Runnin'

The exciting part of treating any of Ajiin’s injuries is that he was highly suspicious of anything ‘mancy. So he squirmed, complained, constantly distracted the twins with questions as to what they were doing, what they were going to do next, and generally made the ordeal as difficult as possible. The only thing that could be said for his high level of suspicion was he was too busy panicking over the proximity of ‘mancy to actually feel any real discomfort when they put his arm in a splint.

“There,” Langley said, finally stepping back, “That’ll do until we can get you to port to see a real doctor.”

He picked at the bandage a bit morosely.

“Just sit tight and don’t do anything strenuous,” Sabreur said.

“I’ve broken bones before.”

“Swear you won’t do anything to injure it further?”

“Meh.”

Langley sighed and the twins left. They had to get moving before anyone noticed their surprise attack on the Black Pebble. Sabreur went up to deck to brief the crew and drag Jeff down from the helm. Langley went off to find Crystal. As expected, the girl was hanging off the rail at the rear of the ship staring at the water.

“There’s fish down there,” she said as Langley approached.

“There usually are.”

“Yes, but these have really sharp teeth and are really big.”

The captain glanced down into the water just as a dorsal cut through the surface.

“Ah. Those would be sharks Crystal.” Langley mentally thanked fate that she had gotten Ajiin out of the water before those things had shown up. “Listen, Crystal. Ajiin can’t come with us to explore the island and see about this treasure Jeff is talking about. We want you to come.”

“I get to go on an adventure with Jeff!”

The tips of her hair brightened to vivid pink and Langley sighed and pulled her hat off her head, fiddling with it between her hands in nervousness. The hair was definitely an unconscious act. At least now that was cleared up.

“Crystal, I think there’s something you need to know about Jeff,” she said evenly, “I understand that you have a crush on him and that’s nothing bad. But how old do you think he is?”

Crystal paused and thought for a moment.

“I don’t know, early thirties?”

“Try late fifties.”

A normal Crystal was one that could not stay still. A shocked Crystal was one that seemed incapable of moving, as was the case now. She just teetered a bit in the wind, eyes wide and fixed on Langley.

“That old?” she whispered.

“Yes,” Langley replied, feeling guilt twisting in her gut, “I thought you should know about the age gap between you two… I’m sorry.”

Crystal mumbled something and with shoulders slumped started to walk away. Langley watched her go and heard the voice in the back of her head start to nag. Of course, for a half-elf, being fifty was equivalent to being thirty for a human. But really, Crystal didn’t need to know that, and it was better off for the girl to get over her crush sooner rather than later. As in, later when it’d be a problem for everyone involved, especially the twins.

It turned out that Jeff knew not only the ship, but the island as well. He’d been marooned here before, and when Langley demanded an answer to how many times he’d been marooned he only shrugged, tugged on his slightly pointed ears, and that sufficed as an answer.

There was a path leading inland that would take them right to a system of caves that ran under the island and was where Jeff had been storing loot before he was booted off his own ship. A bit before reaching the actual cave Jeff broke off into the underbrush, saying that there was a side entrance that would take them up above the main cavern and would allow them to scout first. However, first they should secure their escape route.

It was fairly simple. Crystal stayed behind with Jeff while the twins went down the main path to the entrance, where a team of three horses were tethered and one guard leaned on the wall, dozing in the filtered sunlight. Langley took the feather out of her hat, whispered something under her breath, and after a few seconds the man woke, fell to the ground and started thrashing while clutching at his throat and tearing at his collar. A few beads of sweat trickled down Langley’s forehead from concentration and Sabreur leapt from hiding, drawing his rapier and diving for the man, putting the point through his heart and out through the back. It was quiet, fast, and effectively done.

“That shouldn’t have worked,” he said to his sister, cleaning his rapier.

“He was sleepy and probably not versed in ‘mancy,” she replied, “While we know that a ‘mancer can’t stop air strong enough to fight the lungs the populace believes we can. Just the suggestion of suffocation is enough to set an ignorant person into a panic.”

“And if someone comes out of the cave while we’re sneaking in?” he asked, sheathing the rapier and turning to the unpleasant task of dragging the body out of eyeshot of the interior of the cave tunnel.

“We’ll leave Crystal here. She might not appear to be the best guard but she’s survived this long somehow. I’m sure she can handle herself.”

Sabreur glanced at her dubiously, then at the horses.

“Right.”

The tunnel was dark, dank, and smelled strongly of saltwater. Crystal had been unusually quiet when they left her at the cave with instructions to stay there and not touch anything. The twins could only hope her newfound seriousness would last long enough for them to escape without problems.

“We’re going to come back out to a bunch of skeletons with wreaths of flowers around their necks and Crystal making up a song about her new horsy friends,” Sabreur muttered dourly as they walked along, Jeff scouting up ahead.

“Don’t think about it and don’t talk from here out,” his sister replied, “Stealth, brother, stealth.”

“No firebombs?”

“No firebombs.”

If you asked the twins why they were doing this neither would be able to give a rational answer. They didn’t need the treasure. They had no obligation to help Jeff get revenge on his mutinous crew. There was no bounty on the heads of anyone there except for Jeff, and they had promised not to collect. But there was adventure. The unknown. A helluva good story at the end. Of course, those reasons never stood up to disgruntled merchants or a court of law.

Ahead of them, Jeff had stopped suddenly. The twins edged up next to him, trying to be as quiet as possible with hands on their rapiers to keep them from clinking against the cave walls. The sound of voices drifted down the tunnel and as Langley leaned forwards she could see up over the incline of the tunnel and down into a large natural cavern, water snaking through the islands of rock. Each one was covered with a fine layer of loot.

“Crystal would go catatonic at the sight of all the shinies,” Sabreur whispered to his sister.

“Good thing we left her behind at the entrance, then.”

A third person joined their private conversation. Langley wrinkled her nose at the smell of rum at close proximity to her face.

“That’s him,” Jeff said, pointing over their heads, “the first mate.”

A large man was at the center of the cavern, sitting on a pile of gold and polishing a highly ornamented rapier. His attire was what every rich noble knows better than to wear – a collection of frills and tucks and ornaments with no other purpose than to scream “I’M RICH; MUG ME!” to every footpad in every dark alley around. Around him stalked his crew, piling and rearranging their stolen goods.

“Charming fellow.”

“So what’s the plan now?” Sabreur asked.

“Eh, I don’t know. We came, we saw, I suppose we can leave and blow up their ship and leave them stranded. Mark this location and come back once they’re all dead from in-fighting or starvation and haul off the treasure.”

“I can’t lob a firebomb in their midst?”

“No.”

“Voidbomb? I’ve got a prototype here.”

“Void-wha? NO!”

There was a scuff of leather sole on rock as Starling moved past them. Langley didn’t even have time to open her mouth to protest before he jumped off the ledge and down into the cavern, directly into the line of sight of every pirate there and his ex-first mate. Dead silence filled the cavern. Above, Langley was crushing her hat against her face to muffle her cursing. Finally, the shocked stillness was broken by a lone voice.

“Now can I use a firebomb?” Sabreur asked.

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