a pirate invasion, part 6
He had intended to catch me off guard and angry, and I was furious, but that did not mean for a second I was unprepared to fight him. I had lost my familiarity with his skill level of swordsmanship, but I, for once, was better. As we continued to dance around each other, he became more angry and frustrated, not only because I began to break him, but also because from the noise above deck, he could tell that our crew was making a fool of him once again.
After a good five minute exchange, he finally lost his footing and fell at my feet exhausted and dejected. ‘Please,’ he gasped out, ‘no more, no more, I cannot, I can’t…’
I scoffed, and kicked him slightly, disgusted. ‘And I thought this would have been more interesting. But no, yet again I’m disappointed.’
Turning away, I left him lying there crumpled on the floor and began to search through the room for the safe, as I was not going to waste my time waiting for him to get his strength back to tell me where it was.
‘Christ above, can you suffer any more quietly?’ I asked, exasperated, after a few minutes of listening to him crying in pain. ‘I am on a mission here and you’re really distracting me.’
He inhaled shakily and I finally glanced back over towards him.
‘What are you going to do with me?’
‘I don’t really know. I mean if I don’t find the safe myself, I am going to force the location out of you, so you have that to look forward to. But I suppose you’re asking if I’m going to kill you. And again I’m not quite certain. I mean you’re so wretched right now, it seems almost an act of grace to put you out of misery.’
He tried to scoff or chuckle or something, but it swiftly shifted into a horrible cough, and I looked down on him bemused.
‘I don’t know what you tried that for, seemed utterly idiotic.’
‘I was trying to get some heart back,’ he spit out, 'but agh, ow…’ and he trailed off into painful silence again.
‘You’re not going to find it without my help, you know,’ he said finally and I whirled around.
He had sat up, which wasn’t a surprise; I had heard him shuffling around but knew from his labored breathing that he was no threat to me.
I laughed. ‘What makes you so sure? Maybe I know you better than you think I do.’
‘Well, I know that; you know me at all, and that’s already far beyond my expectations.’
‘It’s funny how the cards have played out.’
‘Are you never going to tell me who you are? You do seem familiar, I have to admit, but I can’t place you.’
‘Attempting to distract me from my task again?’ I remarked with a dry laugh.
He smiled, but it looked like it hurt. ‘Perhaps.’
‘Well why don’t we make this easy, you tell me where the safe is, I’ll tell you who I am.’
‘I seem to have quite the lackluster side of the bargain.’
‘I didn’t say it was a good exchange. Remember I could just kill you.’
He was silent for a moment and exasperated, I sighed and turned back to my search.
‘Throw in my life and you have a deal.’
I laughed. ‘How am I not surprised? The cowardly captain cowers again. But fine,’ I said, drawing close and crouching beside him, ‘you have a deal.’
‘You first then.’
‘What?! Why me first?’
‘Makes the most sense, doesn’t it? You give me your identity, I give you the safe, you don’t kill me.’
Unfortunately, this method did make sense, so I took a deep breath and said, ‘Well you knew me as Maude Wilde.’
His shocked reaction almost made up for his lacking one at my entrance.
‘What… no… Maude?’
I stood up and walked away from him, keenly aware of some odd energy that had entered into the room and unwilling to engage with it.
‘What of it, Blake? Yes, I was Maude, yes, I just bested you in a sword fight, and yes, I’m one of The Lady’s captains that are now demolishing your fleet. What of it?’
He made no response and I turned to look at him again, searching for something, though what it was in particular I hardly knew.
He was staring at me, and for a moment I was at a loss for words.
‘Are you happy?’
I laughed, unsettled by the question. ‘What makes you think you have the right to ask me that question? Why on earth do you care?’
‘I just do.’
‘Oh. Well, yes, I suppose I am.’
‘Good. I’m glad.’ He smiled at me then and I felt the odd urge to kick him again. ‘The safe is in the desk, there’s a hidden compartment you unlock with this key,’ he said, reaching into his pocket and handing it to me. ‘Right side, between the lion carvings.’
I took the key from him and went to the desk where I soon discovered the compartment; it was a lot easier to find if you knew what you were looking for.
Pulling out the safe, I turned to him and said, ‘Well, thanks for that. I guess I’ll be letting myself out then, as I don’t see any way that you pull yourself up from your place.’
He grimaced and I grinned.
‘You’re not taking me prisoner?’
‘Please, you think I want to be burdened with you for that long? If we do at all, that’ll be The Lady’s decision, not mine.’
And having grown tired of his company, I stalked out of the room.
~dys [and that's the end of it! can't believe I managed to finish with the edits]