Finches

Chapter 25 - The Arrival

Things were about as bad as Colt had expected. As he emerged from the outpost he noticed immediately that the Bloody Manta had definitely arrived. The large ship was looming in the water right beyond the shore of the outpost. The Manta's pirates had already been dispatched and were running, one after another, onto the shore with their weapons blazing.

Colt also saw the Bloody Manta's scout ship by the shore. It was a small boat with a single sail that was usually kept strapped along the side of the main ship. It looked fairly non-intimidating to most people, but not to Colt, because he knew that it only meant one thing: Captain Rave and his crew were coming.

Colt looked back toward the land. The Infinite Authority had formed a defensive line right outside the outpost, and he was actually rather impressed at their work. They were fighting viciously against the advancing pirates and actually seemed to be decently holding down the line and not allowing any breaks in formation. Unfortunately for them, the attacking pirates were not the ones doing the most damage. The thing posing the biggest threat, Colt knew from observing many similar attacks, was the ship's cannons.

Captain Rave's strategy was always to anchor the Manta close outside the shore of the island, making sure that the side—usually the starboard side—of the ship was facing the island. Then, as pirates rushed the island, the cannons would be manned constantly and cannon balls would take out most of the foes.

This seemed to be exactly what was happening here. Despite the efforts from the Authority, Colt knew that it wouldn't be enough to protect Goldtown for very long. They were currently only delaying what was likely inevitable.

Beside him, Shelly was also observing the battlefield. She looked back and forth between the pirate ship and the Authority's line of defense, her face paling. She gripped her knife tightly in hand and glanced over at him.

"Where do we start?" she yelled over the sound of gunshots and explosions.

"Tell the Authority to move their line up as far as possible!" Colt shouted back. "They won't listen to me, but they might if it comes from you. We want to fight them as close to the shore as possible."

"Closer?" Shelly didn't look too convinced at this plan. "Why should we get closer?"

"The cannons," Colt said, gesturing to the ship. "They have extremely long range, but there's a large blind spot near the ship. The cannons can only move down so far, so they can't reach targets that are close. You wanted my help, so you're going to have to trust me on this one."

Shelly nodded. "Get closer to the ship. Got it."

"Tell whoever will listen, it might save their life. I'll cover you as you get to the line."

"Thank you, Colt," she said earnestly.

Colt looked away. Why was she thanking him, of all people? It wasn't like he was doing it for the right reasons. "I'm not doing this for you," he said honestly, "or the town."

"Maybe not," Shelly said. "But thank you."

With that she started off toward where the Authority had set up. Colt followed behind her, checking their surroundings constantly and checking for enemies or explosions that might be heading their way.

It didn't take long for them to run into trouble. Colt noticed after only a few seconds that Shelly seemed to be running straight into a clear area with no authoritarian officers or pirates. Going away from the enemies wasn't a terrible idea, Colt thought, but it was definitely too good to be true. And sure enough, as he craned his neck and looked toward the Bloody Manta, he noticed a cannon pointed directly at them. They were entering into one of the common cannon radius areas. That was why it was so clear.