
“Jume,” I said, “get my stuff. Let’s go.”
Jume had a little more poise than Karius did. He crisply returned my blades to me and walked after me calmly as we swept toward the camp’s exit. This time I was not being dragged through the mud on my way out of the camp. Now everyone was staring up at me from the dirt, awed by my presence.
I could get used to this.
'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“She’s what!?” I heard my captain exclaim. I tried to resist the urge to press my ear up against Mají-jalio’s door. I wanted to know what was going on with me. As soon as we got back to the ship Jumѐ-falio took me straight up to the captain’s cabin and left me outside the door. I don’t know where Karius went, but he was sentenced to silence for the time being. All the others had done well on their raid. I could hear the chatter from the lower decks, talking about the best strategies and treasures. Those who had been left behind were all whining about how they got no action at all. Naturally no crew was foolish enough to attack our ship. It was suicide. I also heard about some kind of no common killing clause, a rule I had accidentally broken earlier. It was meant to protect the pirate kind, stop us from killing in mass numbers until there was only one pirate standing. It would destroy the way of life around here.
I sighed and leaned against the wall near the cabin door. Jumé and Mají had dropped their voices so I couldn’t make out their words anymore. They were talking in riddles anyway, I couldn’t make heads or tails of what their conversation was supposed to mean. I just wanted to know what I had done, and more importantly, how I managed to do that.
For the weeks that I had been here I had trained around the best, sparring and fighting with the best. And not a one of them had ever displayed an ability like that, nothing caught on fire. Yet when I opened my eyes there was a huge burned hole that I think I created. Captain Storm’s face and side were way messed up…. And I was the only one close enough to have done that kind of damage. But I was on the ground with my eyes squeezed shut, there was no way I did anything right?
My thoughts were interrupted when Jumѐ-falio opened the door and motioned me inside the cabin. As I stepped inside he closed the door behind me and for the second time I found myself alone in the cabin with my god of a captain.
“So you nearly burnt Tempest Storm to death then eh?” Mají said.
I tried not to laugh. The captain had it very wrong. “No sir,” I replied simply, “I merely defended myself so I would not have to return to that hell of an etiquette camp.”
He did laugh then, his voice pealing out to the point where it seemed to take all of his control just to stay seated in his chair. “So that’s the secret then?” he managed to choke out, “just will yourself not to die and refuse to go back?”
I tried to look all serious and nod, but something about Mají-jalio always seemed to reduce me to smiles and laughter. I chose instead to try to tell the truth as light as I could make out of it.
“No seriously,” I said. “One minute I’m on the ground and looking at the blade that will end my life, and the next it’s Tempest that’s on the ground and writhing in pain. I have no idea how that happened to him.”
“I know that Gittoran Scarlet,” he whispered, becoming serious instantly. “And I may know how that happened, but it is still too early to tell. For your sake let’s hope that I’m right, for my own…. I hope I’m wrong.”
His crypicism was lost to me as my entire focus shifted to his casual usage of my last name. I opened my mouth, whether to protest or to formulate a question I really don’t know, but he stopped me with a raised hand.
“No I will not tell you my idea, as your captain I am not required to do anything of the sort. Until I wish to disclose the idea to you, you will remain quiet about the incident and not mention anything about the fire. Is that understood Scarlet?”
I gave up the notion of convincing him to use my first name and settled for glaring at him when I responded. “Yes, sir,” I said, making sure my voice was dripping with sarcasm. “And what would you have me to do with my takings from the Storm camp?”
“Takings?” he asked, “I heard there was nothing of value found in the camp and the alarm was sounded too soon for the place to have been thoroughly investigated.”
I laughed now, giddy and lightheaded at his all-too-obvious surprise. “Of course there were taking. It wasn’t a complete waste of time. How do we divide up treasures and gold here?”
He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at me questioningly. “All decorative treasures are often kept by the pirate that secured them. Coins of any kind will be split between the thief and the officers. The pirate keeps 75%, Fame and Jumé keep 5% each, and I keep 15%. How much did you manage to take?”
I smiled at him and crossed over to the door, checking the outside to make sure that the other pirates were didn’t share my impulse to listen at the door. There was no one, so I slipped back inside and took the little leather pouch off of my belt.
“Now, don’t judge or write me off just yet ok?” I said.
I upended the purse on the table and held it, watching the rain of gold coins pour out. Mají-jalio looked shocked as the coins poured down and piled so high they began to fall off of the table. I thought his jaw was going to drop right down onto the floor with the shimmering cascade of gold.
His mouth moved noiselessly when the purse was finally empty, working up and down with no sound coming out. I allowed him a few moments, then picked up a few coins and placed them in his hand. He traced his fingers over their features, feeling the ridges and engravings against his touch. He was in complete awe, looking at them like he fully expected them to vanish at any moment. But of course they didn’t.
