treasure || bang chan

part 15

Under the cover of darkness, Haseong and I passed through the town that, only earlier today, had sought to execute us. The mess of bodies had been cleaned up, the gibbet dismantled. We scaled the cliffside stairway, looking out at the naval ships and fishing boats moored in the moonlight.

We ran down the beach and onto the dock. Haseong leapt aboard a boat while I cut its spring lines. As the mainsail fell from the mast, the guards on the dock across from ours took notice.

"Oi, what's going on?"

"Get the jib!" Haseong called, heading for the helm. I darted to swing the boom around — the ship inched to a start as the sail caught the wind. The guards left their positions and chased us down the dock.

Haseong spun the wheel to the side, steering us past a navy ship. I grabbed a rope hanging from the mast and pulled myself aboard, then flung it back to Haseong.

The guards, realizing their blunder, turned a 180 and ran back toward the other dock. Again, too late — we were sailing away in a ship thrice the size of the first. I let myself take petty pleasure in waving goodbye to the infuriated figures shrinking into the distance.

A pair of arms wound around my waist from behind, a pair of lips pressed to my neck.

"If I may be so forward," he murmured, "every time I'm near you — it is harrowing, borderline impossible, to keep my hands off you."

I smiled. "Then don't."

We stumbled toward the great cabin in a grasping embrace. I searched blindly for a doorknob, swung the door open and pulled him inside by his lapels.

Suddenly a voice. "Would you cut that out for five seconds?"

I yanked my shirt down. "Again?!"

Fei was standing in front of us, arms crossed over her chest. "I rescue you lot like kittens stuck in a tree and then you scuttle off without so much as a thank you?"

"We figured you would catch up." Haseong's voice was cold. "If you would be so kind as to get the hell out of here?"

"Aw, Captain, are you angry with me?" She snorted. "This is our new ship, is it not? I was here first anyway."

Haseong and I glanced at each other, still adjusting our clothes and fixing our hair.

"Are you going to explain what happened in the mine?" I asked.

"The honest truth is, Kwangsun and I were conspiring from the start, though I always planned to betray him eventually. I suppose you would call that a quadruple-cross?"

"Couldn't you have clued us in on your plan? We might as well have been pawns to you."

"In my experience, people best serve the greater good when they think they are the ones in control."

"You mean they best serve you?"

"That's what I said. Gentlemen, I give you my word of honour — no more lies, manipulation or deceit henceforth. Unless it is warranted, in which case, remember it's in your interest. Probably."

"You must understand why we are cautious," I said. "How do we know you're not attempting a sextuple-cross?"

"You have your doubts, perhaps, yet the moment you saw the captain's hat, you immediately altered the course of your plan to accommodate a 'grand scheme' you weren't even sure existed."

She was right, admittedly, even if her puckish insolence was in full swing. "Yes, well. The wink you gave me back at the mine was not very discreet."

"Couldn't leave everything up to chance, now could I?"

"Of course not," said Haseong, "then you wouldn't have been able to make a grandiose entrance at the town square."

"That was a perk." She dusted off her neat black leather ensemble. "They're calling me the 'Veiled Archer of Mirsley Bay.' It's rather literal, but I can live with it."

"What made you choose a bow and arrow? I'd assume a carronade would be more your speed."

The question made her frown. "It was one of the few rational choices that would not amplify the prospective barrage of gunfire."

Haseong blinked. "You... you didn't make a concession because of my dislike for guns, did you?"

"It sounds horridly mawkish when you put it that way — so no."

He ribbed me. "Look at that, she likes me."

"I do not—" She straightened her back and composed herself. "Logic governs my actions and I will say no more on the matter." She picked up Haseong's woven hat from the bedside table and tossed it into his hands. "I hope you didn't miss it terribly."

He turned it around in his hands, examining it for wear and tear. He placed it on his head and spoke reluctantly, grudgingly.

"Thank you, Mrs. Ngai. Your strategies are perpetually upsetting and excessively complex, but they are proven to succeed."

"Most of the time," I muttered.

Fei's eyes drew to slits. "Pardon?"

"You crossed, double-crossed and triple-crossed, but the treasure is still lost to us. It's all right, of course — maybe... maybe we were never meant to have the treasure."

The puckishness returned to her expression, a childish delight. She waved us aside and strode out onto the main deck.

"How does that old saying go? 'So close you can almost hear it'?" She raised her hands to her ears. "Oh, what is that? Can you hear it too?"

Haseong and I looked at each other and then back at her.

Fei tugged a hatch open, descended the step ladder, and Haseong and I followed. I knocked into him as he abruptly froze in place.

In the small, undecorated room, four or five wooden chests were spilling over with coins from all around the globe, jewelry made of the rarest taaffeite and painite gems, bullion bars stacked atop one another and golden nuggets covering nearly every inch of floor. Captain Pi Heiran's treasure.

"But do go on, Mr. Bang," Fei said. "You were lamenting what was not meant to be?"

Haseong's eyes were wide. "Ahn...?"

"Dear Kwangsun's demise was both unexpected and entirely my own doing. I trust the fishes are keeping him company."

Her words waltzed in one ear and out the other. I didn't even care that she had murdered him — good riddance. How glorious greed could feel. The treasure was ours.

Haseong looked back at me. "I know what I said earlier, but..."

I laughed. "What's the expression about having your cake and eating it too?"

"That it is excellent and comes highly recommended." Fei was gnawing on a coin.

Haseong lifted my hand and kissed it. The red in his eyes was abating to gold, a lovelier glow than any other in the room. The quirk of his lips was made of mischief.

"Wherever shall we go now?"

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one epilogue to go ;)