All Flags Fall

Read part one of the adventure here.

 

Idorsus Cragfin peered over the crest of the red tiled roof, trying not to let the executions in the square before him dampen his spirit.

“That’s just unnecessary,” Durgum Wurs said, wincing as the harbormaster’s arms were cut from his torso. The massive sailor was quite the sight as he tried to keep his bulk out of view.

Idorsus agreed. It would be much easier to stay positive if the pirates had only been decapitating the Javan officials, not dismembering them.

“Shit.” Idorsus’ first mate, Kovin Drake, was pressed thin against the roof tiles. “Shit, shit, shit.”

“Keep your curses,” Idorsus said. Kovin irritated him sometimes. Would it kill the man to show some optimism?

“Keep my curses?” Kovin whispered back as they watched another group of pirates marching the members of the Isle Council into the square. “How about you keep yourself in the present. I don’t know what world you keep drifting off to, but in this one a fleet of pirates just seized control of the entire isle.”

“I’m on the same roof as you are, Kovin.”  Idorsus knocked on the red tiles as proof. “I’m just not convinced that we’re doomed.”

Screams swelled up from the square as another official was relieved of their limbs.

“You’ve never thought we were doomed.”

“And we never have been.” Another knock on the tiles. “Otherwise we never would have ended up on this beautiful roof on this beautiful island.”

“He has a point,” Durgum said. “The cap’n has always gotten us out alive.”

Kovin glared at him. “Fine,” the mate said, turning back to Idorsus. “Let’s look at the facts: there are thousands of bloodthirsty pirates in control of the Isle. There are six people in your crew. Our ship is a burnt wreck at the bottom of the harbor.  How, since none of those things worry you, are we going to get out of the Isles alive?”

“You forget,” Idorsus said. “We got into a bit of pirating before the council gave us honest work. And we’re better at it than these brutes.  It won’t take much to steal a ship and be on our way.”

“Even if we make it out, what are we going to do about the Javan Council?  They’ve clothed us, fed us and given us work for six years.”

The pirates had moved onto the council members. The master of law lost a leg with a piercing wail.

“We won’t do anything.”  All flags fell, and the green Javan tri-star was no different. The wealth of the Isle had been sure to draw trouble, though a fleet the size of the one that had attacked was surprising.

Kovin’s frown deepened; he was clearly struggling with the plan. Idorsus had known he would. The mate could never see the good in things. He was the type of man to focus on the storm keeping them from the harbor and not the rain it was gifting the mainland.

“Okay,” Kovin said, “we’ll do it your way.”

“I know,” Idorsus said, and nodded towards the square. “Look.”

As a small group of pirates started down an alley past the butcher’s shop, presumably to fetch more victims, Cragfin’s plan leapt into motion.

Genne Porter stepped from the back door of the shop and slid silently into the group, daggers flashing, her movements sharp but subtle. The twins moved in behind her, longswords sheathed, hands ready to quiet any noise made by the dying men.

As the twins dragged the corpses into the shop, Genne threw sawdust over the pooling blood and flashed a thumb up to Idorsus on the roof.

“Time to go,” Idorsus said. Without waiting for a response, he slid down to the eves of the roof and dropped lightly to the cobblestones. “You coming?” he whispered back up.

Kovin and Durgum followed, the big sailor trying and failing to land lightly behind the mate.

“When did you plan that?” Kovin asked.

“As soon as I sent Genne off to scout. I gave her different orders as soon as you were out of earshot.”

“And why the hell would you do that? I’m your first mate, Idorsus; I have to know what is going on.”

“You worry too much. I didn’t want you to fret about it.”

Genne had the small wooden door cracked as the three approached, ushering them quickly in and shutting it behind them with a soft thud.

The interior of the shop was dimly lit by faltering torches, and the ruddy light shone on a floor slick with blood; a mixing of the animals’ and the pirates’. Rows of meat hung behind a filthy counter, and most knives were absent from their pegs.

One of the twins (Idorsus could never tell which) was trying on one of the black leather tunics worn by the pirates. The other was busy stripping the remaining corpses down.

“You were supposed to avoid cutting the leather, Genne,” the clothed twin said as he fingered a puncture in the tunic.

“He moved. I was aiming for his throat. Don’t worry about it; we can explain it away once we reach the ships.”

“This is your plan?” Kovin asked, incredulous. “We’re going to dress up as pirates and try to steal one of their ships?”

Idorsus nodded, exited about how well everything was going. “Most of their force is ransacking the Isle, not guarding the fleet. We’ll be off before they notice a thing.” He gave Kovin what he knew was an infuriating smile. “What could go wrong?”

 

This is Part 2.

Part 1//Part 3//Part 4//Part 5