The Misfits of Dametreos

Chapter 17: The Hornet's Sting

       Almost all of the treasure had been thrown overboard and the scallywag was cut from the yardarm. Burtrand ordered all the sails set. He himself manned the helm and let Sydney take care of the deck work. All his work greatly increased the speed of the Hornet, but the Rose Marie was still slowly catching up, it's sinister profile seemed ready to pounce.
       “Man the aft ballista!” shouted Burtrand to two of his passing crew.
       “Aye aye, cap’n!” they replied.
       Where Burtrand was from, it was common practice among pirate ships, and other war-ships to have one or two small ballistae mounted on deck.
       While he was shouting encouragement to his scared crew, he absent-mindedly reached into his breast pocket. He felt the two pendants he had ‘acquired’ recently. Why were they so identical? What did it mean? As his hand closed around the pendants, he felt the ship's speed pick up. The Rose Marie was not catching up anymore. It was going to be a long chase.

       Burtrand clutched the two pendants tightly in his hand. He had his cutlass drawn and was tightly holding it in his other hand as he always did when he wanted to get his men excited. The Rose Marie was still in relentless pursuit. The chase was going on the 25th hour. Ahead, the lookouts reported that two ships were engaged in battle. The Hornet was headed right towards the battle, but Burtrand could not veer off course, for fear of losing the speed the Westward Current gave his ship.
       Suddenly, he heard an explosion below deck. Shouting immediately followed. Burtrand sprang down the ladder to see what the problem was. When he got to the cabin where he had left the prisoner, he was taken aback. There the prisoner stood, wielding a very large sword and looking very mean. His eyes were mad with rage but he was not looking at Burtrand's eyes, he was looking at the hand that still clutched the pendants.
       Giving a yell, Aros sprang towards Burtrand.

       The small boat that Reno was in pulled up beside the Hornet. The pirates threw down a ladder and pulled Reno up to the deck of the large pirate ship. The pirates on the deck seemed to be swearing and cursing at a boy in the middle of the deck. The boy did not seem to care that fourteen pirates surrounded him. The boy leaped at a pirate who clearly was the leader. The pirates who were holding Reno ran to help their boss. Reno, not missing the chance, quickly undid his ropes and got ready to jump into the sea to escape, but then he thought of his pendant. The pirates had stolen the pendant, so it must be here with their leader. Maybe the boy could help. Reno ran towards the boy, cleaving a path. Then Reno saw his pendant along with another in the leader pirate's hand. Reno leaped towards the pendants and pulled the two from the pirate's hand. He easily took his own pendant, but then looked at the other.
       Why were they identical? he wondered.
       Then it clicked.

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