“Wh….Where did you get all of these?” he stammered out. “This is the most gold I’ve seen outside the compound in years.”
I smiled at him sweetly, “Did I not just tell you? This is all at the courtesy of Captain Storm’s personal hoard. I couldn’t clean it out the first time around of course, but I could easily find my way back and finish the job on another occasion.”
I started stacking the coins up in fours, “Three for me, one for you, three for me, one for you.” I sang, enjoying the metallic clink as the coins fell on top of one another. They sounded almost cute. I beamed at the thought, of the cute little golden coins all stacked up before me, ready to be dealt out to their respective owners. Only a girl would ever call such wealth “cute”.
The captain followed behind me, taking one coin from each stack and making a new pile with the officer’s share. My own coins returned to the leather pouch that was sitting in the room. I continued sorting thought the monstrous pile, stealing a moment to glance over at Captain Maji-jalio. The firelight glinted off the gold and bathed his faced in its soft glow, his features basking in the yellow light. He appeared immortal, radiant with euphoria and triumph, and just a little bit of proud surprise that lingered at the outcome of my first raid. He never looked at me, not once, all focus and attention lingering on the little stacks of coins throughout the room. He was now sorting out his own share, and he fondled the coins lovingly, caressing them as he transferred them to his pile. There was no one else to him, not until the last coin was safely placed in a strongbox beneath the floorboards, beneath the heavy wooden desk.
When the golden glow finally ebbed he did finally meet my gaze. “Quite the haul for a first time thief…. Are you a delinquent in reality?”
I laughed and stretched out lazily on the floor of the cabin, the scoured wood smooth beneath my skin. “Nope, never stolen a thing in my life. Morals don’t’cha know? I guess I just have a bit of a knack for it.”
“A bit of a….a bit of a knack? Of all the words you could have chosen you went with knack?! Gracious girl! That may as well have been a Griffin driven Griffin given talent!! He must have hand chosen you to be a thief! No guard duty for you! We have enough burly swordsmasters for that job. No, we’ll just send your pretty little self out to steal the keys to the very game. Keep you all quiet-like until we’re ready to reveal you to the general public. Thank the Griffin! He smiles upon me still!”
“Oh yea” I breathed, sarcasm returning to my voice, “because finding a few gold coins is SO much more impressive than being able to shoot fire at someone through your hands.”
He looked at me guiltily and I laughed again, easy in his presence. But a knock at the door brought that to a screeching halt. I jumped into the chair before the desk and sat up straight. Captain Maji-jalio’s face became stone, impassive and unfeeling.
“Enter.” He commanded.
The door opened to reveal Jume-falio and Fame-jujio, frozen in their place in the doorway as they looked at the piles of coins littering the cabin. Pleasure flooded my system at their shock, and I was unable to keep the pride out of my voice as I teased them lightly.
“Unless you want to share or break Captain’s orders I suggest you remember to close a door behind you. The gold won’t move, I promise.”
Fame-jujio stepped further into the room, allowing Jume-falio to shut the door behind them, his eyes never leaving the glimmering coins. I suspected that neither had blinked yet, each man’s eyes transfixed at the haul. Even with Fame-jujio’s massive frame he could not hold more of a presence than the scattered coins, despite the fact he seemed to take up the bulk of the cabin’s standing space.
Captain Maji-jalio, having finally gotten over his initial shock, was able to act properly demeaning with his two mates before him. He swept his hand across the cabin imperially, gesturing to all that was around him.
“You proper share of the gold, Gittoran and I have already sorted out our own portions of the loot, and the remainder is to be divided evenly between you two.” He said calmly.
“You mean there’s more?” Jume-falio croaked
“Of course there is more.” I sniggered.
Maji-jalio gave me a disapproving look and I promptly shut up, realizing I was still one of the lowest members of the crew, despite my findings during the raid.
With me subdued, the captain spoke, acting as if I had rudely interrupted him. “It turns out that our little Gittoran is quite a natural thief, she found one of Storm’s caches, and I have faith she will find the others as well.”
“Hold up Captain, are you saying that this girl managed to find all of this and countless more within 20 minutes?” Jume asked incredulously.
“A Griffin given talent Jume-falio, I do not doubt your earlier prediction.” Captain Maji-jalio said.
He stared at Jume, then flicked his eyes to Fame-jujio, who was hastily gathering up the coins into a bag. Fame-jujio seemed to sense this, straightening suddenly and joining the series of meaningful looks that passed between the three leaders of the crew.
“The prophesy…” Fame-jujio whispered in awe.
Confusion struck me, “Excuse me?” I said, nervous about breaking into their moment. But my curiosity overtook such nervousness. “What prophesy? What does that have to do with my thievery?”
Maji-jalio shook his head as if clearing it out. He rounded on me, anger making his eyes flash and me cringe in fear.
“Get. Out.”