Once on deck, I wave at the pirates, signaling that everything is all clear.
With nothing else to do, I return belowdecks. Might as well continue to walk
and stretch before I get shut into my cell again. Not that I don’t intend to spend tonight moving about anyway.
“They’re on their way,” I say as I enter the room Riden and I last checked: a
storage room.
That’s when they grab me.
Riden’s shoved face-first against the wall, a sword point pressed against the
middle of his back while the bearer’s free hand pushes against his shoulder. I can
see now that a few panels have been removed from the wall straight ahead. A hidden room. Three men stand in the room with Riden and me: one keeping Riden where he is, and now two holding me.
“Blast it,” I say. “You couldn’t have shouted out a warning?”
“When a sword’s pointed at me?” Riden asks. “I think not.”
“Shut up!” one of the men holding me yells. “How many are in your crew?
How many will come?”
“Sixty,” Riden says, exaggerating the number by twenty.
“Stars,” the man holding Riden at sword-point says. “We can’t hold them off.
And we can’t count on the others returning in time.”
“Then we’ll use ’em as hostages,” the last man says. “We’ll tell ’em we’ll kill
the members of their crew unless they stay back. We can buy time.”
“But will it be enough?”
“It’ll have to work.”
“But do we need them both? The man looks like too much trouble to deal with. I say we gut him and deal with the girl.”
Being underestimated always works to my advantage. But sometimes I find it
offensive. That often makes me violent. It makes me question whether I should
allow them to kill Riden, just so I can beat the hell out of all three of them without Riden watching. I couldn’t let him see what I’m capable of doing to them. I hate that I have to hold back now.
The men continue to argue among themselves as I decide what to do.
Riden interrupts my line of thinking. “Now, Alosa, would be a good time for
you to employ that same tactic you demonstrated when we first met.”
“Are you certain you wouldn’t like to handle this one yourself? I’m just ‘the
girl.’”
“Stop talking!” a sailor shouts.
But I’m not really listening to them. My eyes are on Riden. His eyes widen
meaningfully, frustratingly. Then he relaxes. “Please.”
“I said—”
Perhaps it’s the fact that Riden remembered exactly what I did to those two crew members when they stole me from my ship. Or perhaps it’s that I like the
sport of it. Or it’s the idea of showing these sailors exactly what I can do.
But if I’m being honest … it’s because he said please.
This prompts me to action in a way I can’t explain.
I slam my heel into the foot of the sailor on my right. Then my free hand goes
to the other sailor’s throat. I place one hand at the back of each man’s neck. With one choking and the other stumbling, it isn’t difficult to connect their heads.
Hard.
That wasn’t part of my routine back on the ship. But a little improvisation goes a long way. This situation is a bit more dire. For one, it isn’t one I had planned for.
There’s only the man with the sword left. He stays right where he is, though
his eyes have widened significantly. “Stay where you are or I’ll kill him.”
I roll my eyes. “Go right ahead. You’d save me the trouble.”
I’m not sure whether I should laugh or not at his confusion. “What?”
“I’m being held prisoner by pirates. If you say more of your men are coming,
then you can help me. We can use him as leverage as was suggested before.”
He looks to his fallen shipmates.
“Sorry about that. I don’t like being held against my will. Now please. Say you’ll help me.”
The sailor focuses on Riden, which gives me the distraction I need to reach for my boot. “Is what the girl says true?”
“Trust me. The girl’s more trouble than she’s worth, and you can’t believe a
thing she says. You’d be better off killing her now.”
I see sweat drip down the sailor’s face. The hand on his sword trembles.
“That’s enough.” He turns his body toward me while keeping his sword on Riden. “I’m—”